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After the Zips game at PPG Arena, I passed Koby Altman the General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the concourse. You would have to think that Enrique Freeman impressed Koby after his 21 and 14 showing against the 7' 1" 270 lbs - Ryan Kalkbrenner, the Big East three time Defensive Player of the Year. I will never forget the 24 points, 21 rebounds and 7 blocks stat line against Ohio U. Really appreciate Enrique and going to miss him.

The two teams that pulled off the biggest upsets today had scoring guards lead the way - Oakland (Gohlke, 32) and Duquesne (Grant, 19). When we came close against UCLA. Castaneda led the way with 18. When OU won in 2021, they had Preston and Sears. When Groce's OU teams made their runs, they had DJ Cooper. You get the point. It's hard to pull off an upset without a guard who can score in bunches and break down a defense.

Made the drive yesterday. Great atmosphere. Lots of Zips fans in the building. Pretty much a full house for our game. Downtown Pittsburgh is such a wonky place. Lots of narrow streets and damn those bridges But anyway, Akron played as well as it could for 18 minutes. The next six game minutes did not go well. Then they got impatient and started shooting 3s and we know they ain't too good shooting from long range. Creighton shot 59% from 3. Ouch. But honestly, the Zips never stopped giving great effort. I know the correct narrative is this team never found the gear we thought they had. We would get a little tease here and there. But as the sadness of the end wears off, that Kent championship game will be the enduring memory. We all want this program to pull off an "Oakland" at some point, but for now, season is over. Future is in the portal somewhere. But this was a great group of seniors and at least we have a regular season title and two tourney titles since 2020 (no tourney in 2020) to be proud of. I'm confident that Coach will find some help in the offseason. Well done Zips! Looking forward to another banner going up.

🥲

I don’t like what is happening to college sports!

and gold?

Creighton was a really tough matchup. I watched them several times this year, including when they blew out #1 UCONN. They have a pretty high ceiling, and Shereef Mitchell at Ohio came from Creighton (where he didn't play much). Creighton is a talented bunch. Congrats on the MAC tourney win, it was much deserved. We'll see you all in Athens in 10 months or so. 👍

If this is true, Kent will pretty much only be returning Julius Rollins & Hornbeak. Kent's summer school classes are going to include "Which Number is Higher: 61 or 60", "How to Look at the Scoreboard at the End of Games", and "When Not to Foul." These are, of course, HUGE leaps above their typical summer school classes such as "Counting to 3", "ABC's: Sing With Me", and "Our Truth: Drawing Birds with Teeth." Rumor has it Pinky is frantically hitting the portal for any ladies with basketball player boyfriends and coaches who have stud sons/nephews/etc.

Jones - not impressed with what little we saw form her in 2023-24 Lwandowski - didn't fit the game structure Coach put in place Stewart - was not even with the team, on game days, for the first half of the season Thorpe - Waay too small even for point guard Watson - place holder on bench since her arrival Sorry, brutal thoughts, but these will not negatively effect this team going forward. Makes room for new talent, if Coach can get some to come to Akron.

…the unicorn.

Thats what made COVID hurt so bad. That was our best chance yet with LCJ (and all the other quality contributors in that team). But agree, killer guards are the way to make noise in the tourney.

This. Please be "him", Sharron Young.

This is spot on. And depending on who stays, Akron has a good chance to have the best core returning.

