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You guys will argue anything around here

John Groce will be the guest speaker at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club on Monday April 24th. He is replacing Keith Dambrot on the schedule.

I'm sure some are looking at this as an eye-opener, but without looking at the PIT game, I can't imagine that this type of shot selection from Big Dog would have translated to more wins for us. In fact, I think we would have lost more games, to be completely honest. Now do I think we utilized Big Dog the right way? Yes and No. I believed that we should have given him the ball more in the high post. With his vision of the court, being at the high post sets up a lot of things you could have done with the other four on the court. I'll just give you one situation where you could have done this. For those that aren't used to the basketball terms, I apologize in advance. Antino passes to Big Dog at the high post. Cheatham is posting up on the left block for a little high-low, while Antino is then going to the left side of the floor for a flare screen. While that is going on Noah is on the right wing and backdoor cutting to try and get a pass from Big Dog. If Antino's flare and Noah's backdoor is not open, Cheatham and Ivey set a stagger screen for Noah. While that is going on, Antino is coming back over to Big Dog to get the handoff. Noah's stagger screen is mainly a decoy for the handoff. Cheatham then sets a back screen for Ivey and either Antino takes it all the way to the hoop or he alley-oops it to Ivey. Cheatham pops out after setting that back screen for a potential 3 if his defender shades to help on Ivey. Now, during all that time(which should be no more than 10 seconds) Big Dog has the ball, if he sees any opening to take his defender 1v1 , he has the green light. And to be honest, with the other four players moving this much with Big Dog having the ball at the high post, it makes it difficult for any of the opposing team's defenders to stay in help side for longer than a second. My biggest problem was how we went iso with Big Dog and the other four hardly moved, and just watched Big Dog go to work. That is the most easiest way to defend a team. That's why I was so impressed with Big Dog, because everyone knew where the ball was and knew what was going, and he STILL found a way to score or find the open guy even though they weren't moving. That would be my issue with how KD used Big Dog. However, no way would I allow Big Dog to shoot 3's in a game for Akron Zips. He's best around the high post and block. Plus, we had enough 3 point shooters. We didn't need another guy to take up that space.

You shouldn't even need to explain that. I hope some of the responses above were not serious.

When last season imploded there was great talk of much needed change, however you saw it. It seems the change we got was more eye-opening than most of us wanted, but I believe it will be the absolute best for us in the long run. Groce is putting together a kick-ass staff and that is the most important factor. Those guys know how to find and recruit talent. We all wanted an easier transition but it's not to be. Let's face it, we lost a lot of under-performing talent (Josh, Hughes, Noah maybe) or yet-to-be-proven talent (TDM, Hughes). Groce will do better. Unfortunately it will take him time, 1-2 years, but it will be worth it. We weren't going any higher with KD. He admitted it by leaving. So let Groce do his thing and set a higher standard. I wish KD and all the leaving players well, but once you are gone you are out of my mind. I follow people who want to be here, not those who want to leave, coaches and players included.

Lol, I wouldn't mind at all if Sonny tweeted that after hanging up the phone after accepting a spot on the staff. This is a great sign. Sonny (hard to believe how old I am, remember playing ... badly ... against him in summer league back in the 90s), now he is basically the dean of Cleveland area high school basketball. His voice carries a ton of weight.

I don't hold any grudge against any kid that wants to transfer after the staff that recruited him left. I do hold a grudge against said staff taking the team with them. "Akron will always be home" BS

Just for the record, I didn't type "crap". I was censored.

I was always far more concerned with Big Dog playing defense at the three point line than I was with him with the ball at the three point line!

He can shoot for sure, although today wasn't the norm. Much more efficient for him to back down a (usually) smaller opponent and drop it in. Big Dog did great under KD.

Out of Likes.

It seems like just yesterday that we were discussing how deep we were at guard but that we needed some bigs to step up next year. How quickly things can change.

Basketball, more than any other sport, is about the relationship recruits establish with coaches rather than the school. So, I can't say I'm mad at either TDM or Hughes for following KD. At the same time, I'm with the consensus that those aren't exactly cornerstone guys to build an A-10 program around. At the same time, I doubt KD is selling them to coming there to be the man. To be perfectly honest, I would hold more of a grudge against Antino for leaving to go to LSU for his final year than if he would've also left to go to Duquesne. I can't imagine he has any ties to Will Wade. But who knows, there could be some Dambrot/Shaka/Wade inner workings on that one, and LSU is relatively close to Antino's hometown, so I won't even kill Antino if he makes that move, even though selfishly (and even for his sake) I think Akron is still the best fit for him.

Not sure how accurate that web page is. Kevin was on staff last year as were all the GA's listed. Eric Harper annouced this week that he was joining KD in Pittsburgh.

Sometimes moving on from a large BM can be a bit of a relief and can remove a distraction that kept you from concentrating on more important things. You'll feel better after its done.

We're thrilled to hear that, Rob's family member. Thanks for joining Zips Nation.

Many in the "KNOW" know it wasn't as simple as that...

No, I haven't heard that at all. I don't know why it's a shock to some people that there are supporters of a longtime coach who wanted him to be retained, and are pissed that he's not still here. Isn't that going to be the case with any coaching change? I'm sure that we just won't know for a long time how strong that legion of supports is, or how long they might be pissed.

Is there a second group that may be ranked slightly below this? I just have trouble seeing guys leaving Duke and Kansas being willing to come to Akron and the MAC unless it would be a homecoming or something like that.