Let'sGoZips94

Congrats on finally admitting you're a Dambrot fan and not a Zips fan.

Well it's a good thing your Dukes of Duquesne are in the A10. You don't have to deal with the MAC.

@Cykron Are you good for men's basketball? How far should I take the Cyclones?

Huge drop of the ball by the CBS crew for not recognizing the potential Hurley/Buffalo matchup. 6 seed. STRONG.

Is he even allowed in Ohio? I thought there was some lawsuit that prevented him from coaching in Ohio, or something like that. Good hire by O-BooHoo. Not what I wanted to see.

BobkittyAttack is fantastic. First, one poster finds out nearly every detail of Boals' life, almost down to the SSN. Then another poster's detective work tracks the president's plane. Breaking news: homing pigeon sent to Boals' returns empty handed. (I hope)

But their main center is only 6'8".

TOS to Buffalo (we can only hope). Congrats to the Canadians, and to the Children of the Corn (BUGS). Great seasons by both, greatly exceeding expectations. Buffalo was ranked the entire season, while BUGS came out of nowhere to grab the 3 seed and finish 2nd in the tourney, all the while being one of only a couple teams to knock off Buffalo this season.

I couldn't believe it when I saw 1980 was their last NCAA tourney appearance.

At least their athletics website has figured out a way to handle the situation. When going back through their coaching history, their website errors out prior to 2014-15. All their current and future fans will know is Kowalczyk.

AT LEAST WHEN @clarkwgriswold STARTED THE BUFFALO THREADS, THEY WERE RESPECTABLE LOSSES THAT DIDN'T SEND THE REST OF THE THREAD INTO A DOWNHILL SPIRAL TO HELL!

As the roster and expected additions currently stand, I would move Cheese to the backup PG role. That isn't to say he won't start, but he proved serviceable this year in the role, and given an entire off-season to work on his craft could really take another big leap next year. Duvivier was a SG in the PG position. I would also slide Reece down to SF, and Sayles down to PF. That should help even the "depth chart" out a bit. I really like this roster on paper though. I don't have much experience with Toles' game, but how are his handles? Any way he can become the backup PG?

Not to mention Dambrot inherited a much weaker MAC, too. He came in post-Elite Eight KSUcks, and the MAC was in no-man's-land with no real standout, top teams. Groce came in and has had to face the best team the MAC has ever had (regular season wise) in Buffalo and a solid Toledo program, while the conference as a whole has posted its best conference rankings in a while.

I was too young for Faust, so I can only grade the 3 Akron coaches I have legitimate experience with - Brookhart & Bowden. 1) Bowden. Restored a program on the verge of becoming a middle-of-the-road FCS team. 2 bowl appearances including the program's only bowl victory. 1 MAC title game appearance. 2) Brookhart. Had the program's only MAC Championship, and delivered it in style. The '05 title game is one of the greatest sports memories I have, especially when my dad wanted to leave and I told him I wanted to watch until the end. However, he won that game with Owens' guys, and proved to be average at best during the rest of his tenure. 3) Owens. Heck of a recruiter - Frye, Blackburn, Hixon, etc. Lackluster results in the end on the field. Frye for Heisman, though!

Positives... Legitimate growth from several players, including Cheese and Riak Defense wins championships, and we were one of the best defensive teams in the country. I fully expect that to be our mantra moving forward, with the ultimate success coming once we improve offensively. Lots of close losses, which challenged us in a year we can afford to be challenged. Hopefully those close games plant the seed to flip those results going forward. Effort. This team never gave up, and I hope that's also a staple going forward. Fundamentals. You can see them for the first time in a long, long while. Help defense, rotating, ball movement, crashing the boards (at times), movement off the ball, foul shots, etc. We stomped teams like OU, Kent, Miami, BG. We learned the term "teamism". Everyone but Ivey returns next year. That's HUGE. We got back to The Q and got a bunch of "rookies" experience in that cavernous arena. We gave Buffalo 2 of the toughest games they had all season. Close performances against Clemson, Illinois State, and Nevada. Winning record in year 2, despite a lot of roster turnover in the off-season. Negatives... Shot-making. Mental lapses at times, especially from our leaders like LCJ, Ivey, and Utomi. Making baskets. Scoring. Putting the ball in the hoop. Putting points on the board. Scoring more than the opponent. Shooting. Finishing buckets. In my opinion, this season became the true foundation for the Akron program under Groce. I'm still wondering who he is expecting to leave based on us still offering scholarships for the 2019 class, but the bulk of this roster will be back, and I'm excited. X. Williams should be a huge addition, along with a few of the freshman and the JUCO guard coming in. Buffalo graduates the most successful class class in MAC regular season history, which includes Massinburg, Caruthers, Harris, Perkins, and McRae. The MAC will be ripe for the taking. Can't State is stuck with their average clown, OU will have a new coach, Miami has a bunch of question marks, BG might return back to earth, Balls graduates a lot, EMU graduates a lot. I don't understand the shockingly quick sky-is-falling mentality on this board. Dambrot left; he's now in the A10, losing in the first round over there. We haven't made the Tourney since 2013, and now have a coach with historic post-season success in the MAC. Have faith, and watch the details of the game. The foundation for success is there. Go Zips!

I really enjoyed 4 years of 0 NCAA Tourney appearances with Big Dog. Also not a fair description of the offense. Cheese is aggressive to the hoop, Ivey can take it to the hole - essentially every guard/forward we have drives. The issues stem from their ability to finish, but another off-season of working on their games should help fix that issue. It's impossible to grade Groce completely until he gets his guys in here. If your issue is the height of our main PG, look at the recruits he has targeted - the majority are aggressive 6'2" guards. Our issues today were 100% offense, and based on the highlight tapes of the recruits we have coming in/he's targeting, that shouldn't be an issue going forward. You're also dealing with a team that had 2 players - 2 - with Quicken Loans Arena experience. I think the moment was a bit big for the "rookies", and that happens. Groce's runs at OU consisted of guard-based play with athletic forwards/centers. I don't believe he had a single player above 6'8"/6'9", and they gave our bigger lineups all we could handle. Buffalo is literally a carbon copy of Groce's OU squads (albeit slightly better all-around talent). There is a recipe for success there, and we'll get to that level I believe.

Oats is STILL working the refs, even up 21. "Stripes, c'mere. Now, I was promised a larger foul margin, and I'm not getting it. You've got the NCAA Tourney committee watching, and we're only up 21, when being up 30+ would get us a potential 6 seed."

Tell the refs to suck less. I'm not blaming the refs for why we're losing. We suck. But I like to watch my ass whoopings without so many whistles.

You know what a foul is? Can you please share your knowledge with these refs? I'm too confused on the criteria from watching the first half.

It is your duty, if you have kids watching who are learning the game of basketball, to turn this one off so they don't 1) get confused by what is & isn't a basketball foul/violation 2) get bad habits from our offense right now. Let's see what the second half adjustments bring.

Did the MAC get word that Buffalo does indeed need to win at least 1 game in the MAC tourney to be a guaranteed at-large?

I hope Can't & CMU didn't start their warm-ups on time. Edit: Nevermind Can't. I hope they did.

Can we skip to Plan C, which might be making shots?

Did Jeremy creep on this board, see your post, and take it as a challenge?

Caruthers.