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MAC Tournament- Game 1- Miami


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The Zips host the Redhawks Monday night at the JAR as the second half of a first round MAC tourney double header with the women.  Miami comes into the game at 15-16 having lost three in a row and 4 out of 5.  The Zips beat Miami 70-58 at the JAR a couple of weeks ago and fell at Oxford 68-61 early in the season.

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Other than the Ohio game, the Zips have played well at home.  The old adage is to take one game at a time so why worry about Buffalo until we get past Miami.  Utomi had a great game at Kent and maybe he is regaining his shooting touch at the right time.  He scored both inside and outside against Kent.  We need someone on the team to provide some offense.  I still think Jackson is the key to this team's offense.  When he struggles with turnovers and poor shooting this team suffers.  Looking forward to the game on Monday.  I will be curious if they will draw any type of crowd.

Edited by 1981 grad
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Is Daniel Utomi getting hot at the right time.  The last 2 games he is shooting 16 for 30 from the field and 10 for 20 from the 3 line.  I noticed that he is scoring both inside and outside.  He actually scored on a fast break against Kent.  We need somebody on the team to generate some offense.  A go to guy.  I think those players could be Daniel or Cheese.  I think we need Jimond (238%) and Jackson (227%) to try to limit their 3 point shooting as they are the worst 3 point shooters on the team.  

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8 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Is Daniel Utomi getting hot at the right time.  The last 2 games he is shooting 16 for 30 from the field and 10 for 20 from the 3 line.  I noticed that he is scoring both inside and outside.  He actually scored on a fast break against Kent.  We need somebody on the team to generate some offense.  A go to guy.  I think those players could be Daniel or Cheese.  I think we need Jimond (238%) and Jackson (227%) to try to limit their 3 point shooting as they are the worst 3 point shooters on the team.  

If they keep those percentages up we're set

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57 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

2010. 9th seed Ohio wins the MAC Tourney, goes on to beat Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament. 

 

Tomorrow night matters. Be there to support them. 

One could argue that DJ Cooper made John Groce a rich man.  And we have no DJ Cooper.

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For the sake of redundancy, just to review- I am not 100% pleased with Groce.  The offense has struggled, time management has been an ongoing issue and the team has had major issues closing games.  That being said, I am moderately satisfied with the progress of the team.  KD moved on and it left this program in shambles.  Groce got a late start in recruiting and had to start from ground zero.    Last year's team was 14-18 and 6-12 in the MAC.  It was untalented, gave inconsistent effort and had some head cases.  This year's team is 16-15 and 8-10 in the MAC.  Not a huge difference in record, but this team has been in the game in most of its losses, plays outstanding defense and gives effort every night.

 

In the end, they're getting better.  Swap out Ivey for Williams and Roscoe and add another year of D1 experience to Cheese, Banks and LCJ and I think this team continues to trend up.  

 

We were really spoiled with KD and the consistency from year to year.  If next year,  we're again a middle of the pack MAC team, then I will be ready to move on, but if they do as I expect and move into the top four teams, win 20 games and bring in decent recruits, I will continue to conclude Groce was a worthwhile hire.

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48 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

For the sake of redundancy, just to review- I am not 100% pleased with Groce.  The offense has struggled, time management has been an ongoing issue and the team has had major issues closing games.  That being said, I am moderately satisfied with the progress of the team.  KD moved on and it left this program in shambles.  Groce got a late start in recruiting and had to start from ground zero.    Last year's team was 14-18 and 6-12 in the MAC.  It was untalented, gave inconsistent effort and had some head cases.  This year's team is 16-15 and 8-10 in the MAC.  Not a huge difference in record, but this team has been in the game in most of its losses, plays outstanding defense and gives effort every night.

 

In the end, they're getting better.  Swap out Ivey for Williams and Roscoe and add another year of D1 experience to Cheese, Banks and LCJ and I think this team continues to trend up.  

 

We were really spoiled with KD and the consistency from year to year.  If next year,  we're again a middle of the pack MAC team, then I will be ready to move on, but if they do as I expect and move into the top four teams, win 20 games and bring in decent recruits, I will continue to conclude Groce was a worthwhile hire.

