EMU- 1/22/22

[clarkwgriswold]

The Zips host Stan Heath and his 7-9 Ypsilanti Eagles Saturday night at the JAR.  EMU is 2-3 in the MAC having beaten Western and Central and losing to Ball State, NIU and PCCC.

 

They were predicted to finish 11th in the MAC, placing no one on the All-MAC teams.  They are eighth in the MAC in points per game and points surrendered.  Noah Farakhan leads the Eagles at 16.2 ppg.  I trust that no one will miss Rob Murphy and that 2-3 zone.  

[NWAkron]

Another one of those "were you there?" games.  The "commentary" misses much of the game ending drama, including Eastern missing tons of FTs.  Also, you can see Channel give his back for team at the end.  

[Reslife4Life]

1 hour ago, NWAkron said:

Another one of those "were you there?" games.  The "commentary" misses much of the game ending drama, including Eastern missing tons of FTs.  Also, you can see Channel give his back for team at the end.  

The ZTV Sports Report has some of the worst commentary ever, I understand they are students too, but man most of the time they are shades off of "boom goes the dynamite". This one is actually one of the better clips, I recall a soccer clip from two years ago where they called a throw-in a "foul ball". 

That shot by X was only his second 3 he made after shooting 9 from deep before only making one. 

[clarkwgriswold]

I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM.

[1981 grad]

For those that were not quick enough to get the above tickets Akron offering $5 general admission to get butts in the seats for tomorrow's game.  

[NWAkron]

Anyone remember our favorite Huron, James Thompson IV?

 

He plays for a Russian team in Siberia.  Siberia can't be much different than Ypsilanti.  The Russian league is one of the highest paying:

 

"Although the max salaries for Russian VTB United League teams are enticing the average salaries are very interesting as well with players making $200k-450k USD for the season. Now there’s motivation to deal with a Siberian winter."

[kreed5120]

21 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Anyone remember our favorite Huron, James Thompson IV?

 

He plays for a Russian team in Siberia.  Siberia can't be much different than Ypsilanti.  The Russian league is one of the highest paying:

 

"Although the max salaries for Russian VTB United League teams are enticing the average salaries are very interesting as well with players making $200k-450k USD for the season. Now there’s motivation to deal with a Siberian winter."

But that's only if they get paid. Russian league is notorious for not paying the wages they promise

[NWAkron]

10 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

But that's only if they get paid. Russian league is notorious for not paying the wages they promise

not to digress the thread, but I hope he is sending his $$$ home to an American bank because it could get really ugly really fast over there.

[clarkwgriswold]

Could someone explain to me what's amusing about my offer for the free tickets?  😕

[GoZips88]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Could someone explain to me what's amusing about my offer for the free tickets?  😕

 

😄Some of us may have bet the following ...

 

2/4 vs Miami - "I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM."

 

2/12 vs PCCC - "Not tonight, my good man. I'm heading to the JAR!"

 

2/17 vs NIU - "I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM."

 

2/22 vs BUGS - "I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM."

 

3/4 vs CMU - "I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM."

 

 

NOTE: Absolutely appreciate that you make the effort to offer tickets like you do. No offense intended. Just noticed a bit of a pattern this year.

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by GoZips88

[clarkwgriswold]

2 hours ago, GoZips88 said:

 

😄Some of us may have bet the following ...

 

2/4 vs Miami - "I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM."

 

2/12 vs PCCC - "Not tonight, my good man. I'm heading to the JAR!"

 

2/17 vs NIU - "I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM."

 

2/22 vs BUGS - "I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM."

 

3/4 vs CMU - "I have two tickets for anyone who wants them.  Shoot me a PM."

 

 

NOTE: Absolutely appreciate that you make the effort to offer tickets like you do. No offense intended. Just noticed a bit of a pattern this year.

 

 

Gotcha!  That makes sense.  I guess everyone should know by now to just contact me if they want them!

 

By the way, I have 2 tickets tomorrow if anyone wants them shoot me a PM.  LOL.

Edited January 22, 2022 by clarkwgriswold

[Captain Kangaroo]

If you’re concerned about COVID, you should come to the JAR. My section is at about 8% capacity. Others are even more sparse. You have a better chance contracting COVID in your own attic than you do at the JAR this year.

[LoyalZIP]

Happy Gameday! Again! The Zips have been HOT for the last 42:40 of basketball they've played, and this is a big one in my eyes. Well, they're all big at this point. I don't really expect anything to be easy especially with this team that has been so difficult to figure out. As Groce said on the Thursday post game, it will be very strange to not see 2-3 zone today.

 

A big thing I have my eye on is once again 3-point shooting. I've been following along on the shooting trends by our three best shooters--Trimble, X, Ali. 

 

Stats are from ESPN

 

Home 3pt. FG percentages: Ali--37.8%     Trimble--31.6%     X--36.4%

 

Away 3pt. FG percentages:  Ali--56.3%     Trimble--43.9%    X--40.7%  

 

This seems quite odd and out of the ordinary and I don't really have a good explanation. I just find it interesting. It would be nice to comfortably cover the -11 spread tonight and finally take care of business against a MAC team at home instead of fighting for our lives against everyone. Thursday gave me hope, I want to believe in this team. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Anyone else enjoying 3 games per week?

 

I could easily get used to this.

