Leaderboard

With 2018 coming to a close, a little reflection: Mid-season TDS Top 100 Freshman (4): Carlo Ritaccio (#13), Pol Hernandez (#32), Colin Biros (#60), and Marco Milanese (#68). PostSeason TDS Top 100 Freshman (5): Carlo Ritaccio (#1), Colin Biros (#15), Sam Tojaga (#47), Marco Milanese (#73), and Pol Hernandez (#94). Mid-season TDS Top 100 (2): David Egbo (#75), Abdi Mohamed (#79) Post Season TDS Top 100 (3): Abdi Mohamed (#26), David Egbo (#32), and Marcel Zajac (#87) MAC Tourney MVP: Marcel Zajac MAC Tourney All-Tournament Team: Marcel Zajac, Abdi Mohammed, Ezana Kahsay, Carlo Ritaccio Defensive Most Outstanding Player of the College Cup: Ben Lundt College Cup All-Tournament Squad: Marcel Zajac, Abdi Mohamed, Ben Lundt MAC Regular Season (#4): 1-2-1 MAC Tourney Champions (#1): 3-0 (2-1 SIUE [H], 3-1 WVU [A], 3-0 WMU [N]) Regular Season: 7-6-2; 1-2-1 MAC Tourney: 3-0 (1 home) NCAA Tourney: 5-1 (1 home, 3 road, 2 neutral) Overall: 15-7-2 From 1-3-1 to National Runners Up at 15-7-2 Many more accolades and stories I didn't include. WOW, what a season!!! Thanks Zips Men's Soccer. Looking forward to 2019! https://gozips.com/news/2018/12/10/mens-soccer-zips-come-up-short-of-title-aspirations-as-maryland-edges-akron-1-0.aspx?path=msoc The 2018 University of Akron men's soccer team provided an amazing story of perseverance and determination that will long be remembered not for a 1-0 setback to Maryland in the title match of the College Cup on Sunday, Dec. 9, but for a group of 30 student-athletes that came together as one and lifted each other to the pinnacle of their sport while representing their team and school with dignity and class.

Please feel free to move this entry. Not sure where to put it and have never started my own thread. Definition of schadenfreude: enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others Example 1: Coach Groce is not one to discuss such matters, but the schadenfreude must have been overwhelming when he learned that his Zips have just surpassed his former team on Kenpom. (Akron 109, Illinois 113) https://kenpom.com Example 2: Illini Zip displayed much schadenfreude when he chose to share that the Fighting Illini fan base and media which were so eager to pack Coach Groce's bags for the unforgivable sin of missing 4 consecutive NCAA Tournaments have set their sights on a new scalp in just a year and a half. https://illiniboard.com/story/2018/12/30/crossroads/ Note: I am not abandoning my Fighting Illini in any respect, but I am furious. Collectively, the lack of patience and pragmatism cost Illinois dearly. I did choose to change my avatar on this forum out of respect for you all. I truly appreciate being welcomed here and it's been quite enjoyable. So fear the Roo and let's kick some W.Michigan Bronco butt!! The last time I checked these lists was probably around 2010 and Illinois was just inside the top ten of all-time winning college basketball programs. They are now down to the 15th spot depending on if you choose to count overall wins vs win percentage. And in terms of fan attendance we were sometimes in the top 10, but always in the top 20. Lately #25 or so. Illini basketball fans are criticized in the national sports media for having lofty expectations. These numbers prove that their expectations are the only thing that is in line these days. Which leads me to my next prediction; Illini nation will completely come unglued the moment Groce gets Akron into the NCAA Tourney making him the fourth consecutive coach to have success after leaving Champaign; Lon Kruger of Oklahoma, Bill Self of Kansas and Bruce Weber of Kansas State. And I don't see any sign of a turn around for Illinois anytime soon. Stay tuned, more schadenfreude for Groce is coming to a basketball arena near you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_teams_with_the_most_victories_in_NCAA_Division_I_men's_college_basketball http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attendanceYBYtop25.pdf

Awesome to see and talk with our NCAA and 2x MLS Cup Champion Darlington Nagbe at the Zips Men's Basketball game today.

It's one more chance to watch Jimond play!!! I'm certain the coach and the AD knew this would be a low turn out affair when they scheduled this. But they did. And I don't understand why anyone would want to essentially punish the players and not support them and thus let them see more empty seats because he thinks it just won't be entertaining enough.

The MAC season kicks off next Saturday at the JAR as the 6-7 Western Michigan Broncos come to town. WMU has wins against Detroit, Oakland, Aquinas, Southern, YSU and UC Riverside and losses to Cincinnati, Michigan, Milwaukee, Dayton, USC Upstate, NIcholls State and Ole Miss. They beat Detroit Mercy by 13 while the Zips beat the Titans by 12. 6-1 sophomore guard Michael Flowers leads the Broncos in scoring at 16.2 ppg while 7 foot senior center Seth Dugan scores 15.1 ppg. Dugan leads the Broncos in rebounding at 8.4 rpg. Last year, they were 17-15 overall and 9-9 in the MAC. They are still coached by Steve Hawkins, who is coaching the Broncos for a 16th season. They were picked to be the 4th place team in the West in the preseason MAC poll.

NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: Walter Brady, LB, University of Akron I think I would have had a followup question to his "who is the most overrated player in the NFL" answer!?!?

WMU is the only MAC team with a 200+ kenpom rating (211). At home this needs to be a game we win if we hope to get a decent seed in Cleveland.

E-man seems to have regressed. They'll need him in league play.

It is concerning to see that our starting center couldn't get a score with his back to the hoop against a D3 team. Also, we struggled getting entry passes into the post. It's like we tried to make an effort to go down low at times and couldn't do it.

It was close (for the first 17 seconds).

Some breakdowns on defense at times today. The whole team looked a little disinterested at times. Looks like Roscoe has fallen out of favor, not getting in until very late today. Groce was good and perturbed with him at the JAR a couple of weeks ago and I wonder if he's not in the dog house right now.

Hello...tap, tap, tap...is this thing working?

Especially considering 7' South Carolina transfer Khadim Gueye (spelling?) is sitting out this year.

I see him transferring unless there is dramatic improvement this year. I always hope I am wrong but I just never saw him as a division one player. In our last game at the Q last year with about 2 minutes left Groce put him in when we were down a basket and we were at the foul line. Our player missed the foul shot and Klac instead of trying to get the rebound was already running down the court to play defense. He did not understand that we needed that offensive board. HE then fumbled a pass next time we were on offense and game was over. I always thought Groce may a dumb move putting him in that late in the game. He is slow on defense and on occasion picks up a foul a minutes, especially on setting screens. He then looks at the ref as though it is the refs fault. Despite his great size, he is a step slow, not athletic, and does not have great b ball instincts. He just does not fit well with this athletic team that is always pushing the ball down the court. Our center play has been a weakness and he still cannot get playing time, If he was showing anything in practice I think he would be on the floor. . I think if Klac was in our future he would red-shirt. Now I think Groce will keep him just in case there are injuries at our center position and he needs to bring him in like last year.

I'd actually be surprised to see Kostalec return next year. He's burried on the depth chart and its not like any of the guys ahead of him are graduating seniors.

Personally for me, I don’t care who the team plays. I love going to games. I love watching my team play. So id hope the people that aren’t going bc of the competition aren’t also the same people that complain about attendance numbers and not having a newer nicer and larger arena. Show that it’s worth the time and money to build a new arena by attending all games. Even the ones that have bad opponents. Besides, why wouldn’t you wanna go see your team win.