Leaderboard

This is what the signing, along with the other commitments thus far, says to me. Groce noticed a huge deficiency in the back-court last year. Whether it be skill wise, character/personality wise, leadership wise, who knows, but there was a void. When you look around college basketball, guards dominate March. We have good size/depth in the front court, and the experience will come. However, we lacked the guards last year. I used to dislike JUCOs, especially when Can't State was essentially a DI JUCO team, but in today's college basketball landscape they are a necessity. Can you build a program with freshman guards? Absolutely, but there will probably be a drop off for a couple of years due to the room for physical, skill, and maturity growth. Groce isn't in the business of a multi-year drop off. He is in "win now" mode. We had our off year, and still nearly made it to the semi-finals of the MAC tourney. By going heavy on the JUCO route this off-season, he has by-passed the multi-year growth process, and let someone else work with the JUCO kids to grow physically, maturity wise, and skill wise. With these 3 commitments, our back-court now looks like this... Jackson (5-8) Hester (6-3) Roscoe (6-3) Cheese (6-4) Ivey (6-4) Banks (6-5) Utomi (6-6) Toles (6-6) Wow. Find me a MAC squad - aside from Buffalo - with that kind of size in their back-court. The best part? They're all play-makers. I'm not too familiar with Jackson's game, but Toles, Banks, Roscoe, Cheese, Ivey, Utomi, and Hester all have nice, well-rounded, aggressive games where they can get to the basket or shoot it from outside. We're becoming a matchup nightmare in one off-season, assuming these guys play to their perceived potential based on their highlight videos.

Always appreciate your optimism.

"Keyondre White, the freshman who came in January, was having a great spring, until he sprained his ankle." --TB It's a shame fans won't get to see Keyondre Saturday, he impressed me. I was hoping he would impress other ZN members. If I have a chance, I'll ask about Suggs.

Obviously that list doesn't state if he received offers from the big boys, but he had to show something to even get looks from some major conference teams. I don't know if EJ Brown is Tyler's dad/coach/whatever, but he has a ton of tweets about Tyler's progression through this past season.

I see a marketing opportunity with Grandpa's Cheese Barn.

We could play Arkansas Pine Bluff, Urbana, Malone and Binghamton if 4-0 were worth anything besides being the MAC November Champs.

With the size and depth we're accumulating in the back court I'd have to believe the plan is to play Utomi at the 4 for 10-15 minutes per game.

The most important question before the Spring Game. . . ARE THEY GOING TO HAVE THOSE ZIPPY CUTOUT COOKIES???

Article about spring game

Looks like another lefty.

Say Cheese!

Another south-paw too. Both Roscoe and Cheese are lefties. Lefties balance out the motion and attack on offense. Also, they can be a scouting nightmare for opponents.

Haha. No worries, you seem like a genuinely good dude. We probably attended UA at roughly the same time. Wilson was the dean of the law school for a period when I was there. He seemed to me, extremely capable of his expanded presidential duties and was genuinely liked. I don't think I'm going too far by saying we were glad he was our law school dean for the period that he was there. I certainly wish him the very best in his westward endeavors. However, I would be remiss by not emphasizing that the board of trustees would be well advised to look in house again in their search for our university's next president, however, that's not to say they shouldn't turn every stone. This university and this community require and deserve a capable person who understands the unique challenges that Akron faces and who values and recognizes the collaborative potential of the city, the university, and the surrounding community above all else. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats. In fact, my future donations demand another community valuing, global reaching, progressive, education first president as opposed to some "Carpetbagging Texan hypocrite hatchet job." Keep Akron Educated (and weird)!

What would Keith Dambrodt Do?????

Sure beats going up against YSU and Kent