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Whoa.

Also, give credit to @Hilltopper who adamantly said he wasn't going to leave. Even after several media sources said he was.

Zips add Evan Mahaffey.

And now they'll face it without Kenni! https://footballscoop.com/2025/03/27/kent-state-kenni-burns-administrative-leave

Zips in the UFL* Former Zips RB, Lorenzo Lingard is starting tonight in the UFL season opener for the Houston Roughnecks, on national Television (Fox).

Enrique had 16 and 9 for the mad ants last night. We are going to the last regular season game in Grand rapids Saturday.

there goes the 15 man rotation.

Akron will have a taller team without increasing the height of their "tallest player" label. Front Court James Okonkwo - SR - 6'8" 240 lbs Rich Brisco - RSFR - 6'8" 230 lbs Amani Lyles - SR - 6'7" 226 lbs Marvin Musiime-Kamali - RSSO - 6'6" 195 lbs Back Court Evan Mahaffey - SR - 6'6" 200 lbs Eric Mahaffey - RSFR - 6'4" 190 lbs Josh Henderson - FR - 6'4" 170 lbs Zach Halligan - WO JR - 6'4" 205 lbs Nate Johnson - RSSR - 6'3" 204 lbs Bowen Hardman - SR - 6'3" 190 lbs Shammah Scott - SR - 6'2" 180 lbs Tai Perkins - FR - 6'1" 170 lbs Sharron Young - SO - 6' 160 lbs Conner Groce - WO SO - 6' 165 lbs Tavari Johnson - SR - 5'11" 155 lbs Height Differences Lose: Harris (6'7"), Gray (6'3"), S Wilson (6'2"), E Wilson (6'2") Gain: Brisco (6'8"), Ev Mahaffey (6'6"), Henderson (6'4"), Perkins (5'11") Brisco is an increase over Harris and a bigger body overall (plus he'll most likely play). Evan Mahaffey is a bigger version of Isaiah Gray. Henderson, if he doesn't redshirt, will be a taller version of S Wilson, although much less of a bowling ball. Perkins does us no favors in the height department but he's a gamer and the D2 Player of the Year in Ohio. Edit: I've been informed that Perkins has grown to 6'1". The system won't change which means there should be quite a bit less adjustment in the OOC portion of the schedule. This is exciting.

I like family aspect to this move. I watched the spotlight video already. A very nice family/story and a great addition to the team.

Hey...he's the Ohio State kid! In Akron, 6' 6" is the new 7'.

I may be in the minority but I hope he stays. Superman has his Lex Luther, Batman has his Joker and the board has Senderoff.

Yes. YSU kid…CMU kid…and Ohio State kid are the front runners (Per CKPom and CKBPI).

There are former Kent players as assistants at Oklahoma, Duquesne, and Canisius, as well. Most of these guys played on at least one of their NCAA Tournament teams. Very quietly, Senderoff has built himself/Kent quite a coaching tree of assistants for the AD to choose from. At some point, one of these main characters have to make something 'official.' Fordham has to announce a press conference ... or Kent has to announce a coaching search ... or Senderoff has to speak up. At this point, until one of the three happens, nothing is official and everything is gossip. I'm on the internet. But sometimes I'm fed up with the internet.

Josiah Harris departs.

Makes me feel a little better knowing we got a really tough draw.

Senderoff might feel this is the right decision because he does not have a budget for players that Groce has and cannot compete with Akron and now Mass that has an even bigger budget for players. I know that people on this board hate him but he always had his players playing their best basketball in Cleveland. Last year as the 8 seed they were a brain fart from defeating us in the final. I just wonder with their coaching change will that result in another MAC team that goes downhill. The basketball rivalry with Kent was always great because each program was consistently good. If the program goes slides to the basement like their football program, our sellouts with Kent might go the way of the Acme Zip game.

Bump for update. We’ve moved up to 7th in conference rankings. If Rivals would include UMASS, we’d be sitting at 8th. Toledo and Miami’s classes are clearly a step above the rest. Bowling Green is probably locked in at the third spot, but after that, it’s really just a toss-up. I don’t think this class is as strong as our last two, but that might not matter much if we hit at a high rate on positions of need.

All of this I would believe to be true. ADs, coaches and administrators in general rarely have 'rivalry grudges' like fans. Behind the scenes they need to work together much more than they need to fight. I would bet Groce and Senderoff see eye-to-eye on a lot of MAC basketball issues that have to be addressed and/or voted on. Same with ADs. Would not surprise me if Groce or even Dambrot spoke up for Senderoff to Fordham, if that was needed. As many have said, it is better to have Kent as a strong rival, not a weak one. Ohio-Miami basketball rivalry has been negligible for many years since Charlie Coles died, until this year. Good to have another rivalry at the top of the MAC, instead of the middle (UT-BG) or the bottom (CMU-WMU).

