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He's what I could glean my first look at the 2024 Zips - Ben Finley saw the field as the #2 QB behind Tahj Bullock. It won't be long before he assumes the #1 position. He hit receivers downfield, whether they were open or in traffic. He moves the chains. Looking forward to watching him in an upcoming scrimmage. Seems like a nice kid too. From observing the player interaction on the sidelines, the other players seem to like him. Finley tosses one deep. Finley reads the D. Myles Walker reels in a 40 yard TD pass from Finley. Noah Perez is still hanging around. Steele Wasel saw a fair amount of action. He seems more confident this season. More purposeful with his actions. It wouldn't shock me to see him pass Tahj as the #2 QB at some point. Tahj received a fair amount of PT Saturday, but seems to be a distant 2nd to Finley in the QB race. Steele tosses a screen pass. David Jester arrives too late to block a PAT. Look out for Bennett Adler this year. I thought he was somewhat of an unsung hero last season. Solid, durable. And sneaky-strong. I'd predict 5-6 sacks for him in 2024. #36 Dante Jackson handled most of the punting today. Very windy...you couldn't tell much from what came off his foot. Adrian Norton handled the punt return duties. With mixed results. He misjudged one that bounded over his head. Braydon Ruggow saw some action. As expected, he looked overwhelmed. Tossed a bad ball on an out pattern that should have been an INT. Missed a wide open seam route for a TD. Nowhere to go but up for him. 😀 Joe speaks to the 4 QB's who saw action today. A little chilly, but overall a really nice day for an outdoor scrimmage. I wish I had hair like Steele. Owen Wiley lines up for a PAT. Then, my camera battery died. Other notes - Finley pulled in a high snap and hit Adrian Norton on a quick slant for a 7(?) yard TD strike in the second half. Perfectly placed ball, and Norton showed nice hands pulling it in while also keeping his feet inbounds. After the play he took his helmet off and got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Joe was pissed and stopped the practice to forcibly remind every player they can cost their team a game with their reactions to adversity, as well as prosperity. Not much news on the RB front. Marquese Williams saw a few carries. He's a little guy. In the post practice mid-field gathering Joe singled out Fish and McCoy as guys that have been outstanding so far. He also brought in three of his former players (not Zips) to say a few words to the guys. He also mentioned the portal opens on Monday, and if any player isn't fully committed to turning the Zips program into a winner, they should use it. Joe also voiced the players can't be thin-skinned. They need to listen to bad stuff in order to improve. Overall, to me, Joe's leadership style strikes a nice balance of being very direct and honest with the players, while also letting them know how much he cares about them and their success.

Thank you Freeman and Tribble for spending your entire collegiate careers at Akron. Thank you to Ali for coming back, and thank you to Hunter for choosing Akron.

After the Zips game at PPG Arena, I passed Koby Altman the General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the concourse. You would have to think that Enrique Freeman impressed Koby after his 21 and 14 showing against the 7' 1" 270 lbs - Ryan Kalkbrenner, the Big East three time Defensive Player of the Year. I will never forget the 24 points, 21 rebounds and 7 blocks stat line against Ohio U. Really appreciate Enrique and going to miss him.

Here is a chance to make your voice heard. https://s1430320.t.en25.com/e/es?s=1430320&e=908&elqTrackId=efd74c1a1b7a40299e524d6e5aa03bea&elq=b4d1a9c4e33f4fb3a139a523b669c278&elqaid=145&elqat=1

KD has already had a talk with our administration about helping UA in the future, both the institution and athletics. He wants to be a presence in Akron.

🥲

Yes. Busy day afterwards so I will post some pictures and thoughts tomorrow morning. My big takeaway of the day was - Finley is accurate. Short and long throws, in traffic, he hits his target.

LETS GO!

At the pre-season event Guthrie stopped by our group and said hello. We told him about the past post-season banquets and how well attended they were. He said had no idea such a thing was done before, and wrote himself a note to look into reactivating it. Maybe he lost the note.

