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"Defense travels," and (I'm not sure how Groce managed this, but) this team sincerely takes deep pride in their defense. It seems as if they take not being ranked #1 in the conference in defense personally. Love it! And we now have the athletic depth for all of our players to leave everything on the floor and not have to be concerned with pacing themselves. I hope we come out and put a python's death grip on NIU's offense & curb stomp them from the get-go. I think we can. "1-and-0." Every game is a statement game.

Respectable opening post, though. Pretty solid background information & analysis leading up to the game; that poster must have attended the @clarkwgriswold School for Fan Forums. This is a massive game for 3 reasons. 1) NIU might be the class of the MAC West. They are tied for 1st in the West, and have been quite competitive all season. 10 pt loss to UNI, 12 pt loss at SMC, 9 pt loss at Pitt, and 1 pt loss at CMU. 2) NIU is our Kryptonite, and have been for a while. Dambrot had a 50+ home game winning streak if I remember correctly, which was of course ended by an abysmal NIU squad. 3) Keep. Winning. None of these polls matter if we lose. Plus, our momentum on the road is key this season with our road struggles in the past. Our defensive style and athleticism bodes well in this matchup. German will hopefully be tamed by our ability to be our opponents to the spot. We move our feet so well on defense; it's impressive.

Here you go, @Blackford. I appreciate all the background information and updates regarding Luke Brown! Sounds like a heady ballplayer that will make some noise at the next level. I've compiled all your key posts from the Offers thread into this thread, that way the 2021 Offers thread doesn't get TOO crowded and we can keep an eye on a player I hope to see in an Akron uniform after next season! _________________________________________________________________________ https://www.maxpreps.com/m/athlete/luke-brown/a8QP9s7lEeeT-Oz0u-e-FA/videos.htm start with this video produced by the Indiana Pacers for some good background it’s from his sophomore year it’s the second or third one down titled “ the old man and the team “ _________________________________________________________________________ https://amp.indystar.com/amp/1013220001 this is an Indianapolis Star in depth piece from his freshman year _________________________________________________________________________ https://usatodayhss.com/2019/doyel-blackford-hartford-city-ind-phenom-luke-brown-leads-state-in-scoring-lifts-community/amp this is same writer from last year during his sophomore year if you google Luke Brown Blackford basketball you’ll get pretty much endless Material ...he has a super impressive 8th grade video on YouTube ( yes I realize it’s funny to say that ) but watch it and you’ll see what I mean it’s like he Was just born with a sixth sense for court awareness ....if anyone has any interest let me know and I’ll post some unique stats and accomplishments to date ....also Blackford sports network on YouTube has archived most Blackford games _________________________________________________________________________ No problem ...in addition to the kind of Disney like Movie script story ...the kid is a flat out gamer. Blackford has not been blessed with many solid players but I’ve been lucky enough to get to see several high school players who have gone on to successful college or pro careers. I’ve been especially fortunate to see two players MANY times who ended up being impact starting guards at IU and Purdue. Luke is farther along as a junior with shooting or ball handling and has a higher basketball iq than either of those two very talented players. He is undersized and doesn’t have “Jump off the page” athleticism so he will have challenges defending larger d1 guards and having on to wing players. He is extremely quick and gets lots of steals because he can anticipate plays but he will need another 15 pounds to be able to not be really taken advantage of inside the arc. He is listed at 6’2 and he isn’t in my opinion. He’s taller than me but not significantly my guess would be he’s a solid 6ft approaching 6’1 isn’t a crazy assessment but I’d be shocked if he was over that. He plays in the CIC conference at Blackford who recently switched from 3A to 2A as a result of reduced enrollment which has produced two state Champions in the last 4 years at the 2A state level ( frankton and oak hill ) and last year their schedule last year had 7 sectional champions. One concern is that of their 23 games 5-7 are against solid to great teams, 5ish are against extremely poor teams that don’t have business on the schedule and the others fall between those two. He is regularly double or triple teamed for the entirety of his games and I can’t recall him having an open shot unless he created it this entire year. He plays on INdiana Elite 2021 platinum team which was ranked nationally in the top 10 on the adidas gauntlet. He holds his own against top level D1 competition there and leads the team in assists. He has an insanely long resume some interesting stats or accomplishments are as follows : -most points scored by a freshman in an Ihsaa game -took a Blackford team on a 1-7O streak and won 15 games as freshman even missing the final 8 games of the year with injury -as a freshman he was the only player in the entire stare of any class level out of over 400 schools to have a 50/40/90 shooting percentage line - 3 games of 50 or more points including 2 with 55 - only sophomore to ever lead the state of Indiana in scoring at 35 points per game - as a junior he is leading the state in assists by over an assist per game at 10.2 and he is one tenth of a point off the scoring lead at 32.2 per game...no player in Indiana history has lead the state in both categories _________________________________________________________________________

Don't know why someone wouldn't appreciate your contribution. Thank you taking the time to provide so much info regarding a Zips recruit. He seems like a heck of a baller. But 2021 is a long ways away. Hope he doesn't get too big for us in the mean time. ?

They have flown to Dekalb in the past. The plane resembled the one in the movie Major League. I'd rather take the 6 hour bus ride.

Regarding defense, there was a brief back and forth between Groce and French about BSU making that last 3 and getting to 60. Groce said that shouldn't have happened. Looks better.keeping opponents under 60!

That was an enjoyable read, but the Ball State drunk guy last week is hard to beat.

I love it. The lack of success O-Who has had since Groce's departure is simply salt in the wound. I hope we finish this season in spectacular fashion, just to rub it in. What's sad is I think they made the right hire in Boals, who is an O-Who grad to boot. Yet due to the slower start to his tenure and Groce having Akron playing solid basketball currently, they can't help but fail to appreciate what they have while crying about yesteryear.

Sorry again I didn’t know how to do that ..thanks so much for taking the time to! I’ll give some game updates this Friday. Blackford is ranked in the top 10 in class 2A and they are playing the number 18 team from class 3A ...if anyone is interested in watching the game will be broadcast on the Bruin sports network on YouTube ...disclaimer : the “broadcasters” are pretty tough to bear so it may require watching on mute.

Bored waiting until 7pm CST? On cue, the sad Kittens are missing their old coach: https://www.bobcatattack.com/messageboard/topic.asp?FromPage=1&ForumPID=1&PID=294416

If you look at MAC stats, in offensive and defensive percentages in the 3 MAC games, Akron NIU and PCC are in the top 3 in both.

He had 35 and 12 Friday and plays a solid team this Friday it would be a good one to watch if you want to get a feel for him

I was expecting LCJ to get MAC East POW this week, but it went to a different Zip. https://gozips.com/news/2020/1/13/mens-basketball-williams-tabbed-mac-east-player-of-the-week.aspx

Not sure what exactly Kent has done but whatever

Postgame press conference

NIU's worst MAC shooting % offense (42) meets Akron's best MAC shooting % defense (38.9)

What about 2021 offer to Luke Brown PG Blackford high school Indiana

Utomi was disgruntled, and not a recruit of the present coach. Maybe he was a little delusional of his abilities...maybe he was a bad fit for Groce's system...maybe all of those. But it wasn't a shock to see him leave. Poke? He wasn't going to see any PT, and left for a smaller program. LCJ is already on his 2nd school. He really seems to be enjoying Akron, playing under Groce, and running his own team. I don't see many P5 schools looking for 5' 8" point guards. For all those reasons, I will be shocked if he leaves. Not all kids think the grass is greener elsewhere. Put this post in a time capsule and open it in a few months. We'll see if I'm right. ?