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I seriously wonder if any of them will sniff a Final Four with that spend. BBN hasn't been to a Final Four in 11 years, and they can spend all they want and have the most lottery picks. The ?football school? in Bloomington hasn't been there in 24 years. They're casting about and spraying money at what they think is the problem. It's not translating to net cutting. You only need to look at the 2nd half of the Duke / UConn game last weekend to see what happens when experienced talent goes against pure talent in a high stress situation. The experienced team will maintain composure better than the teams new to that environment. Talent surely matters, but culture is wildly undervalued with the NIL top down perspective. There's a team shooting for it's 3rd NC in 4 years that has ample NIL (just below the cited list), but prioritizes culture and team building. It's the *same* reason that the Zips will be playing for their 4th straight MAC tournament title in about 11 months. His on-court antics aside, if you take the opportunity to listen to Dan Hurley's recruiting and program perspective, you'll see how much he values fit and background over projected draft status. Steph Castle is a prime example .. and it's the same reason he's a great fit for the Spurs. He wanted to be part of something bigger. Karaban is shooting for his 3rd NC. He's not a 1st round NBA guy .. but he's essential to UConn's success. There are plenty of other examples (Painter at Purdue for 1). Ultimately, success is less about the "X's and O's" than it is the "Johnny's and Joes." You either have the players or you don't .. but among 2 teams on the court with similar talent, it comes down to cohesiveness and collaboration. Teams that like themselves and play for their teammates will always be better than a group of individuals. No matter what happens this weekend, the signature play of Alex Karaban's college career will be giving up the ball to a Freshman who had a slightly cleaner look at a shot the team had to have. As we all know, the kid buried it .. but it was the trust the team had in each other that obliterated Duke in the 2nd half. Same is true in rec ball, middle school, CYO and almost every career. Build a high functioning team and successes will chase you down. It's one reason I'm excited to see Coach Ford's finger prints on the Zips. I fully expect to take my center court seats at the Q next March and watch the Zips play on Saturday for the hardware. The sun shines brightly on our team & program, and I hope the sun shines brightly on everyone here this Easter Weekend. Go Zips! {/captain obvious}

I can't believe that our 18 to 22 year old basketball players much give a damn whether Nemer is in the crowd.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/evan-t-wilson_gocougars-1charleston-activity-7445793981835382784-Wvlt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACkAKNsB0SkA095jhk47kMR1msg1-UFdr-o Evan Wilson accepts a job at Charleston. Love to see that

I took a whiz next to him in a club level bathroom at halftime of the QF game. The douche fabricating the story of Nemer being in Europe is a liar.🤥 Hope that settles the issue.

Apparently Terry got bored. This summer he'll be coaching Monroe (LA) in The Arena League, a 7-on-7 indoor football league. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18ovTiBYFU/

Joe Dunn 👇

That’s a super strong add. Head coaching experience on the back end and the bench can’t be underestimated. It’s a trend right now and in my mind huge for a first time HC

Same here! They have been doing this for a while now and know how to build. They obviously weren’t blindsided and knew this was what would be coming and got ahead of it yesterday on social media BEFORE the portal announcements came. Also, who’s to say Bud himself didn’t encourage the guys to explore their value and then come back and give Akron a chance to keep them (aka we’ll do our best to match your true market value). Obviously they’d prefer to not have them go in the portal but I have to imagine they would welcome them back with open arms and want to show they care about what’s best for the athlete and their family - similar to Groce encouraging Nate.

This is USD and not Euros though 😆

They probably had more NIL /s

I get that a talented college basketball player would want to enter the portal to gauge his value. That being said, I'll be a little aggravated if Eric leaves after UA brought in his brother and made that experience possible.

You heard the man.

This is where the FTRC/Wentz model becomes so important. It honors the true nature of NIL and long term wealth management.

D2 has probably been an underutilized resource for us. I don't know anything about Todd May, but perhaps he can help direct us to some sophomore or juniors at that level who can be immediate helps.

