2026-27 Season

[Zippy87]

The season is near and there's a lot of excitement around the program. There's a lot of questions, too, as we officially enter the Dustin Ford era. 

 

1. Will Evan Mahaffey and/or Kamrin Oriol be eligible?

 

It doesn't look good for Evan IMO. Unless the NCAA allows a blanket waiver for players from his class (unlikely) or the Ohio Supreme Court reverses course (also unlikely), he will probably run out of options to play. Oriol seems like a more optimistic case, although that could change quickly based on continued legal action from the NCAA. 

 

2. How does the program transition fron Groce to Ford?

 

Groce was here nine seasons and clearly had a ton of success, especially the last few years. Ford has been here the whole time, too, and was regarded as one of the top assistants around. He loses a lot in Johnson, Scott, Lyles, Hardman Eric Mahaffey (and maybe Evan Mahaffey), but brought in some good talent in the portal. With so much roster transition everywhere in the MAC, coaching may be the ultimately separater.

 

3. What does the rotation look like? 

 

It's impossible to predict until we know if Mahaffey and/or Oriol can play. Staveskie and Pence will play big roles. Burton and Barre will patrol the paint. Beyond that, there's a lot that we'll have to wait and see shake out once the team gets going. 

[csims0917]

I'm very intrigued to see our pace of play. I think we will look a lot closer to the slower more physical side based on Ford's preference and the bigger lineup.

[Hilltopper]

Run and gun. Think hockey type line changes.

[Let'sGoZips94]

10 hours ago, Zippy87 said:

The season is near and there's a lot of excitement around the program. There's a lot of questions, too, as we officially enter the Dustin Ford era. 

 

1. Will Evan Mahaffey and/or Kamrin Oriol be eligible?

 

It doesn't look good for Evan IMO. Unless the NCAA allows a blanket waiver for players from his class (unlikely) or the Ohio Supreme Court reverses course (also unlikely), he will probably run out of options to play. Oriol seems like a more optimistic case, although that could change quickly based on continued legal action from the NCAA. 

 

2. How does the program transition fron Groce to Ford?

 

Groce was here nine seasons and clearly had a ton of success, especially the last few years. Ford has been here the whole time, too, and was regarded as one of the top assistants around. He loses a lot in Johnson, Scott, Lyles, Hardman Eric Mahaffey (and maybe Evan Mahaffey), but brought in some good talent in the portal. With so much roster transition everywhere in the MAC, coaching may be the ultimately separater.

 

3. What does the rotation look like? 

 

It's impossible to predict until we know if Mahaffey and/or Oriol can play. Staveskie and Pence will play big roles. Burton and Barre will patrol the paint. Beyond that, there's a lot that we'll have to wait and see shake out once the team gets going. 

 

1) If it's a state by state situation, couldn't athletes/schools take additional action because of the unfair nature that would pose? 

 

2) You're already seeing the personnel transition with the size increase on the roster. The system shouldn't change much considering how much of a hand I'd imagine Ford had in Groce's system. 

 

3) We're as deep and as talented as we've ever been. Love what @Hilltopper said above - run teams out of the gym. 

[clarkwgriswold]

Interesting opening ESPN Leonardi Bracketology has this year's Zips as a 14 seed in the East region, playing Michigan in Minneapolis.

[Zips1991]

14 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Interesting opening ESPN Leonardi Bracketology has this year's Zips as a 14 seed in the East region, playing Michigan in Minneapolis.

Yeah, it will be hard to get much higher than 14 seed with the horrible OOC schedule.

[kreed5120]

10 minutes ago, Zips1991 said:

Yeah, it will be hard to get much higher than 14 seed with the horrible OOC schedule.

 

I mean it depends on what the record is. Our OOC schedule I don't think is any worse than Miami's was last year.

 

The 14 seed I think has more to do with them expecting Akron/Miami to not be as good as last year. You also have to remember the expanded tournament this year moved the bubble line down. A 14 seed this year is probably an equivalent to a 13 seed under last years format.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Let's be honest as well - Lunardi isn't exactly doing deep dives into the MAC in September/October. "Who won the MAC last year? Akron? 14 seed it is."

[kreed5120]

I bought 2 season tickets, but it appears it only came with 1 ticket to the YSU exhibition game. Not that I'm going to lose sleep over it. Not even certain if I'll attend. I just found it strange. Not sure if others experienced something similar.

 

Edit: I only had 1 season ticket last year and split it up since my wife worked during a lot of the games and there were a few I had no desire to attend anyway. Nothing really changed from last year, but I just decided to get 2 to step up my support. Not sure if maybe the YSU exhibition only came as a perk for those who renewed.

Edited 5 hours ago by kreed5120

[Zips1991]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

I bought 2 season tickets, but it appears it only came with 1 ticket to the YSU exhibition game. Not that I'm going to lose sleep over it. Not even certain if I'll attend. I just found it strange. Not sure if others experienced something similar.

 

Edit: I only had 1 season ticket last year and split it up since my wife worked during a lot of the games and there were a few I had no desire to attend anyway. Nothing really changed from last year, but I just decided to get 2 to step up my support. Not sure if maybe the YSU exhibition only came as a perk for those who renewed.

Were your tickets available for download? Mine are in my account but when I click on each, it says the ticket is not available for download. Probably too soon yet, as I usually get an email when they're available and haven't gotten that email yet. I was curious if the YSU game would be included since it's designed to raise money through ticket sales. 

[kreed5120]

4 minutes ago, Zips1991 said:

Were your tickets available for download? Mine are in my account but when I click on each, it says the ticket is not available for download. Probably too soon yet, as I usually get an email when they're available and haven't gotten that email yet. I was curious if the YSU game would be included since it's designed to raise money through ticket sales. 

No, I can't download them yet. I was only in the account today because I decided to add the 2nd season ticket. I renewed my previous one a few months back. I was measuring the number of tickets based off the ticket symbol 🎟 

Edited 3 hours ago by kreed5120