1981 grad

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.

I have been reading and posting on this board for more than a decade and this is the first time I can remember somebody posting that an Akron team is "more athletic" than Kent. On an unrelated note, I hope that they will bring back the cartoon where Zippy destroys all of the mascots for this game.

Toledo came out hot shooting the ball well and shot 73% from three. I have seen teams come into the Jar and have a hot first half where everything goes in and then struggle in the 2nd half. That is exactly what happened tonight and they shot 25% in the second half. I watched Halligan play really good defense on their quick guard. He really works hard on defense. Glad to see him on the post game show. I saw that he wanted to come out. He has a broken nose and it got bumped in the game and he was in a lot of pain. I thought Toledo played really good defense at the end of the first half and I was worried that would continue in the 2nd half but we came out on an 8-0 run. I thought we did a great job running down long offensive rebounds. I would like to see that in future games. Young and Hardman went for a combined 0 for 7 from the 3 line. I thought Hardman rushed his two three point attempts. Young's were open threes but just could not hit. I checked the stats and Young and Hardman are our worst three point shooters with Young shooting 29.5% and Hardman at 35.5%. I think Hardman is often a liability on defense although he tries hard he is just not very quick or physical. He only saw 15 minutes tonight. Tavari is so important to our offense that he played 37 minutes. He made so many difficult shots in the lane. I love the way he can penetrate through a defense. He is playing as well as any Akron guard I can remember in getting and finishing at the hoop.

The Timberwolves got blown out tonight and I checked the box score to see if Freeman got his first NBA action. Bad news, he was sent back down to Iowa. Good news, he scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds in their win on Sat. night.

As good as we played tonight, I still think this team has room for improvement. We did not shoot the ball well from three and we gave up 10 offensive rebounds. It appeared to me we rebounded better in the first half and we had numerous players crashing the boards. Also, we only shot 76% from the foul line. I thought Ohio had a lot of open looks from three but could not make the shots. Tavari was just unstoppable tonight. Lyles also had another strong game, especially on the boards and around the basket. Also, I have noticed when a team goes on a run, a player will just shut it down. Scott made a contested three and the lead shot up from 14 to 17. It seems all season that when a team mounts a comeback an Akron player will make a difficult shot even where there is good defense.

I find this conversation ironic in that dring the KD days we would be having a conversation about Akron getting an at large bid and then we would lose a game against a weak team and the conversation would end. I am sure Miami will pick up a loss during the season and this conversation will end. However, I would love to see them go undeated and lose to Akron in the finals and have the MAC be a two bid confernce.

I just checked the roster for last night's game and it looks like Freeman was active for the Timberwolves. He did not play because it was a close game but maybe he will finally get a chance to play for them: Enrique Freeman: DNP – Coach's Decision Rob Dillingham: DNP – Coach's DecisionLeonard Miller: DNP – Coach's DecisionJohnny Juzang: DNP – Coach's DecisionJoe Ingles: DNP – Coach's DecisionTerrence Shannon Jr.: Inactive - Injury/IllnessRocco Zikarsky: Inactive - G League - Two-Way

I just checked their roster and they have one player on injured reserve and 2 players injured that are game day decisions. I also hope he will finally get to suit up.

How is it that some players are just injury prone. I think that is why he did not have a large number of minutes at Duquesne. I feel sorry for the guy. Must be frustrating.

I hope they go undefeated and we get to play them in the MAC finals. That would be fun and add some national interest in the game.

Instead, they will be reviewing their stock portfolio with the money they received from Kansas State and Utah. (LOL)

After watching yesterdays game and see another team shooting over 50%, I wondered whether this is the worst Akron team on defense that I can remember. I was almost afraid to look at the stats, but we are now ranked 241st in defense giving up 76 points per game. (Kent is worst at at 336 and giving up 82 points). I know that we play a fast tempo and therefore giving the other teams more shots and we are not a great rebounding team giving up more 2nd and 3rd oppotunities to score. But the fact remains that statistically we are probably giving up more points this season than in any other season. It seems to me the players are working hard on defense. However, we do not have a rim protector and it just seems like we cannot keep the opposing team from attacking the basket or shooting an open three. Also, it does seem like there is more talent in the MAC this year. But we have seen all year, both in conference and out of conference it seems like we have trouble getting stops. Which leads me to the question: Do you think this team ranks last in defense or are there other Akron teams that were worse?

