Leaderboard

Exactly. No leader, no standout. Just a bunch of 6s and 7s on a 10 point scale. Nice players, no stars.

This empty shell of a man watched the second half of the women's game today and they defeated the collapsing Chippewas by 10. Dawson had 23 and Lane Farrell had 15. Zips out-rebounded the Chipps 48-30. 6-3 in the MAC and have two tough home games next week against Western and Toledo.

While killing time waiting for the next big Zips recruiting news, I visited the transfer portal and focused on the MAC from a slightly different perspective than I did last time. The punter/kicker who committed to the Zips is not listed on 247 or here (probably a walk-on) but would be classified as a LOWER.

The old home and home. And after all these years I still don't get why it's not a home and away. Anyway, lets beat the sweaters twice and hope for some MACtion chaos elsewhere

With all due respect (and I love your posts), I must disagree with you on this topic. I did some research, and he (Toth) did not see any game action at Rutgers this past season so he does not have any experience. I believe that we have several good offensive linemen currently on the roster. They were just too young having 5 freshmen on the line, but a couple of them will be coming into their own with a good OL coach (JRod) this coming season. And, we have an experienced transfer (Bane) and 3 very good commits. We need another experienced offensive lineman transfer, not another freshman if we want to compete in 2022 and be very good in 2023. It looks like Rutgers was his only P5 offer. I would like another transfer with experience and a better pedigree; the portal is full of possibilities. This will allow all of the young players to develop over the next year, have a good offensive line in 2022, and help the young players grow into a formidable offensive line for years to come. In Joe We Trust!!!

Groce's 2009-10 Bobcats team was very young (Cooper & co. Freshman year). They were 17-14 in the regular season, and 7-9 in the MAC. They went on to win 5 straight - 4 MAC tourney games (including a Championship Game victory over Akron) and a 1st Round W over Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament. This team reminds me of that team. They're gritty, hearty, and play for a full 40 minutes. March will be interesting, but right now they have to figure out how to limit the long stretches of woes on offense. It kills their energy on defense, creating a lose lose situation. They can beat anyone. The inconsistency is just frustrating.

Well, they showed a ton of heart fighting their way back into the game.

How does Bandaogo botch so many dunks

I just don't see this team being able to put together 3 quality wins in a row. When Trimble is on we're capable of beating anyone, but he has more bad games than good.

Not bad for a Wednesday night at a college bar. Not great for a basketball team without chemistry to boot.

This is what happens when you get decent players that are actually on their website

