clarkwgriswold

I still have that free ticket. It goes to the first person who can name who the Zips play tonight in their game against the University of Concord Mountain Lions.

I realize I am getting this thread up a little early but I am out of town and will be on the road Saturday so I wanted to post it while I could. The Huskies of Northern Illinois come into the JAR Tuesday night to open the MAC season. The Huskies are 4-9 coming into the MAC season with wins over Indiana State, Eastern Illinois, LIU and Purdue Northwest. They were predicted to finish last in the MAC preseason poll, placing no player on the 1st or 2nd All-MAC preseason team. 6’3” junior guard Tulsa transfer Keshawn Williams leads scoring at an impressive 19.5 ppg while also leading rebounding at 5 rpg. 5’11” sophomore guard David Coit is second in scoring at 14.2 ppg.

I am confident there was nothing more Groce could have done to keep him. Sometimes kids just see greener pastures, even if they are in Orem, Utah. Being from Senegal and finding his way in the US probably just added some other unforeseeable factors into the mix.

As I have said before, Aziz Bandaogo was a real and underappreciated loss. He's averaging 11 points and 10 rebounds at Utah Valley. The WAC isn't all that strong, but I'd sure take the MAC version of those numbers.

We always need to factor in one "what the hell was that?" loss to an awful team.

I figured it was a good one to kick around with only the Concord game for the rest of the year.

The Mountain Lions return to the JAR on December 30th to wrap up the Zips' OOC schedule. Currently, the Mountain Lions are 7-3 . They lost by 50 to PCCC at the Brimfield Animal Husbandry Center on December 18th. 6'5" grad student forward Lual Rhama leads Concord in scoring and rebounding at 16.1 ppg and 8.8 rpg. I have a ticket for this game if anyone wants it as I will be out of town. Please do not rush my inbox.

With only the Concord game (scrimmage) left in the OOC schedule and varying degrees of concern after the Bradley loss, I am curious as to everybody's prediction for the Zips MAC regular season. On the positive side, the MAC does not appear to be very strong this year. There's no team that's blown me away in the OOC schedule. On the down side, as much as I hate to say it, I think this is a below average Groce Zips team. There is talent there, but losing Dawson, Ali and Bandaogo hurt. If Hunter comes around and Tavari develops as he should, that will go a long way to filling that talent gap. I have more faith in that happening with Tavari than Hunter at this point. I am predicting a season similar to last year's, with 5 or 6 losses and a 3rd or 4th place finish. Unfortunately, I think the team at the top are the video producers from Brimfield.

Same here. I was able to hear the post game and Groce essentially said they got punked by a more physical team and that it was an awful performance. We were lucky in not having to watch it. There's a lot of work to get done in the next week and a half.

Coming into the game, Castaneda leads the MAC in scoring and Freeman leads the MAC in rebounding. The Zips have the number 1 defense in the MAC allowing 62 ppg.

I think he was a big loss given this squad's lack of size. Fortunately, it hasn't had a huge impact thus far but it continues to concern me.

Sammy is lost. From the nature in which he was played tonight, I sense the staff has lost faith in him.

The Zips head off to Peoria, Illinois Thursday night to face Bradley. Bradley is 8-4 coming into the game. They were predicted to finish second in the MVC preseason poll with 6'9" junior forward Reink Mast being named to the preseason All-Conference team. Mast, a native of the Netherlands, led the MVC in rebounding last year. This year, he leads Brave rebounding and scoring at 7.4 rpg and 13.8 ppg. 6'9" senior Malevy Leons is second in scoring and rebounding at 11.9 ppg and 6.8 rpg. Bradley apparently has some Dutch connections as Leons is also from the Netherlands.

I hope we continue to play teams that lose X on defense.

This has to be the longest Freeman has ever gone we without a foul.

Limited minutes for Sammy tonight, but he's making the least of it.

Maine is small but their lack of speed makes up for it.

Some real hustle.

Not much of a crowd.

PCCC lost their QB, Collin Schlee, to UCLA through the portal.

Maybe because he was 1021 years old? 😁

Not worried. The Zips lack of size will help make up for the shooting. 😁

He was the 6th leading tackler on a 2 win MAC team. That's pretty solid! There's a Tim Terry who is player personnel director for the Chiefs. If that's dad, he'll get a tryout somewhere out of professional courtesy.

I'm concerned that the Zips will look past this one in anticipation of their huge showdown with Concord.

Here's a blast from the past for you older Zips fans - Tavari reminds me a little of Zips great Eric McLaughlin.