Here’s what I’ve gathered from our MAC opponents during the spring. So much will change in the coming months due to portal activity, so take it for what’s it’s worth. BGSU: Redshirt freshman Lucian Anderson (2023 HS signee) is taking most of the first team reps at quarterback due to last year’s starters being sidelined with injuries during the spring. Senior safety Trent Sims (2020 HS signee) has been moved to linebacker. Scot Loeffler expects some of the freshmen running backs to see significant playing time this year. BUFFALO: Bulls will be playing a spread offense and attempt to move quickly. No mention of who leads at quarterback, but there have been several clips of redshirt junior Gunnar Gray (2023 JUCO). EMU: Junior defensive end Jeff Adam (2024 transfer from Iowa State), junior safety Bryce Llewellyn (2024 transfer from Charleston Southern), junior defensive back Dramarion McNulty (2024 JUCO) are new comers that have been singled out for leading and making plays. On offense, this is supposedly EMU’s most talented QB room since Chris Creighton’s arrival. KENT: Junior Tommy Ulatowski (2022 HS signee) and redshirt freshman JD Sherrod (2024 transfer from Troy) are competing for the starting quarterback job. Kenni Burns believes the offensive and defensive lines will be the strength of the team in 2024. 5 true freshmen played on the OL at different points during the 2023 season and all 5 return. NIU: The quarterback competition is currently between redshirt junior Ethan Hampton (2021 HS signee) and redshirt junior Jalen Macon (2024 transfer from Arkansas PB). OHIO: Defensive leaders are junior safety Adonis Williams (2022 transfer from Navy), redshirt junior defensive end Bradley Weaver (2021 HS signee), and redshirt junior MIKE linebacker Shay Taylor (2021 HS signee). TOLEDO: Mostly just pictures and a few clips. Hard to tell much of anything.

I'm at the game. Enrique has shown well in the game. 10 it's, 7 boards, 1 assist and 1 block. 2-3 on 3pt shots.

I don't know that it would cover the gas to Brookings, South Dakota.

And hopefully a new jersey. Guthrie favorited my tweet suggesting that Freeman's jersey also be retired.

This guy's had an issue with strength and conditioning for some time now lol https://zipsnation.org/forums/search/?&q=Conditioning&author=monrowe&search_and_or=or

The two teams that pulled off the biggest upsets today had scoring guards lead the way - Oakland (Gohlke, 32) and Duquesne (Grant, 19). When we came close against UCLA. Castaneda led the way with 18. When OU won in 2021, they had Preston and Sears. When Groce's OU teams made their runs, they had DJ Cooper. You get the point. It's hard to pull off an upset without a guard who can score in bunches and break down a defense.

Found this on a WVU meme account. Doesn’t seem the person who runs the account is too upset about it.

Is this the year for the up-tempo offense? If @RoyalBlu is correct and Young contributes meaningful minutes at the point I believe it's possible. I keep waiting for it. I so enjoy it. Some of you might remember the team South of Akron running it. Please basketball gods make it be so. Groce usually teaches one position to true Freshman. For Sharron Young that will be at point guard. Tavari should be able to play all three guard positions by now, but he is not likely to be able to guard the wing position well. I expect to see both Wilson and Okonkwo play 35+ minutes a game. But Wilson will probably only play up to half of those minutes at the point. The rest of the minutes will be at the 2 and 3 positions. Wilson unlike Tavari is plenty strong enough to guard the 3 position. We could possibly have three point guards on the floor together and the half-court offense could be initiated by any of them. Talk about a defensive nightmare. So the rotation I would like to see next year is Young at the point, Tavari or Scott at the 2, Wilson at the 3, Nate or Prather at the 4 and Okonkwo, Marvin, Baker, Lyles (or our last recruit??) at the 5. We would have 4 guards capable of bringing the ball up the court in transition. So we would be able to rebound and run. And with a rim runner like Okonkwo our fast breaks could become lethal. Unlike last year our guards have to be able to hit a fair amount of those open shots from deep. If that is the case we can spread out opposing defenses then drive and kick, drive and kick, etc. It's not something you typically run all game or against every opponent. But it's effective and damn cool. Please, please, please!!!

Big hire for former UA AD Hunter Yurachek. Letting him walk after Rhoades left was a huge mistake. Obviously he'd have moved on from UA at some point, but he'd have stayed here for a several years and done some great things.

Named first team All-MEAC in 2023.

Had a really rough year coming back from injury. Was not the same player as last year. Rarely attacked the basket and just settled for a 3 point shot. Further, he did not shoot the ball well from long range. I would think the coach guided him to seek another team but that is mere conjecture. Although he was a great guy, this is addition by subtraction with regard to how the team will be next year.

PCCC gets another transfer, this time from Boston U. 6'8" F Anthony Morales. Played in 17 games last year and averaged 10.7 ppg and 4.3 rpg. He's a stretch 4 that had some big time performances in the Patriot League. Not sure if it was injury or eligibility that kept him out for the first month of the season, but his first game wasn't until 12/10. Roller coaster type player that seems to disappear completely for some games, and explode in others. You also may recognize him from his Academy Award Winning performance in the Disney movie "Encanto" where he played Bruno.

