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I have to say I'm getting a chuckle out of all you guys jumping on the Kostolac bandwagon. Earlier in the season several posters had already written him off as a lost cause. Based on what I saw in the early practices I loved the kid. Here was a very athletic big man with a nice touch around the basket. The best part though was even though he is a very nice kid, when he gets on the court he has a certain mean streak in him. He loves the rough play. Early in the season that didn't help him. Too many quick whistles and trying too hard kept him buried on the bench. Now that he is getting quality minutes the game is starting to slow down and he is really showing what he is capable of doing on the court.

As much as I enjoy watching this team in action, the bigger joy I get is when I close my eyes and imagine what this team will look like in 2 years. At the end of previous games, I used to imagine what Parrish, Sayles, and Cotton will look like...today Kostelac earned a spot on that list too. Here's hoping that Patton will do the same soon. The future is bright, fellow Zippers

THERE IS A NEW CENTER IN TOWN

Pumping schmumping. Nobody can rain on my parade. I'm having fun watching fundamentally-improved, competitive basketball with a hodgepodge roster of young kids that play hard and have us above .500 overall and 3-4 in the MAC (with pretty much the rest of the conference), including a win against one of our biggest rivals - O-Who. Nobody is mentioning the Sweet 16 this year, but there is excitement and optimism, with the floor for this program rising with each game. The roller coaster reactions are probably due to the lack of experience with this team. We don't know if the negatives in the losses are the norm, or if the positives in the wins are the norm. Go Zips!

In recent history we have had freshmen who we HATED who turned into beasts. This poster once called Big Dog a "boat anchor". This poster used to scream at the screen when Deji walked onto the Court. Antino was nothing to rave about as a freshman. Zeke was a good rim defender, but was always in foul trouble. Our current frosh have great potential. I see POY written all over K-Lac. Had a rough start, last night gets 10 points and how many dives to the floor? This guy loves to shoot, had to get his sea legs. He will be another Big Dog as a senior. Parrish has all the tools. Going to be a monster junior and senior. I did not like Cotton at all in the beginning. He is already close to playing like a junior. He plays big for a (relatively) small guy. We do have potential for a fairly good finish, and a better future. The youth of this team hurts us now, but will be a home run in a couple of years. And after the last two games, I can understand why no one was after K-Lac - they just didn't have Groces crystal ball. Mark my words, in two years people will be asking: How did that guy ever wind up at Akron?

I look at Sayles and Kostelac, and they are competing well at the D1 level today. The Zips are never going to get the one-and-done lottery pick kid. So you need to find kids with potential and develop them. Zeke went for 5.1 points/3.9 rebs his Freshman year. Big Dog's first season went 3.8/2.8. Kostelac is 6' 11" and 250 lbs as a Freshman. And he's coordinated. That projects well for the next 3 years. Sayles (healthy) is more polished than Kostelac 1.0, but time will tell if he'll be better than the 4.0 version. When all is said and done, I think both their stats will compare more favorably to Zeke and Big Dog than Sweich, Forsythe and Bardo (loved all three of those guys, but you know what I mean).

This may well be Groce's greatest coaching job ever. Totally impressed with the grit of this team. The progression of Kostelac and Cotton has been a joy to watch and Ivey has matured into a true leader who leaves it all on the floor every night. The future looks very bright.

I'm for one grateful to see competition at the position next season. Granted I haven't seen Riak play yet, but I'm not 100% sold on any of them. That's not to say I haven't seen things that I like, but all of them have a long way to go before they become contenders for All-MAC teams. Hopefully the competition makes them work harder to earn their minutes and we see some of this potential develop into on the court talent.

