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Keeping up with Keith (Dambrot)


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I tried watching but that style of basketball in that D3 looking gym was boring me. I took a peak at their message board after I saw they lost to bottom dweller George Washington. This is supposed to be their team that comperes for the title. They're fans are complaining about rotations and foul shooting..sounds all too familiar.  He even submitted an incorrect roster card at the start of the game and got a T for it. The honeymoon phase has seems to have worn off and they want more than just going from A10 bottom feeder to mid-tier conference team.

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Even though I was pretty salty when he left and will never be a Duquesne fan, I love KD & always will.  

 

But hindsight being 20/20, are we lucky to have Groce, or what?!?!  

 

Last game -v- Kent the announcers even commented on how good & consistent our free throw shooting is.  They remarked that both LCJ & Freeman have the same routine at the line so it's likely a team system/coaching.  The comment instantly took me back to some not-so-great memories of KD Zips teams.

 

Plus, for the life of me I'll never understand KD's rotations, short leashes, and always taking the hot shooter out of the game.  To this day it absolutely blows my mind.

 

Not to mention I find our current style of play much more entertaining to watch.

 

In Groce I trust.  We're so lucky to have him!

 

Go Zips!

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11 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Even though I was pretty salty when he left and will never be a Duquesne fan, I love KD & always will.  

 

But hindsight being 20/20, are we lucky to have Groce, or what?!?!  

 

Last game -v- Kent the announcers even commented on how good & consistent our free throw shooting is.  They remarked that both LCJ & Freeman have the same routine at the line so it's likely a team system/coaching.  The comment instantly took me back to some not-so-great memories of KD Zips teams.

 

Plus, for the life of me I'll never understand KD's rotations, short leashes, and always taking the hot shooter out of the game.  To this day it absolutely blows my mind.

 

Not to mention I find our current style of play much more entertaining to watch.

 

In Groce I trust.  We're so lucky to have him!

 

Go Zips!

 

I was disappointed to see Dambrot go. I thought he got a little too much criticism despite consistently putting a top 3-4 MAC team on the court year in and year out. Fortunately for us we made a great hire and outside of 1 rebuilding year we haven't missed a beat so far.

 

My feelings towards him might have turned bitter had we hired a dud, but as of now I wish him the best. I don't think KD style of basketball is bad as there is more than 1 way to win a basketball game. I just find Groce guard style of play more entertaining to watch. I also think it's a better system come MAC tournament time. Having a 300lb big that you run the offense through works great when you play twice a week. It becomes hard when you're playing your 3rd game in 4 days.

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12 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Last game -v- Kent the announcers even commented on how good & consistent our free throw shooting is.  They remarked that both LCJ & Freeman have the same routine at the line so it's likely a team system/coaching.  The comment instantly took me back to some not-so-great memories of KD Zips teams.

Our sub-par free throw shooting drove me crazy all of those years with KD. It was so frustrating!

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16 minutes ago, blueandgold said:

Our sub-par free throw shooting drove me crazy all of those years with KD. It was so frustrating!

 

The free throw shooting was often atrocious, but now whenever I think back to it, the Ohio State NIT game in 2016 comes to mind. I just looked up the box score and threw up in my mouth.

 

Akron 3pt: 9-42 (including 3-14 in Reggie's last game)

Akron FT: 8-20

 

AND THE F****** GAME WENT TO OVERTIME!!!!!!   ? 

 

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/matchup?gameId=400871464

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1 hour ago, LoyalZIP said:

 

The free throw shooting was often atrocious, but now whenever I think back to it, the Ohio State NIT game in 2016 comes to mind. I just looked up the box score and threw up in my mouth.

 

Akron 3pt: 9-42 (including 3-14 in Reggie's last game)

Akron FT: 8-20

 

AND THE F****** GAME WENT TO OVERTIME!!!!!!   ? 

 

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/matchup?gameId=400871464

Big Dog was 6-16 on FT's. I think he missed his last 6 or 8? It was criminal that we lost that game. Should have beat OSU by 15.

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12 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Big Dog was 6-16 on FT's. I think he missed his last 6 or 8? It was criminal that we lost that game. Should have beat OSU by 15.

That is a game that we should have won.  Ohio State was missing some players and I think we blew a big lead.  I also think that if we would have won that game we would have hosted a big program because their gym was being renovated.

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On 1/5/2021 at 10:00 PM, Blue & Gold said:

Even though I was pretty salty when he left and will never be a Duquesne fan, I love KD & always will.  

 

But hindsight being 20/20, are we lucky to have Groce, or what?!?!  

 

Last game -v- Kent the announcers even commented on how good & consistent our free throw shooting is.  They remarked that both LCJ & Freeman have the same routine at the line so it's likely a team system/coaching.  The comment instantly took me back to some not-so-great memories of KD Zips teams.

