kreed5120

Maxx Crosby is at the top of his career at the moment and still makes time for EMU. People find time for the things that matter to them. He doesn't even give Akron a shout out on social media or anything. Even LeBron does that 1-2 times a year and he didn't even go to the school. I'm not saying this to specifically lash out at him. He's free to live his life as he wishes. He just doesn't seem all that invested in Akron football, which is okay, his choice.

Honestly, no thanks. I would rather have a statue of Charlie Frye or someone different. Like others said he doesn't seem to care about Akron athletics and isn't even the first person I think of when I think Akron football.

Barley House, at least the last time I was there, isn't really setup to be a sports bar. There are TVs hung around, but there are tons of blind spots and its challenging to watch multiple games at once if you wanted to do that. I don't know why they they don't put a huge projector screen on the stage with the game on. IMO that would greatly improve the viewing experience. I agree that business has been horrible for a number of years. I'm surprised they're still surviving after the corporate offices like Huntington and other went remote/hybrid. Lunch rush seem to be what kept them alive before. The rent and facilities on a place that size can't be cheap. In reality something like a scaled down pins or Wild Eagle Saloon would be good for the area as then maybe it could attract people downtown. There really is no incentive to stop into Barley House unless you're in the immediate downtown area. Even then there are better options (Lockview, Luigi's, Spaghetti Warehouse, etc.).

At the same time UMass has beaten Toledo, Boston College, and Florida State. I agree they're not as good as the rest, but they can still be competitive at times.

Scholarship limit has been increased from 13 to 15, which is equal to the max roster size. There really is no need to track scholarships anymore for that reason.

I agree there is no particular team that scares me moreso than others. There are a lot of great players in the MAC this year though that can get hot and take over games. It could be a wild weekend in Cleveland.

It would be nice if we could get Chabi back for Kent. They have two really good bigs and its not like our interior defense and rebounding is a strength even when fully healthy.

Well it's on a Friday night and you can count on it otherwise being empty. Places like The Score, Euro, and Manny's probably will attract more catering to the youth and blasting whatever music they're listening to these days. Not sure where else you can really have it. Edit: I wouldn't attend regardless.

It should be noted that next season the NCAA regular season is expanding from a max 31 games to 32. That would mean teams would have to sacrifice 3 non-conference games, not 4 from our current total in order to have a 22 game conference schedule.

Playing international games is always a challenge 😉

Exactly, without NIU the MAC would have 12 teams. That means if you played each of the other 11 teams 2 times you would have to play 22 conference games. The MAC only plays 18 conference games.

I still don't see them running the table. They're good and deserve the recognition they're getting, but there have been much better teams in the MAC over the last ~70 years. If those teams couldn't do it, it would almost be a shame to see this team do it. That last Oates UB team was special. Had they achieved it I wouldn't be as disappointed.

Nate Johnson isn't the problem at Kansas State IMO. If you look at his numbers his FG%, 3P%, FT%, steals, and assists are all above last years numbers. His point total is down because his shot attempts are just down because he's Kansas State's 3 or 4th scoring option, not first. I actually don't think Kansas State is all that bad. I actually watched their game against Oklahoma St. the other night. They just play in what looks to be a very strong conference and have lost some close games OSU and Arizona State. Not to mention they lost to #7 Nebraska by 1. They can field a strong starting 5, but their bench looks underwhelming. Instead of giving Nate what they did they probably should have split that money adding 2-3 players instead. They would likely be in a better place.

https://tenor.com/view/woody-harrelson-crying-money-wipe-tears-rich-gif-16201471 Edit: Only a serious note, Nate was an outstanding player but any team desperate enough to give him $1.6 million or give Okonkwo any sizable sum probably wasn't going to go far regardless.

I don't really want to spend too much time looking ahead to next season, but my hope is that they're able to bring someone else in. Marvin doesn't have the size to play ~25 minutes a game. Barre, who I don't know if he even has remaining eligibility, is too much of a health risk. If Briscoe can't even get minutes with Barre injured I don't see him being a key contributor. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he transfers at the end of the season

I would agree the defense has improved since after the Murray State game. There were some breakdowns defensively against Ball State, but for the most part they were hitting contested shots. Many of those being mid-rangers or 3s with a hand in their face.

There were some objectively terrible Akron teams prior to Dambrot coming to Akron. That was before my time though. I would imagine the defense was worse on some of those single digit win teams. I do think it's lazy to just look at points allowed as the sole measure of a defense. Like your mentioned pace can inflate the numbers. I still think outside of Groce's 1st season this is probably his worst defensive team. Like you, I don't necessarily think it's all effort. They just often try to trap and then are slow in rotating. Not having a rim protector certainly plays a part, but I feel that would be something we could overcome if we boxed out better and defended the 3-point line better.

I don't know if it's factual or not, but it feels like there are much fewer charges called than previous years. Not just in Akron games either.

We've struggled all season in securing defensive rebounds. Way too many 2nd chance points.

Elmer hits a 3 off an offensive rebound at the buzzer to send this to OT.

It has me scratching my head as well.

I'm not thrilled or disappointed by the signing. He could be good, but couldn't display it as he was burried behind 2 great collegiate QBs. It's also possible that he isn't cut out for FBS football. Not really much tape to go off of. One would think he would have seen the field more in mop up duty, but looking at it Miami and North Texas pretty much played their starting QBs for nearly every snap.

I don't see it mentioned here, but apparently new rule was passed upping the number of games allowed to be played for a redshirt from 4 to 9. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/47601492/fbs-coaches-vote-unanimously-adjust-sport-redshirt-rule

It was the suspicious betting trends that did him in. Not the fact that he threw a ball or strike. The handle on micro betting is very small so if the typical handle is let's say $1k-2k on any particular pitch and over the course of a season a pitcher or batter has $200k bet placed on them 5-10 times then that will just stick out. If it happened just once then nobody would have probably noticed, but the trend repeated itself. That's why spreads are more commonly bet on. Those are more likely to go under the radar as a $100k bet on something that typically sees $2M-$3M in action isn't going to stand out as much as a $100K bet on something people rarely bet on. Still people get greedy and there are lots of mouths to get fed in match fixing. A $5k on that Kent - Buffalo game probably goes unnoticed. A $400k+ is a ton to bet on a MACtion game. A UNC-Duke game probably not so much.

Well yes, something like boxing would be easier. I was more thinking team sports when I said it.