Leaderboard

Yes. Simply because this team will most likely have a true PG and be able to shoot at a much higher clip. "Bigs" Okonkwo will most likely be Freeman-lite; a little bit bigger, maybe more athletic, but not as versatile (no outside shot to my knowledge). Lyles is hopefully able to take that next step. He has the size and I think he has the athleticism. The question for me is can he become more decisive and make quicker decisions? We will see. Baker is a versatile post player. He's maybe a bit bigger than Freeman was, but he has a jump shot like Freeman IIRC. He was nominated to be a McDonald's All American in high school IIRC and had a nice offer list after being a 1st Team All State player and top 10 prospect in the senior class for the state of Illinois. He'll push Lyles for solid PT this year after his redshirt year last season. Brisco is a redshirt candidate for me. He's Freeman size, but listed as a Center on his recruiting profiles. He had offers from TCU & Nebraska in high school, with additional interest from Pitt, Penn State, Pitino's Iona, etc. (no idea if he was offered). There isn't much out there on him except some nice dunk highlights. He's strong but looks to be still growing into his body. A year of development for him could really make him a formidable "big" as a redshirt freshman. If he doesn't redshirt, I could see Amani Lyles type minutes for him. Forwards Josiah Harris will lead the group of forwards in production this year most likely. A high percentage 3P shooter with good size (6'7"), he is our Ali Ali replacement and very similar to Xeryius Williams (better shooter most likely). He was also WVU's rebounds per game leader last season (4+ RPG - and people wonder why WVU was 9-23 last season haha). Legitimately expecting 15 PPG from Mr. Harris. Musiime-Kamali will be an interesting player to watch. There isn't much out there on him, but he looked quite good in his summer AAU highlights. Someone who has seen him practice can probably provide a more realistic analysis and expectation for him, but he has the potential to be a solid contributor. Athletic with potentially a jump shot? 6'6" and long. Played against really good competition in high school/AAU and averaged double digits. Guards Loaded group. Sharron Young is who I believe will be the starting PG this upcoming season. The entire WVU transfer class revolves around Sharron coming to Akron. This kid is special and can do it all. Look for him to be in the running for MAC Freshman of the Year and All MAC in general. Tavari is most likely his direct backup. Tavari needs to make great strides in his game this offseason. He needs to lock in his shot, defense, and decision making. He could be a very special guard, but mental defenses and a lack of effort have held him back. Seth will most likely be the starting SG. His off-the-ball shooting percentage is much much better than his on-ball production. He's big, plays good defense (comes from Huggins' system so of course), and will be a leader on this team. Shammah is going to be one of the first off the bench most likely. There's a chance he pushes for PG minutes, too, but we saw him mostly in off-the-ball guard situations last year. He needs to lock in his shot more, but he really came in at the end of this last season. Nate is most likely our starting 3G/SF. Really looking forward to having Nate healthy all season. If his shot is as good as it was before he got hurt last season, look out. Nate has All MAC potential. Prather Jr is the lone sophomore on this team, and I'm looking forward to seeing him healthy this year. He was held back by the early season injuries last year, but when he eventually played, he flashed moments of being a great shooter. His defense will need to improve, but he could become a better-shooting Chanel Banks. Mahaffey is the other redshirt candidate for me on this roster. Quite frankly, we're just loaded at guard. I think a year to develop after his recent growth spurt would also be good for him. By my count, there are 7-8 guys on this roster that should be able to shoot the ball quite well. There were maybe 5-6 guys last year that shot decently well, and even less that us fans actually wanted to shoot the ball. We also lacked a true PG, which we'll have at least one, hopefully 2+ (Tavari's development being key) next season. We had 3 players averaging double digit scoring last season; I think there's a chance 4-5 guys average 10+ PPG. I think our bench is deeper next season, especially from a scoring perspective. The scoring floor with this team should be higher than last season. Defensively, all 3 transfers were recruited by Huggins - defense shouldn't be a problem next season. This team is very much built like Groce's 2010 & 2012 Ohio teams. We know what happened at the end of those seasons. Just saying. Really really excited for next year.

Found it!!

Must watch tonight.

I think there is a psychological aspect to shooting and it’s the reason Groce doesn’t like to talk about it. Talking about it raises doubt and that leads to a spiraling lack of confidence. I think even our good shooters struggled because the pressure to help out Freeman was so intense. Hopefully the additions of Harris and Wilson will lift that pressure and the others can play more carefree and better as a result. Even though this last team was flawed and peaked early they had heart and determination. They grinded their way to that tournament championship. It wasn’t pretty, but they earned it. And even though I agree that Sharron Young is a major draw for the WV transfers, winning the MAC tournament was likely a prerequisite to this rebuild happening. So kudos to the Ali, Freeman and Tribble class of Zips for continuing our upward projection. Future is still bright.

A few MAC notes: - Akron’s comprehensive recruiting class is now ranked #2 in the MAC and #87 Nationally. Our recent 2024 offers have gone out to OL, DT, and WR, so we are clearly still looking for more depth there. - Eastern Michigan has had the most portal entries in the 2nd window with 10. Although, very few of them were significant contributors. - Ohio has been hit hard this offseason along the interior of their DL. They are also the only team in the conference without a returning All-MAC player. - Toledo easily has the most talented recruiting class, but they have lost a good amount of production this offseason. Also, 3 star JUCO signee WR Tre Richardson has already hit the portal.

Big news. The helmet communication especially should help make the overall product better.

Two things. First, I don't enjoy going to games as much either. They are too long and too much dead time. Second, and worst of all, the people who run college athletics don't care if I go or not or not as long as more commercials are sold catering to degenerate gamblers and drunks. My question is this. Do the people at universities know they are killing the sport? There was a time in the past 80 years when professional boxing was the number one sport in the USA. Then it became a gross representation of a sport and is an afterthought. Is that where college athletics are going?

I have been a HUGE Zips football fan for about 30 years but I don't enjoy attending the games nearly as much as I used to. A 1-hour game shouldn't take 3&1/2 hours to complete. Of course winning would probably help more than anything. lol

We will not be playing an OOC schedule like last season. Expect a Dambrot style OOC slate. Too many new pieces to put together before MAC play. Anything less than a 20 win season hurts future recruiting. Winners want to play at winning programs.

I guess they saw everybody complaining about the 4 hour college football games last year and decided to make them 4 and a half hours!

thought that this might interest a few people.... https://www.soccerwire.com/news/substitution-rule-changes-approved-for-ncaa-division-i-mens-soccer/

Here's a little secret. P6 body types are usually going to be a little bigger that MAC body types. The LCJs and Alis of the world don't get pursued by the P6 programs out of high school. They look for top skills and body types. I'm sure Creighton's torrid shooting had everything to do with the weight room at Creighton.

I hate the two minute warning because nothing happens. Instead of this money grab, theu should institute a 20 to 25 second play clock in the final four minutes to force actual, you know, football. Fewer commercials, more plays. I like helmet communication. It's 2024 for crying out loud.

This is a good point. These wvu and UNC kids aren't going to shy away from a OSU or JMU or whatever big opportunity we have, that we haven't been able to get over the hump to this point

Frankly ... with 3 years of P5 experience on hand at multiple positions, along with the holdovers for depth, this team SHOULD be able to make a statement or two (read: WIN) vs. P5 non-conference opponents in November and December, then improve over the course of the season in the MAC. Not predicting or expecting anything like an undefeated MAC season, but on paper this Akron team seems to compare with those good Buffalo teams, and they were able to establish themselves both in non-conference and conference. If Akron can do the same, I think the MAC and post-season aspirations should be easily attained.

Not a strength and conditioning issue, but I also don't think we had much of an answer for Kalkbrenner. It's easy to see why he won Big East DPOY. He only was credited with 3 blocks, but he disrupted every shot within 5 feet of the basket.

Because Creighton shot an ungodly 60% from 3. Had nothing to do with strength & conditioning.

Other than a kid coming off of an injury like Nate was late in the season, I don't see any Akron kids looking winded or struggling with their hands on their knees. Watch a Zips practice and you'll see Groce working their ***es off. They're not less muscular or physical than their MAC counterparts. Their rebounding and defensive stats are evidence of this.

The results of this Day of Giving are skewed. No contributions to any sports NIL collective are counted. No membership in the Summit Group ($25,000 committed over five years) are counted. The results are not a dire as would be surmised on first inspection. Would we like to see more from the general public? Absolutely yes! But things need to be taken in perspective.

Anybody remember that promo pic of the basketball team in the weight room from 3 or 4 years ago where they all looked more muscled than the football team?

If you can dodge traffic on Exchange, you can dodge a ball.

Ouch 😭

Agree with this, it's frustrating. You'd think at the minimum they could partner with their radio and television school or campus television to let the students produce some content.