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I also appreciate what KD did. he brought Akron BBall back from the dead. I didn't like the way he left. I thought he had too much class to do it like he did. But we used that exit as an opportunity to get better, and we did. There is no way I could dislike KD. He is now an afterthought, that's all. I, for one, am comfortable without seeing any more posts about him. I wish him luck. I'm focused on the Zips.

He sweated like NWAkron does when the t-shirt cannon comes out!

EDIT: I just realized I put this in a football thread. I apologize. There was a "Progress" thread I thought for basketball, and when I searched for it, this came up. Thought it was the basketball one. I was wondering why Moorhead was mentioned in a basketball thread, but figured it had something to do with overall success for the University. Whoops. Post has been moved to a basketball thread. Happy Monday. (Insert vintage tomato hitting face emoji)

This. I actually like the JAR from an atmosphere standpoint. The low ceilings and closer crowd create a LOUD environment when the JAR is hopping. The upper level seats on the sidelines could easily be brought in, connecting them with the lower level seats. I'd be interested to see how they bring the endzone seats closer in the upper level. One of the even bigger questions is how do they work around the support columns in the corners? Is it as simple as not including corner seating? Can the support be re-engineered? Ditching the awful bench seating in the upper level would certainly reduce capacity from 5500. However, how many of those seats can be regained with connecting both levels, especially in the endzones and maybe corners? Can we get to 6-6.5k with the JAR's footprint? I'd love to talk to a stadium engineer to see what they think is possible. Keeping the JAR means the city loses out on some events, similar to what Canton is able to host. But that's the city's problem. Long story short - I like the JAR for a college atmosphere. Just make it better (if possible).

The City hasn't had an arena since the Akron Armory. At the time the Armory met the wrecking ball in the early 80's, the flourishing Coliseum was in nearby Richfield and gave those in the area a false sense of security relative to a nearby arena. When Infocision was built, the leaders should have seized on the opportunity to fund a new arena or a revamped JAR. I'd have much preferred a scaled down Infocision with some monies directed at basketball. I think this one of Dambrot's frustrations, him thinking that he built a good program to play in an outhouse while football was able to produce crap in a castle. I think the JAR could be okay with some modifications, primarily in reconfiguring the seating. Most importantly, they need to get rid of the damn track and bring the upstairs seating towards the floor. There are some decent basketball arenas on worse footprints than the JAR. A good college arena is about sightlines and crowd enthusiasm and involvement not about pretty lounges and technology.

I just do not see a new arena on the horizon. We lost about 20% of the fan base when KD left. We lost another 25% with covid. The jar is about half full on good nights. The interest in Akron basketball has diminished even though we have had some good teams under Groce. Akron has cut general admission to $5 and we are 10-3 and we still are not getting great crowds. I will bet that the Kent game will not sell out. Also, build it and they will come did not exactly work with Infocision field. We need to build our fan base before we even think of a new arena.

I agree with you that it's a concern @Z.I.P.. I am personally hoping Tavari Johnson is able to come in and make an immediate impact because of the position he plays. And I would say that if Prather or anyone comes into Summer camp their Freshman year and produces they are likely to be on the active roster. That is the benefit of competitive practices. You either grade out or you don't. We have a starter right now who was a walk-on and Taylor Currie, the forward with all the credentials in the world is gone. Nothing is promised. I'm just speculating out load about Prather anyway.

Expanding on @NWAkron, Miami used to have a strong, consistent basketball program under the late, great Charlie Coles. He was always on the sidelines wearing a red sweater. But the sweaters didn't stop there. They were a staple in Cleveland for the MAC tournament, as it was a sea of red sweaters worn by older Miami fans during Miami's inevitable quarterfinals appearance in Cleveland. Brick U is my nickname for the school, to further demonstrate the amount of money involved with that school. Harvard of the MAC.

It's simple. He's played 13 minutes so far. They'll just say he had an injury that held him out and he'll get the year back. Happens all the time with freshman that play a limited amount at the beginning of the year

I think because the school is known as the "preppy" rich kid school. The Ivy League of the Midwest so they say.

