kreed5120 Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 11 hours ago, Blue & Gold said: I like this guy. He gives us another guard who can score "off the bounce," as the kids say. PG...Castenada..... Clarke..... Tavari G.....Hankerson..... Tribble.... Kobe G.... Dawson......... Johnson... Prather W.... Wynn............ ??? P.... Freeman....... Hunter And maybe we don't need another wing. We lost a wing in Ali, but as is our lineup now has the potential to mirror our MAC Championship '19-'20 team: PG: LCJ.......... Castenada G: Cheese.... Hankerson G: Banks....... Dawson S4: Williams.... Hunter P: Riak............ Freeman Wynn averaged 2.0 PF in 10.4 minutes per game. That means he's on pace to foul out in 26 minutes. The season before wasn't much better as he averaged 2 fouls while playing 12.6mpg. Even if you think Wynn is good enough for us to start at the 4, we almost certainly need to add depth to the position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronAlumnus Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 16 hours ago, LoyalZIP said: Man, I always liked Hankerson. But you’ve got to the sh***ing me, I can’t believe Groce went for another mediocre MAC team’s best player. Hope it works out much much better than the last one. Was he their best player? The only NIU player with conference wide recognition was K. Williams with an honorable mentioned. Overall I'm a bit disappointed, I think there is better talent out there but to each their own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyZip Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 (edited) 12 minutes ago, kreed5120 said: Wynn averaged 2.0 PF in 10.4 minutes per game. That means he's on pace to foul out in 26 minutes. The season before wasn't much better as he averaged 2 fouls while playing 12.6mpg. Even if you think Wynn is good enough for us to start at the 4, we almost certainly need to add depth to the position. I would have to guess we would start Hunter at 4 and Freeman at 5. At this point, Wynn is the top guy on the bench to get minutes there, as he's the only other one on the team taller than 6'5". Or we'll be playing smaller guys out of position, which is fine in the MAC but may run us into problems in the post season (or preseason) tournaments. I'd have to think that last open scholly has to go to a serviceable player with size that can at least take on 10-15 minutes in the frontcourt for Hunter/Freeman, or more in the case of foul trouble. Edited April 22, 2022 by RowdyZip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronAlumnus Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 11 hours ago, Blue & Gold said: I like this guy. He gives us another guard who can score "off the bounce," as the kids say. PG...Castenada..... Clarke..... Tavari G.....Hankerson..... Tribble.... Kobe G.... Dawson......... Johnson... Prather W.... Wynn............ ??? P.... Freeman....... Hunter And maybe we don't need another wing. We lost a wing in Ali, but as is our lineup now has the potential to mirror our MAC Championship '19-'20 team: PG: LCJ.......... Castenada G: Cheese.... Hankerson G: Banks....... Dawson S4: Williams.... Hunter P: Riak............ Freeman I would rather see: PG: Clarke/Tavari (if ready) G: Castenada/Tribble F: Dawson/Johnson F: Hunter/Wynn C: Freeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 I'm honestly not thrilled with Hunter or Wynn starting. I don't like Akron's chances of repeating with either if I'm to be perfectly honest. I'm just curious why are you guys so bold on Hunter? His numbers were terrible and he didn't get much playing time on a very bad Ole Miss team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 3 minutes ago, kreed5120 said: I'm honestly not thrilled with Hunter or Wynn starting. I don't like Akron's chances of repeating with either if I'm to be perfectly honest. I'm just curious why are you guys so bold on Hunter? His numbers were terrible and he didn't get much playing time on a very bad Ole Miss team. I wouldn't consider myself bold on him, though the talent would appear to be there based on his HS recruitment. I think they brought him in to fill a void. Ali was more of a traditional 3 rather than a stretch 4 IMO. Though he played the 4 a lot, he was undersized. Adding Hunter gives us a player who is bigger and can help with rebounding/guarding in the post, but also be an outside threat and help us maintain appropriate spacing for Freeman to work. Not a whole lot different than what Wynn can provide, but hopefully he's an upgrade. With the addition of Hankerson (because I think the last spot goes to a true big man back up for Freeman), I think we may end up being a little smaller in the back court, but thats not as big of a deal as being undersized in the front court. Freeman is prone to foul trouble and there is no true big man behind him. The wildcard to all of this is if Groce thinks Dawson and backup by committe can hold down the 3. If so, we should be in pretty good shape. Time will tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 Don't forget: we still have one scholarship left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyZip Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 44 minutes ago, kreed5120 said: I'm honestly not thrilled with Hunter or Wynn starting. I don't like Akron's chances of repeating with either if I'm to be perfectly honest. I'm just curious why are you guys so bold on Hunter? His numbers were terrible and he didn't get much playing time on a very bad Ole Miss team. I'm only plugging him in there because there's no one else. This team is a team of guards, outside of Freeman, Hunter and Wynn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkronAlumnus Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 (edited) Yeah.. the more I look into this signing, the more displeased I am with it. Not only was NIU the only D1 team to offer him, the rest of the schools on the list i've never even heard of. Okay so maybe the kid was under scouted in HS, but he isn't even deserving of conference wide recognition so he's either mediocre or slightly better, i'd prefer that he come off the bench but I don't know that we have the personnel for that.. Edited April 22, 2022 