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Early season nominee for the dumbest post of the year.

Yep, damn shame they built around a kid who worked himself into being an All-MAC player.

Seriously? One poor game? Guy was the MAC defensive player of the year last. And second leader scorer on the team. Don't think he lost his touch over one game. Sheesh.

If Taylor ever has a son and doesn't call him Opie it will be a great travesty.

As I have mentioned before, I think Enrique and X are struggling at times in part because all of their opponents are now well aware that they are the two primary scoring options and best offensive players on the Zips. Until some others step up they will continue to see pressure and double teams.

The games I'm watching are showing a player that was statistically one of the best players in the country last year, having zero help around him, sticking to his bread & butter to try and get any little bucket possible because this team desperately needs that. If this team is shooting 35%+ from 3 and he's still struggling like he did tonight, I'll consider being more critical of Freeman.

He was our best player again tonight, as he was against Miss. St. (Or whoever we played in Game 3 in the Caymans.)

Benevolent announcers made this drubbing as watchable as was possible.

left back fullback from St. Louis SC Welcome to Akron, James Buebendorf Hopefully, all can open the instagram link https://www.instagram.com/p/CjStOGvODnX/

Akron 27 Bulls 21

Zips 33 Bulls 31

Akron 38 Canada 17

Not sure if these guys have been mentioned

Take a look at this guy's offer list. Holy smokes. https://twitter.com/AJCornelius65/status/1597816859705106432?t=el9rCKXmLYbpcxch0onGDg&s=19

2 years of eligibility. Guy's a playmaker. 44 tackles, 8 TFL, 5 sacks this year. 6'4" 265 lbs.

Dan in his press conference said while in man there was an effort to bring help side defense on the weak side to double Castaneda. Having Handlogten, 7'1 in the paint and rotating either Curfman or Anachili-Killen over really disrupted Castaneda. He was held to 4 points and 5 rebounds. Hankerson had 11 points but he had to work for each of them. I could be wrong but I only counted 3 break downs in defense where Marshall didn't rotate that gave Akron a wide open shot. If you are constantly having to shoot contested shots then your shooting % is going to go down.

Yes, and when Dawson started making them that's when the offense took off. If we don't get better perimeter shooting from guys like Hankerson or Hunter this teams ceiling is making the MAC tournament semifinals. That's not to say those guys won't improve as the season progresses, but if come March they're shooting like they are now, we're going to be in a world of hurt.

Freeman and X are missing free throws, in addition to wide open looks. Freeman is much easier to double when no one has to respect the perimeter. X needs to snap out of the funk. If he's legitimately good, he should be able to score against the defenses he's faced thus far. He hasn't been smothered.

