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  1. Went down to the lower area to near the tunnel to watch the celebration. I couldn't be more impressed by our guys. A few took pictures with my son, who was on cloud nine. If there was any doubt he's going to grow up a die-hard Zips fan, that's gone. He's a lifer like his dad. 🙂 Some stories while we were down there: There was a little girl who asked Mikal to sign her Zips poster she made - he took it, said "I'll be back", and went and had all of the team sign it. Was chasing down each player so this young fan would have them all. Just won a championship and thinking of others. Sammy asked a young boy near my son if he was going to grow up and win a MAC Championship for the Zips. He also took a ton of pictures with kids and fans nearby. Enrique actually went into the stands to take pictures with the students who came. Took his shoes off and gave them to someone. Probably spent a good 10-15 minutes signing and taking pictures with fans. He also went over to the band and celebrated/took pictures. We saw one band member ask him for his gamertag (basically his screen name on Playstation to play online with). I think he may have had some sort of disability, but I don't want to assume. Anyhow, Enrique took the student's phone, typed his gamertag in, and took a picture with him. Literally minutes after winning a championship. This group is one we can be very proud of for more than just being a fantastic basketball team
    14 points
  2. 1,583 days ago, Greg Tribble and Ali Ali suited up for their first regular season game for Akron, against Malone. Was Freeman with the team yet? He played later that month. Anyway, Ali started and played 19 minutes, Tribble played 14 minutes and both made an impact in the box score. Today, all 3 will play at the JAR for the last time. The last home game is always bittersweet, but this one is far and away the most I’ve ever felt that before. These 3 guys have been in my life longer than some of my close friends. I’m going to enjoy every second of tonight. Hopefully a comfortable win. These guys have done so much, and still have a lot on the table. Go Zips!
    13 points
  3. Thank you Freeman and Tribble for spending your entire collegiate careers at Akron. Thank you to Ali for coming back, and thank you to Hunter for choosing Akron.
    10 points
  4. After the Zips game at PPG Arena, I passed Koby Altman the General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the concourse. You would have to think that Enrique Freeman impressed Koby after his 21 and 14 showing against the 7' 1" 270 lbs - Ryan Kalkbrenner, the Big East three time Defensive Player of the Year. I will never forget the 24 points, 21 rebounds and 7 blocks stat line against Ohio U. Really appreciate Enrique and going to miss him.
    9 points
  5. KD has already had a talk with our administration about helping UA in the future, both the institution and athletics. He wants to be a presence in Akron.
    8 points
  6. The LCJ jersey hits next week.
    8 points
  7. I don't know that it would cover the gas to Brookings, South Dakota.
    7 points
  8. This guy's had an issue with strength and conditioning for some time now lol https://zipsnation.org/forums/search/?&q=Conditioning&author=monrowe&search_and_or=or
    7 points
  9. The two teams that pulled off the biggest upsets today had scoring guards lead the way - Oakland (Gohlke, 32) and Duquesne (Grant, 19). When we came close against UCLA. Castaneda led the way with 18. When OU won in 2021, they had Preston and Sears. When Groce's OU teams made their runs, they had DJ Cooper. You get the point. It's hard to pull off an upset without a guard who can score in bunches and break down a defense.
    7 points
  10. Seems like every time it occurs to me to stop by and post some game observations, the top of the board is littered with nonsense like this from dudes who (I assume) were born way after Huggins left and can't conceive of the heavy lift that KD performed at Akron. I find it unfortunate and disheartening. Well I hope everyone can bring themselves to enjoy this evening and pull for these kids and coaches who are chasing a dream together and appear to really enjoy the collective effort. The Watcher clan will be there in full force and pleased to attend yet another MAC Championship Game in seats I started buying during the years when the Zips never even qualified for the MAC Tournament. Bonus points if you can tell me the name of the starting 2 guard for the Zips the first game they actually made it to the Q. No cheaters. Shout-out to the diehards that keep the hopeful and supportive spirit of ZN.O alive, especially @Hilltopper, @ZZZips, @Dr Z, @Captain Kangaroo and The Great™ @GP1 .. hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy your St. Patrick's Day! #Porkys7Forever #4PetesSake Go Zips!