by AkronAlumnus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 (edited) There is a 1st team, 2nd team, and another handful of honorable mentions. That means only ~15 players get recognition with there being 12 teams. That means on average 1.25 players per team. Hankerson was NIU 2nd best player. He's an above average MAC starter IMO and his efficiency scoring numbers should improve with him accepting more a role player role instead of having to shoulder the load. Compared to Tribble he is an upgrade. Day 1 Hankerson will likely be our 3rd or 4th best player. The real issue is we still need to address our biggest hole, which is finding a replacement for Ali. Speaking of which Akron was the only D1 school to offer Ali so that tells you all you need to know about offer lists at the mid-major level. I may end up being wrong, but I don't buy Hunter as being the guy to put up 25-35 solid minutes a night at the 4 position. When it comes to 4th and 5th year transfers I care more about how productive you've been on the court than what offers you got out of high school. Edited April 22, 2022 by kreed5120 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelegazna Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 Hankerson was in the game 84% of the time for NIU, which led the team and was 9th in the MAC (for Akron, only Ali was higher). Despite that, he was only a "role player" by KenPom's definition, which are players that ended just 16-20% (5th on NIU) of the team's possessions (made a shot, missed a shot the was not rebounded by the offenses, or committed a turnover). He also got a steal on 3.11% of NIU's opponent's possession when he was in the game, third in the MAC. Still, the analytics are not eye-popping. Still still, while Groce isn't infallible I generally trust him to find more Castanedas than Waltons, and kids who put up meh or worse numbers (this goes for Hankerson and Hunter both) and do not have all-conference recognition still might be good fits, just as their previous schools might've been poor fits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 Hankerson is a good defender. He is also coachable and should fit in with Groce's system. Those are Groce's priorities. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted April 24, 2022 Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 24, 2022 Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 46 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said: So basically publicly what the P5s have been giving recruits for at least a couple of decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipmeister Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: So basically publicly what the P5s have been giving recruits for at least a couple of decades. It was not unusual in the more distant past that the player had to at least pretend that he was doing something to receive money. Back in the 70s an Akron area player who I knew got a basketball scholarship from Kentucky. A booster there gave him a summer job paying $20 (that's 1970 (not 2022 dollars) per hour to watch horses. Seemed like a pretty sweet deal at the time, but adjusted for inflation I believe it falls a little short of the equivalent of a car and $400,000 per year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted April 25, 2022 Report Share Posted April 25, 2022 13 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: So basically publicly what the P5s have been giving recruits for at least a couple of decades. Maybe this has been going on forever.. although 800k seems like a lot. I wonder how teammates feel when he drives up to practice in a Mercedes and wearing a Rolex while they don't have those same deals? Or would all the players make that much? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted April 25, 2022 Report Share Posted April 25, 2022 I'd imagine the money is even higher now that boosters/companies don't have to be as discreet. There are probably more boosters involved now too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted April 26, 2022 Report Share Posted April 26, 2022 BVP ends up at UVA Apologies if this was previously posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 26, 2022 Report Share Posted April 26, 2022 4 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said: BVP ends up at UVA Apologies if this was previously posted. Perfect fit. They like slow play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted April 27, 2022 Report Share Posted April 27, 2022 This is a guy I’d be thrilled to land watching Duquesne some last year. Their faithful couldn’t understand why he didn’t get more PT and I agree. Though not sure he wants to play minimal minutes behind Freeman for a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 27, 2022 Report Share Posted April 27, 2022 36 minutes ago, LZIp said: This is a guy I’d be thrilled to land watching Duquesne some last year. Their faithful couldn’t understand why he didn’t get more PT and I agree. Though not sure he wants to play minimal minutes behind Freeman for a few years. Has Dambrot had any player for more than 2 years during his time at Duquesne? Echoing the same sentiment, their fan base was completely miffed by his lack of PT and continued to sour on KD because of it. Apparently this kid has loads of potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueandgold Posted April 27, 2022 Report Share Posted April 27, 2022 Mballa from Buffalo is now in the portal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 27, 2022 Report Share Posted April 27, 2022 2 hours ago, blueandgold said: Mballa from Buffalo is now in the portal. Their coach has been an absolute miss as a replacement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted April 29, 2022 Report Share Posted April 29, 2022 And so it starts. Players threatening to leave if the don't get the same deal. https://theathletic.com/news/miami-isaiah-wong-nil-deal/VfKukhEhOjar/?source=fbnews 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted April 29, 2022 Report Share Posted April 29, 2022 Miryne Thomas from Ball State is headed to Portage County 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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