BigGreenTruck

Dan in his press conference said while in man there was an effort to bring help side defense on the weak side to double Castaneda. Having Handlogten, 7'1 in the paint and rotating either Curfman or Anachili-Killen over really disrupted Castaneda. He was held to 4 points and 5 rebounds. Hankerson had 11 points but he had to work for each of them. I could be wrong but I only counted 3 break downs in defense where Marshall didn't rotate that gave Akron a wide open shot. If you are constantly having to shoot contested shots then your shooting % is going to go down.

The announcers are Mark Martin who was WCHS Channel 8 in Charleston sport's anchor for 20+ years, now he does freelance work around the state including Marshall basketball and football games. And Coach Bob Bolen, Bolen spent 19 years at NAIA Mountain State (Closed after the 2012 year) as the AD and basketball coach. He guided the Cougars to the NAIA Championship game in 2003 as runner ups and then won the NAIA Title in 2004. They also made it to the Final 4 in MSUs last year. And it was Bolen that said "He can't shoot when he smells popcorn", I think Im'a have to steal that line.

This should be Marshall's starting line up: PG Andrew Taylor SG Taevion Kinsey SG Kamdyn Curfman PF/C Micah Handlogten PF Obinna Anochilli-Killen Through 6 games both Taylor and Kinsey are avging over 20 points a game. Kurfman is a transfer from VMI and had 116 3 pointers last season, 2nd most in the NCAA. Handlogten is the smoothest freshman Ive seen since Jon Elmore and the smoothest big man Ive seen since JR Vanhoose (1998-02) in a Marshall uniform. OAK is starting to come into his own now. Off the bench: G/F Jacob Connor SF Wyatt Fricks G/F Aymeric Toussaint SG David Early G/F Marko Sarenac SG Kyle Braun PF/C Goran Miladinovic Marshall only went 8 deep against Morehead State. The only player you will not see is PF Chase McKey who had knee surgery right before the start of the season and will miss the 22-23 season. The future of the team will center around two true freshman in Micah Handlogten and Jacob Conner and Redshirt freshman Wyatt Fricks. Fricks was hurt in the 2nd game last year and didn't play anymore. I really don't understand how Handlogten was so over looked, his only other DI offers was Youngstown State, American, Jacksonville and Presbyterian. Marshall is avging 86.5 points per game through 6 games, the lowest out put has been 82. And is allowing 68.8 points per game. Here is hoping for a good injury free game.

I rooted for Akron against Pitt. And think that the 1st penalty kick was complete BS. Akron's goalie got to the ball and secured it while the Pitt player kicked at the ball while falling over the goalie. It was a bang bang play but it should have been play on and an Akron free kick. It was nice seeing one of the better soccer programs back in the NCAAs though. I know it cliche to say but this team could be better than our national championship team. We have a freshman phenom in striker Matthew Bell (10 goals, 8 assts) who we will probably lose after this season if he his drafted high enough in the MLS draft. More than one MLS teams were sniffing around him before he signed with Marshall. We also return strikers Milo Yosef, Alexander Adjetey, MFs Joao Souza, Vinicius Fernandes, defenders Gabriel Alves, Collin Mocyunas and GK Oliver Semmle from the national championship team. And in my opinion one of the best, if not the best HC in the nation in Chris Grassie. We did lose our top assistant coach Petsa Ivanovic to Barry University (DII), he took their HC job back in April and has them on the cusp of the college cup semis. They play Rollans College on Sat to go to the college cup.

I hate to see any conference lose a sponsored sport, it means one less autobid for what is usually the little guy. But once SIU-E went back to the MVC and WVU left for CUSA and now the Sun Belt the handwriting was on the wall. There wasn't but one program that didn't have a home (Chicago State) and no other program was going to leave a stable conference without assurances of MAC soccer not collapsing and that couldn't be said. The move for Akron though is a major upgrade in conference. I think for the foreseeable future the Big East and Sun Belt will fight for the 2nd best DI conference in the nation and will challenge the ACC on some years as the best conference.

Would have loved to have seen Akron Soccer in the Sun Belt. But glad Akron has found a stable home for men's soccer. This will all but kill the MAC as a men's soccer conference. Wonder were Bowling Green, Western Michigan and NIU land. I would assume they all go together to the MVC or Summit League MVC Belmont Bradley Drake Evensville UCI Missouri State Summit Denver UMKC Omaha Oral Roberts St Thomas Western Illinois The MVC seems like the slightly stronger conference and more travel friendly.

A split season just about like everyone else does with the NCAAs starting in late April/first of May. Play the non conference games in the fall and conference games and NCAA tournament in the Spring. It would mimic what almost all pro leagues do. By doing this it would also cut down playing 2 games a week to one game a week for the most part. Which gives the player more time to rest and recover and less injuries hopefully. The NCAA was supposed to vote on this in the 2020 soccer meetings and then the pandemic happened. Why it hasn't been put back on the docket is beyond me. I know Coach Grassie at Marshall not only supports it but ever since he has been at Marshall has advocated for it. He also has said most of the coaches he knows on a daily or weekly basis supports the split season.