    7 points
  11. I have 2 daughters - 4 years old and 2 years old. A couple nights a week, I run solo in putting them to bed. On those nights, I sing them 2 songs - Take Me Out to the Ball Game and the University of Akron Fight Song. This morning, my 2 year old was running around the kitchen singing the University of Akron Fight Song. Akron by a million tonight. LET'S GO ZIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    7 points
  12. And hopefully a new jersey. Guthrie favorited my tweet suggesting that Freeman's jersey also be retired.
    6 points
  13. I have heard that when it comes to recruiting bigs you need to have a point guard they are excited to play with. Often the success of a post player is determined by how well the point guard can distribute the ball to them. And they know it. Hopefully a more mature Tavari and the addition of Sharron Young proves to be a magnet going forward. Also, we have learned that it was Freeman’s Mom who really deserves credit for recruiting him by convincing him to try out. I still give Groce credit for recognizing his athleticism and bringing him in as a walk on. Then I give Groce credit for not being prideful because Freeman was grading out better than his recruits. He went with the best performer in practice, period. And finally, thanks to Freeman the coaching staff can show what is possible at Akron from a developmental standpoint. Freeman with all of his physical gifts was raw. Their guidance combined with Freeman’s desire and hard work took someone without a single D1 offer and turned him into one of the best forwards in college basketball. That’s impressive. Thank you Enrique!! Well done!!
    6 points
  14. Creighton was a really tough matchup. I watched them several times this year, including when they blew out #1 UCONN. They have a pretty high ceiling, and Shereef Mitchell at Ohio came from Creighton (where he didn't play much). Creighton is a talented bunch. Congrats on the MAC tourney win, it was much deserved. We'll see you all in Athens in 10 months or so. 👍
    6 points
  15. Made the drive yesterday. Great atmosphere. Lots of Zips fans in the building. Pretty much a full house for our game. Downtown Pittsburgh is such a wonky place. Lots of narrow streets and damn those bridges But anyway, Akron played as well as it could for 18 minutes. The next six game minutes did not go well. Then they got impatient and started shooting 3s and we know they ain't too good shooting from long range. Creighton shot 59% from 3. Ouch. But honestly, the Zips never stopped giving great effort. I know the correct narrative is this team never found the gear we thought they had. We would get a little tease here and there. But as the sadness of the end wears off, that Kent championship game will be the enduring memory. We all want this program to pull off an "Oakland" at some point, but for now, season is over. Future is in the portal somewhere. But this was a great group of seniors and at least we have a regular season title and two tourney titles since 2020 (no tourney in 2020) to be proud of. I'm confident that Coach will find some help in the offseason. Well done Zips! Looking forward to another banner going up.
    6 points
  16. Not even close. In 2013, we lost to VCU 88-42.
    6 points
  17. Zippy is the #1 ranked mascot in the Field of 68.
    6 points
  18. (Taking a social media break for lent but had to make one post today) I just bawled my eyes out singing we are the champs. I've watched every eff'n game. All the struggles and down games and I believed and prayed. My biggest regret was not going to the game in 2022. WE ARE CHAMPS AGAIN. WINNING IS EVEN BETTER THE SECOND TIME
    6 points
  19. Why? I'll never understand the bitterness...
    6 points
  20. Hey, the arena wasn’t totally dead. My eardrums are still ringing from the DJ blasting crappy music instead of letting our band full of talented musicians have some play time.
    6 points
  21. I'm hearing Ben can spin it at QB and AD could be the best WR in the group!
    6 points
  22. I’m not going to post every offer like I have the past two years, but will update occasionally. Here are two recent QB offers made by our new QB coach. Chris Denson (FL) HUDL FILM Charlie Johnston (AL) HUDL FILM
    6 points
  23. Has nothing to do with strength/conditioning. Has everything to do with an inability to put the ball in the hoop consistently. Vs Ohio in the Semi Finals - 14 or 16 pts in the first half & 50 pts in the second half. Prime example, especially being the 2nd game in 2 days. I mean, hell, we won the MAC Tournament which is 3 games in 3 days. We need shooters/scorers. Period.
