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I'm less worried about it now than back when our best player was pushing 300 lbs.

This was the premise of my argument^^. Either remaining in the top 25 longer than a week or winning tournament games will begin to attract notoriety allowing for the program to take its next step. Winning will increase attendance, revenue and enrollment. Keep Groce as the catalyst. Had Groce remained at OU, I believe, they would be on the same playing field as Dayton, VCU, Wichita etc. Groce made the mistake of leaving a mid-major to go to a highly politicized Big Ten school. It's unlikely he will make the same mistake twice.

Butler also capitalized on the timing of their success. They jumped into the Big East during all the conference realignment, which set the foundation of their program that much higher - i.e. better recruiting, funding, etc.

Then the trick becomes capitalizing on it and keeping it rolling. For every Gonzaga and Wichita State there are two George Mason, Coppin State or Norfolk States.

They... really need.. a new... social... media... person

Yep. OU it is. Toledo's big 3 can do more harm to you than Preston and Vander Plas.

I would be tempted to head to the MAC Center on Monday and cheer for WMU or CMU or whoever.

OU

I would offer to also give up YOUR right nut. GT has been passionate about anything since Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

That's all well and good, but at the end of the day it's a state university with an already strapped budget. As such, they can't afford him if he's that successful. Also, a great majority of people will take a job with what is viewed as a more prestigious company at a much higher rate of pay. I wouldn't expect Groce, as much as I like him, to do anything different. There are the Larry Kehreses of the world that have found the life they want and are content with remaining in a place regardless of other opportunities placed in front of them, but they are pretty damned rare. Maybe the OU-->Illinois experience will help to give Groce that perspective, but it's unlikely given simple human nature and UA's budget restraints. P.S. I'd be surprised if he went anywhere after this year.

The ESports is a big thing. Also, as Kreed or someone else pointed out, if Akron is in a position to worry about keeping Groce ...then amazing things have already happened with the program. The key is not to make a Jim Christian/Saul Phillips style mistake. Administration needs to have candidates lined up and ready to go if Groce and his crew (losing Fulford may also be a big deal) are hired away. Someone on Kittens Attack noted that Groce didn't get a regular season championship for Ohio and another Kitten replied that he was good with what they got instead. It's the AD's job to have contingency plans in place for this.

Yeah, Akron is something like 1 of 60 universities competing in ESports. It's a huge growing industry between younger millennials and generation z. After some initial start up costs I can't imagine it costs much to operate, but I do think it will lead some students to pick Akron when they may have went somewhere else instead. Even though we all think it's dumb, it's probably the one thing Akron was forward thinking about and got right.

Any word on the health of PCCC? I'm talking about the players that were out the other night, not the population that chose to attend that ****hole.

Groce could be that architect though. He is well respected and seems to be brining in power 5 talent via transfers and recruits. I don't see why Akron can't be similar to schools like VCU or Dayton.

You can just look 15 miles down the road for an example of those last 3 schools you mentioned. You can also look 40 miles to the north where CSU built a 13k arena after they thought they made it to the big time with that Sweet 16 appearance. The only way Akron will consistently fill the JAR is if they can become a consistent top 30-40 basketball program. That's not easy to do in the MAC.

What an awesome sequence. I about had a stroke when Tribble dunked it to take the lead!

Attendance issues stem from lazy-ass marketing too. While the local media is bad at showing them appreciation, I see nothing being done by Akron to help with attendance. Just myopic.

In honor of the hell is real rivalry (great name)

3 years/seasons. But it hasn't been pretty

I got a late call into the Dan Patrick show today during the best and worst of the week(end). I mentioned Jackson having back to back 35 pt games being the best. The worst was the loss to BG. Dan Patrick followed it up with the appreciation of the update on MAC basketball!!