2024-25 Post Mortem and Looking Ahead to 2025-26

[kreed5120]

I think it's too early to see how this team will shape up. Nobody predicted the improvement we saw out of Tavari and Lyles this season. Perhaps Okonkwo or someone else in year 2 under Groce will take a similar leap.

 

If Lyles continues to develop a perimeter shot, we could also very well see him playing PF and Mahaffey at SF for stretches of games. That would of course require Brisco being able to provide 5-10 minutes off the bench a night.

[Illini Zip]

2 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I think it's too early to see how this team will shape up. Nobody predicted the improvement we saw out of Tavari and Lyles this season. Perhaps Okonkwo or someone else in year 2 under Groce will take a similar leap.

 

If Lyles continues to develop a perimeter shot, we could also very well see him playing PF and Mahaffey at SF for stretches of games. That would of course require Brisco being able to provide 5-10 minutes off the bench a night.

I have that line up in my mind too. Lyles proved early in the year that he can hit plenty of threes. He just needs to become a reliable stretch 4 for next year. And hopefully BBM (big brother Mahaffey) can hit wide open threes. 

[kreed5120]

5 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

I have that line up in my mind too. Lyles proved early in the year that he can hit plenty of threes. He just needs to become a reliable stretch 4 for next year. And hopefully BBM (big brother Mahaffey) can hit wide open threes. 

 

I edited a prior comment. Gray was also a very poor shooter prior to coming to Akron. He shot ~.270 at Cornell and .365 in year 1 at Akron. In Groce's time at Akron we've seen some players make huge leaps Freeman, Lyles, Tavari, etc. Mahaffey shot improving is certainly a possibility, but not a given.

[ZippyRulz]

I'm surprised Fordham would have any trouble attracting good hoops coaches, being in NYC/East Coast and having very strong academics. But maybe it's a two-edged sword in that they place their emphasis on the academics and not so much the sports.

 

[clarkwgriswold]

The other end of the spectrum from the Zips.  All potential returners from Indiana are in the portal.

 

https://www.si.com/college/westvirginia/basketball/all-eligible-returning-players-for-indiana-have-entered-transfer-portal

[kreed5120]

49 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

I'm surprised Fordham would have any trouble attracting good hoops coaches, being in NYC/East Coast and having very strong academics. But maybe it's a two-edged sword in that they place their emphasis on the academics and not so much the sports.

 

 

There are a lot of basketball programs in the New York City area and they're all kind of underwhelming. St. John's has had periods of success, but even they you would think would be more successful given they're the premier basketball program in NYC.

 

The most rationale explanation for why I've heard NYC areas schools underperform is because of the 1950s point shaving scandal. First off, CCNY was the best basketball program in NYC at the time and they disbanded their program over it. Other NYC schools tried to distance themselves from the shame by focusing on academics and lessening the emphasis on basketball. That culture has kind of just stuck over the decades.

Edited Saturday at 06:30 PM by kreed5120

[Zippy87]

7 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Now you're moving the goal posts. The fact remains their front court didn't feature a single person over 6'8" which is the exact same situation we're in. I've laid out in previous posts how Akron has gotten taller without increasing the height of the "tallest player" label. Schools like Akron will never be matchup proof; we will always have disadvantages against at least a few opponents.

 

Again, the key is winning in the OOC and continuing to dominate the MAC to avoid those top 16 teams in March that do have more matchup proof rosters. Part of the "we need a big man" reaction stems from what Arizona did to us, but that's also a team that put up 93 on Duke and only lost by 7. We have numerous height disadvantages through the season and although we lost some of those games, the bigger issue was not making our shots. 

 

If you look at the Miami OH roster, it's very similar size wise to Arizona. Athleticism wise there's a bit of a difference, but it proves size isn't the end all be all counter to our roster/system. 

 

I'm not moving any goalposts. You brought up Drake to support that size wasn't an issue. I noted they were much bigger overall, adding important context IMO. 

 

Size wasn't just an issue against Arizona this year. St. Mary's was basically the same. 

[Zippy87]

3 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I edited a prior comment. Gray was also a very poor shooter prior to coming to Akron. He shot ~.270 at Cornell and .365 in year 1 at Akron. In Groce's time at Akron we've seen some players make huge leaps Freeman, Lyles, Tavari, etc. Mahaffey shot improving is certainly a possibility, but not a given.

 

Gray did shoot a respectable 30% as a sophomore before struggling as a junior and then rebounding as a senior. Evan has never really hit outside shots in his collegiate career. I'd rather they focus on developing some inside scoring ability with him - he could be a taller version of Tribble (minus the 3s) on offense, slashing to the rim. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

4 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

I'm not moving any goalposts. You brought up Drake to support that size wasn't an issue. I noted they were much bigger overall, adding important context IMO. 

 

Size wasn't just an issue against Arizona this year. St. Mary's was basically the same. 

