kreed5120

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.

Who had 0 scholarship offers and was a former walk on. Someone who credits Ford and his staff with his development. Just another example of showing how effective this Zips staff has been at developing players and unlocking potential.

You have to remember coming into this last season Amani Lyles was just a mid-major bench piece that was promoted to starter. He was coming off a 7.6 ppg, 5.2 rebounds/game season. Nobody was predicting he would make an All-MAC team, let alone make 1st team All-MAC. Every season there has been at least 1 player that has dramatically improved YoY. It would seem odd to not believe someone won't achieve the same this coming season (not necessarily 1st team all MAC). The question is just who.

We're taking a step back at PG and C. Not really sure how you can say SF. That's where Halligan started last year and I would think Pence/White would make it an upgrade. Not to mention Halligan is probably going to improve and it's TBD what we get out of Henderson. Wing is the one position that we clearly look better and deeper at. IMO we will be a worse team offensively, but a better team defensively. I doubt we'll finish a top 60 team in NET like we did last and will probably start the season off slow as it will take time to work out rotations and for players to get familiarity. I still think we can be a borderline top 100 team, which is good enough to win the MAC both regular season and MAC tournament.

Technically a senior as he did 2 years of JC, but with new NCAA rule of 5 years to play 5 I think he would have 2 years left.

I feel some are fixated on positions, but the Zips will be playing a lot of positionless basketball next year so a depth chart is meaningless. This is how I imagine the starting 5 will play out. Steveskie Wilson/Head White Pence Burton/Barre/MMK Steveskie, White, and Pence I will pencil in as starters. The other 2 starters I think will be position battles. Edit: If Hammer has a strong offseason and develops I won't rule out the possibility he starts. In that scenario it becomes possible White/Head are bumbed from the starting lineup.

Someone on Kent board said we paid Tahj $350K. I have to imagine Pence got something similar. After paying White, Wilson, and others there probably just wasn't a ton of money left to make a splash signing. For what it's worth on the North Texas board they seemed legitimately disappointed in his departure. They describe him as a high energy spark player that shows flashes of talent, but needs to develop more. Lucky for us Dustin has developed some raw bigs like Freeman and Lyles. My guess is he'll be a 15-20 minute player off the bench with opportunity to earn more as season progresses.

Fingers crossed it's a stretch four who can get physical defensively and rebound🤞

Looks like a rotational piece.

I'm not sure if this was shared here, but Jaylen Smith (ETSU transfer) has decommitted from KSU. https://x.com/i/status/2048480785531867273

I feel that's a more workable strategy for the P4, who have big money to buy ~12 players every year. The high school level guys we're recruiting we're paying very minimal for. Probably just a small stipend. The freshman signing for good money are the ones going to and starting at high majors. I imagine most mid-major teams are spending ~70% of their budget on their top 2-3 players and then pinching dollars to fill out spots 4-10. Getting production out of HS players is a bonus because they come very cheap compared to portal players. Edit: IMO both avenues should be used, which we have been doing with great success.

I think TJ I agree with, but Amani was a bit of a late bloomer. He wasn't sniffing All-MAC and wouldn't have commanded big money until after this season, which is when his eligibility ended anyway. The players that stick around the full 4-5 years will be those who like being here and don't become too good that Akron can no longer afford them. Like next season will be MMK 4th season here and it's conceivable he stays all 5.

A good chunk of our best players still are high school recruits. I kind of feel you can't ignore HS players because you need them to help supplement the cost of transfer players. Like we would have never been able to afford a TJ, Amani, Eric, etc. if we tried to pay for that production by adding a proven player in the portal.

I feel it's a given several teams have stepped up spending, as have many other mid-majors in other conferences. We had been spending 2x-3x compared to most other MAC teams in prior years. That margin has probably narrowed. It's still challenging to project with any certainty which team is winning the portal war in the MAC. Pretty much every MAC team is relying on D2, international, or low minute P4 drop down players to fill major holes. Some will produce. Others will be hype, but flop during the regular season

I think OU has had a fairly good portal season. They added 2 perimeter players to go along with Simmons. I believe they also added 2 international players, which I have trouble projecting. If either of those international players are quality MAC starters OU can be a serious contender. If not, they will probably have a similar season to the one they just had.

I would say no. Willis is an upgrade over Medley, but still lacks a perimeter game. Angel Montas is a nice addition for Toledo, but what else have they added? BG IMO has signed better classes than both.

Kent seems to like these PGs today that can distribute the basketball, but can't shoot the 3. Still an upgrade over Medley as Willis is better at getting to and finishing at the rim.

That's terrific for EMU. I saw a week or two ago a P4 team (can't remember which) met with him. EMU must have found some NIL.

UMass wasn't good defensively. Perimeter defenders were often beat off the dribble and out of position, which led to many fouls. They were both a bad perimeter shooting team and they weren't a good defensive team. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive. You can still win with bad shooting. Bennett was very successful at Virginia doing just that. You just have to make up for it with defense, which UMass couldn't do. Either way they spent the most amount (by a sizable sum) and came away with an 8th place regular season to show for it. I know some here think Frank is a great coach, but I think even they have to concede last year was a huge failure for UMass. If UMass finishes 5-10 in the MAC standings next season I think Frank is out of a job.

Zips athletic department right now. https://tenor.com/bNV46.gif

What I've read online is schools only receive ~2%-~10% of the purchase price. If the goal is to support the program it's probably just best giving them a $10, $20, or whatever donation via day of giving link. It only makes sense to purchase from BSN store if you see items that you really want.

Time will tell. I'm just not seeing where the improvements are happening when viewing unbiasededly. Then again UB came out of nowhere last year before injuries made them irrelevant. But you're probably asking half the league to replicate that UB type overachievement to offset the MAC being weaker at the top. What really needs to happen for the bottom half of the MAC to improve is WMU, CMU, and EMU need to invest more, but that's not happening. Only Ball State has stepped up. It just seemed last year in the MAC there was a much more solid foundation to build off of. Existing players that people knew you could build a team around. This year more and more teams are relying on unproven players. There will be some hits, but also a lot of misses. Edit: Also, it does matter that the rest of the league went a combined 0-34 against Miami/Akron. That means every other team would have had to go 9-5 or 9-6 in non Miami/Akron games just to get to .500 in conference play.