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Now he's featured for 23 minutes per game on a 12-13 New Mexico team. Hope he's happy.

I'd think we could elaborate further than two games (both of which went to OT) when it comes to discussing the merits of each coach, but sure. Again, I'm not saying Groce isn't a good coach or that Dambrot is the greatest of all-time. But as skip-zip pointed out, Dambrot always did more with less. There were so many times I expected a huge dropoff, only to find myself at The Q on Saturday night cheering for the Zips in another title game. I'm confident Groce will have a much better year here next season, and strongly believe he'll get us a NCAA Tournament win before moving on. I base this on my opinion that he is an elite recruiter, which I do not think KD is. But if I'm giving both coaches the same roster of players to work with in this hypothetical situation, yeah, KD's going to squeeze more wins out of the group every single time.

Great summary 1981 Grad and you are correct, they are playing worse. They are not playing team defense and missing their assignments. They didn't follow Clarkswgriswold's scouting report which was obviously on point. On offense there is way too much hero ball and there is no ball movement or a general sense of purpose on the court. Even without a full roster, this team is underachieving. Groce's teams always improved at Illinois, even though some years they collapsed before the post-season due to exhaustion trying to over-come injuries/set backs. This team due to a lack of leadership, competitiveness, pride and coachability has hit a wall early on and now it's spiraling out of control. My guess is there is a cancer in the locker room that will not exist next year. It might be one of our best players. It might be 4 of of our best players. Nobody is safe going into next year and they all had better be prepared to compete against walk-ons for the rest of the season because it's obvious to me that Groce is prioritizing culture over wins at this point.

that has to be the recruit shown on top drawer.... they list him as being with Belenenses...and the english translation shows that team his comments are very heart-felt...seems like an appreciative young man translation: Without a doubt a walk that I will never forget throughout my life ... WE HAVE HISTORY (National Vice-Champions / Best Defense in the Country) ?? Nothing is impossible ... There are no words to describe what I felt throughout this time. We were a real family. "The union made the force" ?? Inhuman what we were able to do ... I want to thank all those who accompanied me throughout my training: to Odivelas, Sport Lisboa and Benfica and finally to Belenenses, this great a club that has welcomed me with great affection for almost 5 years. But this does not end here ... I'm focused on the present to achieve what I want in the future ? God enlighten me ??

With 7 scholarship players? No chance.

Unfortunately there weren't 2 other meetings that should have happened in Cleveland, because the other two years that Groce was at OU, Akron won the MAC Tournament Title, and OU was long gone by the Quarterfinals.

Kent State, Wisconsin, Appalachian State, Boston College, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Miami (FL), Pittsburgh, South Alabama, USF, Boston College, Cincinnati, Kent State, Miami (OH), Toledo, UCF, Bowling Green, FIU, Georgia State, Southern Miss, Western Kentucky, Nevada, Idaho, Iowa State, San Jose State, UNLV, Army, Florida Atlantic, Illinois, Louisville, Minnesota, Syracuse and if they add Adetutu Daranijo: Cincinnati, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Fresno State, Massachusetts, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Missouri, Navy, Northern Illinois, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Toledo, Tulane & UCF. There have been years where there were only a couple of other schools that offered anybody that we signed. There are true diamonds in the rough that no one else saw and we did. For sure. But those are exceptions, not rules.

On an optimistic note; when I research LePear Toles and Loren Jackson I am hopeful these two guys will bring a winning attitude with them. Grocism of the Day - We want Tiggers at Akron, not Eeyores.

