2025-26 Post Mortem and Looking Ahead to 2026-27

[exit322]

19 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

We'll get some good replacement players but they won't be NCAAT winning players because ceiling.

 

Pretty much.  They won't underachieve, but it's clear winning Saturday in Cleveland is the ceiling.

[Illini Zip]

I agree that the landscape has changed a great deal and winning in the NCAA has become far more difficult for the have-nots. But I’m grateful Groce & Company with the support of Bud Wentz doesn’t share your opinion on there being a ceiling for Akron. Keep swinging guys!!

[clarkwgriswold]

That "ceiling"  is the result of today's NCAA basketball circus, not the program.  The days of Cinderella in the tournament are over.  Sure, you'll get an occasional first round upset or a brief run but it's all about NIL and transfers now making it much tougher on the non "power" schools.

Edited 8 hours ago by clarkwgriswold

[ZipsBBjunkie]

What’s the deal with Stankovic? Are we assuming he is going to develop under Dustin? What the thinking on him and how he fits into next year? 

[Zippy87]

1 hour ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

What’s the deal with Stankovic? Are we assuming he is going to develop under Dustin? What the thinking on him and how he fits into next year? 

 

As far as I can tell, he's always been a guard. He certainly has the size to be a stretch 4, but would need some significant development. And who knows if that's what he wants or if he wants to stay. 

[clarkwgriswold]

15 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

As far as I can tell, he's always been a guard. He certainly has the size to be a stretch 4, but would need some significant development. And who knows if that's what he wants or if he wants to stay. 

If you watch him it's obvious that defense wasn't stressed in Europe.  He has some offensive skills but he needs to put on some muscle and focus on his defense in the off-season.

[kreed5120]

19 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

As far as I can tell, he's always been a guard. He certainly has the size to be a stretch 4, but would need some significant development. And who knows if that's what he wants or if he wants to stay. 

 

Would need to put on a lot of muscle as well. He can probably only play the 2 or 3.

[HoopsFan03]

29 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

As far as I can tell, he's always been a guard. He certainly has the size to be a stretch 4, but would need some significant development. And who knows if that's what he wants or if he wants to stay. 

Poor man's Lebron. All positions. Hope he sticks around. Flashes of a highly skilled scorer. 

Young and Eric M are certainly legit starters next year. 

Marvin and Zack are role players. I love them but they are not 25-30 minutes players. 

I don't know enough about the red shirts or incoming freshmen. Head only averaged 2.5 points a game the year before. 

We need help. Gotta find a big. 

[AkronAlumnus]

Somewhat worried about retention but I think they'll reload regardless.  

[Zippy87]

3 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said:

Poor man's Lebron. All positions. Hope he sticks around. Flashes of a highly skilled scorer. 

Young and Eric M are certainly legit starters next year. 

Marvin and Zack are role players. I love them but they are not 25-30 minutes players. 

I don't know enough about the red shirts or incoming freshmen. Head only averaged 2.5 points a game the year before. 

We need help. Gotta find a big. 

 

Head had a solid freshman year at Lipscomb the year before his sophomore season at Arkansas State, where he seemed to be blocked on the depth chart. I'm hopeful he can be a solid contributor next year. 

[AkronAlumnus]

Might be worth keeping an eye on players’ social media—if I remember right, last year they started posting graphics announcing their return about a week or two after the tourney loss.

[Zippy87]

37 minutes ago, AkronAlumnus said:

Might be worth keeping an eye on players’ social media—if I remember right, last year they started posting graphics announcing their return about a week or two after the tourney loss.

 

I actually checked this earlier. The "Back to Work" posts went up Sunday evening following their tournament loss. 

 

I imagine they'll get back from Florida, touch base with all of the players, then we start hearing things. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Zippy87

[clarkwgriswold]

We should have also learned that a 20 year old's social media commitment means very little.

[Zippy87]

2 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

We should have also learned that a 20 year old's social media commitment means very little.

 

I kind of wonder if some of the players learned from Nate and Okonkwo to not post anything until they knew for sure they were staying. 

[tboned]

I have no insight. I am just an alum and a fan who enjoys basketball.

I will say that until a MAC team wins consistently 1 or 2 games in the tournament, I don’t believe the conference will be taken seriously.  I have friends who point to the one and done MAC tournament teams and the often-lopsided losses as prove the conference is second rate.

