kreed5120

For those of you that aren't able to get around to listen, I'll list a few takeaways. - Bud says Akron is still looking to add 1, maybe 2 players. - Akron is taking a moneyball approach relying on algorithms to determine players value and who to target. - They are working on developing a system for one-time, quarterly, and monthly donations reoccurring donations. There will be different tiers where you can get t-shirts, hats, courtside seats, attend a practice, etc based off donation size. - Football collective was just recently started with a large donation. I'm sure there are other things that I might have missed.

9 out of the top 10 losers are also mid-majors. Not to mention the losers are losing a lot more NET OVR (not familiar with what that metric exactly is) than the top gainers are gaining. I'm counting in total 13 P6 (including Gonzaga) on the top gainers. That's nearly half the list. I'm only counting 4 P6 on the top losers list. Furthermore, there are 350+ D1 basketball programs and only about 1/4 of them come from a P6 conference therefore one would expect more mid-majors on both lists. Either way the data shows mid-majors are getting hit much harder on transfers. That's not to say a program like Akron isn't holding their own, but for every Akron there are 3 or 4 CMU types out there that have had their roster gutted.

Ali had more to do with how raw he was as a player. A 6'8 wing is big even by P6 standards. I do think you will see more and more of those big sized developmental players trickle down to the mid-majors. It doesn't make sense for an Iowa State or Northwestern to take a flyer on developing a player for 2-3 years when they can just go buy a proven contributor from Kent, Akron, Toledo, etc. The MAC is the AAA farm system now. We both develop the players and now take the guys who are being sent back down.

FedEx announced a $5 million per year commitment in NIL to the University of Memphis. One has to think this will make them the top program in the AAC. https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/college/memphis-tigers/2024/04/19/fedex-memphis-athletics-nil-fred-smith-football-basketball-laird-veatch/73376523007/

I still feel last years team never reached its peak potential. Tribble was probably the only player that exceeded my expectations coming into the season. Freeman may have slightly exceeded them too, but I expected a big year from him. Ali had a good year, but I expected more from him, particularly as a floor spacer. Everyone else fell well short of what I thought they'd do. Per kenpom, last season was Groce's 4th best Akron squad. I want to say next year's team won't be as good as this one, but it's not like this year's team was all that special. The MAC on paper looks weaker. I think we can make it back to the tournament next year, but we probably won't be the odds on favorites to win the MAC.

Not a strength and conditioning issue, but I also don't think we had much of an answer for Kalkbrenner. It's easy to see why he won Big East DPOY. He only was credited with 3 blocks, but he disrupted every shot within 5 feet of the basket.

That makes more sense. I was thinking no way all those new donors donated in such a short span.

Up to $123k from 530 donors now.

Yes, the day of giving has been going on long before NIL was a thing. It goes towards the University to fund the athletic programs. The University doesn't pay for NIL.

I haven't actually seen any real film of these players. Highlight reels don't count as those only show the good. Harris probably has the highest ceiling.

Do we even have any available scholarships left?

Those are numbers that sound believable.

Unless you're a Kansas or North Carolina and can buy a title contending roster each year by reloading.

If you can dodge traffic on Exchange, you can dodge a ball.

I didn't even realize UA bought the Wonder Bread building. I wonder what even led to them purchasing that in the first place.

Once again a lower quality piece than what I'd find written here. If this is what journalism is these days, it's no surprise chatgpt is replacing the 'talent'.

The last time Toledo made the tournament the #1 song on the billboard charts was crazy little thing called love by Queen. The #1 movie at the box office was The Fog. The price of a Big Mac was $1.20.

I never want to play Kent in Cleveland. It's not like they were good this year, but Senderoff had them playing their best basketball in March when it matters most.

Has the MAC even been a 16 seed? That would be an all-time low for the conference.

I don't remember the exact specifics, but the auto-bid credit is split evenly. Additional credits earned go into a prize pool. That pool is then divided based off regular season and postseason performance.

That number does seem very high. Daron Holmes reportedly got $175k from Dayton this season and he came into the season as one of the favorites to win A10 POY. No knock to Ali, but I feel $100k would get you a stud (by MAC standards).

I wasn't looking at the volume numbers. I do see now that you mention it Harris had a pretty miserable start to the year, which explains why on paper his numbers look as bad as they do. It's nice to see he improved as the year went on. Hopefully he can continue to build on that at Akron. Wilson's sophomore season he put up some great shooting numbers. I'd be pleased getting that Wilson. His freshman and junior year he struggled quite a bit, particularly inside the 3-point arc. I'm not sure if he's just not good at finishing at the rim or what. Either way I expect Groce with use him as the proverbial 3&D guy.

I definitely feel better about the team with these additions. Our front court should be as good as any in the MAC. I'm still a bit concerned on whether we'll have enough offense. Okonkwo, from what I've seen, doesn't seem like a player you can run your offense through. Both Wilson and Harris have struggled to be efficient scorers. We're going to need to see improvement from everyone on that end of the floor as I'm just not sure we have that guy who can put the offense on his back.

They were the worst team in the Big 12, but they still finished the season #144 in kenpom. For reference, Akron ended the season at #122, so they weren't that much worse than we were. They just played a vastly tougher schedule. I'm not drinking the kool-aid to think this makes us instant favorites, but in a year that the MAC looks in a disarray, it's not like we need a super team to compete.

One just hopes another year of conditioning and developing places him ahead.