Let'sGoZips94

Cincy has the appeal and financial benefit of the Big 12 (and even the AAC prior). It offers a more enjoyable college experience than many inner city colleges. Why is Kent doing well? It has an actual college campus with an enjoyable college atmosphere. When college kids are looking to party on the weekends, they don't say, "Let's go to Akron." They say, "Let's go to Kent." Kent has multiple bars right there on campus, and it's a relatively safer area. What is Ohio? A party school. How does Ohio State thrive in Columbus (horrible crime rates now)? They have the environment. The University of Akron has failed to sequester itself from the downtrodden City of Akron, especially when the Info was built. Instead of creating a campus that promotes a college atmosphere, they have a campus that is a city atmosphere - and a poor one at that. Outside of the select few majors that require higher education, most college degrees are a dime a dozen and absolutely worthless, especially from a university name standpoint. There is very little difference between the basic majors at most schools. The selling-point difference is largely found in the atmosphere. Imagine going into a high school, especially in NEO, and pitching Akron vs Ohio. Akron recruiter: "Do you want to attend Akron, live close to your parents, and risk higher crime rates on a city campus?" Ohio recruiter: "I'm sure you've heard about how much fun it is down in Athens. We have a good time, you can get away from your parents while also being a day's drive away from home, and our degree carries the same weight as any local school you'll talk to." Many kids are largely scared into massive amounts of debt out of high school for higher education. People are starting to wake up to the scam that is higher education (especially the cost associated with it), so between that realization and other schools being able to offer more of the traditional college experience, Akron is really behind the 8 Ball.

Ali was that guy in many games. Tribble in others. The EMU game was all Ali Ali until Tribble and others missed all the free throws in the final minute. Fact of the matter is, @Zippy87 nailed it with the roster construction issues. There simply isn't enough production from the top end of the back court and depth in the front court. However, I don't buy that it's a league-wide problem. PCCC lost InSincere but still has 2-3 guards that can put up 20+ on any given night. NIU has a guard that just dropped 30+ on us. BUGS got the top JUCO scoring guard and he's a stud - if they had any type of depth outside of him, they'd be a real problem. Sears and Dennis are the 2 big guards that left for P5 programs in recent years, but the league has had quite a few top scoring guards transfer in and be here for several years - LCJ, X2.0, Cheese, InSincere, Preston, etc. Fact is, Groce & Co. simply whiffed on backfilling X2.0's production. They have a mountain of an off season ahead of them to not only find big time production at the guard position, but also fill the front court shoes of Freeman. In the meantime, they have an even bigger mountain directly in front of them called the MAC Tournament that starts tomorrow. If they don't have these guys refocused and bought back into Akron Defense by tip off against Miami, they'll be climbing the off season mountain sooner than expected.

Especially given his past.

Wtf. Is this the weirdest coaching off season ever?

As "pedestrian" as OU has been under Boals post-Jason Preston (comparatively), this is one helluva coaching job by him this year with all the injuries they've had.

This. The PPG for us haven't been nearly as bad as the PPG against us. Scoring 70 doesn't get you anywhere if you give up 71+. The defense is the #1 thing that needs to lock back in.

14 seed seems to be the new MAC slot.

PCCC has 3 bonafide shooters that, on any given night, can each go off for 20+. Not to mention the stench from their fans in the stands being a 6th man for them. Miami is not good offensively. We have not been good defensively, and this is the perfect team to "get right" against in the quarterfinals.

So we shouldn't be panicking. We should be applauding the team's genius in missing just the right amount of shots these last 2 games.

How the hell did we avoid PCCC - or how the hell did they avoid us? Give me Miami & Ohio all day over PCCC & Ohio. Miami could very well be a get right game that propels us. That's much easier (on paper) than your arch rival in round 1.

Somebody punch me in the face for watching that all the way to the end. Goodness I don't know why I did that to myself.

"Lack of effort there from Akron." Groce has to be horribly embarrassed.

And with how the refs have no idea how to officiate a relatively sound fundamental defensive player.

Welp. Freeman gone. Ball game.

One of the oldest teams in the league and they have no idea how to put teams away.

Word has it Jay Bilas has a lawyer ambulance-chasing the only fan that stormed the court that day to have him thrown in prison with the death penalty on the table.

Look at the previous winners. All NBA players.

He's playing half the amount of time as what he did at NIU, so the 8.8 to 3.5 PPG isn't shocking. He was also a 62%, 74%, and 65% FT shooter at NIU. 45.5% from the line this year is atrocious, but he has a comparatively very small sample size with only 22 total attempts on the year. The disappointment with Thornton comes from the lack of offensive firepower we have in the backcourt. Otherwise, we're getting exactly what he was at NIU.

Has he really been a disappointment? Maybe by Groce's expectations, but I feel like us fans saw a guy who doesn't light up the scoreboard along with "NIU" and are getting pretty much what we expected.

Speaking of what the Zips don't have... We need a t-shirt cannon. Maybe striking fear in our opponents again starts with striking fear in the crowd. 😂

Let's hope this is the basketball team's version of the soccer team's Cleveland State loss in 2010.

Lol. Haven't boxed out all night and it bites us in the ass in the end.

South Carolina needed a 10-0 4th Quarter to beat Jacksonville State last year, and that was with Spencer Rattler at QB. That was towards the end of the season; we'll be catching them as they're still working out the kinks this year. If we would've quit shooting ourselves in the foot, we would've been more competitive with Kentucky last year. I'm not saying it's likely, but it's winnable. Rutgers might be better than South Carolina, but it's still Rutgers. I will forever think of them as a lower echelon B10 team, and all of the Big Ten is beatable outside of Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, USC, and Oregon.

Yes, Rutgers and South Carolina are beatable for any average-to-above-average G5 program. My expectation for the program is to exist in that category.

I don't think it's as much about cloning their work ethic as it is Groce continuing to build his culture here. Banks, X1.0, Cheese, LCJ, X2.0, and Duvivier were all guys that have played the game the right way while wearing the Akron Blue & Gold under Groce. We've seen the most growth in the individual games of Freeman, Tribble, and Ali because they've been here for 3+ years, but we would've seen the same growth with any of the aforementioned players if they were here for longer than a year or 2. Guys like Prather, Nate Johnson, and Dawson will be instrumental next year in cementing the foundation that has been built by Freeman, Tribble, Ali, X1 & X2, Cheese, Banks, Duvivier, and LCJ. Incoming players like Sharron Young could be extremely special if they see what Akron is under Groce and choose to stay & develop for 4 years.