The construction (along with COVID) has run a handful of places out of business. It had better be absolutely magnificent when they’re finally finished. Exchange Street from Main Street to Route 8 is on deck. It will be a needed improvement tying UA & downtown, but I’m sure it’s going to be a nightmare for a couple years.

Yeh i agree Akron is no longer a destination especially downtown. Was last there for Romeo Travis jersey retirement. After the game he had a private get together at a lounge on Main Street and that was back when literally the whole street was closed off and tore up. I couldn't believe my eyes trying to cross the street in that mess from where I parked. I feel for the businesses down there. At this point I believe it would make more sense to focus more on turning the area into a true College town. It would be a win win for the area as a whole to have a multi purpose arena to help attract events to the region on a regular helping to boost the economy. In reference I look at Uconn who uses a downtown and still uses their old smaller arena on campus. Georgetown Also. The Jar can still be used for games.

If we had just made a defensive stop at OSU that number would be much better.

I didn't know where to post this, but this is somewhat of a "progress" post. Caris LaVert just got traded to the Cavaliers. The 6'6" Columbus, OH, product will be a home-team player in Ohio for what was almost the 3rd time in his career. I say almost, because he signed his NLI to play for Groce's OU team before decommitting when Groce left for Illinois. Groce, at OU, had 3 NCAA tournament wins in 4 seasons. Following the 3rd win (which resulted in a trip to the Sweet Sixteen), Groce was hired by Illinois. That Sweet Sixteen team returned in 2012-13, and was poised to add Mr. LaVert to that already-successful squad. When he was hired away, I told my dad, "Thank goodness. Groce was about to build a dynasty at OU." COVID killed the quick momentum Groce had rebuilt at Akron. We were poised to make a run in the 2020 NCAA tournament (assuming we would've won the MAC tourney) with that incredible squad led by LCJ, Cheese, Banks, and X1.0. We had the guard last season in LCJ, but lost the supporting pieces (I'm assuming COVID put a damper on the recruiting process as well). Now we have some nice pieces, but are young and lack that killer guard. I think this upcoming recruiting class fixes that issue, and we'll have this same team for a couple years because of the COVID eligibility rules. Given this information and what we're seeing this season, "progress" to me looks like getting back to what we were building with the 2019-2020 team, which was similar to what Groce had built with his DJ Cooper-led squad at OU. That squad was able to land a commitment from a player of Caris LaVert's caliber. I want to see that here (plus the NCAA Tourney wins). Excellent summary. There was an academy award winning cast for the 2020 team until DeWine wiped out the tournament because of 4 cases in Cleveland. But we know there are no guarantees at Rocket Mortgage. I was dreading that first round game against OU. I think eliminating the bottom 4 adds fairness to the tournament. As I posted elsewhere, if an 11 or 12 seed won that basically gave the 3rd or 4th seed a ticket to the semis meanwhile the #1 seed was stuck playing a feisty 7 or 8 seed. As for this year, I absolutely want the Zips to win every single game but if they keep going as they are with maybe another loss or two along the way they will be well-positioned in Cleveland. So many years the Zips were #1 or #2 and there was all this talk about at large bids and those early brackets and tons of over-confidence. I'm fine not having that extra pressure and maybe it keeps the team humbler (but what do I know). I do know if you want to throw up in your mouth a little got over to Kitten Attack and look at the most insufferable fans in the MAC (except for the nice guy who posted on her after the OU game) "blanking" all over their keyboards and brimming with bravado.

A full house in the JAR is quite the imposing advantage for the home team. Many times I've gotten the chills when the Zips are making a run and the place explodes. The Big Dog 3 to win it, and a handful of the games during 'the streak' come to mind. Maybe the practice facility is the precursor to making the floor and lower seats permanent in the JAR. I would think you could finagle more of a bowl-type feeling if entry was primarily upstairs. As LGZ said, move upstairs seats forward and make them permanent. Fan walkways in the back and, from the 2nd level, walk down to the lower bowl and up to the higher seats. I think you'd see capacity drop to the 4,500-4,700 range, but that's fine with the current state of college basketball. And my spine might send a thank-you note to UA if it never had to see a JAR bleacher again.

