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I was not expecting Coach groce to be out there signing autographs but I was surprised to see he was! Not enough good words can be said about him, he was telling all the people in line “thank you for coming out” and was just very appreciative of all the support the fans have for the team

All things considered he played well & showed huge potential. He probably only finished with 10 points but I actually found that encouraging because even though St. Ignatius is one of the more complete teams in the state, it was obvious from the opening tip that Coach Dru was solely focussed on not letting RJ beat them. STVM has a player named DeCarlo Prince who is 6-4 and supremely athletic & already has a grown man's body. This year & last I'd say DeCarlo has been one of the two best players in the city - along w/ Garfield's Rayshawn Hamilton, IMHO. Anyway, Coach Dru had DeCarlo sticking to RJ like glue all night long. All. Night. Long. Hounding him. Denying him the ball. Fouling him. Any & everything. Played RJ extremely physically all night... literally every second RJ was on the floor. Coach Dru was going to let anyone but RJ beat them. That's the first I'd seen St. Ignatius play and so even though it kept RJ's numbers down I left the game excited that Coach Dru centered his entire defensive game plan on denying RJ the ball. RJ's going to have to add muscle to contribute at the next level as he's still pretty skinny. So he'll almost certainly redshirt next season. But I think most of us expected that anyway. He's a legit 6-6 and can jump out of the gym. He almost had two head-at-the-rim highlight dunks but was fouled pretty hard on both attempts. He can handle the ball & has a left hand & often ran the point & brought the ball up the court to initiate the offense. He didn't shoot a 3 all night, which I wanted to see, but in warmups he's got a smooth stroke. His free throws are kind of knuckle-balls, but they went in. He's a good and willing passer. He's got super quick feet, can move side to side on defense & gets his hips low without effort. (He was also usually assigned to guarding DeCarlo on defense, so those two kind of negated each other). You can tell he's an Akron Zips-type of personality. During warmups & even during the game he was smiling a lot & encouraging his teammates; appears to be super friendly. So John Groce got another high-caliber young man.

Merry Christmas to all on this board, even those who I have blocked! I am very grateful for this forum. Thanks to the creators, moderators and thoughtful posters. I look forward to accessing this site each day. I believe the best is yet to come. And yes, Virginia, there is a winning football team coming to Akron.

It's been said many times on this site but replacing all the bleachers with chair backs would be the biggest possible improvement for the JAR. It's not like the slightly reduced capacity is gonna be an issue.

My son and his friend stuck around for post-game autographs and the players were great. Really makes it easy to be proud of the program.

I’m loving seeing the youth showing up to the games. Been seeing a lot of youth basketball and football teams coming to games and filling in for the students. Great for growing the game and the fandom

Porter was a senior at Wichita State when Shammah was a freshman. They bonded over their work ethic, see each other as big brother/little brother and have maintained contact. PS- I survived every Literature class through Cliffs Notes.

For a Monday night, Christmas break game against a D2 opponent, I thought the attendance was pretty good. It was a fun night.

I also like the in-conference aspect. It means they've been able to see your program up close and like what they see.

I can’t wait to watch him work through his mistakes this season, blossom into a 2nd team all MAC OL in 2027, and transfer to Pitt or Purdue! #fourtypercentzip #barelylearnedthefightsong

The crew from 2022 is certainly on the naughty list.

I think next year is the first full season that UMass will see that financial commitment for football they have talked about. Even then with the state of the program it will probably take them time to compete. Basketball is a different story. IMO Frank Martin is a washed has been who the game has passed by. His tough coaching style doesn't work in today's player empowerment era. Not to mention despite having an NIL budget that is 2-3x+ most MAC schools he seems to struggle at evaluating talent as his roster is on par with several MAC schools who are shopping TJ Maxx and Walmart clearance bins for players.

I thought the same thing for the first 5 minutes and last 5 seconds of last year's MAC Championship game.

I hope Miami wins against BG. The better they are the better the win is for us. Would love for it to get flexed but I’m sure Saturday will be crowded with football and other things

still very loosey goosey on 3 point line. they have 10 3s. make that 14.

