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In order to have effective practices you need multiple players at every position. You don't want your key players banging on each other day after day. Coaches bring in guys with potential to fill the role of practice opponents. Often these guys have attributes like size or speed but are not very polished. Sometimes these players seize this opportunity and impress the coaches enough to warrant future playing time. Sometimes they never progress. This is the way we got Freeman.

I see he went to Victory Rock Prep

It’s a great point that was brought up above, Akron won’t be scraping the bottom of the barrel for transfers, but they also wont necessarily be recruiting and/or landing guys that were studs at the schools they left. Off the top of my head, we’ve had XCast and XWill, Bryan Trimble, Maishe Dailey, LCJ, Deng Riak, Sammy, Hankerson, among others. Considering the numbers those guys put up at their last schools—save for Hankerson as a proven 3&D MAC graduate, you’re generally at this level going to be taking a shot in the dark. You hit, and you miss. Every once in a while, you’ll find a guy like Carry who’s a slam dunk talent, Dennis to a lesser extent but still a sure thing. Maybe throw Jason Carter in there. But a lot of the time, reality is a guy like Castaneda, who was rather forgettable for a lot of his first year with Akron. Groce recruits a very specific type of player—attitude, effort, defense. Yes, there are a lot of names in the portal. But you trim that down by flat out ability to play at this level, ability to guard, and are they a head case, and the number gets a lot smaller. Groce has missed his fair share, but he’s also used it to propel the program to some titles. My suggestion is to be cautiously optimistic no matter who he brings in during this cycle. Akron basketball can be a big adjustment.

Nate Johnson was a red shirt and his upside is huge. Some kids aren’t ready to play right out of high school just as some transfers aren’t ready to come in and contribute (or adjust to a new team). I’m sure the fans at Trimble Jr’s or Virshon Cotton’s last stops are writing that their coaches should stop taking transfers. I don’t have all the answers or inside info so I have to trust that Groce is making the best decisions he can.

For my two cents you will never hear me wishing any of our team move on. Especially not hastened by the possibility or idea that we 'might' recruit another player yet to sign. They worked hard for the opportunities here at Akron. I respect them for that and the coaches for giving them the chance. Now we reshuffle in the off season, but you will always here me rooting for our boys. And as a reminder in Cleveland in 2022 Garvin helped as much as everyone else on the court when we won and were on to face the Bruins. I'll take Garvin any day, he is gamer.

I wish there were a way to drop some of the dead weight and join up with some of the stronger schools from the AAC/CUSA/SunBelt to create a new conference. But of course it would never happen and I'd assume that because of our horrible football showings on the field and in the stands, no legit conference will ever be interested in adding the Zips.

In high school, we had a multi-time Mr. Ohio powerlifter as an assistant coach (spoiler alert: he was our strength & conditioning coach, too; shocking, I know). He would be the guy on the body bag when we did layup drills to teach us how to explode up and finish through contact. Garvin needs a body bag guy and 2-3 other people to hold brooms over his head to simulate long arms as he does layup drills. This + 1000 shots per day, and he just might be able to get to where we need him to be.

Really! Who would move a coach along then hire someone on their staff? Looking forward to seeing your list mes102.

He played basketball and went to school so he is a student athlete. Never steps foot on the court during a game, but steps foot every day during practice. During practice he proves he shouldn't step foot on the court during a game. You never know. That's the risk, but I trust the coaching staff to make a calculated guess.

Recruiting a high school player only to redshirt him in today's age is like buying a lottery ticket and putting it in the junk drawer, potentially to never look at it again. Look at Aziz - he was pretty raw last year (probably could've redshirted) but contributed enough to make a decent impact. He left and looks like he might be something special, but at least you got something out of him for a year; at least you got a few dollars back on your lottery ticket purchase. Not knowing what we might've had in Mosengo is puzzle. Using a scholarship on him instead of something who would've helped more than Mosengo ended up helping us is just plain frustrating.

From July '22 a nice little Rivals.com article on Darrion Baker one of the most pleasant surprises at this month’s adidas 3SSB Championships in South Carolina, Darrion Baker spent his time at the event proving that he might be a touch under-recruited. The 6-foot-8 forward flashed high-major athleticism and the ability to guard most positions on the floor while also showcasing a versatile skill set that should translate to the next level. Baker, who handles the ball well for his size and position, can knock down looks from deep and impact the game in the high-post. He recently spoke to Rivas.com about his growing offer list and which schools are in the mix.

Transfers are a two way street. In order to get someone that can come in and be a key contributor day 1, that player has to also want to come to Akron. Like I'm sure Groce would have loved to have gotten a 6'6-6'7 wing that could score double figures and guard positions 1-4 to replace Ali, but the problem is all schools want those type of players. Many of which are more enticing destinations for 20 year olds who don't even know where Akron is on a map. Sometimes you're forced to have to take a lotto ticket on guys to fill out the roster and hope they develop into something special. Groce can't hand pick his roster like a Gonzaga, Kentucky, or Kansas can. He has to look at what's available and fight for the guys who fall through the cracks.

the next thing you know it will be the "cool thing" to not transfer.

That sounds familiar. So that would be a new permanent rule change then. I thought it was just a COVID adjustment. Thanks.

