2018-2019

[LZIp]

7 minutes ago, dirtyolcrowe said:

malcom graduating and Eubanks had a scholarship, right? 

that would be 2.  in addition to anyone leaving.

Toles is filling one of those spots.

 

And lets be realistic, we'd be pretty thrilled to land even one of those guys.

Edited February 28, 2018 by LZIp

[zippy5]

I don't want this to come across as anti-KD, because he found guys perfect for his system and our team.. but outside of Zeke we never really were in the running for anyone of the caliber of those 3. Little more exciting on the recruiting front this way. I have a feeling Groce's recruiting and Fulford's connections are going to pay big dividends.

[UAZip0510]

16 minutes ago, dirtyolcrowe said:

malcom graduating and Eubanks had a scholarship, right? 

that would be 2.  in addition to anyone leaving.

 

Two will open up but LePear Toles will take one.

Edited February 28, 2018 by UAZip0510

[UAZip0510]

4 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

I don't want this to come across as anti-KD, because he found guys perfect for his system and our team.. but outside of Zeke we never really were in the running for anyone of the caliber of those 3. Little more exciting on the recruiting front this way. I have a feeling Groce's recruiting and Fulford's connections are going to pay big dividends.

 

I think this is fair.  I've said many times, I think KD is the superior coach and Groce is the superior recruiter. 

[Hilltopper]

Alvarez is an extreme longshot. He has some demands we probably can't meet.

[UAZip0510]

Just now, Hilltopper said:

Alvarez is an extreme longshot. He has some demands we probably can't meet.

 

He seems headed toward Wichita State

[Blue & Gold]

15 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

Alvarez is an extreme longshot. He has some demands we probably can't meet.

Hmm... Can you elaborate at all? ?

[LZIp]

2 hours ago, UAZip0510 said:

 

I think this is fair.  I've said many times, I think KD is the superior coach and Groce is the superior recruiter. 

Speaking of Groce's coaching, does anyone really have complaints about that this year? Nothing immediately comes to mind for me. It's been so hard to judge anything outside of the players' potential and the roles we think they might have next season due to being so shorthanded all year.

[UAZip0510]

1 hour ago, LZIp said:

Speaking of Groce's coaching, does anyone really have complaints about that this year? Nothing immediately comes to mind for me. It's been so hard to judge anything outside of the players' potential and the roles we think they might have next season due to being so shorthanded all year.

 

I think it's been impossible to judge.  Normally I'd say the results speak to performance, but as soon as we lost both Olojakpoke and Sayles that became a bit unfair, in my opinion.  I think we'll be able to judge much better starting next year when some of his players start coming in.

[zippy5]

I think he's done a fine job keeping this team engaged and fighting hard despite everything going on. A lot of teams would have packed it in. See: Pitt. It's obvious they're giving it all, but they just don't have the horses to finish teams off.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 minute ago, zippy5 said:

I think he's done a fine job keeping this team engaged and fighting hard despite everything going on. A lot of teams would have packed it in. See: Pitt. It's obvious they're giving it all, but they just don't have the horses to finish teams off.

 

Bingo. This roster is depleted. Next year will be a much better year to judge, and should be much more fun. 

[UAZip0510]

9 hours ago, zippy5 said:

I think he's done a fine job keeping this team engaged and fighting hard despite everything going on. A lot of teams would have packed it in. See: Pitt. It's obvious they're giving it all, but they just don't have the horses to finish teams off.

 

I agree with this.  The team is in last place and realistically the season is over on Monday, but you wouldn't know it from watching the players.  I think this speaks well to the future, that they haven't packed it in.  I'm hopeful they can get the W tomorrow - the players really deserve it.

[skip-zip]

The "wheels were off" was the term I used.  That string of blowout losses earlier this month easily could have convinced guys to pack it in, for sure.  I hope they can still get another WIN from all of the efforts before the season ends. 

 

I'd also like to encourage everyone to take another look before they make any conclusions from the recent narrative that we've suddenly become a better defensive team.   It turns out that we had 4 conference games back in January where we held our opponents to Under 70 points.  In fact, it wasn't until recently that we had all of these games where we were giving up around 80 (3 of our last 4 games), to as high as 90-100 points,  And both of those happened in Feb., not in Jan. (Yes, I omitted the BSU game because it was 2OT).  

 

Have we drawn too many conclusions by just focusing just on the recent Miami and Central games?  Maybe so.  I know people might be basing this on improvements that they think they are seeing visually.  But in terms of opponent output, we had plenty of good defensive efforts closer to the start of conference play too.  So, maybe the narrative should be that we've actually gotten "back" to having some good defensive games.     