Kent blows

Nickelodeon, The Comedy Channel and The Home Shopping Network were all booked.

I could be wrong, but based on the film and the other linemen who’ve been offered scholarships, my guess would be that he’s a walk-on.

With this post, I am relying on top drawer soccer(TDS) for their accuracy in reporting. On December 17th, top drawer soccer updated their division 1 mens soccer transfer tracker. At that point, TDS was showing 3 high quality players as transferring to Akron. I did not post that update on December 17 as none of the 3 players had posted anything on instagram...showing an announcement that they will be transferring to Akron. 2 of the 3 players are now showing @zipsmsoccer on their instagram page. As a result of 2 players changing their school in the bio, I will share the TDS transfer tracker(below) with zips fans. Aiden Benitez was a freshman this fall at Butler. Aiden Benitez is now showing @zipsmsoccer on his instagram page. Benitez is a 5'8 160 pound forward. In his freshman year, Benitez had 4 goals and 4 assists. Benitez was selected 3rd team all Big East. That is a very impressive honor as Akron's own outstanding forward (Remi Agunbiade) was not selected to any of the 3 all Big East league teams. Benitez was part of the Sporting KC academy as a teenager. Aiden Benitez has also played on the El Salvador U20 national team. At the end of the year, Top Drawer soccer selects a top 100 freshman list. TDS selected Aiden Benitez as the 26th best freshman in the country. Nolan McGuire is the 2nd transfer now showing @zipsmsoccer in his bio. McGuire has played 2 years as a defender for Depaul. In his freshman year, McGuire played almost 1,200 minutes for DePaul. In his sophomore year, Nolan McGuire started 13 of 17 games for Depaul and he saw 1,124 minutes of action. The 3rd transfer that TDS is showing is Angel Lopez from Coastal Carolina. Angel Lopez is a forward with very good size (6'3 185). In his freshman year for the Chanticleers(fall 2025), Angel Lopez started 9 games. Angel Lopez had 13 points as a result of 5 goals and 3 assists. Angel Lopez was selected to the Sunbelt Conference all freshman team. That is quite an honor as the Sunbelt is a very strong league (should have had 5 teams in NCAA field - W. Virginia, Marshall, Central Florida, Kentucky and number 34 RPI Georgia Southern.) From what I can tell, Angel Lopez's instagram page does not yet show a zipsmsoccer connection. Below the 3 transfers to Akron, you will see that Nathan Ferguson is transferring from Akron to Belmont. Belmont has already confirmed that with an instagram announcement. With only 4 players graduating, we know of 7 high school seniors that will probably join the zips in fall 2026 (all have made instagram or twitter announcements). Top Drawer Soccer says that we will have 3 transfers joining the zips in January 2026. with 10 known players coming in and only 5 leaving, I would anticipate that the zips will have some other players transferring to other schools. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL in your comments about Nathan Ferguson and other possible transfers. Nathan is a very nice young man and he gave his maximum effort during his time with the Zips. I wish Nathan Ferguson much success at Belmont. Nathan and other future transfers do not deserve any negative comments on this board as they make their best decision for their soccer careers. From my very limited research, The zips are adding 3 young high quality transfers. I choose to congratulate our coaching staff on successfully adding 3 solid young soccer players. And I wish the best to any fall 2025 zips that will be joing another school in January 2026. Welcome to Aiden, Nolan....and I sure hope that TDS is correct about Angel Lopez https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2026-mens-division-i-transfer-tracker_aid55358 https://www.instagram.com/_nolanmcguire/ https://www.instagram.com/benitezaiden/?hl=en

Is it gameday yet? This week off plus the final exam week is always the longest boredom stretch of the season 😭

In grand scheme it doesn't really matter. We play them in a week. If we win they will no longer receive votes.

Forget Santa, talk to the refs and hope they are listening.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope santa brings you an #11 NCAA seed or better.