What Dambrot inherited vs. what he left for Groce is night and day. Last I checked, Dambrot inherited an A10 All Rookie Team member, and didn't reciprocate for Groce. With the injuries that have occurred, this season cannot be measured by wins/losses. The losing sucks, I want to win just as badly as anybody here, but that's not how I'm measuring the successes of this season now. I'm looking at the progress of our freshman, and I am very pleased. - While KLac hasn't been as big of a presence in recent games, there was a stretch there where he was a real force. He has developed some excellent post moves, has knocked down some jumpers, and his effort to get on the floor has been tremendous. - Virshon Cotton is looking like he will be solid for years to come at the point position. - Parrish, despite some frustrating moments of "what the hell were you thinking", is largely everything you can ask for in a freshman forward. He's aggressive, drives to the basket, rebounds, jumps the passing lanes. I'm really excited to see him continue to develop. - Patton is even getting more confident. He rebounds well and is starting to find more and more of his game on the offensive side of the ball. Most importantly, I like the main emphasis on building the culture to Groce's standards over getting a bunch of cheap and meaningless wins in the grand scheme of things.

This just in (from the desk of George Thomas)- Elvis AND Keith Dambrot have left the building.

2 hour drive to Pittsburgh. I was thinking the same thing both times we lost to OU and Groce in the MAC finals. Both good coaches. One left. One is here.

I think the proof should be in the history and results. For 12 years, everyone here anguished over whether we could repeat success the following year by losing players A, B, and C, etc., and every year we found a way to get right back to where we were during the course of the season. Maybe 2015 would be your best example. Chauncey, Walsh, and Zeke had all graduated, and Harney, Treadwell and Abreu had all "exited" the team over a period of roughly a little more than a year. Our PG was a freshman, and he tore his ACL. Another freshman stepped in, and that guy along with a hobbled Forsythe (who could only muster a few minutes per game) took us all the way to the MAC Semifinal. That team was so decimated by the end of the season that we decided not to take a postseason bid, if you recall. Like him or not, Keith knew how to put the pieces together to win MAC basketball games, in all kinds of different circumstances. And he proved that, over, and over and over again.

I wouldn't count on his return. All that is happening in 3 weeks is a re-examination of his wrist. My guess is that they play it safe and he is done for the season.

Wow. I was just going to write about how much I enjoy your insight. I was referring to 0510s post BTW. On a positive note, our chance of winning a 1500 jewelry item is going up if attendance wanes. The t shirt cannon to the chest was definitely symbolic.

I need to remind myself to look back on my original expectations of this team when I start getting bogged down in their current plight. I thought they were a 15 to 18 win team. I thought they would beat the "lower" teams in the MAC, maybe split with the middle of the pack and lose to the better teams. With the OOC record, 15 wins was a reasonable expectation. With the injuries to the two big men, a 3 to 5 game variance from a 15 win season can't be unexpected. As such, I need to temper my enthusiasm when they do well as well as my disappointment when they lose. At the end of the day, we've been damn spoiled. Also, the OOC schedule really got our hopes up. Looking to the future...sigh...

Updated Scholly Chart. Believed to be 5 spots open still. Zips Football Scholarship Chart.xlsx

Ugh. He's going to be so out of game-shape and rusty.

I completely agree with you. Losing Sayles and Poke would not have converted the beatings we took the last 3 games into wins. I lay most of the blame on the selfishness that comes with losing. Maybe the Coach has made mistakes too. We all tend to judge coaching within a season in terms of how a team improves during the season. And while you focus on this notion of supreme athleticism, I'd suggest that maybe you focus a little more on the fact that we just don't have enough good basketball players to win a lot more games than we've won this year. My opinion or your opinion of how "athletic" these guys are really doesn't mean anything if they aren't good enough basketball players. I don't think they will lose all of the rest of their games. But, the wheels are definitely off.

Welcome to Ivan

So staying married to the same person is a "failure to adapt"? I'm thinking you might have stretched that analogy just a wee bit..

Even their inter webs name betrays their betrayal of being Akron-centric: Ohio dot com. Cleveland Plain Dealer's website = CLEVELAND dot com Canton Repository's website = CANTONrep dot com Akron Beacon's website = OHIO dot com Screw you, Ohio Beacon Journal... Again, where's the Beating-My-Head-Against-The-Brick-Wall emoticon?!

