Transfer Portal 2026

[Captain Kangaroo]

17 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

I hate seeing the top talent from our conference get lured away.

Unfortunately it is going to happen every year from today, through eternity.
 

Enrique Freeman will be known as the last great MAC player to have played his senior season at the same school where he began his Freshman season.

[akzipper]

23 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Yeah, I’m on a different page than many of you. I hate seeing the top talent from our conference get lured away. I want to win the MAC at its strongest.

 

If Groce was still coaching the Zips, I'd say the same. Now? I couldn't care less and I want to win the MAC. If that means playing a cupcake schedule like Miami, then so be it. 

[kreed5120]

21 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Yeah, I’m on a different page than many of you. I hate seeing the top talent from our conference get lured away. I want to win the MAC at its strongest.

 

Yep, people try to defend Akron's poor attendance saying nobody wants to see Akron beat a poor MAC team by 15+, but then cheer when other MAC teams lose all their talent.

 

If you're a fan of the sport and want to watch quality basketball at the JAR all these portal entrants isn't a good thing. It's more just a race to the bottom.

[Let'sGoZips94]

In a year with a bit more uncertainty due to the coaching change, give me the path of least resistance. 

 

Who knows who will end up being good come time for the season, but having Portal chaos in the MAC isn't bad for Akron right now. 

[akzipper]

53 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Yep, people try to defend Akron's poor attendance saying nobody wants to see Akron beat a poor MAC team by 15+, but then cheer when other MAC teams lose all their talent.

 

If you're a fan of the sport and want to watch quality basketball at the JAR all these portal entrants isn't a good thing. It's more just a race to the bottom.

 

Do we want to see our team go .500 and get knocked out in the first round in Cleveland or have a shot at winning the conference and make the dance?

[kreed5120]

9 minutes ago, akzipper said:

 

Do we want to see our team go .500 and get knocked out in the first round in Cleveland or have a shot at winning the conference and make the dance?

 

It wasn't mentioned in my post I suppose, but Young and Eric leaving isn't good for the MAC either.

 

I would prefer to win the MAC again next year because we got better, not because the entire conference regressed to level of a directional Michigan.

 

Edit: Also, what's not mentioned is this is a contract year for the MAC TV deal. If basketball was actually good maybe we could squeeze a few more dollars out of ESPN or whoever bids.

Edited Monday at 08:39 PM by kreed5120

[Let'sGoZips94]

14 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

It wasn't mentioned in my post I suppose, but Young and Eric leaving isn't good for the MAC either.

 

I would prefer to win the MAC again next year because we got better, not because the entire conference regressed to level of a directional Michigan.

 

Edit: Also, what's not mentioned is this is a contract year for the MAC TV deal. If basketball was actually good maybe we could squeeze a few more dollars out of ESPN or whoever bids.

 

Who's to say the MAC doesn't get better? Only 3 teams had 20 win seasons - Miami OH, Akron, Kent. 

[kreed5120]

9 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Who's to say the MAC doesn't get better? Only 3 teams had 20 win seasons - Miami OH, Akron, Kent. 

 

The MAC is coming off its best season since pre-covid (looking at Kenpom) and that was with Akron and Miami returning a lot of talent. Also, with Kent returning Gillespie. The MAC also got its first at-large bid this century

 

Do you honestly believe next year the MAC as a whole will be better?

Edited Monday at 09:02 PM by kreed5120

[Let'sGoZips94]

6 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

The MAC is coming off its best season since pre-covid (looking at Kenpom) and that was with Akron and Miami returning a lot of talent. Also, with Kent returning Gillespie. The MAC also got its first at-large bid this century

 

Do you honestly believe next year the MAC as a whole will be better?

 

I think there's a better chance of the MAC being better as a whole next year than being worse, yes. Keep in mind, we're dropping NIU. Automatically our NET/KenPom should improve as a conference with that dead weight gone. Nearly every team in the country is experiencing this type of turnover. The talent has to play somewhere and with the publicity the MAC got this year, why not play in the MAC? UMass, Buffalo, EMU, Miami OH, and BUGS all had wins over P5 teams; EMU was one of the worst teams in the conference, and Buffalo/UMass/BUGS were major Portal projects coming into last season. 

 

Miami OH will find its level around .500 or a little better (probably a little better). Kent will most likely be a 20 win team again. UMass will probably be better. I expect Balls/EMU/WMU to not be nearly as bad/unpredictable. Ohio will probably be a 20 win team again. Toledo will be around there as well most likely. It's not hard to see how the MAC can be better.

Edited Monday at 09:09 PM by Let'sGoZips94

[kreed5120]

3 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I think there's a better chance of the MAC being better as a whole next year than being worse, yes. Keep in mind, we're dropping NIU. Automatically our NET/KenPom should improve as a conference with that dead weight gone. Nearly every team in the country is experiencing this type of turnover. The talent has to play somewhere and with the publicity the MAC got this year, why not play in the MAC? UMass, Buffalo, EMU, Miami OH, and BUGS all had wins over P5 teams; EMU was one of the worst teams in the conference, and Buffalo/UMass/BUGS were major Portal projects coming into last season. 

 

Miami OH will find its level around .500 or a little better (probably a little better). Kent will most likely be a 20 win team again. UMass will probably be better. I expect Balls/EMU/WMU to not be nearly as bad/unpredictable. Ohio will probably be a 20 win team again. Toledo will be around there as well most likely. It's not hard to see how the MAC can be better.

 

We can revisit this at seasons end, but I'd expect the MAC to finish something close to what the Horizon League was this year, which is worse than what the MAC was this past season.

