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Ask yourself this people- If you were able to put your resume out there to see if another employer would pay you more to do the same exact job, and it wouldn't impact your current position, would you do it? That's what these kids are doing.

Ignacio Alem distinguished himself on the left wing. He was consistently dangerous on the dribble. Freshman Leo Morana also impressed with some incisive passing through the midfield. I believe he had at least one assist, depending on how you score it. But the frosh I really have my eye on is Londen Sears. Here is a mountain of raw talent! Fairly good with his right, superb with his left. He played all four years of high school, the old-fashioned way. "... a two-time All-America honoree, he was named as the Ohio Player of the Year in each of his final two campaigns...led his squad to a state title as a senior after advancing to the title game as a sophomore." If Sears plays all four years of eligibility, he will very likely have an MLS career. I will lay that bet right now! His size/speed ratio is fantastic. He is quite rough around the edges and really needs some intensive and focused development. Akron is a great place to receive that sort of attention, the program that turns red chips into blues every damn year. But what is his position? Not sure at this point.

Speaking of

It won't happen, but I wish they would quit playing Final Four games in NFL stadiums.

I agree, I don't hold a grudge or ill will towards him for not doing it. Just assumed it would be something he would do given the length of his tenure.

Akron reportedly has reached out to USC transfer and former Robert Morris player Amarion Dickerson https://x.com/i/status/2041620452099928369

Travis Steele was named the 2026 John McLendon National Coach of the Year and his best two players with eligibility remaining are in the portal. The Akron players who are in the portal were going to enter regardless of who the coach was. It is unsettling to see your best remaining guys go portaling, but we need to let this all play out. I never judge an offeseason until it's actually complete.

New item - FTRC!! https://www.feartheroocollective.com/product-page/fear-the-roo-distressed-logo-t-shirt

This is an excellent point. Outside of a few posters that attended practices and had in depth discussion with coaches nobody was really even talking about Eric at this time last year. Now some are trying to make it sound like his departure isn't something we can recover from. There are redshirts or incoming freshman who are on the roster now that will be contributors next season. Most of Akron's success has come from player development. We will likely need to go into the portal and find a few impact players, but it's not like we need to go out there and sign an entirely new 13 player roster. With a new coach that would have been likely.

To be fair, maybe the blogger named that urinal Nemer was using "Europe."

That has nothing to do with his relationship with the Akron fans, students, and alumni who supported him for nine years, though.

This didn't age well...

I sure hope I don't jinx them but our women's softball team is 9-3 in conference & is leading KSUcks 10-0 after 3 💪💪

I just gift money to the collective instead in those circumstances. There is no COGS attached to my donation and I don't have extra clothing that I won't wear taking up space. Seems like a win/win. Either way your support is appreciated.

Me and Sean Penn. Union Station DC. I did not say a word to him. 🤣

From Cleveland as well. We've seemed to have had a lot of success in the portal when bringing players home.

Sad, I think we are about halfway through spring practice and there has been zero information about how it’s going. As usual nothing from the school but also no information Scoop on Akron Football is a tough task! from anyone on here. Getting any scoop on Akron Football is a tough task!

Those are the types of teams I want to see us competing against for talent.

Things seemed to be heading the right direction last year and that seems to have continued!

I saw Harper at the MAC championship at the vip bar down under the court. just another MACtion fan that night!!

I'm going to assume right now that Ladd, Christion, and Jones all redshirt next year, so that leaves six players currently penciled in for next year's roster: Head Barre Halligan MMK Henderson Perkins That leaves six spots to fill, and a lot of talent needed to acquire.

I'll snag that one at some point. Love the FTRC logo on the back, but I'm partial to the Fear the Roo logo overall.

Yeah, my wallet is glad that I won't need this one. But I appreciate them continuing to add new merch!

The president of University of Akron formerly owned a sports management company. If anyone could predict how this would develop it is he.

That is a bummer to me. I still think he has tremendous upside. He was a freshman new to US basketball on a team with 5 seniors and 2 guys that made all conference freshmen teams. Could be like a ryan prather type guy that excels in a place given more minutes

Cheese/LCJ/X chose to play for a coach coming off a failed P4 experience with a 14-18 record in his first year at Akron and 17-16 in his second year. Since then, Akron has rebuilt itself into a mid major powerhouse and household name with a track record of setting people up for financial success with a nice NIL program and lineage of guys playing pro ball. We elevated a key component to all that success - it's an easy sell to players.

People have been saying that it was likely that Sharron and Eric would enter the portal this offseason for months, whether Groce was here or not. Bowen is the only one that I am confident would have been here if we didn't lose our coach. I'm sure he will get a pretty good offer to go be a sharpshooter off the bench somewhere, so good for him. This is the world we live in. Players move every offseason; its time people get over it.

I believe this is the father of Tai Perkins, or at least someone related to him. I'd imagine Tai is staying.

I'm not annoyed, I just found it odd. Groce moved on and so have we.

247 is better for football IMO. Verbal Commits is terrific for basketball.

In the transfer portal thread, everyone is annoyed when players do that. In this thread people are annoyed the coach didn't. 🤷‍♂️

Expected that given the post his agent made ~2 weeks ago.

Bowen Hardman has entered the portal.

100% think you're onto something.

Let me float a potential conspiracy theory... does over-inflating the balls make it more difficult on 3 point-shooting teams (e.g., no soft bounces off the rims)? If so that's how most (all?) lower seeds upset higher seeds.

This needs to be fixed going forward.

Sure, there's a reason we dominated the conference. But the rest of the MAC - eh, status quo. We'll bring in better players than the Horizon League will, again imo

Something doesn't add up here. We would now have more assistants than when Groce was coach.

I saw Nemer at as many games as any leader of the University other than maybe Wilson. Groce has said good things about UA since he left. We've trusted him to be honest with us throughout his tenure. I see no reason for that to change now. In any event, he's gone and it's time to move on.

I like Robby Pridgen & it looks like he's staying on board. GoZips.com still lists him as an assistant coach, his X bio still has a Zips logo, & he 'liked' my Zips-related tweet last night. Mike Allen is still listed as an assistant coach, as is Terry Wiegand.

The only difference between this year and last year is Akron kept Tavari, Shammah and Amani. Everyone lost a ton, and the MAC had a good year by most measures. Could happen again, we can bring players in too..

Those tweets are all written by agents and handlers. 100% performative. We are mere observers.

Yep, people try to defend Akron's poor attendance saying nobody wants to see Akron beat a poor MAC team by 15+, but then cheer when other MAC teams lose all their talent. If you're a fan of the sport and want to watch quality basketball at the JAR all these portal entrants isn't a good thing. It's more just a race to the bottom.

Unfortunately it is going to happen every year from today, through eternity. Enrique Freeman will be known as the last great MAC player to have played his senior season at the same school where he began his Freshman season.

I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of the trite, sanctimonious messages athletes post when they go into the portal. They talk about God guiding them. They talk about the everlasting bonds of fellowship they have with their teammates. They thank their coaches for developing them into the men they are today. Then they leave. After great thought and consultation I'm offering this simple sample announcement: "I'm in the portal. I may come back. The most money determines what I'll do." This hits at the truth. Saves a lot of time. And eliminates hypocrisy. Please use for all future announcements as my gift to portal entrees. No charge.