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We have better ball movement w/o Ali. I'm sure that is a big part of X's development this season. I certainly do not miss the Ali Ali Dribble-Dribble-Dribble-Dribble-Turnover/Forced Shot offense. Once in a while Ali could get hot. Those were fun games to watch, but were too few and far between and were at the detriment of team-ism. And sometimes Ali couldn't throw it into the ocean. But Ali was a very versatile defender & having a 6-8 ball handler was pretty great. As has already been mentioned, I believe losing Dawson was the biggest gut punch. He's our junkyard dog, someone you simply can't punk, a tenacious defender who's pretty capable of hitting from 3. Hope he comes back next season fully recovered from his achilles injury 🤞🙏 Speaking of Tenacious D

I went ahead and added full classes and not just “players to know.” Only 4 high school commits and 10 JUCOs still need ratings for the entire MAC. I’m still pushing for those and think we’ll be able to get all the prep players rated, but the JUCOs are not as likely. The transfer portal is a different beast and I know all the players in the portal will not receive ratings.

Let alone at the QB position. I've seen some of the Twitter interaction with Wasel by our other recruits. I thinks there's a genuine belief that this kid is the real deal, and players are excited to play with him.

I admittedly don't follow the women's program. It probably has been 15 years since I last attended a game. That said, if Guthrie didn't care about the women's program, he could have just easily extended Coach Jackson for the similar salary she was making. In MAC men's basketball you see other schools do exactly this. CMU gave Keno Davis 8 years. NIU gave Montgomery 10 years. EMU gave Rob Murphy 10 years. All these coaches spent the bulk of their tenure being in the bottom half of the conference. Outside of the 1 year CMU did make the MAC final, none of these coaches ever really seriously contended in the MAC. If that's the level of "success" people are content with then women's hoops will continue drawing only a few hundred fans per game.

Spot on. Context matters. MAC women’s basketball is fiercely competitive, and outside of last year, in which the Zips lost in the semifinals in non-competitive fashion, this program has been in the bottom half of the league. 1 tournament win, 1 last place finish, a pair of home losses in the first round, and now a season with 4 seniors in the starting lineup that has not beaten a team with a winning record in MAC play despite having home games against all of those teams. How many times would an AD who did not hire that coach give them an extension? That’s not something you see much of in college athletics. That’s just how the game works. That’s why people who are in the know aren’t surprised by the move at all. Does she deserve an answer? Probably. But as someone who is a fan of the program regardless of the coach, I feel that a new voice is worth whatever “risk” is associated with not renewing this coaching staff. We’re not competing for championships now. We are not good now. Just because we aren’t getting blown out in Arth fashion every night doesn’t mean we should be satisfied with the status quo.

A friend and I asked that very question last year. We were told yes. I believe they rescanned the tickets somehow that it would let us back in. We left, ate dinner and came back and got in without an issue.

Agreed @Blue & Gold, Cleveland State and YSU are two teams we should play every year, no matter what (home or away). I think there'd be much better attendance/interest than playing some random Sun Belt team or other low-major.

I thought it was a good article, but the MAC has too many crap teams and weak out of conference and/or unsuccessful out of conference schedules to deserve that extra slot in the NCAA. As good as Toledo is, the majority of those wins are over the bottom of the MAC. The two wins against Akron would be their best wins in conference play...and Akron didn't have any quality wins. Kent pushed the envelope with their schedule and came really close to some good wins...credit to them.

The one thing that is "heartwarming" in all this thread is that there is a passion for women's basketball here, and our fan base will support a promising and winning program. Plus the posts rhetoric has been civil and thoughtful, and not degraded to the "troll" level several threads on other topics on this board tend to do. I can't remember a time in the past few years where there even WAS a women's basketball thread! It's wonderful to see the interest, especially from some of the board's more prolific and knowledgeable posters. Looking forward to what the future holds for the Zips WBB team and also for the coaches that are leaving.

Not exactly. Ali was on this team and a key piece last year. He certainly would have helped this year assuming he wouldn't have the same injuries here. Hopefully Hunter can keep stepping up. Hankerson has been disappointing.

As much as I would have to liked to have seen Coach Jackson be more successful, I can see the argument to move on. Yes 74-68 overall is a winning record (barely), but I suspect 40-50 in the MAC is the main number and finishing 8-10 after a 4-1 start is not a good way to keep your job when your contract is up. If she hasn't received a good explanation for not being renewed as she says, she certainly deserves better after 15 years at the university. Although the numbers above certainly seem to explain it.

