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This is great to see and would have been an awesome experience for 20 year old me https://www.instagram.com/p/C4qngc2r_5H/?igsh=bGRqenkxcHlnaXVx

John Groce 4-0 in MAC Tournament Finals. Last 4 years: 2020 MAC regular season champ, 2021 MAC Semi Finals (covid year), 2022 MAC tournament champion, 2023 MAC Semi Finals, 2024 MAC tournament champion. He is an amazing coach who knows whom he trusts in crunch time.

I like the 3 day format with no bye but I think the winner of the MAC should get some recognition. If the team does not get a NIT bid, the MAC should pay for the team to play in another tournament such as CBI.

Khadim Gueye would have had a puncher's chance in the poll.

Akron with a top 10 most likely upset

Me too, but it would have been by horse and buggy I'm so old.

John Groce has coached 11 seasons of MAC basketball He has won at least one MAC tournament game in each of those seasons (sans 2020, N/A). In the 10 MAC tournaments he has coached in, he has won 40% of them. His highest rated team at Akron was not able to participate in 2020. Bonkers.

Way to go out on top, KD! Hope KD's our upgraded version of Jim Christian next year.

No MAC teams in the NIT or CBI. Cleveland State is headed to the CBI. Do you old timers remember when Creighton came to the JAR in 2011? A big Zips win, 76-67 led by Brett McKnight and Nikola Cvetinovic over the Blue Jays led by Doug McDermott who went on to the NBA.

A bold prediction https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2024/03/17/akron-creighton-predictions-picks-march-madness-2024/72997351007/

Creighton Message Board

Saw a good ask on Twitter. Will UA charter a bus to Pittsburgh for the fans...

I watched Clyde Price inexplicably lay two balls on the turf to cost Zips football a couple wins two seasons ago, so I have no problem accepting an inexplicable basketball win. The Zips were overdue to catch a break! I was shocked when they gave Ali the offensive potg. Tribble eats and drinks for free wherever I go for life after draining those 2 free throws. If those were his only 2 points it was enough to give him offensive potg.

Congrats on the tourney win in Cleveland, now go get the MAC a W in the Dance! Side note, if nobody up there makes t-shirts that say "Kent read, Kent add, Kent St." I am going to be very disappointed in all of you. 😁

Awesome!!!

Tickets bought. Timing and location is simply too perfect to pass up. Go Zips!!!

In the press conference someone asked if he'd have a say in his replacement and KD deferred to the AD, but then said "But I'm strong-willed" with a smile. He also said later that he felt the program could go to even higher levels "if the people in the room don't change".. he said "the AD, President" after, but I think it meant more than that. I really think it will be Dru with the rest of the staff staying on. I have no idea how he is as a game coach, but LeBron will get much more involved if it's Dru and thats not a small thing. I also don't think KD does this if he doesnt know there are places there for McFadden and Weigand.

One of my favorite Zips. Good inside player. He loved to shoot the 3 ball although he rarely made one. One game was really close and he started his shooting motion for a 3 ball and everyone in the crowd yelled no. He smiled and then drove to the basket. One of the funnier moments in the jar.

Flying in for the game!

Selfishly, I'm curious to see where some of their players might go now via the portal.

There was a lot of good coverage for the Zips and Akron in general on the CBS show after the B1G Championship was over and before the selection show. It was just as much due to KD and the Dukes as it was Groce and the Zips. KD is an alum and took our program to the next level, and even if we plateaued under him, I want to see KD win a NCAAT game before he retires.

We only needed him to play 10-15 minutes per game at the MAC Tournament to give Big Dog a breather. By game 3, BD was spent and it cost us the title.

Would be great if we could get some information on ticket allotment...

Write in: Mark Kostelac

On the other hand I love that Groce didn't use our last timeout to try and set something up... he simply trusted his veteran roster to push/rush the action & it caught Kent unprepared.

