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Yesterday against Michigan she had 12 pts on 4-21 shooting and 7 turnovers in a 93-54 loss. Obviously a much higher quality opponent, but a really bad day for a really good player.

5 pt 1Q. Still hungover from ND?

Vikings 76 Zips 55 Not sure what my expectations should have been coming into the third year of this regime but it’s very apparent we are a not making progress. Not sure what to attribute it to but hopefully with all the new players some cohesiveness and improvement will be seen throughout the season.

NET factors in who you play and margin of victory. There is more to the formula as well, but it's not all publicly known. If you play a UNC or Purdue, but lose by 40 it doesn't help you as you performed as or worse than expected. If you play a Purdue or UNC and lose by 5 then it benefits you as you performed better than expected. If you play NIU and win by 40 it can help you. If you play NIU and only win by 5 it will hurt you. It's not a simple SOS formula like RPI was. RPI was a much easier system to game.

Sometimes, the metrics overwhelm common sense. Being 0-3 head to head to Miami should have been the primary factor.

Well deserved / earned.

Not RPI, but I distinctly remember Kent being ranked higher better than Miami last year in NET (which seemed to play a part in NIT invite). Playing Alabama and another big program seemed to play a part in that.

And the really sad part of that story is that blue blood Indiana was 5-5 in that league. did not even qualify for conference tournament but yet, the blue blood Hoosiers will probably be seeded 9 or 10 overall in the NCAA tournament

Oakland has a tradition of "playing up."

RPI is obsolete. Oakland is just trying to collect paychecks.

They are trying to game the SOS/RPI System......

That was basically the Ohio vs. Louisville game. I’m hoping for a better result, but Vegas is pretty good at what they do.

blOSUcked this season 😆

Purdue is 19.5 favorites. I hope we can cover at least but that’s a friendly line for us I feel

Time to go 🕺 Our Zips have earned it!!!

To illustrate @Illini Zip's insights, this year (albeit only 3 games into the season) our starting backcourt duo is averaging: Tavari: 13.3 PPG, 5 APG Scott: 14.3 PPG, 4.3 APG

Groce has said in the past that the criteria to play the point in his system is being able to break down the defense in the half-court, distribute the ball, run the fast break quickly while staying under control and be an efficient 3 point shooter. The deeper the shot the better. It doesn’t matter how they beat their defenders as long as they can do it regularly. For some it’s speed and quickness, others it’s shiftiness or even brute size and strength. All usually have to be good playing off of ball screens as well. You combine what @Blue & Gold posted with the fact that Jashawn Ladd shot 41% from deep last year and you have another point guard in the making. Maybe not his first couple of years, but very likely in time. https://bleacherprospect.com/2025/05/27/top-performers-from-the-3-stripes-gold-session-ii/ https://gatorswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/11/11/indiana-basketball-recruiting-rankings-top-30-players-in-class-of-2026/87204242007/ I know what you’re thinking…everyone can’t play point guard. True. Jashawn would likely have double-duty, half the time run the point and the other half play as a shooting guard. I think the smaller, quicker 6 foot guard is the mainstay at the position and I can see us bringing one in every 2 years. If they redshirt for a year even better. The other years, bring in true combo guards. At Illinois, I witnessed 6-1 point guard Tracy Abrams share the job with 6-4 ultra athletic, shooting guard Brandon Paul. It was kind of like the thunder and lightning dynamic you see football teams utilize with running backs. I bring up Brandon Paul because Jashawn looks like a poor man’s Brandon Paul. Expect to see this guy hanging on the rim quite often. Look at how easy dunking is for this guy. He’s just a junior in high school here. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/basketball/friday-night-fast-break-play-of-the-game-nominee-ben-davis-jashawn-ladd/vi-AA1xpj26 This dynamic of a point guard and combo guard sharing lead guard duties is nothing new during Groce’s Akron era. We started out with Virshon Cotton and Malcolm Duvivier. Then LCJ and Tyler Cheese. We then struggled partly due to Covid and partly due to Garvin Clarke’s failure to get north and south in the half-court. Thank God for Xavier Castaneda. As a shooting guard he held down the lead guard duties mostly by himself. Tavari was a freshman, but not at all ready for prime time. Since Tavari has taken the reigns he has shared the job with Tribble, Nate Johnson and now Shammah Scott. So don’t be surprised if the 5th year senior version of 6-5 Josh Henderson or RJ Jones becomes the next Tyler Cheese. I witnessed injury (and other shenanigans) at the point guard position derail Groce and Co. at Illinois. Together we witnessed Garvin Clarke’s failure handicap the Zips for a year or two. And now we are in the NIL era where you could see our future point guard leave at any time. In my opinion you can’t have enough lead guards on the roster. I suggest we grab one per recruiting class of alternating skill sets and size. And I think that’s exactly what we’re doing. 🙏

There are some great games in there, you'd assume that in the first four where there are direct Zips opponents it would be best for them to win. Funny that the worst matchup of the day by RPI numbers is the Big Ten final.

