Zippy87

Waiting to see if he will be with them but planning to if he is. He didn't play for the Mad Ants today, so I'm assuming he will dress for the Pacers tonight. I'm hoping maybe someone here with connections to Enrique can let us know if he travels with the team Saturday!

I hope they do everything they can to make Enrique Freeman Night at The JAR a memorable night for him. GA tickets should be $5 - get a big crowd in there to show Enrique all of the love he deserves.

Seth Wilson! Listen, I've been highly critical of him but man did he look great tonight. If he can keep shooting it like that and playing good defense, he may pay off after all. Okonkwo was super active tonight...really did a great job of doing the dirty work in the paint. And Sharron Young...that kid is going to be special. Hopefully he'll stay in Akron because he's going to be a helluva player.

Mad Ants are playing on ESPN+ right now, Freeman started.

They certainly need to revisit the format. The #1 seed earns you no advantage - not hone court, not less games to win the tournament...nothing.

Certainly there are improvements they can make that would at least help. Replacing the bleachers would be a great start. Improving sightlines (remove the track?) would be good. I understand your greater point - a new arena right now is unlikely - but there's still work they can do to draw more fans and create a better gameday experience.

I was a big fan of the double-bye format. Getting to advance straight to the semis was a huge incentive for the top 2 teams in the regular season.

The MAC punted on attendance leaguewide when they agreed to make most of their conference games on weekdays for the TV deal. I'm not sure comparing basketball really works. I'm not overlooking anything or operating under any assumptions. I realize the costs associated and how hard it will be to pull off. I think renovation is more probable and, if done right, can achieve a close-enough impact. I'm just pointing out that you're never going to consistently hang with the big boys playing in the current JAR. I love how we jumped to the forefront of the MAC in NIL, but I don't expect that to last. UMass will be ahead of us the day they join. I expect Toledo and Ohio to be competitive there too. It's not realistic to expect NIL to be a separater for long IMO.

How?

Respectfully, this is an oversimplification as well. With better decision-making, the Zips football program could have grown with the stadium. Instead, we fired Brookhart for Ianello, one of the worst coaches I've ever seen. We actually did have some success with Bowden - then dumped him for another one of the worst coaches I've ever seen in Arth. Do you think it's helps that the school is in Morega, California, which looks like this? Listen, I love the City of Akron and UA, but I'd be fine with St. Mary's gym too if it looked like that when I walked out of it. Your pitch (beyond winning, of course) can't just be NIL. Yes, it's important, but: 1) You'll never compete with bigger schools on that alone, 2) I know we are ahead of others, but at least some in the MAC will eventually catch up.

Kent State kicks off their MAC schedule with a home loss to Ball State.

Now that Harris is done for the season, the path toward repeating as champion has become harder. Most years, I wouldn't even consider it possible, but the MAC looks bad this season. In my opinion, we need the following: 1) Slow the pace of the offense I think they can and should run, but I also think there's too many times we settle for shots too early in the shot clock and, because of our lack of offensive rebounding, leads to some brutal dry spells. Sharron Young did a wonderful job in the 2nd half yesterday pushing at a faster pace but creating better shots for himself and his teammates. 2) Gradually Increase Young's Minutes He has the highest ceiling of any player on the roster, is an excellent shooter and scorer, and his basketball IQ is far beyond a typical freshman. I know defense will bring growing pains, but I can live with it given everything else he does. We should be playing through he and Tavari often. 3) Cut Seth Wilson's Minutes I had high hopes for him, but I'm just not sure what he adds. Take away the Ohio Wesleyan and SUNY Brockport games and he's scored 16 points in 9 games, shooting 21% (6-29) from the field. Over his last 5 games, he's 1-13 (all 3-point attempts). I know Groce has to consider he's a senior, but I'd rather continue to see what MMK can do. He doesn't score, but he's at least shown the ability to add rebounding, which we obviously need much more of.

This is a bit of an oversimplification, no? Do players care about crowd size? Atmosphere? Not playing in a high school-quality gym? Of course NIL matters and should be the priority, but they'll never consistently compete with major programs without investing beyond that, too.

Really good interview with Wentz. His contributions to the Zips program are incredible. Being realistic, though, we won't compete with the major programs consistently until we build a new arena or significantly renovate the current one.

Is this legit?

I've followed the Pacers a bit more this year for obvious reasons. They had a few guys who were questionable for the Miami game but ended up playing. My guess is they took Enrique on the trip as insurance in case one or more couldn't play.

This is not good to hear. I don't think we can win the MAC without Harris.

That was ugly. BG is not a very good team. Sharron Young stepped up in a big way and was the difference down the stretch. Such a valuable playmaker and advanced basketball IQ for a true freshman. He's going to need to be a big part of what we do if we are going to have a shot at winning the MAC.

I wouldn't look at it as changing the offense but instead playing at a bit of a slower pace. We take so many bad shots early in the clock. You can absolutely change that at any time.

SHARRON. YOUNG.

I believe it, I don't think they'll change. And part of that is because, as you said, it may be the only way we can win with almost no size. The roster construction really limits how we can be successful.

At some point JG has to acknowledge that the way he wants to play doesn't vibe with the talent on this team. Coming into tonight we were 5th nationally in 3-point attempts but 136th in 3-point percentage. We aren't an especially good 3-point shooting team. I'm not sure what the answer is, though. Okonkwo isn't skilled offensively and Lyles is allergic to the paint, so you can't play inside-out like in the past. If Harris can come back (no idea?) I thibk he definitely helps. But right now, we just aren't very good and I don't see it getting much better.

Glad he finally made a shot. 1-5 tonight and 1-13 in his last 4.5 games (all 3 point attempts)

There isn't a contested three early in the shot clock that we don't love.

What has Seth Wilson done to be playing minutes so early?