Looks like Josh Henderson is staying. He reposted a Dustin Ford tweet and also just followed me on X.

I definitely agree here. The cupboard was very bare when Groce inherited this program and he had us ready to compete at the top of the MAC by year 3. With the portal now your program can be decimated quicker, but it can also be rebuilt quicker. I wouldn't see why we couldn't be in a position to compete in year 1 or at least by year 2.

With the announcements from Young and Mahaffey, here is what we're looking at... Graduated Amani Lyles Shammah Scott Evan Mahaffey Tavari Johnson Portal Eric Mahaffey Sharron Young Returning (for now) Chabi Barre (6'10" F; R-Jr) Rich Brisco (6'8" F; R-Fr) Ognjen Stankovic (6'8" W; Fr) Josh Henderson (6'5" G; R-Fr) Marvin Musiime-Kamali (6'6" W; R-So) Zach Halligan (6'5" W; R-So) Cody Head (6'3" G; R-Jr) Bowen Hardman (6'3" G; Sr) Tai Perkins (6' G; R-Fr) HS Incoming Devan Christion (6'9" F) RJ Jones (6'4" G) Jashawn Ladd (6'4" G) Some thoughts... 1) It'll be interesting to see if any of the HS commits de-commit, which would be risky for them in the NIL/Open Portal landscape 2) In terms of maintaining the culture, Halligan and MMK are the most important. They've each been here ~3 years, they know the expected effort, they've seen what the program can do for players, and they seem to be great teammates. 3) What's currently remaining is actually quite respectable. There are several question marks of course (skill, experience, etc.) but that's pretty good size - especially in the backcourt - with several scholarships to offer still.

Touché

I think Eric's value will be much higher than Young's and will be the one less likely to return. Nothing in his game is great at this stage, but he does a lot of things well with no obvious flaws. Add in his 6'6" size and the fact he can guard positions 1-4 and he fits the positionless basketball style most teams wish to play.

I think it's a couple of kids testing their value while leaving open the option to return.

Wait, I thought hiring Ford was going to keep the program continuity going?

I feel like we had a great lineage from LCJ and Co down to this group with mentorship etc and we've lost that link if they both go. So this sucks

So either John is stealing them which pisses me off, or they’re taking a really big risk. Can’t imagine their market is much more than what we’re able to pay them, and they could both be looking at pretty substantial pay days if they show what they can do being a focal point of a team.

I'd like a signed one but season tickets would be hard to enjoy in Nashville.

Received mine yesterday and wearing it as we speak. Coming from someone who doesn't like wearing hats I can confirm it's comfortable.

Ah thank you. Something tells me he's not gonna be watching the TAL games on Youtube this summer...but you never know.

I think it was before your time here, but he spent years obsessing over Bowden's departure. Rumor has it these days he's president of the Terry Bowden fan club.

Very true. I am comfortable the Guardians' FO is strong enough to weather those storms, but the whole structure will change with a cap coming.

I'm missing the reference here, sorry

Just think what would be if the Dolans actually tried to win. They might actually be contenders if/when baseball goes to a salary cap (that has a strict floor tied to it)

I feel several of these are understated. Texas Tech was already at ~10M this year and reports are NIL spend is expected to increase 35% this year. If they remained close to that I'd expect more like $13M-$14M spend. I feel the ones that are mostly accurate are the ones that had coaching changes as they had to advertise their spend to attract new coaches. There is very little incentive for a Duke, Illinois, or Arkansas to divulge what they plan to spend.

Is that zipsoutsiders music?

Just ask the NY Mets, LA Clippers, Raiders…

Maybe he does, but hard to give someone with only 39 followers any clout.

Looks like just a random Xavier fan.

I'm going to assume the coaching staff took some offense to that more than the players.

As long as it's not Miami. Where his dad happened to play.

Speaking about this here in an Akron message board is one thing......Get the word out! Every person who goes to the polls to vote should understand what they are voting for or against and right now I do not think they do. The comments about these universities should be plastered all over northeast Ohio and really the entire state.