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Enrique announced on his Instagram today that he is starting the Freeman Family Foundation, a non-profit aimed at supporting youth and families in the community. As their first initiative, they announced the Freeman Future Leadership scholarship, which will be awarded to five students.

Speaking of alumni parents, I remember only one parent that used to post on this board and that was Kwan's mom. She was always very nice. I started thinking about Kwan and it looks like he has had a very successful career playing all over Europe and in Israel. I copied his Twitter picture and he looks great with a very handsome family.

Discuss whatever you wish guys, but as for me, I come to the forum in part to get away from the daily "controversy" cycle.

The NIL money at P4 programs has gotten so stupid that it forces players to choose getting a fat pay check and losing over staying with their teammates/friends, coaches, and winning championships. That's just the way it is now. No use lamenting it. Next man up.

This is fantastic.

Buffalo, Ohio, Toledo, and Kent in a 4 game stretch..not only going undefeated but winning by an average of 16.75 points is pretty impressive. MAC-C is going to be fun this year if Miami and us keep taking care of business.

Good for Ryan Prather. Watching RMU vs wright state and he hit a clutch 3 with under and minute left and then scored on a drive to the basket on the next possession to clinch the game for the colonials

2 things can be true. 1) Kent is and will likely always be classless 2) Tod sucks

Give Hardman credit for a game winner. I cannot remember an Akron game winning shot in the last 10 seconds this year. I really thought it was going to be a Tavari drive or pull up jumper for the last shot. Give Groce credit for the game winning play.

They're trying, and that's all I can ask for. Gameday experience is so much better, in-game entertainment is solid, they've had some nice promos - I appreciate the clear effort that has been there. I'd love to see the sideline bleachers replaced by seats one day, and concessions leave a lot to be desired, but they're doing a pretty good job with what they have to work with.

Don't forget guys, the game is at 6:00.

Pretty sloppy, but I’d rather win sloppy than lose sloppy.

Whew. The haves and the Habhab nots.

I think we're getting a bit carried away now. We discuss all sorts of topics on ZN, from the players to the coaches to the in-game entertainment to observations about the game. I understand religion can be a touchy subject for some, but it was a short discussion about something related to the Zips, everyone was respectful, and the conversation seems to have run its course.

That's what happens when people make politics their identity. There is an off topic section on this forum. If people wish to engage in those kind of discussion it should be moved there. I'll just be sure to avoid those threads.

How is it possible to see less?

In case you forgot, we had a devout Muslim player on the team just 2 years ago. He didn't seem too offended by the culture of the team. In fact, he left and came back for more.

@Let'sGoZips94 wins the longest post of the year award. Very impressive!!

Yep, I also think the program is a bit a victim of its own success. If the Zips had been terrible for a long time and then they were now 18-4 there would probably be more buzz surrounding the team. Locals seem to instead take the team for granted as 20+ win seasons for the Zips is the norm. Edit: Even nationally this team this season would probably get some Cinderella dark horse chatter if Miami wasn't hogging all the national attention.

If Princeton and James Madison were better, then we'd have probably lost to them like we did Murray State and Yale.

Went and looked at the play-by-play for the last 9 minutes of that game and it was brutal for Toledo and TK. When Kent cut the score down to 69-66 around the 2-minute mark, most coaches would call a TO to get a quality shot or at least the ball in a key players hands. Not TK ... then Toledo turned it over, allowing Kent to tie the score. NOW TK calls a TO, with a minute to play ... Rockets have the full shot-clock to get a quality possession/shot. Nope. Turnover, shot-clock violation. (Really!!!!) Kent goes on to win it. No wonder TK was complaining about Kent's celebration. In the old days, when there was true media around, TK would have some real 'splaining to do. Brutal ...

The P6 aren't necessarily why I would tweak the schedule in this manner. It's the mid majors that would be the focus and if they were smart, they'd all come together to make this change. If they could open up 4-5 dates in January/February that allows for flex games based on a mutual agreement among several conferences to match up similarly ranked (NET) schools, that would be incredibly beneficial for all parties.

And they did. That was unexpected and a very nice win.

I have a vague recollection of Kent winning at the JAR and going over to our fans and taunting them. I thought it was classless then and classless now. I saw the same thing in soccer this year by our soccer team and others. A coach should teach his players how to win and how to lose. I don't know what happened after the Kent Toledo game but if it was inappropriate I am glad the coach called it out. Regardless if you win or lose, student athletes should not act like jerks after the game.

