“What an exciting, surreal experience the past two weeks have been for the University of Akron men’s basketball team. Covering the team’s journey from a dramatic, come-from-behind win against Toledo in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on March 10, to the team’s first-ever MAC Tournament Championship and its first appearance to the NCAA Tournament in 23 years, I was able to witness the team’s accomplishments firsthand and recount them for you here.”
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What an exciting, surreal experience the past two weeks have been for the University of Akron men’s basketball team.

Covering the team’s journey from a dramatic, come-from-behind win against Toledo in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on March 10, to the team’s first-ever MAC Tournament Championship and its first appearance to the NCAA Tournament in 23 years, I was able to witness the team’s accomplishments firsthand and recount them for you here.

Participating in UA’s first onsite news conference on Wednesday night, I was able to see how the national media viewed the Zips, which was basically as a team that made it to the tournament through sheer determination that happened to have a fan named LeBron James.

I expected James to come up early in the media session because of his global recognition and his connection to head coach Keith Dambrot, but the second question asked of the Zips’ coach was what advice he had been given by the NBA star about playing in the Rose Garden, where James has had stellar performances against the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers.

I understand that 95 percent of the media members in the room knew next to nothing about the Zips before they received an automatic bid to the field of 65, but even James’ best piece of advice about the arena wasn’t going to affect how the Zips fared against the Bulldogs.

But even the useless LeBron question paled in its obscurity to a question asked of UA junior forward Chris McKnight.

Obviously you guys work well together, a reporter said. What do you like to do off the court? Do you guys hang out and everything when you’re not playing basketball?

I have yet to hear of a team that didn’t spend at least some time together off the court. During the season, the players are together so much that it’s only natural they’d become friends.

While the Zips do play well as a team, I’d say that the majority of teams – especially those that make it to the NCAA Tournament – excel at team basketball.

The disinterest or ineptness at covering the Zips by the national press became even more evident during the news conference following the loss.

Out of the five questions asked of Dambrot, McKnight and guard Darryl Roberts, four of them were mine.

Vincent, thank God for you, Dambrot joked before answering my last question. That would have hurt my feelings if no one asked a question.

With everyone except Nate Linhart returning for at least one more season, I hopeful the team can become a consistent NCAA Tournament participant in the coming years.

A successful run would get people talking and allow the national media to seriously cover the Zips and force it to do so without mentioning James every five minutes.

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