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

[1981 grad]

19 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

There it is. 

 

I would not worry much about a mass exodus. 

Seeing Nate get 1.5 million.  Can anyone blame him for leaving and cashing in on his last year.  

[zippy5]

29 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

There it is. 

 

I would not worry much about a mass exodus. 

brother we lost all 3 returning starters, the mass exodus happened

[clarkwgriswold]

I thought a basic rule of the portal was that entering it allowed schools to make contact.  I think it is pretty damn obvious that schools are making contact with players before they ever enter.

 

Also, if we're going to allow them to essentially be pros, isn't there an argument to be made that they should also be signing contracts? 

 

Tavari leaving opens the door wider for Young, which isn't a bad thing other than it speeds up him going into the portal after next season.

Edited Monday at 03:14 PM by clarkwgriswold

[kreed5120]

3 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I thought a basic rule of the portal was that entering it allowed schools to make contact.  I think it is pretty damn obvious that schools are making contact with players before they ever enter.

 

Also, if we're going to allow them to essentially be pros, isn't there an argument to be made that they should also be signing contracts? 

 

Tavari leaving opens the door wider for Young, which isn't a bad thing other than it speeds up him going into the portal after next season.

 

The system is only going to get worse once revenue sharing is fully implemented. That's another $3-4 million/yr that programs like Utah and Kansas State will have at their disposal to poach our players.

 

I setup a reccurring donation to the NIL, which I'll keep for now, but probably won't bother renewing once the card I have it on expires in a ~year. If role players, like Okonkwo, are getting $500k today then the money I'm contributing really amounts to nothing.

[Captain Kangaroo]

What a waste of John Groce's work ethic and talent.

 

He does all the heavy lifting of identifying young talent, nurturing it, living through the tough times...and when it comes to graduation day, a new "dad" with a fat wallet buys his way onto the scene and walks John's players across the graduation stage, taking pictures and smiling with his arm around them. John's left with a few hollow tweets, and yet another rebuild.

 

The Zips steal no one's players. We get Freshman, castaways and reclamation projects. Groce works his ass off to get those guys into a cohesive, championship unit that the school and fans can be proud of...until the next April when another new fat billfolded MF'er buys his way onto the scene and strips the Zips down to the frame again.

 

Go Zips...

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, zippy5 said:

brother we lost all 3 returning starters, the mass exodus happened

 

Technically all 4 returning starters if you include Harris who was a starter before his injury. 

 

I don't care how they are positioned in our lineup. Teams are paying 6+ figures for our least efficient scorers (despite most FGA per game) and leading turnover guys because of accolades that struggled vs. top teams. Good luck to them, thank you for your service as Zips, and let's reload with better fits. 

Edited Monday at 04:16 PM by Let'sGoZips94

[Zippy87]

A few thoughts:

 

- I can't blame Nate based on the money thrown at him. He won't reach the NBA and wouldn't get paid that much playing professionally overseas. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he took it. If Tavari is getting similar money, good for him too.

 

- I do wish neither would've posted on social media that they were returning. Yes, they're young. Yes, it's possible they didn't know. But Nate literally went 6 days between his "I'm returning to Akron" and "I'm out" posts on IG (the Akron post hasn't even been deleted). I hope these young athletes or the adults guiding them do a better job of this moving forward. 

 

- If this is the end of the defections, I still think we can compete for the MAC Championship. Evan Mahaffey will be a good MAC player, Sharron Young is the real deal, Amani Lyles and Shammah Scott should get even better over the summer, and I've heard nothing but great things about Eric Mahaffey. 

 

- I wonder if Perkins or Henderson may play next year. Redshirting players doesn't seem to make much sense anymore unless they're just not ready to contribute. 

 

- We have 3 spots open now, and I trust our staff will find winning players. We have to add at least one big (I've heard us connected to at least one already) and some scoring. They'll need another PG, too, unless Perkins plays right away. 

 

- I really hope this doesn't make it harder for Groce and others like him to want to stay at mid-majors. I can only imagine how frustrating it is and how tough it will be to build something sustainable.

 

[zippy5]

I think it really hurts our chances at a serious "take the next step" type of season - We had a good chance with the whole squad back to beat a P5 team OOC and maybe take a game in the NCAAs. Now, ehh...

 

I still think we are MAC favorites. We dominated the conference after losing everyone last year. Sharron, Shammah, Lyles and co. are still a very good MAC team. Groce knows how to reload and get the pieces to fit better than anyone. Here's hoping we do some good portal-ing now

[kreed5120]

15 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

I think it really hurts our chances at a serious "take the next step" type of season - We had a good chance with the whole squad back to beat a P5 team OOC and maybe take a game in the NCAAs. Now, ehh...

 

I still think we are MAC favorites. We dominated the conference after losing everyone last year. Sharron, Shammah, Lyles and co. are still a very good MAC team. Groce knows how to reload and get the pieces to fit better than anyone. Here's hoping we do some good portal-ing now

 

This is mostly my thoughts as well. I will say I'd slot Miami just ahead of us right now, but things are subject to change as rosters get filled out.

[1981 grad]

Can somebody name one Akron player who jumped to the next level and excelled at the next level?  I just don't see Okonkwa, Nate or TJ excelling at the next level where they will be playing against bigger, faster, and more talented players each game.  I think these players benefitted from weak MAC competition, Groce teamism, and years of good coaching.  I really hope they succeed and enjoy great success.  But my gut tells me they will have the Ali Ali experience their senior year and when they need film for Europe, if will be when they played for the Zips. 

