Illini Zip

I agree, personally I was just disappointed he didn’t make an immediate impact. One of these point guard recruits is going to come in and take the reins from day one (like Freeman in the post). Maybe Sharron Young will be that guy. He already looks strong enough to handle the college level. But Tavari is still on pace with LCJ and Castaneda to have a stellar career.

After watching some video of Eric, I see him playing a similar guard role as Maishe Dailey. Long, lean, quick-twitch elite perimeter defender. He looks like a shorter Ali for sure, but I think Marvin M-K is probably more likely to replace Ali’s role (in theory). Eric does have a good awareness and makes nice passes. Jr. Year Highlights https://www.hudl.com/profile/15373608/Eric-Mahaffey

I was playing along with the whole BG is legit theme. I guess I missed the mark.

Western Michigan is legit.

Hoping to hear good news on Nate Johnson. Has the imaging on his hand taken place yet? Anybody?

Absolutely. 💯 5000 -7000 capacity. All large, comfy seats. That’s my dream for Joe and Flo Akron. 👍

I like it. Move it to Akron and drop a basketball court in the middle. But I like the idea of a retro design. I would choose a small, intimate, comfortable, modern version of Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.

My guess is Prather is likely a transfer considering his lack of playing time. But Tavari and Lyles should be back.

No argument here, but I would at least give Greg Tribble an honorable mention.

Groce was not happy with the Zips execution in the post-game interview.

Groce is right that we are going to get everyone’s best effort or Buffalo doesn’t like hearing that Groce killed them. Either way they played hard, but Akron answered the challenge like champs. Heal up fast Nate!!

Some great defensive effort by the Zips.

💯

They came to play for sure.

Fast paced game which is surprising that Buffalo would push tempo. They are not that deep.

And I had that thought too. As we witnessed with UCLA, you have to seize that victory unapologetically. If there is a bias in the NCAA Tourney it's towards the larger fan bases. But there are plenty of Cinderella stories over the years and Groce has proven it can be done himself. Do it again Groce, but stay put this time!!

Completely agree, but riddle me this. In 2022, the average MAC attendance was 2,562 and the Mountain West was 6,203. If I am not mistaken, that average would max out the JAR regularly. What are they doing differently in this modern age? http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/2023/Attend.pdf

I accept this is the reality, but without change somewhere, somehow Akron's basketball ceiling is already set. A top 3 program consistently in a conference that ranks between 13th and 25th in D1. I don't like that. And I hope Groce is still up for the challenge. Everyone else in the past, including himself at Ohio, has pushed through with success only to bolt the conference. I want him to build a program that is so good that the refs are irrelevant or take Akron basketball to a better conference. I like his approach to the non-conference, playing other top mid-majors. And the occasional P6 opponent in a holiday tournament. I'm sure he understands the situation much better than I do. This might be so, but they answer to the customer. In this case, the customer is the MAC. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a level of game management in the power conferences and the pros as well. But I have seen few examples as silly as the Ball State game. The non-conference games this year were not perfect. Nothing ever is. But I walked away feeling the result was determined by the players on the court, which is what you want. I tip my hat to our current Zip team for keeping their focus and pulling out the win. But if you care about the NET rankings, the margin of victory matters.

I know a lot of this is the rehashing of old discussions, but frankly I forget. What are the chances of Akron basketball alone leaving the MAC at some point? I know Northern Michigan is a D2 school for every sport except for their D1 hockey program. So it can be done. If we are going to be honest that the product and culture needs to keep improving to land more butts in the seats, then I would argue that the so-called MAC officiating I witnessed the other night is part of the problem. I have been around long enough to know this is not a few bad refs, it's what the MAC ultimately wants. Game management. And the end result is nearly unwatchable and the top teams in any given year are less likely to achieve an at-large bid. I don't understand the logic.

Not sure of the path of this Winter storm, but it started snowing in Northern Illinois around 3:00am and we have a good 5 inches already. It’s supposed to drop between 1-2 feet by Saturday night. Just curious if this mess is due to hit Akron before game time? Never mind, it looks like you might get a few inches of snow late tonight/early Saturday.

I was thinking the same thing.

Tribble shot well today for 14 pts.

The bank just closed, too bad. Another road kill for the Zips.

Do I dare mention that the Zips have a higher NET ranking than Indiana too? Ha!!

How funny, I just addressed this in another post. Good catch.