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Coach JoeMo and his staff got a late start on recruiting with the coaching change. But I still think he and his staff did a great job. In part, because of the Transfer Portal and no penalty for transfers to sit out a year for changing schools. Also, 90% of the high school signees sign in December, so I think that the job that Coach JoeMo and his staff did with the high school seniors was fantastic since we signed 10 very good high school players and some respectable PWO's. I am expecting a minimum record of 7-5 in 2022 even if we start out 1-3 with the brutal OOC schedule. Overall Grade A- High School Signees Grade A What Else is needed DL - I think we are set for 2022 with the 3 transfers. But with the transfers, only 1 will be around for 2023. I would like to see 1 more DL transfer who has at least 2 years of eligibility remaining and will be here for 2023. That will give time for the coaching staff to build a solid defensive line. Fann, Hawkins, Proffitt, Sy, Wade, and Wilson can get into the DL rotation. And freshman Murphy gets some experience. LB - If Bubba returns, I think we are set for 22. Same as DL. One more transfer who has at least 2 years of eligibility to bridge the gap to the future. DB - I think we are in good shape, even with Watts leaving. Adding Martin and Threatt should put Akron in a great position. OL - I think that we have 6-7 decent, but young linemen on the roster who have played the last couple of years. Add on the recruits, and we will be good for seasons ahead. Banes was a good pick up to transition, but I would like to see one more transfer since it is rare that offensive linemen are ready to play as freshmen. So, by 2023, this line will be fantastic. TE - I thought we were good with Brank and Ognenovic. But, youth and experience has been added with Banks and Darnell. I hope that Coach JoeMo runs a lot of 12 or 13 personnel packages. There is a lot of talent at this position. Also, need to shed some players from this position if they have scholarships. WR - Losing M&M and Qualls was tough, but I think the additions of Jacquez-Louis, Adams, Golden and Bone is a positive. RB - As I have stated, I like Norrils and Williams. But adding Kellom and Wiley brings youth and experience. I am also looking for the details of Stallworth joining this room. QB - I thought that losing Gibson was a big negative. I am not a fan of Irons or Marousek. I am a fan of Jankowski. Also, recruit Jennings had a sub 500 record in his senior year. I have said it multiple times and was hoping for a transfer QB who could lead the Zips for 1-2 years as the pipeline fills up. This lack of transfer is my reason for the A- rating. QB is the most important position in sports, and I think we are weak at this position without a transfer. In Joe We Trust!!!!

I’m concerned about this one today. Teams like the Zips that are good, yet show signs of vulnerability and inconsistency often leave Millett Hall with a loss. Though Miami lacks skill and size, they can still get it going with Grant and Lairy, so I really want to see the Zips lock down the perimeter in the same way they did in the second half on Friday. By my recollection, I don’t think Miami made a single contested three in the second half. They were run off the line most of the time. Offensively, keep pounding it down low. That’s the obvious thing to do. And unless Jack Owens is the worst coach in the history of the game, I would expect a lot of double teams down there today. Hopefully Trimble is back and he can contribute as he seems to do well in these empty cavernous arenas for whatever reason. If not, I’d like to see Ali be a little more impactful as an outside scorer if not being one that’s playing in the post again like Friday. Zips need to take care of business against these kinds of teams. A big lead and rest the starters for the final 8-10 minutes would be fantastic, but that seems highly unlikely. Go Zips!

Ohio lost to NIU.

Tribble has been shooting better from the line.

KD is still having an impact in the MAC with guys like Insincere Carry and Lamar Norman 5th and 1st in MAC scoring! KD had an opportunity to make more money at a school at which his family had a historical tie in a conference that doesn't depend on a single game in March to get into the NCAA tournament. He also escaped a stagnant athletic department and an awful facility for a place that was to build a whole new facility for his team. In hindsight, I am glad he moved on. His time as a coach, due to his age, was winding down and the program had reached its limits under him. I appreciate all he did for UA. He made basketball relevant and fun but I am just fine as to how things have worked out. My only regret was that he was a part of the gutting of the players in the program.

Seeing a totally serious post from zipmeister confuses me

If Trimble is out today we need Tribble and Clarke to step up and play strong at the point so that X can play off of the ball and concentrate on his shot to make up for Trimble's loss. On defense, let Precious beat you!

Any question who the MAC 6th Man of the Year is? Lairy!

Nice game overall, outside of another sub-par first half and more turnovers then I'd like. Player of the game goes to Ali, but I think everyone played positive minutes. Go Zips!