I always like to compare teams and compare situations. When we look at the past couple editions of Akron men's basketball, we can see quite a few similarities. Going into last year, many people on here in the preseason thought we would be heavy favorites given the development of guys like Freeman and Ali and the addition of KJ Walton and this guy from South Florida. All of this despite the loss of LCJ. A close game where you outplay Ohio State and deserved to win, followed by a couple cupcakes and then a disastrous trip to Florida that resulted in a 3-3 record and a starter leaving the team. Next game? A home game against Marshall that took next to a miracle to win. 4-3 The 2022-2023 Akron Zips retooled and reloaded again, losing Ali to the portal and now Mike Dawson to injury. They open the year with an impressive (albeit they have struggled too) win over a good South Dakota State team, followed by a bit of a puzzling loss to Mississippi State. Then the ship was righted with a beautiful win over WKU, followed by a somewhat acceptable LSU loss and a Coulda-woulda-shoulda painful loss to Nevada. Then a trip to Marshall where they dug themselves in a hole too early and just couldn't quite claw out. 3-4 I would be very upset and panicking had the 21-22 team not beaten the Kent State Golden Flashes 75-55 in the MAC Championship game, but I'm not there yet. I have indeed seen some things that are troubling to me. Sammy Hunter is giving me the biggest Maishe Dailey vibes and that scares the s*** out of me. Thankfully he's got a great attitude and has shown he can add to the game in other ways, but man, it's been a month and it's time to get the head out of the gutter. He is the difference between being an average mid-major and being a great mid-major. Also, Hankerson shot the lights out in his entire career at NIU, and played an excellent game to open the year. While he's also a great defender and teammate, he's ice cold. And last night in particular and in a few games this season, X has had some unprecedented cold spells. There are more new faces being forced to contribute than I was hoping. The back court potential of X along with Tavari is extremely intriguing, especially with Tavari's performances against some really good opponents. Nate Johnson has shown some awesome flashes, but has greatly regressed since the WKU game. Kobe Mitchell and Amani Lyles still look like freshman. I guess in the transfer portal era, it's a bit too much to expect Groce teams to have it rolling in November. But losing a guy like Ali as far as ability and usage kind of killed any hopes of that. I don't even care about an at-large bid, I just want to put a whole season together, beat a few Q1 teams, maybe get ranked. Every goal is still on the table, though, and it's much easier to be bullish about this group than last year.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=e6b26d60e64c4a1dJmltdHM9MTY2OTg1MjgwMCZpZ3VpZD0xNDA4ZWIzYS1lZTQzLTZhNGYtMzBjZC1lMGM1ZWY5MzZiYmYmaW5zaWQ9NTMxNQ&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=1408eb3a-ee43-6a4f-30cd-e0c5ef936bbf&psq=steele+wassel+high+school&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubWF4cHJlcHMuY29tL2F0aGxldGUvc3RlZWxlLXdhc2VsL1daUmNsUE1VRWVpQXhLa2tLOUhJRGcvZGVmYXVsdC5odG0&ntb=1 I found this Maxpreps article (if I copied it correctly), that details Steele Wassel's season. Based on this article, he has played fantastic and it looks like he is still in the playoffs. If this is correct, we cannot lose him. He will be a great Zip. Go Zips!!!

We work on figuring it out by March when it matters, just like we did last year. We have been a few shots away from being 5-1, meaning this team has what it takes in every facet of the game minus scoring.

Good wishes to Joao Moutinho. Classy Mesage to Orlando fans https://www.themaneland.com/2022/11/30/23486692/defender-joao-moutinho-bids-orlando-city-farewell-in-social-media-post

Our run was similar to that of Pitt thus far. Won 1st round game. Defeated #16 seed Syracuse then #1 seed Wake Forest. However, Zips had to travel to Stanford whereas Pitt will host their Elite 8 match.

Dawson was another one who could make 3s all day in practice but couldn't get it going until...the end of last year's season. At this mid major level, it's up to the coach to motivate and coach these kids into wins because the top players and that "illusive" big with serious talent is somewhere else. What's Groce supposed to do when Castaneda goes cold? Gotta keep playing him until he snaps out of it. Trimble had an attitude problem. Hopefully, Hunter and Hankerson do not.

The announcers are Mark Martin who was WCHS Channel 8 in Charleston sport's anchor for 20+ years, now he does freelance work around the state including Marshall basketball and football games. And Coach Bob Bolen, Bolen spent 19 years at NAIA Mountain State (Closed after the 2012 year) as the AD and basketball coach. He guided the Cougars to the NAIA Championship game in 2003 as runner ups and then won the NAIA Title in 2004. They also made it to the Final 4 in MSUs last year. And it was Bolen that said "He can't shoot when he smells popcorn", I think Im'a have to steal that line.

Oh, btw, what the heck was up with Kobe’s full court pass off the backboard? 🧐

You and I are on the same page. I say start Tavari at PG, X & Henderson with Sammy & Freeman and cross our fingers that X has his usually solid game, while Hankerson & Sammy find their strokes. Nate, Clarke, and Tribble off the bench. The announcers noted something I’ve thought myself and that is that Sammy’s shot looks good & fluid. It’s just not falling. Idk.

