kreed5120

That's certainly a better argument than AkronAlumnus was attempting to make. You still listed 2 players who played a combined 7 games last season. Willis will be returning from a broken foot, which he had to get a secondary surgery on after re-injury. That type of injury with a secondary surgery can take up to 3 years for a player to return to 100% per the national institute of health. Sumlin's injury I'm not sure what it was, but it was severe enough that he missed the entire season. Depending on what the injury was it's hard to project what, if any, impact it might have on his game for next season. I would say the injury concerns surrounding both players still leaves questions on how effective both players will be. I will concede there is more certainty there than with the other 2 prior mentioned players that have yet to play.

Akron was a very early adopter of NIL. I've heard jokes about other MAC coaches referring to Bud as the real league MVP. Akron probably still is at or near the top of the MAC in NIL spend, but the gap has certainly shrunk. It's not just in the MAC either. More and more mid-majors are stepping up their spending as well. With more money out there for players to get, Akron isn't going to be able to afford the same caliber roster that it could before. Not unless it doubles or triples it's current spending to restore the same disparity it once had.

I don't find it unreasonable to have lower expectations for next season. I also don't think we'll finish in the top ~60 for NET or go 17-1 in the MAC, like we did this year. I also don't see any team as good as Akron or Miami were last season for this coming season. Akron/Miami really pounded the rest of the league. Kent kind of did too to a lessor degree as I think they only had 1 loss to a MAC team not named Miami or Akron. I expect next year there will be 4-5 teams in the top 100-150 range battling it out for MAC supremacy. I'm not saying Akron will come out on top, but I'm not seeing anything from any of the other MAC schools that leads me to believe we should be written off.

This is a strange comment. We have someone coming in that averaged 17.3 ppg on a .520 eFG%. Are we as good and deep at PG as last year? Most likely not, but at the same time it seems odd to call it a question mark. Steveskie is a proven D1 contributor. In fact, will probably make preseason All-MAC lists (1st or 2nd team). If anything I would say the 2 PG you listed for Kent are the real question mark as neither have played a minute of D1 collegiate basketball. The only thing you can judge either of them on is hype.

There should be some opportunities for Akron athletics to raise some additional money to reduce the deficit. Sponsor patch on jerseys is allowed next year. That should bring in 6-figures. The stadiums naming rights expire within the next 2-3 years so we should be able to seek something there. The college football playoffs will be expanding and even though the P4 hoard most of the money, some of that will trickle down to the G6.

Those highlights certainly exist. Roughly half of his FGA in his collegiate career have been 3s.

We've seen how well that has worked for JB Bickerstaff and the Pistons limiting Mitchell /s

The most years one can be on a two-way contract is 3 years. Assuming he gets a third two-way contract, which is no guarantee, I feel your assumption is correct that it would be a make or break year. Regular G-league salary is around ~$50k. He could likely make at least double that overseas if he fails to make an NBA roster.

Generally when I hear someone say someone is uncoachable, whether professionally or athletically, I interpret it as they don't listen or take constructive criticism well. Often times because they either don't care or they think they know more. If those are the type of issues hilltopper is alluding to then no an offseason won't fix it.

Fair enough about the roster turnover and coach turnover. Those issues are much more prevalent today compared to 5-10+ years ago.

If he couldn't find his way into the rotation at Akron I can't see any P5 school having interest. Maybe he joins Brisco at Rider. That seems more his level.

I was more meaning season game packages, not single game tickets. Most people aren't going to be able to attend all 13-15 home games anyway. You really don't need to in order to get your money's worth. Football is much different. There are only 5 home games most years so having conflicts for 2 of them would be like 40% of the games. That's less of a problem for basketball.

Yes, I put a deposit as well. Deposits just feel different than actual tickets. I'm sure much of the delay is sorting through priority to determine which premium seats are and are not available. I still think it wouldn't be a bad to at least open up general admission sales. Let people know how affordable tickets really are.

I always found it weird how Akron handles ticketing. For example, to me it would have made sense to start selling season tickets to mens basketball immediately after they won the MAC Tournament. Capitalize off the excitement. Perhaps some of those fans who went to the games in Cleveland had a memorable experience and would be open to season tickets with that excitement fresh in their minds. By the time it gets to July or August and tickets do go on sale people will be thinking of getting their kids ready for back to school and will be engulfed with football too much to care about basketball.

I think you guys give the NCAA more credit than they deserve. They only exist because the P4 allows them to. The courts stripped away much of their power and the little power they do still have the P4 holds them as a hostage at gunpoint. Case in point, who wanted the expanded tournament? It was the P4 schools so they could get more 18-15 into the tournament and take more NCAA credits from mid-majors. Not to mention allows them to avoid more costly coaching fires since select P4 programs are content just making the tournament. The second the NCAA doesn't comply the P4+ will just pull out and start their own league. They're the real ones calling the shots. The NCAA is just the fall guy that conferences can point their fingers at to deflect the blame. Their version of Roger Goodell

The tool I have says not well, which passes the eye test. We had a lot of great offensive players, but not a lot of good defensive ones. Eric might have been our only real 2 way player. Evan could score, but he was still very limited offensively. Next years team I feel will have more 2-way players so Ford wouldn't be forced to pick between offense or defense when running out 5 players as the players on the court can do both. In all likelihood we won't be as good offensively, but should improve defensively.

Yes, these type of numbers are almost always announced 1 year in arrears, which can make them confusing. This is further backed by the fact you see Miami so far down the list. One would have to think they would be near or at the top if we were looking at the most recent season numbers since they sold out half their games at Millett.

I would guess Shunnar since he's the associate head coach. The role Dustin had prior.

Interesting add for UMass. They received a commitment from Abdullah Ahmed from BYU. Last season he averaged 1.4 blocks while scoring 1.3ppg. It might be the first time I recall seeing someone averaging more blocks than ppg.

I feel it's telling more and more international players are coming to America now that NIL is a thing. Earnings very widely my league. There are probably only a few international leagues paying better than college basketball.

To nobodies surprise.

I imagine we'll start seeing a couple of these announced each week between now and August.

I think it's possible to be argued that we can become as good or better in March, but I'm with you we will almost certainly take a step back during the regular season, particularly November/December. It will take us some time to be firing on all cylinders. Last season it just took us 1 half of basketball to work out the kinks. That's not going to happen this year.

I am actually with you here. I think Amani is better than any C we have on the roster currently, but our production outside of him was very minimal to non-existent. We got 25 minutes of good to great C play then 15 minutes of pretty bad play. Theoretically Barre/MMK (I expect both to improve), Burton, and even Hammer (all of who I expect to see play minutes at the 5) should give us more depth in the front court. Also, gives us more versatility to adjust our style of play depending on the opponent. We can play Barre if we want to get bigger. We can play Hammer if we want to push the tempo. Burton something in-between both. I would expect more consistent 40 minutes out of our C even though none of them are probably getting All-MAC honors.

It's not just TJ, but also Scott and Young. Young is very replaceable, but it will be a challenge to replace TJ and Scott at the guard position. Not saying it's impossible. Just pointing out it's more than just TJ that needs replaced.