If you go to their board they blame all kinds of things for their lack of success. Bad luck, injuries, and saying the tournament needs moved because Kent and Akron get an unfair advantage. Meanwhile, they're significantly closer to Cleveland than schools like Buffalo, Miami, or WMU who have all won the tournament in Cleveland. They just lack any sort of accountability. It's funny enough that they don't feel the same way about the MAC football championship being in Detroit giving them an unfair advantage. They will be in for a rude awakening if the MAC relocates, as it should, that game to Haslamland once the current contract ends.

I by no means am a fan of Kent, but if you don't want opposing teams celebrating don't choke away a late 17 point lead.

I'm guessing now that school is started and a couple weeks in that we will not be getting any college age commits until the end of the semester right? nobody would be able to start school this late i don't think? I could see getting some very late high school senior commits but it wouldn't make sense to get to get any commits from anyone right now in the portal that could not attend college or am I way off on this thinking? I remember last year laventure, duncan, and brown came at the beginning of june so i am kind of expecting the same. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing cause it will give the returning freshman the whole semester to get their feet wet and see what the have before any new blood comes in.

Very possible. I can see them dropping a couple of games before the end of the season.

I just reached out to Angela. The code is ZIPS26

If Oggie started for another MAC team, that team would likely be terrible. He has a nice frame, a good motor, but he doesn’t merit any more minutes than he presently gets. In limited minutes he hasn’t shown much of a shot. He’s often off balance and on the floor. He needs to put in some work in the offseason and earn some minutes in 2026-7. He has potential, but he ain’t there yet.

He was involved in that point shaving scandal that came out a few weeks ago. The incidents he is connected to are before his time at EMU.

Dude has been a class act every step of the way.

Jay Bilas recently talked about Miami and their odds of making the tournament. He very politely ripped their schedule, talked about their KenPom, and mentioned that their only top 100 is Akron (he then said Akron is VERY good). Those who know ball know Miami are frauds until they aren't. February and March will be the tell all.

I loved Chabi's minutes Friday night. I thought he changed the vibe on the court while he was out there. We're going to want a healthy Chabi for when Kent gets Whaley back. I'm fine with Oggie sitting and learning, though if that's how the rest of the year plays out I guess we could/should have redshirted him this year?

Maybe I have unsophisticated ears, but the national anthem seemed…not that good.

Those t-shirts are the same t-shirts worn by the Ohio State football team. Easy way for young Christian athletes to witness & remind themselves "Jesus won" - that they're just playing a game that's intended to be fun; take the pressure off. Jesus won the greatest victory. Love to see it. *And people actually wonder how Groce continually recruits such high character kids 😆

Carlos Hart scored 32 of their 72 points in our first matchup and is suspended. We scored 92 points and beat them by 21 despite shooting 16% from three. We should handle them pretty easily.

Troy ruined our chance of another Q2 chance so we’re kind of screwed their unless we face Miami in the tournament

I might be in the minority, but from my eye test when I've seen him on the floor he still looks very raw and appears to still be adapting to the American game. Him joining the team so late didn't help his cause. He could have probably used an extra ~3 months of practice in the offseason.

Someone told me at the game that is was a players parents reunion event. Don't know if that's true, but that's what I heard.

"Oh crap I didn't know he was Muslim" And then I'd move on with my life

I just wonder who is happier, Tavari who is having a break out season in the MAC and has an opportunity to go to the big dance or Nate who cashed a much bigger paycheck but is stuck on a losing team with no personal accolades such as MAC player of the year and no chance of an NCAA tourney. Money or fame? Difficult decision for 22 year old athletes.

Isn't nice to have a PCCC game where all we're left to b!+ch about are t-shirts, anthems and parking?

Are they that clever?

They are up 2 at the half. It's not that uncommon for a bad team to hang with a good one for a half of basketball. Usually around the 10 minute mark of the second half the better team pulls away. It isn't until about the 6 minute mark that I start thinking upset alert potential.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRzhM73gOUI/?img_index=7&igsh=cjI5OXZoMTBlYTU4 marvin posted this a while ago about getting baptized and you can see the team came to support him. Whatever you believe it is nice to see this group come together for something bigger than themselves

I understand Groce takes the kids to Christ Community Chapel that want to come so it's not a show.

I respect all religions and those who don't practice any religion. Personally, I'd prefer they stick to team gear on the bench. We are not a Christian school. But it's also not something I'm going to lose any sleep over.

Tavari was funny in the post-game interview messing around with Hardman and Lyles. Not a side you see too much from Tavari. Worth a watch. At the time we debated what the loss of Tavari to the portal would have meant to this year’s team. The fact that Young has hit a wall with his offensive growth answers that clearly for me. Tavari has been exceptional all around. One of my biggest issues with Tavari in the past besides not holding his own defensively was he was always a shoot first point guard. This year he is actually looking to distribute and because of that he is far more dynamic and effective. Good on him. 👍