1981 grad

I hate these probablility charts ever since somebody posted on our board that we had a 96% probabiity of beating UCLA with about 4 minutes left in the game for our first NCAA victory. When I saw that post, I knew it was the kiss of death. And we all know what happened in that game.

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.

I hope you did not bet on this one.

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.

Lyles has thrown some passes that have been directly to the other team. Worst game I have seen him play. And no we can not play 5 minutes of good basketball.

Can the Zips play 5 minutes of good basketball running their offense and not throwing the ball away.

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.

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.

Underwhelmed by college kids playing 3 on 3 basketball in front of the biggest crowd of the year. I am sure the red panda was booked.

I also felt the Lord's presence when the rowdies were yell F___K you to Kent.

Has anyone else noticed that both Scott and Tavari have step back jump shots that are almost impossible to defend. That is something new to their games this year. Also, Scott has been much more aggressive in attacking and finishing at the basket this year. That three point play where he got fouled and put the ball high over the defender was amazing.

I thought Cian Medley was a good player for Kent, very quick, and played really tough defense on Tavari. He had full court pressure on Tavari a few times and really made him work to bring up the ball. I was really suprised that he sat the bench the last 10 minutes of the game. He averages 10 points a game and we held him to 3. He did not shoot the ball well but the same could be said for every Kent player. Tavari leading the team in rebounds does not surprise me. One thing we are doing better is the guards coming back to the hoop looking for long rebounds. With Kent shooting poorly from long range there were a lot of long rebounds. Also, when I played street basketball there was a term, "following your shot" which meant after you shot you went toward the basket to get your own rebound. At least once a game an Akron 3 point shooter would pick up an offensive rebound if he would follow his shot, espcially when shooting from the corners. Finally, Kent missed a lot of open 3 point shots and shot 1 for 23. Maybe we start a new contest at the Jar: "the Kent challenge." Give somebody 23 three point shots and if they make 2 they win.

I learned my lesson in prior years not to park in the deck during the Kent game. Would it kill the U to have a police officer at the exit of the deck to get people out of the deck.

In the post game even the Groce agreed this was a strange game in that both teams struggled on offense. Akron got out of their shooting funk courtesy of Hardman but Kent threw up more bricks than I care to remember. They missed short shots, dunks, layups and shot 1 of 23 from distance. Yikes!!! I almost felt sorry for them. If we weren't turning the ball over and struggling ourselves on offense this would have been a blowout by the half. I am not sure our defense was the reason Kent shot the ball so poorly. Maybe the crowd and the excitement of this game was too much for the Kent crew. Kent had a hugh rebounding edge in the first half but it did not grow in the 2nd half. Maybe because Barre got more time in the 2nd half. I think Groce said it best in the post game that teams have to win even when their offense is not clicking. Finally, the game was very physical and I thought the refs did a good job in letting the teams play and allowing the physicality as long as they were basketball plays.

What better way to learn to be a coach then be a graduate assistant for Groce. Nick was a character when he played at Akron. We were in a close game and Nick was having a difficult time shooting the 3 ball and had missed his last 5-10 shots. At a critical juncture in the game he started lining up a three ball and everyone in the crowd starting yelling "NO" Nick smiled at the crowd while passing the ball. He was a good player while at Akron and glad to see him coming back.