2025-26 season in process

[Illini Zip]

3 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

KSUcks' Gillespie has been a monster so far this year

 

I wonder if the Zips will ever play at the Greenbrier? We can say hello to Rob Fulford. I liked him. 

[kreed5120]

22 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

I wonder if the Zips will ever play at the Greenbrier?

 

I hope not. The bracket Kent found themselves on looks miserable. These tournaments are one of the few times we have an opportunity to play quality competition on a neutral court and I feel we should take advantage. Radford, CSU, and Wright State are all programs we can schedule any season with ease. In fact, Radford is so pathetic we would just pay them to come to the JAR without offering a return game.

 

Edit: The Mountain Division bracket would be appealing, but they only place power conference schools in it.

Edited 23 hours ago by kreed5120

[Illini Zip]

5 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I hope not. The side of the bracket Kent found themselves on looks miserable. These tournaments are one of the few times we have an opportunity to play quality competition on a neutral court and I feel we should take advantage. Radford, CSU, and Wright State are all programs we can schedule any season with ease. In fact, Radford is so pathetic we would just pay them to come to the JAR without offering a return game.

Completely agree. I just think the venue is cool. Ceiling looks low, but otherwise very unique.

[zippy5]

22 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Ceiling looks low

fitting venue for Kent

[Let'sGoZips94]

48 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Completely agree. I just think the venue is cool. Ceiling looks low, but otherwise very unique.

 

It's a ballroom. D1 basketball should not be played there, hence why Cleveland State was invited. 

[Illini Zip]

6 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

It's a ballroom. D1 basketball should not be played there, hence why Cleveland State was invited. 

They should call the event, the Little Dance. 

[RoyalBlu]

5 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I hope not. The bracket Kent found themselves on looks miserable. These tournaments are one of the few times we have an opportunity to play quality competition on a neutral court and I feel we should take advantage. Radford, CSU, and Wright State are all programs we can schedule any season with ease. In fact, Radford is so pathetic we would just pay them to come to the JAR without offering a return game.

 

Edit: The Mountain Division bracket would be appealing, but they only place power conference schools in it.

 

Just for background ... my understanding is Kent and CSU got screwed in this as both were 'told' they would be playing ACC teams, but the ACC teams said they would back out of the tournament unless they were in an all P5 bracket. Look at the records for some of those teams and you can see why they wanted no part of decent mid-majors on a neutral court.

 

Note: CSU and Kent already had a game scheduled (this Sat) so neither were pleased but could not back out due to $$$ penalty. 

[RoyalBlu]

8 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Helps when their competition is as weak as it has been. Cleveland State beat D3 Capital by 1, lost in buzzer beater fashion to a really bad Loyola team, and they were so bad vs Northwestern the Evanston police started a missing persons search for the whole team. Kent beat them by 7 and let them put up 95. 

 

The UNCW game, which is supposedly a good win, didnt feature much competition for Gillespie. UNCW's big wasn't much to write home about. 

 

Based on these early performances by Kent, I think they'll be ~.500 in the MAC.

 

EDIT: Didn't realize Kent plays Cleveland State again later this week. What a joke their schedule is. 

Yes, ... absolutely a joke.

But this time last season much the same was said about Akron ... and while pi$$ poor,  Kent's schedule is still lightyears ahead of Miami. It's the cross good midmajor teams have to bear. MAC has benefitted from the Sun Belt Challenge. I would suggest adding another 'challenge' with C-USA or MVC. Good teams in all four conferences are struggling to get even quality mid-major games. 

[kreed5120]

35 minutes ago, RoyalBlu said:

 

Just for background ... my understanding is Kent and CSU got screwed in this as both were 'told' they would be playing ACC teams, but the ACC teams said they would back out of the tournament unless they were in an all P5 bracket. Look at the records for some of those teams and you can see why they wanted no part of decent mid-majors on a neutral court.

 

Note: CSU and Kent already had a game scheduled (this Sat) so neither were pleased but could not back out due to $$$ penalty. 

CSU is #254 in Kenpom. I wouldn't exactly say they are decent. Someone on the MAC board said Kent was told they would be in the Mountain bracket while CSU would be in the River, which would make sense as they would avoid one another since they already scheduled one another.

 

Regardless, that whole situation is just another reason to not want to bother with that tournament. I heard the games were broadcast on an obscure stream nobody has. I'm pleased our games in the Paradise Jam are on ESPN+.

Edited 17 hours ago by kreed5120

[Blue & Gold]

1 hour ago, RoyalBlu said:

It's the cross good midmajor teams have to bear. MAC has benefitted from the Sun Belt Challenge. I would suggest adding another 'challenge' with C-USA or MVC. Good teams in all four conferences are struggling to get even quality mid-major games. 

Good idea.  And I'm also waiting for the Big East to throw us a bone & offer one or two games a year to our basketball Zips. Big East?.... Big East?... Hello, Big East?

