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I've watched parts of a few of the Sun Belt games over the past several days. Game attendance has varied between ~600-2,500 thus far. We give the MAC a lot of crap, but let's take a moment to at least acknowledge the one thing they have done right is the MAC tournament. They put on quite the show. We're easily hitting above our weight class when you see the attendance figures we put up compared to other relative conferences and even some, like the AAC, that you would expect much more out of.

I wouldn't get caught up in trying to keep up with the Jones's. Infocision has financially hamstrung the football department. If you add in what we're spending on the stadium to what we're spending on everything else football related (coach, staff, recruiting, etc) we're near the top of the MAC. The problem is we can't both make debt service payments on the stadium while still having an upper tier G5 budget. That's why we just lost an assistant to Marshall. IMO NIL is a great equalizer for a program like Akron. Facility upgrades are immensely costly and don't correlate directly to success. Two of our G5 peers in the Sun Belt built new arenas in the last 5 years. This season they went a combined 15-21 in conference play. What matters for success and notoriety is players. We already have the training facility and fantastic locker rooms that are in the upper echelon of the MAC. IMO every dollar you spend in NIL equates to $10, $20, maybe more in facilities. You get a greater ROI in NIL.

We've received 1 vote in the AP top 25 poll

Hard for me to complain about the gym when the team playing there has 31 home win streak.

Being 6'8", hopefully with a good off season of work Oggie can play a stretch-4 type role next year. That'd give us PG: Sharron(6'0") / Perkins(6'0") G: Head(6'3") / Henderson(6'5") (Henderson may start & be MAC Freshman of the Year next year - the dude is crazy good) G: Eric(6'6") / Halligan(6'5") P: Oggie(6'8") / MMK(6'6") C ??? / Barre(6'10") We need a starting ~25 mpg big for next year.

The MAC is really lucky their top teams are consistently within a few hours of Cleveland and typically have a decent alumni presence in the NEO area. The geographic footprint of other conferences is a disadvantage when it comes to conference tourneys.

I told an NIU fan a day or two ago that if NIU never planned to fund basketball they should have just kept Montgomery. They would certainly be in a better position today if they had. He at least kept them in the middle of the pack in the MAC. Not really sure NIU can expect more out of a coach unless they start taking basketball seriously.

I feel like we need multiple contributors via the portal if we're gonna be close to the same level next year. We're losing so much and have so little experience coming back.

I think the contrast between how much NIL hurts our football but helps our MBB is amazing.

Good point. This year I'm glad we'll get our "Cleveland legs" under us vs. Buffalo as opposed to jumping right into the semi-finals vs. either Kent or Ohio.

Yes, I can see now that's where it got sent.

Men's soccer has had similar in conference success and national level success in out of conference games and the NCAAT. Has the swim team consistently been placing in the Top 25 nationally? The Top 10 at all? That's a legit question. I don't know. If not, I still favor the soccer team, but what a great problem to have...too much winning. :D

With WMU & Miami both building new arenas, CMU, Kent, and Akron will be the only schools left in the MAC using glorified high school gyms as arenas.

I think Groce will survive financially without it.

I just read Groce's contract and if he makes that shot, Groce gets a $37,000 bonus for being champions of the MAC.

102-107

Well, looking back through my email now and I'm not even seeing that. Perhaps my order didn't go through 😅

I looked back and did not see any shipping notification. In both instances, I only received an order confirmation email.

I don’t think we have anything to worry about with other candidates in the mix. Groce only had success against PCCC Steele-L Senderhoff-WW Jones(Yale)-L Cross(Troy)-L Miller(Murray St)-L

Stefan is starting for Austin FC II this evening. Game is on YouTube…

Not sure MMK isn't the replacement for Evan. Similar height, high motor, good head on his shoulders, etc. Pack on some muscle, keep improving the offensive skills, and he's almost a carbon copy.

I wouldn't be surprised if Groce has the awkward talk with Briscoe when the season is over and to see him move on. Marvin is showing more and more that he's me then just a desperation back up big and I think we'll see him in additional different roles going forward.

Akron is 2nd this year in the MAC in rebounding despite our tallest key contributor being 6'8". A better rim protector would be nice, but scoring and athleticism are the dominant attributes. Any additions will be under that mold IMO. Anybody coming in will be expected to work their butt off and play bigger than their physical size appears.

I have to wonder if there is any upside left with Barre and Brisco going forward. It does look like Marvin is gaining strength, but he is still undersized for a big. I think we are likely in the portal market for a big again this year. We also need for Oggie to have a nice, full and productive offseason.

Christion comes in as a freshman at 6'9" but it's hard to believe he'll be ready and may well redishirt.

This could be a head fake, but I still prefer Buffalo to UMass.

I haven't followed closely tbh. That could be the case. The MVC is also very deep. Not many games you can feel safe penciling in wins. Key example Belmont during Arch Madness. IMO the MVC is one of the few mid-major conferences that puts on a better conference tournament than the MAC. Mainly because there are usually so many quality teams and fans show up in large numbers.

Akron's 34-2 record in MAC play is the best record in MAC history over a 2 year span.

My favorite part of this is how the thread title about Dambrot referred to him as "Ol' KD" for YEARS until the end, when all of the sudden THAT WAS TOO DISRESPECTFUL! AND WE SHOULDN'T BE MAD AT HIM ANYMORE! and it was changed to just Keith.

So far he hasn't.

Hmmmmmm….Boston College open GA Tech open. ACC schools. K-State??? BC has poached MAC coaches in the past. Frank Martin to BC maybe???