On Saturday, March 15, The University of Akron Zips Men’s Basketball Team beat the Miami Redhawks in the MAC championship to advance to the NCAA Tournament: March Madness.
This season will be a memorable one for the team and campus alike. It is only the 6th time in program history that Akron has won the MAC regular season, finishing with the best record in the Mid-American Conference.
Arriving at this milestone game meant overcoming adversity for the team.
The Akron Zips lost several players last season, and were playing with a mostly new squad this year. The preseason poll picked the Zips to finish near the middle of the MAC standing – not to win the MAC, and certainly not to advance to March Madness.
Zips Men’s Basketball faced a tough non-conference schedule including many teams that would also qualify for March Madness.
Overcoming that adversity depended on the players building chemistry and developing better relationships with each other, which they did, along with a 14-game win streak that made them the hottest team in college basketball.
The streak was eventually ended by the Ohio University Bobcats, but the Zips did a good job of responding, winning all remaining regular season games to finish with the best record in the MAC.
And so, the team just one season into a rebuild found themselves on the way to Seattle.
Like the Akron Zips I had my own set of adversities to overcome to get to Seattle.
I joined WZIP-FM back in September of 2021, where I was sort of a “phantom member.” We use that term to describe members who sign up but just observe. I did not do anything notable within the station until the spring semester of 2022.
At that point, I sat down with myself and realized that radio was something I truly wanted to do. I began my transition from phantom member to leader.
The moment March Madness felt real was when I was sitting in the pregame press conferences and Arizona’s head coach Tommy Lloyd was in there and he took my question and also hearing other major media outlets ask their questions such as people from the associated press and the athletic.
The most exciting part of the trip was being at the game and being able to cover the zips and take notes among many other media professionals.
In spring, I completed my training, but I was still feeling very intimidated when it came to asking athletes questions. I never actually sat down to interview anyone until the end of my sophomore year.
How did I overcome my fear of interviewing? Well, exposure therapy. I just made myself get started and continued to do it. I got better and more comfortable by doing more and more interviews.
Entering my Junior year, I finally found myself and my dream.
I started covering some Zip’s Basketball games. I was still nervous but found a way to persevere and found myself enjoying attending games as credentialed media.
Towards the end of Junior year, I did get to cover the first round of the MAC Tournament with the former sports director of WZIP and found myself receiving compliments on my performance.
I thought I had taken a massive step forward last year, but when this year started, I moved forward by leaps and bounds, becoming a real leader.
As a senior member of the station, I am finally the kind of member I always hoped to be. I took the lead with Zips Football coverage in fall 24 and was part of the decision to bring high school basketball broadcasts back to WZIP.
When basketball season rolled around, I noticed I was suddenly training new members of WZIP how exactly we do coverage of basketball games.
I was honored to be chosen to be a part of the WZIP crew who got to travel to Seattle to cover the Akron Zips. We arrived the day before the Zips would play.
I attended both Akron’s pregame press conference and Arizona’s.
The moment being at march madness felt real was when I was sitting in the pregame press conferences. Arizona’s head coach Tommy Lloyd took my question as I sat next to other major media outlets asking questions including the Associated Press and The Athletic.”
On the day of the game, I arrived at the arena talking with the Arizona radio team talking about the different teams and if the Akron Zips really had a shot. It was incredible.
The Akron Zips came out flat in the game and really struggled losing by a final score of 93-65.
I also had the opportunity to talk with the coaches and players following the game from both sides. I got some questions in and got the responses I was looking for.
Akron losing to Arizona does not take away from what this team had accomplished all year, and it certainly did not take away the impact this trip had on me as a budding sport journalist.
I would like to extend a thank you to the players, coaches and everyone on the Akron Zips Men’s Basketball team. Your hard work led to this opportunity that will shape my career. I will never forget the experience.
