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I falsely assumed we were all old geezers on this board who have learned to temper expectations that way we could limit disappointment. Apparently we have some young bloods who aren't use to having their heart broken. Give him 3-5 years of Akron fandom. He'll soon learn what it means to be an Akron fan.

The workday is made so much more enjoyable knowing that I have two Akron basketball games to look forward to every week. It's either excitement from leading up to a game, excitement of it being gameday, or joy from a win the night before. I missed Akron basketball being good so much.

You still thinking that? LOL. Go Zips!

That's easy and one I'm 100% certain about for 2020. The point guard isn't a drug dealer who gets arrested before the sold out final home game v. PCCC.

SWEET SIXTEEN/ELITE EIGHT OR BUST

Everybody needs to pump the brakes a little...

It was just the Coaches Poll I believe (#24?). That team was a roller coaster, albeit mostly a fun one. Started off the season with a loss to Coastal Carolina, then an OT loss to Oklahoma State. We beat Penn State by 25 and had a hard-fought home victory against MTSU (during their perennial run of being a top 10ish mid-major) before back to back losses to Creighton (16 pt. loss) and Detroit (7 pt. loss - puke). Then 19 straight, capped by an epic OT victory at OU. We dropped 2 out of the last 3 games in the regular season, one of which was due to Abreu getting suspended before the Can't game. Then went up to Cleveland to beat both Can't and OU (back when the #1 seed had a double bye to the semis) in the semis and championship game respectively. Keep in mind that OU team was the exact same OU team from the previous season's Sweet Sixteen run, minus the coach; MAC-traveler-now-Boston-College-staple Jim Christian took over after Groce's impressive run, but couldn't get out of that group what Groce could. The NCAA Selection Show had a camera in the JAR for Akron's seeding reaction, which of course was 12 (should have been 10 or 11 as previously mentioned, thanks to Abreu). And of course, the season finished with an embarrassing 46 pt. loss to Shaka's VCU Rams in the "Second Round" of the Big Dance. The season brought the most national attention any Akron program has probably had, both positively and negatively. During the 19 game streak, our marketing department decided to capitalize on the Twitter hype at the time, putting their Twitter handles on the back of the warm ups or something like that (maybe a hashtag?). It garnered national attention, and quite frankly some awesome street cred for the program. Then the Abreu issue was the negative publicity. Pure talent wise, I think this Akron team is better. We're more athletic, deeper, and bigger. 2012-13 was propelled by a rare 7 footer in Zeke, Tree, and Abreu. LCJ, Cheese, Banks, Reece, Williams, etc., is a deeper, more athletic group by quite a bit. This team most certainly has a chance to accomplish more than 2012-13, but until they do, '12-13 is King. Great year.

Announced attendance 17,246....?

You missed a fun season. Akron won 19 straight games, which was the longest active streak in the country at the time, and was ranked in I believe both polls. For starters this team would have to win both the MAC regular season and MAC tournament before any discussion can be had. That team went 14-2 in MAC regular season play. They would have been 15-1 had Abreu not gotten suspended. If this team goes 16-2 in MAC play and wins the MAC tournament, I'd say they would be the best Akron team ever. Winning a tournament game would also suffice.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We aren't even getting votes currently in any of the top polls. That 2012-2013 is still the best Akron team. Had Abreu not been arrested we probably would have had a 10 or 11 seed in the tournament and would have had a real chance to get our first tournament win.

Lets keep the hype train going, ? up to #49 in the NET rankings. And what the heck lets throw in RealTimeRPI where the Zips are #50. And the next five after the Zips are Georgia, Arizona St., Washington, Memphis and Penn St. There's some respect there.

At large bid? Too soon?

Mid-Major Madness has us at #24 and Kent at #22. It should be noted that the Mid-Major Madness poll includes A10, MWC, & C-USA teams, meanwhile the College Insider poll doesn't. That's why Akron is lower in this one. https://www.midmajormadness.com/2020/1/6/21052138/college-basketball-mid-major-poll-rankings-other-top-25-conference-play

#19 in the Mid-major Top 25 (before last night's win) I like this poll as a gauge of where the Zips rank among their peers. Liberty at #2, trailing only Gonzage (who should not be considered a mid-major). Kent sitting at #13.

