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I too thought bringing in a guard, Tavari, to handle the pressure late was a good idea, until it wasn't. I'd have switched him out for Thornton quickly given his experience and assist to turnover ratio over his career. I'll give Toledo credit. They are scrappy as hell and their speed and dribble penetration can kill you. The Zips just need to stop any kind of celebration to try that can result in the petty technicals. It's obvious that it has been made a point of emphasis for the MAC refs and while it's clearly not being applied consistently, they just need to redirect the energy before it makes a huge difference in an outcome.

I don't care how ugly it got. A win v Toledo is a big deal.

I wish Ali would stop getting T's for celebrating, but I also feel those are incredibly weak.

Ali Ali needs to keep his mouth shut when it comes to the opponents' bench, but the refs need to officiate the bench behavior equally. BS is definitely being spewed by the benchwarmers.

Hope it went well. I see KD back coaching today.

I'm still not buying CMU. Akron is clearly the class of the MAC this season. Toledo is good enough to challenge. After that I feel it's a huge drop off to everyone else. Someone has to be in 3rd place.

Second game in a three game stretch against strong opponents is good tournament prep.

It's part of a bigger problem. He should be upset about the casual approach the team took to the game once they achieved a big lead.

Looks like safety Aman Greenwood from Syracuse has also been added. I’m assuming Greenwood, Fields, and David are on scholarship, wile Freeman and Mobley are PWO. Terray Jones has been removed. Sean Conroy is still listed and apparently applying for a 5th year of eligibility.

Noticed some new transfers on the roster including: Eli Fields OT from Southern Daymon David DB from Oregon Also, some new freshman including: Fahrell Freeman RB from Cleveland Heights HS Max Mobley OL from Maderia HS

A few thoughts after getting home from the game: - Really good win overall. Definitely some things to work on but they came out fired up and ready. - Late game execution is a concern. We had a lot of difficulty just getting the ball in. I'm sure it's something Groce is going to work a lot on with the team. - When Freeman is out of the game we struggle on both ends. Thankfully Toledo doesn't have the bigs to take advantage. - Tribble has had 4 or more fouls in 5 of 10 MAC games. I love his aggressiveness but something to watch. - I know Tavari had a few bad turnovers but I'd rather Thornton lose minutes when Nate Johnson comes back. - The student showed out today - fantastic turnout and energy.

here is the MAC tourrnament simulator: My first draft had Zips playing Ball State in the Quarters and the Flashes staying home. https://bball.notnothing.net/bracket.php?conf=macm

Tremendous win. Great game. Some of the best perimeter defense I have ever seen an Akron team play. Toledo, an offensive juggernaut, had maybe 3 good looks from the perimeter? Great execution of the game plan. Knew we started a bit too hot, but Zips could have buried them in the first 10 minutes of the second half if Sammy and Mike hit a few of those open ones. Shammah too—wide wide wide open. Gotta hit that one. Rushed 3 after a press break by Dawson wasn’t the best decision, Tribble with a brain fart to cause the 10 second violation. Akron has gone 17-1 in the last 18 games against MAC teams with Ali on the roster. Happy weekend!

Time to work on breaking a press.

Mop guy is busy tonight

Crowd looks and sounds great on TV. Happy to see this team finally get the attention it deserves and hopefully this can happen more consistently. I do really miss seeing the seats behind the hoops. I know there weren't many rows and they were underutilized, but it seems so empty around the court now.

Enrique! 💪

💯. Definitely worth listening to.

He’s impressive. He will be a big asset to this program

If you are a Zips fan, I'd recommend you watch or listen to the video above.

I was praying to the good Lord that he would choke on one, but par for the course for a Zips fan, my prayers weren't answered.

The worst part of re-watching the game was listening to the homers talk about M&M’s. It really was 2 games in one. The last 12 minutes might have taken longer to play than the first 28 minutes with all of the stopage. I agree now with others that our half-court defense was very effective. Our problem was in transition. Tavari, who has made great strides was the biggest liability. Somebody needs to stop or at least slow down the Toledo ball handler. Once they get a head of steam Freeman is vulnerable to the floppers. That said, Freeman still got a double-double while spending much of the game on the bench and Dawson played to the standard he set 2 years ago. But this was ultimately Ali’s game. He just can’t give the refs an opportunity to kill our momentum with a technical. That goes for Tavari and Dawson as well. Oh, and breaking the press was a disaster. Painful to re-watch. Bring on CMU. Go Zips!!

After Ali got his tech he walked down towards the Toledo bench and appeared to be saying something or motioning towards them and Kowalczyk was whining at the refs to T him up again. It was a pathetic display by old Tod.

Coach Groce's son 🔥🔥

...and I had them at +7.5!

MVP!!! MVP!!! MVP!!!

💯💯 (long since out of likes)

Aren't we all

Three takeaways from the Toledo game. 1. The Zips should watch lots of film on how teams successfully beat the press. 2. The Zips should practice breaking a press a lot. 3. The Zips should repeat takeaway #1 and #2.

This was odd because the last published set of tiebreakers indicated two tied teams have head to head and then best record against the rest of the conference top to bottom. Toledo lost to third place CMU and Akron to 6th place Miami so Akron should have been top seed here. But it was released by the MAC who also have division tie breakers still included in those same procedures so take that for what it's worth. And for the moment it is all moot anyway.

Greenwood and David seem like terrific gets, no?

That was nasty. I can’t imagine what it felt like when he woke up this morning. Gonna be a long day in the training room.

3151... and the winner is...@Head coach Huell Jackson with a guess of 3135.

Freeman was unstoppable and we were hitting everything in the first half. Second half he got into foul trouble and the shots weren't falling. I like our chances if Freeman stays on the floor.

The 1970s called and wants the guy on the scorers table hair back.

Why can we not execute out of a timeout?

What a flop!!!

Damn Simmons is only a freshman?

Nice to see Dawson go to the hole (that's an old-timer equivalent of "swish").

Also, watching from home it didn’t look like Ali said anything on that technical. He was doing the zipper motion across his mouth. Does that merit a technical? I agree with Groce, just be consistent.

Freeman out-rebounding 3 or 4 Rockets in the paint.

If only this type of crowd could be our baseline.

Nice crowd with lots of energy.

I yelled to the Toledo coach that this was MAC tournament intensity and I think I saw a little tear in the corner of his eye.

Watching warm ups & Amani just swished about 8 3-pointers in a row 🧐 Edit: remember when people used to use the word “swish?”

Bonnies are playing (21) Dayton close on the road.

Nice early crowd.