kreed5120

I've been arguing for a leaner, more focused university for years. Akron and Kent are 10 miles apart. They both should be focusing on what they're best at and eliminate programs the other school is far superior at. Kent should be focusing on becoming an elite liberal arts school for the NEO region and Akron should be looking to do the same in STEM.

I at least like to see we're going after players programs like Colorado St and Temple are interested in. Belmont I'd say is about on par with us as a mid-major. The only one that I don't like seeing is us losing a player to BGSU, especially given his offer lost.

Georgia Tech actually had a postseason ban this year. Not that it mattered any since there was no postseason.

He has displayed pretty good footwork in the post, but has lacked touch finishing near the rim. Perhaps playing against smaller front courts will help. Overall, he didn't play big minutes for us, but down the stretch he played with lots of effort on both ends when you did get in. I think it says a lot because a lot of other upperclassmen would pout and look to transfer midseason if they weren't getting the minutes they were wanting. In the American East I can see him averaging something along the lines of 8 points and 6 boards if he's able to get 20-25 minutes of playing time.

I agree those schools will be fine long-term. In the short-term losing 10s of millions of dollars is going to put a hurt to them. They have a larger TV deal sure, but they have significantly higher overhead as well so that TV money gets eaten up fast. They pay their head coaches nearly 8 figures and top assistants are making 7 figures. They spend significantly more on non-revenue sports and on facilities. Not to mention if they eliminate games at the start of the season, the TV networks are going to cut what they make. Akron already doesn't generate much in ticket sales so it's really not losing much there. If anything this should help slow down the escalating athletics arms race. A race Akron wasn't able to keep up with.

Those big schools actually fill their stadium though. An Alabama or Michigan likely generates more ticket revenue from 1 home football game than a school like Akron generates in ticket ticket revenue for all sports combined. It would certainly be a big blow to them.

Not all that surprising. I said on a post back in January or February that I felt Sayles would transfer because he's good enough to be a 25 minutes guy in a conference like the American East. Coincidentally that's exactly what conference he ended up going to.

Not to mention Sayles who even though he didn't play much provided extra depth.

While we're at it let's get Pistol Pete, Bill Russell, Jerry West, and Larry Bird...

Teams are realizing it's better to have a 6'8 big that can run the floor and guard multiple positions than a 6'11 big who has cement legs. While we're at it maybe the MAC should ban point guards. Preston was probably the only true ball distributor in the MAC last season. All the others were pretty much either combo guards or 2 guards. As the game evolves the positions reinvent themselves. The center position as many of you know it from the 70s or 80s is slowly going extinct.

I don't know if what Jupiter posted is accurate or not, but the current trend of athletic budgets soaring and enrollments shrinking isn't sustainable long-term. It's not just an Akron issue either.

The article states that Cincy has been considering dropping soccer for years. I found this below quote from the article to be pretty spot on. This seems like the opportune time for AD and university presidents to slash sports without public backlash.

With or without the coronavirus we should be scheduling tougher. I can't speak for the rest of you, but I found it much more entertaining to watch Akron give #2 Louisville all they could handle on the road than watching us beat Concord by 50 at home. Of course the Louisville game would have been better with a win, but the more times you play those games, the more your odds increase of actually winning them. Plus those type of games prepare you for March.

It's probably not that they all have something in common, but he likes them all for different reasons. For example, he's from Oregon so Portland State & Montana would get him closer to home

We went 0-12 last season. We need players that can play. If Arth thought we had much better options than Williams at the WR positions, he wouldn't have taken him back.

There is a difference between being a preseason favorite and actually winning the league. They play the games for a reason. It's extremely rare that the MAC has a team like Buffalo 2 years ago that's clearly a runaway favorite from the get go. It's part of what makes the MAC such an entertaining mid-major conference to watch. BG very well may not win the regular season title, but I'd be stunned if they don't finish with one of those top 4 coveted seeds.

On paper BGSU should be the favorite to win the MAC with Turner returning. Turner had a long list of offers. If he really wanted to be out of BG, he'd have transferred. I can't see anyone faulting him for weighing his options.

Big East for basketball

I know nothing of this kid from Centerville, but if Groce thinks he'd be a good fit and thinks there is enough mutual interest then sure go after him. That being said, as a true freshmen he wouldn't solve our immediate need at the 5 position. We need to land a JUCO or grad transfer.

Who they pick? I'm guessing Cheese was included.

It looks like Turner is still considering returning to BG.

Tayler Mattos from BG has entered the portal. Not a huge loss, but he was a decent sized body and is only listed as a sophomore so chances are he still had some room to develop.

Verbal commits lists him as a PF. He runs the court extremely well and looks to handle the ball pretty well. All in all, he looks like a 3 inch shorter version of Xeyrius Williams.

I wonder if this is the what bursts the bubble on athletic coach spending? Schools like tOSU, Alabama, Clemson, etc. can afford to pay their coaches millions of dollars as those athletic programs print their schools money. At the G5 level and below, coaching salaries have far outpaced revenue growth. The only reason they have been able to stay afloat is because of how heavily athletics gets subsidized by the schools. I'm not talking about just the revenue sports either. You see some non-revenue coaches making ~150k even though the sport they coach generates next to no revenue nor provides the school much notoriety.

They finished tied for the 3rd best record in the MAC and that was with them playing in the much tougher MAC East. Akron made the jump from 8th to 1st and next years MAC looks to be even worse than this years one. Every team ahead of them lost a significant amount of talent through a combination of graduation and transfer. It's far from a guarantee that they win the regular season title next season, but I think they will be the preseason Vegas favorite.