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This is a good group of guys and I'd enjoy the chance to watch them play again.

At the end of the day, as much as it pains me to say it, the Zips got beat twice in a week by a better team. Superior and deeper talent prevailed and Mr. PInky had his kids ready. As much as I don't like the attitude and behavior of some of their players, I'd give NWAkron's right arm for the effort and skill set of a guy like Jacobs.

Not sure about the Tavari transfer talk. He's in line to be the starting PG if there isn't a transfer in at the moment

Courtesy of our favorite Illinois import, @Illini Zip. Personally, I think one or both of Kobe Mitchell and Garvin Clarke are transfer candidates. Prather, Tavari, Nate, Dawson, and Tribble are a formidable backcourt. I would expect Groce to find another veteran PG to bring in via the Portal, should a spot open up. As it currently stands, this is our front court (*AS LONG AS FREEMAN RETURNS*)... Enrique Freeman - 6'7" SR (one of the best Forwards in the country) Sammy Hunter - 6'9" JR (stretch 4) Amani Lyles - 6'7" SO (raw but showed promise; plays bigger than 6'7") Prince Mosengo - 6'8" RFR (I think a stretch-style forward?) Darrion Baker - 6'7" FR (McDonalds All American nominee; from the highlights, can do a little bit of everything) Marvin Musiime-Kamali - 6'6" (I think a stretch-style forward?) Our front court is quite deep and versatile looking at the above. I wouldn't put it past Sammy to develop into a better complimentary piece to Freeman in the post (stronger, better rebounder, etc.). Same with Amani Lyles. I'm not entirely sure a 7 footer is needed. I watch what Groce and his staff have done with Freeman's development, and it's fascinating. They've taken an undersized big, and equipped him with an arsenal of quick moves in the paint to get around bigs. It's a total mismatch against 99% of the bigs we face. The same thing can be done with the rest of the front court. This team was missing shooters more so than a big man IMO. I also look at Groce's OU teams, and I think the tallest player was 6'9". The difference: they had Cooper, Kellogg, Keely, etc. - legitimate threats from the perimeter and basically anywhere on the floor. We needed that. Hankerson, being advertised as a 3 & D guy, often lacked the 3 part. Dawson never played because of the injury. Tribble just is what he is offensively (he's an awesome Zip, and one of the heartbeats of the squad). The rest of our guards were liabilities this year. If we had one more shooter, we win last Friday, we win last night, and we'd be playing tonight. Interested to see if we accept an invite to a postseason tournament to get the young nucleus on this team some more experience, and X some more tape for the pros (overseas; pro tip, X, file your taxes correctly). It is only appropriate to finish this post with a prayer. Let us pray... Dear Basketball Gods, May the winds blow in the direction of Freeman staying and playing one more year in the Akron Blue & Gold. May the offseason bring us a cold-blooded shooter, and may this team be blessed with health and strength development. And to avoid sounding greedy, I will not ask for Tribble to develop a jump shot. Amen.

I hate to do it but I think you have to credit Kent's perimeter defense more. X wasn't just cold, he wasn't allowed to get comfortable or get to his normal spots either last Friday or tonight. He had to work for every single point. They did a fantastic job game-planning for him.

