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We have all waited very patiently for this month full of madness. Every March, college basketball fans across the nation turn their attention to the Big Dance.
Over the years, the NCAA Tournament has produced some unbelievable upsets by Mid-American Conference teams. Some of the best examples are Ohio over Georgetown in 2010, Ball State topping Louisville in 1990 and Eastern Michigan over Duke in 1996 .
There seems to be a collection of good teams but no dominant team in college basketball this season. This should make for one crazy tournament.
With just five days until the MAC Tournament and 11 days until Selection Sunday, we examine once again where the experts have placed the presumed MAC representative.
ESPN (Joe Lunardi)
Possibly the most enticing projection comes from ESPN's Joe Lunardi. He placed Akron as a 13 seed in the Midwest region. That would set up a match-up with the Duke Blue Devils in Denver. Fans do not have ambivalent feelings for Mike Krzyzewski's bunch; either you love them or you hate them. In this case, fans from around the country would be pulling for #MACtion, at least for one day. Nothing is sweeter than beating Duke; just ask Eastern Michigan.
CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)
Jerry Palm from CBS Sports lists Akron as a 14 seed in the East Region. This pits them against the stingy West Virginia Mountaineers. Bob Huggins would get to face off against his old team. Coach Huggins was the head man in Akron from 1984-1989. Wouldn't it be sweet if Akron could send their former coach home early? The only issue is West Virginia current status as a top-ten team, according to KenPom. Akron loves to let the treys fly, which is usually a key step when completing an upset. However, West Virginia is one of the best teams in the country when it comes to defending the three-point line. Akron versus West Virginia is another exciting possible match-up but an improbable upset.
Washington Post (Patrick Stevens)
The Washington Post, much like ESPN, placed Akron as a 13 seed. Patrick Stevens has the Zips squariing off against the Texas A&M Aggies in Oklahoma City. The Aggies play some solid defense and are listed as the 17th best defensive unit in the nation by KenPom. They don't protect the three-point arc as well as West Virginia and in general are just average at defending the three-ball. In fact, some of their largest defeats came against good three-point shooting teams, such as Vanderbilt. The Zips excel behind the arc and just might have enough magic to pull this one off.
SB Nation (Chris Dobbertean)
Once again, a bracketologist has placed Akron as a 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This time, it is Chris Dobbertean from SB Nation. His latest predictions have the Zips against the Iowa State Cyclones. Steve Prohm's club poises a difficult task for anyone. The Cyclones have a high-powered offense that almost no one can slow down. They average 82.2 points per contest. The way to beat Iowa State is by scoring the ball on their below-average defense. The Cyclones have given up an average of 88 points per game in their losses. If the Zips have a hot shooting performance, they could knock off the Cyclones.