And bring back the half court shot

It is sad that we are having this discussion. Sports betting will ruin collegiate sports if the NCAA does not ruin it first. I respect Groce in that he recruits high class scholar athletes who know right from wrong. I hope he can continue to have a pipeline to these athletes.

I think individual sports such as ping pong or tennis are easier to fix since you have only one participant. However, basketball might be easier not to get caught since there are so many games and MAC games might get under the radar.

A 22 point lead is now an 11 point lead. Have not seen Stanovick play much. Nice steal then cannot finish at the other end. Not good when you finally get playing time and the lead evaporates.

I have not seen any of the games but when I look at the box score he just has not been playing well since he returned to Iowa. In one game he was a minus 26. The last game he shot 1 of 5 from 3 and only had 3-4 rebounds. After he returned to Iowa he seems to be shooting more three balls but has not been making them. Hopefully, he can turn things around the next game.

The Mahaffey brothers kicked that Wol down and then stomped on it. They really came through in the clutch when the game was on the line. I cannot remember the last time Tavari shot this poorly. Great that his team stepped up to secure the win.

Winning MAC game on the road can be difficult. The Zips have their back against the Wol. Lets see how they respond.

Tavari is having a great season. He had put his name in the transfer portal and then decided to stay with Akron Does anyone know the story behind the reason he stayed. Did Akron give him more money? Was there a lack of interest in the portal? I am so glad he stayed. Having an amazing season.

Zips have had some really bad passes tonight. At least one landing in the 3rd row. Lyles was jinxed by the Phelps when he talked about how well he has been playing the last 8 games. I cannot remember the last time I heard a 3 second call at a game. I thought they did away with that violation. (LOL) Scott is really playing well. We must have at least 10 points on fast breaks. Love Scott's reverse layup.

I thought that the Zips played at a slower pace against Miami. The game was winnable but we just did not execute at the end of the game. We missed a foul shot, a wide open three, and had a terrible turnover all in the last minute of play. We also did not shoot the ball well from the 3 line and we only lost by three. Closing out games on the road is a tough skill for any team so this road loss is not devastating. Wish we had a return game against Miami later in the season.

My bad, Tribble was 2 years ago. Still was a great defender and miss his toughness at the guard position.

Lets face facts, we are just not as good defensively as we were last year. Tribble was a great defender and very tough who could get around picks. Tavari, Scott, and Young are undersized at guards and have progressed more offensively than defensively. Evan Mahaffey is probably our best defender. I think Barre showed some promise before he got hurt. When Halligan came into the game I immediately commented that his defense made him stand out. He then started the next game. We are undersized in the forward and center position leading to double teams in the post and then open perimeter shooters at the 3 line. We miss the defense of Okonkwo and Grey. Our offense is great but our defense will determine how strong we will be this season.

Freeman has been with the Minn. but has not been on the roster for a game. I found this analysis of his game while a 2 way player from SB nation: Enrique Freeman Regular season: 13 GP | 31.4 MP | 14.5 PTS | 7.8 REB | 2.0 AST | 0.6 STL | 0.8 BLK | 2.0 TOV | 2.4 PF 52.4 FG% | 31.0 3P% | 75.0 FT% It’s been a slow start for Freeman this season. His minutes and overall numbers are down from his first season in the G League with Indiana, but he’s still been productive. In his most recent game with Iowa prior to being called up with Minnesota, he had his best performance for the season. Freeman scored a season-best 26 points on 10 of 13 shooting from the field against Westchester, a great encapsulation of his no frills type of effort. One of the more promising developments for Freeman has been his stroke from deep. Part of the intrigue of the 25-year-old was his potential to shoot from distance, but after shooting 20% on 2.5 attempts in November, it didn’t look promising. However, in his seven December games, he’s improved that to 37% on 3.9 attempts per game. If he can continue on this trend, then Freeman might have a shot at developing into an NBA player one day.