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MAC Tournament Quarterfinals - Akron vs. WMU

If you haven’t heard, VanDelay Sports is sending me to the MAC Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to cover this season’s action. You can expect many short, blog-type updates over the next several days of the tournament. Before Thursday’s games though, let’s take a look at each match-up, focusing on each teams keys to victory.

#3 Akron vs. #6 Western Michigan

On paper this could look like a good match-up, but after Western Michigan’s last two games I’m not so sure. They get blown out at home, against Northern Illinois with the division title on the line. Then they follow that up by just squeaking by far inferior Eastern Michigan in the 1st Round of the MAC Tournament Monday night. Meanwhile, Akron had been stumbling down the stretch, but the Zips don’t have the same momentum questions after beating Kent State in Akron on the final day of the regular season.

Akron keys to victory:

Good ball movement
Limiting 2nd chance points
Stay out of foul trouble

Akron leads the league in assists, and in watching their games it’s no wonder why. They rotate 3 guards who could run the point for many teams in the league; Dru Joyce, Nick Dials, and Cedrick Middelton. The offense excels in moving the ball and finding its players open shots. One watch-out for Akron is the number of rebounds that Western Michigan pulls down. One of the top teams in the league in rebounding the Zips can ill-afford to give the poor-shooting Broncos multiple shots per possession.

WMU Keys to Victory

Destroy Akron on the boards
Stay with Akron’s 3-pt shooters (especially Nick Dials and Rob Preston)
Work the ball inside (to Reitz if possible) as much as possible.

Western Michigan is an awful shooting team, but they are very respectable on the glass. To win this game they’re going to need to get a lot of close, high-percentage shots while capitalizing on all of Akron’s misses. It will be very important for Steve Hawkins’ crew to stay with the Zips superior outside shooters. If they start getting a lot of open looks this one could be over fast.

What I Think
In their last 2 games Western Michigan has looked D-U-N, done. They certainly have some talent, but I think it’s going to take another year for this team to really compete. It would be shocking to see Akron come in and lay an egg in the quarterfinals this year.

By Dan Whitmyer, VanDelaySports.com Head Basketball Writer

published 03.08.06

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What are they putting in the water at Kent State?