Leaderboard

Say this for Dambrot ... he knows guards. --- If Duquesne still had Dunn-Martin, Sincere Carry and Norman at WMU (combined averaging about 60 ppg!!!!) the Dukes would not be on an 11 or 12-game losing streak. Yikes.

This is well said. Let me add the lack of rhythm in the program since Groce took over has been very disruptive as well. Dambrot's teams were lethargic by the end of his tenure. Groce came in, and the cupboards were as bare as Chevy Chase skinny dipping in Caddyshack, which led to the worst year in program history since prior to Dambrot. Groce finally got things going in 2019-20; that final KSUcks game was ELECTRIC. Then... The 'VID hit. The program wasn't able to showcase LCJ, X, Cheese, Banks... Those guys were special; those are the kind of guys that a community falls in love with, and they never got their chance to finish the job. No/limited attendance last year, then this year is just bizarre. Nobody wants to go to college basketball games, whether it be the mask mandates, fear of COVID, etc. That aspect isn't specific to just Akron - that's nationwide as @LoyalZIP said. College basketball has an issue going forward. It will be interesting to see if March Madness posts strong attendance/ratings. I haven't watched much college basketball all season, or really since 2019-20. I might have to go the route of filling out my bracket based on my favorite color(s) or mascot(s). Yeesh.

Dawson scores with 1.4 seconds left to give Akron a 72-70 win!

Oscar Rodriguez hired by Kansas as an analyst. http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/Boyer_on_the_Beat/2022/feb/23/kansas-hires-former-akron-interim-head-c/

Great topic. So what comes first? The nice fancy arena or the fan base? Actually, it all comes down to MARKETING. You have to change the face of the university to be a destination, not just a commuter school that’s closer to you than CSU, YSU, or KSU. And a lot cheaper than BW, Malone, Wooster, Case, etc. Ive seen 13,000 at the CSU Convocation Center for indoor soccer games and CSU Viking mens basketball games with maybe 130 fans. I’m convinced it’s really that simple. The university is poorly marketed, there seems to be nothing but bad news in the news about it. If it was a business it probably would have folded during the past 5 years or so. Has anyone been to the alumni site? What a waste. How do they engage current students to have pride in their school? There’s as many OSU shirts on the students (and staff) as there is Akron. While I was growing up it was most famous for having a pennant on a wall in the Happy Days tv show. You can’t make this up. Im no marketing professional, my major is in Nursing, which probably shows how bad the PR is. Fear the Roo

Anyone majoring in sports administration/management/business is being sold a load of manure from a career standpoint. Without a master's degree, you are qualified to become an unpaid (and highly abused) intern for a minor league baseball team. Are you a pretty blonde? You're who they are looking for to fire t-shirts into the crowd or lead the (also unpaid) National Anthem singer onto the field. Even a full-time job at the major league level will be almost exclusively commission based (ticket sales) while requiring long hours and offering virtually no opportunity for advancement. Team owners know there will always be suckers attracted to the promise of proximity to superstars. Of course, the stars won't even notice you and you will be warned to stay away from them. I know nearly a dozen sports ad grads from schools with much better programs than Akron who quickly realized what a sham it is. Go ahead and ask your professor how successful his/her career was in professional bowling/beach volleyball/kickboxing/auto racing and inquire as to why he/she is now teaching UA undergrads at minimum wage. You'd be far, far better off learning a trade such as welding, IT infrastructure management or pipefitting. Seriously, it's like majoring in English Lit. Just flush your/your parents' money down the drain because you'll end up going back to school to get a degree or certification in something that will actually put money in your pocket.

The problem in NEO is that all of the grill cooks insist on breaking their eggs at the same time and as a result everything ends up a mess at the same time. There's absolutely no coordination between the powers that be. It's ridiculous.

Meh. We replaced them with what is arguably the top starting 5 in Akron basketball history, so it wasn't a crippling loss when they departed. And, if they left Dambrot high and dry, they'd certainly have left Groce prematurely too. For fun I looked up the 2021-2022 stats for Dunn-Martin and Trimble for comparison. Surprisingly, their 3-point percentage is similar (TDM 36%, BT 34%). 3-point attempts: TDM 245, BT 180 The interesting stat is 2-point shots attempted: TDM 203, BT 47.

Akron’s most prodigious Tweeter lands a gig in his home state

College sports in general, this year especially coming back from COVID have been dropping off. Even those a-holes in Columbus had 20k+ empty seats for a couple of home football games, which is nuts. At UA, culture change and I think the TV deal have a ton to do with it. Once all UA home games started to be televised starting in 2016-2017 and the MAC TV deal led to more televised games the years before that, the lower bowl has progressively empty as the years roll by, including the 2020 team which was arguably the best Akron team ever (not here to argue for or against). I don’t know how familiar you are with how Larry Williams operated, but the fan experience was the last thing he cared about. He built the marketing department that has been in place for 5 years and it hasn’t resulted in anything. As soon as Guthrie comes in, the student attendance is as high as it’s been in close to a decade, and the department and AK-Rowdies are directly in sync. Baby steps. But this is not a proper discussion for the topic of an arena. I am well aware of the college athletic attendance problems as a whole, myself and many others on this board have noticed it in the basketball program even as it continues to be one of the top 4 programs in the league.

