Blue & Gold Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 Man, Groce has brought in as much highly-regarded talent in one week as KD did in 12 years. Once again, I'd like to express my deeply heartfelt thanks to Duquesne!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 And I'm going to sleep well tonight, knowing that somewhere Terry Pluto has sh*t himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronzips71 Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 With the stars all jumping ship to be a Zip, JG needs to fire another bench warmer and keep a scholarship in his pocket just in case. Can LeBron still play 4 years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 (edited) Jackson and Eubanks are gone after next year and each under scholly correct? And we just brought in 2 former 4 stars and a 3 star within a day who are both very young in their careers (i.e. far from assumed busts)? Holy moly. Edited April 29, 2017 by LZIp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronzips71 Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 BUT, not for next season. At least most of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZip0510 Posted April 29, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said: Man, Groce has brought in as much highly-regarded talent in one week as KD did in 12 years. Once again, I'd like to express my deeply heartfelt thanks to Duquesne!!! I know this is tongue-in-cheek but I sense it will be a theme for many moving forward, so I'll say this and then move on: Akron was a mediocre program when Keith Dambrot took over. He and his staff built it into a consistently winning program with 3 NCAA Tournament berths along the way. When KD left, he left the program in FAR better condition than he received it. Even the biggest KD critic should be able to admit that he took the program to a higher level than it had been before. In fact, John Groce is not Akron's coach today if Dambrot didn't build it into a program with a winning reputation first. Dambrot took us as far as he could, and now I believe Groce will take us to the next level in finally getting that NCAA Tournament run. It's OK to be excited about Groce and what he's doing while still having great appreciation for 13 years of hard work KD gave us. Keith Dambrot will one day have a banner next to the one belonging to Bob Huggins in Akron. I think we can all agree on two things: #1- That banner better be hanging in a new or renovated arena, #2- It'd be perfect if John Groce fulfills what we all believe he can here to have a banner up there as well. Rant over, back to scouting awesome prospects. Go Zips! Edited April 29, 2017 by UAZip0510 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valpo Zip Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 2 hours ago, UAZip0510 said: I know this is tongue-in-cheek but I sense it will be a theme for many moving forward, so I'll say this and then move on: Akron was a mediocre program when Keith Dambrot took over. He and his staff built it into a consistently winning program with 3 NCAA Tournament berths along the way. When KD left, he left the program in FAR better condition than he received it. Even the biggest KD critic should be able to admit that he took the program to a higher level than it had been before. In fact, John Groce is not Akron's coach today if Dambrot didn't build it into a program with a winning reputation first. Dambrot took us as far as he could, and now I believe Groce will take us to the next level in finally getting that NCAA Tournament run. It's OK to be excited about Groce and what he's doing while still having great appreciation for 13 years of hard work KD gave us. Keith Dambrot will one day have a banner next to the one belonging to Bob Huggins in Akron. I think we can all agree on two things: #1- That banner better be hanging in a new or renovated arena, #2- It'd be perfect if John Groce fulfills what we all believe he can here to have a banner up there as well. Rant over, back to scouting awesome prospects. Go Zips! I totally agree with every word you said. Nothing but gratitude and appreciation for KD and his staff for what they have done at Akron. That being said, B&G didn't say anything wrong. I am also grateful for Duquesne. We all know that KD would have been able to keep the job at Akron for as long as he wanted. So the only way for us to upgrade and keep moving forward was for someone else to hire KD away. Duquesne did that for us. Hence the gratitude. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronzips71 Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 KD scored some excellent players - Zeke, Big Dog, Pat to name just a few. But he never seemed to grab a bunch of them bang bang bang all in a row. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 Pat? Is there another Pat I'm not remembering? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 Roster make up still worries me for next year (specifically PG and the lack of guard depth in general), but I don't think any of us should really have any expectations for the transition year as unfortunate as that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 23 minutes ago, LZIp said: Roster make up still worries me for next year (specifically PG and the lack of guard depth in general), but I don't think any of us should really have any expectations for the transition year as unfortunate as that is. Yeah really anything accomplished this year will be gravy. I'm mostly interested to see what kind of ball we're playing. Not hopeful for too great of a season. But you never know, we have a few decent pieces left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 10 hours ago, UAZip0510 said: I know this is tongue-in-cheek but I sense it will be a