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I just bought my ticket for the Kent game on stubhub. I just printed the ticket and I will be sitting with the Kent fans since it is a season holder ticket. I did the same thing about 5 years ago wearing my Akron hat and a Kent season ticket holder told me I was sitting in the wrong section. I told him I was in the right seat. He yelled for the usher to check my ticket. A young college student usher came over and meekly stated he did not want to do this but asked to see my ticket. I showed him my ticket and the usher thanked me. I then suggested that he check the ticket of the guy who complained and we both laughed. Looking forward to tonights game.

I feel you could make a decent fan committee from just this forum. We have people from all walks of life. Some former players. Many die-hard 30+ year fans. Some more recent grads. Many Akron alumni and a few who weren't that still want to support the local team. Just take 10 people from this board and mix in 2-3 current students and there you go, you have your committee. No need to do a further search.

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.

This is the most interesting season the MAC has had in years and Miami and Akron are the reasons why.

Just a quick update on our signees. RJ Jones, playing at Cle St Ignacius is averaging 17,5 ppg and 6.3 RB. Jashawn Ladd plays for Ben Davis HS in Indianapolis and is averaging 14.7 ppg, and 3 RB, and Devan Christian at Clark HS in Las Vegas is averaging 20.4 ppg and 10 boards.

Speaking of rewatching - I went back and watched the last five minutes. Evans block with a couple minutes left is my unheralded play of the game. Unreal hustle and athleticism on that one

"I don't know that it's lucky when you do it 4 times in 5 years.". Groce's response to Tod's comments at the selection show party.

Bud Wentz.

I have to say this before it gets lost in the excitement. Evan Mahaffey has been totally boss lately. His effort and determination was the difference tonight in my opinion. Shammah hit the game winner, but Evan carried us a ton.

Not TP, but according to Verbal Commits we've offered JUCO 6'4" 2G Mason Costello from Indian Hills CC.

I think this is great. I hope they go undefeated and we take them out for 2 bids. I hope they keep Steele and we keep progressing, and UMass joins that tier with Kent, Toledo and OU right behind. The wheels are in place for a very good mid major conference with multiple bids, if the schools invest and keep these coaches..

If someone broke the microphone of the woman who does the Zips on-court MC-ing, would the fine be similar? Asking for a friend.

I’m done buying Zips gear until the Fordham AD’s fast food logo is crumpled up and tossed in the dumpster. Which would be criminal to do to any dumpster, but sometimes it sucks to be a dumpster.

First practice is Tuesday, March 17. Spring game will be Friday, April 24.

Akron Zips Men's Soccer.

I was excited when Groce came to Akron, but if I'm to be honest I had doubts he would live up to Dambrot. Not because I didn't think he would do well, but because it's hard to expect anyone to make 9 MAC finals and then win 3 of those. Not only has Groce lived up to those standards, he has surpassed them by making the tournament 4 times in 5 years.

Some talk about donating in other threads and it probably deserves its own spot - it's very easy to setup a recurring donation. I encourage everyone to support however they are able. It all adds up and our program deserves the support. FTR Collective https://www.feartheroocollective.com/contribute-zipsmensbasketball UA Men's Basketball Fund https://fundraise.givesmart.com/vf/CompExFundNIL/team/MBB

I looped Shammah's game winner to easily show just how many Akron fans were in the crowd. Normally you can see a definitive line where Akron's fans are vs. the opponent's fans. Not Saturday night; Akron fans wrapped all the way around. 11k in attendance and probably ~9k were Zips fans. Previous MAC title games - including vs. Kent - only saw 7-8k total attendance. What an incredible showing by Zips Nation!

They need NIL. Not an arena

Not that there was ever any doubt, but last night was further proof that Groce is without question the best coach in the MAC. The halftime adjustments and productive second half timeouts were outstanding.

Sounds like they'll be well rested to whack the crap out of Skaljac's hand/wrist.

This might be sacrilegious to say, but I don't think Suder should even be the 2nd choice. Gillespie IMO was the 2nd best player in the MAC this season. I can see Suder at #3.

Word is that as of last week there has been record ticket sales for the tournament. In the neighborhood of a 50% increase over total sales from last year with a week still to go. Rocket Mortgage is going to be rocking!

Our second Sunbelt opponent, Troy, wins their league tournament.

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.

Bracketology trends as regular season winds down We've reached the final weekend of the regular season in men's college basketball, and conference tournaments are nearly finished on the women's side. It's only March 6, but the madness is already here. Few things this time of year are as important as momentum, and while some teams are improving their NCAA Tournament stock each time they step onto the court, others are slipping down seed lines and putting themselves in danger of missing the dance altogether. We took the temperature of 19 teams in our bracketology stock watch. Trending up: Florida, Michigan State, Saint Mary's, Ohio State, Georgia, Cincinnati, TCU, South Florida, Akron Trending down: SMU, BYU, NC State, Clemson, Iowa State, Kansas, Louisville, Iowa, Purdue, San Diego State You'll be hearing a lot of bubble talk over the next week. Anxiety levels are high for at-large teams teetering on the edge of the bracket. In addition to taking care of business, they also need to root against potential bid stealers. Our model projects the MAC as the likeliest conference to produce one of those thieves. David Cobb explains. Cobb: "It's Akron -- not Miami (Ohio) -- that our model views as the favorite to win the MAC Tournament. The Zips have won 15 straight league games since taking a loss to the RedHawks early in league play. Akron also rates better in predictive metrics than Miami, but Miami will have a strong at-large case if it fails to win the league tournament."