Not sure what you mean by destination, but Akron provides a better education than the others. The word marketing gets overused. There is a marketing problem, but the bigger problem is a lack of the University's resources being used to attract students by providing public services. It takes much more than a marketing department to pull this off. There has been too much bad news, but recently the University has been producing good news segments on social media. It's a good start. The problem in the past has been not highlighting the hundreds of things that go great so when one bad thing happens, it's the only thing people hear about the school and opinions sour. The hundreds of good stories create a soft landing for the bad story. There will always be at least one bad story. Something bad is always going to happen.

Oscar will finally get some D1 experience.

Well sorry I don't want to be a welder lol

The ticket department is being outsourced after this season ends. However, strategies in regards to getting students to work and be engaged in athletics at the University are definitely not what they should be. Dropping some more in the bucket of student work and internship opportunities could benefit everybody, and give UA students something great to put on their resume—meaningful and impactful student work. It will be interesting to see what this administration does after this first transition year. They’ve done a lot of good, but have only scratched the surface so far.

This is my major right now and I graduate in May, I would love to work for UA's athletic department in marketing and sales, but there is no communication at all to any students about working full-time in athletics like how professional teams will through career services. You would think that the university would want to hire its own students, but apparently they think their one person ticket sales department will suffice

Put together in 2-3 months without 100% of the staff's attention. Amazing.

2023 East Exchange Street Corridor • Roadway deterioration, traffic signals old • Heavily used pedestrian corridor • High vehicle corridor including buses • Missing link between bicycle accommodations • Mesh with University Park Neighborhood Plan • Full depth pavement replacement • Sidewalks and pedestrian crossings reconstruction • Maintain two full through lanes in each direction • Allow for adequate turn lanes • New traffic signals • Upgraded lighting to accommodate all users including Route 8 underpass • Provide bike lanes on each side of the street • Parking in key locations Benefits • Roadway in good repair providing proper capacity • Well-lit, safe corridor • Traffic signal equipment using efficient, modern technology improving traffic flow. • Provide missing link for bicycle lanes, connecting Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail This need to happen now not next year.

Ton of OU alums in Cleveland, plus OU paying them $$$.

I remember when we were told not be salty about Dambrot taking our players because they were "just guys". Mike Hughes had a very solid career at Duquesne as did TDM (he won 6th man of the year in the A10) and is obviously doing well at FGCU.

Nah, I'm glad we were able to get LCJ instead.

He's one of the nation's leading scorers. Came to Akron, Dambrot stole him, then he left Duquesne. Should've just stayed at Akron.

A thriller of a game! Really back and forth, and I don’t like complaining about officiating but BG got away with a lot of physicality. Unfortunately for them, Akron is TOUGH. That’s a huge win toward locking up the 3-seed. Congrats, ladies! Go Zips!

BG took the lead in the third quarter, but the Zips back in front, 46-40 at the 5:30 mark.

Up 34-31 at the half. The lead had been up to 9 in the second quarter.

I don't think this is as complicated as some are making this out to be. A practice against a group of guys and play calls you don't see on a daily basis during spring camp benefits everyone. I don't think anyone is searching for TV deals and stuff, I think everyone is aware that the players can benefit from a practice against someone other than the same CB you've been battling with for the past month, who may even be your own roommate lol.

Okay…but Kent is one of the hottest teams in college basketball and had significantly fewer people in their gym for the Akron game, and last night there were less than 1,000 fans at the MACC. This is not a “Groce’s 2022 team is boring people away from the JAR” situation. For the better part of 5 years now, any national TV game at the JAR is littered with empty blue chairbacks in the lower bowl, and that includes two seasons where Akron went 14-4 in the MAC and won the reg. season. As many others have said over the years, the marketing department is nonexistent. There’s no incentive to become a season ticket holder, there’s no incentive as a student to still come to games after graduation, there’s just no excitement generated outside of the team’s success. Even the team’s success isn’t really broadcasted anywhere beyond GoZips.com, which Joe Akron doesn’t even know exists. There’s no media coverage, nothing mentioned on local news. Akron is essentially invisible with the current marketing strategy. The U is guilty of it, athletics is guilty of it, the city is guilty of it, the league is guilty of it, hell the state is guilty of it. I don’t have the answers, I am a die hard trying to put myself in the shoes of Joe Akron. The program is vastly under appreciated by the Akron community, and it’s very disappointing.

This is the way.

There's not one thing that will magically transform the game-day experience. It's going to take a combination of things: good team, updated/renovated facility, better marketing, etc.

yes, most definitely....trying to get some playing time for the guys 15 to 30 on the depth chart they are doing the same thing on April 10...

Playtime is over. Akron needs a new basketball arena like it needs a hole in the head. Half full arenas have become the norm everywhere except for a few elite programs. Akron is half full and that isn't going to change because our society has changed. Wake has a 15,000 seat arena and I don't care what was published, there weren't more than 8,000 people against second place Notre Dame. The disaster that was the NCAA facilities spending is over. Make the best of the current arena. The City of Akron needs an arena like it needs two holes in the head. It needs to attract taxpayers living in the City and jobs to the City. This is where the real money comes from. Arenas never cover their costs and are almost guaranteed money losers. Basically, they are empty buildings costing taxpayers money for their entire life. This isn't a difficult decision. Akron doesn't need another public works project. Finally, it's been a while since I've been in Akron and the Main Street project had been ongoing for a while. I can't believe it's still going on. What a disaster.... Does anyone think the idiots who brought you this disaster will turn a new arena into anything other than a bigger disastee? WAKE UP!!!!

2 games on the 6th, split squad?