RowdyZip

I don't think the decision is dampening anyone's optimism for the program and all of the promising moves that have been made in the last 3-4 months. It just dampened enthusiasm for some of us that were looking forward to some time in Infocision watching the Zips. Those in attendance, take good notes and report here 😝 I'll be sure to share pics of the fire pit project I finish off today.

It's amazing it's been 5 years. I was apprehensive on the initial hire, but he's certainly brought me into the fold these last 5 years. I think John Groce is the kind of basketball coach that you HATE when he's not your coach, and LOVE when he is your coach. Probably like Bobby Hurley was for UB fans. I got caught up in those years of hating him as OU's coach so it took me a few to warm up. The latest news on the extension certainly pushes me further in that direction. Let's hope we have a long-term solution in place for MBB and football. Go Zips!

There's definitely reasons for the game to be held indoors. We could have a day like Tuesday this week where it barely touches 40 degrees with wall-to-wall clouds. However, outdoors should be the default with an option to move it inside due to weather or other extenuating circumstances. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying the logistics of the decision process but we're not at the Rubber Bowl anymore. These two venues are 100' apart and we have a fairly accurate forecast 5-7 days ahead of time. I'm not interested in watching a glorified practice indoors where there can't be punts, field goals, or even a kickoff. I may stop by campus for the surplus sale, but most likely I'll stay home and get some work done on the house. Incredibly disappointed.

Yeesh....yeah, lot of good things happening in Athletics since Mr. Guthrie came aboard, but this is a pretty big disappointment and miss. Looking forward to the analysis from those on the board that are attending.

Ahhh, this makes sense. Still unfortunate.

I'll have to agree. The fieldhouse is cramped and lacks "game day" amenities. And, regardless about how you feel about the (hopefully) ending COVID 19 pandemic, it really doesn't make sense to have the event indoors when you have a beautiful open-air facility 200 feet away. Very interested in the game, but I'll probably pass this year and get some yardwork done. Was kind of looking forward to taking the kids to the stadium and maybe grabbing a hot dog and a coke.

I'm only plugging him in there because there's no one else. This team is a team of guards, outside of Freeman, Hunter and Wynn.

I would have to guess we would start Hunter at 4 and Freeman at 5. At this point, Wynn is the top guy on the bench to get minutes there, as he's the only other one on the team taller than 6'5". Or we'll be playing smaller guys out of position, which is fine in the MAC but may run us into problems in the post season (or preseason) tournaments. I'd have to think that last open scholly has to go to a serviceable player with size that can at least take on 10-15 minutes in the frontcourt for Hunter/Freeman, or more in the case of foul trouble.

Yeah, I think that last spot has to go to someone with size, even if they're a developmental project. Wonder if Bandaogo is 100% gone?

Slow times on ZN...

I'd have to bet we now lead all of D1 in "Members of the Bahamanian National Team."

Pretty hefty challenge because I don't know of a single program that would turn down a guy with these attributes.

About 260 uncommitted players on 247's (incomplete) transfer portal listing. Not sure how close it is to complete, but it doesn't contain Trimble or Bandaogo. Might be a while before this all shakes out... 1,097 uncommitted on VerbalCommits...so...yeah. Seems like, at least for now, coaches will have new recruiting period.

Had this exact conversation with a friend. A conference ranking in the 20s and losing a LOT of All-MAC talent in Ali, Sears, Hollins, etc. If coaches don't have success bringing in new faces from the portal, the MAC may be destined for at least a couple years to remain in the bottom 3rd of D1, and that's not good for any of us.

2006, post championship in the Fieldhouse. I met Jason Taylor at BW3 and he took a break from his round of Golden Tee to sign my bobblehead box. Won't ever forget it, he was very cordial and flattered.

Was curious, so I went through the verbal commits portal real quick and slapped together a very non-scientific analysis of the 117 listed transfers with new landing spots as of this morning. Compared the conference prestige with old/new teams for the player. If a conference was within +/- 5 ranking spots, the move was considered lateral. 61 (52.14%) moved down in D1 or to a lower level. 29 (24.79%) moved laterally, to a conference with similar prestige or within the same conference. 27 (23.08%) moved up a competition level or to a higher prestige conference in D1. Moral of the story: Lots of movement still to happen, but if we see similar numbers to this I think a lot of kids will realize it's not worth starting over when they have a >75% chance of moving laterally or down in their final landing spot.

If he wants to lose to Akron 3-4 times, it's cool with me.

These rumors tell me that if we're successful next year, we'll probably be hiring a new coach (if that doesn't happen this year). Not gonna lie, the combination of the Groce to Butler rumors and the Ali (from Indiana) transfer still have me a little nervous.

This you? Your opinion sure has changed a lot in two weeks.

Agree for the most part. However, it's impossible to argue we're not in a worse position now than we were a week or two ago. The onus is on the staff to replace and/or upgrade the guys that are leaving. We know they're capable of doing so, but it certainly is an extra challenge over rolling into next season with the exact same team that was so successful in March. Another piece is that we're in a much, much more challenging tournament in November. Gonna have to work overtime to build that team chemistry with the new pieces to have success over some pretty good programs.

You can Zzzzz all you want. He was a prime candidate to develop into an all-MAC center, and as of now we only have Enrique on the roster capable of playing the 5. Another big hole to fill for Groce and company.

It's pretty close when you played a 7 man rotation for the last half-dozen games of the season, and one of those guys is Michael Wynn.

He's a 7 footer that just recently began playing basketball at a high level with athletic ability that led the league in blocks playing just 12 minutes per game. He was a prime candidate to continue a high level of development on the offensive side of the ball with a little additional strength and muscle mass. Not the same level of loss as Ali, but could end up being even bigger.

Ultimately, this will boil down to schools that have NIL opportunities and those that don't. The best players from medium and small schools will play a couple and move up to make some cash. You can hardly blame them, but it absolutely sucks for those of us that follow schools like Akron/OU/Buffalo, etc. These are consistently strong programs that find kids that other programs pass up. It will truly be like starting from scratch every single season.

This makes me feel a little better. The Bandaogo portal entry was starting to make me think that maybe Coach was leaving the program and we were seeing the early evidence of a Murray State type exodus.