Leaderboard

Maine comes in at #288 in KenPom, but did pick up that big win at Boston College earlier in the year. They followed it up with a trio of losses to sub-300 teams. We are probably the best team they've played to this point in the year, and while it should be an easy win, they're potentially dangerous. What do I want to see that I haven't seen enough of this year? I need a good 40 minutes from Freeman, first of all. He is called for a lot of iffy fouls, but plenty of the fouls called on him are due to over-aggression. He needs to play smarter at that end. The Wright State game showed us the difference he makes when he's able to play freely and fly around the gym. I need Sammy Hunter to do it again! That was electric last week, and it's hard to see Akron within 10 at the half without his production. He got a little overly eager and tried to shoot it from the same spot 5 times in a row, had one blocked, and didn't do much the rest of the night. He is the difference between this Akron team being average and champions. I need Nate Johnson and Kobe Mitchell to come alive. Johnson's showing against WKU seemed like the start of something special, but I can't even remember him making a shot since then. He just seems to get lost in the shuffle and just fills minutes right now. Not good. Kobe, on the other hand, hasn't been making shots consistently. With that said, he has been very visible to me and has passed the eye test more often than not. Groce talks about him grading out well defensively, and you can see him putting in the effort. Great to see. I would also ask that Tribble finish at the rim with more success, but that ship may have sailed. Not only can he not make a hook shot or floater within 5 feet, but he's also not getting to the foul line like he did in the past. And when he does, he's not making it as often. He's barely over 50% on the season (the entire team's FT shooting has been an embarrassment and a big red flag) and he's simply not drawing fouls. He went 9-10 at the FT line in the MAC tournament last year, which was HUGE! 6-6 against Buffalo! He's been a shell of himself so far this year. With that said, Greg Tribble is John Groce Akron Basketball personified, and I still believe in the guy. All in all, this team hasn't necessarily lost a game that it isn't supposed to, but they also haven't beaten anyone they need to beat if they want to prove to themselves, the fans, the MAC, the country that they're the real deal. Tonight isn't one of those opportunities, but Thursday is. There are no more early-season excuses. Sure, I can live with MSU, LSU, heck even Marshall as they seem to be the real deal. But I'm tired of this team being a boring stick in the mud. I'd love to see them come out with fire this week and remind the college basketball world that the MAC still belongs to Akron, and the league better get ready in a couple weeks. GO ZIPS!!!!!

Looks really strong.

The Zips pull out a 64-60 win over Bethune-Cookman.

Special Teams are going to look different next year.

And the crowd was HUGE! not....but the Zips women played well, and ESPN+ coverage wasn't bad. Very cold start but they were the more athletic team and it kicked in in the second quarter, and they withstood a Stetson run in the 3rd and won by 8. Dominque Camp looked (sacrilege!) Dawson-esque in her best game as a Zip. These are games they should win, so the MAC will be intriguing to see. But nice early morning (although we watched after the World Cup on DVR) Victory.

Florida RB. Former 5 star recruit out of high school. Grad transfer.

Agree but we need some quality CB’s

UCONN hasn't lost yet. What's even more amazing - their smallest margin of victory is 10 points against OK State, and they've played Oregon, Bama, Iowa State, Florida, and Butler as well.

Now THAT'S a kicker. What a leg.

He just committed to Ohio.

Yep, I spoke with him. He’s still in communication with the staff. We’ll see how it all shakes out.

Not the MAC, but Ali made his debut for Butler today. In 13 minutes off the bench, went 1-4 from the floor, 3-3 on FTs for 6 points. They lost by 22 at home to UConn.

I would say that the Zips have forever failed to master the pick and roll. Even when the pick occurs and the picker rolls and is open the guards have failed to recognize it and get him the ball. It is one of the Zips pet peeves! Enrique has improved his passing from the post but it still needs work. When he gets better at it and his teammates start making threes from those passes, he'll find that he'll see fewer double teams. It's a bad sign that teams are so willing to leave a guard to double down on him every time he touches the ball.

Talking about Enriques game. I noticed last night he made a couple of sweet passes to Tavari and Tribble as they slashed for a lay up. Enrique passed from around the free throw line. He was also the recipient of a no-look bounce pass from Tavari between two defenders for a dunk. This type of give and go action as well as pick and pop action with Tavari will free Enrique up for some wide open 10-15 footers. Something we have not seen from him to date. I'm hopeful he adds that element to his game during the course of the year.