Leaderboard

I don't know. Beating the #147 team in the KenPom rankings can really give you a boost!

We want Duke

Lessons Learned After 0-6 Start ABBY SCHNABLE Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I look at where BG is sitting in the standings and have to think how pissed we would all be if we didn’t pull that one out.

Ftom UA: "Enrique Freeman Night at James A. Rhodes Arena ceremony will be held prior to the game. All fans will receive 25% off tickets for Enrique Freeman Night." Promo Link: https://tinyurl.com/26hptqj2

I read this post and about half way through the conference schedule everything is coming ups roses. Amazing leaps from Lyles, NJ, TJ, and Scott. Wilson is shooting an amazing 47% from three point range in conference play and Okonkwo has established himself as rebounding machine down low. The chemistry is coming together and we are undefeated in conference play. Grey has been consistent but Nate Johnson has even been better leading the team in scoring. We are a 10 deep team even with Harris being out for the year. Your analysis was spot on and much better than the MAC preseason polls.

I'm thinking about buying some kind of Dodgers hat for the Kent game at the JAR. 😁

You meant top 25 mid- major, right?

As much as we'd all like to contribute to the GoFundme for PCCC's basketball funeral, they'll make it to Cleveland. They have better than average MAC talent. Pinky just hasn't figured out yet how to get them to play together. Even if he doesn't, there are so many really bad MAC teams that they'll end up in the mix as a .500 team.

KSUcks plays at EMU Tuesday night w/ the 8-slot on the line Looked back at their schedule & prior to our taking them behind the woodshed KSUcks had been playing decent ball Jan.21st they beat UT by 19 in Toledo (83-64) Jan.24th in Athens they only lost to the Kittens by 2 (61-59) Jan.28th they beat BUGS by 18 (75-57) The MAC blows

It's this exact conversation that is turning me against college sports. I don't care if a guy can make money, but the handouts are gross.

Groce is the greatest Akron Zips basketball coach ever. I will pat myself on the back and say I've been in his camp from Day 1. At Ohio, he took the Zips out twice in Cleveland. 4-0 in MAC titles. And, yes, he's benefiting from the financial help of Wentz BUT that benefit wouldn't be coming if Groce wasn't the coach he is. Wentz and others wouldn't throw that kind of $ at Boals or Lewis. This current group of players are solid and mature. Any MAC team would start Gray, Okonkwo, either Johnson, or Seth Wilson. I remember early in season Seth Wilson was benched. He was out of shape. A few weeks later Wilson was starting. Groce mentioned in the post game show that Wilson knocked off some bad habits. He's now a massive presence.

https://akronzippedup.substack.com/p/zips-mens-basketball-weekly-update-752 Excellent round up of this week's action from Zipped Up. Cool commentary on Tavari and Nate.

I was going to make a similar type of comment when I saw this post this morning. I decided it wasn't even worth responding to lol.

Not a very long list but congrats to those that did make it

If course, but I'd rather discuss games, tailgating, players and coaches. Nil should be what it's called and should have existed for decades. Players should have been able to hold jobs, sign autographs for money, make personal appearances for money, etc. Now it's people getting together and handing out money. It's all so gross. Many public institutions are in deep financial trouble and this is how they put their fundraising efforts to use? Barf.....

The standings as we go into February... Akron 9-0 Miami OH 8-1 Toledo 7-2 Ohio 5-4 WMU 4-5 Balls 4-5 CMU 4-5 KSUcks 4-5 EMU 4-5 BUGS 2-7 Canada 2-7 NIU 1-8 Kent is flirting with danger. OU is on a cusp of a season collapse. Imagine a world where Cleveland is absent of Kent and Ohio. A guy can dream, can't he?

The Stryker family gave WMU athletics $50 million around the time of covid. I'm not sure how WMU went about spending it.

Western Michigan has the billionaire Stryker family. One insignificant check from them would rebuild that program immediately.

In the big picture we're all the Pittsburgh Pirates. Duke, UNC, Kentucky etc are the Dodgers/Yankees. Programs like Dayton would be like the Guardians.

I don't blame him for trying to motivate the administration. I'm just not a fan of the analogy to what are for all intents and purposes the "evil empires" of MLB who win in large part because of their superior budgets.

It just all sounds like a strange unhinged rant. PCCC doesn't have an alum who will step up and help their head football coach to avoid embarrassing the school. It's unlikely anyone is kicking into the NIL pot. Oddly, their sports forum is down today. Maybe it's imploding like their mens athletic program.

These are embarrassing comments for Pinky and Kent. From everything I've heard from Bud Wentz and those with knowledge of our NIL collective, it is not a buy-the-best type of system. Our NIL collective rewards players who want to be a Zip and commit to the Akron/Groce way - play hard, show humility, and be involved in the community. Those who do that will receive a solid long-term return on their investment (I believe Wentz has said part of the collective is designed to help alumni as long as they stay involved). Okonkwo was a P4 journeyman big man that played very sparingly at both WVU and UNC. Wilson was a deeper bench role player at WVU. Hardman was a benchwarming 3P specialist at Ohio State. Harris had a decent track record of success at WVU, but he's out for the season. Gray was a solid player for Cornell. I'm sure there was competition for these players, but I doubt many if any had legitimately lucrative offers from bigger programs. They chose to come to Akron because of what Groce can do for them, which is elevate them as young men and players. Groce designed this team like a master architect and provided them the patience and room to grow into the team they are today. Groce has owned Pinky/Kent ever since he filled the cupboards after his first year. NIL wasn't even a thing in the beginning. Freeman, Ali Ali, and Tribble were all homegrown. This is the first year we've made legitimate moves in the transfer portal (2019-20 was big, too, but that didn't involve NIL), and the only difference is we're scoring 85 when we beat Kent instead of 62. If Pinky wants NIL, maybe he shouldn't be coaching at a fashion-first school that has continually neglected its athletics outside of catching lightning in a bottle every once in a while. Or maybe he should go back to his roots of recruiting violations/cheating (didn't realize Steele was on that staff as well). Groce is 100x the coach Pinky is - I'm low-balling with that - and that's the sole difference between where Akron is with basketball and where Kent is. Cry more, clown.

Kent keep up!

Who cares. Beat South Alabama

Great win! As an Alumni and long time supporter of zips athletics, I am stunned that there aren't 5,000 fans at every home game. John Groce is nothing short of spectacular. GO ZIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

They beat Cleveland State (currently on a weak 13 game winning streak) by 16 at the Wolstein Center. Also, don't forget, Doug Gottlieb coaches in the Horizon League. Kent is an atrocious offensive team, but there are few teams in the country with the offensive fire power we have to completely nullify the few things Kent is good at.

Good enough to hang on, not good enough to move on, too good to can...the Mr. Pinky curse.

Okonkwo's best game this year

The color commentator indicated there is no reason Akron could not run the table. We have impressed!!!

Enrique Freeman and Anjali Silverheels at the Pacers formal team dinner earlier this evening in Paris.

Two-year anniversary of this Kent State loser walking out after just a few months on the job.