This was a fascinating listen. Bud Wentz needs to be at the forefront of PR for the University - he's a tremendous communicator. For those that haven't listened to this, here are some key takeaways... - NIL program is built around community involvement; designed to retain players more so than attract players; Wentz believes there are changes in NIL are coming very soon that will make Akron's program more of the model as the "pay to play" schemes are going to get shut down - FearTheRooCollective.com is the NIL site; they're working on finalizing it to be more formal and easy to use; he mentioned one time donations, monthly donations, etc., and a wide range of amounts starting as low as $10 - The basketball practice facility isn't finished yet; a grand opening is expected at some point; Wentz said our facilities across the board are nicer than most mid majors, including James Madison - Akron basketball alumni, since Groce has been here, have returned at a very high rate to continue to support the program. Part of the NIL program is a former player assistance program so they can be involved and build longevity with the program @roopride You asked what is a better donation destination - the school itself or the NIL? That's a personal preference, but I'll say this: success in college athletics drives enrollment. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/online-colleges/does-march-madness-performance-drive-college-application-rates/

Happy Easter!

I have heard that when it comes to recruiting bigs you need to have a point guard they are excited to play with. Often the success of a post player is determined by how well the point guard can distribute the ball to them. And they know it. Hopefully a more mature Tavari and the addition of Sharron Young proves to be a magnet going forward. Also, we have learned that it was Freeman’s Mom who really deserves credit for recruiting him by convincing him to try out. I still give Groce credit for recognizing his athleticism and bringing him in as a walk on. Then I give Groce credit for not being prideful because Freeman was grading out better than his recruits. He went with the best performer in practice, period. And finally, thanks to Freeman the coaching staff can show what is possible at Akron from a developmental standpoint. Freeman with all of his physical gifts was raw. Their guidance combined with Freeman’s desire and hard work took someone without a single D1 offer and turned him into one of the best forwards in college basketball. That’s impressive. Thank you Enrique!! Well done!!

Creighton was a really tough matchup. I watched them several times this year, including when they blew out #1 UCONN. They have a pretty high ceiling, and Shereef Mitchell at Ohio came from Creighton (where he didn't play much). Creighton is a talented bunch. Congrats on the MAC tourney win, it was much deserved. We'll see you all in Athens in 10 months or so. 👍

Made the drive yesterday. Great atmosphere. Lots of Zips fans in the building. Pretty much a full house for our game. Downtown Pittsburgh is such a wonky place. Lots of narrow streets and damn those bridges But anyway, Akron played as well as it could for 18 minutes. The next six game minutes did not go well. Then they got impatient and started shooting 3s and we know they ain't too good shooting from long range. Creighton shot 59% from 3. Ouch. But honestly, the Zips never stopped giving great effort. I know the correct narrative is this team never found the gear we thought they had. We would get a little tease here and there. But as the sadness of the end wears off, that Kent championship game will be the enduring memory. We all want this program to pull off an "Oakland" at some point, but for now, season is over. Future is in the portal somewhere. But this was a great group of seniors and at least we have a regular season title and two tourney titles since 2020 (no tourney in 2020) to be proud of. I'm confident that Coach will find some help in the offseason. Well done Zips! Looking forward to another banner going up.

Not even close. In 2013, we lost to VCU 88-42.

Zippy is the #1 ranked mascot in the Field of 68.

The MAC Coach of the Year lost 10 players.

We need someone willing to spend the weekend hanging out at Diamond Deli.

Every spring game is full of vanilla formations and plays. Now-a-days it's a Marketing event more than anything else. Lee Owens would run Ben Ruhlin 25 times in the spring game, and people would be expecting Ruhlin to be our star back in the fall...only to be disappointed when he got only a handful of mop-up carries the entire season. It kept Brandon Payne and Bobby Hendry healthy tho. Finley's already enrolled. He'd need to sit if he transferred again. He's not going to go through the hassle of appealing sitting out another season just to transfer to Appalachian State or UAB. He's the odds-on favorite for the starting job here. There were some people, me included, 😀 who saw something special in Enrique Freeman even as a freshman. Soft hands, great footwork...relentless motor. I guess that's what I look for in a spring game...young guys that exhibit the tools to be a contributor one day. Breakaway speed, a WR that makes a circus grab or two. Just getting a chance to see some of the new players in person and see how tall, cut, fast, strong-armed etc. they are is interesting and fun.

I've heard from multiple people that Ben Finley is looking very good. My goal is to attend the Saturday morning practice. If it works out I'll take some notes and pictures.

The 3rd place and Championship game will be streamed on YouTube.

Good. From Arth’s first year until now, the one constant has been below average OL line play as a whole. Must fix at all costs.

Not the best stats for Dawson to try to entice a good program off the portal. I wonder if he ever really got back to 100% after his injury? He didn't drive to the basket like he did before. We'll see who comes in. Maybe Groce had some success on the recruiting trail. Once a Zip, always a Zip. Best of luck Mikal!!

This thread has turned into Keeping Up With Keith Dambrot's Friend's Kids.

