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Zips Basketball- Looking Back to 22-23/Looking Forward to 23-24


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Barring unforeseen circumstances, our 2023-24 roster is finalized.

 

Guards

Greg Tribble - 6'3" SR

Tavari Johnson - 5'11" SO

Ryan Prather Jr - 6'5" RFR

Nate Johnson - 6'3" RSO

Shammah Scott - 6'2" JR

Kaleb Thornton - 6'0" SR

Evan Wilson - 6'2" JR

Pat Mayfield - 6'5" JR

 

Wings

Mikal Dawson - 6'5" SR(?)

Ali Ali - 6'8" SR

Marvin Musiime-Kamali - 6'6" FR

 

"Bigs" (PF/Centers)

Enrique Freeman - 6'7" SR

Sammy Hunter - 6'7" SR

Amani Lyles - 6'7" SO

Darrion Baker - 6'7" FR

 

 

Easily the deepest team in the MAC on paper, the main questions that will remain unanswered until the season starts...

 

- Which guard(s) steps up to replace X's scoring production? Not necessarily all of it, but 10-12 ppg will be needed.

 

- Does Amani Lyles develop into a solid #3 big man to spell Freeman/Hunter?

 

- Does Hunter's shot develop into a more consistent, stretch-4 threat?

 

- Does Darrian Baker, a McDonalds All American nominee, slot in as a Wing or Big (maybe under weight for a Big)? Does he contribute from Day 1?

 

- What can we get out of Prather? 6'5" is amazing size for a guard, and if he produces, look out. 

 

- Does Ali Ali produce similarly to his 2021-22 stats? Do we see better ball movement like the end of 2021-22, or does the offense with the addition of Ali Ali revert back to Ali Ali backing down opponents with the occasional kick-out?

 

 

I knocked the Kaleb Thornton transfer initially, but I did not realize he led the MAC last year in both assists and steals. He is the PERFECT PG for this team. 

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On 5/4/2023 at 3:18 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Barring unforeseen circumstances, our 2023-24 roster is finalized.

 

Guards

Greg Tribble - 6'3" SR

Tavari Johnson - 5'11" SO

Ryan Prather Jr - 6'5" RFR

Nate Johnson - 6'3" RSO

Shammah Scott - 6'2" JR

Kaleb Thornton - 6'0" SR

Evan Wilson - 6'2" JR

Pat Mayfield - 6'5" JR

 

Wings

Mikal Dawson - 6'5" SR(?)

Ali Ali - 6'8" SR

Marvin Musiime-Kamali - 6'6" FR

 

"Bigs" (PF/Centers)

Enrique Freeman - 6'7" SR

Sammy Hunter - 6'7" SR

Amani Lyles - 6'7" SO

Darrion Baker - 6'7" FR

 

After all the recent posts about our newest walk-on, how can you ignore him here?

Maybe we don't have enough chairs on the bench to allow all 16 guys their own seat.

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1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

💯 As soon as I saw @tpsjugglerdude's post this a.m. I put it on my calendar.

It's better than the Arkansas States they normally play this time of year. 

 

To repeat, the Athletic Department should benefit the athletes, students, alumni, fans and greater communities around Akron. This game would check all of the boxes. 

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15 hours ago, GP1 said:

Smart. Big event in the middle of the holidays and close to home. 

What I like about it is it gets them practice playing at the Q. You hear so much talk about how as a shooter it can be challenging going from a small arena to an NBA arena as it messes with your depth perception. This gives the team familiarity with the Q ahead of the MAC tournament.

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8 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

What I like about it is it gets them practice playing at the Q. You hear so much talk about how as a shooter it can be challenging going from a small arena to an NBA arena as it messes with your depth perception. This gives the team familiarity with the Q ahead of the MAC tournament.

It can't hurt. What I like is Dec 30 is a Saturday this year. Students on break, alumni, fans and the greater ne Ohio community will get to go to a game and see the Zips play. Maybe make a day/night of it. 

 

College sports aren't that difficult. Not sure why it gets screwed up so badly. No wait.... I do. It's the athletic directors. 

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On 5/13/2023 at 6:48 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Are these the only 2 games at The Fieldhouse that day? Or is this an all day event with games TBA?

 

If the promoters are smart they'll add at least one if not two more games to this lineup. Try to get Dayton or Xavier or UC to play CSU, OU, YSU or 'some other school,' then add some cheesy gimmick to it all to lure some casual fans. (Get Huggy to play Santa between games???). Make it an all day ticket. I'm guessing you could get 8-10,000 if promoted well.

 

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Just now, RoyalBlu said:

 

If the promoters are smart they'll add at least one if not two more games to this lineup. Try to get Dayton or Xavier or UC to play CSU, OU, YSU or 'some other school,' then add some cheesy gimmick to it all to lure some casual fans. (Get Huggy to play Santa between games???). Make it an all day ticket. I'm guessing you could get 8-10,000 if promoted well.

 

I'm not going to try to guess attendance, but with all 4 teams being decent programs, being within reasonable driving distance, having solid fan bases, and them generally being good match ups - I don't think 8-10k attendance would be out of the question as it currently stands. Of course OSU fans aren't the biggest fans of Holtmann right now and they'd likely be the largest group, so that might hurt some.

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23 minutes ago, RoyalBlu said:

 

If the promoters are smart they'll add at least one if not two more games to this lineup. Try to get Dayton or Xavier or UC to play CSU, OU, YSU or 'some other school,' then add some cheesy gimmick to it all to lure some casual fans. (Get Huggy to play Santa between games???). Make it an all day ticket. I'm guessing you could get 8-10,000 if promoted well.

 

 

Agreed, and exactly why I asked if there were more games being added to the slate. If you had 3-4 games, and could get a Xavier or Cincy or Pittsburgh or Dayton added to them, 10-12k would be seemingly very feasible. Even as it stands, 8-10k should be had. I hope the ticket is for all games. 

 

This is the second straight year of a random, solid "event" on the schedule. Barstool last year and now this. Who do y'all think is pulling the strings on these - Guthrie, Groce, both, or someone else?

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Who do y'all think is pulling the strings on these - Guthrie, Groce, both, or someone else?

 

Clearly this happened due to my hunger strike to facilitate the announcement of Ali Ali returning. While I suffered greatly it was worth it as it is obvious there are residual affects. The event in Cleveland is one such example. You are welcome Zip Nation!

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