I'm going out on a limb and predict Akron makes it to the MAC Finals. Watch much of the second half of their win over WMU, and they looked much more polished than the team I saw early in the season, and nothing like the team we put up 99 points on. They'll probably end up with a CBI bid with a slightly sub par record.

Yep^^^^ In a one bid league, winning in March is the only thing that matters and the only thing people remember. Groce understands it very, very well.

You should go jump on their/his bandwagon in NE Ohio. They'd love to have you. And most here wouldn't miss you.

I disagree, I think we can be as high as a 3-seed in the MAC tourney again.

Pretty well sums it up. Heck, I couldn't tell you what seed we were this year but I do know we lost in the first round on the road to Miami.

Guess I'm the exception here.

The stars aligned the year we went to the Sweet 16.
The story might have been different if we didn't get USF for our second game.

Don't get wrong,I loved it,but the Georgetown game meant more to me.

That year nobody gave us any chance.

I still remember the announcers saying WHEN Georgetown plays Tenn.

I know zero people who expected to be Gonzaga. I know the same number of people who expected to be the 10 seed in the MAC tournament in year 4 of this regime. I believe expectations are warranted based on our pedigree. The excuses are old.

The garbage of disregarding the health adversity the team suffered this year and looking blindly at end results is old and stale. Your attitude, and the attitude of others here of disregarding that adversity is like expecting a company to maintain production levels after half of their factories burned to the ground in 2 months time.

Explain this pedigree we have. The pedigree of the Hunter era with one NCAA tourney appearance? The O'Shea era, likewise? Or that 4 year window everyone likes to focus on, out of 96 years of program history? I was born in 1980. We have 6 NCAA tourney appearances in that now 38 year span. Averaging 1 tourney appearance every 6-7 years is a "pedigree" to you?

Equally tiresome are the cheerleaders who think the 10 seed was an aberration rather than a stark indicator of a decline in the program. Yes, this team was hit hard by injury, and yes, they'd have been a lot better healthy. Where we differ is just how much better, or perhaps how much better is good enough. We have the resources and commitment from the administration (in the form of the biggest basketball budget in the MAC) to be competing for championships every year. We're far from it, and the injuries just highlighted how few high-level MAC players are on scholarship at Ohio. The players put forth a great effort given the circumstances, but lots of other MAC programs are passing this one by and some fans are in denial about it.

By the way, if making the tournament every 6-7 years is your yardstick, we're going to be falling short of that soon as well.

You're correct 100%cat, who are we to talk to pedigree. We have nothing to hang our hat on. The arrogance of the few of us to expect a winner is reprehensible. No history equals no future. I need to change.

We do not have the right to talk pedigree. That should be reserved for the MAC blue-bloods like Buffalo, Ball State, and EMU. I was out of line. We can't recruit those types of athletes! Have you seen Buffalo in January? We can't sell against that! And EMU...they have wonderful parking lots. While I am at it, I do truly love Athens with all my heart, its a birthrite, but Oxford really is better. We are lucky to still be D-1 for goodness sake.

Poor Saul. In year 4, he didn't have the recovery skills or the recruiting chops to handle (1) year long impact injury, (1) full season freshman redshirt, and a few missed games. He has the same number of scholarships as every other school in the MAC, yet he was dealt the hand of season ending death when Carter went down. I apologize for assuming our Division I coach could come up with a plan, its just such a shame we recruit like we are preparing to dethrone Shawnee State for Southeastern Ohio supremacy. We have uninjured scholarships literally sitting around.

In the spirit of refocusing my fandom, I apologize for loving what I really thought was something to be proud of. I should have known better.

There, I think I have become an apologist. Northern Illinois....We are coming for you. That is until you get better at which point we will be coming for you University of Rio Grande.

Wow....I see you are getting roasted for this comment and deservingly so. Keep aspiring for those #3 seeds in MAC Tournaments. I'll take the coach who hung a Sweet 16 banner in the Convo. #12Months

Logging in for the first time since Monday....and, sadly I truly expected to see this thread. Moving on....