[Blue & Gold]

Btw, I like how full the JAR looks since they retracted the Northside stands & made that a pregame Rowdies club, or something. Shrinking the capacity a bit has made the crowds look pretty good for our first few games. Even PSU-S was alright.

[Let'sGoZips94]

To pile on Kent's weak schedule, according to a UNCW fan on X, they were missing 2 of their top players vs Kent. It took a late run by the Golden Flushes to hold off UNCW at the MACC. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

29 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Btw, I like how full the JAR looks since they retracted the Northside stands & made that a pregame Rowdies club, or something. Shrinking the capacity a bit has made the crowds look pretty good for our first few games. Even PSU-S was alright.

 

I don't know what the plans are for a future arena, whether it be a JAR renovation or a new arena entirely, but if it's the former they should absolutely put suites in the north and south ends to utilize those areas better. 

Edited 15 hours ago by Let'sGoZips94

[Blue & Gold]

51 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I don't know what the plans are for a future arena, whether it be a JAR renovation or a new arena entirely, but if it's the former they should absolutely put suites in the north and south ends to utilize those areas better. 

Good idea.  Plus, if they'd fill the arena with chair back seating I think that in and of itself would shrink the official capacity quite a bit.

 

Just checked with Grok & was told chair back seating shrinks each individual row by 10-30%

 

I know the JAR's lower bowl is already chair back, but I didn't want to spend all night on my Grok inquiry, so I asked "If a 5,000-seat bleacher arena renovated to chair back seating, what would the new capacity be?" Grok said capacity would be reduced to roughly 3,300 -to- 4,500 seats (depending on the exact type of chair back seat chosen - some are wider & cushier than others).  

 

We should put premium (wider, cushier) chair back seats in the lower bowl along with cheaper chair back seating in the upper stands.

Edited 15 hours ago by Blue & Gold

[Hilltopper]

It would cost 8-10 million to replace all the seating and reconfigure the layout at the JAR.

[72 Roo]

3 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Good idea.  And I'm also waiting for the Big East to throw us a bone & offer one or two games a year to our basketball Zips. Big East?.... Big East?... Hello, Big East?

Not going to happen. It doesn't work that way with minor (non big time revenue)  sports. Nice idea tho'.

[Let'sGoZips94]

9 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

It would cost 8-10 million to replace all the seating and reconfigure the layout at the JAR.

 

Significantly cheaper than a new arena. 🤔

[csims0917]

On 11/17/2025 at 8:58 AM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

EDIT: Didn't realize Kent plays Cleveland State again later this week. What a joke their schedule is. 

You think Kent's is bad go look at Miami's

[Let'sGoZips94]

7 minutes ago, csims0917 said:

You think Kent's is bad go look at Miami's

 

I know and I don't quite understand why Steele didn't push for a more difficult schedule after being screwed by the NIT for this reason. 

[Reslife4Life]

14 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Btw, I like how full the JAR looks since they retracted the Northside stands & made that a pregame Rowdies club, or something. Shrinking the capacity a bit has made the crowds look pretty good for our first few games. Even PSU-S was alright.

I haven't gotten to the games super early but by the time I sit in my seat there are no students over there in that area and then they close the curtain 10 minutes before tip. If it was me I would just let anyone go back there during game time, could be good for families with little kids. Maybe I'll show up earlier and see how full it gets 

[kreed5120]

14 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Btw, I like how full the JAR looks since they retracted the Northside stands & made that a pregame Rowdies club, or something. Shrinking the capacity a bit has made the crowds look pretty good for our first few games. Even PSU-S was alright.

 

Back when there were talks of Akron getting a new arena ~10 years ago I kind of spoke against the 7k-8k seat arenas for this purpose. Although it would have been taxpayer funded through the city so not much pull the school would have had.

 

It took exactly 1 game at Infocision for the new smell to wear off. I'm not sure we've hit 80% occupancy in a game since. Basketball after a season or two would almost certainly be back to averaging ~3k fans. I always thought the game day experience is better with the arena 80%-100% full, which leads to more fans wanting to return. 

 

It kind of sounds counterproductive but fewer seats can actually help improve attendance averages as it creates a false sense of scarcity and makes it a more desirable ticket to have. Particularly in an age where those under 30 want to brag on social media. It also creates a sense of urgency for people to get season tickets or buy single game tickets in advance.

 

Key example is I would never feel the need to buy a ticket to Akron football in advance because I know I could show up to the gate and there will be 10k+ remaining. I do buy tickets in advance for Akron-Kent basketball because I know the risk for selling out is very high. 

[infofan]

11 hours ago, Hilltopper said:

It would cost 8-10 million to replace all the seating and reconfigure the layout at the JAR.

We attended the Akron at YSU exhibition game earlier this month and was mildly impressed with their arena.  They didn’t do a full redesign but replaced all the old seats (in a very similar design. Lower level chairs upper level bleachers)with new chair backs with cup holders and armrests from floor to ceiling on both sides for 1.8 million last year by Hussein seating out of Maine. Still holds 5700 down from 6300