[1981 grad]

Probably because of the short bench and Covid, Groce has completely changed how he originally wanted this team to perform this year.  In the beginning of the season, we were playing fast and bringing the ball up the floor quickly.  Now we have the slowest offense in the league.  Groce indicated this teams strength would be rebounding.  We just got outrebounded badly in the last 2 games.  We were going to play a West Virginia style pressing defense.  Our half court press has been tepid and we back out of it.  We have not seen any type of pressure defense until we were down 12 to Western.  I am not complaining but it is interesting how Groce has changed his approach to this team as the season has progressed.  

 

Offensively, we look great when Trimble is on and we struggle when Trimble is off.  In the post game at Bowling Green their assistant coach indicated that they played poor defense.  I just did not see that.  Trimble made shots well behind the 3 point line.  It is impossible to stop a hot shooter when he is draining difficult shots.  The 2 guards from Western killed us making the same type of shots Trimble was making on Thursday.

[Blue & Gold]

6 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

We were going to play a West Virginia style pressing defense.  Our half court press has been tepid and we back out of it.  We have not seen any type of pressure defense until we were down 12 to Western.  I am not complaining but it is interesting how Groce has changed his approach to this team as the season has progressed.  

This has been disappointing to me, but understandable.  I was actually excited when WVU gave it to us in the scrimmage & prayed our guys would see what commitment to pressure defense looks like.  And for a while we did emulated the style and pressure & I was geeked! I LOVE that!  But losing Walton, Wynn, & gaining zero positive minutes from Clarke has necessitated drastically shortening the bench, so I definitely give credit to Groce & Co. for shifting on the fly.

[Blue & Gold]

And I'm still confused why we didn't redshirt Kalle.  What a waste.

[LZIp]

44 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Anyone else enjoying 3 games per week?

 

I could easily get used to this.

Oh yeah. Not sure our 7 man rotation does though lol

[NWAkron]

13 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

And I'm still confused why we didn't redshirt Kalle.  What a waste.

Remember Akrons triple or quadruple OT game against Miami in the QFs in Cleveland?  Everyone fouled out and only guy left on bench was Josh Egner, who KD wouldn't put in.   Never know when we will need him.  (Kalle not Egner)

[LZIp]

16 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

And I'm still confused why we didn't redshirt Kalle.  What a waste.

I don’t really disagree with the comment, but in todays transfer happy landscape it probably won’t mean anything in the long run unless Kalle is content being the 3rd big the next couple seasons, and that’s assuming Groce doesn’t bring in anyone to supplant him in the meantime.

Honestly I find the fact that the 2 guards aren’t worth burning their redshirt to help our short-handedness to be a bit of a red flag. 

[Blue & Gold]

15 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Honestly I find the fact that the 2 guards aren’t worth burning their redshirt to help our short-handedness to be a bit of a red flag. 

@Hilltopper Have you seen Nate Johnson & Kobe Mitchell in action? What are you thoughts on the games of our two redshirting guards?

[clarkwgriswold]

11 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

If you’re concerned about COVID, you should come to the JAR. My section is at about 8% capacity. Others are even more sparse. You have a better chance contracting COVID in your own attic than you do at the JAR this year.

Agreed.  When I was able to attend, through most of December, I was often the ONLY person in my end section above the Zips bench. Unfortunately, due to a health issue with one of my immediate family members, I can't risk bringing anything home. 

[clarkwgriswold]

1 hour ago, 1981 grad said:

Probably because of the short bench and Covid, Groce has completely changed how he originally wanted this team to perform this year.  In the beginning of the season, we were playing fast and bringing the ball up the floor quickly.  Now we have the slowest offense in the league.  Groce indicated this teams strength would be rebounding.  We just got outrebounded badly in the last 2 games.  We were going to play a West Virginia style pressing defense.  Our half court press has been tepid and we back out of it.  We have not seen any type of pressure defense until we were down 12 to Western.  I am not complaining but it is interesting how Groce has changed his approach to this team as the season has progressed.  

 

Offensively, we look great when Trimble is on and we struggle when Trimble is off.  In the post game at Bowling Green their assistant coach indicated that they played poor defense.  I just did not see that.  Trimble made shots well behind the 3 point line.  It is impossible to stop a hot shooter when he is draining difficult shots.  The 2 guards from Western killed us making the same type of shots Trimble was making on Thursday.

 

I think the Trimble situation and the WMU situation were very similar.  Three really hot shooters who also got a little help from the defense.  Groce and the BG assistant both hit on it.  BG opted to go under on picks rather than fight through or switch and it killed them at times.

 

I think we'd have also seen a lot more defensive pressure, especially full court and that half court trap, if the roster numbers would have panned out.   For now, I'll give Clarke an injury pass.  Walton and Wynn let this team down.

[kreed5120]

31 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

I think the Trimble situation and the WMU situation were very similar.  Three really hot shooters who also got a little help from the defense.  Groce and the BG assistant both hit on it.  BG opted to go under on picks rather than fight through or switch and it killed them at times.

 

I think we'd have also seen a lot more defensive pressure, especially full court and that half court trap, if the roster numbers would have panned out.   For now, I'll give Clarke an injury pass.  Walton and Wynn let this team down.

I'm ready surprised anyone would guard Trimble by going under the screen instead of fighting through it. 77.5% of his shot attempts are from behind the 3 point line. I'd 100% play him to run him off the 3 point line and force him to either pass or take a shot inside the 3-point arc.

[clarkwgriswold]

I remember those huge EMU front lines 3 or 4 years ago with Thompson, Groce and Boubacar, all 6'9" or bigger.  They were ineffective but they were big!