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Kansas only beat Princeton by 19, bring 'em on! 😊

NET factors in who you play and margin of victory. There is more to the formula as well, but it's not all publicly known. If you play a UNC or Purdue, but lose by 40 it doesn't help you as you performed as or worse than expected. If you play a Purdue or UNC and lose by 5 then it benefits you as you performed better than expected. If you play NIU and win by 40 it can help you. If you play NIU and only win by 5 it will hurt you. It's not a simple SOS formula like RPI was. RPI was a much easier system to game.

Sometimes, the metrics overwhelm common sense. Being 0-3 head to head to Miami should have been the primary factor.

Groce has said in the past that the criteria to play the point in his system is being able to break down the defense in the half-court, distribute the ball, run the fast break quickly while staying under control and be an efficient 3 point shooter. The deeper the shot the better. It doesn’t matter how they beat their defenders as long as they can do it regularly. For some it’s speed and quickness, others it’s shiftiness or even brute size and strength. All usually have to be good playing off of ball screens as well. You combine what @Blue & Gold posted with the fact that Jashawn Ladd shot 41% from deep last year and you have another point guard in the making. Maybe not his first couple of years, but very likely in time. https://bleacherprospect.com/2025/05/27/top-performers-from-the-3-stripes-gold-session-ii/ https://gatorswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/11/11/indiana-basketball-recruiting-rankings-top-30-players-in-class-of-2026/87204242007/ I know what you’re thinking…everyone can’t play point guard. True. Jashawn would likely have double-duty, half the time run the point and the other half play as a shooting guard. I think the smaller, quicker 6 foot guard is the mainstay at the position and I can see us bringing one in every 2 years. If they redshirt for a year even better. The other years, bring in true combo guards. At Illinois, I witnessed 6-1 point guard Tracy Abrams share the job with 6-4 ultra athletic, shooting guard Brandon Paul. It was kind of like the thunder and lightning dynamic you see football teams utilize with running backs. I bring up Brandon Paul because Jashawn looks like a poor man’s Brandon Paul. Expect to see this guy hanging on the rim quite often. Look at how easy dunking is for this guy. He’s just a junior in high school here. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/basketball/friday-night-fast-break-play-of-the-game-nominee-ben-davis-jashawn-ladd/vi-AA1xpj26 This dynamic of a point guard and combo guard sharing lead guard duties is nothing new during Groce’s Akron era. We started out with Virshon Cotton and Malcolm Duvivier. Then LCJ and Tyler Cheese. We then struggled partly due to Covid and partly due to Garvin Clarke’s failure to get north and south in the half-court. Thank God for Xavier Castaneda. As a shooting guard he held down the lead guard duties mostly by himself. Tavari was a freshman, but not at all ready for prime time. Since Tavari has taken the reigns he has shared the job with Tribble, Nate Johnson and now Shammah Scott. So don’t be surprised if the 5th year senior version of 6-5 Josh Henderson or RJ Jones becomes the next Tyler Cheese. I witnessed injury (and other shenanigans) at the point guard position derail Groce and Co. at Illinois. Together we witnessed Garvin Clarke’s failure handicap the Zips for a year or two. And now we are in the NIL era where you could see our future point guard leave at any time. In my opinion you can’t have enough lead guards on the roster. I suggest we grab one per recruiting class of alternating skill sets and size. And I think that’s exactly what we’re doing. 🙏

There are some great games in there, you'd assume that in the first four where there are direct Zips opponents it would be best for them to win. Funny that the worst matchup of the day by RPI numbers is the Big Ten final.

Kansas would've been a fun matchup this year. I believe they're quite young, led by an Akron-connected Darryn Peterson, son of former Akron standout Darryl Peterson.

Tavari and Lyles have been around to experience Mississippi State, LSU, Creighton, St. Mary’s and Arizona. Shammah Scott played in the last three. Evan should not be overwhelmed at all. Eric is the only starter to not have played against this level of competition. I just hope they play well.

It feels like a March Madness game.

Hoping today will be a good lesson to show how much better a team can be. I feel like part of the reason we’ve gotten beat up the last two years in round 1 is cause we only face mid majors and never get a true test against a significantly bigger more athletic team. Let’s see how this goes

What a nice post in lieu of the CSU game. I watched that game and saw nothing but disgusting basketball. The mistakes were constant and never corrected. CSU did not press or play 94' of basketball and yet we had 20 turnovers by the middle of 3Q. Last year it was all the injuries. In year three we were supposed to be turning it around with culture, talent, recruiting, schemes, etc. Everyone I know on campus who knows coach Gensler says he is a great guy with a superior basketball mind. They believe in him. But I look at the results and scratch my head. How can we be so bad in year three? I hope he is a miracle worker.

Vikings 76 Zips 55 Not sure what my expectations should have been coming into the third year of this regime but it’s very apparent we are a not making progress. Not sure what to attribute it to but hopefully with all the new players some cohesiveness and improvement will be seen throughout the season.

To illustrate @Illini Zip's insights, this year (albeit only 3 games into the season) our starting backcourt duo is averaging: Tavari: 13.3 PPG, 5 APG Scott: 14.3 PPG, 4.3 APG

Congratulations to Beto Ydrach and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

Their 1 win coming against Illinois State (respectable) where the viral highlight is the Ohio player missing a dunk at the buzzer with the whole team around him. Iconic.

Ohio falls to 1-3 after a 106-81 loss.

Purdue probably works closely with whatever lab grows Edey, Wemby, Olivier, etc.

We have NO CHANCE to upset the #1 team in the nation. 😉 No. 1 Houston leapfrogs Purdue in AP Top 25 poll.

Darlington Nagbe reflects after final match of incredible career