kreed5120

I could see how it might become burdensome for a sport like football as you have to add ~20 scholarships. 2 extra scholarships for basketball (4 if you add women's as well) shouldn't be much. Tuition + room/board costs are $28k/yr. That's the stated cost. The marginal cost of actually housing (in a dorm that is already built), feeding, and having them sit in a seat in a classroom that would have otherwise been vacant isn't much. Maybe 5k-13k/yr per scholarship.

If he's good enough to get 20 minutes a night on a team that was in the bubble conversation, he's good enough to see the court at Akron. Someone with his size, athleticism, and motor will help on defending opposing wings. Suder probably doesn't torch us with a ~20 point half if we had Evan following him around the court. This is mid-major basketball. We're not going to get guys who check every box. Some guys find their way onto an Akron roster because they're a little too short, were a late bloomer, or their game is unrefined. It's a matter of the staff looking through the list of potential recruits and finding the ones they think fits and they can develop to be a star in their role. If Evan was a more polished scorer, we wouldn't even be having this conversation about him potentially coming to Akron. He checks so many other boxes that P5 schools would be lining up for his services.

You're not allowed to. Marquette declined an at-large bid to the 1970 tournament to play in the NIT instead, which the won. In 1971 the NCAA instituted a rule that if you're selected to the tournament, you must participate or have no postseason.

So what you're saying is Kent State lost to a soon to be D3 school this past football season 🤣

Yes, it's most likely they just don't want to play us on the terms that we prefer. We probably ask for a larger payout than they wish to pay. If it's that much of a pain to schedule P5 opponents, we can negotiate as part of our football deals. If Rutgers, Minnesota, or a Nebraska want to pay us to come play football at their stadium, negotiate us going to play basketball there as well. Football drives the boat at these B1G/SEC schools so if it benefits their football program, they'll sacrifice basketball.

We live in the generation of hot takes. Get out of here with this rationale. I do agree that NIL will lesson mid-majors chances moving forward. Not just because of them taking the best players, but also because it keeps players like Mark Sears in college longer. I still think you will see mid-majors sneak into the Sweet 16, but just not as frequently.

Probably the only way we'd get someone like Cincinnati or Xavier is if our "home game" is in Cleveland and they get a share of ticket revenue. Although that would probably only work for an OSU as I'm not sure there are many Cincy or Xavier fans in the Cleveland area.

Ohio averaged 4487 and Toledo averaged 4402 per the MAC's official numbers. The JAR would need to average an 82%+ capacity every game to surpass OU. 7-8 (including NIU & Buffalo) of those home games are against cupcakes, who even I have no desire to to drive to Akron in the freezing cold to watch. We're just not going to be at or near capacity every night. Ohio isn't either, but they have a huge arena so they're able to inflate their season average by having 1-2 games a year where they attract 8k-9k fans. We could probably attract a similar number for Kent, but capacity caps us out at ~5500. Getting to ~3500 is something ideal to shoot for. We weren't far off from those numbers during the Dambrot days. Back then attendance hovered around 2800-3300 most years as I recall.

The only outstanding job that he might be remotely interested in WVU. There just aren't many options this year. He's likely already committed to Akron for next year, but wants to keep his options open for future years. With Akron returning most of last years key contributors and working the portal to address biggest needs, one would think Akron would be one of the highest regarded mid-majors heading into next season. Running it back with the current cast with the hopes of generating some noise is probably his best bet if he wants to get back to the P5 level at something other than a dead end job. Some here might not like to hear it, but an opening at OSU would probably be hard for him to pass up and Diebler has to be on the hot seat entering next year.

That will just further the gap between the haves and have nots. Like sure some local business might give Akron $100k to place logo, but MWC or AAC will probably then get $500k. P5 schools north of $1 million. Obviously these numbers are hypotheticals. I'm just trying to illustrate a point.

If you think a player can help you, even slightly, it doesn't make sense to redshirt them. I'm not sure what the statistics are, but the percentage of 5th year seniors who are still with the team who recruited them out of high school has to be low.

I might be in the minority, but I'd prefer not to have a 7 footer slowing down the tempo. I'd be perfectly content with another 6'8 big that can move the court. We can then slide Amani over to play PF while also targeting a wing that can play both SF and PF. There are ways of us adding size without adding someone who has cement blocks for legs.

I don't really follow the portal that closely. I have seen quite a few players enter, but I haven't seen any commits. We might have some waiting to do.

Yes, oddly enough only WBB has donations setup to directly contribute to that sport. I'm not sure why the others don't have QR codes.

Had Akron sprung an upset, I'd probably have gotten a signed one for my man cave. I'm kind of limited on space at the moment.

I'm sure they think they will only sell dozens of these, not hundreds or thousands. Personalized Akron gear is a very niche market to begin with. Joe Akron isn't going to buy a Nate Johnson jersey regardless if it's priced at $200 or $100. He would prefer buying a Donovan Mitchell, Garland, or Mobley jersey instead. Selling them just above cost with the hopes of selling thousands of them IMO is even a worse strategy. They're best to be sold as a novelty item. Heck, only the Akron die-hards would know where to go online to buy them anyway.

A person who can't afford a $150 jersey likely isn't someone who they're marketing this product to anyway. The target demographic is likely upper middle class alums who plan to buy it for their kids, grandkids, or more likely man cave. There are plenty of other ways to get discounted Zips gear that fit into working middle class or college student budgets. Those people can contribute to the program by buying season tickets, attending games, spreading Zips Fandom, and if they so choose sending a small donation if they so choose to do so.

There also just aren't many attractive openings this year. Sean Miller is expected to leave Xavier to take the Texas job. The Xavier job might have been appealing for Groce if not for his brother already having history there. Other than that the only other openings of note are Villanova, which is eyeing Drake's coach and I guess WVU.

It should be noted that Craft's agent came out and said that he is open to returning. My take is it sounds like he's seeing what his market value is and then will make a decision from there. I'm not sure what kind of money he would command or what kind of money Miami has to play with, but I'd guess if they can come close to matching other offers he'll return.

Probably only as the current TV deal lasts. That's me assuming the Crown tournament survives and keeps swallowing many of the teams that help drive ratings.

The Stryker family is one of America's richest families and big donors for WMU. They have given the University hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. 10s of millions to athletics as well, but I think those went to facilities. If they decide to play the NIL game, they could easily cut WMU basketball a 6 figure check every year for NIL.

The NIT pays travel costs and gives players and coaches per diems. That's why many programs accept NIT bids, but decline CBI or CIT bids.

TBF so did Nate Oats weeks before he high tailed it to Alabama.

Odd that both Akron and UMass are in the field. I'm sure they will place us each on opposite sides of the bracket. That way we could only meet if both make the final, but usually you don't see 2 teams from the same conference in a tournament.

Yes, I saw some statistics earlier. I forget the exact numbers, but something like only 2 teams that were the 12-16 seeds shot above 30% from 3. A common theme for Cinderellas is they get hot from 3. That's probably more important than ever since top teams are more experienced and deeper than they have been in recent years past. It just didn't happen this year.