Smialek finishes 11th

Track

Tomasz Smialek just missed winning his second All-American honors, finishing 11th at the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

He cleared 7-01.50, which was short of USC's Jesse Williams, who won the national championship at 7-06.

Baseball

Akron lost to the seventh-best team in the nation on Saturday. Tennessee scored six runs late to win, 7-3. Akron is playing a double header today at Murray State.

Tennis

Akron went 2-1 this weekend at the Prarie View A&M Invitational. Jenna Larson won each of her singles matches.

Men's basketball

Tonight at 9 we will learn if Akron is going to the NIT. The seeding will be announced live on ESPNU - The Ocho and ESPNNews. Forty teams make the tournament. Sixteen have to play in the first round to narrow the field to 32. The games are played on campuses until the semifinals, when the action moves to Madison Square Garden in New York City. The semifinals and finals are played on ESPN2 and ESPN, respectively. The final is set for March 30.

ESPN's college basketball genius, Joe Lunardi, says Akron will be in the second group of NIT teams. For an explanation of the "groups" system, check out this link. Basically, the Zips would get a first-round bye, but then play on the road against one of the group one teams.

• I received an e-mail from an alumnist today. He said I was too hard on Nick Dials, saying he "played like garbage." I agree with the alumnist. Dials' hustled and played good defense, even though his shots were off.