Wouldn't know it reading this thread 😂

ROOCREW22: Cameron Wiley, RB, 6-2, 210 Las Vegas, NV, Minnesota transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Devon Robinson, DL, 6-5, 300, Memphis, TN, Miss. St. & Memphis transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Cam Threatt, DB, 6-0, 170, Lewisburg, MS, Mississippi State & Miss. Gulf Coast CC transfer (3 yrs. eligibility) Kerry Martin Jr., DB, 6-1, 185, Charleston, WV, West Virginia transfer (3 yrs. eligibility) Curtis Harper, DL, 6-2, 285, McKeesport, PA, Syracuse transfer (1 yr. eligibility) TJ Banks, TE, 6-5, 255, Duquesne, PA, West Virginia transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Dijon Jennings, QB, 6-0, 180, Reynoldsburg HS, Reynoldsburg, OH Charles Kellom, RB, 6-0, 190, St. Xavier HS, Cincinnati, OH Tim Terry, LB, 6-2, 230, Central Catholic HS, Pittsburgh, PA, Buffalo transfer (1 yr. eligibility) Shocky Jacquez-Louis, WR, 6-0, 190, Dunbar HS, Fort Myers, FL Pitt transfer (2 yrs. eligibility?) Max Banes, OL, 6-5, 310, St. Thomas HS, Houston, TX University of Houston transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Vic Jones, DE, 6-4, 245, Inderkum HS, Sacramento, CA Wyoming transfer (1 yr. eligibility) Alex Adams, WR, 6-1, 195, South Pike HS, Osyka, MS, (LSU transfer, 3 yrs. eligibility) Clayton Bone, WR, 6-1, 190, Avon Old Farms HS, Avon, CT Kiawan Murphy, DT, 6-3, 330, East Hartford HS, East Hartford, CT Noah Gettman, P/K, 6-5, 205, Mainland HS, Daytona Beach, FL, Sacred Heart transfer (1 yr. eligibility) Bobby Golden, WR, 5-9, 180, Miami Palmetto HS, Miami, FL Tyhler Williams, OL, 6-4, 305, Milton HS, Alpharetta, GA Ka'Marii Landers, OL, 6-5, 300, Fordson HS, Dearborn, MI Keylen Davis, OL, 6-4, 298, Ben Davis HS, Indianapolis, IN Niko Paxos, P/K, 6-3, 195, Jackson HS, Massillon, OH Bryan McCoy, LB, 6-0, 225, Joliet West HS, Joliet, IL Jourden Hale, OL, 6-6, 330, Sycamore HS, Cincinnati, OH Marquell Darnell, TE, 6-7, 210, Central HS, Erie, PA Anthony Stallworth, RB, 5-11, 185, Farrell HS, Farrell, PA Stefan Monahan, OL, 6-8, 320, McKinley HS, Canton, OH Nate Thompson, S, 6-3, 200, Southern Lee HS, Sanford, NC, Duke University transfer (1 yr. eligibility) Clyde Price III, RB, 6-0, 210, North Kansas City HS, Kansas City, MO, Kansas State transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Anthony Whigan, OL, 6-5, 300, Great Mills HS, Lexington Park, MD, Penn State transfer (1 yr. eligibility) Caden Clark, TE, 6-4, 255, Archbishop Hoban, Akron, OH, Alabama transfer (4 yrs. eligibility?) Daniel George, WR, 6-2, 205, Oxon Hill HS, Fort Washington, MD, Penn State transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Noah Perez, K, 5-8, 160, Desert Vista HS, Pheonix, AZ Jaharon Griffin, LB, 6-0, 225, Neshoba Central HS, Philadelphia, MS Ravontae Holt, DT, 6-4, 293, Sheldon HS, Sacramento, CA, Wyoming transfer (1 yr. eligibility) Jaden Woods, DB, 6-0, 200, South Gwinnett HS, Decatur, GA, Eastern Kentucky transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Jeff Undercuffler, QB, 6-5, 230, Holy Cross Academy, Burlington, NJ, Albany transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Devonte Golden-Nelson, CB, 6-0, 190, Memphis University School, Memphis, TN, U. of Memphis transfer (4 yrs. eligibility) Caleb Anderson, WR, 6-4, 210, Brandon HS, Brandon, MS, Northeast Mississippi C.C. transfer (3 yrs. eligibility) Antavious Fish, LB, 6-0, 220, Jackson HS, Flovilla, GA, Coffeyville C.C. transfer (3 yrs. eligibility) Kyle Thomas, DL, 6-3, 295, Oscar Smith HS, Chesapeake, VA, Butler C.C. transfer (2 yrs. eligibility) Deontae Williams, ATH, 5-11, 192, Woodland Hills HS, Woodland Hills, PA CLASS BREAKDOWN: TOTAL COMMITS: 41 Offense: 22 QB: 2 (Jennings, Undercuffler) RB: 4 (Wiley, Kellom, Stallworth, Price) WR: 6 (Jacquez-Louis, Adams, Bone, Golden, George, Anderson) TE: 3 (Banks, Darnell, Clark) OL: 7 (Banes, Williams, Landers, Davis, Hale, Monahan, Whigan) Defense: 15 DT: 5 (Robinson, Harper, Murphy, Holt, Thomas) DE: 1 (Jones) LB: 3 (Terry, McCoy, Griffin, Fish) DB: 5 (Threatt, Martin, Thompson, Woods, Golden-Nelson) Athlete: 1 ATH: 1 (Williams) Special Teams: 3 P/K: 3 (Gettman, Paxos, Perez)

