LoyalZIP

Not sure on an early tournament. He has talked about the strength of the schedule ad nauseam this year, so I'm really hoping they're able to put together another good one. I think the team taking some blows earlier in the year helped them once MAC play rolled around. To my knowledge, the only games set as of now is a return trip to South Dakota State and a rematch with Bradley at the JAR.

A good watch as always. They replay every angle of Greg's block in the semifinal game and it is absolutely glorious. If we had pulled that one out, it would go down as an unforgettable moment in the rivalry, and as one of the biggest moments of the tournament had Akron been able to win Saturday. That play was sweet, the Kent fans around me were shockingly complaining that it was goaltending, but it may be the cleanest block like that I've seen since June 2016, or so

Saxby Sunderland, a freshman guard from ECU has entered https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/5106049/saxby-sunderland Not much going in his freshman year with the Pirates. Wound up picking up quite a few D1 offers out of high school, including Akron back in August 2020. Unproven college guy, could be on Akron's radar again.

I'm curious as to how Groce and the coaching staff are approaching this process. Last year, everything was mute until Ali's announcement, and then Aziz after that. Ali entered on March 30, Aziz March 31. I still expect at least one or two on the current roster to enter. These graphics/edits they're sending out point to this being a new strategy they're trying out with their exit interview process. I would love to hear how it works. Is the coaching staff utilizing some sort of NIL contract to lock the players in? Is it simply their commitment to wanting to play at Akron and finish what they started? Again, this is all speculation, I'm just very curious. I was hoping and expecting for all of the guys that have "committed" to return, but the season just ended 5 days ago. Coach must have used that bad taste that's still in their mouth to fuel them to stay here. I'm also wondering how much that Ali and Aziz transfers may have to do with this new strategy. It has been reported that the staff was blindsided by both. Maybe now they're making sure everyone's concerns are laid out on the table early in this process before the players all go away for the spring. Again, Ali's announcement last year came 2+ weeks after this point. Another possible theory is selling the program to portal recruits. He wants these guys' word that they'll be back. Anything helps when you're trying to sell the product of winning and success. They could tell anyone that walks in that Freeman, Dawson, Hunter, Tribble are probably coming back, now they can definitively point to these things and say "look how badly these guys want to finish the job." Any other theories? I just think this is really damn cool. A job well done by this coaching staff and program. I was pretty dejected these last few days, seeing all the coverage of the MAC's NCAA tournament representative. I think it should be us. It looks like these guys do too. I enjoyed this season thoroughly, but it's great to see a solid core of guys aren't satisfied with how it ended either. Just like that, my excitement level for Zips basketball is back!

Coach said a few weeks ago that the trainer and doctors have been blown away by the speed at which Dawson has been recovering. He got back to shooting ahead of schedule--this is huge for getting back into game shape and having a good summer. That is a hard injury to recover from in many ways, including mentally. @Illini Zip wasn't around for Noah Robotham's ACL injury and recovery, it took him a while to get comfortable playing on that leg. Hopefully Dawson comes out as if he hasn't missed a beat.

https://goshockers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/shammah-scott/7224 Recent entry. Shaker Heights guy, recruited previously by Akron. Didn’t put up any special numbers and may be more of a project than a plug and play, but someone I would keep an eye on. Pink Fraud will likely be in contact too, as he’ll be chasing the next Carry caliber player starting very soon.

Akron really has dominated the Pink Fraud. He’s still a few games under .500 against Akron, and despite back to back 2-1 seasons against Akron, he’s still at .500 against Groce. Groce has also beaten him by double digits 3 times, and Akron’s wins the last two years have been so lopsided that they outscored Kent in all three games combined. He started 0-4 against Akron, with his first win coming the day after the Abreu ordeal. That record became 1-5 before long, and was 3-8 going into the 2015-2016 season.

MAC POY front runner. Get in the lab ASAP boys!!!

Great hire, the WAC has become a really good hoops league and he did a great job to build that program up.

Kamari Williams of Miami has entered. He played 2 years at Boston College and 2 at Miami.

Perhaps the exit interviews have begun

Hugley is a name to keep an eye on in the MAC. From Brush. Put up great numbers last year before ending his season in December this year to manage mental health. He could likely transfer laterally or up, but may find a great home in the MAC.

Kaden Metheny and Chandler Turner from BG have entered

Renovations at Gallagher Iba in Stillwater, so they are road warriors until they make the finals.

Not yet, every time I see that logo I expect to see it

Another from CMU. Nick Pavrette. Lots of Butler guys in there as well.

https://www.verbalcommits.com/transfers/2023/D1 I've been refreshing this throughout the day. Primo Spears, Georgetown's best player who transferred in from DooCane the year before, is in the portal again. I'm assuming he'll go for a hardship waiver. He's one of the bigger names in the portal so far.

Riq's girlfriend of a couple of years now also plays lacrosse at Akron. That could play a factor in the decision.

He certainly passes the eye test. And the numbers test. A little trigger happy from 3, shooting 15-85 on the year. But 51% from 2, finishes at the rim and can draw fouls. He shot a ton of FTs, hitting at 80%. Averaged 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. I'm sure Groce will give him a call to test the waters.

The Buffalo exodus has begun. Devin Ceaser, Kidtrell Blocker, Zid Powell have portal'd. Miami's Javin Etzler, who has played 30 games over 4 seasons, is in the portal. BG's Rashaun Agee, a decent player, has entered. Miller, Bass, Zarzuela, Drummond from CMU, though Bass isn't appearing as officially entering, IIRC he made his own announcement. 6 Georgia State players have entered Someone named Jarred Logan from Kent Quiet on the MAC front for now, awaiting exit interviews I'm sure.

I think the recruiting advantage is the big one here. I ran into OU’s women’s coach Bob Bolden in Cleveland this weekend. Great guy, former Zip. He had a bad year. He said the advantage to not making the postseason was that the entire staff had the ability to go out and recruit all over the place last week. With that said, you can’t really go out and recruit the portal like that, but there could still be some Diamond-in-the-rough 2023 HS guys out there in addition to advancing 2024 and 2025 relationships.

Bud Wentz and Matt Kaulig would pick up that bill instantly.

I do want to see them keep playing. I highly doubt the money has anything to do with it. If Groce and the team had the opportunity but needed the money, they would be scouting for the opponent now. There’s a really solid group of teams that got “left out” of all of the top 3 tournaments. Akron has had much worse teams continue playing. I’m curious as to how the CBI accepted teams, like if they extended the first invite, or it was a first come first serve. A nice statement from Guthrie and Groce would be nice. I would watch this team play in BF Egypt on a fuzzy phone quality video 100x before I would ever watch the 13-14 team lose to IPFW.

In the past, I would have been fine being done. But I really enjoyed this team all year, as frustrating as it was to watch early on. But we’ve only had the chance to play in the postseason once under Groce, and this team is plenty deserving. I have no idea what goes into this, but I’m pretty bummed tonight. We’ve had far worse teams continue playing in the past.