I learned in our run to the title in the spring of 21 not to pay any attention to TDS. They have Marshall setting at #13 after whipping #2 Pitt and WVU at #10 after getting thumped by #2 Pitt and unranked Penn State. TDS looks and sounds a little cliqish to me. Enough about my rant on TDS, just stopped by to wish Akron good luck against the Hoosiers. And its nice to have Akron back to their old self as a player in the college soccer world.

Here is a free scouting report for your next game against the VCU Rams, they were Marshall's 1st game. VCU was picked 3rd in the A10 behind St Louis and Rhode Island. Marshall had no problem with VCU winning 5-0. They played a 4-3-3 against our own 4-3-3. The first thing I noticed was they were small, Marshall's avg player is 6'3, and I looked on their roster and they only have 6 players over 6'0 tall. Marshall's speed and physical play bothered them from the onset. They played back from the beginning of the game and in the 1st half Marshall has the ball 77% of the time and also scoring only 3:20 into the match on a laser cross from the right hand side of the box. Marshall scored 2 in the 1st and 3 in the 2nd and both halves looked alike, Marshall ended the game with 71% possession of the ball. VCUs front line wasn't that active. They only had 2 shots the whole game and neither was on goal. Their midfield had trouble breaking through Marshall's defense and their back line was like a sieve. The only good thing was their goalie and he stood on his head, if not Marshall could have easily had double digit goals. VCU only got into the attacking 1/3 6 times and the 18 box once. Game Stats Goals Marshall 5 VCU 0 Shots Marshall 36 VCU 2 Shots on Goal Marshall 13 VCU 0 Corners Marshall 13 VCU 0 Time of Possession Marshall 71% VCU 29% I don't like to say anything bad about who Marshall plays but if VCU turns out to be the 3rd best A10 team then the A10 would have to be really down. They were slow and for the most part unwilling to become physical.

Congratz on the win. Is Akron finally back, I hope so. As far as the AAC being a good conference in soccer, thats debatable. The top 4-5 programs are decent in Tulsa, SMU, UCF, Charlotte and FIU. But half of the AAC was under .500 last year with Temple going 0-10 in conference. And come 2023 they will be losing UCF to the Sun Belt.

The only school in the new Sun Belt never to make the NCAAs is Georgia Southern. ODU has slipped in the last few years but they won CUSA twice in 2014 and 2017. When UCF joins in 2023 this will be what the Sun Belt Schools have done in the last 3 years: 19 NCAA Bids 8 of the 10 ranked in the Top 25 7 of the 10 ranked in the Top 20 6 of the 10 ranked in the Top 15 4 of the 10 ranked in the Top 10 3 of the 10 ranked in the Top 5 2 of the 10 ranked 1 or 2 (Marshall raked 1, WVU ranked 2) 1 National Title In a year or so I think the Sun Belt will be just behind the ACC in soccer and possibly challenging the ACC for the top spot. I also think the Sun Belt will surpass the Big East as they are more top heavy with Georgetown and Marquette dong most the conference lifting.

I take it you have never encountered Charlotte's HC Kevin Langan. He is the biggest asshat Ive ever seen. It made a lot of us smile watching him on the sidelines the last 3 years trying to figure out how Marshall passed Charlotte by when before 2019 they had 12 winning seasons from 1979-2018. Well CUSA soccer is dead as of now. Marshall, ODU, Kentucky, South Carolina and WVU will form part of the Sun Belt out of CUSA. Those that still had soccer there in FIU, UAB, FAU and Charlotte will join the AAC for 2022. I guess that leaves Liberty still in the ASun. They along with FIU would have been the only CUSA schools to sponsor soccer in CUSA come 2023. Come 2023 Sun Belt Soccer will look like this: JMU ODU Marshall Coastal Carolina GA Southern GA State WVU South Carolina Kentucky UCF (2023 when they join the B12) If it was possible I would love the Sun Belt become only second conference with 12 members, as of right now only the ACC has 12 members. I would love to add Akron and FIU. It is gonna be a great conference as it is with Akron and FIU it would be just that much better.

Marshall beats Bowling Green 2-1 to take the Spring League Championship

Ive always rooted for Akron soccer, well before Marshall finally figured the sport out, only took us from 1979 to 2019 to do so. If Marshall plays like they did against Ohio State they will have a winning season no doubt, the defense is just stellar. If they play like they did against Louisville for the most part then this team can be special. Good Luck to Akron, I will continue to follow and root for them as long as they aren't on the other side of the pitch from the Herd.

Louisville 1 Marshall 4 FINAL Dayton 1 Ohio State 0 FINAL Marshall wins the South, awaits the winner of Bowling Green/Akron tomorrow.