90th

Should be another double digit victory. Ball State lost to Evansville, Western Illinois, and Utep. While this game will be The Zips "biggest win" considering Ball State is on the brink of being a top 100 team. The Zips should easily roll them with a surplus of talent and team comradely which is typically unprecedented in Akron bball.

WOW, with the win over WMU the zips are up to #83 in the most recent Kenpom poll.

Our biggest positive right now is that we are playing so many freshmen. As the season goes forward we can only get better with experience. Dawson made a really nice shot, they need to get him up to speed.

The intensity of the defense was amazing the first 5 or 6 minutes. Zips were going after every pass, trapping, hands in face, and going after any guy who touched the ball. My thought at the time was that they weren't going to be able to keep that pace and intensity the entire game, especially when the fouls start racking up. https://www.beaconjournal.com/sports/20200107/solid-first-half-carries-zips-to-84-69-win-over-western-michigan-ninth-consecutive-victory-at-rhodes-arena Good point from Groce: When the Zips built up a lead in the first half, the defense started slacking off. I think it had to those quick whistles from the refs.

As promised, a brief scouting report from the MAC Center..... Kent is a much, much better team than they were last season when Walker was hoisting 25 shots a game from all over the floor.. Lots of balanced scoring now and Whittington was nearly impossible to stop when he got the ball down low. They seem to have decent depth and are going to be a tough out for anybody in this conference. We picked up a pair of tix for the big one with us on Jan 31 which is setting up to be a can't miss battle. Toledo will go as far as the two Jacksons will carry them. Willie Jackson, in particular, is a complete player and impressed me a lot. Marreon Jackson has unlimited range and kept them in it until late. Other than that the Rockets seemed to be a bit soft inside and didn't get much from anybody else. Todd has a short bench and the Rockets will need a lot more from their big guy, Knapke, if they expect to contend with Ball State in the west. They have now dropped 5 straight. Really looking forward to our game with the Cards on Friday. Obviously, this will be our first stiff test in the MAC. Teague is a real handful and they have enough around him to be dangerous.

LCJ has been nothing short of amazing. In the second half when the game got close he had a drive and dish to Ali for two easy points. He then went on a tear from the 3 line. Cheese then started hitting the 3. I love to see LCJ take control when the opposing team is making a run. Shows maturity. The Zips played great offensively toward the end of the second half. The Zips were shooting 28% from the 3 line when Western made their run and they then finished shooting over 40%. The big difference I see from the beginning of the season is how Williams is not taking 20 shots and his shot selection has really improved. Tribble's game has also improved from the beginning of the season. Groce indicated that the defense was bad in the second half. I thought that Western made some tough shots and got hot from the 3 line. I thought the intensity of the team on defense was good but both teams got called for ticky tack fouls that really destroyed the flow of the game. I am amazed at how well Banks and LCJ draw offensive fouls. It was driving the Western Coach crazy.

Ball State beat Buffalo by 20. Friday night should be a good game.

LCJ has just improved so much since even the beginning of the season. Fun to watch.

We don't talk enough about how elite this team is at taking charges.

I'd be content with never having to see another Riak three pointer.

And as well as the Akron offense is playing it's their defense that's really sticking out to me

And congrats to LCJ for being named the MAC East Player of the Week. ?

If this season continues to go as it appears it is, I hope the community really gets behind this team. While I have loved and been proud of all of the good teams we've had the last 15 years, I really feel like this is a special and different group. It's not the most talented team Akron's had, but they looks as cohesive an Akron team I've seen and they play hard and well on both ends of the floor. On top of that, they're old guys that lost a lot of games last year. You can see their hard work and dedication to the TEAM and PROGRAM play out, as things that they were bad at last year have been reversed. I know there are still plenty of Akron fans pouting over the coaching change and there are probably some that are even upset to see Groce doing well. If that's keeping them from supporting these guys, do us all a favor and don't associate yourselves with Akron. Go cheer for Kent or something. Keep it rolling, boys!