Before this board existed I was subscribed to a MAC sports email list serve in the late 90s, early 2000s that had people from just about every school (including Marshall, but no Buffalo or UCF or NIU IIRC). It was the late Mr Go Zips who told me about and got me involved in the list -- we were the only Akron supporters. The largest contingent was Miami fans, and the folks in Oxford - which included the Millett Hall scoreboard operator - would often comment about the difficulty they had in getting students out for the games, and that most of the fans in the seats should have gotten the geriatric ticket rate. It was said that the men wore red sweaters and the women, blue hair!

Called and renewed my season tickets today! LETS GOOO!!!!!!

What is funny about all of this is that Miami of Ohio is a very affordable state university, whereas this other three are private, exclusive, and very expensive.

If they ever finally finish reconstruction on Main Street and get a decent number of people living there your idea might have a chance.

I would like to see a new Arena Downtown. With the ongoing overall decline of Akron in regards to the downtown economy and population I would also like to see UA grow and expand more downtown. For example, I lived in Richmond Virginia in the mid to late 90's. At that time the city was on a decline. Since then VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) which was originally a small commuter school has rapidly expanded and took over downtown Richmond. I believe UA can rebound and do the same.

Who's Joe Burrows?

Two points: I didn't get to see today's game. However the team played it's best half-court defense since the Suckeyes game in the second half on Friday. If they're going to be a contender in Cleveland they'll have to continue that, and the bench will need to continue contributing. Second about Ryan Prather, this kid was so heavily recruited-- Rhode Is., Buffalo, Wichita offers -- that I'm afraid if Groce tells him "It doesn't look like you're going to be playing next year", he might say, "Catch me in the portal coach!" That's where CBB is today. Hope he's not that kind of kid, but who knows.

Good. Of you lie down with dogs, you get fleas. The quality of education at UofA dwarfs CSU, KSU and YSU. Hopefully this moronic talk of mergers ends before someone does something really stupid.

I completely agree @Blue & Gold. If everything we believe to be true today holds that is going to be one deep roster. So much so that unless Prather comes in and completely lights it up, it would be in his best interest to take a red-shirt year. Something that rarely happens with guards, but we might have a traffic jam at the guard spot. And I'm thinking we might be right back to a running and pressing team next year anyway.

I hope this is true and until shown otherwise this is what I'm going to believe. I like what I saw of Kalle. He's very offensive-minded. You don't often see that from freshmen bigs. With Kalle redshirting we're getting quite the infusion of long-term talent next year in: 1. Kalle - 6'10" offensive-minded big 2. Kobe - one of Ohio's all-time leading scorers 3. Nate - a 3-star shooting guard 4. Prather - a 3-star shooting guard 5. Tavari - a PG whom was highly coveted amongst mid-majors Like ZipWatcher used to say, "The future is 😎"

I believe it’s a play on the above sentiment, plus wasn’t there a Miami player back in the Romeo/Dru/Wood era that sweated profusely during games & would have butt crack sweat showing through his shorts?

He was all about Freeman and gave some grief to Wynn...but in a good way. And talked about schedule next few days

Here is another question. Why is Miami the sweaters? Asking for a friend.

X gon give it to ya

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 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.

KD was having troubles at U of A so he found greener pastures, hoping a new school and a new arena would solve his problems. Of course, that never happens because you take your problems with you because you are the problem.

Finally figured out my Freeman player comp. Anyone that watched Pitt hoops in the early 2000s might remember Chevon Troutman. 6'7" forward.. shot about 70% from the field which was outrageous but sure enough Enrique is at 65% this year. Fun to watch guys that just do the fundamentals right.