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I don't know that it would cover the gas to Brookings, South Dakota.

Garvin Clarke was robbed!

Zeke Mayo, G from South Dakota State, is in the Portal. 18.8 PPG. I don't know how much the @clarkwgriswold fund has in it, but we need to empty it and bring two Jackrabbits into Akron - Mayo & Williams III.

This was probably the toughest poll. We've been blessed with good PF.

DJ Burns is in the Portal. And by DJ Burns, I mean the Youngstown State DJ Burns, not the NC State DJ Burns. Basically, this is the TEMU/Wish.com version.

I voted 1. Freeman 2. Wood 3. Romeo Honorable Mention: Tree

ClevelandZip (from UA News thread) Posted February 3 https://signalakron.org/wonder-bread-building-university-akron-demolished/ I thought this was an interesting article. UA is demolishing the old Akron Baking/Wonder Bread building. It is also planning on demolishing other buildings and selling off ones that can be salvaged. The article specifically says UA is trying to sell Quaker Square (which is not unexpected). A preservationist is quoted in the article saying that preserving Quaker Square, the Central Hower Auditorium, and the Martin building are his priorities. -------------------- One can only assume UA will get all the blame from John Q. Public if QS is sold and gets torn down. If anyone should be responsible for its preservation it's the Quaker Oats Co. It would make a great company museum and gift shop.

They won 9 straight before losing to Illinois and had won 16 of their last 19. They had a good team this year that got hit hard by injuries that resulted in a brutal month where they went 1-6. I think your concerns about them staying at the top are warranted, but this wasn't a .500 team that got hot for a few games in March (Ex: Kent).

The Pittsburgh press is as lazy as the rest of them and is better than most at cheerleading for bad decisions. This article claims he has good experience. Five years at CSU and Duquesne combined isn't that great of experience. Being friends with James isn't experience. This is ABJ level logic. Don't take the job Dru. It's a historically bad program that went on a great 5 game stretch. It's almost always a coach killer. Find an assistant job at a good P5 program for a couple of years. The connection with James will be enticing for one of them just like it is for Duquesne. If you want after that, take a mid major job. It's a better path to a P5 HC job.

I second the motion to empty the @clarkwgriswold fund.

FWIW, Groce had similar situation in year 1 going into year 2. Felt like he was hired later than usual, KD took a lot of the team with him - current players and HS recruits - and Groce was left scrambling to fill scholarships in year 1. Because of that, we had significant turnover going into year 2 as well. Hoping Gensler finds his foundational players. Year 2 may be disappointing again, but in year 3 we should start seeing noticeable improvement if this is going to be a success.

I updated the original post with who is in and out for each school so far along with names we've seen tied to the Zips. Let me know if I'm missing anyone!

I thought Zip nation would find this interesting to learn more about UMASS joining the conference.

I would imagine it's more about trying to keep the ball rolling and build on their success. If they go out and try to bring in an external candidate, the bulk of their players likely transfer and they have a 'year 0' with a complete rebuild.

Quaker was an investment without a plan. Complete waste of money. Example of the mania of Proenza's later years. Another was overspending on InfoCision. The Big 10 caliber tower could have been built for $20M less and still more than served its function.

I saw him at the Creighton game. He looked pretty dejected!

I loved Wood and Treadwell (behind Freeman and Travis of course), so I had to flip a coin on those two.

I know the college landscape has changed, but when there's a coaching change, I normally look at the 1st year for the head coach as Year 0 (it might have been here or somewhere else I heard that, but I agree with that) whether it's high school or college.

The Zips post-season should be a real positive in attracting players to the program. The challenge for Groce and staff is to sort the malcontents and self-agenda driven kids out of the pool and find the LCJ and Xeyrius Williams personality types and get them here. Unfortunately, for every LCJ there are numerous KJ Waltons.

No good reason to keep them separate at this point. Before the portal became what it is now, it was all just HS and JUCO recruiting. Recruiting services are attempting to adjust with the times and figure out the best way to allocate their resources and present information. Rivals has the oldest system and is owned by Yahoo. 247 is owned by CBS. On3 recently removed their NIL feature, which was never accurate to begin with.

I understand that the portal is just the way collegiate sports are going, but such a high percentage of the MAC's better talent entering the portal is a bad look for the conference.

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

I'll be updating this over the next couple weeks. I've been busy with my primary job along with two other projects that may turn into secondary incomes into the future at some point. The one secondary project is wrapping up for the season, so I'll have some free time to update this soon.

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.

Don't think Mayo is coming to Akron...