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Our Cheese/Banks/LCJ back court is the gold standard. Casteneda can be mentioned in the same conversation as those above. I hoped Hankerson could be too...but he still doesn't seem comfortable or assertive enough. The season's half over, so it's probably not going to happen. TJ needs some swagger. Once he gets confidence he'll be fine. Hope it happens this season. Who's our 2023 Xerius Williams? Offensively, Hunter is closer to Maishe than Xerius. And he's a poor defender. I don't think anyone else is in the conversation? I still hold faith that Groce will have the Zips playing their best basketball at year's end. Under his watch, they always do. Eventually some cream will rise to the top and we'll be as big a threat as anyone to cut down the nets in CLE.

Tavari is going to mold into a great player, but man you can tell the D1 game is still a little too fast for him. He seems to make 2-3 mistakes per game that make you wonder what was he even thinking. There really is no solution for it other than playing through it and learning as he goes.

GP1 seems to be against having an American good time. I didn't see this plot twist coming

I feel as though you're in the minority of not being a fan of March Madness. Those first two days of the tournament, outside of the Superbowl, are my favorite days on the sports calendar. Nothing beats watching a 13 or 14 seed knock off a blue blood like Duke.

GT for ABJ: Akron Zips men's basketball team may get Xavier Castaneda back

Finally the local media acknowledges this important UA story. The impact of the Greater Akron polymer cluster. https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/akron/mission-possible-greater-akron-polymer-cluster/95-d3bcc09d-9c5c-4d4b-8de1-2c6cdd1ec425 via @wkyc

They had uniforms and everything.

The only surprise here is how long it took him to decide to enter the portal. The writing was on the wall at LT. It’ll be tough for anyone to beat out Landers. Chambers claimed the rest of the snaps by the end of the season. Still eyeing a few more guys to make their exit. Not sure if it was mentioned but Jordan Daniels landed at UNC Charlotte. Happy for him as he’s originally from NC. He will have a chance to play there with the overhaul that’s taking place.

I’d love to see Tavari help Tavari.

How poorly written was Greg Beals contract that this could happen?

Great to see the X news. We have some injuries which sucks, but I for one am super pumped to see all of the freshman we have out there. Tavari, Nate (basically), Kobe (basically), Amani are not always playing great, but it is nice to see their potential when they understand the game. Forums feel negative as of recent, but I am confident in this team come February and March.

"You don't have permission to access this resource." is the message I got when I posted Dakota's #Zipemup tweet.

I'd be willing to bet it happens within the next 5 years (at least I hope so because it will allow me to take off work and drink more beer).

Did someone show Vegas oddsmakers highlights from 2019-20, and tell them that's this year's Zips?

Can't post the tweet, but Guthrie is at the National Championship Game. JoeMo is having a watch party with the football team. Study the best.

For those of you getting the above message, this is known, and being looked into. Sorry for the inconvenience.

FYI - The twitter embedding issue is being looked into.

Gray in the portal. Posting tweet not working for me either.

Hopefully more good things coming to the baseball program soon.

My Magic 8 Ball says you will be unperturbed.

