"They have great players. They get in what's free agency. They get the best free agents in our league. They have an unbelievable coach who does a great job. I refer to John Groce as like Joe Torre. He is a great coach. They are undefeated.

"The regular season is basically over in my eyes. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe somebody makes a run at them. They play a different style than they did last year, but it is like the New York Yankees. We are playing for March and trying to get ourselves a seed "Their returning players [Nate Johnson, Tavari Johnson, junior Amani Lyles and seniors Shammah Scott and Evan Wilson] have gotten better," Senderoff said. "Their incoming players are monsters. To me, it is like playing the New York Yankees. They had [Derek] Jeter and they added A-Rod [Alex Rodriguez].

"Until the rest of the league is able to compete with them in recruiting and all of the other things, and they have a great coach, and they have got great assistant coaches. One of them, Dustin Ford, who I have known for a long time, somebody should be hiring him as a head coach in my opinion.[in the MAC Tournament]."

The above quotes are from Kent's coach Senderoff after the Zips beat Kent Friday. Senderoff is correct. The rest of the league is playing for seeds and the Zips are doing this without a good starter in Harris.

Could not agree more with your comment about three days in March. If that's really all it boils down to, why buy tickets to any other games. I say that from an economics standpoint, not as a fan since we got here in 1979 or as a season ticket holder from the day they reseated the arena through 2022 or 2023. Before anyone lambasts me for not continuing my season tickets, it's because I have three granddaughters here in town who play volleyball (school, club and Hocking Valley League), basketball (two on school and one in the Hocking Valley League), one runs track and the other is a gymnast. There are only so many evenings and Saturdays from November through March so it seemed silly to pay $500 for a single seat to attend a few games a year.

That said, and back to Akron, I was and continue to be a huge Groce fan starting with the summer before his first game here in Athens when he and his assistants showed up at the Green and White Club scramble and offered apologies for only being able to play 9 holes because they had a recruit coming in later that morning. It doesn't hurt that he has $700,000 NIL money. No way to verify this but I'd be surprised if we have one fourth of that.

That $700k didn't materialize out of thin air. Groce raised the money.

And raising money is now part of the job.

And given the choice, most donors to colleges and universities are much more likely to give to something that is sustainable or tangible such as an endowed fund for scholarships or programs or a building fund. I'd hate to be out there beating the bushes for money to pay a kid to play a sport, an "investment" that might not pan out or might be off to greener pastures next year.

Bud Wentz also paid to create the Wentz practice court. Of course, they just took 2 courts from the student financed rec center and erected a partition. Can you imagine if we tried that half assed facility grab in Athens?

Our basketball could have what Akron has if we abandon football like Akron has.

Or the guy who shipped London Bridge to Arizona.

I could be wrong, but this is what I remember about the transition year from Saul to Boals first year in 2019-2020:

Boals inherited three guys who would be immediate starters:

BVP
Preston
Jordan Dartis


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Other Saul players on Boals first team in 2019-2020

Connor Murrell
Mason McMurray
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Saul recruited players who stuck with Boals:

Ben Roderick
Lunden McDay


Boals first year was Covid year...so he did not have a chance to go to NCAA tournament.
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Boals second year as coach (2020-2021 NCAA Tourney Team) he had these Saul coached players on the team:


BVP
Preston
McMurray

Two Saul recruits that Saul never coached:

Roderick
McDay

Boals recruits added for NCAA Tournament team:

Dwight Wilson (hit)
Mark Sears (hit)
Miles Brown (hit)
Colin Granger (miss)
Nolan Foster (miss)
Rifen Miguel (miss)
Jalen White (miss)

So when you break it down.....I don't think anyone can sit here and say that Boals only made the NCAA tournament because they were Saul's players. Yes, obviously Preston and BVP were huge and we don't beat Virginia without them. But Boals was the one who developed them. Does Saul get the same production out of BVP and Preston if he stays that Boals got out of them?

Also, Boals should get credit for retaining McDay and Roderick (Saul recruits) as part of his first class. He was the one that coached them from day one, not Saul.

And then Boals brought in Wilson and Sears. For all of Saul's faults as a game day coach, I will always be thankful that he found BVP and Preston. But Boals developed those guys and brought in the extra pieces to win the MAC his second year with Wilson and Sears and then developing McDay and Brod as sophomores.


In summary, both coaches deserve credit for the NCAA tourney run in 2020-2021. But certainly Boals gets more credit than Saul for making it happen.

And by the way, I say all of this as a huge Boals supporter who is incredibly disappointed in his record against Toledo/Akron/Kent and his inability to bring in a BIG the last two years that can come in and start immediately and give us 25-30 solid minutes in the paint.

And why would Ohio get rid of football, when football has been way more successful the past few years? Has basketball been the most successful program in the conference the past four seasons?

I don’t know the official numbers but I’d be shocked if Ohio didn’t have a decent chunk more than those figures based on what I know about a couple other collectives in the league. OU is doing better than most MAC schools in that area. Akron is just far ahead of everyone else in basketball. Obviously, Toledo and WMU do a solid job raising money as well.

"So when you break it down.....I don't think anyone can sit here and say that Boals only made the NCAA tournament because they were Saul's players. Yes, obviously Preston and BVP were huge and we don't beat Virginia without them. But Boals was the one who developed them. Does Saul get the same production out of BVP and Preston if he stays that Boals got out of them?"

I give credit for Ohio beating UVA during Covid in the NCAA tourney. However, please do not forget UVA had no practices before the week of the Bobcat game or did not participate in the ACC tourney all games during Covid. It was a totally different situation back in those days. Also, Ohio was a five seed in their own conference tourney during Covid when all teams did not play the same amount of games.

It's completely ridiculous. We've been very much in every game since Hadaway & Clayton went down. 4 of our last 5 opponents are pretty unquestionably the best 4 teams in the conference. We've proven we can play with anyone yet you act as though we are getting run out of the gym. I'll wager any sum of money you want on the Bobcats making the MAC tournament.