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I said early on that this team needs Utomi to play well on the road to win. He didn't. We lose. His 3rd terrible game in a row. Once again saw him shoot a 3 without drawing iron. You would think that throwing up so many bricks that he would learn to follow up his shots. I cannot tell you how many offensive rebounds he could have if he would move towards the ball after he shoots since he often leave the ball short. Watching this team trying to attack the zone is hard to watch. When they do penetrate they freeze. Very few easy baskets. A lot of perimeter passing using up the shot clock with no penetration. We have Parish at the foul line trying to penetrate. I would rather have a senior, Duvivier in the middle. He has the experience of penetrating. A absolute terrible end of first half and 2nd half offensively. The only good I can see on offense is I finally saw K make a nice post move at about the 7 minute mark of the second half. He is a work in progress. Need to learn to go towards the basket and not away. He also had a nice pass out of the post to a man breaking to the basket for a layup. I know we are lacking in talent and they are frosh but Groce must do a better job of getting these guys to attack a zone!!

I heard he's still at KSU, but they moved his office to a basement storage area and took away his stapler.

I do not buy the excuses for Utomi. His shot has been off the last 3 games. He has been playing some center but he is a great athlete, very strong, and he is working hard on defense. He needs to find his shot. This team will struggle if he does not score. The whole time I was watching the game last night I kept thinking about how Big Dog (low post) and Kwan (high post) attacked the 2-3 zone surround by perrimeter shooters. Instead we had two frosh, K low post and Parrish high post. NO comparison. The chemistry and experience to attack the zone is not there. We are very athletic and the experience will come as long as they listen to Groce. I think getting K extended minutes will help his game. Lock him in the training room, show him his post up move that he made in the second half, and replay it until he understands he has the talent to go strong to the basket. His extended playing time will hopefully pay dividends later in the season.

We're young, shorthanded to begin with and now we don't have Sayles or E. And we still hung.. We'll be okay

I only was able to watch 2/3rds of the game, but man every time I watch EMU I quickly get reminded on how much I can't stand Thompson. He is the dirtiest player in the league. Kostelac seemed to do a solid job on him, but needs to continue to work on going up stronger on offense when he was it down low. The way to beat the 2/3 is to get it into the high post. We do it sometimes, but the guy who gets it there is never looking to shoot so that makes it easy for the defense to defend. Put the best mid-range shooter we have there on offense. Parrish's play stuck out well, but Utomi nor Ivey brought it. We aren't going to win many when Ivey and/or Utomi aren't the leading scorers (and doing it in a somewhat efficient manner). The T on Parrish pissed me off, especially in the wake of us one our of players going through a serious fall as a result of not hanging on it. There should be NOTHING wrong with hanging on the rim for a split second to regain your composure so you can land safely on your feet. To top it off, Thompson really hung on the rim TWICE that I saw and he didn't get called once. Fix the damn rule NCAA. I don't even see anything wrong with hanging on the rim...in fact better dunks would make the product better.

The cupboard is just 2-3 players too bare. The effort is there. The wins will come.

We've missed a lot of easy layups in this game. While we are making a little run, this game could be really close right now.

Zone defense typically creates a lot of offensive rebound opportunities. Considering 11 of our 21 rebounds came on the offensive end, that explains a lot.

I think Utomi's struggles have to with that fact that he is playing out of position. He is best suited for the 3 spot not the 4 or 5. He can play inside a little bit but he is primarily a perimeter shooter. He has been forced to play big and he looks uncomfortable. Also, French mentioned that Sayles had a bruised wrist and would be out for 2 weeks.

From what I could stomach watching, I saw guys flashing to the elbows and the foul line against the zone, but the Zips seemed hesitant to to make the pass. They also seemed hesitant to penetrate to get the zone to collapse then kick it out. I was happy with the deceased dribbling against the zone overall as compared to earlier in the year, but the lack of overall aggression on offense killed them all night. I'd also like to see them push the ball in transition to pressure the defense before it is able to set up. Happy to see a little breakout by Parrish. Utomi is in a real funk and looks a little lost. Given his high school stats, I'd guess he hasn't seen a lot of adversity on the basketball court. Hopefully, it is a short term slump that he can play his way out of, or the Zips' difficult season may become a miserable one.

