kreed5120

This is such a stretch that it doesn't even merit a response. You could literally make that argument about nearly any business as they all have reliance on oil one way or another.

The PGA isn't accepting Saudi money. It's actually quite the opposite as Saudi money is being used to fund Liv Golf, which is a direct competitor. One can argue that the consequences of his actions might end up being too severe, but I don't see how anyone can defend his actions. What he said was completely inappropriate and he was in the wrong. He deserves to be ridiculed.

Dambrot is a victim of his own success. If you could teleport back to 2004 and tell any Akron fan at the time of his hiring that he'd lead Akron to 3 NCAA tournaments and 9 MAC title games in a 13 year span, every single person would say sign them up. That's a level of consistent success that I doubt I'll ever see at Akron again during my lifetime. This whole if you're not first, you're last mentality that people try to argue in sports these days is just absurd. It's better to go to the MAC championship game and lose then lose in the semi or quarter finals.

If I was good at photoshop, I'd photoshop Ali in this. A day later and I'm still stoked. Akron is returning 4 out of their top 5 scorers from a team that was 2 minutes away from knocking off a really great UCLA team. Castaneda is gone, but Freeman is a more polished post scorer than he was then. This team also has significantly more depth so I think we'll see a much more aggressive style of defensive play. I'm not sure I've ever been this hyped in the offseason for an Akron team.

I don't know why you try to cherry pick whatever fits your narative. We wouldn't have even made it past Buffalo in the 1st round of the MAC tournament without him. Not to mention, he hit the clutch 3, while being fouled, against a ranked Ohio State that should have won us the game had we not had a defensive breakdown at the other end. Nobody is immune from having a bad game.

I feel it was more than just that. He missed a huge part of camp and the early part of the season because of injury. Considering he was learning an entirely new offense, asked to play a different position/role, and had no prior experience playing with any of his teammates missing a huge chunk of the preseason & OOC play impacted his performance. Frankly, I feel his prior performance under Groce is a better barometer to measure what to expect. Groce already knows how to get the most out of Ali and outside of Castaneda, this core team is pretty much the same. I'd be shocked if Ali doesn't at least make All-MAC consideration.

He would be ~50% from 2 point range if you averaged those two seasons. The worst he's ever shot from 2-point range is .478. I'm with @LoyalZIP, I don't expect him to shoot >40% from 3, but something in the 35%-38% range is good enough. Combine that with him being a career 49.5% from 2 and that's efficient enough. Especially for a guy that often times has to create his own shots so he doesn't have the luxury of padding his efficiency numbers with easy looks. Edit: Also, Ali is already back so there is no 'taking him back'. It's more a matter of if you're going to cheer for him and Akron to succeed or not. Reality is Akron needs something close to the 21-22 Ali if we want to make noise come March. We lack perimeter players that have shown the ability to consistently create their own offense.

Yes, even the 20-21 season Ali's efficiency numbers were solid. They just weren't elite like 21-22. He was also a good enough defender to receive consistent playing time as a true freshman on what was a really talented Akron roster. Having a 6'8 G/F that can switch and defend anyone on the floor is a luxury very few mid-majors have. With Ali and Dawson back in the line-up and the depth of the roster, I think you'll see Groce play more aggressive defensively, which should help generate more turnovers and transition baskets.

It seems like Groce is going all-in this year, which makes sense when you have a talent like Freeman on the roster. The following year is likely going to be a rebuild unless we see someone like a Tavari or Dawson emerge as all-MAC caliber players.

Desperately what we needed to help absorb the loss of Castaneda.

I'd say @Hilltopper is spot on with that starting 5. SF if Ali most natural position and playing him there would add much needed length. Also, having an offensive scoring punch like Dawson coming off the bench makes more sense than having a defensive specialist. If you have Ali, Freeman, Thornton, and Hunter on the floor, you have plenty of scoring options. You need someone to provide instant offense to carry the second unit. Think about what Cheese did for a huge chunk of that covid shorten season when I believe he won 6-man of the year for the MAC. Your starting 5 doesn't necessarily mean the 5 that will close out the games. Groce has shown time again that he's willing to ride the hot hands in crunch time. If Freeman, Ali, Dawson, Thornton, and (insert whatever other guard) are the ones hot, he'll run that lineup during crunch time. What I'd like most if Ali returns is that it would provide tremendous lineup flexibility so we can match-up against pretty much any playstyle.