Again, you’ve got it all wrong. This has nothing, and everything, to do with the coach. If you can coach and put a winning season on the floor I’ll watch you. This is about the Administration. I buy my tickets for entertainment. I have no stake in the team. I don’t get paid if they win. I don’t get money based on bracket placement and so on. We are fans of women’s basketball. My time and resources are of some value to me. Put a winning program together and you’ll get both. Again, the Admin has given no reason for letting the Coach go. I’m not stupid or delusional. I understand how difficult it is to build a lasting program in a competitive mid major like the MAC. Especially with the transfer portal. We had what we all would want out of the current program. Without explanation, reason, or numbers, they decided to not renew. That’s fine. It’s done and over. I keep bringing up the fact that we have(had) the lowest paid coach in our conference. Does anyone on here actually believe that the university is looking to spend more money? Honest question. We know they couldn’t even afford to send free emails out promoting wbb. if Coach Jackson couldn’t put together winning seasons, struggled to keep players here, and failed to get good quality recruits, I would be the first one to stand up and demand better. This current AD is taking some of this budget and moving it elsewhere. There is no intention of building a winning program and, like I said, my time and resources have value to me. we’ve all heard the expression, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Well here we are.

I guess it really is a KD situation all over again. Bigger fans of the coach than the program. Oh well.

I’m not sure I completely follow some of the logic here. Through the powers of deduction we can all guess it’s Brewer. She was so good that when she transferred to Toledo she ran into the same issues she found herself in here. She ended up quitting. Coach Jackson coached the entire season and nothing was found in the investigation and it was closed. The only coach with a consistent winning record was non renewed. She was also the lowest paid coach in the MAC. As a fan that wants to be back year after year, I still want to know: WHAT IS THE NEW DIRECTION? Judging by this programs history I don’t see them spending more money to build a better program. My wife and I didn’t buy season tickets because this is a dynasty type league. We aren’t USC or Stanford. We bought tickets for the entertainment value. Put a competitive team on the floor. Win more than you don’t. Build a program that can compete year after year. Again, we had that. I don’t see this being a decision to spend more. I don’t see a good team for several years. There are too many options for the MAC and these young ladies to choose from than to be part of a rebuilding program with no consistency at any level at the University. I’ll go watch them in Cleveland. But until they prove me wrong this will be our last year as season ticket holders.

Wasel has everything needed to become the next great MAC QB.

All true statements. I think my main point was missed. Not saying anything negative towards the group. My main concern is the lack of an extension of even a year or two. I’ve never once said I was content with a record of middle of the pack. What I’ve repeatedly said is that this is a program that has been better, by all measurable metrics, for this coach’s tenure. It takes several years to gain a reputation in the MAC to build your recruiting status. In the last 5 seasons, and understanding how impossible the COVID year was for playing, the players, and mostly for recruiting, how well this program managed. I felt that her, and her staff, deserved another year or two to see where it was heading. we all know the university is struggling financially. Women’s Basketball is not a high priority for this university based off of its history with the program. So I don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling that this move was to create a better program. I’m just a fan. No kids in the program. I am friendly with the coach and her staff but that’s it. I want to feel good about where this program is heading. I love watching women’s bball. I wish we had a wnba team closer than 5 hours away. My loyalty to the MAC is Akron. I don’t feel any of us are owed some explanation for her departure. I just wish we could have a reason for hope and enthusiasm. So far it doesn’t look that way. Yes, all of the seniors that were planning a return are done. I know for a fact that Bass is the hottest commodity in the MAC right now due to Coach Jackson’s departure. I can only assume that she is looking at the possibilities that are out there. She has two years left to play for a title.

A player's ability to be successful within the concepts of a Groce squad require that player to buy in completely. I'm not sure Ali was the guy to do that. Exhibit A- his departure. I think an uninjured Dawson and a returning Bandaogo would have gone a long way. What I wouldn't give for another quality big.

You cannot re-enter unless you have an additional unused ticket. Pizza216

I said it last year and I still stand by it. Ali was at best a bare minimum net positive. The number of possessions he killed nearly cancelled out his positive impact on the offensive end. It was X and Freeman that took that team to the next level to nearly knocked off. Ali's bad possessions actually were a major contributing factor in that loss. To diminish Mikal's absence and also say Hankerson has been a disappointment is contradictory. Is Hankerson disappointing if he isn't expected to be the 3rd best player on the team? He is this team's Channel Banks, who was the 4th best player on his respective team behind LCJ, X1.0, and Cheese. Banks' offensive struggles at times would've been a bigger problem if he was expected to be the 3rd option on that team. Insert Dawson on this year's squad, and Hankerson slots in as the #4 option. We'd be talking more about his defensive impact than focusing on his offensive woes. Dawson would be giving us 10-12 per game probably and playing outstanding D while providing huge energy. This team was constructed to have X2.0 and Freeman as the 1-2 punch at the top, Dawson as the versatile #3 scoring option + defense/rebounding, Hankerson as the #4 + defense, with Tribble to be the gadget defender. Hunter, Johnson, Mitchell, Tavari, and Clarke were intended to be the bonus guys. Instead, they've all been asked to do more than what was originally expected, and we've seen some of the growing pains that have come with that.

