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2021-2022 Akron Zips Basketball- Looking Forward


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I really don't understand this conversation.  Why worry about something you cannot control.  Freeman has almost no offensive skills and would be a project for any big time program.  The best place for him is Akron where he will use the off season to develop an offensive skill set to match his defense.  This young man has to put in the hard work to get better.  Does he have the mind set to get to the next level.  Time will tell.  

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1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

I was wondering that as well.  The only thought I have is that with an academic scholarship you have to maintain a pretty high GPA to remain on scholarship.  An athletic scholarship probably allows for a "C's get degrees" approach to academics so that the athlete can have more time to focus on his sport; e.g., spending time in the gym as opposed to the library.  Playing D-1 sports is a pretty huge time commitment.  If Enrique has a new goal of playing professional ball, he may want that athletic scholarship option.

 

Hey B&G, showing your age.  Do students today even know where the library is located?  Why do we even employ librarians?  

 

Freeman is smart enough to figure this out himself.  If he needs help Groce will easily make one of his 13 available to Freeman . If he has a outside (non-university awarded) full ride scholly I bet he would keep it and stay out of the muck of NCAA athletic scholarship rules. 

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1 hour ago, ZZZips said:

Freeman is smart enough to figure this out himself.  If he needs help Groce will easily make one of his 13 available to Freeman . If he has a outside (non-university awarded) full ride scholly I bet he would keep it and stay out of the muck of NCAA athletic scholarship rules. 

Good point - I think Freeman should start selling En-freak-ee T-shirts and posters right now since he isn't subject to NCAA rules, correct? Since they haven't figured out NIL yet anyway. Go on Enrique cash in - I'm sure AkronZips71 alone would buy enough to paper a wall 😉

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1 hour ago, MDZip said:

Good point - I think Freeman should start selling En-freak-ee T-shirts and posters right now since he isn't subject to NCAA rules, correct? Since they haven't figured out NIL yet anyway. Go on Enrique cash in - I'm sure AkronZips71 alone would buy enough to paper a wall 😉

 

Anybody else notice Marshall is on the Verbal Commits transfer board. ... Curious. He seemed like a nice piece going forward, especially with getting the extra year.

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Marshall didn't do much this year outside of those huge baskets late in the BG game. Not saying he wouldn't have developed, but I think the staff was expecting him to come in and contribute more right away considering he came from JUCO.  

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I will speculate that the minutes provided to Dailey were probably frustrating to him. Maishe never got it going despite a very long leash, and some guys probably sat on the bench none-to-happy about it.

 

That also delayed the development of some of the young guys like Dawson and Tribble...both of whom made some nice progress when given extended minutes towards the end of the season.

 

I can't blame the staff...Maishe certainly passed the eyeball test. But it didn't work out.

 

Just my speculation, having not attended a game or practice in-person.

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8 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Marshall didn't do much this year outside of those huge baskets late in the BG game. Not saying he wouldn't have developed, but I think the staff was expecting him to come in and contribute more right away considering he came from JUCO.  

 

Played a lot early then seemed to get lost in the mix.  I think he could have a been a nice contributor if he stayed, yet he's not a huge loss.

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He hardly played at all and no surprise.  I thought he played hard when he did enter the games late in the season and made the big three point baskets against Bowling Green.  It is weird how much basketball has changed where players keep floating around colleges trying to find a place where they will make an impact.  Is anyone counting how many players have drifted through Akron since Groce became coach?  Not saying this in a negative way but it has been a revolving door with players.  If the NCAA gets rid of the transfer rule (one year waiting period) it will only get worse.  It makes a mockery of the word student athletes.  It should be athlete student or just athlete.

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6 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

I really don't understand this conversation.  Why worry about something you cannot control.  Freeman has almost no offensive skills and would be a project for any big time program.  The best place for him is Akron where he will use the off season to develop an offensive skill set to match his defense.  This young man has to put in the hard work to get better.  Does he have the mind set to get to the next level.  Time will tell.  

DUDE

He was the third leading scorer on the team.

Unlike KLac he did not foul out setting moving screens, he set the screens.

Had an assist in the last game, and did some good give and go's.

Your complaint might be that he did not post up like Tree and Big Dog.

That is not a part of the Groce offense.

You know not of what you speak.

What are the offensive skills in YOUR wallet??

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Marshall's decision to transfer likely came after his post-season meeting with the coaches, ala Taylor Currie.  So, though I'm disappointed and surprised by this one, it's probably not that big a deal.

 

And I agree with @Captain Kangaroo, that the coaching staff's doubling down on Dailey ever snapping out of it was at the expense of Dawson's development. 

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10 minutes ago, akronzips71 said:

DUDE

He was the third leading scorer on the team.

Unlike KLac he did not foul out setting moving screens, he set the screens.

Had an assist in the last game, and did some good give and go's.

Your complaint might be that he did not post up like Tree and Big Dog.

That is not a part of the Groce offense.

You know not of what you speak.

What are the offensive skills in YOUR wallet??

 It is not a complaint.  Freeman has natural ability and he has merely scractched the surface with his talent.  If he stays in the gym this off season and works on this game he could be a 20 point scorer next year.   I would say that 80% of his points came from feeds from LCJ who will not be with the team next year.  You see his game from this year.  I am thinking of what his game could be next year.   

 

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25 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

He hardly played at all and no surprise.  I thought he played hard when he did enter the games late in the season and made the big three point baskets against Bowling Green.  It is weird how much basketball has changed where players keep floating around colleges trying to find a place where they will make an impact.  Is anyone counting how many players have drifted through Akron since Groce became coach?  Not saying this in a negative way but it has been a revolving door with players.  If the NCAA gets rid of the transfer rule (one year waiting period) it will only get worse.  It makes a mockery of the word student athletes.  It should be athlete student or just athlete.