With the unfortunate yet inevitable end for the 2023-24 Zips men's basketball season, we've arrived at the off-season portion of the calendar. The Transfer Portal and TOS Coaching Carousel will be the hot button topics, and I figured it would be good to keep a tracker as the first post on a thread. If anything is missing from this post, please comment and tag me so I see it and can update this post. Go Zips! MAC Transfer Portal Akron - OUT - Mikal Dawson Akron - IN - Seth Wilson (6'2"/G/West Virginia), James Okonkwo (6'9"/F/North Carolina), Josiah Harris (6'7"/F/West Virginia) Ball State - OUT - Micah Bell, Trent Middleton Jr, Quincy Adams (Western New Mexico), Jalin Anderson (Incarnate Word), Joey Brown, Basheer Jihad(! - Arizona State), Davison Bailey, Jack Futa Ball State - IN - Payton Sparks (6'10"/C/Indiana/Balls), Joey Hart (6'5"/G/Kentucky) Bowling Green - OUT - Rashaun Agee(!), EJay Greer, PJ Edwards, Marcus Hill(!), Anthony McComb III Bowling Green - IN - Braelon Green (6'3"/G/Arizona St), Youssef Khayat (6'9"/F/Michigan) Buffalo - OUT - Kanye Jones, Jonnivius Smith, James Graham, Zaakir Williamson Buffalo - IN - Noah Batchelor (6'6"/SO/G/Maryland) CMU - OUT - Derrick Butler(!), Max Majerie, Aidan Rubio, Jemal Davis, Markus Harding, Paul McMillan IV, Noah Adamczyk, Anthony Pritchard, KJ Odour, Josiah Sanders CMU - IN - Jakobi Heady (6'6"/F/Bethune-Cookman), Kyle Vanderjagt (6'4"/G/Belmont) EMU - OUT - Julius Ellerbe, John McGriff, Derik Pranger (Colorado Colorado Springs), Tyson Acuff(! - Rutgers), Connor Serven, Andrew Wells, Javantae Randle PCCC - OUT - Reggie Bass, LA Hayes, Jalen Sullinger(!), VonCameron Davis(!), Julius Rollins, Tyem Freeman PCCC - IN - Morgan Safford (6'5"/PG/Miami OH), Anthony Morales (6'8"/F/Boston U), VonCameron Davis (Returning), Cian Medley (5'11"/G/St. Louis) Miami - OUT - Ryan Mabrey, Jaquel Morris, Morgan Stafford, Julian Lewis Miami - IN - Kam Craft (6'6"/G/Xavier - 4* recruit 2 years ago) NIU - OUT - Xavier Amos, Zarique Nutter, Zion Russell, Will Lovings-Watts, David Coit(!) NIU - IN - Joe Munden Jr (6'3"/G/Fairleigh Dickinson) Ohio - OUT - Quinn Corna, IJ Ezuma, Ike Cornish Ohio - IN - Victor Searles (6'10"/PF/Ashland), Jackson Paveletzke (6'2"/G/Iowa State/Wofford) Toledo - OUT - Ben Wight, Tyler Cochran(!), Ra'Heim Moss(!), Dante Maddox Jr(!), Marko Maletic Toledo - IN - Colin O'Rourke (6'8"/F/Wisc-Parkside - DII), Seth Hubbard (6'4"/G/WMU), Isaiah Adams (6'6"/F/Buffalo) WMU - OUT - Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro, Seth Hubbard, B. Artis-White WMU - IN - Notable Transfer Portal UMASS - OUT - Joshua Cohen, Robert Davis Jr, Sawyer Mayhugh, Gianni Thompson, Keon Thompson South Carolina - OUT - Meechie Johnson (Ohio State) Tucker DeVries has transferred from Drake to WVU to follow his dad Bronny James has entered the Portal. MAC Coaching Carousel Notable Coaching Carousel - Michigan fired Juwan Howard; hired Dusty May (FAU) - Stanford hired Kyle Smith (Washington State) - Washington hired Danny Sprinkle (Utah State) - Vanderbilt hired Mark Byington (James Madison) - West Virginia hires Darian DeVries (Drake) - Louisville hired Pat Kelsey (College of Charleston) - Arkansas hires John Calipari (Kentucky) MAC News Notable News - NCAA is looking at banning prop bets for college athletics

It will be interesting to watch college coaches - especially at mid-majors - and how they adapt to the changes the transfer portal and NIL have brought to the game. For instance, if Akron recruits a high school player, they redshirt, play their freshman year, then transfer, is it even worth it? Having them take one of 13 scholarships for two seasons to only get their sophomore year?

Two kids I'd like to find a clone for on the portal are Tyler Cheese and Xeryius Williams. Cheese could play the point or off guard, facilitate or go get a bucket. X could play inside and work as a backup 5 and go out on the floor and hit the outside shot. That kind of flexibility goes a long way.

Freeman’s childhood dream is to be on the Cavs. If the Cavs give him a g league deal I think it’d be a great opportunity for him. Especially cause they are willing to develop players and call them up to the league. Freeman needs to continue to work on his shooting and playing as a wing or power forward. If he doesn’t get any good offers then i hope he does what makes him happy

Freeman is going to have a lot to think about in the coming months. I'm not an NBA expert, but I do know it's extremely hard to make and the talent level is the best in my lifetime. In my opinion, Freeman is not an NBA player. He was advised to stay another year to improve his talent level, but I'm not sure he improved enough for the NBA. With that said, I think he could have a great future in professional basketball and should talk to a lot of people to understand how. I'm hoping he spends some time with former Zip Jammal Ball to discuss his professional options. Ball had a long career in mostly France for 14 years, Germany for two, and Kosovo for one. I'd rather spend 14 years in France than some NBA D League Hell hole of a city for a couple with little opportunity for the NBA. He could make more money in Europe. https://gozips.com/honors/hall-of-fame/jimmal-ball/15 From the looks of Ball's background, he is invested in helping young people at the University find their way through school and open up opportunities for the future. Talk to him Enrique...be prepared and come with good questions. Be open minded. It's a big world with a lot of opportunities for people like you. You are a massive success already and your just getting started.

