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I am bummed out this morning that we are not in the finals and I am sure that everyone on this board feels the same way. What is especially frustrating is that the Zips played well enough to win. They played with determination and grit. Although they did not shoot well, during most of the game we saw a lot of movement without the ball and some great drives and scoring in the paint. Once again, our three point shooting sucked and we shot 25%. That seemed to be the achilles heel of this team late in the season. What is especially disappointing is that all year long we knew that with the game on the line, we want LCJ to get the ball and finish the game. He had the open shot and rushed it and did not draw rim. It was a difficult shot but one he made before in our last game with Buffalo. The fact that he did not draw rim showed me he was exhausted and we floundered in overtime. I think LCJ will always go down in Akron history as our best guard but this season we never developed that consistent second scorer on this team to take pressure off of his 5 foot six inch frame. I hope everyone can see the irony in the past two seasons. Last year we got to attend every game but no tournament. This year we could not attend any game except for the tournament. Looking forward to next year and hoping that Freeman develops an offensive game to match his defense. That will worth the price of admission just to watch his development.

Ali will be a monster next season

I've started toying with my 2-deep for next season already. 😂

The two tournament games were far and away the best two games the Zips have played in the last three weeks, and I think they played better last night than on Thursday. Again, it just comes down to execution. I would argue that Friday was one of the best games this team played all season--they simply did not execute. Defensively, they played their asses off, Buffalo just took advantage of any windows they could find. Credit to them. I only wish LCJ wouldn't have tried to force so much, but honestly he had a ton of good looks that he normally cashes. He's money on those runners and shots off the glass, and he got plenty of looks. But if you look at any social media, he owns that he should've been much better. I'm glad we went all-in on LCJ, that's a great bet no matter the end result. We wouldn't be here without him. I'm very much looking forward to discussion on the future of the program. Topics such as what's the starting 5? Who's the new go-to? How will the somewhat proven guys like Dawson, Ali, and Trimble step up? How does Freeman hone in on being a dominant MAC F/C? Will Aziz start to live up to the hype? Any freshman contributions? What do Clarke and Marshall look like next year? And I think the ultimate question with a new AD coming in is what will they do with Groce's contract situation? I don't know about you but I'm excited! GO ZIPS!!!

I would've liked to have seen a pass fake to the 3 guy and lobbed it up towards the hoop with Freeman or another big slashing to the hoop. 2009 Brett McKnight style.

#OneMoreYear

With a really awful team Groce got Zips to Cleveland. He did it again with a slightly better team the next year. Third year he had a great team and the clear MAC Conference Champions. We can imagine Zips would have won the tourney and a game in the NCAA but it's just that...imagining. This year with a good team but not a great team he got the Zips to the semis. I see that as real progress. This is going to be a fun Summer for everyone and I'm sure the players who make the cut will be sharing a lot of quality time with Groce and his staff.

Right?!?! October can't come soon enough!!!

Can't disagree with anything you guys have said. Spot on. To get a little deeper into the root of the issues that plagued this team all year, I think Maishe Dailey being the bust he was isn't something Groce was able to patch up at the end of the day. Aside from Tribble, Dailey was the only other options behind LCJ with the skillset to attack the basket and win matchups at the rim. Great teams these days must shoot the three well, but the teams that take it to the next level have at least 2-3 guys they can rely on to get to the rim and put up a high percentage shot or get fouled and make free throws (see Cheese, X). Perhaps Groce could have done something different or planned better to avoid that happening, but that's above my head. He trusted a 6'7 athletic and gifted P5 transfer senior to step up into a role that he was most certainly capable of filling. The Toledo game made me hopeful, but a whole lot of nothing came from that. Groce missed on that one, that's all there is to it. As the season went on, Mike Wynn became one of the more reliable transfers with Trimble being so streaky. I will feel very good about those guys after another offseason. I contend that with a normal offseason and normal season in general (and it should go without saying that there are no excuses, I'm just making an observation), Akron, Ohio, Buffalo, Kent, Ball State, and Toledo would have made for one of the best and most competitive seasons of MAC basketball we've seen. As good as most of these teams were, they all could have been a good bit better. I could be wrong, but all of these teams had so many great pieces that got robbed of the consistency that makes teams perform their best, whether that be a proper preseason/nonconference, a regular Tuesday, Fri/Sat game schedule, pauses and stoppages, players being unavailable because of an airborne virus, etc. Nobody really got into much of a groove besides Toledo and Akron for a few weeks and now Buffalo as of late. That's a shame for the fans. Going forward, I would be shocked if any of Akron's seniors return. Ditto Pippen at Kent, most likely the case at Toledo and BG as well if I had to guess. Ohio and Buffalo are loaded even if they have seniors that leave. The Zips have a lot of experienced and quality pieces, and there is a lot of evidence of strong player development on this staff, so I'm feeling good going into next year. I'm curious to see what those freshman do and which of them play immediately too. It could be a rocky start as I'm sure they'll need every one of those nonconference games to tune up, but I have no doubt that Groce can bring back yet another championship contender.

