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Amen. The job of a guy like Groce is now more difficult than ever. You still need to work those high school lines to bring freshmen to the program. While you're doing that you have to foster relationships with kids you won't get just in case they have the potential to come back to you at some point in the portal. All the while, you have to work to manage the minutes and egos on your roster to make sure your better kids don't enter the portal. While you're doing that, you're often helping your struggling players find a new home. Throw in monitoring the hundreds of kids in the portal, sorting through them and recruiting those that might help your program. Along the way you're dealing with kids and parents whose perception has been distorted by the AAU culture. God bless John Groce.

A coach at the D1 level recently told me - "You combat the portal with culture." I think "culture" in one of the most overused terms in sports today. Because every coach claims their culture is outstanding. But Groce has the proof to back his claims of culture up. Ali left, but then returned. If Freeman weren't happy with his coach and teammates, he'd have bolted the Zips like 98% of the G5 players in his situation. Tribble is an outstanding kid. LCJ stuck around. The examples are endless. We don't see any Zips players getting into fisticuffs, jail, or even just clowning opponents after made shots. These Zips represent the University extremely well, and the culture Groce has established is the foundation.

Crazy to think they padded their OOC schedule with cupcakes and got smacked in their first A10 game. Doesn't sound familiar at all...

That's why having quality assistants is more important today than ever. Conceivably no one man can do everything.

Post covid the game has changed a lot with more freedom for player movement. Groce has done a really great job of both retaining players and going to the transfer portal to plug immediate holes. It seems a good chunk of the MAC is turning over its entire roster annually. You can't win that way. The programs that have learned to adapt will continue to thrive. The ones that don't, won't.

is your work hiring? 😉

He might've misheard you as he covered his ears and hit the deck during a T-shirt cannon promo.

It looks like Jason Shokalook is taking his professional deal a year early with Chicago Fire. I have been made aware that Malik Henry and Dyson Clapier will return and play their senior seasons with the zips.

I guess we will see who wants it more.

St Bonnie took care of VCU last night. Duquesne got exposed by UMASS.

Mainly ... Zips can't get into a high-scoring game with this team. They only play 7-8 guys, but they offer some mis-match problems. Who does Freeman guard? 6-11 Spurgin or 6-8 Agee. Who guards Hill, ... Ali? Hunter has to show up solid IMO, at least defensively and on the boards.

I will be surprised if we don’t land Finley.

I agree 100%. First a power 5 team gets nothing out of coming to the JAR. If they win the rest of the sports world thinks they should have and if they lose it hurts them. Also, there is no way we can close to making it worth their while financially. As to the OOC schedule, it was a nice mix of good to very good comp with practice games sprinkled in. Even thought we came up short, I loved the showcase in Cleveland. It’s great to see some new content for newer members like csims. Keep it up.

Refreshing that, as talented as they may have been, we no longer have to put up with the likes of Diggs, Harney, Treadwell, and Abreu.

I saw Ty Thompson is reportedly visiting Iowa this weekend.

Freeman takes Spurgin, Ali/Hunter take Agee. Tribble/Dawson take Hill. The only mismatch in this game is a guard who can score vs an entire backcourt that can't. If we play solid D and get Freeman/Ali going, Akron wins. If we let Hill go off and can't get Freeman/Ali going, we probably lose.