Hmm. He posted this on March 4th And this on March 5th And then decided to transfer?

as i like to say, "you can't run away from your problems. you take your problems with you. because YOU are the problem."

"We need volunteers, not hostages" —MT One of my favorite coaches quotes of all time.

We don't need to have an idea. The coaches sure do, and they deemed him not ready to play this year. Also, Mosengo is probably thankful he has four full years of eligibility left vs playing five minutes a night and burning a year of eligibility.

Yes, the coaching staff isn't looking for players who will have an "immediate impact." They obviously prefer recruits who will languish for a couple of years.

I think he’s saying there are a number of schools who’s administrations are not giving adequate support to their basketball programs so it ends up there is a lot of dead weight at the bottom of the conference dragging down the conference as a whole. The top of the MAC is good basketball! Akron, Ohio, Toledo, Kent, Buffalo, Ball State. But the bottom of the MAC (the directionals: EMU, CMU, WMU, NIU) are awfully weak.

Yeah, those Flohoops ratings are massive. 😉

If Groce thought Mosengo or Prather would have been able to help the team this year they would have played. There is no more stashing players away for the future as redshirt's.

I wonder if this was a result of Groce being straight with him about what his role with the team would be next year. Either way hopefully this frees up that much needed scholarship for a veteran pg.

The MAC is what it is. Every 10 or so years we'll have a team good enough for serious at-large consideration. Whether or not that team wins the MAC tournament, like Buffalo did, or not is the determining factor of whether or not it would be a 1 or 2 bid year. So many MAC schools are cheating out on basketball these days. I don't even see the MAC being as good as it was ~5 years ago, when it was arguably the 8th or 9th best conference.

I agree with ol'Zippy. Tavari has a far greater upside. Garvin can play the point, but has little offense. He hesitates on his 3 pointers. When he goes in the paint he clearly demonstrates why he has earned the rep as the most blocked guard in the MAC. Sometimes he works magic in the lane, but not often enough to overcome his blocks and TO's. I'd rather give the PT to Tavari altho' I don't see him as our starting PG. Hope Groce can mine the TP.

I'm curious as to how Groce and the coaching staff are approaching this process. Last year, everything was mute until Ali's announcement, and then Aziz after that. Ali entered on March 30, Aziz March 31. I still expect at least one or two on the current roster to enter. These graphics/edits they're sending out point to this being a new strategy they're trying out with their exit interview process. I would love to hear how it works. Is the coaching staff utilizing some sort of NIL contract to lock the players in? Is it simply their commitment to wanting to play at Akron and finish what they started? Again, this is all speculation, I'm just very curious. I was hoping and expecting for all of the guys that have "committed" to return, but the season just ended 5 days ago. Coach must have used that bad taste that's still in their mouth to fuel them to stay here. I'm also wondering how much that Ali and Aziz transfers may have to do with this new strategy. It has been reported that the staff was blindsided by both. Maybe now they're making sure everyone's concerns are laid out on the table early in this process before the players all go away for the spring. Again, Ali's announcement last year came 2+ weeks after this point. Another possible theory is selling the program to portal recruits. He wants these guys' word that they'll be back. Anything helps when you're trying to sell the product of winning and success. They could tell anyone that walks in that Freeman, Dawson, Hunter, Tribble are probably coming back, now they can definitively point to these things and say "look how badly these guys want to finish the job." Any other theories? I just think this is really damn cool. A job well done by this coaching staff and program. I was pretty dejected these last few days, seeing all the coverage of the MAC's NCAA tournament representative. I think it should be us. It looks like these guys do too. I enjoyed this season thoroughly, but it's great to see a solid core of guys aren't satisfied with how it ended either. Just like that, my excitement level for Zips basketball is back!

Awesome. I think we really missed him this year.

I'm guessing there is both a lot of truth and a lot of revisionist history going on here. Let's face it: (1) Both Sampson and Senderoff have gone on to better things in the last 15 years. (2) If Dakich knew so much hanky-panky was going on at his alma mater, I'm sure the NCAA would have gladly listened and threw the perps under the bus. Instead the NCAA wrist slap for both was for illegal cell phone calls -- that became NCAA legal shortly afterward. That said, if Sampson and Senderoff are such bad coaches, what does that say about Dakich, who can't sniff a basketball job. Daffy Dan was a great sideshow and coach his first tour of duty at BG ... but once he accepted/turned down West Va. he kind of showed his true colors. And when he went back to BG his players never respected him again. That Sampson, McCallum and Senderoff all became head coaches after Indiana's NCAA sanctions says more to me about the severity of the miscues, ... just as Dakich' failure to land another head job speaks for him. I'm sure Indiana would have hung all three (Sampson-McCallum-Senderoff) out to dry w/the NCAA if that would have cleaned out the Hoosiers closet. But it didn't happen. We all have opinions about the quality of their coaching ... but the fact at least Sampson and Senderoff have had a relatively high level of success for a long period of time kind of speaks for itself. And for the most part over the years I believe the Zips vs. Senderoff have had the better of the matchups ... which is what really matters.

The MAC will never be a two bid league if the season champs can't even win a game in the NIT.