Probably won't do this every week after the games, but after getting to see a decent amount of each team in week 1, here's how I would rank them currently: 1. Kent--They didn't look as unbeatable as everyone in the country perceives, but they went 2-0 and won at Millett. Not an easy task. Carry won single-handedly yesterday 2. Ball State--I don't think this will wind up being the 2nd place finisher when it's all said and done, but this program seems to be coming back to life. Decent guards, a great big, decent experience, and a great hire. They play real hard, and could make some noise. 3. Toledo--Despite the loss to Ball State, the way they dominated WMU for 40 minutes spoke volumes. I don't see this as a Toledo team that will win 15-17 league games, but they're still really good and will be a contender. They're in Kent on Tuesday. 4. Bowling Green--I'll show the Falcons some love, though I expect them to really struggle in the grand scheme of things. They were dominant in Ypsi, and put together a hell of a performance to beat Ohio yesterday. It's funny, everyone expected both BG football and BG men's basketball to be horrible, finish at the bottom of the league. And while I still believe they're not any good, they somehow win games. Huger is coaching for his job. He's got Metheny back, and he's not one to mess around with. The whole team has never met a shot they don't like, and they've got an athletic big guy who can finish. My surprise of the year so far. 5. Buffalo--Opened league play with a pair of home games against a similar OU team and dreadful NIU. The Bulls put together a decent nonconference season, and have gotten off to a nice start. Beating OU at home is always good. This team is pretty unrecognizable from a roster standpoint, and I don't trust Whitesell. I'd expect a regression to the mean in the next few weeks. 6. Akron--It's okay, I promise! It's funny, going into last year with the additions of X, KJ Walton, an offseason for Bandaogo, Freeman, Clarke, Dawson, etc. we were expecting massive things, to be massive favorites. Then reality set in and it was unrecognizable from October to March. Fast forward to this past March, once again on cloud nine, getting every important piece back, then the portal + injuries begin to pile up. Groce re-tools, puts together a roster to get excited about, then a huge win over SDSU! WOW! Then a couple nice wins and let downs. MAC play arrives, this team has been without X for a couple games, Clarke for a couple weeks, Aziz, Ali transferred out, Dawson out for the year, another P5 transfer has come in and been a disappointment. All of a sudden we're relying on Kobe Mitchell, Nate Johnson, Tavari Johnson, and an NIU transfer. Not a great feeling. But considering the circumstances, I've seen far better (to this point) Akron teams play far worse against much worse teams. Tuesday at BG is not a must-win, but it sure does feel like it. TTP. 7. Ohio--After losing their two best players to the portal, Boals has put together another decent team. Roderick is still there, and Miles Brown is a stud. This is a team to keep an eye on. 8. CMU--Tony Barbee can coach! Going into last season, they seemed like a team that would be a distant last place. But they won at Kent, gave Toledo and Akron fits, and found themselves in Cleveland. They had the ball on the last possession with a chance to win. All with a thrown together mish-mash roster. Not many guys returned from that group, but he re-tooled and has another pesky team. Freshman Reggie Bass is fun to watch. 9. EMU--It pains me to put them this high after losing a home game to BG by 25, but they actually looked okay in the 2nd half against CMU. They were down big early, but rallied and won. One of their other wins this year was at FIU, who just beat a great UAB team. Stan Heath is not a good coach, but they have Emoni Bates and nobody else does. He's got a Nick Harney attitude with modern day NBA talent. They could beat anyone but also lose to anyone by 30. 10. WMU--Lamar Norman seems to be a shell of his former self after a pair of MAC games. I'm on the fence about this new coach, who seems to prefer to play inside-out, despite having Norman. He doesn't let him run wild. Toledo put up 100 on them. Still dangerous, but I'm disappointed. 11. Miami--Groce's step-brother is going to have a long year. They put up a good fight against Kent, but had no answer for Carry. They had a 6-point lead deep into the 2nd half, but you knew there was no hope. I do think there's potential, as Lairy is still there, and he's got a big-dog style guy who can pass as well as any big. 12. NIU--Poor Rashon Burno. Wow, they're bad. Bad bad bad. Keshawn WIlliams is the single bright spot on this team. A mid-major program in the Chicago area should never be this bad, but here we are again. There will be a fight for the last spot in Cleveland, and I would put NIU's chances at 0.0%. If Kent runs Toledo off the floor by 15+, I'll be a bit more convinced that they're as ahead of the pack as the metrics suggest. But all I see on the horizon is another grind of a MAC season for the Zips. Few of these games will be easy, and it all boils down to Cleveland. Seeding doesn't matter, matchups don't matter. You gotta bring it every night. 2022 taught us that. Go Zips!

Not any different than any other coaches contract. Even though he was not making the same $$ he made at OSU, the $95k we were paying him made the 4th highest paid coach in the MAC. Guthrie has put a lot of effort into the baseball program. We are now back to the full scholarship level and the silly rule about only recruiting from Ohio has been dropped. Beals knew exactly what he was signing up for when he put his name on that contract. He and the Marshall AD are just scumbags. At the end of the day UA is financially better off than when he got here after he pays the buyout.

New offer to CB Brian Nelson (TX). I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a few P5 offers before it’s all said and done.

David Jester (FL) is coming in for an official visit this weekend. Rivals has him rated as a 3 star WR, but he played S his senior year. He’d be a great pickup on either side of the ball. Hudl film linked.