Zippy87

Duquesne had a really good team this year. Once they got healthy they played really well the rest of the season. You don't get lucky for months.

The end of a long and successful coaching career for KD. I suspect he'll stay involved in athletics and wouldn't be shocked to see him back in Akron.

Interesting that Markus' brother is also on CMU's roster - Hunter Harding, a 7 ft center. Maybe Coach Groce can talk them both into coming? 🙂

Looks like we were his first offer

Any word on any changes being made to the JAR over the offseason?

I think it was more lack of depth than it was conditioning personally.

Awesome! I have two on the way!

It will be interesting to watch college coaches - especially at mid-majors - and how they adapt to the changes the transfer portal and NIL have brought to the game. For instance, if Akron recruits a high school player, they redshirt, play their freshman year, then transfer, is it even worth it? Having them take one of 13 scholarships for two seasons to only get their sophomore year?

If I'm an NBA team I'm absolutely looking at Freeman in the 2nd Round or as an undrafted free agent. - Elite rebounding and defense - Respectable outside shot - Off the charts when it comes to motor and character It's important to remember Freeman would be asked to do a lot less on an NBA team. The offense isn't going to run through him. He's not going to log 38 minutes a game. He'd be a big coming off the bench to provide some rebounding, defense, and energy. The biggest knock on Freeman will be his size. He's listed as 6'7", 206 lbs on ESPN. There are several current and former NBA players with similar size to Freeman but if I'm his agent I'm painting a picture of a young-but-not-crazy Dennis Rodman (6'7", 210).

There are currently 756 players in the transfer portal.

I'm more worried about keeping up with UMass in two years than I am getting out of the MAC.

To me, getting over the hump is going to have to be a department-wide mission. Remember "think bigger" from years ago? It needs to become a reality. Get the improvements to the JAR mentioned here done. Work to actively assist players to get NIL deals. Market and promote your team effectively. Don't take Groce for granted like Larry Williams did with Dambrot. If you want to be a respected mid-major who can make noise in March, you have to act like it first.

They never really came close to replacing the production of X. Today was kind of like most of the rest of the year- Freeman and Ali were effective on offense and that was about it scoring-wise. Creighton had every starter score in double digits.

The two teams that pulled off the biggest upsets today had scoring guards lead the way - Oakland (Gohlke, 32) and Duquesne (Grant, 19). When we came close against UCLA. Castaneda led the way with 18. When OU won in 2021, they had Preston and Sears. When Groce's OU teams made their runs, they had DJ Cooper. You get the point. It's hard to pull off an upset without a guard who can score in bunches and break down a defense.

To me the big unknowns are how much Baker and possibly Young can contribute next year. As of right now I'm penciling in Baker as a starter but Young could theoretically redshirt as Baker did this year. Assuming nobody leaves, here's your pre-portal roster: MMK/Lyles Dawson/Prather Jr. Baker N. Johnson Scott/T. Johnson At least one experienced big is an absolute must IMO. You cant go into the season with Lyles and two RS freshmen. I also think they need a scoring guard and pushing Scott to a bench role. Transfer/MMK Dawson/Prather Jr. Baker/Lyles N. Johnson/Scott Transfer/T. Johnson Maybe?

Anytime you have a good coach at the mid-major level you have to worry about that. But given his father's health and where his kids are at in school, I don't think he's going to make another move right now.

Two things I've learned about LeBron over the last 20 or so years: 1) LeBron is fiercely loyal to and will do anything to support his best friends - Maverick, Rich, Dru, Willie, Sian, Romeo, Frankie. 2) He's a very smart man and is very intentional in what he does. As speculation grew over KD retiring, Bron started posting more about the Dukes. They win, he sends them shoes. They win again today, he posts these consecutively: He's showing the higher ups at Duquesne that he'd be actively in their corner if Dru gets the job.

Between graduating seniors and players already in the portal, every top MAC team is losing quite a bit. Toledo is losing Cochran and Moss, the #2 and #3 scorers. Kent is losing Sullinger, Santiago, Bass, Payton, and Freeman, so 4 of their top 5 scorers. Ohio loses Hunter, Brown, Wiznitzer, and Mitchell, so 3 of their top 4 scorers. BG loses Agee, Spurgin, Towns, Phillip, Thomas and Humphrey, so 5 of their top 6 scorers this year. It will come down to who does the best in the portal and Coach Groce can start every conversation with 2 of the last 3 MAC Championships, so I like our chances.

"Consistently underachieved" is WILD