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LCJ will have his jersey in the rafters one day. He's the best Zip I've ever seen. As someone mentioned earlier, this will almost certainly be his final year now that he has a baby. He's gotta start making an income. The one who blows my mind is Freeman. Without him we likely wouldn't have won a single game yet this year. Simply amazing. The announcers mentioned Freeman leads the MAC in rebounding. Wonder if that's only MAC game totals, or season totals. If it is season totals, we should play Malone every year. Lol. Another simple but important point about Freeman: he rarely makes mistakes. He is always in correct defensive and rebounding positions and always looking for the pass on offense. Again, just amazing. I think we should start Dawson and bring Dailey off the bench. I know this may be a blow to Dailey's seemingly very fragile psyche. But there's less pressure & lower expectations coming off the bench; just come in and let it all hang out and give us high energy minutes. Be our Sixth Man. And maybe be on the floor at the end of the game, when it really matters. By the time he's a junior, GaRvin Clarke will have All-MAC potential.

Seems like Dayton was their “Northwestern?”

This team is good. I don't think they're at more than 70% of their potential, but the components are there. Dawson had himself a game, especially late in that second half. He really put the lid on this one with his effort and big shots. Freeman is amazing. What a find. Agreed on looking forward to the video of him getting a scholarship someday. LCJ's jersey will hang in the rafters one day. That man is the little engine that could. He put this program on his back and is carrying it as far as he can. It has been an honor to watch him in a Zips uniform, and what an incredible find by Groce. Props to the entire team for making the necessary adjustments at halftime. It's still refreshing to see actual halftime adjustments after a subpar first half. Go Zips!

Groce has commented about how it takes some time to get back up to speed after a year off. I hope that's the case for Maishe. It took Trimble a little time to come up to speed. I sure wish Dailey would get there as I think at full speed he could be a real difference maker on this team. My nature is to see things in the game that I think need improvement, but at the end of the day Groce has made a long line of very good decisions for the Zips. Decisions that took the program from ashes to MAC champs in a mere three years. He's forgotten more basketball than I will ever know and he sees these kids on and off the floor every day. As such, I have to trust his personnel decisions as much as I may sometimes see things differently.

TCB!!!! Took care of business again, that was as much like a Team 119 (2019-2020 Zips team) game that I think we've seen. In fact, the last 3 games have been like last year's team. Take care of business when you need to, whether on the road against good teams or hosting bad teams or vice versa. They just played 3 very similar games in a short amount of time against all sorts of opponents, and won 4 in 8 days. That's hard to do in MAC play. We're starting to see this team get better and better and figure each other out, winning games like these last 3 the way they have without looking spectacular is the sign of a damn good team, and we can all agree that they can still be much better. Enjoy LCJ while we have him, that could be said every game. He's a special player and a special person, I hope the U maintains a good relationship with him after he's gone, he'll coach a lot of really good players some day. We finally got the Dawson game!!! He was a big get going in to last year and I'm hoping he is starting to get the hang of game action. He's got the body and basic skill set to be really good in the MAC. He, along with guys like Clarke and Marshall, maybe even Wynn, if you get a couple of positive contributions per game from them, you're DANGEROUS. Keep it rolling. Beat EMU!

Gonna be fun watching the video when they give Freeman a scholarship

When you are in a total rebuild there are many factors that limit a linear progression in games won. You have to rebuild the base first such as recruits, culture, expectations. That being said coach has had the time to do all that. He has to put some W's up. I expect 3-4 wins next season despite a killer schedule.

Yep, good conversation at that!

Correct. Just making conversation.

That is the way I see it. I don't know the details, but it would be nice if Freeman was a bonus player for a couple more years. At that point he would have to be granted an athletic scholarship to attend grad school at Akron.

...and that's why Groce makes the big money while we watch B & G!

sorry, I jumped on your post. you are one of the best on here.

^^Posted this a.m. by Coach Rodriguez. I'm guessing Arth's staying. (Though what a cushy gig - NFL QB coach in southern CA. Lol.)

I never said he's not a solid dude. Lol. And he's certainly not a whiner. He looks to have a lack of confidence (fragile psyche). I've also said fragile ego. By that I also mean a lack of confidence, not that he's a jerk. Even after he hit the game winner, if you look at the replay he collapsed on the floor almost in a sense of relief instead of being excited about it. I can empathize with Dailey because that's exactly how I was as a competitor. I was harder on myself than any coach could ever be (I always needed a coach to tell me to lighten up and stop taking a game so seriously and to have fun) and I was always nervous about underperforming and letting the team down. Bringing Dailey off the bench may ruin his fragile sense of confidence. On the other hand, it may take pressure off of him & allow him to just come in & let it all hang out. Idk.

Thanks! I do try to be fair. The last 2 games show how important LCJ is to this team. In the Bowling Green game, Dailey, Trimble and Ali were making their shots and he scored 13 points and had 10 assists. Yesterday, those three could not find their shot and in the second half LCJ dominated the game and scored 32 points. He did it by driving to the basket and drawing fouls. He was 13 if 14 from the foul line. You are not going to get to the foul line standing on the wing shooting the 3 ball. Of the starters, Trimble (6) and Dailey (12) have take the fewest foul shots because they are not attacking the basket. When your shot is falling, shoot the 3. When you are cold, take it to the hoop and score, get fouled or create for a teammate.

Fair enough. That's fair criticism. My hope is that Maishe has more dimensions but just hasn't had the confidence to show them to this point. He must be showing them in practice or I trust Groce wouldn't have him in there. I guess that's the benefit of having more Cedarvilles, Malones, directionals and regionals on the schedule before heading into MAC play. It gives you the opportunity to work those things out.

I wouldn't say he has a fragile psyche and he's by no means a whiner, but when you've been a college basketball player for 5 years, I think people on here expect a little more out of him. He's been wildly inconsistent and gets visibly frustrated with himself at times. We can all see he's very physically gifted and has a pretty stroke, I think most Zips fans just want to see him loosen up and play with some more fire.

Everyone rips on Maishe. How do you know he has a fragile psyche? He's a solid guy. Groce doesn't recruit whiners.

Exactly. I love to hate Buffalo. I love to hate Ohio. And I love to hate Toledo. But I simply loathe Kent.

Great game! LCJ is so good, we're lucky to have him

Dawson had a good game.

KD would've take him out after the steal/layup. Gotta stick to the rotations.