Zips sports news, features and notes
- Seven KSU baseball players earn All-MAC honors
- Marla Ridenour: From walk-on to champion: UA’s Alex McCune finds his niche
- KSU’s Jennifer Ha struggles to 79 in first round of NCAA Women’s Golf Championships
- Zips notebook: Quincy Diggs back in school; football player arrested
- College baseball/Kent State 4, Akron 1: Flashes top Zips, get help from Bowling Green to win MAC title, earn top seed in tournament
- On the Record — May 18
- College baseball/Kent State 4, Akron 3: Flashes muster enough energy to top Zips, stay alive for top seed in MAC Tournament
- Kent State golf in fifth after two rounds of NCAA Regional
- Kent State-Akron in-game updates: Kent State wins 4-3
- Kent State 5, Akron 4 in 17 innings: Diamond Classic turns into real gem
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MAC season beginneth
Men's basketball
Are you ready for three months of twice-weekly wild showdowns?
I certainly am.
For Akron, it starts tonight at Miami, against double-double juggernaut Julian Mavunga.
The Zips are as hot as any MAC team right now. I would credit those four consecutive home cupcakes. This schedule exposed a lot of the Zips' weaknesses early, and it permitted them to correct them in live games that were guaranteed wins.
Miami, meanwhile, played a lot of odds-against-them games, but perhaps not as many impossible games as usual.
The key tonight is finding Mavunga's whereabouts when the ball is hoisted toward the rim, and having a Zips post player putting his keister squarely into Mavunga's hip. Outside of the potential MAC Player of the Year, the RedHawks are a subpar rebounding team. Teams are able to keep him off the offensive glass if they concentrate on it.
It's also important to clamp down on Miami on the perimeter, because the RedHawks shoot a lot of 3s, but aren't great at making them.
I envision the Zips having numerous opportunities for offensive rebounds. Put-back points could be the difference in the game.
Akron is favored by three. I'd still take the Zips.
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