I feel the same way about Groce.  I love how he has brought in athletic players such as Cheese, Banks, Jackson and Roscoe.  However, KD always recruited some great big men such as Big Dog, Zeke, Treadwell and numerous others.  Hughs is playing great for the Dukes.  Riak is a great defensive center but  we miss having a dominant center on offense.  I will hold off my review to see how we do in the tournament.  If this team makes a run Groce will be a genius.  If not, it will be another mediocre team in the MAC.

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6 hours ago, NWAkron said:

One could argue that DJ Cooper made John Groce a rich man.  And we have no DJ Cooper.

 

I did some digging to find the statistics for that year's Bobkittens squad, and this isn't necessarily true. During that 09-10 season, Cooper was the 2nd leading scorer at 13.5 PPG, shooting the 3-ball at a pretty underwhelming 31.9% clip. That would rank 4th on this year's Zips squad (among the main players). The keys to their success that year were Tommy Freeman and Armon Bassett, whom O-BooWho fans actually say is the guy that got Groce to Illinois by jump-starting the run. You could say Cooper's PG abilities as a floor general made Groce a rich man, but if my memory serves me correctly, Cooper shot them out of a decent amount of games. 

 

There is absolutely no reason the Zips can't go on a similar run as that 09-10 Bobkittens team, and it starts with this game against Miami. 

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17 hours ago, dre22era said:

Trap Game 

 

I too fear that tonight's game has the potential to be a repeat of the 2nd Ohio game. But for a different reason. My big fear is that the team is tired and ready for the season to be over. I just don't sense any 'fire' coming from the guys.

 

I know it's only been 2 years but Groce's UA teams haven't shown much improvement, either during the season or from year to year. Kinda reminds me of the Hipsher era (minus the nepotism). Wish I was more optimistic.........

 

Regardless I will be in my seat rooting us on tonight. GO ZIPS!

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8 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

For the sake of redundancy, just to review- I am not 100% pleased with Groce.  The offense has struggled, time management has been an ongoing issue and the team has had major issues closing games.  That being said, I am moderately satisfied with the progress of the team.  KD moved on and it left this program in shambles.  Groce got a late start in recruiting and had to start from ground zero.    Last year's team was 14-18 and 6-12 in the MAC.  It was untalented, gave inconsistent effort and had some head cases.  This year's team is 16-15 and 8-10 in the MAC.  Not a huge difference in record, but this team has been in the game in most of its losses, plays outstanding defense and gives effort every night.

 

In the end, they're getting better.  Swap out Ivey for Williams and Roscoe and add another year of D1 experience to Cheese, Banks and LCJ and I think this team continues to trend up.  

 

We were really spoiled with KD and the consistency from year to year.  If next year,  we're again a middle of the pack MAC team, then I will be ready to move on, but if they do as I expect and move into the top four teams, win 20 games and bring in decent recruits, I will continue to conclude Groce was a worthwhile hire.

 

I agree with this and would like to add that the MAC overall is a tougher conference this season than last year or probably anytime in the last handful of years so a two game improvement in record between last season and this one may actually mean a little more progress is being made than it normally would. I agree, though, if a jump toward the top of the MAC is going to happen you would think we would see it some next season.

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1 hour ago, zipfan84 said:

 

I too fear that tonight's game has the potential to be a repeat of the 2nd Ohio game. But for a different reason. My big fear is that the team is tired and ready for the season to be over. I just don't sense any 'fire' coming from the guys.

 

I know it's only been 2 years but Groce's UA teams haven't shown much improvement, either during the season or from year to year. Kinda reminds me of the Hipsher era (minus the nepotism). Wish I was more optimistic.........

 

Regardless I will be in my seat rooting us on tonight. GO ZIPS!

This team hasn't been great but I can't say I've seen any quit from them yet this season. If they lose if won't be from lack of effort

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26 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

This team hasn't been great but I can't say I've seen any quit from them yet this season. If they lose if won't be from lack of effort

 

We're you at the 2nd Ohio game?

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