Not sure if this has been posted anywhere, but Fear the Roo Collective has a new hoodie. Just ordered mine. The vest I bought last year is top notch so I'm excited for the hoodie which is a New Era base. Pretty solid price, too, at $40. Go Zips!

I have been a member of this board for years and in the past we would always have discussions about whether Akron could get an at large bid. We would then lose on the road to a terrible MAC team and end of discussion. But this week Akron had been mentioned numerous times in relationship to March madness in the national media. Why, because the discussion revolves around whether Miami, the only undefeated team in the nation, should get an at large bid if they do not win the conference championship. And the argument set forth by national commentators is that they are not even the best team in the MAC because the Zips had a better schedule and have been blowing out teams in the MAC. Lets enjoy the national attention!!!

OMG their president is wearing a bunny costume out of the Christmas story movie. There is so much wrong with that place.

Saturday night, the card shop I work for on the weekends had a huge trade night. Afterwards, the owner thanked all the employees by gifting a box of 2024-25 Panini Obsidian Basketball cards to each employee. 1 pack, 7 cards per. 1 of my 7 cards? Enrique Freeman Rookie Patch Auto /75. Gotta love how Enrique keeps representing Akron.

Great to see he's still the same humble goofy kid he was as a Zip.

Might actually eclipse 1000 a couple times. Looks like their record is 1700, hit last year against a team from Cleveland. Certainly it's not exactly going to fill the place up, but it's also going to bring a few people out that haven't been to the stadium before, at no real cost to the University, so it's still a win and I'm glad they're trying things.

In my wish world, Akron takes on unbeaten Miami in the MAC final and beats them on a banked three pointer with no time left on the clock.

I was a college housemate (Sumner and Gage Streets) of Jack Patterson’s son John. I’m still very good friends with him today. I attended Jack’s funeral, and John’s eulogy he told a neat story about his dad. John’s team made the intramural finals at Stow high school. They couldn’t break a press, so he asked his dad for help. Jack was the beat writer for Ohio State at the time. During a road game trip Jack pulled OSU coach Eldon Miller aside in a hotel lobby and asked him how to break a press. Eldon took Jack’s notepad and drew it out. John’s team won the game. Not sure if they were pressed at any point, but they were prepared. 😊

Kansas State won their first game without Tang. Nate put up a stat line of 33/9/5.

Groce was on 92.3 with Baskin and Phelps today. As always, he said all of the right things. He is such a professional. We are so blessed to have him.

I found out when I went to the game in Pittsburgh a couple years back, that you can buy the gear they sell at the Tournament games online through the company that handles the sales. For example, you can get the March Madness shirt that will be sold at the arena here: https://www.event1teamstore.com/d-i-m-basketball-single-team-shirt-champion-jersey-short-sleeve-tee-fgdca151467a-fw1001024-fgdca151467a.html#color=187 They also have shirts for each site (e.g., there will be a shirt specific to the Tampa site) but they don't all seem to be added yet: https://www.event1teamstore.com/basketball-0/division-i-9/mens-44/1st-2nd-rounds.html Plus, they appear to offer free shipping! EDIT: They appear to have now added the Tampa site shirts but don't have the actual artwork yet, just conceptual artwork. Maybe check back tomorrow.

From The Athletic

If your employer offered you 2 options which are you taking? 1) Build new office with on-site gym, nice green space, and insert a few other amenities but have a pay freeze on all employees for 5 years to help fund. 2) 25% immediate pay bump with 10% annual pay increase, but you have to keep working in your functional ~40 year office building. I don't think people realize the players have a nice locker room and practice facility. In fact, in an article in the Toledo Blade multiple coaches on other MAC teams said they were envious of Akron's facilities. The wooden bleachers is a fan problem, not a player or coach one.

What fun night. Zips Nation showed out, at least 80% Akron fans there and probably the biggest crowd that I can remember there since maybe 2010 ish vs OU. Good times. Easy to root for this group

John Madden once said, "The champion is the champion until he's no longer the champion, and that's what makes him the champion". Normally, this is pure gibberish, but tonight it makes a lot of sense.

Can't blow a 20 point lead in the second half if you're getting blown out. 4D chess move by the Zips.

Yes, I feel realization is setting in for him that he can't elevate Kent's program to where Akron is currently. His only hope is Akron regressing. I actually thought he coached Kent well and had a solid game plan to disrupt Akron offensively yesterday. Jack's and Joe's just beat X's and O's.

Also found at the Whitney plantation in New Orleans. Sojourner Truth spoke in Akron in 1851. Akron is everywhere.

In 2025, UMass played at Iowa and Mizzou Toledo Played at Washington State CMU played at San Jose St We went to Nebraska Kent went to Texas Tech and Oklahoma EMU @ Texas State 4 teams going there per year isn't a big deal at all imo

When I first started following Zips athletics they were one of the best teams in the MAC. Bonzi Wells 🔥🔥

I always wondered what pursuaded Tavari to stay at Akron after putting his name in the portal and the annoucers indicated it was only for half a day and the coaching staff told him he needs to think about what he was losing. He then stayed with Akron. Like these announcers. Best yet.