Yeah, all of that is right on. I will say that what pleased me the most was that the back end of the bench developed dramatically in the last few games. We have a lot of guys that can really play the game and they really stepped up when needed the most. Looking forward to see these guys get after it next season.

With rare exceptions, most teams in the tournament 'play well enough to win' the challenge is to ultimately win it ... and to do that teams must not only execute at a high level the final 4-minutes of the game, but also execute with the right personnel. Kudos to LCJ but the fact - aside from about a three week stretch from Trimble - there was no proven second or third scorer, or no player who could execute on the block, to help him was Akron's ultimate downfall. It seems the Zips whiffed on Currie. As a freshman that would be understandable, but as a juco w/one year at a B10 school under his belt, somebody just didn't do their homework. Too bad the 7-0 freshman arrived to campus late or he might have been the guy. That's the breaks, because all these things raise their head at tournament time and is not exclusive to Akron ... look at No. 1 seed Toledo. The MAC FOY played like a freshman and the kid from Walsh played like he was from Walsh ... Toledo, exit, stage left. Groce and the Zips must be credited with keeping this team pretty much together the entire season, even with it's obvious flaws, not to mention the fortunes of war so to speak were generally avoided. Bowling Green's best player plays his last game at well less than 100-percent due to a hamstring injury ... Kent State has injury (and other) issues down the stretch ... Ball State's best player doesn't hit the court until the last month of the season ... CMU's 6-10 freshman (and bonafide FOY candidate) goes down at Christmas and never returns ... It's crazy. What issues Toledo, Akron and Buffalo' had (Covid/injuries) all basically hit early in the season and adjustments were made from there. Most coaches will tell you the toughest coaching job with the least amount of reward is at the mid-major basketball coaching level. I have to agree. Both Ohio and UB have had their struggles in games down the stretch so it will be interesting to see how the title game plays out in Cleveland.

You live and die with three point shooting. This was the story of the game. The Zips played well overall, but only shot 25% from 3 point range. If that was their yearly average, they would rank at the bottom of college basketball with Chicago State. Buffalo is a tough team. The Zips had their chances early in the game with a lot of relatively open 3 point looks and didn't convert. In fact, many missed badly to the point you have to wonder if tournament fatigue was taking over. To beat team like Buffalo you need a complete 40 minute game and the Zips fell short.

Wynn. 100%.

Freeman 11 points 14 boards 4 blocks 1 assist ZERO turnovers. What more could you ask? 2nd in scoring 1st in boards 1st in blocks. Sure hope he comes back here next year.

So many seemed down and out too. Was definitely guilty of pressing at times and trying to make something out of nothing. But just wasn't his night at the end of the day. Missed a lot of good looks he created too

LCJ drilled that shot on the same play earlier in the half. Good play call to me.

*FIFY

Enrique Freeman - tough finish but still player of the game.

Where do I get one of those life-sized posters of Freeman?

Zip 71, get me one of those posters

Tribble has been outstanding all night long on both ends of the floor

This is an incredible game

I think Groce called a time out just to rest his guys. Especially LCJ. Incredible effort by the Zips!!

It's a good thing LCJ isn't on Wheel of Fortune. He wouldn't be able to buy a vowel if it's anything like this game where he can't buy a foul.

No that's LCJ

Gotta block out and clean up the defensive boards

Bullshit blocking call on Ali

BANG! BANG! BANG! WHAT A START TO THE SECOND HALF!!!!!!!

We're not going to lose

LCJ 3/11. Team shooting 36%. Down only 5 at the half. I like it.

Clarke is good but just gets a little amped up when he gets a shot off. They're all long. Just needs to calm down a bit

Love the offense right now. Dribble drive penetration and dish to the open guy once they collapse. That LCJ layup should count based on difficulty level. He is so good.

There's never a wrong thread for noting that.

Toledo's getting bopped. We'll see if the MPOY can bring his team back. My guess - NO. #NotMyPlayerOfTheYear lol

Game over. We didn't show up in overtime!