kreed5120

Had we rebounded with this kind of effort against Buffalo, we would have won by double figures. Whatever Groce said to them after the game appears to have worked so far.

http://mainscore01.blogspot.com/2020/01/b30b5c6b.html

Akron's poor rebounding against Buffalo was for multiple reasons. The two big ones I noticed... 1) Buffalo just wanted the ball more. I remember on one play there were 3 Zips jerseys with 1 Buffalo player sandwiched between. The Buffalo player came away with the rebound. A different play Riak secured the rebound, but a Buffalo player ripped it out of his hands. Rebounding is about effort as much as anything else. You need to want the ball more than the other guys. 2) Our guards failed to keep their man in front of them. This forced Riak or Reece to rotate over leaving nobody to box out the opposing bigs. We need to have a hunger for the ball and we need to box out. If we can do this, I think we'll win by 8+.

Wasn't exactly sure where to post this, but the B1G has proposed legislation that would allow all players a 1 time transfer without having to sit out a year. This proposal would impact men's hoops as well along with other sports. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-ten-proposal-would-allow-every-athlete-to-transfer-once-without-sitting-out-a-year/

I can't lie, I do like Mike's Place.

I remember seeing a few posts earlier in the year saying how much better we're off without Utomi, but I think he's exactly the type of player we're missing. He could have started at the 3, opening up the opportunity for Cheese or Banks to be the 6th man. He'd also be able to spell Xeyrius at the 4. Not to mention in late game offense for defense substitutions you could roll out a LCJ, Cheese, Banks, Xeyrius, and Utomi lineup. All 5 would be a threat from deep and have shown the ability to drive to the hoop. Obviously Utomi didn't want to be here so that ship sailed.

Reece got T'd up earlier in the year and there have been 2-3 dunks since that I was concerned he might get T'd up for based off his immediate reaction afterwards.

Groce staggers the minutes so you're going to always see at least 2 of the 4 on the court at a time. The issue isn't whether Cheese 16 points comes from the starting lineup or the bench. It's the fact there are x-minutes of the game that LCJ, Xeyrius, Cheese, and Banks need rest and in those minutes we're getting little to no positive production out of anyone.

Even outside of the stat sheet, it's hard for me to see what they bring. All I see is offensive turnovers, ill-timed fouls, and lackadaisical defense.

Drake, Wright State, and Murray State are all solid mid-major, but those are the types of teams you should try to schedule H&H with. These neutral court tournaments are the type of games we should be looking to play the Louisville and WVU of the world as this provides us the best opportunity at getting those wins.

Interesting use of the word rebound in the title considering that's something we're struggling with...

Akron's playing better on the road than at home during conference play.

Willie Jackson is 6'6 and is leading the MAC in rebounding at 12.4 rebounds per game, which last I checked also had him 3rd in the nation. Mballa, who killed us on the glass, is 6'7. Height isn't the issue. Riak, at 6'10, had 3 inches of height on Mballa. Buffalo didn't out rebound us because they're taller, they're not. They out rebounded us because they did a better job at getting into position and boxing out. Our rebounding woes isn't a height issue. It's a technique and effort issue.

I would have liked to have seen him honestly. It wouldn't have hurt to at least give him a chance.

Where is game #21? ?

Yep, players not named LCJ shot a combined 3/20 from 3 and Reece got 1 rebound in ~15 minutes of play, but only Riak can be blamed for the loss. You win and lose as a team. There was plenty of blame to go around tonight. At the end of the day we need to move past this and focus on going 1-0 vs Kent Friday.

What's the alternative? Reece played 15-20 min and had 1 rebound.

5 of those 6 makes were 3 balls and he was 11 for 11 from the charity stripe. Overall his ts% was still solid even though his fg% might not look so great at first glance.

Honestly, we should have lost by a lot more. We got to do a better job at boxing out.

I think you misspelled LCJ.

We're not going to win this unless Buffalo starts missing free throws.

Let's get Cheese back in this game.

At halftime Groce should just leave the Zips on the court to practice shooting.

A lot of our misses aren't even close.

What an ugly game so far for both teams.