Here's a link to the portal. Go ahead and compare Akron to other schools if you'd like. No one left last year and two guys that averaged a combined 8 minutes per game are on their way out this year

 

https://247sports.com/college/akron/Season/2020-Basketball/TransferPortal/

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2 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

And I agree with @Captain Kangaroo, that the coaching staff's doubling down on Dailey ever snapping out of it was at the expense of Dawson's development. 

So what is the right move for 2021-22? Do we bring in a P5 grad transfer or two, or do we develop what we have? With only 5 players on the floor at once, you can't do both.

 

My ultra-concise overview of the recent transfers is - 

  • Wynn (late arrival) showed some promise, but didn't conjure up anything reminiscent of X's impact. We'll see what happens with a summer of team workouts.
  • Trimble disappeared when opposing teams found he was no threat to do much offensively but drain straightaway 3's.
  • Daily rarely impacted a game outside of Toledo #1.

Will the tide ever turn back to developing Freshman? Coaches want to win immediately, and get fired quicker than ever if they don't. Fans want to win immediately. Players want to play immediately. It can't all happen simultaneously, but we're all in the instant gratification era. Not a big fan of the Transfer Portal era.

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2 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

So what is the right move for 2021-22? Do we bring in a P5 grad transfer or two, or do we develop what we have? With only 5 players on the floor at once, you can't do both.

 

My ultra-concise overview of the recent transfers is - 

  • Wynn (late arrival) showed some promise, but didn't conjure up anything reminiscent of X's impact. We'll see what happens with a summer of team workouts.
  • Trimble disappeared when opposing teams found he was no threat to do much offensively but drain straightaway 3's.
  • Daily rarely impacted a game outside of Toledo #1.

Will the tide ever turn back to developing Freshman? Coaches want to win immediately, and get fired quicker than ever if they don't. Fans want to win immediately. Players want to play immediately. It can't all happen simultaneously, but we're all in the instant gratification era. Not a big fan of the Transfer Portal era.

I think Groce is trending towards recruiting freshmen vs bringing in transfers. Wynn was the only one brought in this year - Maishe and Trimble came in the year before and sat. This year, at the moment, no incoming transfers.. now that can change as guys transfer out and spots open up. Which is just the nature of the beast I guess, there aren't many good recruits left to fill those spots. But I would say he's relying less on the portal than he has been, unless out of necessity.

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1 minute ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

So what is the right move for 2021-22? Do we bring in a P5 grad transfer or two, or do we develop what we have? With only 5 players on the floor at once, you can't do both.

 

My ultra-concise overview of the recent transfers is - 

  • Wynn (late arrival) showed some promise, but didn't conjure up anything reminiscent of X's impact. We'll see what happens with a summer of team workouts.
  • Trimble disappeared when opposing teams found he was no threat to do much offensively but drain straightaway 3's.
  • Daily rarely impacted a game outside of Toledo #1.

Will the tide ever turn back to developing Freshman? Coaches want to win immediately, and get fired quicker than ever if they don't. Fans want to win immediately. Players want to play immediately. It can't all happen simultaneously, but we're all in the instant gratification era. Not a big fan of the Transfer Portal era.

I have to figure that Dailey was just a strange game day thing.  They had two years to watch him so he must have been good in practice to continue to put him out on the floor.

 

I am with you in disliking all of this open transferring.  Certainly, in those first couple of years the Zips had to get capable players on the floor and transfers and jucos helped that process, but I think going forward we'll see more freshman development with a smattering of transfers/jucos.  At the end of the day, those big school transfers and high talents that didn't qualify are just to tempting to entirely forego. 

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1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I expect Freeman to announce he's leaving the Zips in the next couple of weeks.  Not to enter the transfer portal but to declare for the NBA draft.

GOOD ONE!

 

Funny thing, several of the talking heads at the games were comparing him to Shaquille and saying he is going to the NBA one day.

More than a little premature.

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1 hour ago, 1981 grad said:

 It is not a complaint.  Freeman has natural ability and he has merely scractched the surface with his talent.  If he stays in the gym this off season and works on this game he could be a 20 point scorer next year.   I would say that 80% of his points came from feeds from LCJ who will not be with the team next year.  You see his game from this year.  I am thinking of what his game could be next year.   

 

Thank you for clarifying.

He seems to have a good stroke on free throws, and he will never be a point guard. But he may well have some skills. I think the coaches have limited him to his role. We have seen that before. Hell, Ali barely took a shot last year.

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Our post players are going to be young next year

Freeman - sophomore

Bandaogo - freshman

Salle - freshman (true freshman)

 

With Cam Reese graduating I thought Marshall would be in line for significant PT next season.  Especially considering it normally takes true post players a year or two longer to acclimate to the D-1 game than it does wings and guards.

 

and our 3-point shooting is going to be shaky

Clarke - shaky

Tribble - very shaky

Trimble - dead eye

Dawson - streaky

Ali - shaky

Wynn - shaky

Johnson - shaky (true freshman)

Mitchell - dead eye (but only a true freshman)

 

I'd take a transfer G who has a nice, confident 3-point stroke.

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1 hour ago, 1981 grad said:

 It is not a complaint.  Freeman has natural ability and he has merely scractched the surface with his talent.  If he stays in the gym this off season and works on this game he could be a 20 point scorer next year.   I would say that 80% of his points came from feeds from LCJ who will not be with the team next year.  You see his game from this year.  I am thinking of what his game could be next year.   

 

There was on 20 point scorer in the MAC this year, let’s not get carried away.  Let’s hope he averages a double- double and keeps playing great D.

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