I am bored at work so I've decided to breakdown this years Out of Conference schedule and see how the zips opponents are playing. Will try to update this after the season as well. This was a highly touted schedule before the season and I want to see how that view changes throughout the season Rankings are as of the morning of January 3rd. Best win is based off of NET ranking and best loss is determined by me. I usually pick the closest loss to a higher ranked opponent vs a blow out to a way higher ranked opponent. South Dakota State University: NET Ranking: 189 Record: 7-7 (1-0 in Summit League play) Conference Rank: 2nd Best win: 10 point win over Wichita State (NET Ranking of 108) Best loss: 2 point loss to UCF (NET Ranking of 70) Its been an up and down start for the Jack Rabbits. Some strong showings against the teams above and some very poor ones like against Kent State. 3 of there wins are also against schools with Grey shields on ESPN+. They have played a gauntlet of a schedule against Us, Kent, George Mason, UCF, Kansas St, etc. I think SDSU will fair a lot better in conference play and contend for a AQ to the dance through the Summit League Southern Miss University: NET Ranking: 275 Record: 6-7 (0-1 in Sun Belt play) Conference Rank: 9th Best win: 3 point win over UAB (NET Ranking of 206) Best loss: 2 point loss to Utah Valley (NET Ranking of 197) This was the first of two games in the MAC-SUN Belt challenge and matchups were based off of last years net rankings. It seems like Southern Miss is not the same team as last year and seem to not be very good going into conference play. With 2 wins against non D1 and a win against the 2nd worst team in the country (Northwestern State) Southern Miss doesn't have a lot on the resume outside of a very beatable UAB team. Maybe they get hot during conference play but its not looking good. Looks like we will have to root for whoever we face second in the challenge Heidelburg University: Net Ranking: NA (D3) Record: 8-3 (4-1 in conference play) Best win: #19 Marietta Obviously nobody will care about this win. But I thought it was neat they are actually pretty good in there conference. Florida International University: NET Ranking: 291 Record: 5-10 (0-0 in CUSA play) Conference Rank: Last Best win: 8 point win over Maine (Net Ranking of 228) Best Loss: 6 point loss to Akron (Net Ranking of 92) This might end up being our worst win of the year. FIU has one non D1 win and none of there wins are very impressive. They'll probably finish towards the bottom of conference play and might be our worst NET win of the year outside of conference play. Utah State University: NET Ranking: 26 Record: 13-1 (1-0 in Mountain West play) Conference Rank: 2nd Best win: 1 point win over San Francisco (NET Ranking of 39) Best loss: 6 point loss to Bradley (NET ranking of 126) Juggernaut in Mid Major Play. If Akron won this game the outlook of the season would look completely different. Utah State looks very good but still have there best wins in front of them. If they can beat Colorado St (NET ranking of 17) at least once I think they have a good argument to be an at large bid if CSU wins the Mountain West. Drake University: NET Ranking: 67 Record: 12-2 (3-0 in Missouri Valley play) Conference Rank: 1st Best win: 19 point win over Nevada (NET Ranking of 34!) Best Loss: 24 point loss to SF Austin (NET Ranking of 152) Drake is extremely puzzling. They have some dominant wins against Nevada, Akron, Oakland, Missouri St, Saint Louis, etc. They have got blown out by SF Austin and a one point loss to UAB. If it wasn't for those Drake would be up there with Utah State and look to be a clear favorite in a very good Missouri Valley conference that might be a multi bid league if someone takes down Drake in the conference tournament University of Nevada Las Vegas NET Ranking: 115 Record: 7-5 (0-0 in Mountain West play) Conference Rank: 7th Best Win: 15 point win over Creighton (NET ranking of 14!!) Best Loss: 2 point loss to Saint Mary's (NET ranking of 52) UNLV is a dark horse in the Mountain West. I think Akron should of beat them if we had Ali Ali or this game was played anywhere closer than Las Vegas. However they had a gauntlet of a schedule which should prep them for a tough Mountain West. They started slow with a random lost to Southern but have been hot for a little bit. This could be a sneaky good loss later in the season. Bradley University NET Ranking: 126 Record: 8-5 (0-2 in MIssouri Valley play) Conference Rank: 9th Best Win: 6 point win over Utah State (NET ranking of 26) Best Loss: 8 point loss to Indiana State (NET ranking of 33) How the mighty have fallen. Bradley came out in November hot and beat some teams I do not think they would beat if they faced them again (Utah State, Vermont, Tulane, etc.) They had a nightmare of a time in NE Ohio and haven't really recovered since. I hope they can rebound and some how beat out Drake for the AQ and have Drake be an at large but right now Bradley will not make it far. Northern Kentucky University NET Ranking: 227 Record: 7-7 (2-1 in Horizon League play) Conference Rank: 6th Best Win: Literally none of them Best Loss: 1 point loss to Akron (NET ranking of 92) I figured Northern Kentucky was pretty good when they kept it very close to us but man they have zero good wins. Eastern Kentucky, IUPUI, Long Island, Corpus Christi? It's really rough for them especially in a stacked Horizon conference. Don't think Akron will get much value out of this win Miami Hamilton University NET Ranking: NA Record: 5-9 We knew this was a bit of an ugly game but a 40 point win after finals week was fine. The harriers lost to a team in there own league by that much recently. Moving on... Gardner-Webb University NET Ranking: 213 Record: 5-10 (0-0 in Southland play) Conference Rank: 8th Best Win: 1 point win over Weber St (NET ranking of 81) Best Loss: 4 point loss in OT to Akron (NET ranking of 92) This teamed is ranked so high for there record. Lets see if it is shown in conference play. Great wins against Weber St and Western Carolina but a whole bunch of random losses. The Southland Conference has a really good Radford team and a decent Longwood team. Outside of them it looks pretty wide open. We shall see St. Bonaventure NET Ranking: 65 Record 9-3 (0-0 in A10 play) Conference Rank: 8th Best Win: 1 point win over Akron (NET ranking of 92) Best Loss: 10 point loss to FAU (NET ranking of 21) This team I feel can be a really fun Cinderella team. The oldest team in college basketball could be a fun underdog story in the A10. The A10 is stacked and will easily be a multi bid league. If the bonnies can get far in the tournament then they could easily sneak into an at large bid if the cards fall right. Mid-Major Basketball has been awesome this year with plenty of good candidates. I am very glad Groce gave Akron a deep schedules of some of the best in the NET rankings and overall a good mix of different levels of talent. I definitely think some of these teams will make the tournament at large or via AQ. Plus we probably will get James Madison in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge which win or close loss will cause our NET to skyrocket. This helped prepped us for the MAC which I hope we can win and go back to the tournament with a team of seniors. LETS GO ZIPS! Will update on this in March.

Nate Johnson played 25 minutes and scored 12 pts. I agree that Tribble is Groce's favorite and deserves playing time, but I would rotate him with Johnson/Scott because teams will double Freeman and we need shooters who can make open shots since someone will be open.

He’s like the green dot helmet linebacker of this team. He will be missed next year more than most people think

10 career TD’s and 13 INT’s? Seems like we’d have a seamless transition from Undercuffler?

Looks like Michigan State replaced Oakland in the spring league. I’m ok with that.

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!