2025-26 season in process

[Zippy87]

2 hours ago, Illini Zip said:

Okay, with 9 regular season games left I believe Chabi baring another injury setback will work his way into the rotation. What is everyone’s take on seeing more or less of Oggie heading down the stretch?

 

I wish we would see him more. It's tough when you have a lot of depth, but I'd give a cut of Halligan's nightly minutes to him. You can see his potential when he is out there, he just needs to get experience. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

21 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

 

Jay Bilas recently talked about Miami and their odds of making the tournament. He very politely ripped their schedule, talked about their KenPom, and mentioned that their only top 100 is Akron (he then said Akron is VERY good). 

 

Those who know ball know Miami are frauds until they aren't. February and March will be the tell all. 

[Reslife4Life]

Zips are at 50 in NET and Miami is now 53. With BG's loss at CMU on saturday that knocked out our only Q2 win. Not that any of that really matters for us, but we are now showing 0-4 against Q1&Q2, 16-0 against Q3&Q4

[csims0917]

Troy ruined our chance of another Q2 chance so we’re kind of screwed their unless we face Miami in the tournament 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Despite the lack of Q1/Q2 opportunities and success on the resume, Akron being 50th in NET shows how strong our performance metrics are. 

[Zips1991]

10 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Despite the lack of Q1/Q2 opportunities and success on the resume, Akron being 50th in NET shows how strong our performance metrics are. 

All of our wins are by 10+ points, so that certainly helps. Plus, two of the four losses were by 3 points.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 minute ago, Zips1991 said:

All of our wins are by 10+ points, so that certainly helps. Plus, two of the four losses were by 3 points.

 

And all neutral/road games. 

[Illini Zip]

1 hour ago, Reslife4Life said:

I like Chabi, but I also like to see Marvin out there. Maybe its more of a matchup thing but Marvin only getting 2 minutes on Friday is unfortunate. I don't mind seeing Oggie's role right now, he is a freshman on an experienced team like this, it seems okay for this year. 

I think that’s all it was. 

[kreed5120]

I would think Chabi will play 10-15 minutes/game moving forward. That's what he was getting a night the last few games leading up to his injury. When we face Kent again, and assuming Whaley plays, I wouldn't be shocked if we see Amani and Chabi on the court at the same time for stretches of the game. 

 

We don't have much need to deviate from our 4 guard lineup as it matches up well against most MAC teams. Kent is kind of the one team that has both depth and size in the paint. The rebounding edge they had against us is still a concern. Had they shot even a horrible 25% from 3 that would have been a much different game because of all the extra possessions those rebounds gave them.

[Zips1991]

35 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

I think that’s all it was. 

Agreed, Marvin was undersized against Kent, but he should be back in there more tomorrow night.

[Zippy87]

1 hour ago, Zips1991 said:

Agreed, Marvin was undersized against Kent, but he should be back in there more tomorrow night.

 

Aside from his 1 minute against Kent, MMK only played 3 minutes in each of the Toledo and Ohio games after playing about 8-12 minutes per game the rest of MAC play so this may not be just because of the Kent matchup. 

[Zips1991]

6 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

Aside from his 1 minute against Kent, MMK only played 3 minutes in each of the Toledo and Ohio games after playing about 8-12 minutes per game the rest of MAC play so this may not be just because of the Kent matchup. 

Hmm, I didn't realize that and didn't look at the box scores. I just relied on my memory which is clearly flawed 🤣

 

Well, in that case, it's especially concerning for MMK because those games were before Chabi returned and he's not likely to see an increase in minutes now.

[csims0917]

MMK really hasn't developed at all as a shooter either. If he's undersized out there then he has no reason to be out there atm. Especially if he's out there with halligan then you have two nonfactors (or at least the teams treat them as nonfactors) on offense

[Zippy87]

30 minutes ago, csims0917 said:

MMK really hasn't developed at all as a shooter either. If he's undersized out there then he has no reason to be out there atm. Especially if he's out there with halligan then you have two nonfactors (or at least the teams treat them as nonfactors) on offense

 

Yeah, Halligan and MMK are a bit redundant in their roles, and Halligan is at least an OK shooter. I love MMK, but I fear he will always have a limited role unless he develops at least a passable jumper. 