If I remember correctly, wasn't Antino hanging his head a lot by the end of last season? I think there were rumors of his imminent transfer while KD was still the Zips' coach.

Well that settles that! going to be a lot of competition at RB this year and in the future. I'm not sure if I would say Floyd is a 3-star RB though as I haven't seen anything stating that...

Big time land here! Impressive offer list...I wonder if we use him at LB though?Damn thing isn't embedding for whatever reason, but its Abraham Alce.

I actually got a call from the publisher after I complained about Dyer's hit piece on Groce and the hiring process last Spring. I then emailed Dyer and asked him if he bothered to call the athletic director before writing his opinion piece. I also asked him out of curiosity how he became such an expert on Zips basketball without attending any games. It went down hill from there. But now GT has a story line he can run with as we go from regular season MAC champs to regular season basement. That's the mentality you are dealing with there. They thrive on others' failures because they are failing themselves. (Oh, and the publisher was quite nice and reasonable and thought it might have been a good idea for Dyer to contact the AD. Of course, that publisher left soon after that).

Hell yea...never seemed to get much attention (potentially due to grades?), but I've always loved Sibley's tape.

I have been told that Daniel Olivieri or Daniel Oliviero is a right defensive back.... beyond...that , I am in the dark Diogo Pacheco Graduation Year: 2018 Position: Midfielder Club Name: C.F. Os Belenenses High School: N/A Region: International Daniel Olivieri Graduation Year: 2018 Position: Defender Club Name: C.F. Os Belenenses High School: N/A Region: International Marco Milanese Graduation Year: 2018 Position: Defender Club Name: Napoli SC High School: N/A Region: International City: Naples

Whoever's running the football account must have slept in. I'd like to say I'm surprised but....

Good. He eluded to this in Saturday's postgame. He's not afraid to lose if it builds the discipline he wants as the foundation for this program.

Josh and Noah were leaving regardless. Josh went to play with his brother or whatever, and Noah wanted to play closer to home. I doubt Dambrot did anything to push Antino to stay, which aggravates me. He then took Big Mike & TDM, not that I was a big fan of either but that's depth that left. Ivey is undisciplined, Utomi is still young but was underdeveloped under Dambrot (he barely played Utomi last year). Poke is Poke, and I hope he's having a speedy recovery. It's just frustrating. I'm confident Groce will get us to the next level quickly, but this year is a bit eye opening.

I'm going to go there and maybe get the rath of Skip and others but KD used up Big Dog and Kwan and left a hollowed out program. Kudos to those who stayed, but I'm sure KD knew Antino, Noah, Josh, and whoever else were on the way out. If he had a plan to stay longer he wouldn't have dialed in the recruiting like he did. Ok, got that off my chest.

Let's not feed on each other here. Everyone posting tonight is a huge Zips fan. This is all very new for everyone. We love Jimond. He stuck around when others left. Obviously, he and the Coach will need to have a come to jesus and figure this out...along with the rest of them.

Duvivier is playing singles. We need a distributor!

Duvivier and Ivey are both making poor shot selections. Klac, take the ball straight up!!!

That 48 point game has gone to Ivey's head. He thinks he's a shooter, putting up awful shots - hands in his face, step backs, etc.

I think this is the first time Utomi has struggled. He was a huge scorer in high school and didn't have any real expectations placed on him last year. This year, the exodus of so many players combined with his early season play against inferior opponents sent the expectations of him through the roof and I am sure he bought into it to some extent. Now he's being forced into strange territory from jumping center to start the game to guarding the other teams' bigs. I certainly hope it doesn't push him towards a transfer and that he sees reinforcements are on the way. He could be a big part of the future.

Indeed that would be a huge get for them. Hopefully he turns out like our former 4-star QB transfer.

Kent St just pulled in this guy https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Jeremiah-Salaam-95334/RecruitInterests

Somebody might want to guard Dartis. Just a thought.