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Thank you as always @Illini Zip

Zips add Buddy Hammer Jr.

The nuts shrivel every time they think of playing Zips Men's Soccer, especially in Akron.

Could still be added. He said they were still finalizing some dates!

I think it's possible to be argued that we can become as good or better in March, but I'm with you we will almost certainly take a step back during the regular season, particularly November/December. It will take us some time to be firing on all cylinders. Last season it just took us 1 half of basketball to work out the kinks. That's not going to happen this year.

I don't have a negative outlook at all. It would be pretty hard to not take a step back from a 29-win team who went 17-1 in conference. I think we'll be good. I think we'll contend in the MAC. But I don't expect a team as good as last year, and that's OK.

TJ, Amani, and Scott all deserve flowers. They are all timers. I think we assembled a good roster of guys. Now it will be up to Ford and the staff to Gel the team and build an offensive identity. As there is no clear order of who will be the leaders. I assume that will get worked out in summer works outs

I do believe that the team in Columbus.......is still recovering from the beatdown last fall.

I won't stand for TJ slander

Basketball 101 says points isn't the most important statistic for a PG. How does he set up the offense? How does he get his teammates involved? Does the ball move around when he's the floor general or does it die in his hands? When you take the most shots in the entire conference, you should score a lot of points. Now, him being 4th all time in assists is a better measuring stick, but all too often we saw him go LeBron/MJ iso on offense or take ill-advised shots in the paint, especially the second half of the season. Once we went away from All Gas No Brakes, his game shifted and the offense sputtered. Hard to say if last year happens if he's not here. The what if game can be played all day. Fact is he was and we 3Peated. Now he's not here and we will see who steps up into what roles. Prior to 2025-26, nobody knew if TJ was capable of being an All MAC PG. A lot of those question marks are surrounding this team right now with so many new pieces. I do not understand the negative outlook on next season. We won the MAC in 2024, lost an NBA player to the NBA draft, proceeded to win another MAC Title, lost the MAC POTY to Kansas State, and proceeded to win yet another MAC Title. Whatever formula Wentz & the staff have cooking deserves our trust. They've earned it. Ford hasn't been the HC but he has been the right hand man the entire time. For as many games as we won last season, there were a lot of complaints about our lapses and weaknesses, particularly on defense and in the post. We've solved those on paper. We're much, MUCH taller and deeper at the taller positions. Can we execute? We shall see, but the blueprint is in place to be a top, if not THE top team in the MAC again and our size/athleticism should match up better with out of conference opponents. Trust Ford, his staff, and Wentz. 2 of those guys especially have earned it. Go Zips.

Eliminate conference tournaments. Regular season winners get automatic bids. Let AI decide who gets in after that. Watching AI decide will be about as exciting as watching the P4 tournaments.

They love college sports. It is allowing them to get rich at the cost of destroying their employers institutions. It's not what they hate, it's who they hate. They hate fans of college athletics. They have made what used to be a simple trip to a game an all day affair that is way too expensive and time consuming.

I am a tad disappointed that there are no Little Ten teams on there to beat up on.

Since joining the MAC, LCJ is the only guard who scored more points in a Zips uniform than Tavari. TJ is also 4th all-time in assists. Part of three MAC Champions, and last year doesn't happen if he follows Nate in the portal. I agree his last game was disappointing, but he had a major impact as a Zip.

My primary concern is that the majority of the roster was somewhere else last year. Two of the reasons we have been so successful are player development and a winning culture passed down from class to class. Freeman to Lyles. Castaneda to Tribble to Johnson. We don't really have any of that going into next year. The other thing we just don't know is how these guys will play in big games. I think we'll be OK, because I think every other MAC team took a step back and are dealing with the same issues. But I think it takes some blue and gold colored glasses to believe we'll be better than any of the previous three years. I'd love to be wrong, though.

Did Hardman sign with another team?

Spurred on by the posts from Zips 1991 and Sgt Zip I watched snippets of the Zip LAX team vs EMU. Elaine Jones has one exciting team. They started 5-0 against EMU. Sienna Hinchcliffe is the real deal. She can flat out score anytime she has the ball. If the ladies tighten up their D they have a real chance against a superior UMass club. I hope the fans travel to Pittsburgh to give them a boost. Go Zips!

Wow. I would be happy if Zips manage a winning record against this home slate. Surely, this will be among the toughest schedules in 2026 NCAA MSOC.

I am actually with you here. I think Amani is better than any C we have on the roster currently, but our production outside of him was very minimal to non-existent. We got 25 minutes of good to great C play then 15 minutes of pretty bad play. Theoretically Barre/MMK (I expect both to improve), Burton, and even Hammer (all of who I expect to see play minutes at the 5) should give us more depth in the front court. Also, gives us more versatility to adjust our style of play depending on the opponent. We can play Barre if we want to get bigger. We can play Hammer if we want to push the tempo. Burton something in-between both. I would expect more consistent 40 minutes out of our C even though none of them are probably getting All-MAC honors.

I used to think that, but diving into the stats - especially his shooting volume - has changed my tune. Not to mention his 4 pts in the NCAAT was rough. Very much appreciate everything he did for the program, but the reality of his impact is a little overblown. He was much better at the being of the season than the end. How do you not agree we're better at center? Young was replaced. Shammah was always going to be tough to replace because in addition to nearly 13ppg, he had the clutch gene and mental fortitude to step up in big moments. We shall see if anyone can fill those shoes. Our guards were recreated in the aggregate, to steal from Moneyball. The sum of our guards shouldn't be much of a drop off if any, and the improvement will be seen in the front court.

Personally speaking, every top tier MAC team from last season is in some form of major transition at two or more positions. To start the season, bet on experienced coaching. The talent on the well-coached teams will flourish the second half of the season. The MAC schedule changes dramatically, a complete round-robin, so by Valentines Day the standings should be interesting ... yet still in a state of flux. Talent and good coaching down the stretch will show up well into the MAC Tournament.

Zips win in 2OT!!

Headed to overtime vs Eastern

Were there 8 omitted teams ranked higher than us? Even if not, I would expect additional P5's to be given preferential seeding in the future.

This is a fantastic home schedule. We will see some of the best collegiate soccer in the country. I am so glad we got out of the MAC and into the Big East. We need big crowds for each of these games to cement our reputation as a near impossible place for visiting teams to win.