Really enjoyed the game tonight. We are a young and inexperienced team and we pulled out a win with Duvivier on the bench after he fouled out. Great foul shots on the 1 and 1 from both Cotton and Ivey. I cannot tell you how many times as a Zip fan I have seen us miss those foul shots. Klac had a good game. He dove for a ball late in the second half and the refs called a jump ball leading to our possession. He scored 10 points and had a nice touch around the basket using the backboard. Getting all this time is helping his game. Ohio closed the gap starting the 2nd half when we started 1 for 6 from the 3 line. It looked like we were rushing the 3 point shot. Patton is a good rebounder but he was telegrahing his passes tonight and looked a little lost on D. He just does not look confortable out there. The stats were almost even. Most importantly, we held our own on points in the paint. This is about as good as we can play. If we can keep shooting this well on the road we should be able to pull out a road win. I still think there is a higher ceiling for this team. Great to see a great team effort. Half way to 20!! My prediction is still in play. Go Zips!!

Kostelac was the MVP for me. Heck of a game. Great crowd and the players fed off of it. That was fun.

Figured @Balsy would want to know when the tryouts were so he can start prepping

I'm far less than sold, but I get what you're saying. Maybe after this year passes, and we aren't in a situation again where we had to grab whoever we could get and offer them a scholarship, our future prospects for the interior positions will improve. With this team especially, I think I see far more people elevate or deflate their hopes dramatically from one game to the next, based on good/bad performances than they ever have with any recent Zips teams. Some of them are really extreme, and change by the day. In looking at the future schedule, we need to remember that we still have to play ALL FIVE of our Division foes on the road over the last 11 games. I think that collective group of games will tell us a lot more about whether any of these guys can contribute for us in the future, rather than relying on a single play or a single game to make that assessment.

I want names! Skip, and who else?

Great game. Good hustle and effort. Coach is getting the most out of his players right now. I liked Virshon's emotional effort to work the crowd after the late foul. Then I loved his handshake with his "teammates" after he made his first free throw.

Reading BobcatAttack in full meltdown mode is beautiful, comforting, and promising. They are at a loss at what to do with their basketball program, and are in full-blown fear mode of Groce at the helm of the Zips. They know Groce's ceiling, and I think they expected his starting floor at Akron to be much lower. We are 10-9, 3-4 in the MAC (tied for 4th or 5th, however that cluster reads. We have 1 junior and 1 graduate student playing right now, with the rest being underclassmen. Heck, we even have a guy we found in the Rec Center getting playing time in crunch time. We have 2 bigs out, only one of which we're getting back this season, and 3 solid transfers waiting on the end of the bench. And we just beat OU in the middle of their coach's 4th season in the position. This is fun. Go Zips!

Tonight had every bit the feel of a traditional Akron/OU game. Loved the OU guards running their mouths and the Zips shutting them up. The Zips defense was relentless for the better part of the night. Other than losing track of Block on a few occasions they did a great job of switching and cutting off the dribble penetration. Constant defensive hustle. Loved Cotton and Ivey closing it out at the FT line. Nice that the refs didn't get in the way of a good game tonight. By MAC standards, a well-refereed game. Kudos to whomever decided to display individual stats on the sideboards for the bulk of the game! Ball State lost to Kent tonight, so Saturday's game doesn't look quite as daunting as it did earlier in the season. Are the Cardinals prepared for The Kostelac Attack?

Setty, Basset, Kellogg, Cooper, Taylor.. they all suck. The only decent one is Simmons, he had enough of a brain to get out while he could.

I know it is only one game, but 3-4 looks a heck of a lot better than 2-5.

Big steps tonight for Kostelac.

Cotton, air slaps at the line. Nice.

Okay, I don't like Gavin Block.

I'd say that was a great first half. Would have liked to push the lead out a bit more but it was competitive basketball. Kostelac is a little slow for the speed of play right now and needs to find a way to make his presence heard in this game as the tallest player. We're shooting the ball pretty well (46% FG & 50% 3PT), and have made some excellent defensive plays. Need to come out of the gate hard in this second half and start driving the nails into the coffin. Go Zips!

Nice first half. Some lapses in the last 5 minutes, but good overall. Those white and green Celtics knockoff unis get my blood boiling.

That's about it BUT no one understands the arcane tiebreakers. Last year there was website that let u play out all the scenarios.

Let's Go Zips!!

We're one game back from a bye. That should be the goal. Go Zips!