clarkwgriswold Posted February 6, 2022 Report Share Posted February 6, 2022 KD is still having an impact in the MAC with guys like Insincere Carry and Lamar Norman 5th and 1st in MAC scoring! KD had an opportunity to make more money at a school at which his family had a historical tie in a conference that doesn't depend on a single game in March to get into the NCAA tournament. He also escaped a stagnant athletic department and an awful facility for a place that was to build a whole new facility for his team. In hindsight, I am glad he moved on. His time as a coach, due to his age, was winding down and the program had reached its limits under him. I appreciate all he did for UA. He made basketball relevant and fun but I am just fine as to how things have worked out. My only regret was that he was a part of the gutting of the players in the program. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1981 grad Posted February 6, 2022 Report Share Posted February 6, 2022 I also appreciate what KD did for Akron basketball. Prior to KD, Akron basketball was not a consistent winning program. Although we could have done better in Cleveland, we always had quality players who improved each year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 6, 2022 Report Share Posted February 6, 2022 Before KD Akron basketball was pretty lousy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 Roo Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 I also appreciate what KD did. he brought Akron BBall back from the dead. I didn't like the way he left. I thought he had too much class to do it like he did. But we used that exit as an opportunity to get better, and we did. There is no way I could dislike KD. He is now an afterthought, that's all. I, for one, am comfortable without seeing any more posts about him. I wish him luck. I'm focused on the Zips. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted March 8, 2022 Report Share Posted March 8, 2022 Another NCAA tournament entry for a member of the Keith Dambrot coaching tree. Sorry, there WAS one previously, wasn't there? Kudos to Lamont Paris, a very classy guy and former Zips assistant. https://gomocs.com/news/2022/3/8/mens-basketball-postgame-quotes-vs-furman-socon-championship.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted March 8, 2022 Report Share Posted March 8, 2022 Lamont is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Congratulations to him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted March 8, 2022 Report Share Posted March 8, 2022 8 hours ago, Z.I.P. said: Another NCAA tournament entry for a member of the Keith Dambrot coaching tree. Sorry, there WAS one previously, wasn't there? Kudos to Lamont Paris, a very classy guy and former Zips assistant. https://gomocs.com/news/2022/3/8/mens-basketball-postgame-quotes-vs-furman-socon-championship.aspx That ending re-activated my PTSD. As much as i'm happy for Lamont, I certainly felt Furman's pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted March 8, 2022 Report Share Posted March 8, 2022 Lamont is the man. He was second on my personal wish list after Groce back in 2017. He's a super guy and obviously a tremendous coach, that was so much fun to watch last night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1981 grad Posted March 8, 2022 Report Share Posted March 8, 2022 I was not going to post anything but since I saw this topic active again, I watched KD's presser after losing 16 in a row and you have to admire him for not ducking any questions and not making any excuses. He indicated that he has never gone through this type of season before and he talked to other coaches who have and they gave him advice on trying to look for small victories even during a losing season. He indicated that currently his team has so little height that they resemble a high school team and they cannot do anything down low and that they are playing frosh who make frosh mistakes. I also heard the radio program where Freeman and Ali spoke very admirably about Groce's passion for basketball. Akron has been fortunate to have 2 coaches in the past 20 years that have been passionate about the game and great coaches. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted March 8, 2022 Report Share Posted March 8, 2022 Here's a good quote from an article I read about KD a couple of weeks ago- “I still think I did the right things by morals and ethics standards, but I still hurt myself, I hurt our school and I hurt our team,” he said. “We had too much bullshit going on and I had enough. We got a bunch of good guys for the most part and we’re not good, so maybe there is an inverse relationship between that GPA and your win-loss record. A lot of coaches will BS you, but I think I overcorrected, probably overreacted.” To summarize KD's transfer pain: Sincere Carry- PCCC- 18.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.8 apg Tavian Dunn-Martin- FGCU- 21.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 6.1 apg Lamar Norman Jr.- WMU- 19.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2 apg Marcus Weathers- SMU- 12.