Since it was mentioned several times, all of our Seniors have another year of eligibility & were more than likely all returning until the decision came down on February 14, with 6 games left in the season. The whole rebuilding narrative was just not factual, until after the decision.

I've already purchased my tickets for Thursday and Friday nights. 🦘🤘 Still holding off on buying Saturday tickets for some reason? 😄

That is a great article. Akron has had a great regular season. It is one of the few seasons that I can remember where we did not have a clunker of a game and lose to a lower level team during the season. The one thing that bothers me going into the tournament is depth. Groce really seemed to shorten his bench the last 2 games. He took out Nate Johnson when he made a frosh mistake and gave a Kent player an open lane to the basket. Tavari only played a couple of minutes in Kent. We are going to need Johnson and Johnson to play some substantial minutes in Cleveland if we are going to win the Tourney. Tavari has played 5 minutes the last 2 games after having a good game against Western Michigan and being on the post game show. Groce teams always seem to play well in the Tourney and if Hunter continues the pace he has set the last 2 games we have a chance of advancing.

I've started typing this any number of times then deleted, but here's my view from a detached Zips fan. When I have watched Jackson's teams, I have seen teams that have played hard. However, I have seen teams that were generally below the average talent level of their MAC counterparts. The only real exception was when the Zips had a MAC POY. Otherwise, the teams have been mediocre. This season went from promising, to sideways to downhill. I don't see anything in the pipeline to convince me that the upcoming Zips squads are going to be anything other than the struggling to be middling MAC teams we've seen to this point. I appreciate Coach Jackson's efforts. I don't think any failures were due to a lack of effort. Maybe the program will be in the same place or a worse place in a couple of years, but I can understand the desire to improve from where the program is now.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call Hankerson disappointing. I don’t think the staff ever saw him as the 3rd scoring option, nor should they have. That role was to be taken up by Hunter, but a dreadful start to the year and fairly forgettable MAC play left us relying on Freeman and Castaneda a little too much. He’s had 3 dynamite MAC games, a few “okay” MAC games, and way too many “what the hell?” MAC games. Hankerson was brought in specifically to be a role player, 3&D. He’s had his fair share of poor performances too, but he contributes a lot more than you see on the box score. Sammy’s defense has stuck out at times, but Hankerson’s defense has been really good all year. I would have hoped that both would be more consistent contributors, but for the entire sample size of a 31 game regular season, I still feel great when Hank shoots the ball but get nervous when Sammy does. At NIU, Hankerson was the best or second best scoring option on a bad team. When he’s the 3rd or 4th option behind X, Freeman, and a hot-shooting Hunter, you’ve got a championship contender. Couple different bounces Friday and we’d be feeling a lot better right now. How many wide open 3s has X missed from the wing this year? Not many.

I forgot to mention parking pass is thrown in with season ticket orders. If they try to give you Lot 1 (parking deck) ask for Lot 8 for hoops and Lot 9 for football.

Been a bit since I've been THIS excited about a recruit!

Nothing and everything to do with the coach. Got it.

I hope we can actually watch on tv. I love baseball but not enough to watch before May lol

I have "there's always next year" ready to go at 7:10PM Thursday evening.

This will be my 53rd year as a season ticket holder. I consider my two club seats a bargain. At $500 each I get a parking pass and great club amenities for 5 games. By comparison, I attended a Cavs game recently where a lower level seat went for the same price for one game! Zips athletic events are a bargain.

According to ZipsWSoccer IG account, there is a women’s Spring match at Cleveland State at 1 pm today. Great to see Jen scheduling Spring matches. Go Zips!!! https://www.instagram.com/p/CpaUaO6rzyz/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

We care about WSOC. But the program has never realized it’s potential. Same resources as MSOC. Same facilities. Some of the very best high school programs in the nation are a short drive from Akron, not to mention the various academies in the area. It should be very doable to recruit at least red chip talent - without ever boarding a plane. Hopefully, Simonetti can do that. If she cannot, I know coaches who can. Give her some time.

Bryan Trimble left Missouri State in late January for "personal reasons" and has not played since.