Let'sGoZips94

Yeah I'd take Walton.

Who is the next one?

Can't say I blame him when it comes to location, but he's heading to a mess of a program.

I didn't realize David was once a YSU commit.

Just to continue the Twitter rumor/speculation train, Mark Kostelac (recent Akron commit) followed Torrey Patton and David Collins on Twitter - a couple days ago if I'm not mistaken.

Kostelac followed Torrey Patton and David Collins - a couple days ago I believe.

Collins also follows Poke. Haven't dug much deeper than that though. And this would be nice to have...

Torrey Patton just committed to AKRON. 12 hours ago, Torrey quoted David Collins' tweet. Is this going to be a domino effect...?

By the way, do you think this has any impact on David Collins?

VERY nice get by Groce. Welcome to Akron, Torrey! Time to get revenge on Graves!

Good. Path of least resistance. Keep that 21-win-season streak going!

Michigan must have a pipeline to Athens to steal their players. LaVert... Simmons...

Stainbrook? The guy from WMU that transferred to Xavier and contributed pretty well? Sign me up.

Him vs. Graves twice a year could be fun. Hopefully he likes Groce enough to come to Akron.

I thought the same thing, but Baltic didn't have near the physical stature that Mark has. Baltic was 6'9" 215 lbs soaking wet. Mark is a solid 6'11 260-270 lbs.

Any update on Mr. Walton?

So should we blame Buffalo, for being in the MAC East, for our budget issues instead of the Info?

I posted this in the recruiting thread for Mark. In an interview posted in that other thread, he mentions he's "back" and talks about an apparent Kevin Durant injury that he had. Does this injury have anything to do with his path?

I think this is a VERY nice addition. It fills a gaping hole in the roster - a big. What I like most is how athletic he is. He seems to always be moving, which should help prevent the offense from becoming stagnant. He also seems to stretch the floor nicely with his shooting ability. I don't remember the last athletic big we had. Did he say he had a Kevin Durant injury? Is that why he didn't go anywhere after high school?

Has he really attracted that amazing of talent?

Maybe LeBron put the University in touch with the guy that designed The Q's megatron.

#2 guy on there is going to Buffalo.

I disagree. I think Antino, Utomi, and Ivey were the 3 best players on the team, and consistently the 3 best. The other players may have thrived statistically more, but that's largely due to the system. Again, I don't think it was a great system. Now, if we do indeed lose Antino, that hurts. Again, I disagree. Buffalo had 1 or 2 players that we did not match up well against, and that was again, due to the system - specifically the part that didn't stop dribble penetration. Kent out-efforted us. EMU, no. OU, Hell no. I think some of you need to go back through some of the game threads. You'll find LOTS of quotes along the lines of... "Josh Williams is too slow for this level..." "Noah seems lost and absent..." "Where is Kwan?" "Ivey is our best player..." "Utomi needs to be in there more..."

1. I don't think we lost a whole lot in those two. Unlike others, I don't put a whole lot of stock into the awards like the MAC POY and All-MAC teams. The MAC was GARBAGE this year, and the only reason Big Dog was POY was because of Dambrot's system, which more or less hindered our ability to succeed at times throughout the year. Plus, Kwan pulled a Mike Napoli disappeared in big moments. 2. We were head and shoulders above the MAC talent wise. Aside from Kwan and Big Dog, we lost a bench player in Hughes (who knows what he turns out to be, but he wasn't a contributing factor last year), an undersized backup PG in TDM, Josh Williams who many said was/is too slow for this level, and Noah who hasn't been the same since his injury. Antino isn't a confirmed loss. We maintained Ivey, Utomi, Eubanks, Jackson, and Poke so far. Plus, our incoming recruiting class is largely in tact I believe. 3. I am also one of those people who believes Dambrot's ceiling was reached, and I don't believe he was THAT great of a coach. I am appreciative of the foundation he laid here at Akron, but too many times we were out-coached, and I think Groce will win games that Dambrot lost simply due to coaching. 4. We are still in the MAC. People need to stop treating the MAC like it's the ACC. Mid-level MAC schools smack around the Radfords of the world, but a drop from a top MAC school to a low/mid-level MAC school is greater than losing what we did. What prevented us from Dancing wasn't talent - it was a better game plan, effort, desire, and heart, AKA coaching.