When Dambrot left the Zips, I and a few others said - It's easier to win the MAC than to finish in the Top 4 in the A-10. Looks like UMass figured it out. They will be the MAC favorite when they arrive. The road to Pittsburgh or wherever else the NCAA Round 1's are held in the future just got a lot more difficult for the legacy MAC schools. If Western Kentucky comes next, look out. Who will come to a Rocket Mortgage Field House MAC final to watch UMass vs. the Hilloppers? I bet even Hilltopper wouldn't go.

I'm more worried about keeping up with UMass in two years than I am getting out of the MAC.

2020>2022>2023>2024 Yeah, we won the MAC but we're on an overall downward trend. Let's go Groce & Co. Don't let winning the MAC be deodorant.

Understandably, Groce got all choked up in that presser talking about Freeman. Also said he wanted Freeman to take 15 threes.

Scott Van Pelt had KD on SportsCenter last night.

LeBron gives Akron all kinds of free shoes and gear every year. He also set up a foundation that put over $40mil into U of A 4-year scholarships for low-income high school students from ----- Akron. He built a new gym for his old high school and still outfits them with shoes and gear as well. When the gym wasn't built in time for the graduating class to enjoy, he bought all of the seniors St. V's running suits to make up for it. If he's not your guy fine but don't play the "he doesn't care about Akron" card. He will be back again this summer for his annual bike-a-thon to help inner city kids. I have no problem that he added his old HS coach and former PG/best friend to his shoe distribution list. If Dru ends up elsewhere as a coach, the shoes will follow him. In a world where a lot of athletes don't give back, I am not going to be critical of LBJ. That doesn't make it a love affair, I just appreciate what he does. (The televised Decision did suck but nobody is perfect).

I didn't view this team as deep in the front court. You had Freeman as the only real banger, granted a MAC POY big but he was it. Hunter was the tallest, but he preferred to roam outside, and Lyles barely saw the floor. Nobody besides Freeman regularly boxed out (See EMU game). Aziz would have been a key piece to still have. Hell, even Deng Riak would have helped us. Your second line holds the true demise of the Zips. Thorn and Scott were ice cold all year and both eventually got benched. By the end of the season Thorn's defense was weak and he was terrible with the ball. The poor kid looked shell shocked and was nothing near the 9 pts a game, best MAC assist/TO PG he was before coming to us. I thought Hankerson was the most unimpressive one and done for us, but he would have been a godsend for this team. The Nate injury hurt but he was averaging about 8 pts before he was sidelined. I have NO IDEA what happened to Dawson or TJ's shots nor do they. It was amazing Groce got the Zips to the dance when the bench bunch seemed to shoot a combined 10-20% down the stretch. Next Halloween, skip the haunted houses, just read the box scores. They were terrifying.

Lots of MAC talent in the portal, but if I was Groce I'd be contacting the Swedish Embassy and imploring them to help bring Konan Niederhauser from Northern Illinois to Akron!

Between graduating seniors and players already in the portal, every top MAC team is losing quite a bit. Toledo is losing Cochran and Moss, the #2 and #3 scorers. Kent is losing Sullinger, Santiago, Bass, Payton, and Freeman, so 4 of their top 5 scorers. Ohio loses Hunter, Brown, Wiznitzer, and Mitchell, so 3 of their top 4 scorers. BG loses Agee, Spurgin, Towns, Phillip, Thomas and Humphrey, so 5 of their top 6 scorers this year. It will come down to who does the best in the portal and Coach Groce can start every conversation with 2 of the last 3 MAC Championships, so I like our chances.

Thank you Freeman and Tribble for spending your entire collegiate careers at Akron. Thank you to Ali for coming back, and thank you to Hunter for choosing Akron.

Team went straight home. Coach, not sure. AD stayed.

Whoever Groce brings in, I will be confident that they are good kids. As pointed out in the Pluto article today (which has since been paywalled, grrrrrrrr), a player at Akron has to be unselfish and not have their own agenda. That's what made this team so special, they were not only talented but seemed to just be good kids. We all like to look at kids who can score or jump out of the gym but I want no piece of them if they're going to come in here and not put the team first. PCCC can have the Reggie Basses of the portal who change teams like underwear and are more concerned with their stats than the team. For the Zips, I'll take the Greg Tribbles of the basketball world that will put their body on the line for their teammates.

Thx for the correction. I had the right church, wrong pew. KD still got to see him play regularly.

