kreed5120

Especially since they took away the NIT bids for regular season winners.

This guy MACtions.

It looks like it will be a long season for everyone in he MAC. No team particularly stands out. Whoever wins the regular season would probably have been the 4th or 5th best MAC team in years past.

And how was the attendance under Bowden? The stadium was still sitting half empty most games. This idea of a new arena magically making the community buy into the program is a farce. At best it might provide a slight attendance boost the first 2-3 seasons until the new smell wears off. Like I said, you can look around D1 basketball. There are quite a few mid-majors that have recently built or renovated arenas and Akron is still running circles around them in regards to success. It's not the magical driver to success that you think it is. I think what you're overlooking is the costs it takes to fund a new basketball arena. The proposals pre-covid were around $75 million I believe for the city partner project. That same arena would probably be close to $100 million, if not more, now post inflation. Where are we going to magically find money to both pay for an arena plus stay competitive in NIL? You're operating under the impression that we have an infinite amount of resources both as a university and as a booster base. It's not realistic that we can compete on both grounds. We need to focus on what allows us to maximize our dollars, which would be coaching and NIL. We have the coaching so NIL should be the next focus.

It's not really an oversimplification. Our football program has one of the nicest stadiums in all of the G5 yet we've been a bottom 10 program since it was built. Imagine how much further ahead our football program would be today if we were playing in a mid-tier MAC stadium, but had $4 million in NIL to spend each season. There are lots of mid-majors that have relatively new arenas and the program is still hot garbage. Build it and they will come is only true in Hollywood movies. I would say St. Mary's basketball would be the next step program that we would all love to see Akron become. At least those with realistic expectations. Have you seen their arena? They play in what looks like a high school gym. The reality is boosters will get much more bang for the buck spending 2 million per year in NIL for 30 years than donating $60 million for a new arena as that's what recruits are going to care much more about. If you have a program that's flush with cash then fine do both, but schools like Akron have a finite amount of resources.

There was an interview over the summer with Bud. He said he was helping getting the football NIL setup. That would have been after the 2024 recruiting cycle. The question is what will be on hand for 2025.

I think you misspelled needing a war chest of ~$3 million annually for NIL. Players aren't going to care if us poor folks have to sit on wooden bleachers. They're going to care if their $250k NIL check clears. The amenities players care about about, like locker rooms and practice facilities, are new.

It very well could be true. The account also only has a handful of followers so I'm also not sure it should be taken as gospel.

From the sounds of former interviews he already is spending the bulk of his time being the volunteer GM for the basketball program. Personally, I think his time and effort is better spent on his passion project over running an entire D1 athletic program, which he has little to no experience doing.

Depending on the program, there is anywhere between 500k-15 million reasons why.

I felt our best performance of the season was our game 1 loss to Arkansas State. We got dog walked our previous 3 losses and this game we choked away a 15 point lead. Fortunately for us the MAC is dog crap. Unfortunately for us even if we win the MAC, whatever 2 seed we face in the tournament will physically dominate us.

If a break happens, I think it will be the SEC and Big 10 forming a ~40 team league. There are only a handful of programs left outside those two conferences that they would want.

Personally, I quit caring for the random bowls. Back 10 years ago maybe 1 player would sit out a bowl game to prepare for the draft. Now star players skipping the games is far more common. To me it makes the games feel more like an exhibition than a meaningful game.

I think that's the problem. All schools want quality bigs that can play. There is a large surplus of talented 5'10"-6'5" guards/wings. There are only so many 6'10+ bigs who can run the floor and aren't a liability on the court. Most of those get eaten up by the big schools. We were fortunate for the past few years having a 6'7" walk-on who played like he was 6'11, but had the quickness of a wing. Those guys are far and few between at the mid-major level.

A four team playoff realistically was the correct size as most years there are only at most 3 or 4 elite teams. The problem is you had people crying thinking their team was unfairly left out and stood a chance had they made the field. Even with a 12 team field you still had Bama fans crying they were robbed. There will never be a way of pleasing everyone. Edit: Under the current format where Arizona State and Boise State were gifted the 3 and 4 seed over far better teams, the quarterfinal match-up between OSU and Oregon might ultimately be what decides who the national champion will be.

If one wishes to take off their Zips blinders, Kent has by far and away looked like the best team through the first ~10 games. It's more of a product of the rest of the MAC looking like dog crap as Kent still looks very much flawed. How you want to rank any of the MAC teams after that who knows.

I feel that's just college football in general. Most games aren't competitive. Penn State - SMU right now is a blood bath.

Yeah, tbh I expected more out of Okonkwo. I didn't think he'd contribute much offensively, but the highlights that I saw gave me the impression that he would be a force defensively and eat up boards. I guess that's why they call them highlights though. They typically only illustrate the good. Please don't think I'm placing all the blame on Okonkwo. I just thought he would be a big enough defensive presence that he could make up for shortcomings elsewhere. That doesn't appear to be the case so we'll just need more from everyone else. Hopefully Groce can find a solution.

The University acquiring Quaker Square was a huge issue with the city at the time. If I recall correctly the city tried to fight it. Akron had plans for expansion as they thought their 25k enrollment was going to grow to 50k. Instead it collapsed to ~15k. @GP1 is right the University shouldn't be in the business of redevelopment. One can't go back and undue what was already done, but they should look to offload properties and other assets that no longer fit the revised vision of the university. Use the assets to reduce the debt burden and reduce upkeep costs. Perhaps a developer will come in and make the community more attractive for potential students. The University holding decaying assets with little to no use does nothing for the university or city.

I didn't realize the Horizon League started conference play so early.

I feel a lot of the love of the portal is to do with the fact many schools are tired of spending 2 years developing a player to get 1 year of production out of them. It's better to spend a scholarship on someone who can contribute immediately as there is no promise of said player being around in the future. Edit: I feel most coaches would prefer the way the system was before. There is just no longer any loyalty of players to a school. Coaches are forced to adapt to the portal or be left behind.

I don't think anyone would notice regardless. At least not at Akron

That was my thoughts exactly

Replacing NIU with UMass is a huge net positive for hoops.

It could be a rough 2 weeks ahead unless this team learns how to box out and defend.