Thank for the input and info. I’ll say I am not a fan of NIL but I am not trying to run it thru a grinder here either. Just trying to understand NIL a little better and how UA adapting to it. Not opposed to players benefitting, but scholarships (room/board/food,etc..) to pay for college are pretty good too. I think the combination of NIL and the Portal are what are really rubbing me the wrong way. And NIL being used to get players to basically pay players to come to a school is wrong. I trust it never was the intent but how it’s being applied you have to be pretty naïve to think otherwise. College sports has a certain meaning to me. It’s what I am grounded in. Kids changing schools every year and chasing money in these moves is not what college sports are about in my opinion. It is really changing my interest in the game. There has to be some $ limits somewhere. If a young man or woman are looking for the $ or feel they are owed/deserve the $ because what the university, NCAA, coaches are making; then go pro. That is where an athlete gets paid due to their athletic ability. A few other thoughts: Colleges like UA. · Where do they end up? · They can’t raise funds like the big boys. · I hope they don’t have to pay NIL to get certain caliber players. This is a vicious downward spiraling circle. · I am like others and assume the big boys will separate. So be it, but then how much $ have to be spent to be at the top of a second tier group My legions to UA · I am a long time season ticket holder. And a modest contributor to the school and athletics. · I really follow the ZIPS and not many other schools · That said I have little interest to donate $ for the purpose of paying players. · So I prefer to donate to the school athletics. · But I am not going to throw more and more money to keep up with the Jones (other schools) to pay for top players. I’ll pause for a moment and stop pouting. It’s hard to be enthusiastic and excited when the future is so uncertain. Hoping you guys here can make me feel better about all this stuff……………..

😱😱😱

I'm just happy they made it from Toledo to Youngstown without stopping to see what we have at UA.

Whenever they show a Purdue game they mention Zach Edey was the leading scorer and second leading rebounder in the NCAA this year, I wish they'd mention who the leading rebounder in the country was (who also happens to be 9 inches shorter than Edey).

Pontoon boat in the Portage Lakes maybe?

Hanging a new banner

Has nothing to do with strength/conditioning. Has everything to do with an inability to put the ball in the hoop consistently. Vs Ohio in the Semi Finals - 14 or 16 pts in the first half & 50 pts in the second half. Prime example, especially being the 2nd game in 2 days. I mean, hell, we won the MAC Tournament which is 3 games in 3 days. We need shooters/scorers. Period.

I am a long time Zip fan and and about halfway through the season when we were undefeated in MAC play and I heard Freeman and Tribble indicate that this team had another gear that they had not played their best basketball. I believed them and thought we were going to have a special season going undefeated in the MAC or at most 1 or 2 losses because the MAC was having a down year. I thought we would would win the MAC tourney and finally have a good shot at winning our first NCAA game. Then we played a tier one team, James Madison, and our bench scored a total of 4 points. I thought that this team lacks the bench talent to beat a tier one team in the NCAA tournament. And then we started losing to some really bad MAC teams. And there was one consistent weakness the entire season, we did not have a player who could knock down 3 points shooter and as a team we were really bad at hitting outside shots. We ranked 262 in the country in 3 point percentage and had the 2nd worst 3 point shooting Akron team in the past 10 year. And Groce knew going into the season he had a stud inside player, Freeman, who could dominate the middle. He had 3 players, Ali, Tribble, and Hunter who could score in different ways. He had 3 guys that had showed potential, Tavari, Nate, and Dawson. All he had to do was to bring in 2 guards that could knock down the 3 so that teams could not double and triple team Freeman. In football terms, if you have a stud quarterback, you search the portal for offensive lineman to protect your stud. In basketball terms, you bring in a shooter that if they double and triple team Freeman he can play inside out and have a shooter make the 3 ball. Instead, he brought in Thornton and Scott who could not shoot the 3 ball and could not create their own shot. Groce, who brought us X and LCJ, picked the worst year to strike out when using the transfer pool to bring in 2 guards. In the latter part of the season teams just double and triple teamed Freeman and we struggled to shoot the 3 ball. I think Groce is a great coach and brings in quality student athletes. I know we won in Cleveland and got to the tourney and should be happy with that achievement. However, I would ask everyone on this board one question, did this team meet or exceed your expectations when we started this season.

I don’t like what is happening to college sports!

My experience as a UA student was long ago and very good. My expereince as a parent of a current UA freshamn has been very postive. Everyone with whom I have had contact has been great (admissions, Office of Academic Retention Services, Williams Honors College, The College of Engineering, etc.), and my son is having a great expereince. So my current sense is that there are a lot of people on campus who care a lot about UA. I don't doubt there are problems, as there are on many campuses, but I feel like the current leadership is overall very good.