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg,, 1.8 apg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted March 8, 2022 Report Share Posted March 8, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said: Here's a good quote from an article I read about KD a couple of weeks ago- “I still think I did the right things by morals and ethics standards, but I still hurt myself, I hurt our school and I hurt our team,” he said. “We had too much bullshit going on and I had enough. We got a bunch of good guys for the most part and we’re not good, so maybe there is an inverse relationship between that GPA and your win-loss record. A lot of coaches will BS you, but I think I overcorrected, probably overreacted.” To summarize KD's transfer pain: Sincere Carry- PCCC- 18.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.8 apg Tavian Dunn-Martin- FGCU- 21.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 6.1 apg Lamar Norman Jr.- WMU- 19.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2 apg Marcus Weathers- SMU- 12.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg,, 1.8 apg What a load of crap that quote is. Dambrot is not adverse to questionable grades/ethics. His best team at Akron included Tree, Harney, and Abreu. I can appreciate wanting to run a cleaner program that represents the name on the front of the jersey well, but this is a cop out quote. He even said this is the best team he's had yet, so I'm not sure where the "a lot of coaches will BS you" call out is justified. Duquesne's fan forum is seeing what we saw for years. Dog house coaching style, not a very creative offense, one-dimensional defense, lack of adjustments, etc. They're averaging 64.8 ppg - I don't remember averaging much more than that when he was at Akron. The game has passed Dambrot by and he's struggling to gain any traction to keep up. I can't imagine his system is very fun to play in, and with the Transfer Portal open, guys are no longer "trapped". All of his best players have left. That's not a grades/ethics issue; that's a coaching/system issue. He cashed in on his success at Akron and is making $1M a year to be exposed as a slightly-above-average basketball coach that rode the coattails of LeBron for as long as he could. I'm very thankful for the level at which he raised Akron's program to, but he's not a very good basketball coach; just a slightly above average one. Edited March 8, 2022 by Let'sGoZips94 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted March 8, 2022 Report Share Posted March 8, 2022 49 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: What a load of crap that quote is. Dambrot is not adverse to questionable grades/ethics. His best team at Akron included Tree, Harney, and Abreu. I can appreciate wanting to run a cleaner program that represents the name on the front of the jersey well, but this is a cop out quote. He even said this is the best team he's had yet, so I'm not sure where the "a lot of coaches will BS you" call out is justified. Duquesne's fan forum is seeing what we saw for years. Dog house coaching style, not a very creative offense, one-dimensional defense, lack of adjustments, etc. They're averaging 64.8 ppg - I don't remember averaging much more than that when he was at Akron. The game has passed Dambrot by and he's struggling to gain any traction to keep up. I can't imagine his system is very fun to play in, and with the Transfer Portal open, guys are no longer "trapped". All of his best players have left. That's not a grades/ethics issue; that's a coaching/system issue. He cashed in on his success at Akron and is making $1M a year to be exposed as a slightly-above-average basketball coach that rode the coattails of LeBron for as long as he could. I'm very thankful for the level at which he raised Akron's program to, but he's not a very good basketball coach; just a slightly above average one. I just hate it when you sugarcoat things. Just say what you mean man! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre22era Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 Until we have a coach that accomplishes more than KD You wont hear nothing bad about him from me. Yal'l have fun with that 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 10 hours ago, dre22era said: Until we have a coach that accomplishes more than KD You wont hear nothing bad about him from me. Yal'l have fun with that I hate it when I have to agree with @dre22era 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Section210Zip Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 Did anyone else come across this in the UA online store https://uakron.spirit.bncollege.com/akron-zips/sweatshirts/t-34139922+d-20116721+z-989-2058985416?pageSize=72&sortOption=TopSellers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjim Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 On 2/6/2022 at 5:37 PM, Blue & Gold said: Before KD Akron basketball was pretty lousy. Bob Huggins was the best University of Akron basketball coach in my lifetime without a doubt. KD or Groce could not hold a candle to him. Huggins and Akron basketball got screwed after Akron hired Faust as the football coach and wanted to move up in Football to Div1A from then Div 1AA (now FBS and FCS). Maybe you all are too young to remember Huggins, but 85-86 season was magical, led by Marcel Boyce. They moved to the Northeast (I believe) conference and Akron went down hill and Huggins left for Cincinnati. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 1 hour ago, bigjim said: Bob Huggins was the best University of Akron basketball coach in my lifetime without a doubt. KD or Groce could not hold a candle to him. Huggins and Akron basketball got screwed after Akron hired Faust as the football coach and wanted to move up in Football to Div1A from then Div 1AA (now FBS and FCS). Maybe you all are too young to remember Huggins, but 85-86 season was magical, led by Marcel Boyce. They moved to the Northeast (I believe) conference and Akron went down hill and Huggins left for Cincinnati. Very true. Sadly, that was before my time. I started paying attention to Zips b-ball toward the very end of the Coleman Crawford era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 2 hours ago, bigjim said: Bob Huggins was the best University of Akron basketball coach in my lifetime without a doubt. KD or Groce could not hold a candle to him. Huggins and Akron basketball got screwed after Akron hired Faust as the football coach and wanted to move up in Football to Div1A from then Div 1AA (now FBS and FCS). Maybe you all are too young to remember Huggins, but 85-86 season was magical, led by Marcel Boyce. They moved to the Northeast (I believe) conference and Akron went down hill and Huggins left for Cincinnati. He also recruited Eric McLaughlin, whose jersey hangs in the JAR rafters. And Anthony Buford, who left the Zips after seeing what the future held in Coleman Crawford, and joined Huggins at UC as his starting 2-guard in the Final Four. He also went toe-to-toe with a star-studded Michigan team in the '86 NCAA tourney, with a 6' 3" football player center, and two other role-playing rentals from the football team. 903 career wins. Definitely the best basketball HC in Zips history. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueandgold Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 29 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said: He also recruited Eric McLaughlin, whose jersey hangs in the JAR rafters. And Anthony Buford, who left the Zips after seeing what the future held in Coleman Crawford, and joined Huggins at UC as his starting 2-guard in the Final Four. He also went toe-to-toe with a star-studded Michigan team in the '86 NCAA tourney, with a 6' 3" football player center, and two other role-playing rentals from the football team. 903 career wins. Definitely the best basketball HC in Zips history. I loved watching "Cricket" McLaughlin play as well as all the Huggins teams over the years. I still remember being up by 1 at the half over Ohio State in Columbus in the NIT Tournament. If I remember correctly we had a steal and a dunk at the buzzer to take that lead. McLaughlin got hurt in the second half and that was all she wrote. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zips Win! Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 4 hours ago, bigjim said: Bob Huggins was the best University of Akron basketball coach in my lifetime without a doubt. KD or Groce could not hold a candle to him. Huggins and Akron basketball got screwed after Akron hired Faust as the football coach and wanted to move up in Football to Div1A from then Div 1AA (now FBS and FCS). Maybe you all are too young to remember Huggins, but 85-86 season was magical, led by Marcel Boyce. They moved to the Northeast (I believe) conference and Akron went down hill and Huggins left for Cincinnati. # 21, Mar cel Boyyyyyycccceeee. Love him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre22era Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDZip Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 (edited) Duquesne is playing right now in the A10 first round against Rhode Island. The announcers mentioned that he had had 13 straight winning seasons at Ohio, I mean Kent, I mean Akron, one of those Ohio schools. Dick Edited March 9, 2022 by MDZip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 Bob Huggins Resume: One of only six coaches ever with 900 or more career victories, Huggins has been to 24 total NCAA tournaments, including 23 in the last 26 seasons. He has led his teams to nine Sweet Sixteen appearances, four Elite Eight appearances, and two Final Four appearances (1992 with Cincinnati; 2010 with West Virginia). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDZip Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 I think you may be arguing two sides of the same question. Is it the best coach who ever coached at Akron or is it the coach who the the best while at Akron? I mean in a way we could claim John Heisman might be the football best coach ever at Akron. But he's not the best ever Akron football coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre22era Posted March 9, 2022 Report Share Posted March 9, 2022 6 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said: Bob Huggins Resume: One of only six coaches ever with 900 or more career victories, Huggins has been to 24 total NCAA tournaments, including 23 in the last 26 seasons. He has led his teams to nine Sweet Sixteen appearances, four Elite Eight appearances, and two Final Four appearances (1992 with Cincinnati; 2010 with West Virginia). Yeah nice accomplishments outside the MAC in a Power 5 Conference where an average record still gets you an at large Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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