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Defense and rebounding need to improve to be a championship team. In Groce we trust

The team is small, guard heavy and deep. Take advantage of those things. Wear the other team down with ball pressure and pace. Pace means pushing the ball and playing fast. It does not have to mean playing sloppy, taking bad shots and turning the ball over. Also, the depth is going to help in the rigors of the MAC Tournament week. John Groce knows what he's doing and he's good at adapting and working with what he has. I'm going to trust him on this one.

I think we just need to become our best selves. Nothing more. I liked seeing Nate steal the ball and finish on the other end with an emphatic 2-handed dunk. Sure it might not be as cool as a tomahawk dunk, but it’s better than him missing altogether. That’s progress. Keep making those adjustments and improvements throughout the season. Collectively and individually. Rebounding, too much dribbling around, traveling, bad passes, missed free-throws, missed layups, dumb fouls, moving screens, broken defensive assignments. I think we are our own worst enemy at times. Sure, I would like to see Marvin get more opportunities going forward and Young become the primary ball-handler. But other than that nobody is standing out as an obvious starter right now. Maybe Nate, but he can be inconsistent as well. I would let the match-up dictate playing time. Certain players might distinguish themselves by March, but right now the whole active roster is engaged and I don’t expect that to change. And I don’t foresee a schematic change either.

good summary of season so far: https://akronzippedup.substack.com/p/zips-mens-basketball-weekly-update?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=4gotw8&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Looks like we beat out a handful of G6 programs for him.

I remember the Marshal color guy talking about Sammy Hunter being a great shooter but not when he could smell popcorn (meaning being a good shooter in practice but not games). Maybe our shooters have that problem. LOL.

Especially since they took away the NIT bids for regular season winners.

The only thing I can think of is a financial incentive of some sort for the league winner. The MAC Tournament used to include all 12 teams I believe. If we went back to that, teams ranked 5 - 12 would have to play an additional round. Making it worth while to be a top 4 team. And then I like the idea of reseeding after each round. That would ensure the top seed had the easiest road to a championship. In theory anyway.

It's the same as it's always been. Win three nights in a row in March

Now that Harris is done for the season, the path toward repeating as champion has become harder. Most years, I wouldn't even consider it possible, but the MAC looks bad this season. In my opinion, we need the following: 1) Slow the pace of the offense I think they can and should run, but I also think there's too many times we settle for shots too early in the shot clock and, because of our lack of offensive rebounding, leads to some brutal dry spells. Sharron Young did a wonderful job in the 2nd half yesterday pushing at a faster pace but creating better shots for himself and his teammates. 2) Gradually Increase Young's Minutes He has the highest ceiling of any player on the roster, is an excellent shooter and scorer, and his basketball IQ is far beyond a typical freshman. I know defense will bring growing pains, but I can live with it given everything else he does. We should be playing through he and Tavari often. 3) Cut Seth Wilson's Minutes I had high hopes for him, but I'm just not sure what he adds. Take away the Ohio Wesleyan and SUNY Brockport games and he's scored 16 points in 9 games, shooting 21% (6-29) from the field. Over his last 5 games, he's 1-13 (all 3-point attempts). I know Groce has to consider he's a senior, but I'd rather continue to see what MMK can do. He doesn't score, but he's at least shown the ability to add rebounding, which we obviously need much more of.

I noticed the terrible 3-point shooting performance put on by the Zips. There aren't many times a team is going to win shooting 28.6% from distance. It was painful to watch. So then I watched Nebraska host 15th ranked UCLA. Oh My. Nebraska hit 7 of 25 3s for 28% and WON!! How did that happen? Well it helped that the Bruins made 4 of 28 3s 14.3%. It's a wonder someone in the stands was not injured with all the basketballs flying aimlessly around the arena.

Yeah, looks like he had a bunch of good G5 offers. His bio says RT for Zips. Hopefully a plug and play starter.

2 guys on visits it looks like from their Instagram profiles DB Tyrell Raby formerly of MTSU DB Ben Kamara formerly of D2 Upper Iowa

The MAC does have financial incentives for winning the regular season title. I don't remember the exact dollar figure, but obviously it isn't enough to move the needle. Before covid the MAC set up a plan to reward schools that perform well in basketball. The payout is funded by additional credits the MAC earns by winning games in the tournament. The more credits that are accumulated, the bigger the payouts become. The problem is the MAC isn't sending multiple teams to the tournament or advancing enough for that pot of money to grow sizable.

I. agree with all of this. A STRONG financial incentive for winning the MAC regular season, perhaps $500,000 (or more) from the league directly into team NIL. Then a return to 12-team MAC Tournament complete w/4 team bye. First rd on campus. While I'm not a huge fan of reseeding, I could live with it as long as the financials and MAC Tournament format aligned.

This guy MACtions.

You look at the stats and we got outrebounded again, this time by 12, took 42 threes and shot a poor 29% from three. Some head scratching stats in that Marvin started the game, played 90 seconds, pulled 2 fouls and never saw the floor again. And everyone is scratching their heads on this board in that Seth Wilson was the first sub and played 15 minutes and went 1 of 5 from three land. He must be a hell of a practice player because we just have not seen much from him when he has been on the court. Of the new transfer players, Okonkwo and Grey have impressed me the most in that they seem to play hard every second they are on the court. I will also give a shout out to Bowman for having 3 rebounds. Young and Tavari both had solid games. Tavari did not shoot the ball well from 3 but still had 9 points and more importantly 5 assists. He seems to find the open man on his passes. Young shot the ball well and had a solid game except for the turnover at the end of the game. The team did not play well and still got a road win. A good way to start the season.

I don't know if he was the focus when you have guys like Enoch Cheeks, Day Day Thomas, and of course Jizzle James. This is a Key & Peele skit...

Tough day for Kent. Forced more than 20 turnovers, took 20 more shots than Ball State, and still lost. Sullinger has lost his shot. Best player (Safford) done after hip surgery, potential backup, Moss, done, second knee surgery, top local recruit Jonas, MIA. Looks like another long season over there.

Kent State kicks off their MAC schedule with a home loss to Ball State.

OSU were runners up to Wake Forest in 2007. Your other points remain standing. Rarely is Hermann Trophy awarded to player on a team not advancing to round of 16. This year would have been a great case for the exception. The bizarre injury perpetrated upon Mitch Budler was enormously consequential. As if we needed more reasons to “hate” IU…

A rare opportunity for a Central Ohio Akron alum and Zips fan. If I get the chance tomorrow, January 4, I plan to attend the Westerville North at Westerville Central basketball game and hence watch two Zips commits on the floor at the same time, and pretty close to my own back yard