Let'sGoZips94

We won 3 out of 9 under Dambrot. We never really sniffed a W in the Big Dance in the 3 appearances we made (Notre Dame wasn't good). The 7 straight Finals appearances were a blast, but coming up short twice as often grew old.

We have 13 scholarship guys. IMO, Kamali is the only redshirt candidate. Even then, I wouldn't redshirt anyone. Transfer Portal eliminates the redshirt potential for me. Ali Ali coming back only works if he is as efficient as he was in 2021-22 - and that's his outlier year by far as a D1 basketball player.

Never appreciated the excuses for his failure to take us to the next level. Did not appreciate the state he left the program in. Did not appreciate the ceiling he put on Akron when he left for Duquesne. Absolutely appreciate the level to which he elevated Akron basketball, but the way he spoke (bitching about the JAR, MAC 1-bid league, fans, etc.) made it seem like Akron had the ceiling instead of Dambrot. Time is proving that the ceiling was actually over Dambrot, not Akron.

Gotta do something to boost program morale when you're paying the coach $1M+ per year to deliver subpar/mediocre results. After all, KD's Participation Trophy case is quite large.

@catdaddyp Thank you, as always, for the in-depth & insightful breakdown of the spring game. We are doing a live-in 1st floor house remodel with 2 kids under 4, so I completely forgot the game was on Saturday (I also can't believe that was the last weekend of April already). Would much rather have been at the Spring Game. - I'm glad to hear Linguard looks the part. As long as it took for our OLine to gel last year, our RBs didn't do their part in making things happen on their own. We need Linguard & this RB group to make things happen while our OL continues to develop. - Also glad to hear that our secondary seems to be much improved. That was our biggest weakness on defense last year. WAY too many big plays given up in that level of the D. - Do we have any impending pass-rush/DL help incoming?

By way of the MAC?

Is this a high-level transfer? Awful lot of secrecy and hype.

Does this cover their trip to Puerto Rico?

Why hasn't he committed to Akron already if he's coming back? Paperwork?

Pat McAfee is a gazillionaire now because of YouTube. I'm not sure how much revenue he generated from YouTube specifically, but providing a free show that everyone with internet can access has attracted such a crowd that his sponsor deals have been in the $100M+ range. The MAC has the 2nd largest non P5 TV deal that ends after the 2026-27 season. I do wonder how lucrative that deal is, being paywalled behind cable/streaming/ESPN+ subscriptions, vs a deal or independent movement to go to YouTube. Hell, all ESPN+ is anyways is a platform where the University's broadcast can be seen. I don't know if the TV deals include equipment or funding for equipment, but it's an interesting avenue that could be explored.

He and Emoni Bates will be competing for the MSBOTY award - MAC String Bean of the Year.

Bass? He picked the perfect school for this then. Pinky once again doesn't even have to recruit. "Looking for a school with low academic and character standards? Look no further than Can't State." Good luck to Bass memorizing the colors in Crayola's 64 box of crayons. Hopefully he's at least better than his classmates and doesn't eat any.

32% from 2. 32% from 3. Averaged just under 13ppg on a garbage CMU squad where he had plenty of opportunity. It's a decent fill, but nothing earth shattering. OU added one of Creighton's benchwarmer guards.

Exactly. He left; the others didn't. He had the opportunity to be part of the unfinished business crew with their sights on winning a Tourney game, and he chose to leave. His attitude and hero ball were part of are struggles for much of that season. Technicals, stupid fouls, poor shot selection, etc. There was a shift where it came together for an improbable run, but his contribution to the problems reared its ugly head in the UCLA game. He wasn't in that game mentally. 36 minutes produced 5 pts on 2-10 shooting, 1-4 from 3, 1 PF, 1 TO, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 1 AST. Not sure I've ever seen a more pedestrian game line from any star of a team in the biggest game of the season - ever. His play the ENTIRE UCLA game was awful. Nobody is pretending we weren't excited at the prospect of returning that 21-22 squad in its entirety prior to him leaving. But excusing his decision to not be part of Akron basketball, then citing stats with a rose colored look at the season that include a lot of head-scratching struggles - including from Ali Ali - is equally as weird. Also, outside of the one year, he hasn't come close to averaging double digits scoring. For all we know, that one year could be an anomaly and he could be a very average basketball player. To me, it's not an "obvious" decision to want him/welcome him back.

We have different definitions of John Groce basketball at Akron. We have had 2 beloved home grown guys - Freeman & Tribble. Otherwise, LCJ, X2.0, X1.0, Cheese, Banks, etc., all came from other programs and finished their careers here. @Captain Kangaroo hit the nail on the head. If he is back at Akron next season, he needs to be more mature, humble, a better facilitator, and 1000% bought into Groce Ball. His "hero ball" plays need to be left at Butler.

I think Memphis should draft Emoni. I think JA Morant would be a good mentor.

Is he a grad transfer? I wonder if Balls is a landing spot for him. Stay close to home, their coach saw him first hand in the tourney (even though he no-showed), and he'd get instant PT.

His social media was pretty heavily Akron there for a bit. I think we all misinterpreted.

They weren't wrong for about half the season. Truly am glad the Portage County Insane Asylum decided to extend Pinky. The character he recruits matches that institution to a T.

... and bring it down to a 1-bid league. FIFY.

Freeman is going to have to work on his jump shot to be able to have any shot at getting drafted - whether it's this year or next year. Imagine him consistently hitting from 18+ ft.

Would love to see him get drafted. Seriously - how cool would it be to have an Akron player to root for in the Association? Especially Rique?

I thought Dambrot had interest from other programs?