Kent had a few guys really answer the bell. Good for them. Pains me to say it, but I'm going to keep it real as always. Carry got hot from the perimeter early, as did Jacobs--both those guys shoot under 30% on the year from distance. The Zips chose to let guys like VC Davis shoot, let Sullinger shoot. In all honesty, that "gamble" nearly worked. Miryne Thomas has not been a guy for them that takes it to the rack. Akron forced him to, and he made the Zips look silly. They really cooled off and went 5 minutes without a point in the late parts of the first half. I've already said it a couple of times, but not getting that game to be tied or taking the lead in that stretch was huge. They committed a lot of dumb turnovers to dig themselves into that hole, and were right on the edge of climbing out before their hands slipped. Hankerson, who I adore, once again made crazy mental errors against Kent. That sequence to begin the second half was a killer. X was okay, but you could see him pressing like crazy at the end. I can live with it. Like @zippy5 said, its a make or miss league. He buries that 3 after the block, we may be singing a different tune right now. Looking at the box score, it is so clear what the difference was. Akron got sweet nothing from the bench. Just empty minutes all around. I thought Clarke was fine, but blew a layup he should have made and got stuffed a couple of times, as per usual. Nate was realllllly bad in these last two Kent games. He was like a deer in headlights again tonight, panicking when he caught the ball. For the second straight year, Akron finishes 1-2 against Kent while outscoring them in total points. Ain't that some s***. Groce quotes Guthrie from time to time. When they meet, Guthrie always points out how hard it is to win a division 1 basketball game. Hell, look at what the Pink Fraud has pulled off these last 2 Fridays. He's been blessed with a cold X and huge games from Carry, Payton last week, Thomas this week, absolutely dominated the stat sheets, and they've still just been a couple of bounces ahead at the end. If I think about it too much, I'll pull my hair out. The biggest difference from these last 2 and the game in Akron--the start. Now, Akron got on the board first today, but they had tons of empty possessions early and throughout the game. When Kent came to the JAR, Enrique popped the roof off with that alley-oop and Hank, X, and Sammy hit early triples. Lastly for now, it's fun to think about how different situations play out and what they could have changed had they been different. What if Toledo beats Akron in the semis and wins it all last year? What if Kent had won last year and carried momentum into the NCAAs? Trigger warning, I will again be giving Kent credit. They got punked in the title game last year and kept their entire core intact and ran it back with reinforcements. I will never credit Pink Fraud for his coaching, as he has never earned it, but he has always been a stellar recruiter. They came into this year hungry, and they have responded well, picking up a huge win tonight. BUT, if they lose to Toledo, it will all be for nothing. It's NCAA or bust for those guys. Ditto Toledo. Had Akron lost that game last year, would Ali want to come back hungry? Would Bandaogo become an all-league caliber player here instead of in Orem, Utah, a town I'm not even sure is real? Would this year's team be better? Worse? Same? All these thoughts in my brain tell me one thing--be thankful for what we've had, what we have, and what the future will bring. 13 months ago, many folks here would have never wanted to see Xavier Castaneda wear an Akron uniform for another day. Not much longer before that, we were losing to bad A10 teams by 20 with KJ Walton and Bryan Trimble in the starting lineup. I'm crushed by how this year's tournament ended. But damn it I am proud of this team and program. Unfortunately, this kind of result will only push Joe Akron further from the plastic blue seats. In Groce we Trust.

Thank you to seniors Castaneda and Hankerson for their great effort, some very enjoyable basketball and a respectable season.

Carry’s beard looks like a 6th grade hobo costume.

Wife and I renewed ours two seats in section 208 for $198. That’s a great value IMO. We would blow that much going to dinner and a movie. Looking forward to more tailgating next season. Recently purchased a Jeep Gladiator. The bed has an enough room for the Traeger pellet smoker, a cooler, and a couple of chairs 👍🏼. We didn’t get to do any tailgating last year because we were still living out of state and didn’t get to attend many games.

Last night on the post game Joe Dunn ask Groce about going to a post season tournament and Groce indicated it was up to the administration. I think if the players want to do the CBI, I hope Akron would accept an invitation. Florida in March would not be detrimental to the team. Last year OU played and the year before that Bowling Green played in this tournament. I think it would give our younger players, Johnson and Johnson to get more experience and a nice sendoff to our 2 seniors. Any thoughts on the CBI?

Toledo: 41.0Milner/Shumate 32.1 ppg (37.4%), 10.6 rpg (30.9%), 3.2 apg (21.1%) Kent: (Carry, Jacobs, Thomas, Payton) 47 ppg (61.3%), 18.9 rpg (53.2%), 9.6 apg (78.0%) Akron: (Hankerson, Castañeda) 30.6 ppg (41.0%), 8.2 rpg (23.0%), 5.1 apg (38.1%). On paper, assuming Enrique is back, Toledo and Akron are in a similar position for what they lose from seniors. Kent is most likely to see a step back out of the top 3. Of course, I did this on my phone with a lot of mental math so I could be way off. Also, don't believe OU loses much and had a pair on the All-Freshman team.

These two teams have played 85 minutes in the last week and Akron led for exactly 3 of them. KSU was the better team. And don't kid yourself, "Pink Fraud" absolutely out coached Groce. Because Akron absolutely has the horses to win this game if they play better. That is usually scheme and execution of the game plan. Their defense forced those turnovers because they knew the sets, knew when to rotate, knew how to keep X from getting to his spots and forced him into uncomfortable positions. That is coaching the kids to play to your strengths and the oppositions weaknesses. The inability to get Freeman more post touches in the second half, IMO, was key. It's just hard as sh*t when you dig yourself an 18 point second half hole. At this point, it seems JG better hit the transfer portal, especially if Freeman seeks greener pastures. BTW - UT can absolutely beat KSU, but I don't see it. Last year it was the Flashes coming in on a long ass winning streak and we know what happened. Kent won the only matchup of the two earlier this season and they seem pretty motivated. Toledo had a weak a** schedule and KSU's only *bad* loss all year was @ Northern.