Two days since epic win It is now seven a.m. And Kent State still sucks

Yes, I have been putting this travesty out there all season since the announcement. It Does look like BG has accepted a CiT bid and is also hosting. Must mean Schools like Toledo and Ohio declined. Sad state of affairs. Especially now with the NIT effectively shutting the MAC out we need a viable tournament for our top teams that just didn’t have it go their way in Cleveland. Make the regular season matter with a postseason berth somewhere.

Congratulations to Stefan Dobrijevic and the soccer zips

2 tickets bought. If you're not going through Akron, you can use PAT30 for $30 off your purchase on Seat Geek.

I think you may be making a reach with Garvin Clarke at center. 😊

No, but he was one of the 4 main contributors that got suspended. By the way, Kent St MBB Twitter still hasn't posted a final score graphic.

It sucks that teams in power conferences that finish 9th or 10th (or worse) out of 12 get a nod over teams that win a mid-major conference regular season.

whatever happens, it will be an emotional tourney for him and the Mrs.

I never heard this suggestion, but I wouldn't be opposed given the changing landscape. Ideally the MAC should be working towards their regular season champion being a top 60-70 team. That way they would be in line for an NIT appearance regardless.

I got section 109. $145 per ticket after fees. Got a $27 parking pass too. 4 times I had tickets selected and at the very end of the transaction I got a “tickets no longer available “ message. Bastards. See you Thursday. Hope the blue hairs represent in the Primo seats!

I know many here don't want to hear it but I really think it was personal for him with his father. They said in his presser today that his dad was buried in his Duquesne letterman sweater. He knew it meant a lot to him and he wanted to take on that challenge for his dad.

Congratulations to KD on an incredible career. If anyone questions his motives in going there, watch the press conference and listen to him talk about his father. He changed Akron basketball for the better and helped us get where we are today, I'm forever grateful to him for it.

Good for KD. Well deserved. I'm curious to see where Duquesne goes in hiring his replacement.

That season, the Zips lost their final 2 regular season games, beat Miami in the quarterfinals, and beat Kent by 1 in the championship. Sounds familiar.

I don't think the NCAA selection committee did Creighton any favors. They will still probably have more fans make the trip than Akron as their fans are more conditioned to traveling, but even if they outnumber us 2:1, it will probably still be a very pro Akron crowd. The South Carolina and Oregon fans will most certainly be cheering for Akron. I assume the neutral fans attending from Pittsburgh will be cheering for the upset as well.

You are correct. Conditioning was not one of Big Dog's strengths. KD strength was finding great big guys such as Big Dog and Zeke. Groce strength was finding impact guards such as LCJ and X. (And you know who from O U) However, this year he did not develop or bring in an impact guard or an impact shooter and this team has struggled on offense even with what is arguably the best player and big man to wear an Akron Uniform. (Not a Groce recruit). I thought Tavari had the potential to be that player and in Cleveland the offense looked its best at times when he was on the floor but his small stature and inability to get through screens kept him off the floor in the Kent game.

Echoing @AkronAlumnus's sentiments. I like that you have us Pick 2. Good stuff, @ZipCat 💯

And Klaus Zollner..

1:30 PM

I voted Zeke & Johnson only bc I couldn't vote Freeman

I really hopes he wins a game in the tourney so if he retires he will have at least one win in the NCAA tourney.

I wonder how much they influenced his decision to redshirt this year. Coming into the season, I felt like he could easily contribute as a freshman, and was very disappointed that he decided to redshirt. From his high school highlights, he looks like a stretch 4 that could've been instrumental this season. Oh well. Really hope he decides to stay at Akron and make a name for himself - he could be special.

The AI that created this thread/poll isn’t very good

It was Rollins who made that video?!?! On twitter I posted that I felt bad for him. Well I take that back! Knowing this makes last night's final 5 seconds even sweeter!!!

Enrique Freeman has what I think is his first sports card in the 2023-24 Bowman University set. Card #1 in the set. There's some up for sale on eBay for anyone interested.