Captain Kangaroo

I blame every Zips fan who didn't contribute $350,000 to the basketball program's Day of Giving fund today. And people wonder why the mid-majors performed so poorly in the NCAA tourney...every good/great player gets poached, regardless of culture, coach, NIL money...from the NIL/portal era until the end of time there will never be another number raised to the JAR rafters...unless we lower the bar to "impactful 1- or 2-year mercenaries". Get used to #foreverazip and watching your most promising Zips players compete in other team's jersey's for their final year or two. If this doesn't make you appreciate Freeman, nothing will. I can't imagine the money he turned down to stick with the Zips. The Zips should still be the favorite to win the MAC. And the spread for our Round #1 NCAA tournament game should be around Zips +17. Shammah and Sharron will happily take his minutes, and flourish. But you don't improve your roster by losing the MAC PoTY who was entering his senior season.

It's easy to transfer to Ole Miss...it's tougher to make the team. I wasn't shocked when he left the Zips...he probably merited more carries than what he was getting. But he's not good enough to be on the RB 2-deep of a P4 team. Other than maybe Purdue. 🙂 With Kellom leaving, he could have been "The Man" for the Zips this year. Oh well...

I think at 58 years of age, I could still play overseas. 😁 There are pro leagues all over Europe (and Turkey, Russia, Israel...). If he wants to play internationally...and he's from England so he knows the score...he can make a 10 year career out of it.

In defense of these Zips portal losses...Purdue did finish 18th in the Big 10 last year. We're not exactly losing anyone to Alabama or Ohio State. 🙂 P4 teams are paying stupid money for G5 starters to become their 2nd stringers. That seems impossible to compete with for the Zips.

Hull played quite a bit. For a Freshman, he more than held his own. Definitely looks like he was born to play NT. Physically, he's a drop in replacement for Marcus Moore. Need to pay more attention to him this week.

Can't wait until no one signs him and we get the first "collusion" law suit. That will be so cool.🙄

My OL positives out of the first scrimmage - We were able to field a full 1st and 2nd team OL. With the additions this summer, we should have a stable of 8-10 serviceable OL's to choose from. That's much better than Joe's Year #1. #78 Darrell Johnson looked good at LT. He's a Jr. from Western Kentucky. The scrimmage was officiated, and there were few OL penalties. Seems like a disciplined group. Tough to glean anything deeper than that from scrimmage #1. My biggest takeaways overall from the scrimmage were - Broughton seems like an exciting player. Has some "special" qualities. He won't unseat Finley, but next year it wouldn't be a surprise to see him behind center. Alex Adams looked healthy and in-shape. He could definitely lessen the blow from Norton's departure.

F*ck Utah.

WMU up 3-2 going into the 3rd period. Good for them!

