akzipper
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Posts posted by akzipper
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I remember when I was at UA, the football players always had a sense of entitlement and arrogance. The ones I had class with never showed up and when they did it was a joke. Crazy part is I was there during the Ianello years and the team was a complete joke, while the soccer team was competing for National Championships. Yet none of them acted that way. Probably doesn't help that Akron has to scrape the bottom of the barrel for guys who can't crack it at P5 schools. Naturally this leads to academic and behavioral issues. This culture has existed well before Moorhead and will exist afterwards.
I'd like to think this is the kick in the butt this program needs. But honestly it feels like the beginning of the end.
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59 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:
Time will tell.
Guthrie was a joke that did nothing at UA but place an Arby’s blight on it that probably can’t be scrubbed away for a decade. And he bamboozled many into believing he was better than the sack of garbage he was. Even after he shirked his promises made to UA and bolted for Fordham some still make excuses for his profoundly forgettable tenure. The only positive from Guthrie is Fordham basketball’s probation. Karma is a bitch.
Go Goodrich. If you focus on getting the football program to respectability instead of joining the “I wouldn’t have built that stadium” unimaginative losers, you will have piqued my interest. We’ll build off of that.
Guthrie kept Groce happy and brought in Morehead which I still think is a solid move. He switched us over from Adidas to Nike, which is a huge upgrade and personally I love the new A logo. It's a massive upgrade from the script Akron it replaced. The new A is classic, timeless and feels like it fits Akron. I would however bring back Zippy in the branding as a secondary mark and do something about the fonts/wordmarks we use now. Just too bland for me. But overall I think we'll be in a better place now with Goodrich.
I wonder how long it will take before Fordham gets rid of it's ram logo and is just uses the "F"?
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1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:
Trying to predict this team's starting 5 and rotations is silly. Here's the key, and @Zippy87 eluded to it - we are way more matchup proof this year than we were last year. Our rotations are going to be very malleable based on whomever we are playing.
Evan will pretty much be a staple no matter what strengths our opponents have because he's so versatile, athletic, and a great defender. Against a taller team, we can utilized more of the Barre/Lyles/Brisco/MMK/Evan combinations. Against more guard oriented teams, we'll just insert any 3 guards in addition to Evan and one of the bigs. Need more offense? Throw Evan at the "5" and run any 4 of the other guards.
Zippy87 said we'll have 6 guys in the rotation that will be 6'3" or taller. We'll actually have 7, maybe 8 if Josh Henderson plays as a true freshman. Scott and Head are also both 6'2", so not far off. All but Sharron, Tavari, and Perkins will be 6'2"+.
2024-25 Contributors
James Okonkwo - 6'8" 240 lbs
Amani Lyles - 6'7" 226 lbs
MMK - 6'6" 195 lbs
Isaiah Gray - 6'3" 220 lbs
Bowen Hardman - 6'3" 190 lbs
Nate Johnson - 6'3" 205 lbs
Shammah Scott - 6'2" 195 lbs
Seth Wilson - 6'2" 220 lbs
Sharron Young - 6' 160 lbs
Tavari Johnson - 5'11" 160 lbs
2025-26 Potential Contributors
Chabi Barre - 6'9" 225 lbs
Rich Brisco - 6'8" 230 lbs
Amani Lyles - 6'7" 235 lbs
MMK - 6'6" 195 lbs
Evan Mahaffey - 6'6" 200 lbs
Josh Henderson - 6'5" 175 lbs
Eric Mahaffey - 6'5" 190 lbs (I've heard he's now 6'6")
Bowen Hardman - 6'3" 190 lbs
Shammah Scott - 6'2" 195 lbs
Cody Head - 6'2" 194 lbs
Tavari Johnson - 5'11" 160 lbs
Tai Perkins - 5'11" 165 lbs
I legitimately think we got better despite losing Nate & Okonkwo. This roster is going to be VERY formidable. LET'S GO ZIPS!
The loss of Nate hurts, but did any of us expect him to be the MAC player of the year going into last season? Did anyone expect Freeman to become the GOAT?
On paper I think a lot of people will be sleeping on the Zips. But I have faith that the coaches know what they are doing and we'll be better than last season. Just need some guys to keep getting better.
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39 minutes ago, zippy5 said:
Well they picked a guy with the most Akron name ever. Can't be mad about that.
Experience at Miami (FL) and South Florida is encouraging.
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10 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:
He’s huge. He has to be 80 stories tall.Go Zips!!
What is that, a city for ants?
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1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:
The article I read said he collapsed on the court due to a heart condition. The scarier part is they weren't able to determine the root cause therefore he hasn't had any corrective or preventative treatment. He plays with a heart rate monitor to measure for any abnormalities.
If he has another flair up, he's likely done for the year, perhaps career. Unless Groce thinks Brisco could give Akron 15-20 minutes as a contingency plan, I'm not sure how we could risk that.
Super scary. I knew of at least two guys in my hometown that passed away on the court during games. A silver lining is that it raised awareness and thankfully defibrillators are practically everywhere now.
I remember when it happened to Bronny James, there was a article I was reading that said that basketball players are the most prone to having heart issues. Due to their height and the sudden bursts/energy used when playing the sport.
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Duquesne was arguably one of the worst teams in a mediocre A10 last season.
Edwards or the Jack Harlow looking guy are the only ones worth looking at.
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13 minutes ago, LZIp said:
Yup. Sure is killing college sports fandom for the “have nots” though.
I've mentioned it a million times, but it's just like the current MLB structure and being a fan of the Guardians. But so much worse.