Actually Hilltopper posted 'not likely' and wasn't specific on Sendy 'choosing' to stay. Hilltopper may have assumed or knew Guthrie hiring Senderoff was never a sure thing. Don't believe everything you read from the Twitter trolls, these searches are far from black and white like that. Sendy and his agent played interest from Fordham as a finalist into a 6-year extension and much more. Good for them. That's what experienced agents do, intentional leaks that get results for their clients! The most interesting twist, I think if folks close to UA MBB insiders do a little digging you may learn that Sendy wasn't the only local MAC coach who used being active in the Fordham pool to put pressure on administration to get a stronger commitment for his program. Smart, and possibly even orchestrated between friends. As I've said before on this forum, despite the fact that a handful of folks on this board can't look beyond your wishful thinking and misguided belief that Guthrie is universally disliked by everyone at UA internally, donors/fans externally, and the MAC, he maintains strong relationships here. And does the search really reflect that poorly on Fordham? They've gotten more basketball buzz in the past 24-48 hours than they've had in 25 years and many from the A10 are calling the new coach a homerun hire. Sendy was part of a larger pool that centered on existing relationships with head coaches from the MAC and elsewhere - new coach worked in UC system and Columbia for example where Guthrie also has strong ties. BTW speaking of searches, how about one closer to home...are we ever going to hire a new AD? @MangoZip

I am also glad Kent kept Sendy. He has helped heighten the intensity of the rivalry by building competitive teams. He is constantly pushing Akron to be better and we have responded by staying one step ahead. I have issues with the character of his players, but that's a Kent problem, not ours. Keep pushing us to a level above the Flashes.

I think there are 10 teams in the MAC not named Akron-Kent-Ohio that would be happy with two NCAA tournament appearances in the last 14 years. Appreciate this run by the Zips, it's not easy in a one-bid league. Just like you have to have stones to hit last-second game-clinching free throws, or the right guy with the ball in his hands to make the game-winning layup .... You may also need a team to blow an 18-point lead in a championship game, or have the opposition brain fart in the final seconds to help make that happen. Akron has been in title games they should have won, but didn't (Miami, Kent), just as they have won its share. It's not easy. So let's not act like it is. The key is to be in position (championship game) for all those things to fall the right way. Akron-Kent-Ohio have pretty much done that over the last 14 years to a certain extent. We should appreciate that and hope it continues.

Speaking of season tickets, for those that don't know, you can combine multiple games into an equal number of tickets for a single game. For example, you have a one season ticket and there are 3 home games in December that you either can't make or are against DIII competition, you can contact the ticket office and they'll provide you with 3 tickets you can use for other games (i.e. 4 tickets in total for Miami OH). Especially for those with families/friends that like to go to games, it's a terrific value. It's one of the main reasons I placed a deposit for season tickets this year. Our family is growing to 5 here soon, and although we can't make as many games as I'd like, I'm still working on brainwashing my kids to bleed Akron Blue & Gold. The few games we'll be able to make is more than covered by the cost of the season ticket vs. buying individual game tickets.

In one of the tweets (or whatever they're called these days) it was mentioned Kent agreed to revenue sharing as part of the deal to get Sendy to stay. The MAC hasn't made any formal announcements (to my knowledge), but I imagine Akron will be forced to follow suit. I wouldn't be surprised to see ticket prices climb 10%-20% this season to help pay for it. I still find Akron basketball to be a very great value so I'll pay it. For those with premium seating I can see how it could become burdensome. Edit: Per @Let'sGoZips94 post, you can just disregard everything that I posted.

I had a conversation with Camden Stockton recently before putting in my season ticket deposit. He informed me there won't be any price increases.

He sounds thrilled

They really put the MID in mid-major program. I guess they are happy with 2 tournament appearances in 14 years.

Good points made. The addition of Briscoe (assuming he can contribute) gives us more size as well as older bro Mahaffey obviously. We got bigger, just not by the traditional 7 footer type.

I wonder if the staff saw enough from Brisco to trust him with Okonkwo, Lyles, and MMK in the front court. He was 6'8" 230 lbs coming in and has spent the past year developing in a top tier mid major program with one of the best post player developers in Dustin Ford.

Absolute menace defensively.