The Zips host Miami on Friday then hop on the bus and head to Oxford for a Sunday afternoon game versus the Redhawks. The Zips will head into the game with a week's rest while the Redhawks face EMU on Saturday and PCCC on Tuesday. Currently, the Redhawks are 9-9 overall and 3-4 in the MAC. 6'2" junior All-MAC guard Dae Dae Grant leads the Redhawks at 17.4 ppg with mighty mite senior guard Mekhi Lairy scoring 14.1 ppg. Rebounding is led by 6'7" 5th year Dalonte Brown who pulls down 6.6 rpg while scoring 12.5 ppg. Miami's coach, Jack Owens, had a 56-65 career record coming into the season. They were 12-11 season last season and 9-8 in the Mid-American Conference. This season is looking very similar to other Owens seasons. This is the type of opponent the Zips have to beat to maintain a decent seeding. A weekend sweep would take the Zips to 15-6/8-3 heading into the last month of the season.

Actually, the 1st and 4th fouls were compete garbage calls. The were away from the play and did not effect the play. It was almost like the refs wanted to take Freeman out of the game. The 2nd foul was legit and the 3rd foul could have gone 50/50 although the commentators indicated it was not a foul. However, the refs did not foul him out and there were some plays where they could have blown their whistle. They seemed to give him a little leeway after the 4th foul.

Zips win 70-60 at Mt. Pleasant. CMU is down this year, but still a good road win. Not sure when we won there last. Dawson with 23 and Lane Farrell with 15. Zips dominated the boards 48-30!

This team, at least right now, is exactly what the MAC Pre-season Coaches Poll predicted them to be- the 4th or 5th best team in the MAC. That means they're going to lose some games that will frustrate us. In reality, we've all been a little spoiled as Zips fans. That doesn't mean they can't make a run when the time comes. In reality, as long as they make it to Cleveland we all know that what happens between now and March 4th makes little difference.

We could have really used Jermaine Marshall this year.

This team is easy to like. Lot of good kids who work hard and have talent, but there isn’t a DJ Cooper or LCJ on this team. I like X a lot, but all of Groce’s best teams in the MAC (can’t speak for Illinois) have had stud Combo guards who had the ability to take over games. To me he doesn’t fit into that role and nobody else on the team appears to be a 1st team All MAC/POY caliber player, so that makes winning in Cle a long shot IMO.

Freeman: 17 points and 10 rebounds in only 25 minutes.

Does anyone know if we have the same Strength and Conditioning Coach? Not looking to be critical with all of the Covid protocols recently, but this upcoming off-season is going to be important for the program going forward.

The main positive I'll take away is I felt the Zips were the team that played with more effort. I can't say that for some of the previous games. We just lost to the better team. We're a vastly better team with Freeman on the floor vs him off. We need to get more quality minutes out of Aziz.

Thanks!! That makes sense now. And he mentioned I think that Toledo started the second half on a run with Freeman on the bench with 3 fouls.

That one hurt. Groce talked a lot on the post game about the toughness and resiliency, this group is just a bit short on talent to truly be a great team. They’re good. But they’ve still got a lot to prove. Tonight, the Zips showed me they are capable of winning a championship. I do not think it’s going to happen, but going into the year I was expecting the team to be good enough to win a title, and I haven’t been sold on it. But tonight they almost came back against a top 60 team when things looked bleak. This is with a bad game from X. This little break couldn’t come at a better time. That was a brutal stretch of tough, emotional games, especially coming right after a loss at Kent. I think I love this team. Well, sometimes. I do believe in them. Can’t wait to watch them again Friday! Go Zips!

guilty as charged. Zips kept it real.