As a Marshall fan here is my take on Doc: Good Guy Great recruiter Conservative Play Doc is a great guy but he isn't the dynamic coach that is going to be in the middle of everything. He also will not show any emotion on the sideline unless provoked for it, very stoic. You could be up 30 or down 30 and he will look the same. That can be a plus at times. If Doc was hired at Akron I can almost bet that Akron recruiting wouldn't be 10-12 each year. The guy knows how to recruit and he has for many years. All but 3 of his classes at Marshall was in the Top 3 with 7 at #1 in the conference. The other 3 he was top heavy on the Big Uglies on both lines. If you want a risk taking coach Doc isn't the man. He was mentored by Don Nehlen one of if not the most conservative coaches Ive ever seen. You won't see him going for it on 4th and 3 at your 35 often. He once punted on our own 35 because it was 4th and 7 and our FG kicker had already missed 3 FGs. Lucky for him it was the right call, ball ended up inside the 1 and a safety happened on the next play.

Coastal Carolina and UCF have both been ranked this year and FIU is setting at #19. South Carolina is down right now but they won CUSA in 2015 and have a College Cup Runner Up in 1993 as a part of the Metro Conference. GA State isn't world beaters but they are horrible either. The only real stinker of the South Division is GA Southern.

With Marshall and ODU along with JMU joining the Sun Belt. Marshall's coach Chris Grassie was on the radio yesterday and said that Kentucky, South Carolina, WVU and UCF (B12 dorsn't sponsor soccer, reason for WVU) had all been sent invites to the Sun Belt. If the MAC loses its auto bid I would hope the Sun Belt would offer Akron a spot as a soccer only member. The thing is Grassie said nothing about FIU. Don't know if their ADIM have already said No since they are most likely one of three schools caught in the crossfire of realignment. If all of CUSA affiliates join that would take the SB to 9 members, if both UCF and FIU were to join that would be 11 and if the MAC were to lose their auto bid and invited Akron that could get the SB to 12 and it look something like this: SUN BELT NORTH Akron Kentucky Marshall ODU WVU JMU SUN BELT SOUTH South Carolina Coastal Carolina UCF FIU GA State GA Southern I seriously think that conference could give the ACC a run for its money.

Im glad you have that confidence. Getting to Cary and the College Cup will be a tall task. Marshall done it last year because they were basically and unknown. A school that had only been to one NCAA and that was the previous year in 2019. Even though Chris Grassie and his staff had put together a talented roster I feel some schools didn't fully prepare for The Herd last year. It was never more evident than in the 2nd game in the NCAA against #1 1 seed Clemson. We are now the defending National Champions Ive noticed in the first seven games that every team has been playing Marshall more aggressive and a lot more physical than last year. Everyone wants to knock off the last National Title holder.

I would say good game Akron but after controlling the 1st 6 mins of the game Akron became sloppy with their ball handling and passing. Akron was lucky, very lucky to only give up 2 goals. This could have been easily 4-6 to nil. I believe Akron is much better than what they showed tonight and I fully expect to see Akron in the NCAAs this year. I do hope Akron stays on the Marshall schedule. It is a good game for both schools.

See you tonight Zips. Should be a fun math and here is to an injury free game.

Welcome To Hoops Family Field This should be a great match. Marshall has scored 18 goals on the season or an avg of 3 goals per game. Last game Marshall played was Friday Sept 17 against #4 WVU. A game that ended in a 2-2 2OT tie in front of a Hoops Family Field attendance record crowd of 3,033. Im glad to see that last season was hopefully an anomaly for Akron, an uncharcatristic down season.

Glad to see Akron still on Marshall's schedule. One thing about Marshall's coach Chris Grassie is he isn't afraid to play anyone.

On YouTube there is also a small 5 part series titled "Road To Cary" which chronicles the march to the title. It starts out with the countdown to last regular season win over #12 Charlotte which gave Marshall the CUSA title. Going into the game Charlotte was up 1/2 game and 1 point. A win or tie gives the auto bid to and Conference title to Charlotte. Each piece covers a win in the tournament. This should start you: Road To Cary

I was very surprised at Todd Yagley's coaching or even coaching system/style. Marshall's coach Chris Grassie plays a possession based style while attacking when you have the numbers. Coach Grassie will even play side to side if that is all you give him. He has said that if you do that long enough you will run the other team ragged and a mistake will happen. In the title game Indiana rarely contested Marshall for the ball and only trying to score on the counter. Marshall had possession of the ball in the title game 73% of the time. Other stats: Shots: Marshall 13, Indiana 8, Shots on Goal: Marshall 8, Indiana 1, Fouls Marshall 13, Indiana 14, Yellow Cards: Marshall 4, Indiana 3, Corner Kicks: Marshall 7, Indiana 2. And the most important stat: Marshall 1, Indiana 0 on the scoreboard. Also Indiana only had 1 shot in the 2nd half, coming at the 56:28 mark of the 2nd. Considering the game went to OT and ended at the 98 minute mark, Indiana only had 1 shot in the last 42 minutes of play. There was 5,000 tickets that were sold. WakeMed Soccer Complex main stadium holds 10,000. At least 4700 of those 5,000 were Marshall fans. Those there also said the parking lot was full of Marshall fans that couldn't get in the game too. If the complex could have sold all 10,000 tickets I would estimate that 9500-9600 would have been Marshall fans. Besides Huntington only being 5 1/2 hours away from Cary NC, Charlotte and Grensboro/High Point have a high concentration of Marshall alums.