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I think the spanking Murray State gave us is a blessing in disguise and yes it was a spanking. They could have easily beaten us by 25 if they didn't get called for so many moving screens. When we're beating Nobody U by 30 it's tough for Groce to convey to the team that the level of defensive play is unacceptable if you want to make noise come March. Now he has this game to point to as a reality check. Personally, I think our "havoc" or whatever defense you want to call it simply just doesn't work against teams that have quality perimeter play. It works against the cupcakes that have either inexperienced guards who are prone to turnovers or teams with poor perimeter shooters. When we play teams that can disect a defense all it does is leave an open shot at the basket or in the weak corner. If there is no defender within 8 feet of a 3-pt shooter those are pretty much practice shots. An elite 3-pt shooter, like Tavari, can probably knock down those specific wide open looks at or around a 65% clip.

It is sad that so many negative articles around college football - we are named. Worst head coaching positions, game day atmosphere, academics, worst teams.

Omitted is Groce's "putrid defense" explanation - opponents aren't "feeling" the Zips defense. We are undersized, soft, and disorganized. It's easy to shoot three's when you have zero fear of getting one swatted back in your face...when your opponent is sagging off and not respecting your range, when defenders are unnecessarily double-teaming and leaving great shooters wide open for corner three's. The Zips can phone-it-in on defense and out-shoot a lot of mediocre-to-bad teams. If that's our defensive MO I still think we're 16-2, or better, in the MAC. But we can't beat a high mid-major or decent P4 program with the pedestrian defensive efforts we've seen so far. That's a recipe for an NCAA Tournament 13-seed, and a 21 point round 1 loss. It was a gift to get Yale and Murray State on a neutral court, free from biased referees and raucous opposing crowds. And we didn't take advantage of it.

I contend that, since 1891 when James Naismith first nailed a peach basket to the wall of the YMCA Training School in Springfield MA, every basketball team who's lost their final game of the season did so because they didn't score as many points as their opponent.

Washington is a very deserving national Champion. They are the best team that I have watched this year. 6 wins.......none of them at home win at Oregon State in round of 64 win at #5 SMU win at #12 Stanford win at #4 Maryland win over #16 Furman in college cup semis win over #15 NC State in finals has any team defeated 5 seeds and won all of their matches on the road on the way to the title?

Offense wins. Houston is the one of the top defensive teams in the country and has been for several years. They have zero national championships in that span because in their final game of the season, they couldn't score more than their opponent. Akron isn't ignoring defense. Every single post game interview this season has included Groce harping that the defense needs to get better. However, if our opponent isn't shooting nearly 60%, we're winning by 20+. Akron has 3 losses, one of them to easily one of the best teams in the country. The other 2 losses, our opponent had to nearly set shooting records to outscore us; in fact, I'm not so sure they didn't. Those other 2 losses have been to some of the top mid majors in the country on neutral courts as well. I'm not so sure we lose to Yale if Barre is up to speed and playing significant minutes in that game, either. Defense is one of those things that takes longer to pull together with so many new pieces every single year in today's landscape. Shot making doesn't require chemistry and communication with rotations, help defense, etc. Maybe that's why we're seeing a shift at Akron and Kent. That being said, there aren't going to be many teams that will beat us this year without historic offensive performances because Akron's offense is legitimately that good. We've all seen Akron teams struggle to shoot 30% from 3. Didn't matter how good their defense was, they fell short plenty of times against competition that they shouldn't have because they couldn't put the ball in the hoop. The offense never came with those teams because teams can either score or they can't. Give me a team that can score at will with a coach who keeps defense a priority over a team that keeps defense a priority but struggles to score. I'm quite confident the defense will get better, but the blessing with this team is we don't have to pray for the offense to get better because history has proven that's not something that truly improves.

Just imagine if he had disallowed the winning goal - after waiting that long. Sheesh! He otherwise reffed a good game.

I know/understand coaching goes through cycles, but it is a puzzle to me why two of the better most consistent and successful MAC programs the last decade or so -- built on a foundation of strong/solid defense (Akron and Kent) -- suddenly seem to turn into almost exclusively offensive programs with defense becoming clearly secondary. I don't get it. One look at Toledo, or Miami, should prove that is not the way to true success. Defense travels. Offense comes and goes.

Lamest end to a national championship ever. UW wins in OT, a good minute after they start to celebrate the ref goes to VAR. UW hands the trophy BACK. He goes to check whether a player that didn’t touch the ball was offsides 4 passes before the final pass to goal. 2-3 minute review “call stands good goal”

Neither Shammah, nor either of the Mahaffey brothers had strong games vs. Murray St. Yeah, we still put up 100 points but our defense is concerning. And Murray St. looked very good.

It was pretty damn cold when we were there in 2009 as well. 1-0 Washington just before the half. They just mentioned that NC State does not have a single come from behind victory this season.

Reminds me of the old Jerry Tarkanian line: "The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they'll probably put Cleveland State on probation for an additional two years."

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRNvhpwiSWg/?img_index=1 defender from Indy 11

Josh Hardin was a starter in 2024 and he transferred out. I highly suspcet that was due to Pittsburgh poaching him with huge NIL dollars.

It's a balmy 34 °F in NC currently.

A bit old (before semifinals were played) but interesting read about potential future of Men’s Soccer / College Cup. https://www.sportico.com/leagues/soccer/2025/ncaa-college-cup-soccer-schedule-1234878902/

Since covid how many established players have we had transfer out? I can honestly think of only one, Gyuwon Chong. I know there have been a few freshmen transfer before getting playing time but that is normal. Ashton, Mitch, Stefan, Daragh, Malik, WKWK, Dyson, Shookalook, Diogo, truly a huge group of guys to come to Akron and not transfer out. Hard to imagine any other sport retain talent like that in this era

Starting their road trip from Hell off on the right foot. Losing to Portland before flying to UMass, then going to Purdue. Look what happens when they play a legit road game. Buffalo also lost a close one to East Carolina. WMU and Balls lost as well, but that was expected.

That is about the most AI statement ever. I think I heard Frank Caliendo say something similar when he was impersonating John Madden.

Scratched out serial number on a gun.

Kent state losing to Portland. Makes me feel a bit better

Being in the right place at the right time and inheriting a generational PCCC team.

Since I did not get an answer from anyone on this board I did an AI search and got the following: The highest points scored against the Zips in a game is 119, which occurred during a matchup against the University of Kentucky on December 21, 1990. Defensive Performance Akron typically maintains a strong defensive record, contributing to their ability to limit opponents' scoring. Recent Trends In recent seasons, the Zips have continued to focus on defensive strategies, further reducing the likelihood of allowing high-scoring games. Well, would anyone like to comment on AI and the defensive stratagies we have employed in recent seasons to reduce the likelihood of allowing high-scoring games? (LOL)

What do you think is on his pyramid of success