I can see him being the starting PF and Lyles playing minutes at both PF and C next year. We added size and don't have to alter our offense to accommodate a slower pace offense. I'm pleased even though CK didn't get one of the bigs his metrics preferred.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2025/03/27/ua-head-womens-soccer-coach-on-paid-leave-for-student-safety-concerns-jen-simonetti/82671833007/?tbref=hp

I have the same issue. Never let it deter you. 🙃

I would estimate - 0.0

I see he's from Lithuania. As I understand it, players in US on student visas can't collect NIL. That would certainly help Wentz checkbook. Just a matter of selling the program to him.

CMU kid please

Conner is a free walk on (since his dad is a UA employee). I don't see the BB program adding a scholarship player, likely an out-of-$tate transfer, to replace a free roster spot. As someone earlier stated - it is better to spend any available $15,000 on an incumbent player(s) who's paid their dues and who would actually see the floor than giving said scholarship money to someone ranking between #13 and #15 on the depth chart.

I thought Arizona got hosed with about 5 minutes left. They deserved 2 technical shots which would have tightened the game down to 5 points I think. Who knows if that would have made a difference. Duke is just insane this year.

Meh

@Illini Zip Can you please update the scholarship chart to remove Josiah Harris and add Scott & Okonkwo for 2025-26? Connor Groce confirmed tonight he is coming back, so we'll only have one roster spot available this cycle.

Senderoff sure brought stability to PCCC after a bit of turnover. He was just good enough to hang on but not quite good enough to move on. The Indiana scandal likely held him back some too. I think they should bring back Stan Heath.

It's a safe hire. 0 losing seasons, Guthrie knows it would be a promotion/raise, and Sendy grew up 40 minutes from Fordham.

Kenni Burns leave article- https://footballscoop.com/2025/03/27/kent-state-kenni-burns-administrative-leave

Kenni Burns placed on admin leave. Oddly it happens on the same day national reports say Fordham will be hiring Pinky. I wonder if Kent is using the Fordham buyout to help buy themselves out of Kenni's contract 🤔

I dislike him a lot less now that he's gone. That's kind of the point- I disliked him primarily because he was the rival's coach. He did other things along the way that irritated me like the Dodgers/Yankees reference and discounting the games when Akron would win. To his credit, he always kept PCCC competitive. Groce spoke highly of him and that tempered my disdain for him. I regret not trademarking "Mr. Pinky". I think now it loses its value!

This led me down a wikipedia rabbit hole of former Kent coaches. Last season Geno Ford won 8 games coaching Stony Brook and Jim Christian won 3 games all season coaching Canisius. Hopefully pinky takes a similar career path as these two awful individuals.

First -- taking anything Dakich says as gospel speaks more about you than Senderoff. Second ... EVERYTHING that happened w/Sampson and Senderoff was at the dawn of the internet/cell phone age of recruiting. EVERYTHING Sampson/Senderoff were sanctioned for by the NCAA became NCAA legal within 2 years. Third ... both Sampson and Senderoff had no trouble getting rehired on the college level where the NCAA could have blackballed them ... but didn't. Both have gone on to not only be rehired in the NCAA ranks, but also have successful NCAA head coaching careers. Dakich ... bless his soul ... was a hot ticket at BG for a few years, then flamed out. Remember ... even to this day, everything about Indiana basketball is viewed through a Bobby Knight lens, for better or worse, and Dakich carries that torch higher than most.

Sendy is from 44 minutes N/NW of Fordham. There are 2 specific jobs and 1 generic job I think he would leave for - Albany, Fordham, basketball P5. Albany isn't open, he isn't getting a call for a basketball P5, so Fordham is his escape rope. He knows Kent is the athletics version of the Titanic, hence his comments after that first Akron game. 2 NCAA Tourney appearances and 1 NIT appearance in 14 years after Kent had 5 NCAA Tourney appearances and 6 NIT appearances from 1999-2011. Regardless of where Sendy is coaching next season, we need to thank him for restoring mediocrity to PCCC.

The Kent board seems convinced that Sendy has coached his last game with the team and that he's already accepted the Fordham job. Kind of odd that he was just on social media promoting Kent's collective days ago when he likely already knew he wouldn't be with the team next year. The Fordham job is pretty terrible. He must really want out of Kent badly. If he thinks Akron is the Dodgers, he's in a rude awakening when he faces the AL All-Stars (Dayton) and NL All-Stars (VCU) every year.

Yeah. Groce should have tanked the final. Another whiff.

There is a Kent fan on Twitter than has a wall full of these Ride to Hell posters. Starting to question whether or not Hell is referencing the difficult schedule, or simply being a Kent fan. The answer is probably both. Kent has a chance to break their 21(?) game losing streak week 1 before starting a new losing streak.