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I feel some are fixated on positions, but the Zips will be playing a lot of positionless basketball next year so a depth chart is meaningless. This is how I imagine the starting 5 will play out. Steveskie Wilson/Head White Pence Burton/Barre/MMK Steveskie, White, and Pence I will pencil in as starters. The other 2 starters I think will be position battles. Edit: If Hammer has a strong offseason and develops I won't rule out the possibility he starts. In that scenario it becomes possible White/Head are bumbed for the starting lineup.

Barre 6'10" Burton 6'10" Christion 6'9" Hammer Jr 6'7" MMK 6'6" White 6'6" Pence 6'6" Halligan 6'5" Henderson 6'5" Jones 6'5" Head 6'3" Staveskie 6'1" Wilson 6'1" Perkins 6'0" Average height is 6'4". Last year's average height for the 9 main contributors: 6'3" (this is with Tavari and Sharron listed at 6'0" according to ESPN.com). It may not seem like much but that 1"+ is a big deal. This year's Sweet 16 featured an average contributing roster height of 6'5" - the tallest Sweet 16 ever. Akron was almost 3 inches shorter on average vs the standard of teams we strive to compete with. Better yet, this roster is more versatile in their skill sets. As much as Hardman saved our butt at times last season, he was largely a one-trick pony. I'm not seeing anybody like that on this roster at this point in time. Safe to say I'm excited.

Two/three PGs, 2 post players and a bunch of 6-5, 6-6. wings that can shoot is the current formula for success both Akron and Miami have used the past few seasons. Add Toledo to that list and it's easy to see where MAC success in basketball is headed.

Best 3 players? I’ll go Steveskie, Pence, and White..in that order. Will be interesting to see if Halligan starts again if his game doesn’t take a sizable jump.

Not sure where you're drawing the comparison between my expectations of the football and basketball programs. Akron is a top regional destination. For as good as the program is on the court, Akron itself has a lot of limitations that knock it down a few pegs for the masses. Regardless, I think Akron knocked it out of the park with this class. Part of the reason Todd Simon has struggled to have W/L success is because his Portal classes lack a clear system and execution. Akron's struggles last year came when they tried to play a certain system they lacked the personnel for. Sounds like we'll play a similar system but we'll have the personnel this time around. How often has Akron had 4 capable, athletic wings at 6'6" or taller? Add in 2 6'10" C and some solid guards - Akron is going to be a major threat with this roster assuming they can execute. Hammer will likely be a bench/rotational piece and should have much improved numbers. North Texas was 230th in possessions per game. Akron was top 80. Go Zips.

White/Hammer Jr. Halligan/MMK Burton/Barre Pence/Head/Henderson Steveskie/Wilson/Perkins Obviously nothing set in stone and several guys who can play multiple spots. I have absolutely no idea how good they'll be, but there's talent on the roster for sure.

If this is true and he's a role player, I'll recant my statement.

I appreciate him including a highlight of him clearly dropping a pass but cutting it off like he didn't drop it.

If my maths right we have one more roster spot, need a grand slam

I feel like your standards are higher for our struggling football team than the basketball team that went dancing 4 out of the last 5 years. UA should be one of the top mid-major destinations and we aren't capitalizing on it.

Looks like the batch of perm headed kids I coach in middle school baseball are making their way into college now..

Someone on Kent board said we paid Tahj $350K. I have to imagine Pence got something similar. After paying White, Wilson, and others there probably just wasn't a ton of money left to make a splash signing. For what it's worth on the North Texas board they seemed legitimately disappointed in his departure. They describe him as a high energy spark player that shows flashes of talent, but needs to develop more. Lucky for us Dustin has developed some raw bigs like Freeman and Lyles. My guess is he'll be a 15-20 minute player off the bench with opportunity to earn more as season progresses.

Hardly underwhelming. Adding a fluid, athletic 6'7" F to this roster is exactly what we needed. His production may not be there on paper, but Shunnar isn't going to suggest him if he doesn't think there's a higher ceiling than what has been exhibited thus far. I like that there's familiarity with his game on the staff and we're super deep now at the 3/4 which is something we haven't been able to say maybe ever.

Underwhelming if so. He averaged 4.1, 2.8, and 0.4 — we can do better Edit: also didn't start a game

This is what Wentz retweeted. 6'7" F from North Texas. Looks like he'll be following Shunnar. He was JUCO prior and his JUCO numbers were nice. Scored in the mid to upper 20s often. 14mpg at UNT last year, but did have some nice double digit performances late in the season as he got more opportunity. Nice addition with even more height being added to the roster. We're DEEP at the 3/4 spot.

🙂

Maybe Buddy Hammer Jr?? Wentz reposted his highlight tape in-between some Roo gifs teasing the commitment.

I'm hoping the lack of reporting on it isn't a sign that it's not a big deal.

Well?

I think it's safe to assume we don't have money to compete financially with a for-profit university like GCU.

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.

Sorry @Zippy87

Fingers crossed it's a stretch four who can get physical defensively and rebound🤞