Kansas would've been a fun matchup this year. I believe they're quite young, led by an Akron-connected Darryn Peterson, son of former Akron standout Darryl Peterson.

Sunday November 16th Key Tournament Final games I will let others (smarter than I am)...fugure out the results that might be best for the Zips to receive a high seed All ratings shown are RPI as of 12:45 am on Sunday morning November 16th Ivy League Final - 11 am - broadcast on ESPNU #18 Cornell at #1 Princeton Big East Final - high noon - Boyds, MD #12 UConn vs. #17 Georgetown American East Final - 1 pm #4 Bryant (16-1-4) at #3 Vermont (13-0-5) Atlantic 10 final 1 pm #97 Dayton at #24 St. Louis Sunbelt Conference Final 1 pm #37 Central Florida at #14 Marshall ACC final - 1 pm........broadcast on ESPNU...game will be at Cary , NC #8 SMU at #2 Virginia Southern Conference final ...2 pm...... #27 UNC-Greensboro at #21 Furman Big Ten Conference final ....3 pm....game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network #34 UCLA at #26 Michigan

RPI final update for games on Saturday November 15th these results are after SAn Diego's win over Oregon State San Diego moves from 7 in RPI........up to #5 Maryland was at #5......when San Diego game started.....Maryland ends the day at #6 Portland drops from #6 to #7 Number 8 thru 11....look like this 8. SMU 9. Indiana 10. High Point 11. Akron 12 thur 17 look like this 12. UConn 13. Stanford 14. Marshall 15. NC State 16. Seton Hall 17. Georgetown Cornell started the day at #21 in RPI Cornell did not play today....but they ended the day at #18 in RPI Oregon State loss dropped them from #21 in RPI....down to #23 The Oregon State loss probably hurt Indiana and Stanford a little bit as the biggest non league win for both the Hoosiers and the Cardinal was over Oregon State.

Congratulations to Brian Quinn (the father of former Zip Great Aodhan Quinn) Brian Quinn is the head coach of the San Diego Toreros. This is Brian Quinn's 8th year as the Torero head coach. The Toreros just won their 4th straight West Coast Conference title (no conference tournament.) The West Coach Conference(WCC) has 3 of the Nation's best teams. Tonight, #7 RPI San Diego played at #21 RPI Oregon State to determine the league Champion. In the United Soccer coaches rankings, 3 WCC teams were ranked in the top 10 Portland at 6 ; San Diego at 7 and Oregon State at 10. In RPI (when the game started), Portland was #6 ; San Diego was #7 and Oregon State was #21. Coming into the game , these were the league standings 1. Oregon State 6-0-2 2. San Diego 6-1-1 3. Portland 6-1-2 San Diego needed to win to win the league title. A tie or a win would give Oregon State the league title San Diego wins 4-2 so final standings are 1. Sand Diego 7-1-1 ; tie for 2nd Portland and Oregon State 6-1-2 Game was much closer than 4-2 Game was 1-1 at 67...when San Diego scored on an outstanding corner kick at 80 minutes, Oregon State scored to tie it at 2-2 on a perfectly timed run. Brian Quinn asked for VAR.....it was very close...but the goal stood with 10 minutes to go, Oregon State was tied and was going to win the league 1 minute later, San Diego scored on a great free kick....25 to 30 yards beautiful strike Oregon State had to go full tilt....to try to tie it up...San Diego got a take away and scored to make it 4-2 One of the best soccer games that I have watched in a long time. Brian Quinn is a very good college coach. I will root for San Diego in the NCAA's and I really hope that they are not in the Zips regional. The torerros are a very good soccer team.

Four teams fighting for the final three spots and the Zips are the odd team out with a loss to Toledo. They had an ok year finishing at .500 in conference and above .500 overall but still very frustrating as they beat every team that made the tournament except Miami and 17-1 Ball State. What killed them were a number of losses to teams that ended up below them in the standings including cellar-dwelling Kent State. 🤮

Kansas only beat Princeton by 19, bring 'em on! 😊