Having said that, my wife and I are season ticket holders for many years and love attending games and following the team.  Coach Groce and his staff are outstanding!  I hope he stays for many more years.   

[Zippy87]

I still think it's possible for mid-majors to win, personally. 

 

 

[Reslife4Life]

7 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

That "ceiling"  is the result of today's NCAA basketball circus, not the program.  The days of Cinderella in the tournament are over.  Sure, you'll get an occasional first round upset or a brief run but it's all about NIL and transfers now making it much tougher on the non "power" schools.

Yes it may be tougher for teams out of the horizon, big west, southland to win. But we have seen some “Cinderella-adjacent” runs in college sports this year with Indiana football and maybe we will see something similar with Nebrasketball

[exit322]

20 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

I still think it's possible for mid-majors to win, personally. 

 

 

 

Well sure, if the P4 team completely overlooks the mid-major, they can stay close for awhile.  But I'll note that none of those teams mentioned are watching tape for today or tomorrow.

 

NIL killed the dance.  It is what it is.

Edited 36 minutes ago by exit322

[exit322]

14 minutes ago, Reslife4Life said:

Yes it may be tougher for teams out of the horizon, big west, southland to win. But we have seen some “Cinderella-adjacent” runs in college sports this year with Indiana football and maybe we will see something similar with Nebrasketball

 

Is Nebraska a top-5 paid team like Indiana football was?

[clarkwgriswold]

I can't consider a Big 10 team a Cinderella.

[clarkwgriswold]

43 minutes ago, tboned said:

I have no insight. I am just an alum and a fan who enjoys basketball.

I will say that until a MAC team wins consistently 1 or 2 games in the tournament, I don’t believe the conference will be taken seriously.  I have friends who point to the one and done MAC tournament teams and the often-lopsided losses as prove the conference is second rate.

Having said that, my wife and I are season ticket holders for many years and love attending games and following the team.  Coach Groce and his staff are outstanding!  I hope he stays for many more years.   

 

I do think getting two teams in helps, even if just a little.

[Illini Zip]

12 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

Well sure, if the P4 team completely overlooks the mid-major, they can stay close for awhile.  But I'll note that none of those teams mentioned are watching tape for today or tomorrow.

 

NIL killed the dance.  It is what it is.

Don’t forget about the streamlined use of the portal, transfer rule change and increased roster size. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

10 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I think Cody Head will help at guard and I have it on good authority that he will be back.

 

I don't think think Cody would've accepted a redshirt had he not planned to be here for the long haul. Guy was an assassin at Lipscomb his freshman year. He also looked very engaged with the team throughout the season. 

 

10 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Bowen is a good kid and a great shooter but he's pretty much one dimensional.  To his credit he was better on defense this year.  If he comes set and square to the basket he's deadly on his shot, but teams have figured him out to some extent and set up their defense so that he seldom gets loose.  

 

I think he took multiple huge steps this year. In addition to his defensive improvement, he really looked to dribble drive and be more aggressive on offense. I will forever wish they would've just given him the ball at the logo during latter part of the TTU game to fire up 3s. We needed our white 3P assassin more than ever (the key to nearly every Cinderella run haha).

 

8 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

We'll get some good replacement players but they won't be NCAAT winning players because ceiling.

 

 

Bull. 

 

Akron doesn't have a permanent ceiling. Akron just hasn't had the right bounces/luck to hit that next level. Fully believe we'll get there, especially with Bud Wentz as "The Orchestrator."

 

Fully believe there will start to be a sense of pride for mid majors players to want to break the narrative that Cinderellas are dead. Young adults are naturally rebellious. Programs like Akron that can provide long term financial opportunities will be able to break through as long as the culture is there. 

 

4 hours ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

What’s the deal with Stankovic? Are we assuming he is going to develop under Dustin? What the thinking on him and how he fits into next year? 

 

Gotta wait and see if he's committed to the program. If he is, the potential is endless with him. He could be nasty on offense and a real problem for opponents defensively. Really wish he would've developed more because we needed his size/versatility more and more as the season went on. 

[exit322]

20 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Don’t forget about the streamlined use of the portal, transfer rule change and increased roster size. 

No no, this is fair.  I was using "NIL" as something of an overarching statement.