- Completely agree. His lack of desire to follow his shot is infuriating, especially when he is missing so many consistently. He has become a liability on the floor, and to overcome his shooting struggles, he needs to exert more effort on the boards and defense. - I don't know if yesterday's game was the best to evaluate our abilities or inabilities against the zone. Without Sayles and Poke, we were probably half a foot shorter than EMU on average, and with the refs letting them play, driving inside probably wasn't too enticing to our guys. The only way to counteract a zone when you aren't making your shots is dishing the ball to a player cutting to the basket once the defenders in the paint collapse on you, but that requires some pretty strong team chemistry usually. It's absolutely something that needs improved, but I'd like to see us play against EMU's zone when healthier to get a better judgement. - I wonder how much attacking a zone is an uphill battle for a college coach. I don't watch AAU basketball, but everything I hear about it is it's mainly running up and down the floor in more of a showcase manner, rather than technical and strategical basketball. I can't imagine these guys play against much zone during their high school/AAU days. 31-18 personal fouls, in favor of BG. Duvivier, Kostelac, and Utomi fouled out (nobody on BG did). Sayles exited the game early with his concussion/injury. Poke obviously wasn't available. We were down to 5 players after all of this. A guy we found in the rec center came up with a massive rebound, and a freshman hit what ultimately was the game-winning 3. Just wanted to give you a summary of the game because it seems like you missed it and have no idea how much adversity the team overcame.

We played with 6 scholarship players tonight. Where were you Saturday?

K-Lac did a great job on Thompson. One bright spot. However, we suffer from PDD = Points Deficit Disorder.

I think some of what we are seeing is our guys are not in rhythm. You have player rotations where they are just not used to playing a lot together. That is what happens when previous bench players like Smith and Kostelac are now getting extended minutes. They are all thinking more than just reacting.

That said, he needs to stop shaking his head and stay aggressive.

I thought that was a foul. The block was all ball, but you can't body someone during a block attempt.

I love that Zak tweeted that he and LeBron are the only number one draft picks in Akron's history! That's the kind of history people might not be aware of -- and sure doesn't hurt his credibility in his position with the media! I would love to hear him call a game! Wonder who the play-by-play guy is for SSFC. I remember hearing the almost over-done British accent on the PA announcer at QWest/Century Link and now I wonder if their TV voice is a Brit too... Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Posted on the Other Sports thread, but Kwadarrius was back on the track this past weekend at the Kentucky Invitational, running the 60 for the Zips in a time of 6.72 seconds, third fastest in program history....keep those wheels turning Kwads, should be a fun football season to look forward to.

https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/76368/2018-mls-superdraft-ranking-the-top-23-pre-combin.html another publication raving about Joao...the best technically...and the best tactically and I love the phrase....Akron's "beautiful game" 3. DF/MF Joao Moutinho (Akron, Portugal) FR-GA The most technically and tactically gifted player in the class. His left foot is so smooth and was a master at starting the attack in Akron's "beautiful game" scheme as a center back. When called upon to challenge for aerial duels and make plays defensively, he was always up to task. Can play anywhere on the field -- literally -- and be very effective. Will fit in well for teams that thrive in possession and switching the point of attack as his ability make creative plays against the grain with pin point pass or savvy dribble is extraordinary.

I'm surprised a school like Can't didn't offer him. They had interest in him, and Joey seems to be their prototypical QB - undersized, athletic, etc. At 6'1" 190 lbs, I'm not too surprised he didn't get much DI interest. It looks like he had walk-on offers from a few DI schools, but he's smart to at least get the full ride scholarship, regardless of where it's at. If his University of Virginia wrestling scholarship wasn't a full ride, I think he made the best life decision from a financial aspect.

I believe you are talking about class balance. I have noticed that it's out of whack too. I'm not sure what Groce has in mind there, other than there might be some natural attrition. Sometimes these things just work themselves out in time.

What makes you so sure that we will win one of those 5? You need to add another poll option: (None of the above) and that would be my pick. I hope the young Zips will prove me wrong but we all knew that this was going to be a tough transition year.

Why wasn't Thompson just called for the T for hanging on the rim?

There is a Parents & Family event scheduled for Saturday from 4:00-6:00 at the Euro-Gyro. We scheduled this event for post game. I will relay this to the committee chairperson. These time changes are B.S. I don’t understand why they seem to arbitrarily change these game times. My wife is a member of the Parent & Family committee. They put in a lot of effort to help promote the University and bring parents and families on to Campus for various events. Many of the parents have to travel some distance and make plans to attend an event. We have reserved the upstairs at Euro-gyro for a postgame party. We have sent out emails for confirmation, and asked people to respond so we can get a head count. This allows us to pre-order food accordingly. I am frustrated as hell!!!!!