Coach rather upset at officials during postgame. (Due to cheap fouls on Freeman)

This team has good talent and they are playing good, just not pretty and not great. Plenty of top teir talent. But then again you wouldn't know that by hanging out on this board or thread. There is a lot of negative energy. For my two cents. I like this team. They can do some damage.

The zips need better strength and conditioning they get pushed around a lot.Toledo bullied theZips.

Get behind this team!

Nice! I need to keep bitchin’! We seem to play much better when I’m bitchin’. 😂🙏🙌

Six point game!!!

And Groce seems to rely on stars on the offensive end. Loosely-goosey, long leashes & let ‘em rip. But we don’t have that player… or two… or three.

I disagree. In the close games the leader has been x or ali.

The team showed us who they are against EMU, WMU, and CMU. One close game with a crap team happens. 3 in two weeks?

We fell apart in 1st half when Freeman got into foul trouble. Have to do better defensively in the 2nd half.

Bad bad bad defense that half. Wouldn't wanna be in that locker room right now

We rarely have assists and little off-the-ball movement. Our offense looks like playground ball.

Well we're winning!

Problem is that they need Clarke. Castaneda can't play every minute and Tribble can only do spot duty at the point. I am perplexed at how Clarke has gone backwards. Every time we see a sign of progress... One step forward two steps back.

No more Clarke. He’s not D-1. Before his bad turnover his simple 8-foot pass to Ali was beneath Ali’s knees. Just not acceptable.

I just visited 247 and they have all our commits and transfers listed except one. The last time I remember them paying that much attention to the Zips was never.

I would say Ali, Trimble or Castaneda could carry the team on any given night against most competition. Tonight we might need a couple of them to have good shooting performances with the regular support from Freeman, etc. I also agree with @1981 grad that Trimble needs to continue to be multi-faceted with his mid-range game. That's how he stays in the starting line-up while being streaky from deep. And @Blue & Gold and others have pointed out Trimble's liability at the defensive end. Trimble should be guarding the opponents wing. If he can't stay in front of his guy, please coach, bring in Dawson. I also need to see Clarke continue to grow. He is really picking up his defense nicely and has hit a couple of shots, but has yet to show that he can break down the defense off the dribble or pick and roll. I have him and Tavari Johnson penciled in at the PG spot next year with Castaneda splitting his time between the two guard spots. And Tribble backing up at the shooting guard spot. But Clarke is just not there yet. Plenty of basketball yet to play though. Come on Clarke, you got this. Finally, even though I have seen limited video of Sekou Sada Kalle, I have hopes he will become the next Xeyrius Williams. He is a big 6-10" forward who moves very well and is strong at the hoop. But even though his highlight videos show limited shooting from range, he has a nice release and can hit from the top of the key and beyond the arc. Hello, Stretch Four anybody. I would like to think he is progressing in practice and we might get to see him yet this year.

When Moorhead was hired, out of excitement I went to look at these future schedules. I texted my dad "Undefeated 2023 season." Legitimate opportunity to make some noise on the national level in 2023, after what is hopefully a very successful 2022 campaign.

After the part of you that died then, and the part that died after the t-shirt cannon assault, what's left?

We go as Trimble goes. The last good team we played was Kent...and we were run off the floor. Trimble was 1-9 from behind the arc (2-12 overall). If we omit the statistical anomaly of the 10-14 BG game, in his other 5 most-recent games he's a combined 5-39 from 3-point land. That's 13% over 5 games!? Even if you include that 10-14 performance against BG, he's still only 28% from three over 6 games. For the volume he shoots, that's a killer. Our rebounding suffers when balls are careening off the iron from 25 feet away. The Zips are good enough to eek out games against lower competition when Trimble is off. But if he hangs another 1-9 game against Toledo, we'll get smoked. Prediction: If Trimble hits 5+ 3's, we win. Anything less and the bus ride home ain't no fun.

They're nice players but they're not even in the top 14 scorers in a pretty average MAC.

Ha he had a wide open 3 and then just drove it right into his sagging defender 🤦🏻‍♂️