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Good Day Zips Fans! A quick update on Kwan. He's having a GREAT season over in Spain. He's expecting another son with his wife Emily

In the age of the transfer portal, there are coaches who do well with it and coaches who do poorly. We've been pretty fortunate to have a coach and a program who seem to do pretty well with it. Assuming that the core of Ali, X, Freeman, Tribble, Dawson stick together, we will have one of the older and more experienced teams in the MAC and in the country. I don't have comparable numbers and can't seem to find a list anywhere, but looking at all of those guys' career numbers, I'm pretty impressed. X, assuming he is returning (God forbid any of these guys don't) has played in 123 games in his career, starting in 58, playing 25 minutes per game Ali has made 66 starts in 88 career games, playing 23 minutes per game. He started 11 games for the 2020 championship team, and has gotten significantly better each year he's been here Freeman has made 54 starts in 64 career games, averaging 23 minutes. He started every game of this past season, has a 68.8% FG% for his career, and is a two-time All-MAC performer. Was a big scout teamer for the 2020 team as well Tribble has made 32 starts in 85 career games, averaging 20 minutes a game. Another member of the 2020 championship team going into his 4th season at Akron. Shot 70% at the free throw line this past season, coming up big in the Buffalo QF game. Dawson has made 10 starts in 74 career games. He was also a member of the 2020 championship team, and shot 36% from three last season, becoming a fairly reliable shooter. The college basketball landscape has teams turning over the rosters significantly year-to-year. While X is still newer to the program, he's an example of an old and experienced guy bringing a lot of value to a program, and you could definitely see that as the season went on. While Dawson and Tribble haven't been top-tier contributors, they've been a part of Akron basketball for a very long time in today's standards, and that holds a ton of value as well. Mid-Major Madness did a nice piece on Richmond's "Last Dance" with an old team full of seniors Also, when you look at Buffalo and Groce's OU teams, they were the same, old, experienced teams that were there for a lot of winning. OU had Cooper, Kellogg, Baltic. Buffalo had Massinburg, Perkins, Graves, Harris, Jordan, Carruthers. I am not guaranteeing a sweet 16 run, a 30-win season, or an appearance in the NCAA tournament for that matter. It should go without saying, but old and experienced teams that have been together for a long time have much more potential to do some amazing things. Let's hope this group can do the same. Strike while the iron is hot.

I'm confident that there's a community college near Kansas City, Missouri that can use a guy that shoots 36% from the field. He seemed like a nice kid when I heard him in a post-game interview. Who knows what goes on in the head of a 23 year old kid who's lost his ability to do what he does best. I want to be angry in that he appears to have bailed on the team but who knows what else may be going on in his life. Hopefully, it works out was well for him as it did the Zips.

Interesting that a major national conversation right now is how bad the officiating is this tournament. We were getting screwed before it was cool.

I love how Jay Bilas rants about how the refs are letting players get away with excessive contact yet Enrique gets whistled every time he breathes near an opponent.

Well they way underestimated the useful life of the first artificial turf ever placed on the Rubber Bowl field. The piece sitting on my bookshelf is as green as the day a friend of mine working as a turf installer freed it and presented it to me.

I'm not talking about the motivational speaker, I'm talking about Coach Delattiboudere.

Generally how it works in sports is the more talented you, the more schools/fans are willing to look past things. He was only at BG for 1 year and they went 11-7 in MAC play. Not like he achieved enough for BG to give him the benefit of the doubt. Also, the WAC is a disaster of a conference. It's pretty much NMSU, who has been a solid mid-major for a while, and a bunch of other really crappy teams. NMSU is pretty much a lock to make the tournament every year and they had success long before Jans got there. I doubt he would have had the same success at BG as the MAC is much more competitive.

Thanks for the excellent explanation. I really appreciate it. I hope he does great next year. However, Harrison Central is a very small school in Cadiz, and they play very small schools. I would not project his future effectiveness based on his high school competition. However, I wish him greatness.

Like a Hallmark Christmas movie.

@Illini Zip simply posted that so we'd get a better idea of what may be waiting in the wings next year. I think the redshirt season was probably very good for Kobe, because, while he lit it up in HS, his competition was rather low caliber. A year under Groce to understand what D-1 defensive intensity looks like and understand the scheme and I think Kobe will really be able to help us next year. He may be the best 3-point shooter on the team next year. He also played football in HS, so hopefully he's got some hard-nose to him (even though he was a QB; Idk if he played D or not).

OU narrowly escaped #14 seed Rice yesterday - 65-64. They take on Abilene Christian tomorrow. Riveting stuff.

Chris Jans to Mississippi State. Take heart, BG fans, once he found success with you he would have dumped you faster than you dumped him.

When I was considering transfers out I didn't even think of Trimble as I already considered him long gone!

Zips need a stretch 4 (i had to google that) like Jeremy Harris.

I said it in another thread I feel we really need a stretch 4. Some here seem to think the same. We also need at least 1 other person to emerge as a legit scorer whether that be Tavari or someone else. Tribble needs to spend the entire offseason working on his 3 point shot. Being a guard that is no threat from deep really allows the opposing defense to play 5 on 4

Apparently exit interviews have commenced. Lol 1. Wasn't Bryan a senior? 2. It's good to see he's earned his diploma.

There would be a few more games per year under the 21st C. model.

Do not forget about Eric McLaughlin in 85/86. He was very good and scored nearly 8 ppg teaming with Marcel Boyce and center and football player Russell Holmes who ruled the key at 6ft. 3in and nearly took down Michigan in the NCAA with the best basketball coach Akron had in Bob Huggins. . However, the best guard was Joe Jaubick in 80/81. He averaged 13 ppg as a frosh and went on to lead the nation in scoring as a senior at 30+ ppg. I played against both Eric and Joe in open gyms and they were so good. Actually, I should say I was on the court and I played ole defense. They went by me like the wind. Joe and Eric are the best freshmen guards in Akron history. Go Zips!!!

They just said that “UCLA getting past Akron was NOT easy.”