They will never win a World Series going against teams with payrolls 2-3x higher. Sure they can luck into the playoffs and maybe make a run every few years, but it will never be enough. Just like the Zips can make the tournament, but can never compete at the same level.
In the end the "have nots" bring in talent, develop talent and those guys just get poached. But unlike professional baseball, we never get a return on our investments. We don't get compensation or the ability to trade a player for more capital.
The system is beyond broken and nobody will say a thing because only the big schools matter. But I'll always be a fan even if I know we'll never have a fair shot. I'd rather cheer on my school than jump on a bandwagon of some school I have zero connection to like 90% of college sports fans.
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25 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:
Who cares when their bank accounts are greener?
Not only bank accounts, but how can you blame a guy for wanting to play in front of a real fanbase in a real arena? Look we all love the Zips. But if we're being completely honest playing 90% of the home slate each season in front of a few thousand fans has to be deflating. These guys go to a bigger school and they get to experience a Akron-Kent crowd almost every game.
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6 hours ago, 1981 grad said:
Does anyone remember a time when the basketball board went nearly silent in March and April because the season had just ended and there really was not much discussion about Akron Basketball? Instead, people were posting about spring football and how the Zips were going to look next year.
Not going to lie, after the past few days I've honestly considered avoiding this board for the foreseeable future. I feel like whenever I open up this page it's more bad news. I wanted to be excited about the upcoming season.
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1 hour ago, Illini Zip said:
If Young hits the portal I will be in the fetal position. No doubt. But Groce and Wentz could have been working the phones themselves behind the scenes for weeks. We are all completely in the dark here as to their agenda going into the off-season.
The fact that Instagram posts are being deleted means they know something. One guy left and they are all following suit because a team that looked like an easy pick to win the MAC is now spiraling.
Part of me wonders if the writing is on the wall and these guys know Akron's ceiling in a first round exit or are the just chasing money.
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4 hours ago, AkronAlumnus said:
Stupid but so long as we keep Young, I won't lose any sleep.
I'm a bit concerned that only 6 of the "Back to work" images are still up on the ZipsMBB Instagram.
Young and Tavari Johnson's specifically have both been deleted.
I think a lot more dominos are still yet to fall.
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13 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:
Miami is making moves.
Just another MAC school building a new arena while UA does nothing.
Maybe the JAR will get a fresh coat of paint or some new lights in the next few decades to make us proud.
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Kent State extended a mediocre coach and got a wave a media praise and recognition. At least 20 articles I've counted that covered it.
Akron gave the MAC coach of the year a 10 year extension and not a peep.
Makes sense.
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5 hours ago, RoyalBlu said:
As mentioned somewhere before ... It's a MAC Thread, indicating topics/comments about OTHER TEAMS from around THE MAC, - both to make fun of or not - are supposedly ok here.
If this is strictly for bashing the rest of the league, ... then let's make that clear for all.
I have nothing positive, and will never have anything positive to say about Kent or Ohio U.
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2 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:
Outside of Sullinger & VCD, they were not very good. Gillespie had his moments outside of punching teammates in the face, and Medley showed flashes, but they are legitimately graduating the two biggest threats. The more guys that return, the less scholarships they have to actually improve.
Also, all of their individual announcements state "I'm back" which epitomizes what that program is all about - "I" & "me", not "we".
I'm glad I'm not alone here. I keep seeing those "I'M BACK" graphics and felt like I was missing something. I honestly couldn't understand why they are hyping this these guys up so much.
They are returning 5 guys from a team that was barely above .500 in MAC play. Looks like maybe one scored in double figures.
Meanwhile we returned basically our entire team.
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8 hours ago, tpsjugglerdude said:
Looks like Groce got an extension that hasn’t been made public. Love to see it.
Love the "according to who?"
This clown obviously doesn't know who he's talking to 😂.
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23 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:
There it is. The circus kept its ring leader. Amazing.
They really put the MID in mid-major program.
I guess they are happy with 2 tournament appearances in 14 years.
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38 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:
It's a safe hire. 0 losing seasons, Guthrie knows it would be a promotion/raise, and Sendy grew up 40 minutes from Fordham.
Fordham had a really cool campus and feels very ivy league. Weirdly random but there is a soup kitchen across the street that I volunteered at when I was in high school.
I think the A10 is going to be a one bid league for a while, but it's definitely good anytime someone can get away from the stench that is Kent State.
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2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:
This is still my favorite Senderoff related article-
This led me down a wikipedia rabbit hole of former Kent coaches.
Last season Geno Ford won 8 games coaching Stony Brook and Jim Christian won 3 games all season coaching Canisius.
Hopefully pinky takes a similar career path as these two awful individuals.
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6 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said:
I like to buy a generic one. #1 no name. Or no #. And have the profit go to the collective.
I could get on board with this too. A Freeman #25 would be nice too. But I'm sure that money would go to him and not the collective.
My track record with buying jerseys for NE Ohio sports teams is like a curse. Most of my jerseys are only relevant for like one year max before the guy is off the team. I wouldn't wish that on a Zips player.
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2 hours ago, WeRise225 said:
Never been on this website before today, it looks pretty good I was impressed.
I've always wanted a jersey and I'm really temped to buy one. Just not sure which player to choose. Nate Johnson, Tavari Johnson, or hope for some longevity and go with Young.
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4 minutes ago, LZIp said:
Devries left WVU for Indiana. I believe WVU job is still open.
This is the only opening that worries me. Maybe OSU down the line.
Thankfully as of now I don't see Groce's name anywhere when it comes to the WVU search. They seem to be zeroed in on the HC's from Wake Forest and North Texas.
2025 Football Season
in Akron Zips Football
Posted
The Zips made an appearance in the College Football 26 trailer. Turnover Tire!