For just a moment Tuesday, University of Akron coach Keith Dambrot allowed himself to think ahead and talk about it.
With March and the ensuing madness looming around the corner, the Zips’ coach realizes that his team has the chance to solidify its position for the NCAA Tournament by winning its final eight games.
“I want to win the rest of the games because I think we could get an at-large bid,” he said. “No one’s talking about us, but if we win the rest of the games that would make us 24-7 and that would mean that we went 21-2 after starting 3-5 and we’d have some quality wins.”
That doesn’t change the overall goal of winning both the regular-season championship and the MAC Tournament, but it never hurts to have some insurance.
If the Zips are to accomplish that, the upcoming BracketBusters game on Feb. 18 against Oral Roberts and rematches with conference rivals Ohio and Kent State will loom large.
Community track
Members of the Akron community are invited to participate in the Community Relays, hosted by the UA track and field program at the Stile Athletics Field House, at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The top two teams from each division (men, women and co-ed) will advance to compete in an exhibition race during the Gold Section of the Akron Invitational on Feb. 11.
To enter: create a relay team (four people for 4x100 or sprint medley, five people for marathon medley); second, designate a team captain; and lastly, have your team captain email UA track and field director of operations Andrea Tepe at alt39@uakron.edu.
Include the following information: Division (men’s, women’s or co-ed); relay team name; names and gender of relay members; name of the university or corporate organization your team represents (if applicable) and the race in which your team plans to compete.
Entry fee is $10 per university team and $20 for all others.
Sweeping through?
The Zips are on the verge of accomplishing something they haven’t since the 2005-06 season, sweeping the MAC West.
With victories tonight over Western Michigan and Saturday over Northern Illinois, they will have a 6-0 record against the West Division teams.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at http://zips.ohio.com. Follow the Zips on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