 

I brought up Drake because you said you hesitate to believe what worked in 2012 will work in the present. Drake is about the same size as what Akron will be next year, minus a couple 5'11", very skilled PGs. 

 

Arizona and St. Mary's were bad matchups - period. Arizona possibly should've been seeded higher and St. Mary's had a trio of 7 footers. Being matchup proof isn't in the cards at Akron. Size wasn't an issue vs. Miami OH or the rest of the MAC. It wasn't an issue vs the majority of our non conference opponents either. 

[kreed5120]

54 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

Gray did shoot a respectable 30% as a sophomore before struggling as a junior and then rebounding as a senior. Evan has never really hit outside shots in his collegiate career. I'd rather they focus on developing some inside scoring ability with him - he could be a taller version of Tribble (minus the 3s) on offense, slashing to the rim. 

 

30% isn't respectable. Evan shot a modest .333 as a freshman, which is better than Gray's best year at Cornell. He only shot two attempts last year so you can only really look at his first two years. His only 'bad year' was his sophomore season. I'm not suggesting scheming ways for Mahaffey to shoot 3-4 3s a game. That's not his game. I'm more saying if the defense is sagging, it's not unrealistic that he could go back to shooting 3s at the same percentage, or slightly better, than he did his year at Penn State. Mainly just to keep the defense honest.

 

You bring up Tribble. Go back and look at his first 4 years at Akron. His numbers would make Mahaffey look like Steph Curry. It wasn't until his fifth year that he figured it out yet you seem to believe Mahaffey can't.

Edited Saturday at 08:46 PM by kreed5120

[Zippy87]

2 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I brought up Drake because you said you hesitate to believe what worked in 2012 will work in the present. Drake is about the same size as what Akron will be next year, minus a couple 5'11", very skilled PGs. 

 

Arizona and St. Mary's were bad matchups - period. Arizona possibly should've been seeded higher and St. Mary's had a trio of 7 footers. Being matchup proof isn't in the cards at Akron. Size wasn't an issue vs. Miami OH or the rest of the MAC. It wasn't an issue vs the majority of our non conference opponents either. 

 

4 of our 7 losses came in games with a significant discrepancy in total rebounds, including arguably 3 of the best OOC opponents we faced: Arizona (53-22), St. Mary's (55-26), Yale (49-26), and Milwaukee (46-28).

 

It wasn't just a bad matchup or two. Any good team with any kind of size gave us issues. 

[Zippy87]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

30% isn't respectable. Evan shot a modest .333 as a freshman, which is better than Gray's best year at Cornell. He only shot two attempts last year so you can only really look at his first two years. His only 'bad year' was his sophomore season. I'm not suggesting scheming ways for Mahaffey to shoot 3-4 3s a game. That's not his game. I'm more saying if the defense is sagging, it's not unrealistic that he could go back to shooting 3s at the same percentage, or slightly better, than he did his year at Penn State. Mainly just to keep the defense honest.

 

You bring up Tribble. Go back and look at his first 4 years at Akron. His numbers would make Mahaffey look like Steph Curry. It wasn't until his fifth year that he figured it out yet you seem to believe Mahaffey can't.

 

Mahaffey's 33% as a freshman came on 12 attempts, while Gray's 30% came on 56 attempts. Huge difference. 

 

I'm not saying it can't happen, I just wouldn't count on it. 

[kreed5120]

51 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

Mahaffey's 33% as a freshman came on 12 attempts, while Gray's 30% came on 56 attempts. Huge difference. 

 

I'm not saying it can't happen, I just wouldn't count on it. 

 

He only has 31 attempts in total so I'm not sure what point you're trying to illustrate. 12 attempts would make up a large chunk of those 31. I also wouldn't want him taking much more than that anyway. Maybe 20 for the season. 30% on 54 attempts is abysmal. I wouldn't want an Akron player shooting that many if he's shooting it at those percentages. I imagine you wouldn't either. Generally you want to be around ~34%+ if you're going to shoot them at any volume.

 

Half an attempt a game is fine for Mahaffey. Mainly just shoot them when he's left wide open in the corner. Like I said it's not about trying to get him to get 3-4 looks a game. It's about showing the defense he's willing to shoot them and can make them. You have to keep the defense honest otherwise they will cheat and have 5 defenders guarding your 4 offensive players.

Edited Saturday at 11:01 PM by kreed5120

[UAZippers]

52 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

He only has 31 attempts in total so I'm not sure what point you're trying to illustrate. 12 attempts would make up a large chunk of those 31. I also wouldn't want him taking much more than that anyway. Maybe 20 for the season. 30% on 54 attempts is abysmal. I wouldn't want an Akron player shooting that many if he's shooting it at those percentages. I imagine you wouldn't either. Generally you want to be around ~34%+ if you're going to shoot them at any volume.