Just when you think the MAC can't possibly get any worse...

All Mac Teams, 15/25 players either graduating or transferring (not sure if they will stay in the league) Ali Ali, Senior, Guard, Akron Enrique Freeman, Senior, Forward, Akron Marcus Hill, Junior, Guard, Bowling Green Anthony Pritchard, Junior, Guard, Central Michigan Ra’Heim Moss, Junior, Guard, Toledo All-MAC Second Team Basheer Jihad, Junior, Forward, Ball State Rashaun Agee, Senior, Forward, Bowling Green Jaylin Hunter, Senior, Guard, Ohio Dante Maddox Jr., Junior, Guard, Toledo Tyler Cochran, Junior, Guard, Toledo All-MAC Third Team Brian Taylor, Graduate Student, Guard, Central Michigan Tyson Acuff, Junior, Guard, Eastern Michigan Jalen Sullinger, Junior, Guard, Kent State David Coit, Junior, Guard, Northern Illinois AJ Clayton, Junior, Forward, Ohio All-MAC Honorable Mention Greg Tribble, Senior, Guard, Akron VonCameron Davis, R-Junior, Forward, Kent State Anderson Mirambeaux, Senior, Center, Miami Darweshi Hunter, Graduate Student, Guard, Miami B. Artis White, R-Junior, Guard, Western Michigan MAC All-Freshman Team Arne Osojnik, Guard, Eastern Michigan Eian Elmer, Wing, Miami Will Lovings-Watts, Guard, Northern Illinois Javan Simmons, Forward, Toledo Sonny Wilson, Guard, Toledo

Enrique and Jarrett Allen would be a hell of a duo

I had high hopes for Lewandowski. I guess that's out the window now. We need to do some serious backfilling in the portal.

Robby finished his NCAA soccer career with the Pitt Panthers; not the Duquesne Dukes.

I'm exhausted, but some quick points: I'd be surprised if Lyles is back. I think Tavari is 50/50. Groce will bring in some help. They're already probing the portal. Also, that help will be in the form of unselfish kids who can be good teammates and play Groce ball, not merely kids with nice stats. At Akron, it's about fit, not strictly numbers. Shammah was very good in the last 3 weeks. I don't at all consider him a waste and Groce clearly doesn't either with the way he used him in the last month.

NIU's 6'11" Center just entered the portal. Coit is still part of the team (for now).

Because he didn't give our team shoes before the game? Our guys get a ton of LeBron gear sent to them - one of five schools in the nation to partner with him I believe. It shouldn't surprise anyone though that he goes the extra mile for his former coach and someone he considers a brother in Dru.

What benefited Duquesne was there were a lot of upsets in the conference tournaments therefore the 11 & 12 seed line was weaker than it normally is. Like for example, Indiana State would have easily been seeded ahead of them had they won the MVC, but they didn't. In a normal year they would have been a low end 12/upper end 13 seed.

The only explanation I can think of is shot turned into $#!@ and the board's censor correction changed $#@! to crap. 😂

I'm very bullish on next year. On paper, we have the following... Mikal Dawson - SR - G Shammah Scott - SR - G Nate Johnson - JR - G Tavari Johnson - JR - G Ryan Prather - SO - G Sharron Young - FR - G Eric Mahafey - FR - G Amani Lyles - JR - F Marvin Musiime-Kamali - RFR - F Darrian Baker - RFR - F Rich Brisco - FR - F Admittedly, I know very little about Brisco and Marvin. I'm going to echo an earlier sentiment, though, and say that Sharron Young is a future star. He is potentially Mark Sears/RayJ Dennis caliber. Baker has star potential as well. Dawson needs to find his game again. Scott needs to improve his crap to be a mid-30s for 3P%. Nate Johnson needs to take the next step. Tavari needs to improve everything. Prather needs to figure out whatever will get him on the floor more. The Transfer Portal needs to bring us a true big and a true shooter. Those are my wishes. Based on who we've been connected to this far, we're looking in the direction of a shooter at least. This is a very pivotal off-season to keep the momentum of this program moving forward. I trust Groce and his staff.

Not even close. In 2013, we lost to VCU 88-42.

What a great team, they responded to adversity after a lot of people counted them out after WMU. Put together 3 great games in Cleveland. We got to see Akron in the greatest tournament in sports. Just a great season, excited for the future. Enrique seems to think highly of Marvin, get Prather in the starting lineup, Nate will only get better in a full season, get some good transfers in here. Who is to say we can't get back here next year

New Cornerbacks coach.

"Housewright... has instead decided to reassess his coaching future after dealing with some personal matters." That doesn't sound great.

Wtf. Is this the weirdest coaching off season ever?