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Buffalo, Ohio, Toledo, and Kent in a 4 game stretch..not only going undefeated but winning by an average of 16.75 points is pretty impressive. MAC-C is going to be fun this year if Miami and us keep taking care of business.

Good for Ryan Prather. Watching RMU vs wright state and he hit a clutch 3 with under and minute left and then scored on a drive to the basket on the next possession to clinch the game for the colonials

2 things can be true. 1) Kent is and will likely always be classless 2) Tod sucks

Give Hardman credit for a game winner. I cannot remember an Akron game winning shot in the last 10 seconds this year. I really thought it was going to be a Tavari drive or pull up jumper for the last shot. Give Groce credit for the game winning play.

None of what I'm saying below is to dispute anything you've said. It's just an observation. A lot of those games were part of those November exempt tournaments. That's why I was very vocal back in November/December criticizing the changes that have made it so most of those tournaments are now segregated into fields of mid-majors or power schools. Playing a Penn State or Oklahoma State on a neutral court provided the best opportunities to pick up those P5 (I guess P6 back then) wins that mid-major resumes desperately need.

The bye comes at a good time. It gives them a chance to regroup, get their feet under them and find their shots.

+6 in the +/-. 😊

They're trying, and that's all I can ask for. Gameday experience is so much better, in-game entertainment is solid, they've had some nice promos - I appreciate the clear effort that has been there. I'd love to see the sideline bleachers replaced by seats one day, and concessions leave a lot to be desired, but they're doing a pretty good job with what they have to work with.

Don't forget guys, the game is at 6:00.

Pretty sloppy, but I’d rather win sloppy than lose sloppy.

Whew. The haves and the Habhab nots.

Nearly the entire point of the halftime entertainment, high five tunnel, tip off kid, national anthem singers, etc. Is to get people to buy group tickets to see their kids and friends performing. That's why we see these gigantic adult dance groups during the games against Concord in December. They don't really need to sell a lot of group tickets for the kent game. If we were to spend money on a halftime entertainer that would be taking money away from something else, like maybe fixing the seats. Was that frat boy basketball stupid, yes, but I don't blame them for having it at the kent game

TWolves are on ESPN right now and Enrique is active.

I'm afraid our attempts to improve defensively have been outweighed by the regression in offense that caused

We have a 6'8" scorer riding the bench. Last night we had 3 starters score 2, 3 and 4. We have a great coach but I'm still scratching my head over the starting lineup. I'm thankful for TJ.

Yep, I also think the program is a bit a victim of its own success. If the Zips had been terrible for a long time and then they were now 18-4 there would probably be more buzz surrounding the team. Locals seem to instead take the team for granted as 20+ win seasons for the Zips is the norm. Edit: Even nationally this team this season would probably get some Cinderella dark horse chatter if Miami wasn't hogging all the national attention.

If Princeton and James Madison were better, then we'd have probably lost to them like we did Murray State and Yale.

Went and looked at the play-by-play for the last 9 minutes of that game and it was brutal for Toledo and TK. When Kent cut the score down to 69-66 around the 2-minute mark, most coaches would call a TO to get a quality shot or at least the ball in a key players hands. Not TK ... then Toledo turned it over, allowing Kent to tie the score. NOW TK calls a TO, with a minute to play ... Rockets have the full shot-clock to get a quality possession/shot. Nope. Turnover, shot-clock violation. (Really!!!!) Kent goes on to win it. No wonder TK was complaining about Kent's celebration. In the old days, when there was true media around, TK would have some real 'splaining to do. Brutal ...

The P6 aren't necessarily why I would tweak the schedule in this manner. It's the mid majors that would be the focus and if they were smart, they'd all come together to make this change. If they could open up 4-5 dates in January/February that allows for flex games based on a mutual agreement among several conferences to match up similarly ranked (NET) schools, that would be incredibly beneficial for all parties.

And they did. That was unexpected and a very nice win.

I have a vague recollection of Kent winning at the JAR and going over to our fans and taunting them. I thought it was classless then and classless now. I saw the same thing in soccer this year by our soccer team and others. A coach should teach his players how to win and how to lose. I don't know what happened after the Kent Toledo game but if it was inappropriate I am glad the coach called it out. Regardless if you win or lose, student athletes should not act like jerks after the game.

If you go to their board they blame all kinds of things for their lack of success. Bad luck, injuries, and saying the tournament needs moved because Kent and Akron get an unfair advantage. Meanwhile, they're significantly closer to Cleveland than schools like Buffalo, Miami, or WMU who have all won the tournament in Cleveland. They just lack any sort of accountability. It's funny enough that they don't feel the same way about the MAC football championship being in Detroit giving them an unfair advantage. They will be in for a rude awakening if the MAC relocates, as it should, that game to Haslamland once the current contract ends.

I by no means am a fan of Kent, but if you don't want opposing teams celebrating don't choke away a late 17 point lead.

