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Ding ding ding ding! Hit the nail on the head. KD found 2 big guys that contributed well - Zeke & Big Dog. He also had a system he could sell to them (by the way, we never made it to the NCAA Tourney with Big Dog). Groce has a system predicated around getting out and running, as well as off the ball movement in the half-court. It's not an easy sell to big guys whom are used to camping underneath the hoop and backing down their defenders. I think your timetable for the turnaround is completely unrealistic if you're only giving him two years. This program was left in worse condition than I think many of us realized when KD bolted. This roster is looking better and better with each off-season, though, and that's a positive. I know you have a Big Man fetish, but guard-dominated basketball wins not only in the MAC, but at the NCAA Tourney level as well. When's the last time we talked about a mid-major making a run with a big man leading the way? The majority, if not all of the "Cinderella" runs by mid-majors are led by guards. I'm looking at this roster, and thinking "Man, this has all the ingredients to be good." Xeyrius Williams & Sayles are your athletic front-court guys (assuming Sayles doesn't transfer). Riak is your big man. Then your backcourt & forwards (small forwards, traditionally) are all in the 6'2"-6'7" range, which is quite tall and not something we're used to (minus LCJ). This team is going to get out and run teams out of the gym, if they can execute the game plan properly and make their shots (that's the biggest factor). There are a few pieces I'm interested to see how they fit (Ali & Roscoe are the big 2), but otherwise I'm very intrigued. And can we quit railing on these 1-2 year transfers? Pro sports teams sign vets to 1 year contracts all the time to bring experience into the clubhouse/locker room. If they can play, even better. We have to stop the bleeding and rebuild the culture, though, and I have nothing against a couple 1-2 year players. Groce is at least even with the curve when it comes to the ever-changing & moving landscape of college basketball.

Welcome to the board! Cheese, Riak, LCJ, Williams, and one of the McKnight brothers.?

Greetings, I am new to the site, I was wondering who you guys think will be in the starting lineup next season in addition, where do you think players like Toles and Williams will fit in since we have little to no in-game footage to truly evaluate their talent?

There is a reason K-Lac ended up at malone or whichever non-D1 school it was. It was obvious D1 was too fast of a game for him. I'd take playing a 6'6 or 6'7 forward at C any day of the week if it meant keeping K-Lac on the bench.

Congratulations to Perry Kitchen https://twitter.com/MLS/status/1143237098050326529

I'd like to re-up a heretical suggestion I've made in the past... one massive hurdle we face that is immutable is that we are splitting a stagnant market with another shitty football program and Ohio State. Even if we rattled off year MAC championships and bowl wins, I am dubious we'd be filling Info. We had the leading BB school for nearly 10 years but still didn't sell out the JAR consistently. My belief has been that UA and Kent are inevitably going to merge or confederate in some way. It just makes no sense for these 2 very similarly scaled public schools to have duplicate administration and overhead, serving the same community providing almost entirely inter-changeable offerings yet in a completely uncoordinated way. Regardless how you feel about a fully blown UA-KSU merger (and honestly the controversy surrounding the idea would be a good thing for both-- from a marketing perspective would be great to shake up the consideration of both schools in NEO), I think given the economics, UA and Kent should petition the NCAA to offer a joint football program. Not sure if this has ever been attempted or what would need to be changed to enable it, but it would make a ton of sense. Football is expensive. These programs are are nowhere near self-sustaining. They cost their students a ton of money in fees that is really an unfair burden. UA spent $7.25M on football and Kent something close to that. Akron students pay nearly $5K extra over 4 years to support this. So, put Akron and Kent football together. One set of coaches and scholarships. Instantly save $5M per year while maintaining a healthy MAC scale budget (UA's is nearly $1M below the MAC football average currently). Maybe the shake up will yield a winning program, double the crowds, and give it a shot at getting the NEO support it needs to have any chance of flourishing. And in success, maybe it paves the way for successfully creating a world class educational institution that can be an economic engine NEO desperately needs.

Hmmm. I would be very interested in seeing Northern Iowa join the MAC.

Looks like last year's offense- lots of effort but too little movement! Sorry, couldn't help myself. GO ZIPS!