Went to today's practice. Here's what I gleaned... Check out some of the defensive numbers if you'd like... Starting DL was: 97 / 10 / 5 / 41 Second unit was: 50 / 90 / 98 / 30 Joe's post-practice speech. He seemed pretty pleased Joe spent the bulk of his time observing from 20 yards behind the offense. #3 Cibastian Broughton is intriguing. He's a diminutive kid, but has a strong arm. Completed a long TD pass to #7 Adams (who's back and looks healthy). Had another nice TD pass to St Ed's Kyan Mason (#11) and one to Jake Newell too. Moves well. He's like Dijon Jennings, but good. He will see the field somewhere this season. 2nd Unit OL. First unit was (left tackle to right tackle): 78/56/52/50/73 Second unit was: 60/55/52/79/51 Finley's left leg was apparently cold? He played a lot today. Looked in-command, but understandably a bit rusty. WR's screwed up some routes that probably made his accuracy look worse than it was. Owen Wiley and Dublin Fr. Matt Schramm split the kicker duties. Both missed from 42 yards out. Tough to kick indoors, into netting with goal post stripes that's often only halfway dropped from the ceiling when the ball is snapped. Wiley seems to have the bigger leg, but Schramm is no slouch. This position will be an interesting battle. I forget who caught this Finley pass? It's spring practice for me too. 🙃 Ruggow on the run. He threw an early pick (S #18 DeMarco Johnson). Probably threw more bad balls than good ones today. Back up QB will be a battle this year. I expect Broughton (#3) will see the field, even if not at QB (like above). He's pretty athletic. Maybe a few of the 2024 "Taj" wildcat plays go to him this season? Kyan Mason blocks for Ben. Washington State transfer Brandon Hills (Soph.) made a couple nice receptions. Washington State transfer Brandon Hills again. A Cibastian Broughton INT ended the scrimmage. Overall or DB's looked surprisingly good? I think they had a pick of each Blue QB. Other notes: #95 Joey Castle punted well (albeit indoors). It looks like we'll be ok at punter this year. #22 Jordan Gant (Tennessee State) started at RB. He fumbled on his first carry. But rebounded with a tough 10 yard run on next opportunity. #25 Chris Gee from Colgate was the #2 RB today. Got a lot of action. Runs hard. Showed good hands on swing passes. #13 Sean Patrick saw a lot of reps today. Played at WR and RB. Overall the defense looks good. Solid tackling and created several turnovers. #88 Newell looks to be a beast this year. Made several nice plays. Caught a TD from Broughton. Starting LB's were: 42 (Spriggs), 32 (Summers) and 17 DeWalt (Butte College - listed as a DB) #5 Ronald Hull from Wise HS in Maryland played NT. He's mistakenly listed as #55 on the Zips roster Late game RB's included #28 Luke Reed from Benedictine and Cam Macon from Walsh It was heartening to see the Zips had sufficient depth to field 2-deep offensive and defensive units, even without the guys who will be joining in the summer. The country "Rock me like a Wagon Wheel" blasted on the speaker system for the final few minutes. Overheard in the crowd - Adrian Norton is ineligible...that's why he hasn't signed anywhere.

It doesn’t make the smallest team in the 2025 ncaa tournament better when its 6’ 8” 5th year senior departs. But that’s the way it goes nowadays. The Briscoe era is now upon us…off we go…

I think you might have had some people on your side, until the Akron-Kent is “just a game” comment. Then the wheels came off.

Under the "Looking ahead" category - anyone else think the Zips BB ticket prices will jump appreciably this coming year? Fielding a team has certainly become much more expensive over the past couple seasons.

Hey...he's the Ohio State kid! In Akron, 6' 6" is the new 7'.

Guthrie couldn’t seal the deal and convince a guy the Fordham program is a better place to be than Kent?!

I have the same issue. Never let it deter you. 🙃

I would estimate - 0.0

Yes. YSU kid…CMU kid…and Ohio State kid are the front runners (Per CKPom and CKBPI).

Conner is a free walk on (since his dad is a UA employee). I don't see the BB program adding a scholarship player, likely an out-of-$tate transfer, to replace a free roster spot. As someone earlier stated - it is better to spend any available $15,000 on an incumbent player(s) who's paid their dues and who would actually see the floor than giving said scholarship money to someone ranking between #13 and #15 on the depth chart.

Is your source Terry Pluto?

Amen. The #14 guy on the Zips bench will never see meaningful minutes. Spots 13-15 should be reserved for walk-on’s.

It’s as plain as the nose on your face…Power Conferences take the best and brightest mid-major players…and give us their unwanted table scraps in return. We get the best and brightest of the D2 crop, but that doesn’t nearly offset the NIL/Portal talent loss. If this system were in place 25 years ago, the MAC would never have seen the likes of Bonzi Wells, Brandon Hunter, Gary Trent, Chris Kaman, Earl Boykins, Wally Szerbiak, Antonio Brown and on and on. The Zips have some good fortune in having a great coach and someone to pay a few player’s NIL funds. But that can end tomorrow, and we’ll be fielding teams that have zero chance of ever being more than Round 1 NCAA tournament fodder. I hate it.

I remember Dambrot saying "I'm not going anywhere. I'm an old man" for years when questions arose about him moving on. And then, he was gone. Words don't mean much. If Groce moves on I'll be severely bummed. The next guy won't be as good. He could be the Zips next Coleman Crawford? So I'll enjoy JG while we've got him.

Well said.

Cheese, Banks, Williams, Christian-Jackson…that was the crew that had the best chance to do some post season damage. Elite shooting, size, height, athleticism. Oh well…