 

Half an attempt a game is fine for Mahaffey. Mainly just shoot them when he's left wide open in the corner. Like I said it's not about trying to get him to get 3-4 looks a game. It's about showing the defense he's willing to shoot them and can make them. You have to keep the defense honest otherwise they will cheat and have 5 defenders guarding your 4 offensive players.

For the most part I agree, but I will point out that the MAC POY was 37-123 on 3s for 30.1% this season. 

[kreed5120]

7 minutes ago, UAZippers said:

For the most part I agree, but I will point out that the MAC POY was 37-123 on 3s for 30.1% this season. 

 

I held my breathe every time he put one up as well. I imagine that's an area of his game he will be working on this offseason.

[Zippy87]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

He only has 31 attempts in total so I'm not sure what point you're trying to illustrate. 12 attempts would make up a large chunk of those 31. I also wouldn't want him taking much more than that anyway. Maybe 20 for the season. 30% on 54 attempts is abysmal. I wouldn't want an Akron player shooting that many if he's shooting it at those percentages. I imagine you wouldn't either. Generally you want to be around ~34%+ if you're going to shoot them at any volume.

 

Half an attempt a game is fine for Mahaffey. Mainly just shoot them when he's left wide open in the corner. Like I said it's not about trying to get him to get 3-4 looks a game. It's about showing the defense he's willing to shoot them and can make them. You have to keep the defense honest otherwise they will cheat and have 5 defenders guarding your 4 offensive players.

 

The point is saying Evan shot 33% as support for the argument that he has shot better is weakened by the small sample size. The rest of what you said I pretty much agree with, though. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, Zippy87 said:

 

4 of our 7 losses came in games with a significant discrepancy in total rebounds, including arguably 3 of the best OOC opponents we faced: Arizona (53-22), St. Mary's (55-26), Yale (49-26), and Milwaukee (46-28).

 

It wasn't just a bad matchup or two. Any good team with any kind of size gave us issues. 

 

Saint Mary's: We shot 36.9% from the field.

Milwaukee: Milwaukee shot 57.9% from 3 and 57.8% from the field.

Yale: We shot 31% from the field and 33.3% from 3. 

Arizona: We shot 33.3% from the field & 28% from 3; Zona shot 56.5% from the field and 48% from 3.

 

All 4 games included poor effort from the Zips, and Freeman/Treadwell proved effort & fundamentals are way more important in the rebounding battle than size. Poor effort + poor defense + poor shot making = the results we saw. 

 

By the way, Saint Mary's had the size advantage on just about every team they faced since they had three 7 footers, and didn't go undefeated. Akron will be fine. 

Edited Sunday at 12:02 AM by Let'sGoZips94

[Zippy87]

4 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Saint Mary's: We shot 36.9% from the field.

Milwaukee: Milwaukee shot 57.9% from 3 and 57.8% from the field.

Yale: We shot 31% from the field and 33.3% from 3. 

Arizona: We shot 33.3% from the field & 28% from 3; Zona shot 56.5% from the field and 48% from 3.

 

All 4 games included poor effort from the Zips, and Freeman/Treadwell proved effort & fundamentals are way more important in the rebounding battle than size. Poor effort + poor defense + poor shot making = the results we saw. 

 

By the way, Saint Mary's had the size advantage on just about every team they faced since they had three 7 footers, and didn't go undefeated. Akron will be fine. 

 

Size disadvantages show up beyond rebounds - one of the reasons we struggled offensively against Arizona was because of their length. 

 

If Brisco can play and Okonkwo/Lyles but take a step further, I do think they'll be OK. Their not using the open spot on a post tells me they believe in Brisco. 

[tpsjugglerdude]

Looks like Groce got an extension that hasn’t been made public. Love to see it. 
 

[akzipper]

8 hours ago, tpsjugglerdude said:

Looks like Groce got an extension that hasn’t been made public. Love to see it. 
 

 

Love the "according to who?"

 

This clown obviously doesn't know who he's talking to 😂.

Edited Sunday at 12:52 PM by akzipper

[ZippyRulz]

3 hours ago, akzipper said:

 

Love the "according to who?"

 

This clown obviously doesn't know who he's talking to 😂.

 

Yeah, he's probably firing off a FOIA request right about now...

 

[NWAkron]

3 hours ago, akzipper said:

 

Love the "according to who?"

 

This clown obviously doesn't know who he's talking to 😂.

According to whom! 

[ewbrooman1]

6 hours ago, akzipper said:

 

Love the "according to who?"

 

This clown obviously doesn't know who he's talking to 😂.

Who's Tyler Kavalecz?

[Illini Zip]

On a completely random note, Arby’s owes a big thank you to whoever associated our new logo with that of the fast-food chain as my consumption of beef and cheddar and chicken cordon blue sandwiches has drastically increased. Apparently, I am easily influenced. 

[clarkwgriswold]

It is March 30th and we're talking basketball.  That's a testament to the quality of Zips basketball.