kreed5120

I watched the NFL games today instead of the bowl games. I'm not sure what the powers that be hope to achieve by expanding the playoffs. Unless you're a fan of the teams playing, who is going to watch JMU-Oregon over Packers-Bears? The more they try to expand the playoffs, the more games that will overlap with NFL time slots.

I certainly hope not. I like him there and Tod at Toledo. Two fewer teams that we have to worry about come March.

That's how I interpreted it as well. It definitely seemed like we had fewer breakdowns defensively. Nearly every 3-pointer EMU shot a Zips defender had a hand in their face.

Yes, I am under the impression there has to be something more.

I like the energy and effort Halligan has brought tonight.

The story isn't a great look for OU, but compared to Sherrone this looks fairly minor. I'm not surprised if there is a settlement reached.

You typed all that out just to further my point. Their win @ Wright State is better than any of our wins. In fact, it very well might end up being a Q2 win come March. Their NET is better than Iona and Miami got their win on the road while we got ours on a neutral court. They also have 2 Q3 wins to our 1. I'm not saying they're better. I'm more pointing out the fact we also just beat up on cupcakes during OOC play (evident by the fact all but 1 of our wins were Q4 wins). The better teams we played we lost to. We also played a very weak OOC schedule (#252 per kenpom). Not as weak as Miami who had the 4th worst (#362), but still nothing to brag about.

We rag on Miami for their weak schedule, but their road win @ Wright State is better than any win we have during OOC play.

Yet it's challenging to dispute any of them.

I think the spanking Murray State gave us is a blessing in disguise and yes it was a spanking. They could have easily beaten us by 25 if they didn't get called for so many moving screens. When we're beating Nobody U by 30 it's tough for Groce to convey to the team that the level of defensive play is unacceptable if you want to make noise come March. Now he has this game to point to as a reality check. Personally, I think our "havoc" or whatever defense you want to call it simply just doesn't work against teams that have quality perimeter play. It works against the cupcakes that have either inexperienced guards who are prone to turnovers or teams with poor perimeter shooters. When we play teams that can disect a defense all it does is leave an open shot at the basket or in the weak corner. If there is no defender within 8 feet of a 3-pt shooter those are pretty much practice shots. An elite 3-pt shooter, like Tavari, can probably knock down those specific wide open looks at or around a 65% clip.

Ignoring the problems isn't going to make them magically go away. Even in our wins we've consistently seen breakdowns defensively with many wide open looks. The competition just wasn't good enough to capitalize off of them. Murray State and Yale were good enough to carve us up. As will any 4 or 5 seed we encounter if the tournament if we make it that far. Giving up offensive rebounds because you're not boxing out and leaving 3-pt shooters wide open because you're slow in rotation isn't a winning formula against quality teams. We should constantly be evaluating ourselves and looking for ways to improve. Other teams will be doing the same.

I think we were around #16 in kenpom offensive rating and moved up to #14 after the game. We were around #150 in defense heading into the game. Now we're at #206. You have to go back to 2018 to find a year our defense was rated this low.

I feel the talks of this being Groce's best Akron team was premature. We've been able to run up the score on the bad teams we've faced, but haven't been able to beat the good teams on our schedule. Our best win is against #161 Iona. Hopefully Groce can use this as a teaching moment as this is the worst Akron half-court defense we've seen in maybe 5 years. I think we have the bodies and athletes to improve, but we need to play smarter defense and be more disciplined.

We're just not a good defensive team when we're not generating turnovers.

I think the fact they don't have any competition from other FBS and more importantly pro teams helps them. Similar to the Dakotas in the FCS. Boise has seen explosive growth in recent years, but 20 years ago your options were either go to the game or go cow tipping.

They play in a metro of 850K, which is still rapidly growing, where they're literally the only show in town. They were well funded before, but now will even have more money at their disposal once they join the PAC-12. They've played in New Year's Day bowls on several occasions. Have had success under multiple coaches and those coaches have received big money jobs at P4 schools afterwards. IMO Boise St. is one of the best P4 jobs for an up and coming coach. It has good brand recogninition, well funded, and proven success across multiple coaches.

I'm not sure what would make the UMass job so terrible. I would understand it if they were still independent. Also, who voted for Boise State as one of toughest G5 jobs? Lol

Who were the other schools behind?

St. Paul school for the blind

That's good for UMass, but Boston College is pretty much a mid-major masquerading as a P5.

Michigan fired Sherrone for cause. Rumors on the internet is he had an affair with someone on staff and knocked them up. Time will tell if accurate. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/12/10/michigan-football-sherrone-moore-scandal-fired-for-cause-violation-university/87707335007/

College basketball is a tough sell for much of the country. Most don't seem to care much about it until February/March when the tournament is approaching. Heck even the NBA I hear people joke that the season doesn't really start until Christmas day.

Probably more fitting for the keyboard warriors demanding change on football threads.

That would have been against a ranked Illinois as well so it's not like it was against Nobody U.

This is kind of where I stand. I feel we've find ourselves out of position a lot on defense. Fortunately for us our opponents haven't made us pay (other than Yale). Hopefully this game provides for some good teaching moments for Groce and we can come out with a win. I expect a tightly contested game.