I also thought they were extremely gracious considering how abysmally we played tonight. It was an embarrassment. We looked like the Washington Generals. Tavari was the only player who could throw it in the ocean tonight. 3 point shots are what we’re trying to generate on offense but we can’t shoot the 3 😕

It was not hard being the best player tonight but the Zips always start cold and as I stated earlier he should be starting at the one. Not sure if it would have made any difference tonight when X goes 1 of 12 from the field and 1 of 4 from the free throw line. This team cannot win if X plays like that. The Zips missed a lot of open shots. I thought Nate Johnson had a bad game. He played a lot of minutes and I think he scored only 2 points. I know at the end of the game he passed up on a 3 ball and then turned it over. We could not even make our fouls shots tonight. If you do not shoot the ball well you are not going to win.

Zips were unseeded in the 2018 tournament.

And yet somehow he's on the Lou Henson Award Watch List

And best shooting % in nation.

We'd be within striking distance if we made our free throws

You could say that about a lot of players.

Calling my shot: Tavari is a top 2 player on the team by the end of the year.

Ali was undervalued by most of the board. He is very efficient scorer as a wing and has the ability to create on his own.

It's the smell of the popcorn.

I actually like these announcers. I wish they did Akron's games

Yuck. Plenty of good looks have gone to waste. Defense got much better the last 10 minutes but a pretty unacceptable effort shooting the ball from everyone.

Marshall making a few circus shots. Zips hanging around but just aren't making shots.

The good old boy on color is a hoot. Speaking about Hinter he mentioned how Groce mentioned how well he's shooting in practice he then went on to say he "can't shoot it where you could smell popcorn."

i'm not watching but I pulled up the score. I can usually guess the score in my head and I thought to myself (22 - 8 Marshall ahead). I was pretty close 25 -13. Well, there's always Football.

Audio issues are nice comic relief 😂

Look like poo so far, and Marshall looks good. Hunter didn’t start. T Johnson first guy off the bench.

Would love to know what our players know about the Iranian players' return home, and if any of that led to the extra effort to console them after that match.

DeAndre Yedlin - class act as always. So proud of him representing U of A.

Maybe to you and me, but if you were an AD/Commissioner looking to move to a bigger school/conference and were willing to destroy your current employer to do so, the MAC is the perfect place for you.

My guess (and it is speculation) is that the MAC wants to get the game over with ASAP in the event that Buffalo wins and becomes bowl eligible. Bowl games participants have started to be named, and the MAC wants to ensure that Buffalo is not left behind if they become bowl eligible. I believe that the MAC has affiliations with 6 bowls, and as of now, there are only 5 bowl eligible teams in the MAC. A Buffalo win will get the number to 6. catdaddyp please comment if I am off base.

I hope that Tavari gets the start based on his play last game. We could certainly use him if he plays anything like he did last Wed. I am an optimist and think he will continue to play at that level. We need him playing the point and X can be the 2 guard. We need outside shooting and thus far Hunter and Tribble have been shooting blanks. He also has shown the ability to penetrate and dish off to Freeman. If he starts do you go small and put him in for Hunter or do you bring him in for Tribble and have Tribble off the bench? Thoughts?

In the MLS Next tournament in late June/early July, James was written up twice in subscriber only Top Drawer soccer articles July 6 premium top drawer soccer D James Buebendorf, St. Louis SG U16 - Bubendorf was the embodiment of an attacking full back, running relentlessly up the left side, providing dangerous crosses — while also nicking a goal or two for himself. june 25, 2022 MLS next premium top drawer soccer James Buebendorf, St. Louis SG U16 Bubendorf made an impact immediately. On St. Louis’ first attack the left back probed down the left wing cut past his defender and placed a simple cross into the 6 yard box. It was dutifully tucked away a moment showing blanks offensive quality.