Indeed. I don't put much stock in bowl games but I will say the MAC isn't as bad as some think. There isn't much difference between a mid level ACC school and a top level MAC program. If not for the financial need of suicidal schedules, most records would be much better.

Toledo had a mid-season ranked Louisville on the ropes yesterday and Ohio beat UNLV who was in the running for a playoff spot late in the season. On top of what WMU did to kennesaw state, feels like a very strong showing for the MAC so far.

Man this is going to happen to us every single year barring some likely unrealistic elevation of the program. College sports are not in a good position right now, especially for the “have nots”.

The dangers of Elon Musk's X, where anyone can get themselves verified.

The Zips head out to Oxford this weekend to face the Redhawks in a 3:00 Saturday tilt. The Redhawks stand at 13-0 heading into Tuesday night’s game at BG. The Redhawks wins include Trinity Christian, Indiana East, Milligan and Our Lady of the Elms. The Redhawks lost their second highest scorer when Evan Isapro went down last week. 6’8” redhirt sophomore wing Brant Byers leads Redhawk scoring at 14.5 ppg. 6”8’ junior forward Altmar Altason, a Bradley transfer from Iceland, contributes 13.2 ppg. 6’5” senior All-MAC guard Peter Suder is scoring 12.3 ppg. They are shooting an impressive .546 from the field and .436 from 3-point range. We’ll find out Saturday if their strong start has been driven by their weak schedule. It will be interesting to see how the Zips deal with their length and perimeter shooting.

Miami up 36-15 already. Is it possible that BG are once again frauds? 😆

That Akron team couldn't score at all like this team can. Akron shot 46% from the field and 33% from 3P. Miami shot 49% from the field and 50% from 3P on 30 attempts(!). Miami lost by 2. Miami is largely the same team and are now down their #2 scorer. Good luck keeping up with one of the top offenses in college basketball.

Season tickets are down to $53, which is an incredible deal for 8 home games. The Kent game alone tickets start at $25 so you pretty much get tickets to 7 other games for $28.

ISU can quickly rebuild with All-G5 players. It's the G5 schools that have to go scrounging.

As long as I can still put my feet on the bleacher in front of me 😄

That is why if they do play multiple games against non D1 opponents, one of them should be a noon game during the week and bring out local schools as a field trip. Last night was still fun, but pack in the jar with 3000+ screaming 6th graders

I was impressed by the crowd based on all of those factors also. I don't see an official attendance listed in the box score like usual but it was better than some of the other games. The youth teams and family that were in attendance certainly helped. And I don't think they kids will care who the opponent was, they'll remember the Zips winning by 51.

They do a really good job with youth group experiences. I coached my son's team last season and we did one. They were able to do the high-five tunnel pregame and scrimmage each other at halftime. They all really enjoyed it and the Zips staff was great. I hope they keep looking for ways to connect with kids - it really does matter.

It will be important that we run them off the 3-pt line. I feel we're the better team, but the 3-pt line is the great equalizer in basketball and they're good enough to make us pay if we leave their shooters unguarded. Especially since this is @ Miami.

Purdue beats Kent 101-60.

I would imagine we would see the same starters as last game, especially since it’s against concord. It seems like it would work out for a 2 game trial and then revert back to the original if it won’t stick

I would stick with the new rotation. At least for now. I don’t trust that the new defensive effort is here to stay just yet.

Just watched Wright State hold on at home vs EMU. I can't decide if I wish I was blind so I could never see that, or if I'm now going blind with how bad that game was.

The state of Ohio seems to be doing quite well when you consider there's over 350 D1 schools and only two from Ohio are in the bottom half. Also, love to see that one of them is OU.

Yes, I would imagine since they're hosting the next round they will be the favorites in most of these matchups.

It's better than Gunsmoke reruns.

I for one would be thrilled if the Zips are in a bowl game next year, regardless of where or who the competition is I will be excited....

Not a Zip in the pros, but related... John Hackworth, father of Zips Mens Soccer alum Morgan Hackworth, named MLS Next Pro Coach of the Year,