One last thought, I feel bad for Freeman in that he filled up the stat sheet, 11 for 17 for 26 points and 18 rebounds. He pulled down some tough rebounds and had a great block. He missed a layup early and missed 2 foul shots early but otherwise had a almost a perfect game. He just did not get enough support from the rest of the team to defeat Kent. It was a great individual effort.

Projections are that the Big Ten will be sending between 8-10 teams of its 14 team conference to the Tourney. Half of them will be gone after the first game and a few might make the Sweet 16. We all know it’s a racket. I don’t know what the metrics are exactly, but both Toledo and Kent State pass the eye test to me.

I don't think he's immune from criticism. I agree he needs to recruit better. However, he had 2 key pieces from last year's team suddenly leave, and our 3rd best player tore his Achilles prior to the season. Hard to retool on the fly like that. Now, the class with Nate Johnson and Kobe Mitchell looks quite underwhelming at the moment. That's a gap, but as the team was constructed to finish last year, Johnson and Mitchell weren't expected to have as big of roles as they did this year - at least not by need. I love this team. Heck, all of JG's teams are lovable. They're phenomenal to root for. They represent Akron as well as anyone ever has, if not better. They do need more talent, and I expect Groce and company to find that talent. I think your criticisms are fair, but there are also some uncontrollable circumstances that led to the open door for those criticisms.

Winning championships, especially repeating, takes a little bit of everything. Great preparation in the summer, re-loading and re-tooling, great scouting and preparation for games, playing like you practice, weathering spurts of not playing well, and a good amount of luck. After the first month of the year, many of us, including myself, felt this team was missing just a bit here and there. And in pretty much every one of those losses, save for the game at Toledo, another bounce or two and the games could go the other way. This group was a lot like the 19-20 team if it was missing a piece or 2. That is absolutely on Groce and the staff. They should have and could have done better in the portal. I got really worried when I saw Mikal Dawson in a boot at Infocision stadium. That was the first sign of worry and bad luck. But this team responded well and finished 3rd in a top heavy league. Many more thoughts to be had. But this was a fine year. I’m disappointed because I know we were plenty good enough to win this thing. If we’re gonna go down, go down fighting. Not pouting and complaining like the “ole” days.

it's tough in the MAC. Same final 4 as last year. I would disagree that Groce was out-coached by Senderoff. Senderoff had the guys this year. The problem he has now is that Toledo also has the missing pieces that Akron needed this year.

why don't you give it a rest until say...tomorrow.

Really sucks. I truly can’t believe it was that close. The moment looked too big at times. But despite that 15-point deficit in the first half, Akron really should have led or been tied at the break at the least. So many blown chances. I feel for the guys because they really fought their tails off, they just did not execute. And credit to kent. They drew the fouls in the second half and iced the game. It be that way sometimes. 75-55 forever.

Seems like we lost by more. Kent was just better.

Groce didn't have the horses this year. Missing a piece of 2. Bummer.

Put Reghi on the mic... dumps on CBS for that.

Sincere just put his hood up, walked off the court, and did a shushing motion to the nearest camera for 1/4 length of the court and into the tunnel. There is not a more unlikeable player in PCCC's history than him. End his career tonight, Zips.

Buffalo loses a talented player.

Well, here we are, a week or more earlier that we had hoped but pretty much where many of us had predicted in the pre-season early predictions/projections thread. This team suffered from very early on from a lack of depth and talent beyond X and Enrique. It had two elite MAC top 5 players and otherwise no one above an average MAC talent. On the positive side, this team had character and heart. The kids were very likable, always played hard and you never got the sense that criminal charges were on the verge of ruining the season. I'd take one Greg Tribble over ten Nick Harneys. Dawson's injury and Bandaogo's departure put this team behind the eight ball early on. Dawson is not likely to lead the team in any major statistical category but he has an edge/fire no one else on the team possesses. You need a guy or two like Tyler Cheese and Channel Banks that have a little of that streetfighter edge to them down the stretch. As long as Groce is here the Zips will be competitive. This team had holes. Part of that's attributable to bad luck (e.g. Dawson, Bandaogo) some of it is attributable to a lack of success on the recruiting trail. I'll address individual players in a future post, but I would say in advance that none of the players suffered from a lack of effort. Inattention occasionally, poor judgment at times, but I never saw anyone dogging it. May the recruiting and transfer gods be with us.

Was that stream on ESPN+ 😂 When I typed up that question there was no "watch" info on the GoZips.com website. Now they have the "watch" icons up & it, as you said, basically looks like a security camera someone affixed to the top of the bleachers 😂 But, yeah, better than nothing. I tuned in for a couple innings today.

