The University of Akron men’s basketball team won’t go dancing this week.
The Zips did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament but their appearance in the National Invitation Tournament will have some added zest.
The Zips (26-8) will play No. 3 seed Ohio State (20-13) Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Value City Arena in Columbus.
The No. 6 seeded Zips earned an automatic bid to the NIT courtesy of winning the Mid-American Conference regular-season title. UA missed its opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament when it lost to Buffalo in the final of the MAC Tournament on Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena in a heartbreaker.
“I think it’s a tough matchup on the road, obviously,” UA coach Keith Dambrot said. “They’re a high major, Big Ten team in their building. I personally think we should have had a home game, but that’s the politics of all of this.”
Politics might have gotten the best of UA with respect to the NCAA Tournament, something Dambrot predicted after Saturday night’s loss.
He suggested the selection committee favored the ratings from ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) where the Zips rank No. 72 and Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings (KenPom) where they reside at No. 85 opposed to the Ratings Power Index (RPI). The others tend to tilt toward larger schools.
“So if Cincinnati or Tulsa or UConn had a 28 RPI (the Zips had fallen to No. 36 by Sunday night) I think they would be in the tournament,” he said, “but we’re not going to get in the tournament. I mean, I don’t want to sound negative, but I’ve never seen it yet.”
Beating the Buckeyes would certainly add some notoriety to the UA program.
“Any time you can play a Big Ten team it’s an opportunity, but anytime you can play the Big Ten team in your state it’s great. It’s going to be hard,” Dambrot said. “There’s no question about it. They’re a good team and they’re especially good in their building.”
Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said Saturday during a conversation with conference beat reporters that the MAC wants to continue to progress, mentioning the league was a Top 10 in conference RPI.
“The next step in our evolution is we need a couple teams to break out and raise their visibility and raise the visibility of our league,” Steinbrecher said.
UA certainly has that opportunity now.
Tickets for the game go on sale to the public at 1 p.m. Monday at the Athletic Ticket Office, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000. Tickets are $20 or $10 for reserved seating.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at www.ohio.com/zips. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ.