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If you told me this would happen 2 years ago I would have laughed at you. Let’s go Amani!

Groce also recruited the newcomers and appears to have properly vetted them from a talent/cultural fit standpoint.

If you would have told me last year I would have laughed at you. I must confess I was hoping he would transfer last year because I just did not see any way he would contribute in a meaningful way. The last few games he really did well finishing at the basket and I hope that continues. I love being wrong when a Zip blossoms into a player of the week.

Getting your butt busted by Enrique every day for the past 2 years has paid dividends for Amani.

Leave it up to GP1 to comment on attendance. Well, it continues to boggle my mind that the Zips continue to draw such pathetic crowds for basketball games. In the last 5 years, we have had three of the greatest players to ever wear a Zips uniform, yet attendance continues to be abysmal every year. In addition, we have a top 10 coach, and I do not mean in the MAC. He is a top 10 coach in the entire country. Also key to this equation is our NIL director. College programs cannot survive without NIL in place. So, while even I am not happy with NIL dominating college sports, the minimum every Zips fan can do is purchase a GA season ticket for $65 for the entire season. That is less than $7 a game. Unfortunately, the Akron community and Zips grads within 45 minutes of campus refuse. In my book you all get a ranking of Zero (out of ten). Beat the Bulls! Zips Win!

You would think he went to an Ivy League school or something.

I was very impressed by Gray in his post-game with the radio guys. What an intelligent and eloquent young man.

I love Sharron Young. Probably my favorite current Zip and has become my son's as well. Really hope he stays here. I wonder why Akron doesn't print a few of these to sell at games? I bet people would be more likely to buy them there than online.

Give them all to me. I love them all.

We’ve been hammered. No way around that. We’ve lost as much production as any other MAC school and also the same amount of transfers to P4 schools as any other MAC school. I think this is probably our weakest portal class, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t landed some players with potential. I say that more in comparison to the strong portal classes we’ve had in the past. It’s also not surprising due to our lack of NIL funds. All that said, we can still have a strong season next year. We are actually in a place where young players - with a high amount of potential - may be ready to step into bigger roles (wasn’t the case in the past) and perhaps we don’t need every transfer to be a standout. We’ll have a returning starter at QB with a full off-season in the same system and at least two WRs (Granger and Polk) who seem ready to breakout. Looking at the defense, we can’t realistically say they played up to their potential until the final few games. Pass defense, run defense, and pass rush still finished 8th/9th in the conference. I don’t see why we can’t - at bare minimum - have the same production on that side of the ball if we get the right players in there. Here is the 2025 MAC movement. Other teams that have been hit hard are Ball State, Eastern Michigan, NIU, and Kent State (although Kent didn’t have a ton to lose in the first place).

Thank you for pointing that out. Football program is actually improving.

@catdaddyp In your opinion, have the other MAC programs been hit as hard as ours? Someone on here thought the TP was no big deal as we'll simply just plug in new players from the portal. But most know it's not that easy. We're losing known contributors & know commodities and replacing them with question marks. If everyone gets looted at the end of each year it seems to be an environment ripe for many worst-to-first scenarios, no?

I think you are right to applaud Bud Wentz for his major contributions to the program, but in no way does it diminish the coach’s role or obligations. If anything, the new NIL landscape adds an additional level of challenges to the equation.

Yes, there have been several posts over the past year or so citing sources that talk about how far ahead we are compared to the rest of the MAC in our basketball commitment, including NIL. UMASS next year will surpass us, but we will be closer to UMASS than the other MAC schools. Anybody looking for a big pay day will leave (Young could possibly get a big bag to return to WV) because our NIL isn't setup for pay to play. It's setup to create a multi-year retention system for guys that want to be at Akron.

The fall of the Buffalo program demonstrates just how lucky we were to transition from KD to Groce.

Athletic Directors have already sold their souls. Selling an entire athletic department seems to be the next step. I hope there isn't anyone out there delusional enough to think it's still college football. It's a professional sports league. It's all so gross.

If nothing else it could put some butts in seats from the SVSM and UA people with a connection to the Joyce family. Duquesne brought a few people to the game at SVSM and there was a contingent of Joyce family and friends. Maybe not the gate buster of Ohio Wesleyan or SUNY Brockport but a larger visitor contingent than we are used to seeing. Seems like something Keith could facilitate.

Now is the time to schedule a home and home with the Dukes while both teams are winning instead of the weak teams we brought into the JAR this year. We could have a reunion of his old team or put his jersey in the rafters. Anything to bring the Dukes to Akron. We should have a solid veteran team next year so no excuses why we should not play the Dukes.

Excellent recap of the week from Zipped Up https://open.substack.com/pub/akronzippedup/p/zips-mens-basketball-weekly-update-db1?r=4gotw8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

I believe he is.

Yeah I haven't been able to open an app the past week without seeing a new video from the basketball account, rowdies or Zips Athletic Club accounts. That's how you do it

These recaps videos are insanely good.

Recap is here. Game was on CBSSN. https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/gametracker/recap/NCAAB_20250117_OHIO@AKRON/

Interesting article here on potential MAC additions- https://www.hustlebelt.com/2025/1/17/24338685/mid-american-conference-expansion-candidates-maction-realignment-2026

Let's face it, the zips success this year is almost entirely due to bud Wentz's checkbook.