[Illini Zip]

@kreed5120 mentioned before that it’s hard to take any 2025-26 rankings seriously at this point because of all the volatility. I’ll go one step further, how does a team possibly build an OOC schedule until the portal closes?

[Let'sGoZips94]

26 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Can somebody name one Akron player who jumped to the next level and excelled at the next level?  I just don't see Okonkwa, Nate or TJ excelling at the next level where they will be playing against bigger, faster, and more talented players each game.  I think these players benefitted from weak MAC competition, Groce teamism, and years of good coaching.  I really hope they succeed and enjoy great success.  But my gut tells me they will have the Ali Ali experience their senior year and when they need film for Europe, if will be when they played for the Zips. 

 

If they're wanting success, Utah and Kansas State aren't exactly winning programs. This is purely a 1-year money grab and they cannot be blamed given the $$$ amounts we're hearing. They absolutely benefitted from the system Groce has in place here, and they're cashing in. All the more reason I'm in favor of transfer fees. 

[Illini Zip]

2 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

If they're wanting success, Utah and Kansas State aren't exactly winning programs. This is purely a 1-year money grab and they cannot be blamed given the $$$ amounts we're hearing. They absolutely benefitted from the system Groce has in place here, and they're cashing in. All the more reason I'm in favor of transfer fees. 

Yes, contracts and transfer fees. 

[clarkwgriswold]

13 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Yes, contracts and transfer fees. 

 

Yes, you want the free market benefits of being a professional you should also take on the responsibilities.

[AkronAlumnus]

NCAA needs teeth.  Tampering is against rules but there's zero enforceability. 

Edited Monday at 07:01 PM by AkronAlumnus

[1981 grad]

So Akron's next athletic scholarship should indicate that if a player jumps to a program for greater pay that Akron will get 20% of the amount that is greater than the fee the player is getting from Akron as a development fee.    Sounds fair to me.

[kreed5120]

Contracts and transfer fees won't hold up in court. They only work in professional sports because the players are unionized and collective bargaining agreements are in place.

[1981 grad]

Just now, kreed5120 said:

Contracts and transfer fees won't hold up in court. They only work in professional sports because the players are unionized and collective bargaining agreements are in place.

Isn't an athletic scholarship a contract?  It would not work if only one school used it because athletes would not sign with that school.  However, it should be enforceable.  

[kreed5120]

13 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Isn't an athletic scholarship a contract?  It would not work if only one school used it because athletes would not sign with that school.  However, it should be enforceable.  

 

Sounds like you're talking about collusion of schools against players, which certainly wouldn't hold up in court. Besides, players technically aren't being paid to play even though in reality that's what's happening. They're paid for 'name, image, and likeness.'

 

That's why a collective bargaining is needed. Anything that restricts player movement will get challenged in court otherwise. The NCAA tried to implement things, like restoring the 1 year sit out for transfers, but the courts told them they can't do that.

Edited Monday at 07:22 PM by kreed5120

[AkronAlumnus]

32 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

Contracts and transfer fees won't hold up in court. They only work in professional sports because the players are unionized and collective bargaining agreements are in place.

Yup that's the problem

[zippy5]

45 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Isn't an athletic scholarship a contract?  It would not work if only one school used it because athletes would not sign with that school.  However, it should be enforceable.  

NIL can be a contract though

[ZippyforPresident]

College basketball's 'lawless, cesspool' transfer portal must be fixed

[Illini Zip]

On 4/17/2025 at 1:15 PM, Zippy87 said:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/the-10-million-club-college-basketballs-portal-recruiting-hits-unthinkable-levels-of-financial-chaos/

This really is a good article. I recommend reading it if you haven’t already. 
 

Towards the end it talks about players breaking their contracts, etc. I found this excerpt to be interesting:

 

More schools are trying to protect themselves with strict liability in these NIL deals. For example, there's another high-major player who signed a substantial NIL contract near the end of the season but subsequently went into the portal anyway, seeking an even bigger deal. One of his coaches told me they were bracing for this, even though pen was put to paper weeks ago. According to this coach, this player now owes the school "the entirety of a contract he hasn't received a dime of yet."

 

"They think we are bluffing," the coach said. "We are 100% holding them to the contract."

[LZIp]

9 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

This really is a good article. I recommend reading it if you haven’t already. 
 

Towards the end it talks about players breaking their contracts, etc. I found this excerpt to be interesting:

 

More schools are trying to protect themselves with strict liability in these NIL deals. For example, there's another high-major player who signed a substantial NIL contract near the end of the season but subsequently went into the portal anyway, seeking an even bigger deal. One of his coaches told me they were bracing for this, even though pen was put to paper weeks ago. According to this coach, this player now owes the school "the entirety of a contract he hasn't received a dime of yet."

 

"They think we are bluffing," the coach said. "We are 100% holding them to the contract."

Well technically the player can’t owe the school anything as school’s aren’t the ones paying the NIL deals.

[Illini Zip]

5 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

So Akron's next athletic scholarship should indicate that if a player jumps to a program for greater pay that Akron will get 20% of the amount that is greater than the fee the player is getting from Akron as a development fee.    Sounds fair to me.

I don’t have an opinion on the exact details, but I totally agree that a school needs to be compensated one way or another for a players development.