X gon give it to ya

That’s not a good example. Burrow wasn’t a good fit for Ohio State offense. Haskins had like the best QB season in Big 10 history & Burrow struggled his 1st year at LSU, he needed some experience & became a good college & Pro QB but Haskins decision at the time was not the wrong decision. Most D1 football players are good, 1st thing they need to do is be good enough in practice to get an opportunity to show everyone else they can play and then take advantage of the opportunity. It isn’t easy

Lairy on fire

Before KD Akron basketball was pretty lousy.

I also appreciate what KD did for Akron basketball. Prior to KD, Akron basketball was not a consistent winning program. Although we could have done better in Cleveland, we always had quality players who improved each year.

I prefer-

Wynn putting in minutes as a big today.

Somebody should tell McCartney that the white tights and white shoes make him look like a nurse from the '60s.

Chauncy Gilliam

"I do not envy the headache you will have when you awaken my friend. Now go to sleep and dream of large women". 😁

I don't. He's a grown man who has an extremely high paying job to coach basketball and win games and is losing. He has been given a brand new arena to recruit around and has done nothing with it. He should be fired at the end of the season. He is their Rob Ianello. Maybe the Riverhounds are hiring. He could get some money from LBJ to support the team.

I wasn't a fan of cutting the field down to 12 but that 4th seed 5th seed game is another reason to keep the bottom 4 at home. A win by the 12th seed in the first round essentially turns the 4th seed into the 1st seed. and if you get really bored. The seeding calculator is up and running: http://bball.notnothing.net/mac.php?sport=mbb

We've been doing this for too long. I had the same thought...being a 4th or 5th seed is essentially the same thing and creates no advantage. I like the 3rd seed.

Word on the street is that you are easily confused. I asked you not to hurt my feelings.

I've always felt that KD got lucky that his first few Zips teams were stacked with talent and he just kind of carried that momentum through the end. Using the sustained success to pull in more recruits and keep the cycle going. He always had good teams but never could get over the hump. At Duquesne he was basically starting from nothing. I was mad when he left and still salty. Even though I think the Zips are in much better hands now under Groce. Duquesne is in a weird position and I almost view them similar to Akron football. The school pumps the most money and resources into that program, but they aren't the #1 option in town. Where the Zips live in the Suckeyes shadow, Duquesne has Pitt literally right down the road. It's tough to build a fan base when you are a small school going against that. Being in the A10 doesn't help and honestly think if hypothetically they were in the MAC they wouldn't fair much better. Regardless of conference I think it was a lateral, if not downgrade, for KD to jump ship. Sure they have a better chance of making the tournament, but it's definitely not any easier.

This was a tremendous game. The Rockets bigs clearly dominated, both in the paint and in rebounds (+20). Yet I was very impressed with the coaching Melissa did. She gave them a chance and it nearly worked. I have been skeptical about her being up to leading a D1 program. Today she showed me she may be growing in the job. I hope so. I think she is a great person and I sincerely hope she can lead this program to conference dominance. We didn't win, but that was one hell of a game. My hat's off to Melissa and the staff.

Freeman should have a nice, long career in one of the better European leagues when he leaves Akron.

When you look at the stats, the one stat that jumped out at me is that we got 17 bench points and that includes Dawson shot 0 for 4 from the 3 line. If we can play 9 with quality minutes from the bench, this team could hit a new ceiling. The bench players had 15 rebounds with Dawson getting 5. The offensive rebound off the missed foul shot was important. This team shot 30% from 3 ball and 50% from the field and had 38 points in the paint. I like the fact we got the ball inside to score instead of relying on the 3 ball. We often start a game with consecutive 3 ball shots that miss and we end up behind and play catch up the rest of the game. Finally, I thought we did a much better job of starting our offense earlier in the shot clock. I can't tell you how many times we pass the ball around the perimeter or dribble on the perimeter and start the offense with less than 15 seconds on the shot clock. We got the ball into Freeman early or Ali went one on one early and they had time to operate. We rarely were at the end of the shot clock last night and we did not see any bad shots or desperation 3 point shots. I hope we continue to put an emphasis on getting the ball into Freeman's hands the rest of the season. If this team can shoot 50% from the field we should be able to compete with Toledo Ohio and beat Kent.

There's joy in Nelsonville tonight. And a reminder...you never know.

Ball State up 10 with 30 seconds to go on Toledo. Toledo has shown some vulnerability since the blowout win at Ohio. They fall to 10-2 in the league, giving sole possession of first place back to the Kittens.

