All Activity

I agree with everything you said, and I also think MMK showed a ton of hustle on defense and rebounding ability both offensively and defensively.

I know things can change quickly in today's college hoops world, but I'm going to assume the players with eligibility remaining who aren't in the portal are returning. Returnees who saw the floor last season would include MMK, Halligan, and Barre with Head, Henderson, and Perkins returning as well. I'll also assume for now that Jones, Ladd, and Christion will stay and redshirt. MMK and Halligan are both culture guys, and I think they'll bring a lot of value in making sure the Akron culture Groce/Ford built continues forward under Ford. I think MMK in particular can be a valuable rotation player if he continues to add strength and develops more offensive ability. Halligan is going to give you defense and energy, ideally off the bench, and will hopefully improve his spot-up shooting from the outside further over the summer. Barre is a bit of an enigma - he's shown the ability to be an impact player in small samples here and during his time at Duquesne, but there were also times where he looked lost. I'm hoping a (hopefully) fully healthy offseason + time with our big man whisperer in Coach Ford will at a minimum give us a Barre who can rebound and provide interior defense. He certainly has the size and athleticism to do it, and everything I've heard of him is that he is an excellent young man who works hard. Head was fantastic at Lipscomb as a freshman and I think, at a minimum, can be a solid contributor. I was surprised he redshirted last season, but hopefully a year in our system as a redshirt will help him hit the ground running next fall. I'm excited to see Henderson and Perkins, and think they'll both contribute as redshirt freshmen.

https://gozips.com/Watch

I think the NCAA is having a BOGO transfer portal deal on D2 and D3 players.

This is why that D2 PF/C might be a sneaky add if he ends up committing. Would imagine he'd be a good value.

I read that article a short bit ago. What may be relevant for us is that mid-major spending is up 44% YoY.

Yep, as an undergrad I would go to 3-4 games a year when JD was the coach. I quit attending regularly under I-coach as going to games and being down 3 scores at half-time frankly wasn't worth my time. I've attended 2, maybe 3 games in the last 10 years and am in no rush to attend anymore anytime soon. In that same time I've attended 5-6 alumni tailgates, but typically just go to Euro to hang out with friends or go home when kickoff nears. The school has no interest in committing the resources necessary to put a competitive team on the field and I have no interest in watching a consistent 0-4 win MAC program that I have little reason to get excited over. No amount of bouncy houses or kid fun days will change that. Joe Akron is likely even less invested than I am.

I agree with this. I'll add it's just not money, but there is also a finite amount of roster spots on those teams as well.

I imagine this will move slower than previous years for mid-majors like Akron. Many players are going to hold out to see if someone will overpay like K State did with Nate first, and then once that P4 money dries up, they'll come back to offers from schools like us.

I guess if you want to bring in students who think bouncy houses are cool, Kent is your place.

If they win games, the public will know. Winning is the end all be all solution. Miami OH averaged 2k or less in average attendance for basketball prior to this past season. They won and the people showed up. Al Davis said it best: Just Win Baby Win.

Very true. We'll still be there anyways, and the folks they didn't even try to court will still not have any idea they exist.

Guess the “Toes All In?” sales pitch is 0-2. He’ll need to try a different metaphor at his next stop. #foreveragoldeneagle

Crickets...maybe we will learn something tomorrow.

The only question that matters: is Poffenberger throwing goal line interceptions? If the answer is no come the regular season, nobody will give a darn that the spring game was closed to the general public.

Stankovic has a neat name and the Spring game (and events leading to it) is just the latest Akron athletic department screwup. Seems like a reasonable discussion in mid-April.

Ogden Stankovic and the football Spring game are the most popular topics in Akron sports. Who'd a thunk it

And that wasn't even their spring game. They're doing another event this Saturday. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EWdhUDJ9d/ So sad that Akron isn't even trying, and Zips fans apparently think that's OK because trying to develop the fan base with events around stuff they're doing anyways is stupid and boring and stuff.

"Ooo that's a cool place to go." I know it's an amazing concept around here for the program to actually try and build its fanbase, but Kent is showing ways to actually go and work on it. And the reply around here is "haha that's dumb, we shouldn't do anything"

And the same amount of MAC championships

Sendy followed the Zips lead and went up tempo this year. The Flushes averaged 11 points more per game this season than in 2024-25.

Gillespie is no Freeman, but he IMO was the 2nd best player in the MAC last season (behind TJ). When you have a player of that talent it makes sense you adjust your system to feed off his talents. That was what Groce did with Freeman even though Groce teams typically play through their guards. With Gillespie now gone it would make sense for Sendy to modify his style of play to fit what he prefers to play.

Interesting pickup. He fits how they used to play, but not so much how they played last season. Not sure he would be a fit for the Zips, but he at least knows the league and for them fills a void.