 

Edited March 1, 2018 by skip-zip

[zippy5]

 

I think that decline that people are excluding from their "narrative" might coincidentally coincide with 2 of our 3 big men on scholarship going out for the year. 

[skip-zip]

2 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

 

I think that decline that people are excluding from their "narrative" might coincidentally coincide with 2 of our 3 big men on scholarship going out for the year. 

 

I think that's up to you to decide.  But you'd be incorrect if you're saying that all of our bad defensive games were after Poke and Sayles went down, because we've had good defensive games since that time too.  

[NWAkron]

4 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

I think that's up to you to decide.  But you'd be incorrect if you're saying that all...

How gracious of you to let decide for ourselves and then tell us we are incorrect 

[skip-zip]

2 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

How gracious of you to let decide for ourselves and then tell us we are incorrect 

 

That was in reference to what people are excluding from the narrative.  The actual data on opponents output is factual.  

 

 

[zippy5]

25 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

I think that's up to you to decide.  But you'd be incorrect if you're saying that all of our bad defensive games were after Poke and Sayles went down, because we've had good defensive games since that time too.  

I don't think anyone has said that

[NWAkron]

36 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

That was in reference to what people are excluding from the narrative.  The actual data on opponents output is factual.  

 

 

So what is the correct narrative?

[skip-zip]

My suggestion is right there in the last line of the post.  

 

Maybe reading before responding would be another suggestion?

[Illini Zip]

16 hours ago, UAZip0510 said:

 

I think it's been impossible to judge.  Normally I'd say the results speak to performance, but as soon as we lost both Olojakpoke and Sayles that became a bit unfair, in my opinion.  I think we'll be able to judge much better starting next year when some of his players start coming in.

 

I'm on year four and counting of watching the basketball gods rain down on Groce. It has to end sometime, right?!

 

 

 

[Zip44]

On 2/18/2018 at 8:29 PM, UAZip0510 said:

I can understand those who don't want to look ahead yet, but I wanted to open a thread for discussion of our team next year.  We have one scholarship still available, so an incoming freshman or, more likely, a transfer will also be added.  

 

Projected Starters

 

6'8", 190 - Emmaanuel Olojakpoke 

6'6", 215 - Daniel Utomi

6'10", 225 - Deng Riak 

6'5", 200 - Jimond Ivey 

6'3", 170 - Eric Hester  

 

Bench

 

6'9", 235 - Jaden Sayles 

6'6", 195 - Eric Parrish

6'11", 250 - Mark Kostelac

6'4", 195 - Torrey Patton

6'1", 165 - Virshon Cotton 

5'8", 160 - Loren Jackson 

6'6", 200 - LePear Toles

 

Hester isn't expected to play until midseason, so either Cotton or Jackson will start at PG early on.  

 

Around the conference, Buffalo should remain a power, only losing Wes Clark to graduation.  They also have two highly-touted recruits coming in.  Toledo loses it's top scorer and four other seniors, but returns quite a bit of talent as well.  And, because its our rival, Kent State will lose Kevin Zabo but will bring back most of their major pieces.  

Can’t start Riak & E-man together. E-man is a 5 & can’t play the 4-spot. His play will be limited his entire career at Akron.

Also, just because 1 scholarship is officially open, don’t be surprised if another transfer or 5th year man is offered scholarship as well. Groce can easily let a player (Patton) know he will not have opportunity to play & suggest transfer elsewhere to play. No scholarship is a guarantee.

[skip-zip]

7 minutes ago, Zip44 said:

Groce can easily let a player (Patton) know he will not have opportunity to play & suggest transfer elsewhere to play. No scholarship is a guarantee.

 

This is a good one to point out to everyone.  Starting a few years ago, P5 schools started giving 4-year scholarship agreements.  But unless something has changed for us, I think all of our guys are on One-Year Renewable (at the school's discretion) agreements.  

[Let'sGoZips94]

Patton is my #1 guess for someone who will transfer out. 

 

Side note... Did anyone know that Marquelle McIntyre was Peter Agba's sibling? I'm assuming his family took Peter in when he came over from Africa? I'm surprised McIntyre stayed when Peter transferred out.

[LZIp]

Patton was a player that seemed to have a great understanding of his role and played it pretty well IMO. He seemed to score efficiently when he did shoot, played solid D, and rebounded well for a guy his size. He has the 2nd best shooting % on the team (behind Parrish) for non- exclusive post players. I'm absolutely not ready to give up on him. I'd like to see him play more aggressive on the offensive end going forward to see his true potential. The thing is, is there going to be room on the team for another player to have that style of play when you're considering Jimond, Utomi, Cotton, Jackson, and Hester should be in line for a lot of shots next year. Probably throw Parrish in there too. I think he would be a good candidate for a redshirt next year.

Edited March 2, 2018 by LZIp