CLEVELAND, Ohio — How do you prepare a team for this?
This is the Mid-American Conference tournament at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. This is where you can have a sensational 17-1 MAC regular season such as the Akron Zips, and it means nothing in terms of postseason basketball.
This is where the Zips took the court Friday night with a 26-5 record. They took the court with Nate Johnson, the MVP of the MAC and also the MAC’s Defensive Player of the Year.
They took the court with Tavari Johnson as a first-team All-MAC selection and with Shammah Scott as the MAC’s Sixth Man of the Year.
When a team is that decorated, you can assume that John Groce would be the MAC’s Coach of the Year. And yes, he is just that. He deserves it as the Zips lost four starters from last season’s NCAA tournament team. That includes Enrique Freeman who was a 2024 second-round pick of the Indiana Pacers.
But none of that matters this weekend in downtown Cleveland, where the NCAA bid goes only to one team — the winner of the MAC tournament .
Just ask Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk, whose teams had won the four previous MAC regular season titles.
That’s right, four in a row.
And how many NCAA Tournament bids came from that? Zero.
That’s life in the MAC, where four months of a great regular season can be wiped out in a bad weekend at Cleveland’s Rocket Arena.
Akron Zips bench celebrates a three-point score against the Toledo Rockets in the first half of the men’s MAC Tournament semifinal at Rocket Arena.John Kuntz, cleveland.com
**Stayin' Alive**
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So far, so good for the Zips.
Make that very good after the Zips zapped Toledo 100-90 Friday night.
They will be in Saturday’s MAC final, facing the winner of Friday’s late Miami/Kent State contest.
This was a powerhouse performance for the Zips, who never trailed.
It wasn’t a blow out, but it was clear Akron would not be stopped. When the Zips needed a big basket, MVP Nate Johnson delivered. He turned 16 shots into 31 points. He also had five rebounds and six assists.
The Zips entered the game averaging 84.4 points, ranked 11th in Division I basketball. Groce completely changed his offense from the slower pace with big man Freeman to a sizzling style of 3-pointers and fast breaks.
The Zips made 11 shots from 3-point range per game, ranked fifth in Division I. They were 10 of 18 from long range in this game.
This was the fifth time they’ve scored 100 points this season.
Akron Coach John Groce is trying to win the MAC tournament for the third time in four years. John Kuntz, cleveland.com
**Handling the pressure**
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The Zips have won this tournament twice in the last three years.
They didn’t come into the season with a lot of big game experience, but they have it now. Johnson is a superb, savvy, athletic 6-foot-3 wing man.
The Zips added smart Isaiah Gray, a 6-foot-3 transfer from Cornell. He delivered 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting. Amani Lyles came off the bench to score 12 points and grab nine rebounds in 23 minutes.
They played with poise, sending Toledo (18-15) home after losing for the third time to Akron this season.
If you want to go the NCAA Tournament, you need to win three games this weekend. The MAC is a “one-bid” conference. Only the tournament winner can compete in March Madness.
The MAC has not had an at-large invitation to the NCAA in this century!
Yes, this century.
You have to go back to 1999 (Miami) and 2000 (Western Michigan) for the last time the MAC had a pair of teams in the NCAA Tournament.
So the Zips need one more win for a ticket to March Madness. This team is talented enough to make that happen.