Oh, it's not happening anytime soon, nor should it given the University's financial situation. It's still fun to talk about.

Yes, something like this is along the lines of what I was thinking. Something that's nice, but feels intimate. I just don't want a repeat of Infocision, which is nice, but even when we pull a decent crowd (by our standards) the stadium still feels empty. To me that just kills the atmosphere of the live experience.

Yes, I feel an arena where the baseball field or track is would have been ideal. Obviously those aren't options now since I believe they decided to redo the track and decided to bring the baseball team back. Building it between Kling and the odd corner would work, but something would need to be done for parking.

I actually feel a downtown arena would attract less fans, not more. It's already hard enough to get students to the games as is. Making them walk 20 minutes in the cold and snow would only further deter them. Not to mention attendance for pretty much all sports, at all levels is on the decline. Sure, we might get a temporary attendance boost when it's brand new, but that luster would soon wear off and we'll be looking at 2500 fans in a 7500 arena. I just don't subscribe to the philosophy of build it and they will come. Also, I think sometimes people overlook how scarcity generates demand, especially with this younger crowd that wants to gloat on social media. I think it would be great seeing students camp out for tickets to a big game or something like that. You see at some other schools that have smaller arenas with limited student seating. Or see people feel the need to have to renew their season tickets because they don't want to have to go back on a wait list. Those kind of things is what makes a program feel like it's big time.

I'd much rather have the Stroh Center than have something like the Wolstein Center where it looks empty even when you curtain off half the seats. Akron pretty consistently draws 2800-3500 fans on average. Any arena over 5k or so seats would just be a waste.

It looks like Utah State is hiring Danny Sprinkle from Montana State. I didn't really see Tod mentioned in any articles so I'm not sure how serious of a candidate he even was.

He's been a D1 coach for 21 years and has never made an NCAA Tournament. One would think by dumb chance he would have at least lucked into one by now. He just seems like a good regular season coach who just doesn't know how to win in March. I think some just don't realize what it takes to win in January or February is different than what it takes to win in March. Let's take that Big Dog and Cheatham team as a prime example. In a scenario where you only need to play 2 games a week and there are 3-4 days off between games, that Akron team was clearly the best in the MAC. We won the MAC regular season title by 3 full games. When you're asked to win 3 games in 3 days and your best player is north of 300lbs, that becomes a lot more challenging. Tod IMO has ridden his starters too hard over the years and just hasn't had the depth to keep players fresh. Also, his style of play doesn't really preach giving 100% effort on defense every possession. You can mask those things in the regular season. They catch up to you come March.

Indeed we have.

I think there were some for jobs that were lateral moves or marginal upgrades. I just can't imagine Groce leaving to go coach some place like Illinois State. To get an offer from another Big 10 or Big East type school I'd think he'd need a tournament win.

Without a NCAA tournament win I just don't see it happening. In 6 years he has 1 NCAA tournament appearance and 1 MAC regular season title. For comparison in Dambrot's first 7 years, he went to 2 NCAA tournaments and won 2 MAC regular season titles. If Groce wins the regular season title and wins the MAC tournament to lose in the round of 64 next year, he'd just match what Dambrot achieved in the same timeframe. I'm not saying this to start another Dambrot vs Groce debate. I'm saying this because it would be hard for me to fathom a major program being interested in him when they weren't when Dambrot had a similar type of tenure.

I think a lot of that credit goes to @Captain Kangaroo and the fellow moderaters. I'll occasionally peak into other MAC team boards to see what they're talking about and very few MAC boards are remotely in the same league as zipsnation.org. Even Toledo, who likes to pump their chests and brag about their attendance figures, doesn't see the volume nor quality of content that you see here. I feel the fact that Zips Fandom is so niche and there aren't many other great outlets also helps drive traffic here.

It's why I didn't even bother responding to that poster. I post often enough that anyone who posts here should know I'm open to discussion. I might not agree with someone else's opinion, but I have no problem hearing them out.

I've never understood those type of people's logic. True equality is the best person gets the job regardless of race, gender, religion, etc. If you're refusing to hire someone because they're a man even though they're the best candidate, that's reverse discrimination.

At this point who even is the main competition?...Ohio? Edit: The MAC just keeps getting worse.