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Hello Zips Nation. I am a St Bonaventure alum from the dark ages who has lived in the Akron area for 35 years. Big MAC hoops fan here, who tries to attend several Akron and Kent games a year. The Bonnies fan base really is looking forward to Saturday’s matchup at RM Fieldhouse. It should be a good one. Zips have a great roster with Ali back in the mix. Here’s some insight on the Bonnies: we started slow the first month, with a 3-point home loss in game 2 to rival Canisius that sent the fans into a sky-is-falling frenzy. Our other two losses are to top 30 teams Auburn and FLA Atlantic. Hopes are very high this season with all five starters returning from last year’s 14-18 season. It was the Bonnies first sub-500 record in more than a decade but we were very inexperienced. Now with three key transfers the Bonnies are the oldest team in D1. Go figure. Bona has been playing great D the last month while shooting much better. In a recent 10-point loss the Bonnies held FAU to 64 points … 23 below FAU’s average. Our downfall was 21 turnovers when FAU turned up the pressure. The Bonnies are lead by two grad transfers who have emerged as our best players. Mika Adams-Woods (6-3 PG from UCincy, 15 ppg) and Chuck Pride (6-5 wing from Bryant, 12 ppg) are experienced, solid guys who are childhood friends from Syracuse. Bonaventure gave them a chance to play together this season. It’s been a great fit. Exactly what the Bonnies needed. Woods is an excellent floor leader, defender and scorer … exceeding all expectations and stat lines from his 4-year Cincy career as a starter. Woods is shooting 60% from the field and 50% from deep. In one 3-game stretch Woods made 19 shots in a row including 10 three-pointers. He has 48 assists to 19 turnovers. Pride has deep, deep range. He’s a solid rebounder and passer who gets to the basket when healthy. He missed several games with a high ankle sprain this month and has been getting back up to speed. He was averaging 16 pts, 6.5 rebs before getting hurt. We are hopeful that Pride will benefit from having the holiday week off. The Bona big men, Venning and Brown, both are 6-10, 250+ lbs, — very physical dudes which is the MO for the Atlantic 10. They can score when not hurt by foul trouble which is about half the games. Unlike the Zips front-court players, our centers like to work inside and can bog down the offense if they don’t see double teams. How we match up on D with Freeman and Ali will be a key to the game. The Bonnies go 9 deep. We start four guys between 6-3 and 6-6. Barry Evans, a 6-8 high-energy athlete off the bench, likely we be our best option to control Ali or Freeman. Evans is a solid defender and rebounder … he can fill any role off the bench. Moses Flowers (6-4 win) is a dangerous outside shooter as our 6th man. Flowers is coming off of a career-high 25 vs Binghamton. Other starters are Darryl Banks III of St Peter’s NCAA fame two seasons ago, and Assa Essamvous (formerly Yann Farrel) are streaky shooters. Both have had games with 5 threes made in the last year. Banks has been struggling and losing minutes to Flowers. Despite a solid roster and some solid stats, the Bonnies have feasted on bad teams. Bona is prone to scoring droughts and sometimes too dependent on the three. The Zips will be a good test and it should be the best of the 3 games Saturday.

Nice work. I wish we had a "guest poster" like you for every game.

Merry Christmas to all on this board. I am grateful for your posts and discussions. Thanks to all who make it the best and especially to the founders who keep it first class. Wishing you all a blessed Christmas and many more years of beating Kent. Ho! Ho! Ho! Go Zips!

I fixed it for you!

Since I can't find any kind of media guide from Athletics, I used on older one and added our more recent players to the rankings. Let me know if anything looks incorrect!

Orie Sahlfeld. He was the assistant this past year.

Ha ha. Funny stuff. Be happy to answer any questions about the Bonnies … I’m here all week (badaba). SBU fans enjoy beating up on Dambrot at Duquesne, though he has a good squad this year with 9 transfers on his 18-player roster. Yes, 18 players!! Would like to see us play the Zips more often. Some of our non-conference games have been a joke.

I can breakdown the Zips for you: According to the Bradley Braves message board the Zips are: "Freeman and four other guys." So I guess now the Zips are "Freeman, Ali, and three other guys."

Thank you, @Bona BigCat. What an excellent breakdown! I hope you have a great time Saturday & that it's an exciting game. You're welcome here on ZipsNation and in the JAR anytime!

It gives us all a chance to rest up for our inevitable b!+ch!ng about MAC officiating!

Bump for position update.

Bump for updated position.

2025 is Dee Alexander from Cincinnati Purcell Marian & the 2026 is actually Saniyah Hall from Shaker Heights Laurel. Alexander is ranked #4 in the country for the class of 2025 and Hall is ranked #3 in the country for the class of 2026. Benson is actually ranked #57 in the country for class of 2025. South Carolina could be looking at Benson and some of the others you mentioned (I haven't seen an offer from South Carolina for Benson yet), but I know for a fact that South Carolina has offered Alexander and Hall. South Carolina has a small pipeline to Ohio now. They had Zia Cooke from Toledo Rogers HS, and currently they have Bree Hall (Huber Hts Wayne HS) and Sakima Walker (Columbus Africentric HS) on their roster. Those that don't follow girls basketball closely, don't realize how talented of a state Ohio is in girls basketball. I guarantee there will be at least one or two Ohioans on a Final Four roster this season when it's in Cleveland.

If Akron reaches the MAC Championship, I believe we'd have 23 games left. Going by season averages, Freeman would add 414 points and 299 rebounds, which would place him 4th all-time in points and 1st in rebounds.

For what it's worth, I enjoy what you type. 😎

Well this should be fun. Just when you think the NCAA couldn't be any dumber, they do this.

rock bottom for the MAC rn