 

Plus, for the life of me I'll never understand KD's rotations, short leashes, and always taking the hot shooter out of the game.  To this day it absolutely blows my mind.

 

Not to mention I find our current style of play much more entertaining to watch.

 

In Groce I trust.  We're so lucky to have him!

 

Go Zips!

 

They better be careful; they could be found guilty of Jinxing (like that poor guy in the Dr. Pepper commercial).

Edited by Zipmeister
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  • Dr Z changed the title to Ole K.D.
On 1/5/2021 at 10:00 PM, Blue & Gold said:

Even though I was pretty salty when he left and will never be a Duquesne fan, I love KD & always will.  

 

But hindsight being 20/20, are we lucky to have Groce, or what?!?!  

 

Last game -v- Kent the announcers even commented on how good & consistent our free throw shooting is.  They remarked that both LCJ & Freeman have the same routine at the line so it's likely a team system/coaching.  The comment instantly took me back to some not-so-great memories of KD Zips teams.

 

Plus, for the life of me I'll never understand KD's rotations, short leashes, and always taking the hot shooter out of the game.  To this day it absolutely blows my mind.

 

Not to mention I find our current style of play much more entertaining to watch.

 

In Groce I trust.  We're so lucky to have him!

 

Go Zips!

I enjoyed the Dambrot era, not counting the last couple of MAC Tourney runs, but I hated seeing a hot shooter hit 2 or 3 shots and then come out of the game at the first 4 minute mark timeout regardless of the situation (defensive match ups, other team's run, etc.)  We also had a lot of streak shooters that once they sat never got back in the groove.  I specifically remember several games where the shooter from Nitro, W Va., Brent McClanahan, would knock down back-to-back 3's and be out for a long time due to what appeared to be pre-determined rotations.  I also don't miss the extended scoring droughts that seemed so common for Zips teams that had plenty of talent.  Last but not least, I still have nightmares from being at close games in the JAR where the ball went in to Big Dog every late possession and he would get intentionally fouled to go put up bricks at the line.  We lost a couple close games with him going 0-3. 0-4 from the line in the last minutes.

 

Fortunately, Groce has delivered in a big way and the future looks bright.  After being sooo close so many times with KD, if Groce gets us to the big dance and wins a game or two and heads to a bigger program, I will be all good with that.  I want a banner that says more than most coaching wins hanging in the rafters.  Go Zips.

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On 1/6/2021 at 10:33 AM, blueandgold said:

Our sub-par free throw shooting drove me crazy all of those years with KD. It was so frustrating!

 

Not to mention how many front ends of 1 & 1's we missed every year (Big Dog again comes to mind).  It was not just the team's horrible percentage at the line, but we left a lot of scoring attempts behind as well and we were usually terrible in crunch time.  KD won a lot of games by 1 or 2 that could have been 5 or 6 or more if we hit our shots.  This is just another reason I enjoy watching LCJ so much.  After all the years of watching our bigs hit iron, its so much fun to watch our automatic PG be the one at the line when it counts most.   

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On 1/7/2021 at 12:33 AM, 1981 grad said:

That is a game that we should have won.  Ohio State was missing some players and I think we blew a big lead.  I also think that if we would have won that game we would have hosted a big program because their gym was being renovated.

 

Florida was set to come here. Although we should've hosted OSUcks in the first place. Gave the game to OSUcks due to their bigger arena, but I don't think the attendance in CBus would've filled the JAR. Had that game been at the JAR, could you imagine the atmosphere? I doubt the NIT, given the decision to give OSUcks that home game, would've let Florida come up to Akron. 

 

Everyone is right about that game and it being a should-have-won. Every single flaw with Dambrot's system showed that game, and they all had to do with basic fundamentals. Free Throws also cost us the ranked Nevada game and I believe the ranked VCU game (or they were eventually ranked) - both at the JAR.

 

The Dukes are a 65% shooting team from the Charity Stripe so far this season. That's probably their ceiling under Dambrot. 

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Eh, I'm not of the belief KD should have ever been fired. That would have been real risky. However him leaving and stealing our players and recruits still leaves a sour taste in my mouth, so I am not disappointed to see that he might have already peaked in the A-10 and it may not be good enough for the dookie faithful.

 

At the end of the day I think all would agree it worked out with Groce after having a few years of patience. I think it will be interesting when LCJ is gone. When I think of his success in the MAC, I think of DJ Cooper and LCJ. The star combo guard seems pivotal. I don't think Tribble is that player, and that isn't anything against him as he's a fine player - just doesn't fit the mold IMO. Clarke may be based on the limited action we've seen.

 

Last year's postseason being stolen from us still burns. Programs in the MAC can't take good years for granted as opportunities to prove yourself in the dance are very slim.

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