theme for many moving forward, so I'll say this and then move on: Akron was a mediocre program when Keith Dambrot took over. He and his staff built it into a consistently winning program with 3 NCAA Tournament berths along the way. When KD left, he left the program in FAR better condition than he received it. Even the biggest KD critic should be able to admit that he took the program to a higher level than it had been before. In fact, John Groce is not Akron's coach today if Dambrot didn't build it into a program with a winning reputation first. Dambrot took us as far as he could, and now I believe Groce will take us to the next level in finally getting that NCAA Tournament run. It's OK to be excited about Groce and what he's doing while still having great appreciation for 13 years of hard work KD gave us. Keith Dambrot will one day have a banner next to the one belonging to Bob Huggins in Akron. I think we can all agree on two things: #1- That banner better be hanging in a new or renovated arena, #2- It'd be perfect if John Groce fulfills what we all believe he can here to have a banner up there as well. Rant over, back to scouting awesome prospects. Go Zips! I agree. I mentioned essentially the same sentiment in either the Dambrot to Duquesne thread or the John Groce thread. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted May 1, 2017 Report Share Posted May 1, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZip0510 Posted May 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 Updated to remove Aaron Jackson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopride Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 Is Aaron done with BB? Is he transferring? Seemed like a good team mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronzips71 Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 Starting to look like everyone on the team either loved KD and went with him or hated him and had already decided to leave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 7 hours ago, akronzips71 said: Starting to look like everyone on the team either loved KD and went with him or hated him and had already decided to leave. I'm gonna go on a limb and say the last two departures may have gotten a little nudge from Groce 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 It's also possible that now that he has his degree and little to no chance of playing professionally, he'd rather just get a jump start on life instead of spending another year on a graduate degree he won't be able to complete before his eligibility runs out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZip0510 Posted May 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 Aaron didn't really choose to leave. 14 hours ago, zippy5 said: I'm gonna go on a limb and say the last two departures may have gotten a little nudge from Groce I'm going to confirm the limb zippy5 is out on is correct. Aaron was close with several returning players - we'll see if this impacts morale at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1981 grad Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 You have to feel bad for Aaron in that he did not have a very good year. As an underclassman he was like the energizer bunny, he would come in off the bench and bring energy to the game. He made a lot of hustle plays. In the beginning of the year he played double digit minutes. Like everyone else, he liked to shoot the 3. This year he only shot 22% from the 3 line and was 0 for 8 once we hit MAC play. He hardly played toward the end of the season. I remember when he was in a game and playing well KD pulled him after a couple of minutes and he gave KD a look like why are you pulling me. I did not see him getting major minutes this year. I wish him the best of luck and hope that he obtained his degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valpo Zip Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 (edited) I think this is a good move for both Aaron and the team. He did not get much playing time last year and is not likely to get much time with the new regime either. Seeing how he already graduated, it only makes sense to move on. If he's done with basketball, he can start his career a year early and if he wants to play some more, he can be the star at a low major. Edited May 11, 2017 by Valpo Zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 As I understand it, Aaron is a great kid and a great teammate. He's a lighthearted personable kid everybody liked. As a Zip basketball player, he went sideways at best, never improving during his time there. I don't think it was for lack of effort. In any event, I don't think he was suddenly going to develop as a major MAC contributor as a senior and I'd rather have the open scholarship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 16 hours ago, UAZip0510 said: Aaron didn't really choose to leave. I'm going to confirm the limb zippy5 is out on is correct. Aaron was close with several returning players - we'll see if this impacts morale at all. That's what I'm afraid of. He seemed pretty close with the guys that were left. Hopefully it was all on good terms and no one got upset Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 He could have been run off the team. Or, he could have been given a frank assessment of his basketball future at the MAC level (his PT last season would be similar the what's in store for him in 2017-18 @ UA) and been given the choice of staying or leaving. Nice kid. I wish him well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 I can only hope, given what is lost, that Groce will have something better to replace Aaron with before the fall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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