Zippy87

Not at all true. It was the worst kept secret that Akron planned to appeal the decision if they became bowl-eligible and expected to win that appeal. The players knew if they beat Kent and BG, they'd likely go bowling.

Mediocrity is "the quality of being ordinary or average" 2024: 4-8 (3-5), 126 in FPI 2025: 5-7 (4-4), 128 in FPI So yes.

Being OK with Moorhead leaving doesn't make you a hater. I think he's a solid coach, I wouldn't be upset if be stayed, but I would also be OK with change if he left. My primary reason is I don't see significant progress. Was this year's team noticeable better than 2024, or did they just get to play a UMass team that had so many injuries they had coaches taking practice reps and a beat up BG team on their 3rd QB? They had one win against a good team in 2024 (Toledo) and one this year (CMU). Sports-reference.com ranked us 136 out of 136 for SOS. Could it get worse? Absolutely. You could 100% get another Arth that would be far worse and set the program back even further. But it could also get better. Maybe you find a coach who can find a recruiting strategy that works despite the lack of resources. Maybe you find a coach who donors and alumni are excited about, and support more both financially and with personal engagement to the team. Maybe you find someone who can do better than average, even if it's for a short time before moving on. Do you truly believe Joe Moorhead can lead you to a MAC Championship at some point? If yes, you keep him. But if no, I would rather take the shot at someone else, even knowing the risk. I don't ever want to just settle for mediocrity, which is where we are right now.

I caught the yellow card but didn't know what happened. Yikes.

Saint Louis went directly over to the Bryant student section to taunt them after the win. Tells me you can possibly get in their heads a bit.

I should have been more clear in saying "past years" - I meant in the past in general. AO1Creative has done a great job since they've done it.

Akron loses big to the coach they fired who started 2 freshmen and 2 sophomores, with 4 of their 5 starters being Ohio recruits. Big yikes.

The video packages in general are light years better this year than previous years. It looks like a professional production now.

Did not know that. Definitely makes more sense.

Only thing I could think of!

Barre with 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 13 minutes. Should be a rotation player moving forward.

TJ McConnell rocking an Akron Soccer sweatshirt

Free throws are earned, though. This is just two teams trading PKs to break a tie.

Adams was great in 2022 but never the same after that.

I said it was a borderline call, not the incorrect call. Absolutely, and Coach Groce is one of the best there is. MMK at 5 will work against 95% of the teams we play this year, because he is a smart player with a high motor, and that can overcome some of his lack of size at that spot. But not against teams like Yale, Purdue, and anyone we would likely see in the NCAA Tournament. If he doesn't trust Barre yet, I trust he isn't showing something in practice that he wants to see. But I'm holding out hope that whatever it is will get worked through over the next few months so that Barre is at least a 8-10 minutes contributor off the bench by March, because we will need him to pull off out ultimate goal of winning a tournament game IMO.

It was close enough that they took a look at the monitor to make sure Townsend didn't hook him, because Yale was absolutely doing that last night. We have no idea what he looks like in practice. It was literally one play.

Not sure this is fair. I thought it was a borderline call, but even if it was a bad foul, I certainly hope we aren't benching a player for one mistake. Not going to see growth that way. The gameplan to double wasn't working, and they didn't adjust accordingly or throw enough unique looks at Townsend to really challenge him. I'd love to know how many of their points were wide-open looks, with many right at the rim. It was far too easy for them to score the majority of the game. It is rare for me to be frustrated with our game strategy, but yesterday was frustrating to watch. I thought a big part of bringing Evan in was to be our defensive stopper? I would've given Townsend large doses of Evan and Lyles instead of doubling. On having a legit bench big - I continue to find it curious that Barre hasn't been given a real chance to play. I don't think he's look bad in his limited minutes, and he seems to put forth good effort. But they've never really given him a shot at extended run out there. Maybe he isn't meeting their internal standards, but you have to eventually find out. Playing MMK at the 5 against a good major- the type of team we will see in March if we make the tournament- just isn't going to work. He was was a starter for a chunk of the season at Duquesne last season, but he can't be trusted for 8-10 minutes for us? Don't get me wrong, I trust Groce and there must be something we aren't seeing that he is, but I hope he gets a real shot as the season goes on. I, too, am very excited about this team, and am looking forward to seeing them continue to grow and gel.

