Let'sGoZips94

Just a heads up for anyone that has Playstation Vue. Sony is shutting down Vue on January 30th, 2020, so all of the above games will be unavailable to you unless you find a new service or pay for the individual networks.

2005 MAC Title Game. What a road to get in, needing help from the NIU/WMU game. What a comeback. Garrett Wolfe throwing up over 200 yds on the ground, prompting the SportsCenter personality to say in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, "I will poop on all your defense!" My dad wanting to leave with something like 3-5 minutes left in the game before wisely appeasing his 11 year old son at the time who wanted to stay (I still remember the pessimist in him thinking Hixon dropped the ball, thinking "that's an Akron thing to happen"). Hixon battling cramps all game. And of course, who could forget... "Getsy pumps, he throws for Hixon and it is... CAUGHT! FOR A TOUCHDOWN! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Solid news for them. 6'7" 215 lbs Sophomore. Excerpts from Texas Tech's website... FRESHMAN SEASON (2018-19) Mballa appeared in 17 games in his freshman season for the Red Raiders with a season-high three points at Kansas… He also scored in games against Incarnate Word, Northern Colorado, Northwestern State, Abilene Christian and Baylor… Mballa finished the season 4-for-9 from the field and had two blocked shots coming against Kansas and West Virginia... He gained NCAA Tournament experience in the second-round win over Buffalo and the Sweet 16 victory over Michigan. PRIOR TO TEXAS TECH Mballa is a strong rebounder and defender who is long, athletic and plays with a high motor … Prepped at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut under Tom Espinosa, the same program as forward Malik Ondigo … Team turned in a 38-4 record and won the program’s first national championship in 2018 … Mballa was born in Detroit, Michigan but grew up in Bordeaux, France where he played for Kameet Academy while growing up before coming back to the United States for high school... Possesses extensive international experience with the French National Team … Played in the FIBA U17 World Championships in 2016 and the FIBA U18 European Championships in 2017 … Posted 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game during the 2017 event … Signed his Athletic Scholarship Agreement (ASA) in July 2018. Their cupboard still emptied with last year's graduating class. We'll see how they're able to re-tool - IF they're able to re-tool. Interesting. Looking forward to hearing how the scrimmage against Xavier ends up in 2 days. *Plugs Robert Morris into the Excitement Meter* Oh! I think it twitched! Wait... Nevermind. That was just Joe Akron tapping on it to see if it's working. They have the most experience returning. Choke-masters or not, this shows how wide open the MAC is this year.

This is a respectable pre-season ranking. Even at our peak, our typical pre-season rankings put us ~100 (+/- 10) at the highest before working our way up to the 50s-60s. The four teams ahead of us... KSUcks (118) BUGS (117) Buffalo (93) Toledo (82) Regarding Groce's comments... - I like hearing the team chemistry seems to be good - WE HAVE DEPTH?! - I would be shocked if we aren't one of the best - if not THE (sue me, OSUcks) best - conditioned team in the MAC. Following the team's social media, they hit fitness HARD this off-season, including Orange Theory Fitness which I've done; it's no joke on the public class level, and I can't imagine how it was tweaked for the team. - Who was the scrimmage against? He said, "Andy's program."

With the way this season is going, Webster's Dictionary needs to change the definition of irony to this - "Akron's 2019 football season & celebrating We're #2"

Awww man... I was thoroughly enjoying revisiting a schedule with VMI on it as our only win that year... You're no fun. And to think we're only halfway through the football season having this discussion, and we still have an entire basketball season to debate Groce vs. Dambrot. ?

It was the night of laser shots apparently. Queue Perry Kitchen's 2010 College Cup goal!

Preseason polls and "more respectable". What a relative oxymoron. Agreed about Knapke, German, Sibande, and Graves.

Something with either a coaching change and he didn't fit into the game plan as much, or he slowly faded out of playing time. Regardless, he's an A10 talent with a P5 body and solid experience that will instantly help us out this year. I think he's going to be like Linhart.

I agree it's difficult to determine who will excel in college, but you don't pass on a local bloodline like the Nance family. Not only did Sr. excel in the NBA, but now Jr. is excelling and Pete is at Northwestern. It's a family of athletes. If one of them expresses interest in your school - especially a school like Akron - you leave a scholarship open for them. Tree is one of my all-time favorite Zips to watch, but I would have taken the chance on Nance Jr., even with his supposed "fatigue" problems, over Harney who had academic & hustle issues. Hindsight is 20/20, though. I don't disagree with CJ McCollum. He was a scorer, so he had that going for him, but he exploded out of nowhere. I just think Nance is a huge miss, especially if there was mutual interest.

