mes102

Isn't this fun?!?! I really hope all this hype and buzz comes into reality on draft night and the following NBA season🤞

I don't know a lot about Brown & Davis, but Wigal is an interesting pickup. She was a really good basketball player at Granville, and I heard she's actually a really good golfer as well, finishing 4th in the state in D1 one year. She didn't play much at Liberty, but going off how I've heard Coach Gensler talk about how he wants to play via interviews/podcasts, Wigal would fit in. Here's a video I found of her highlights from her sophomore year of HS.

I knew it was a long shot, but Emma Shumate ended up at Michigan State today. I'm just glad that she won't be in the MAC if it wasn't Akron. I was getting worried she might go to that Portage school with her older sister just finishing her college career there this season.

The only one that has end up at YSU so far from those in the portal is Lewandowski. Bass might end up at Purdue.

I expected Akron to be in the mix when I saw Vejsicky & Wigal enter the portal. I don't know much about Davis & Brown other than what's mentioned here. There is one in the portal that I'm hoping will end up at Akron because that player has a real chance to be a Jordyn Dawson MAC POY type of player with multiple years of eligibility left. I'll mention the name I was thinking about once they end up at Akron or somewhere else.

I know the college landscape has changed, but when there's a coaching change, I normally look at the 1st year for the head coach as Year 0 (it might have been here or somewhere else I heard that, but I agree with that) whether it's high school or college.

People have to remember, all the freshmen in the portal were not Gensler recruits. They were Jackson recruits. Would not surprise me if more than Bass ends up at YSU. The real question here... Does the Akron - YSU series continue on the women's side? Next year's rotation is supposed to be @ Akron 😬

The part I agree with you about. I believe the committee had the VCU-Duquesne winner at the 11 seed regardless. That game was on Selection Sunday, and only the winner was getting in. The reputation of the A-10 far outweighs the MAC over the last decade, and so that's why you see Duquesne getting the 11 seed. I mean that's why Dambrot said as a speaker to a campus class over a decade ago that if he was coaching at a school like Duke, he would be in the NCAA Tournament every year and Coach K wouldn't have done anything at Akron. Conference reputations matter. Look at the Mountain West. With the PAC 12 dissolving, they're branding themselves the "Big East of the West Coast" now.

That's why those losses to Miami, EMU, & WMU matter & those close losses to UNLV, Utah State, and St. Bonaventure. Those are different outcomes and we're talking about playing a depleted Kansas team matchup than a Final Four caliber Creighton matchup. Yes, only three games in Cleveland matter to get to this point. But how you play the rest of the season will either help or hurt your chances once you're here. On the Creighton side, they got bounced early from their conference tournament. Unfortunately, normally those teams are the ones that bounce back in the NCAA Tournament. While on the other side where the ones that went on a run to win their conference tournament, usually underperformed/failed to get out of the first weekend.

What are you talking about? He was a 12 seed before with Akron in the NCAA Tournament.

I saw this earlier and had to share it. I keep believing I appreciate Enrique as much as I can, but I still feel like I don't appreciate him enough (if that makes any sense). I'm just excited Enrique and this team has the opportunity again to play on this stage.

I'll be updating this over the next couple weeks. I've been busy with my primary job along with two other projects that may turn into secondary incomes into the future at some point. The one secondary project is wrapping up for the season, so I'll have some free time to update this soon.

I am only mentioning this because of how crazy this is for travel. We're so used to having to travel to the West Coast or something crazy like that. Creighton - Akron - South Carolina - Oregon winner plays in the Sweet 16.... in DETROIT!!!!!!!!!!! The Midwest regional semifinal and regional final will be in Detroit. You can't ask for a better path for Akron fans to travel if this team finds a way to make a tournament run with Pittsburgh & Detroit being the path! EDIT - Groce's first NCAA Tournament win was as a 14 seed vs 3 seed Georgetown before losing to an SEC team (Tennessee) in second round. Just wanted to throw that in there 😎

I've seen two bracketology projections, both at #14 vs same opponent but different location. #14 Akron - #3 Illinois (in Pittsburgh, PA) #14 Akron - #3 Illinois (in Omaha, NE)

Welp...that didn't take long. EDIT - If the schedule rotation stays the same, Akron will be hosting Youngstown State next year 😬

She needs to be because the rest of that team is underwhelming. It's going to take all-time performance(s) for them to make it to Cleveland for the Final Four.

2025 is Dee Alexander from Cincinnati Purcell Marian & the 2026 is actually Saniyah Hall from Shaker Heights Laurel. Alexander is ranked #4 in the country for the class of 2025 and Hall is ranked #3 in the country for the class of 2026. Benson is actually ranked #57 in the country for class of 2025. South Carolina could be looking at Benson and some of the others you mentioned (I haven't seen an offer from South Carolina for Benson yet), but I know for a fact that South Carolina has offered Alexander and Hall. South Carolina has a small pipeline to Ohio now. They had Zia Cooke from Toledo Rogers HS, and currently they have Bree Hall (Huber Hts Wayne HS) and Sakima Walker (Columbus Africentric HS) on their roster. Those that don't follow girls basketball closely, don't realize how talented of a state Ohio is in girls basketball. I guarantee there will be at least one or two Ohioans on a Final Four roster this season when it's in Cleveland.

Well, HE was a big part of Staley's staff. Also, Staley has had no issues traveling to small schools. She has played and had her team travel to some HBCUs as well. Plus, she probably wanted to give her two players on the roster from Ohio a game in their home state. EDIT: There is also a class of 2025 recruit & Class of 2026 recruit from Ohio that South Carolina has offered. So that may be an additional, bonus reason for it too.

The only thing that matters out of this recruiting class for me is Roggow. If he can bring stability to the QB position for the program, then anyone else in this recruiting class is just an extra bonus to me. Until Moorhead and company figure out the QB going forward, this program will continue to be stuck in quicksand.

Here are the NET Rankings as of Monday, December 4th for the WBB programs in the MAC as well as Akron's non-conference opponents NCAA Net Ranking link #238 Akron (3-3) #81 Southern Miss (6-0) - L 60-77 #89 Cleveland State (7-1) #180 Pittsburgh (4-5) - W 75-72 (OT) #213 Canisius (2-3) #215 Oakland (1-4) - L 87-91 (2OT) #228 Wichita State (4-4) - L 61-63 #283 Youngstown State (1-6) #287 Robert Morris (2-5) - W 63-58 (OT) #303 Bellarmine (2-4) #327 Tennessee State (1-6) - W 55-49 #105 Toledo (3-2) #107 Kent State (4-3) #115 Ball State (6-1) #141 Bowling Green (5-2) #206 Buffalo (4-2) #246 Western Michigan (3-3) #272 Northern Illinois (3-5) #286 Ohio (2-3) #307 Miami (OH) (1-4) #319 Eastern Michigan (1-5) #340 Central Michigan (0-5)

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this group improves throughout the season. With the only seniors being Morgan Haney, Alexis Stewart, and Tahmala Thorpe, this program has a chance to have a special season next year. However, they're already making strides and I can't wait to see how much they grow in conference play.

Maybe, but in the past, I've seen a 5-4 point guard lead the country in assists & assists per game for the Lady Zips. And I've coached someone that wasn't even 5 feet. She was one of our program's most important players to winning a conference title and winning 20 games in a row two years ago at the varsity H.S. level. There are obvious limitations, but can also be an advantage in other areas. I think they will be most impactful on the defensive end. They're closer to the floor, so they're going to have a better chance for steals, deflections, and/or just making the ball-handler's day miserable. I believe the strength of this team will be the post players, particularly with Bass & Riley.