[HoopsFan03]

8 hours ago, Illini Zip said:

Okay, with 9 regular season games left I believe Chabi baring another injury setback will work his way into the rotation. What is everyone’s take on seeing more or less of Oggie heading down the stretch?

My concern with Oggie is that he leaves. He could start for other MAC teams. I'd like to see him get some situational minutes. He has offensive skills. 

 

Also why I think Eric M should be starting. 

[kreed5120]

27 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said:

My concern with Oggie is that he leaves. He could start for other MAC teams. I'd like to see him get some situational minutes. He has offensive skills. 

 

Also why I think Eric M should be starting. 

 

Tavari, Evan, Scott, and Hardman are all seniors. If he's looking for playing time he will have plenty of opportunity to get minutes next year as we will be much thinner at guard/wing next year.

 

I'm sure Akron is going to look to reload, but I kind of feel this year is similar to Freeman's senior year where this is our year to make noise. Next year, even with a reload, we will need a lot of time to develop as a team and our ceiling likely won't be as high as this team. For that reason I feel the best players need to play. If Oggy wants minutes he needs to earn them in practice.

[Reslife4Life]

If Eric were to transfer this year I don't think he will really get enough attention to go and get a lot of money from a P4. He can get at least Okonkwo money, but he needs to play more than 20 minutes per game. It might be a good thing he is in his current role in terms of retention

[Captain Kangaroo]

55 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said:

My concern with Oggie is that he leaves. He could start for other MAC teams. I'd like to see him get some situational minutes. He has offensive skills. 

If Oggie started for another MAC team, that team would likely be terrible. 

 

He has a nice frame, a good motor, but he doesn’t merit any more minutes than he presently gets.

 

In limited minutes he hasn’t shown much of a shot. He’s often off balance and on the floor. He needs to put in some work in the offseason and earn some minutes in 2026-7. He has potential, but he ain’t there yet.

[Captain Kangaroo]

5 minutes ago, Reslife4Life said:

If Eric were to transfer this year I don't think he will really get enough attention to go and get a lot of money from a P4. He can get at least Okonkwo money, but he needs to play more than 20 minutes per game. It might be a good thing he is in his current role in terms of retention

If Eric was able to parlay his marginal Freshman success this year into a $600,000 P4 payday like Okonkwo, we’re all doomed.

[Reslife4Life]

1 hour ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

If Eric was able to parlay his marginal Freshman success this year into a $600,000 P4 payday like Okonkwo, we’re all doomed.

Yeah I don’t think he can get that now, but assuming he continues improving he will be able to later in his career

[csims0917]

OOC NET rankings as of 2/3

Purdue: 8

Yale: 63

Murray St: 89

Troy: 137

Tulane: 202

James Madison: 222

Iona: 226

Princeton: 228

Milwaukee: 239

Evansville: 280

Bucknell: 336

[Zips1991]

2 minutes ago, csims0917 said:

OOC NET rankings as of 2/3

Purdue: 8

Yale: 63

Murray St: 89

Troy: 137

Tulane: 202

James Madison: 222

Iona: 226

Princeton: 228

Milwaukee: 239

Evansville: 280

Bucknell: 336

All of our losses are under 100 in the NET. Definitely no bad losses, even if we should have won two of them.

[Zips Win!]

23 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

If Oggie started for another MAC team, that team would likely be terrible. 

 

He has a nice frame, a good motor, but he doesn’t merit any more minutes than he presently gets.

 

In limited minutes he hasn’t shown much of a shot. He’s often off balance and on the floor. He needs to put in some work in the offseason and earn some minutes in 2026-7. He has potential, but he ain’t there yet.

 

Love Oggie! His upside offensively is tremendous, but I understand his limited minutes with his defense.   Luka all over...Sometimes you make others play D while he scores...DP comes to mind!

[Let'sGoZips94]

 

 

Edited 25 minutes ago by Let'sGoZips94