    5 points
  24. I am a long time Zip fan and and about halfway through the season when we were undefeated in MAC play and I heard Freeman and Tribble indicate that this team had another gear that they had not played their best basketball. I believed them and thought we were going to have a special season going undefeated in the MAC or at most 1 or 2 losses because the MAC was having a down year. I thought we would would win the MAC tourney and finally have a good shot at winning our first NCAA game. Then we played a tier one team, James Madison, and our bench scored a total of 4 points. I thought that this team lacks the bench talent to beat a tier one team in the NCAA tournament. And then we started losing to some really bad MAC teams. And there was one consistent weakness the entire season, we did not have a player who could knock down 3 points shooter and as a team we were really bad at hitting outside shots. We ranked 262 in the country in 3 point percentage and had the 2nd worst 3 point shooting Akron team in the past 10 year. And Groce knew going into the season he had a stud inside player, Freeman, who could dominate the middle. He had 3 players, Ali, Tribble, and Hunter who could score in different ways. He had 3 guys that had showed potential, Tavari, Nate, and Dawson. All he had to do was to bring in 2 guards that could knock down the 3 so that teams could not double and triple team Freeman. In football terms, if you have a stud quarterback, you search the portal for offensive lineman to protect your stud. In basketball terms, you bring in a shooter that if they double and triple team Freeman he can play inside out and have a shooter make the 3 ball. Instead, he brought in Thornton and Scott who could not shoot the 3 ball and could not create their own shot. Groce, who brought us X and LCJ, picked the worst year to strike out when using the transfer pool to bring in 2 guards. In the latter part of the season teams just double and triple teamed Freeman and we struggled to shoot the 3 ball. I think Groce is a great coach and brings in quality student athletes. I know we won in Cleveland and got to the tourney and should be happy with that achievement. However, I would ask everyone on this board one question, did this team meet or exceed your expectations when we started this season.
    5 points
  25. I don’t like what is happening to college sports!
    5 points
  26. What a great team, they responded to adversity after a lot of people counted them out after WMU. Put together 3 great games in Cleveland. We got to see Akron in the greatest tournament in sports. Just a great season, excited for the future. Enrique seems to think highly of Marvin, get Prather in the starting lineup, Nate will only get better in a full season, get some good transfers in here. Who is to say we can't get back here next year
    5 points
  27. 1st off. Thank you to the seniors… what a fun year. We got to the mountain top! a Mac tournament title. looking to next year I think we have a future superstar: Sharon Young. He won 3 straight class 4 titles in WV and also won Gatorade player of the year. He is a power 5 talent coming here! you have a gap year and let him grow and by sophomore year we will be ready to hand him the keys. Zips will be just fine if we keep Groce
    5 points
  28. My experience as a UA student was long ago and very good. My expereince as a parent of a current UA freshamn has been very postive. Everyone with whom I have had contact has been great (admissions, Office of Academic Retention Services, Williams Honors College, The College of Engineering, etc.), and my son is having a great expereince. So my current sense is that there are a lot of people on campus who care a lot about UA. I don't doubt there are problems, as there are on many campuses, but I feel like the current leadership is overall very good.
    5 points
  29. I see LeBron sent the Duquesne team new shoes. He publicly congratulated Jake Diebler. Has the kid from Akron said anything about the Zips’ success?
    5 points
  30. Take the subway from Station Square to the Steel plaza. Then it's a few minutes walk
    5 points
  31. Not sure why there is so much fuss about Rollin’s foul, Tribble was about to win it on a floater anyway. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Go Zips!!
    5 points
  32. Hell of a way to take the all-time series lead. Greg Tribble - way to come through under as much pressure as you could have been.
    5 points
  33. We are witnessing the genius of Groce. Lose the last few games to avoid Kent at 11am in the quarterfinals.
    5 points
  34. Come on, Cavs. Don't F this up. Freeman in the Wine & Gold next season.
    5 points
  35. Bought my Thursday ticket using the ARIZZOMAC2024 code. $19 after taxes for the cheapest one, which is fine because I can sit anywhere I'd like. Not a bad deal to watch 4 D1 tournament basketball games. Parking voucher is available for $16 (after taxes). I got one of them too (garage on Huron). No bad for downtown parking . The UMass folks will love our affordable tournament. 🙂
    5 points
  36. Dumbest bet I ever made
    5 points
  37. Proud of our Zips. Thanks for the ride.
    4 points
  38. Neither team deserved to be higher than a 13 seed. The Zips did nothing all season to earn it and neither did Duquesne. Yet somehow they got rewarded by playing a mediocre BYU team while the Zips are get blown out by Creighton. And yes, I'm being petty. But I find no joy in seeing the coach who bailed his alma mater after never winning a tournament game, win one at another school. His Akron teams consistently underachieved and yet now we're supposed to cheer as we see our Zips get blown out yet again? No thanks.
    4 points
  39. Dear Kent State Graduates, You are the diarrhea stuck to the bottom of a toilet seat at gas station. Sincerely, The Great GP1
    4 points
  40. I need a shot of bourbon after that one.
    4 points
  41. Stan Heath gets my vote. He led a team he didn't recruit to the Elite 8 two decades ago.
    4 points
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