I'm too interested in seeing if people understand the word.

Save yourself some brain cells and block Dre. He's only here to disrupt from a recliner in his mom's basement

If the Zips firmly believe they deserve the NIT and don't make it, they should not play. If they don't make the NIT and understand they reasons why they didn't make it,and are ok with playing some more games, go for it. Just do the fans a solid and give it 100%.

Anyone who thinks we don't need more bigs clearly forgets the games against Toledo where we asked 6'2 guards to guard 1st Team All-MAC Shumate. Theoretically on paper we have guys with size, but that doesn't matter if they aren't good enough to see the court for meaningful minutes. Dawson should help some as he can play the 3 or 4, but we need to add someone else to the rotation that is >6'5 who can give us ~15 productive minutes a night.

Out of likes. Agree with everything you said, especially what I highlighted.

I do not disagree. They should be in over any ACC or PAC-12 .500 in conference team... I also think the MAC is strong enough year in and year out that the should be represented in the NIT most years too, although when they get in that tournament they are always vastly underseeded.

Defense adjusted to shut down that quick reverse Kent had going early to get the easy 3 looks. Too many turnovers sunk us last night

Both of those teams should get in period. There have been plenty of teams the past 20 years that should have been at large bids.

I'm hopeful for Baker next year

Some thoughts: 1) The re-recruitment of Freeman starts today. UA Athletics needs to do everythi g within reason to retain him. If he leaves, we're immediately in a "retool" year. 2) They need to be aggressive in the transfer portal to bring in an experienced point guard who can score and create. X didn't play well last night, but he did over the course of the season and has big shoes to fill. It should be an attractive role for an outside player - starting PG for a top mid-major with an elite big to partner with. 3) To open that spot, someone will need to go. Kobe Johnson is the most obvious candidate. Tavari Johnson and Garvin Clarke are other possibilities. 4) To be successful in college basketball today, you have to do well in the transfer portal. Looking back over the Groce era, there's some big hits and some big misses. Xavier Castaneda Loren Cristian Jackson Xeyrius Williams Tyler Cheese Channel Banks Trendon Hankerson Sammy Hunter Bryan Trimble Michael Wynn KJ Walton Maishe Dailey Deng Riak Eric Hester Malcolm Duvivier 5) We'll be entering Year 7 of the Groce era next season. We've had two really good teams (2019-20, 2021-22), two OK MAC teams (2020-21, 2022-23), and two mediocre one's (2017-18, 2018-19). Covid knocked out a potentially special March run and we almost got the job done vs UCLA last year, but one thing Zips fans have learned is "close" doesn't count for much. To continue to move this program upward we'll need consistent portal success, HS recruits who can impact the team by Year 2, and a strong investment from UA and its stakeholders.

I'm not worried about Hankerson leaving. Dawson will step in and be at that level at worst imo if not an improvement. I'm worried about filling Castenada's shoes because we don't have any sort of playmaking guard on the roster. Johnson showed some flashes but counting on that is a huge risk. Then of course Enrique. Please stay.

Yeah. I'm agreeing with you. Tired legs, just not from playing the night before imo

18 turnovers resulting in 30+ points for KSU. Kent won the first 5 minutes of each half due to our lack of execution. Zips made a valiant effort but ran out of gas at the end.

I agree, I would definitely give NWAkron’s right arm for such a player.

Great story and move by the University. It cost nothing for this free publicity while at the same time using a state institution to make good on a state mistake. Classes are going to be held. An extra person or two actually costs nothing.

Between the NCAA (68), NIT (32) and CBI (16) there are 116 postseason teams seems to me that a team like Akron who the metrics probably have at somewhere around 100-110 should be playing somewhere.. but I know it would probably be a pay to play tourney

I'm good, these opinions weren't formed tonight. They never adequately replaced what they lost over the summer. Hank/Hunter are solid role players but not difference-makers. Nate Johnson was the only young player who stepped into a bigger role and could be trusted in big games. It's a flawed roster that desperately needs some reinforcements either from within or the transfer portal.

Of all the MAC tournament losses over the years, this one probably hurt the least. Same final four as last year. I guess we will now wait and see what players have a conversation with God and ask us to respect their decision.

The zips overachieved once again JG is an excellent coach.Hopefully next season he can get some more athletic guard height to transfer in? Way to small to seriously compete.

Pathetic effort so far, especially defensively. 34 points with 6 minutes to go.

Personal conduct and hygiene are not strong points for the Flashes.

agreed. should have dunked it.

Kent has figured out the defense. Enrique a pair of bad misses.