They won at Marshall while we beat Kent at home so that's a significant difference. Our best OOC road win is at Tulane so that's a ~70 spot difference compared to their Marshall win. In conference it would be at BGSU who just got boat raced by a SBC team that is worse than Marshall. You seem hyper focused on our losses. What I've said repeatedly is Miami has better wins as well. It doesn't matter if you schedule tougher if every top 200 team you schedule you lose to. You criticize them for having 2 top 200 OOC wins. We meanwhile sit with a goose egg. I don't want anything I've said to be misconstrued that I feel we can't beat Miami. I think if the season restarted today and Miami was to replay all their games again they would have 2-3 losses right now. They have had a number of bounces go their way and are fortunate to be where they're at. My main point is it's not as easy as it appears to win every night that you and others try to make it out to be. I'll say it again we were favored in 4 out of our 5 losses. That means we scheduled teams that were perceived to be weaker than us, but still lost those games. Tons of great MAC teams over the years have gone through MAC play (forget even OOC play) and aren't where Miami is right now.

2 rebounds in 4 minutes. Good to see him get in there.

I mean we were favored in 4 out of our 5 losses so it could be argued that we should have won more than 2 of them. That's why it's hypocritical to criticize Miami this year. They played an easier schedule, not that ours was brutal, but they actually took care of business. It's more challenging to win all the games you're expected to then people care to admit.

Reminds me of the sophomore slump Tavari had. At least he’s a hustler and good on defense, but him getting back to form on offense by the end of season would be huge..issue is he hasn’t had it all year.

It's Big Dog jersey retirement night. 9:oo start time kinda sucks.

Predictable. Same weaknesses all year. We had more last season. Not to say we can't upset MAC competition and make the tournament but probably not a team to advance.

Kent wasn't a good performance either if we are being honest, they were just even worse. It's time to make some adjustments. Starting/playing Halligan and Evan together doesn't work. Halligan didn't play much of the 2nd half, so hopefully that adjustment is on the way. His minutes should be matchup-based. Start Eric or Bowen instead. Also, put Shammah in the starting lineup. I know he hasn't played well lately, but he and Tavari have good chemistry, and if we are going to accomplish what we want to do in the end, Shammah is going to have to play really well. Sharron is perfect as the first guard off the bench.

The problem is any time we've played any team half decent this year we've lost. Good teams are able to exploit our weaknesses. If you beat the bad teams, but consistently lose to the good teams that means you're somewhere in between the two.

I want more Serb. I want more Hardman. I want more speed on offense. I want more shot attempts. I want to get back to the early season system that outpaced opponents and it didn't matter how teams shot because we were able to dictate the style and keep up.

I changed my mind: This tournament sucks get rid of it

If D can't take away passing lanes and force turnovers and push tempo; and offense can't space and move their matchup zone... lather, rinse, repeat. We will see how they try to adjust against some size. If we're not dictating pace we're average.

We need to find a way to get Shammah going.

I would start by replacing the bleachers with chairbacks on the top sideline. Keep the bleachers behind the basket as GA seating. Everything else is assigned (thus higher pricing). I missed out on buying tickets in time to get chair seating for the Kent game and the bleachers were not pleasant for this mid-30s guy. The seating is not spaced out enough for the average size of an American in this day and age.

This game comes down to shooting. Can we shoot well on the road. Sharron seems to be coming on late.hopefully Bowen stays hot! Something I found interesting is they also have a brother duo. Theirs are red head guards who shoot the 3 decent. Looks to be their starting PG and SG

I keep mentioning this idea because it makes too much sense to me and it would give you some of what you’re looking for. And that is to require every team to play a game against an opponent from each quad home and away. Some could be scheduled early based on pre-season expectations and then some games late during conference play based on live results. I realize it won’t happen because of money and the fact that the NCAA is just a tool of the big conferences. I still think it would make the NET more fair.

I’m a big fan of the MAC- Sun Belt challenge and hope it continues in its current form.

so ridley and duncan played together at pasadena community college in 24. i don't know about snaps comparison but here are their stats.... duncan from his last year there in 24 and ridley in 25 Duncan 6'2 220 Ridley 6'3 260 10 solo. 32 solo 5 assisted 15. assisted 4 sacks. 1.5 sacks 1 fumble rec. 1 fumble rec both played 10 games.

I would say if they do only one round keep it the one in February. JMU, which was one of the SunBelt's top preseason teams ended up being garbage.

Also, just confirmed Jasun Ridley, a DE from Pasadena CC. We've been hitting the California JUCO/CC scene very hard. I understand this is the route we have to rely on with our financial limitations but hopefully it pays off.

until the last two games, Akron won the rebounding battle in just about every game. Not making excuses for the last two but Kent missed 22 3-point shots. Lotta long rebounds. Last night was a zombie performance but they still managed to win. Groce will get into these guys and clean it up.

This game magnifies fundamental weaknesses in the Zips this season. I do not believe they can get any W's after the MAC tourney. Here's why: 1) Turnovers 2) Turnovers 3) Rebounding 4) Refusal to play physical (Take a God damn charge once in a while rather than say ole) 5) Inconsistent focus (No team is good enough to turn it on when needed and win against good competition. Hell EMU was bad and they took us to the buzzer)

We're usually up 20 by then

Oldie but goodie. 😊

Make that two former Zips on the new Browns staff. Was there the same time as Switzer.