That's what I didn't like. Might there be an ever-so-occassional scheduling conflict? Yes. Maaaaaybe. But that would be a good thing - it would mean there are multiple events to enhance the Akron-area's quality of life & draw people/students downtown. Anyway, the U would get first priority. The benefits to both downtown as well as the men's basketball program far outweigh any 20-minutes of additional paperwork/phone calls which may be required for the occasional scheduling inconvenience. Does either the DNC or GOP want to hold their National Convention in Akron on a date which conflicts with a Zips basketball game? Does U2 want to play their farewell concert in Akron on a date which conflicts with a Zips basketball game? Okay, the Zips can play in the JAR on those rare occasions. NOT A BIG DEAL. If arenas can schedule cooperative dates around an NBA schedule, there's no reason an arena (perhaps University-run arena) couldn't schedule around a much shorter and more sparse college basketball schedule. Not only does the JAR suck - and the JAR does suck - but it's not easy to get to - you really have to go out of your way to get to the Zips' games. You drive to the Carroll Street parking deck, walk to the game, walk back to the parking deck & drive home. No auxiliary economic benefit to downtown. The JAR makes it awfully tempting to just stay home & watch games on ESPN+. I want Zips games to be an event - go out to eat before the game, walk to the game, grab desert or a drink after the game. Not that you absolutely cannot do that with the JAR, but the JAR does nothing to facilitate the night out, let alone enhance the experience of the evening. I want the U to be the cultural center of the city. Cleveland knew what they were doing when they finagled getting the Richfield Coliseum shuttered and built Gateway for the Cavs. We in Akron need to be at least as savvy as Cleveland - even more so, frankly. There is more parking on Main Street. There are bars & restaurants for before and after games within walking distance on Main Street (maybe even get a Metro bus to taxi ppl north & south on Main Street on the nights of games?). Canal Park draws a lot of ppl downtown in the summer months, but boy is it quiet down there from November-thru-April. Zips basketball could certainly give the downtown establishments a boost during those slow months. Along with concerts, etc. etc. With all the new housing going in downtown, we could get a lot of ppl who decide on a whim to go to a Zips game. You don't get that at the JAR. A new arena would certainly have to be a collaborative effort between the U, the city, and Summit County as well as local businesses. But it's strange that a city the size of Akron doesn't already have a downtown arena to begin with. Eh, I'm rambling. I just get going when the city & U don't seem to work together when it's an absolutely vital symbiotic relationship. I'll just end with reiterating that Cleveland knew what they were doing when they (cough, screwed Summit County) and finagled to have the perfectly fine Richfield Coliseum shuttered in order to bring the Cavs to their downtown.

Here is the link from Crain's Cleveland Business University of Akron plans $4.7 million in upgrades to athletic facilities (300 words) by Joe Scalzo From the article, I like this: "Our primary goal with these capital projects, and in all that we do, is to live by our motto 'Blue Collar. Gold Standard,' " Guthrie said. From George's article, I like this: Guthrie prefers to keep an arena on campus so the athletics department can maintain control of scheduling and not have to deal with potential conflicts among other things. He also said he believes the JAR can be upgraded. “My focus is really going to be on how we really enhance the JAR and make it a really upgraded facility and match today’s expectations from fans,” Guthrie said.

I was part of the original staff that opened the rec center back in 2004 - 2007. During my time there the auxiliary gym did not get much traffic however it was used for many Table Events. The rubber surface in there was not popular but at times the aux served its purpose when other activities like badminton was set up in the main gym. I see them knocking down the outer wall to either extend or create a private entrance.

Guthrie has a vision for this University, at least athletically, beyond the MAC. It's a beautiful thing.

This is correct.

If you walk through the student rec center, there are 3 regular courts students play on, and then two additional "blue courts" next to those used for intramurals and what not (at least in my time there). Significant enrollment drops seems like those aren't really used anymore and now that piece of the center is going to be turned into the practice facility. that's my interpretation anyways.

The cost of the basketball practice facility is just over $1 million. The biggest costs are the Floor and a new HVAC system to keep the floor from buckling.

Happy to see DeAndre return to the USA ... https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-transfers/story/4584075/inter-miami-cf-acquires-usmnt-defender-deandre-yedlin-on-free-transfer https://www.sounderatheart.com/2022/2/2/22914553/deandre-yedlin-officially-joins-inter-miami Inter Miami visits Columbus August 31, 2022 and FC Cincinnati March 19, 2022.

IDK about ya'll, but I'm enjoying the Guthrie experience thus far. Hoping we can keep him here long term if he continues on the current trajectory.

The under/over on game time is 4:00 p.m.

Everybody knew it was late but the refs. 🙄

Every coach in the nation must be also. That offer from Akron was the only one he received.