[kreed5120]

Jahari Williamson in the portal.

 

https://x.com/i/status/2041246826490180067

[Zippy87]

This didn't age well...

Edited Monday at 11:45 PM by Zippy87

[NWAkron]

Those tweets are all written by agents and handlers.  100% performative.  We are mere observers.

[exit322]

5 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

We can revisit this at seasons end, but I'd expect the MAC to finish something close to what the Horizon League was this year, which is worse than what the MAC was this past season.

 

Give or take, yep.  This year was likely the MAC's ceiling going forward without significant reining in of the portal and NIL, which...good luck with that.

 

And that ceiling was their star teams getting beat by 20 and 22 in the round of 64.

[zippy5]

The only difference between this year and last year is Akron kept Tavari, Shammah and Amani.

 

Everyone lost a ton, and the MAC had a good year by most measures. Could happen again, we can bring players in too..

[clarkwgriswold]

8 hours ago, zippy5 said:

The only difference between this year and last year is Akron kept Tavari, Shammah and Amani.

 

Everyone lost a ton, and the MAC had a good year by most measures. Could happen again, we can bring players in too..

Yes, we really have been spoiled to this point.

[kreed5120]

9 hours ago, zippy5 said:

The only difference between this year and last year is Akron kept Tavari, Shammah and Amani.

You say that like one of those players wasn't first team All-MAC and another wasn't 6th man of the year. 

 

I see a lot less talent returning to the MAC this coming year compared to this past season. I believe only 1 player that was 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team All-MAC is returning next season. Last year there was 2 players alone that were first time All-MAC who returned. The MAC will add players certainly. They added players last year. It's just much easier to build a strong conference when you're starting from a solid foundation. Last year had that foundation as Akron and Miami were projected to be 2 of the stronger mid-majors in the entire country before the year started given the talent they had returning. There are no teams that you can really point to right now and be like they're going to be great.

 

It seems sensible to believe next year the MAC won't be as good as it was this year considering the MAC had a historic year. It seems some people just want to argue for the sake of arguing.

 

Edit: As I said before we can revisit this in November/December once we see how the MAC does in OOC play.

Edited yesterday at 12:23 PM by kreed5120

[Let'sGoZips94]

14 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

It seems sensible to believe next year the MAC won't be as good as it was this year considering the MAC had a historic year. It seems some people just want to argue for the sake of arguing.

 

I gave you several logical reasons why I think there's a good chance the MAC will be better.  I don't know for certain, and neither do you. The MAC finished 17th in NET; to call it a "historic year" for any other reason than Miami OH going undefeated (which would probably suggest the MAC wasn't historically good) is hyperbole. They had a good year, but as a whole there is plenty of room for improvement that the Portal can provide as much as it has taken. Remove NIU entirely (cannot express how healthy this is for the MAC), add 3 new coaches for 3 of the worst teams, and there is plenty of reason to be optimistic. 

 

Not to mention if the MAC had as "historic" a year as you claim, it's not unfathomable to think that talented players would then be attracted to play in the MAC.

 

There are multiple potential outcomes from this chaos, each with their own logical argument (unless the argument is that Kent being good benefits Akron; that's illogical 😉😂). We will see what transpires. 

[zippy5]

56 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

You say that like one of those players wasn't first team All-MAC and another wasn't 6th man of the year. 

.

Sure, there's a reason we dominated the conference. But the rest of the MAC - eh, status quo. We'll bring in better players than the Horizon League will, again imo

[kreed5120]

7 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I gave you several logical reasons why I think there's a good chance the MAC will be better.  I don't know for certain, and neither do you. The MAC finished 17th in NET; to call it a "historic year" for any other reason than Miami OH going undefeated (which would probably suggest the MAC wasn't historically good) is hyperbole. They had a good year, but as a whole there is plenty of room for improvement that the Portal can provide as much as it has taken. Remove NIU entirely (cannot express how healthy this is for the MAC), add 3 new coaches for 3 of the worst teams, and there is plenty of reason to be optimistic. 

 

Not to mention if the MAC had as "historic" a year as you claim, it's not unfathomable to think that talented players would then be attracted to play in the MAC.

 

There are multiple potential outcomes from this chaos, each with their own logical argument (unless the argument is that Kent being good benefits Akron; that's illogical 😉😂). We will see what transpires. 

 

Much of the MAC's strength and what made it historic this year were the teams at the top. Teams 3-13 were typical of most seasons. Many of which were built via the portal.

 

I don't really expect much out of the 3 bottom feeders who have first year coaches. (I actually thought EMU wasn't all that terrible this year under Heath until they lost their starter to that gambling probe). None of them are going into great situations given the state of their roster and if you visit their boards you will see they don't have money to pay quality players. They will be searching bargain bin for players, which is unlikely to lead to better success. WMU in particular doesn't care about basketball. They have money that they could spend on the sport, but they allocate both the money and attention to hockey instead.

[kreed5120]

1 minute ago, zippy5 said:

We'll bring in better players than the Horizon League will, again imo

 

Akron will, but I'm not so confident about the vast majority of the teams in the MAC. Time will tell.

[Let'sGoZips94]

9 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Akron will, but I'm not so confident about the vast majority of the teams in the MAC. Time will tell.

 

How many Horizon League teams beat P4 teams this year?

[Let'sGoZips94]

Hey uh Groce, want to put in a good word for your boy?

Edited yesterday at 01:22 PM by Let'sGoZips94

[Zippy87]

https://x.com/i/status/2041500979124670567

[Let'sGoZips94]