They played really well, but I agree with Groce that the defense wasn't good enough. Part of that was gameplan (doubling Townsend didn't work), but we gave up a ton of open shots, especially in crunch time. We tied it with 5:02 to go and proceeded to give up wide open 3s on the next 4 possessions (they hit 3/4). Yes, they had to knock them down, but we absolutely could have made it more difficult on them to do so.

We have seen a decent chunk of games now to start formulating some opinions on this year's team. Tavari Johnson has been fantastic. He's averaging 19/5, taking care of the basketball, and playing good defense. He has turned into a phenomenal player. Shammah Scott has been superb as well, averaging 14 a game while shooting 43% from deep (best in the MAC). Bowen Hardman is right behind him at 41%. Evan Mahaffey has been a difference-maker. His offensive game is limited, but he can create a bit for others and plays excellent defense. Eric is the future for Akron (assuming we can keep him). I think he'll be our 3rd best player by March after TJ and SS. MMK has done a great job, although I contend he will struggle to contain opposing 5s on good teams like Yale. But the effort and motor are valuable to this team. It's tough to judge much from Stankovic and Barre so far. Stankovic has shown flashes of enormous potential, and I expect a lot of growth this season. His defense has improved. I don't quite understand Barre's role here. He has good size and plays hard, and seems to fill a need for this team, but he's pretty clearly at the bottom of the depth chart. Maybe we will see that change over time. Halligan has brought good energy off the bench. Groce has played hard. We haven't seen much of Brisco. To me, the key players the rest of the way are Lyles and Young. We are going to need Lyles to rebound and play good interior defense to have a shot against good teams. We need the guy who averaged almost 10 a game in the MAC Tournament last year. Sharron just needs to find his shot - his shooting percentages are down from last year. He's provided significant energy off the bench, though, and I love the young man's heart.

Preseason preview from Mid-Major Madness: In his fourth year at Milwaukee, head coach Bart Lundy is in position to break through and make his first March Madness appearance. He put together an experienced backcourt through the portal that should be among the league’s best. Redshirt senior Amar Augillard earned preseason All-League first team honors, joining the Panthers after averaging 13.3 points at Fresno State last season. His running mate, Seth Hubbard, earned preseason All-League second team honors. Hubbard played two seasons at Western Michigan, averaging 14.1 points in 2023-24. He spent last season at Toledo and averaged 8.4 points. Lundy’s squad was near the bottom of the conference in 3-point shooting last season but should be much improved from deep with the backcourt portal additions. Joining the new-look backcourt on the preseason All-League teams is returning forward Faizon Fields, who earned second-team honors. He averaged 6.7 points and 4.9 rebounds last season for the Panthers and will anchor the frontcourt. Milwaukee led the league in both offensive and total rebounds in 2024-25 and will look to continue that success. Danilo Jovanovich will also return in the frontcourt, and Lundy landed three transfers to bolster the unit: Sekou Konneh from DePaul; Tate Mackenzie from JUCO Howard College; and Chandler Jackson from JUCO Parkland College. Being an elite rebounding team helped Milwaukee finish within a game of the regular-season league crown last year, and dominating the glass again will help them take the next step.

Ending a season on PKs has to be one of the worst ways to decide a game in all of sports.

Townsend was just too good at reading the defense and picked it apart. They had so many easy buckets, especially in the first half. It felt like they just didn't have to work as hard to score as we did all night.

Marvin was giving up 4 inches and about 30 lbs against their 5 when he was guarding him. Really tough ask, despite his giving his best as usual. Mentioned it earlier, but not using Barre or Brisco tonight makes me think neither will play much of a role on this team unless there's an injury.

Overall a good tournament experience, and hopefully one that will pay off down the line. Tavari and Shammah were incredible. Lyles had a solid 2nd half after a pretty rough 1st. Evan played solid defense but struggled to contribute elsewhere. Rare occasion where I think we got outcoached a bit. Doubling Townsend just wasn't working, and we stuck with it far too long. Yale shot really well, but we also allowed a ton of easy looks. Asking MMK to play the 5 against this team was questionable too, IMO. Probably the most concerning takeaway from this game was Yale outscoring us 26-13 in bench points, with 9 of the 13 coming from Hardman. I'm optimistic that depth will show up more as the season progresses. Overall, proud of our team and looking forward to seeing them continue to grow over the course of the season!

Why Amani?