kreed5120

Keith Dambrot is 94-85 overall and 46-57 in conference play. While a step up from where they were before, I can't imagine that's what they had in mind when they did a $25 million dollar renovation to their arena and made Dambrot one of the higher paid coaches in the Atlantic 10.

I would say this is Akron's last best chance of making noise. With the transfer porter, as long as Groce stays around, I think we will be fine. We will just reload with transfers. Will we be the favorites to win the MAC next year? I'd say that's unlikely, but I'd still expect a competitive team that should finish in the top half of the MAC.

He also spent much of the previous 15 months criticizing Ali and saying the team was better without him... I'd say the main weakness on this team is they lack a LCJ or Castaneda type guard who can both create his own shot and create offense for others at an All-MAC level. Ali, while not the elite facilitator like the previous others I mentioned, has the ability to both create his shot and create open looks for others. Having him at the forward position should help ease some of those responsibilities from the guards.

Looks even worse if you subtract Sammy Hunters numbers from the total. It's not like this team was going to go undefeated anyway. On the plus side this team has an opportunity to quickly redeem themselves with the game tomorrow. Let's see how we can respond.

Free throws are keeping us in this game

Zips, not named Sammy Hunter, are a combined 1 for 11 behind the arc...

We have to go on a run while Osobor is on the bench

SFA winning by 24 is a bit shocking, but it shouldn't be considered that huge of an upset overall. It's not like SFA was a nobody. They went into the game ranked in the top 100 and were only a 4 point dog.

These rankings are heavily weighted by preseason projections since the sample size is very small. I think it's not until early January that the rankings reflect solely current season results and the preseason projections get completely disregarded from the formula. I wouldn't pay much attention to this until we're further along in the season and all teams have more data points. Early season rankings are always extremely goofy and irrational.

The sad reality is that the MAC 4-5 years ago was actually something like the 8th or 9th ranked conference when you looked at the conference from top to bottom. The MAC's strength was that it was a deep conference with few "cupcakes". Now since covid happened, it appears half the teams in the conference have just quit trying. Last season, using the same metrics, the MAC was somewhere in the neighborhood of 15th. Programs like the directional Michigan's and Miami need to start investing in their programs more before we can seriously begin to talk about the MAC being among the best mid-major conferences.

As I understood it, the second leg would match-up teams based off of NET rankings. I don't know if they would permit a rematch or not if the cards played out that way.

When a movable object meets a stoppable force...

We used to play Cleveland State and YSU on altering years as part of the coaches vs cancer classic. That ended a few years ago. Most years both YSU and CSU are terrible. CSU occasionally has an alright team. Before last season, the last time YSU had a 20+ win season was in the 1990s. I don't think either is much of a loss not having on the schedule. At least not until one shows they can consistently field a competitive roster.

Idk how big of a following OSU basketball really has in this area. All the t-shirt OSU fans I've seen, who turn into football games every Saturday, rarely, to never, watch or follow OSU basketball outside of March Madness. Some of them are even North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky fans when it comes to college hoops, typical bandwagoners. I'm sure if OSU was performing like the early Thad days more would jump on the bandwagon. I just don't think college hoops is all that big in northeast Ohio.

What I like about it is it gets them practice playing at the Q. You hear so much talk about how as a shooter it can be challenging going from a small arena to an NBA arena as it messes with your depth perception. This gives the team familiarity with the Q ahead of the MAC tournament.

He at the very least regrets saying it publicly. There is no escaping that truth. That same poster also said he has no problem keeping Huggins name hanging in Akron's rafters and that the HoF comment was just a cheeky comment and not how he actually felt. It WAS a bigot comment. There is no escaping that. He literally used f*g in a derogatory context. Actions do have consequences. If I said that at my place of employment, I'd most certainly be sent to HR. At the very least get reprimanded, likely even fired. Do I think he should be fired for it? No, but he certainly deserves criticism for the comments. I think you're mistaking this forum for other areas on the internet, like reddit, that have been much more critical of Huggins comments. People here seem to be rational acknowledging that he screwed up, but aren't coming after him looking to burn him at the stake. Nobody here even said he deserves to be fired. Although some acknowledged that it's a possibility that he will be.

Bob Huggins is literally on record saying it was an insensitive remark that was inexcusable on his part. Even in hindsight he admits he was in the wrong. Meanwhile, here you are trying to play it off like he did nothing wrong... I didn't really see anyone here trying to burn him at the stake for this or cancel him as you put it, but it's blatantly obvious he messed up. He should have never said what he said, simple as that. https://sports.yahoo.com/west-virginia-coach-bob-huggins-apologizes-for-using-anti-gay-slur-in-radio-interview-212451232.html

Basketball centric arena that can host concerts, trade shows, local high school graduations, and things of that nature. Indoor soccer or football leagues just don't have much long-term staying power. I just don't think the additional cost of a multi-purpose facility, combined with the reduced basketball atmosphere, would be worth it given how unlikely it would be that we would secure a long-term co-tenant.

It's West Virginia, which given the bigotry in the state, he'll probably get a pay raise instead.

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.