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To the people on here complaining about the amount of money raised by MBB on the day of giving, I will say the following. You can be part of the problem or you can be part of the solution. Every donation, no matter how big or small will help further the program. Put your money where your mouth is.

Tim Campbell hasn't been the strength coach for MBB for several years no matter what his outdated bio says. Also, please don't feed the trolls.

Having the 7'1" Big East Defensive POTY is certainly going to help give you an advantage on the boards. Strength & conditioning had nothing to do with Kalkbrenner's height. Want to know what helps more? Defensive rebounding opportunities. Akron had 9 offensive rebounds to Creighton's 5. Akron had 17 defensive rebounds to Creighton's 33. When Creighton doesn't miss, there are going to be fewer opportunities. When we miss a ton, Creighton is gonna have more opportunities. The only thing exposed that game was us sucking eggs shooting wise, and Creighton had an all-time shooting game. Had Creighton shot a solid 40% from 3 (above national average), Akron would've had a good chance at winning that game.

Two things. First, I don't enjoy going to games as much either. They are too long and too much dead time. Second, and worst of all, the people who run college athletics don't care if I go or not or not as long as more commercials are sold catering to degenerate gamblers and drunks. My question is this. Do the people at universities know they are killing the sport? There was a time in the past 80 years when professional boxing was the number one sport in the USA. Then it became a gross representation of a sport and is an afterthought. Is that where college athletics are going?

Maishe Dailey didn’t get the memo.

Creighton also killed Akron on the boards and boxing out and setting screens.There’s little nuances that expose weaknesses and strengths.

😂

I have been a HUGE Zips football fan for about 30 years but I don't enjoy attending the games nearly as much as I used to. A 1-hour game shouldn't take 3&1/2 hours to complete. Of course winning would probably help more than anything. lol

Meh. Even with our “beefed up” OOC last season, it’s not like we beat teams we didn’t typically beat. SDSU’s, Northern Kentucky’s, and middling Sun Belt teams are the teams we should beat every season. Point being - tougher OOC didn’t seem to hurt recruiting at all even though we didn’t follow through.

UNLV, St Bonnie, South Dakota St, Bradley, Northern Kentucky, Gardner Webb - those were the non tournament/SBC Challenge opponents. Are we really not looking to at least match that?

We will not be playing an OOC schedule like last season. Expect a Dambrot style OOC slate. Too many new pieces to put together before MAC play. Anything less than a 20 win season hurts future recruiting. Winners want to play at winning programs.

I guess they saw everybody complaining about the 4 hour college football games last year and decided to make them 4 and a half hours!

We just lost our 4 best players to graduation including the MAC player of the year and the players that remain from last year were underwhelming. (Scott, Tavari, Johnson, Prather, Lyles) There is no way anyone can predict how good we will be next year as West Virginia Transfer U. With the transfer pool, this is going to be the new reality. I was so disappointed with our transfers last year (Thornton and Scott) that I am just wary of relying on new transfers. Lets hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

thought that this might interest a few people.... https://www.soccerwire.com/news/substitution-rule-changes-approved-for-ncaa-division-i-mens-soccer/

Ali had more to do with how raw he was as a player. A 6'8 wing is big even by P6 standards. I do think you will see more and more of those big sized developmental players trickle down to the mid-majors. It doesn't make sense for an Iowa State or Northwestern to take a flyer on developing a player for 2-3 years when they can just go buy a proven contributor from Kent, Akron, Toledo, etc. The MAC is the AAA farm system now. We both develop the players and now take the guys who are being sent back down.

Here's a little secret. P6 body types are usually going to be a little bigger that MAC body types. The LCJs and Alis of the world don't get pursued by the P6 programs out of high school. They look for top skills and body types. I'm sure Creighton's torrid shooting had everything to do with the weight room at Creighton.

Here is my way too early line up Starters Sharron Young 20 minutes Seth Wilson 25 minutes Nate Johnson 25 minutes Josiah Harris 35 minutes James Okonkwo 30 minutes Bench Shammah Scott: 20 minutes Tavari Johnson 15 minutes Ryan Prather 20 minutes Darrian Baker 10 minutes Get minutes only due to injury or fouls Amani Lyles MMK

I hate the two minute warning because nothing happens. Instead of this money grab, theu should institute a 20 to 25 second play clock in the final four minutes to force actual, you know, football. Fewer commercials, more plays. I like helmet communication. It's 2024 for crying out loud.

Big news. The helmet communication especially should help make the overall product better.

Must watch tonight.

Another note: Unlike many on this board and others, I believe the MAC will be a much much tougher conference overall next season. (Hopefully it shows as early as non-conference). Yes, it's hard to predict each team with all the portal comings and goings, but judging from what teams like Ohio, BG, Toledo, Ball State and Kent have added, I would expect all to be better. Like Akron, those teams have not necessarily replaced departed 'players' as much as they have recruited to their weaknesses. Ohio, for example, desperately needed some size inside, and got it with a 6-10, 250-pound portal. Yes, he's D2, but he has a solid resume and should be a rotational player at the least. I think the same can be said for incoming transfers at these other MAC schools. Toledo, for example, was not the 3-point shooting team last year that they usually are. Now, all of their portal recruits are proven 3-point shooters at the college level (2 from the MAC). Time will tell how good all of these players are on their new teams, ... but in terms of recruiting to their weaknesses, it seems most MAC teams have done that, getting players with proven experience or (like Akron) P5 pedigree.

This is a good point. These wvu and UNC kids aren't going to shy away from a OSU or JMU or whatever big opportunity we have, that we haven't been able to get over the hump to this point

We agree. I have already stated that Groce should not let up on the OOC schedule at all. This incoming group can handle it mentally, but they are learning a new system with new teammates. Even our players from last year will have different roles, greater expectations and a different style of offense to learn. Edit: Also, all three WV transfers need to work on their mid-range game this offseason.

I think there is a psychological aspect to shooting and it’s the reason Groce doesn’t like to talk about it. Talking about it raises doubt and that leads to a spiraling lack of confidence. I think even our good shooters struggled because the pressure to help out Freeman was so intense. Hopefully the additions of Harris and Wilson will lift that pressure and the others can play more carefree and better as a result. Even though this last team was flawed and peaked early they had heart and determination. They grinded their way to that tournament championship. It wasn’t pretty, but they earned it. And even though I agree that Sharron Young is a major draw for the WV transfers, winning the MAC tournament was likely a prerequisite to this rebuild happening. So kudos to the Ali, Freeman and Tribble class of Zips for continuing our upward projection. Future is still bright.

Frankly ... with 3 years of P5 experience on hand at multiple positions, along with the holdovers for depth, this team SHOULD be able to make a statement or two (read: WIN) vs. P5 non-conference opponents in November and December, then improve over the course of the season in the MAC. Not predicting or expecting anything like an undefeated MAC season, but on paper this Akron team seems to compare with those good Buffalo teams, and they were able to establish themselves both in non-conference and conference. If Akron can do the same, I think the MAC and post-season aspirations should be easily attained.