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I'm always amazed at the fact 3-pt shooters - especially guards/wings - seem to be so coveted, when so few of them average much more than 11-12 ppg. I'd take a JCampbell (BG) type-guard in a heartbeat over a 3-pt shooter because he gives a team so much more ... and he barley made 20-percent on his 3-pointers.

Although not an official announcement, the verbiage signals to me that Bowen likely plans to test the portal.

I believe Toledo will lose 4 of their 5 starters to graduation or the portal.

Just made my deposit for season tickets again. Hopefully enough people do so to signal support for Ford.

There goes Miami OH's 2nd or 3rd best player.

every post in here makes me nervous to open

That was one of the things that stuck out to me about Goodrich's interview. He pointed out Duke's basketball program needed football to remain in the ACC. That makes sense as at that level only the Big East could provide a comparable alternative if they scrapped football and even then that could be a step down. Akron will never get an AAC, let alone ACC invite so that makes it an invalid comparison. The A10 and MVC are non-FBS conferences in our own footprint that would be a step up in competition compared to the MAC for hoops. 10 years ago I wouldn't seriously considered canceling the FBS program, but with NIL and our well documented financial troubles I just don't see how we can keep up in both sports. It's reported the NIL spend in basketball is projected to be up 35% compared to last year. With that kind of growth it's just a matter of time before our basketball program decays over time. If we continue down this path I fear we will have 2 programs struggling. Maybe not now, but in 5-10 years out.

1.) It allows us to stay in MAC and avoid the Horizon League. 2.) We will never have a tournament run. Those days are over. That's a big reason why Groce left. He'll have more money to retain players like Nate Johnson...money that Bud Wentz and his supporters could only dream of generating. Every upperclassman capable of leading the Zips to an NCAA tournament victory as a Junior or Senior will have left UA for greener pastures during their final 1 or 2 years of eligibility.

If even part of the reason is the football program is hampering the success of bb and the other successful sports programs I have to ask..what does fb do for UA as whole? Even if they managed to when the MAC and went on to win a potato, tangerine, or fruitcake bowl, who would really notice and how would that add to the prestige of UA? There is no amount of success they could have in fb that is remotely as beneficial as tournament run.

I imagine those aren't exactly cheap to host. Even though they were low majors we probably had to cover each teams cost and give them a little bit of money to make it worth their while. You're probably right about us exploring a less costly MTE. Maybe someplace like WV that Kent played in last year.

Do we know which coaches are following Groce and which are choosing to stay with Dustin?

Wouldn't mind that assuming the rest of the OOC schedule included some stiffer competition. The last ABC saw some very competitive basketball programs, I think all but 1 reaching their conference tournament final and a couple (including Akron) making the NCAAT. The University would need to get more creative with promoting it, though, and making it a better event overall.

Bingo. I think the key to the future of UA student fandom is to recruit a greater number of students from outside the NE Ohio region. Even the Columbus kids are more likely to go to games than the Stow kids. This would also help the academic program as we are facing a demographic cliff and could always use more students in general.

Would also imply that he plans to test the waters as the Instagram post read as an advertisement of his skillset.

We might be looking at another "Akron Basketball Classic" next year

Makes me really appreciate goodrich here. What he says here scares me though, thank God Embick just signed a contract extension. This also gives gensler some really nice job security

Surprised a bit about the travel budget just because most of the schools in the MAC are within bus range. One of the ones that wasn't is is leaving the conference so I suppose there is a reduction there. Maybe it more impacted the OOC travel.

Bowen's IG announced he signed with an agency for NIL representation. I would take this as he was awarded that additional year of eligibility.

I think a forum like this is great for brainstorming ideas, certainly for one's they might use. Having a smaller focus group is probably better for working out how best to implement them.

What I heard - budget was cut last year and was going to be again this year. Travel budget, in particular, was an issue to Groce.

Back when I was at UA they definitely were. I interviewed for a internship within the athletic department and they knew I was a poster here. I had a different account back then (Dambrot era) but they knew exactly who I was based on my posts. Nothing bad and I got the job. But they knew lol. From my experience everyone worked very hard and did what they could with the limited resources of a MAC school on a tight budget. They are young, come from big schools and know what they are doing. The problem is most don't see Akron as the final destination, but a career stepping stone. So there isn't much longevity and lots of turnover. My bosses all ended up in the Big Ten, Big 12 or SEC within 5 years of me working there. Personally working for the Zips would be my dream job. But I don't think many others see it that way.