Wow. Excellent news. The college game is won at the guard position, and from what I just read and saw, this kid will fit in nicely. How nice is it to have a local (NEO) kid staying home? P.S. What position is CG?

20 wins is very doable this year, and they'll be battle-tested early with Louisville and WVU. UMASS will also be a solid game, strictly due to the A10 status - confidence booster if you win. The MAC is wide open this year, but we also need to keep in mind - Groce is a March-first coach. If we don't peak early, don't be surprised. We'll be ready for when the season actually matters. I love the depth of this team. These are Groce's guys. I'm excited. Let's Go Zips!

Embarrassing. Inexcusable. Negligible. Horrendous. Any other negative words I can use to describe how atrocious the above comments are? Ooo, atrocious. Add that. I'm not surprised Larry Jr. wanted to come to Akron. I played in the summer youth camps with him. It was very cool seeing Sr., Jr., and Pete all at the JAR consistently for those camps each year. The Nance family is all about their hometown area, and Larry would have excelled in Blue & Gold. He put Wyoming on the map; imagine where Akron would have been (granted those were the years we became semi-ranked and garnered a lot of national media attention). I'm glad KD is gone, especially after reading this. This is similar to the Browns not drafting Clay Matthews Jr.

Decent atmosphere. Best in a while.

Headline on Sunday: Zach Zips Akron by KSUcks

I thought 6'10" was the threshold by which everyone should be judged by and given a scholarship offer if that requirement is met? ? Agreed. I definitely think he'll benefit this team greatly in practice, especially with rim protection. However there doesn't seem to be much fluid motion in his game and it looks like he's moving at 1 mph. DI ball is FAST. He (seemingly) lacks the explosion to be an impact player in a real game. Shocker.

And we aren't throwing a preseason hype party with Snoop Dogg! Two positives! WE'RE ON A ROLL! (If you don't know what I'm referring to, Google Kansas Basketball & Snoop Dogg. Embarrassing.)

I would have to imagine Ryan McGee is itching to follow this game. Can't was in the Bottom 10 up until their drubbing of BUGS. The updated Bottom 10 comes out tomorrow. What are the Vegas odds we remain at #1 after beating the BYE week? At least we're #1 in something.

Duquesne's message board is talking about the players they're bringing in taking them to the NIT. Oh wait, this isn't the place to post about KD? I thought we were throwing all the crap drama into one thread... I do think it's acceptable to expect this team to go undefeated at home this season for the OOC portion of the schedule. Year 3 of Groce, with his guys here, and what looks to be some solid depth - get er done. Happy October! ?

100% yes. We have gotten more and more athletic each year, and this is the year I think we start to see the actual talent on this team produce. This team looks like Groce's O-Who teams that won 3 NCAA tourney games in 4 seasons (not that I'm suggesting we'll win an NCAA tourney game this year; we'll certainly be more competitive than in recent years). Could not agree more.

"X" will be the "X-Factor" this year due to how he'll stretch the floor on offense and affect matchups on defense. With that being said, Year-to-Year Improvement from the Core is a close 2nd, and Tribble is my 3rd option. I've said it a lot on this board - guards are the key to success in college basketball. Between Tribble, LCJ, and Cheese, our backcourt is in good shape. Really good shape. Hopefully basketball can provide some hope and joy to what has been a dismal 2019-20 sports season so far for the University.

I can see it now. "The Robertson Family Suite at InfoCision Stadium"

Tribble looks like the real deal in those clips. Little nuances in his drive to the basket show me he has the raw fundamental skills and athleticism to be a game changer from day 1. X looks like a real leader and strong man down low. I think this offense is going to run through Cheese, though. I hope you'll be watching the Indians these next 5 games.

Sounds like Danny has "worn out his welcome at Bushwood". Anyways, I like this game for Akron. I hope Burkhart plays - the kid is electric.

Closer game at the half than the rest this season. Kato wasn't able to pad his stats against a soft defense that typically backs off at the start of the second half. Gotta find a leader at the QB position. Kato ain't it - from every aspect of the QB position.