Illini Zip

Groce was not happy with the Zips execution in the post-game interview.

Groce is right that we are going to get everyone’s best effort or Buffalo doesn’t like hearing that Groce killed them. Either way they played hard, but Akron answered the challenge like champs. Heal up fast Nate!!

Some great defensive effort by the Zips.

💯

They came to play for sure.

Fast paced game which is surprising that Buffalo would push tempo. They are not that deep.

And I had that thought too. As we witnessed with UCLA, you have to seize that victory unapologetically. If there is a bias in the NCAA Tourney it's towards the larger fan bases. But there are plenty of Cinderella stories over the years and Groce has proven it can be done himself. Do it again Groce, but stay put this time!!

Completely agree, but riddle me this. In 2022, the average MAC attendance was 2,562 and the Mountain West was 6,203. If I am not mistaken, that average would max out the JAR regularly. What are they doing differently in this modern age? http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/2023/Attend.pdf

I accept this is the reality, but without change somewhere, somehow Akron's basketball ceiling is already set. A top 3 program consistently in a conference that ranks between 13th and 25th in D1. I don't like that. And I hope Groce is still up for the challenge. Everyone else in the past, including himself at Ohio, has pushed through with success only to bolt the conference. I want him to build a program that is so good that the refs are irrelevant or take Akron basketball to a better conference. I like his approach to the non-conference, playing other top mid-majors. And the occasional P6 opponent in a holiday tournament. I'm sure he understands the situation much better than I do. This might be so, but they answer to the customer. In this case, the customer is the MAC. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a level of game management in the power conferences and the pros as well. But I have seen few examples as silly as the Ball State game. The non-conference games this year were not perfect. Nothing ever is. But I walked away feeling the result was determined by the players on the court, which is what you want. I tip my hat to our current Zip team for keeping their focus and pulling out the win. But if you care about the NET rankings, the margin of victory matters.

I know a lot of this is the rehashing of old discussions, but frankly I forget. What are the chances of Akron basketball alone leaving the MAC at some point? I know Northern Michigan is a D2 school for every sport except for their D1 hockey program. So it can be done. If we are going to be honest that the product and culture needs to keep improving to land more butts in the seats, then I would argue that the so-called MAC officiating I witnessed the other night is part of the problem. I have been around long enough to know this is not a few bad refs, it's what the MAC ultimately wants. Game management. And the end result is nearly unwatchable and the top teams in any given year are less likely to achieve an at-large bid. I don't understand the logic.

Not sure of the path of this Winter storm, but it started snowing in Northern Illinois around 3:00am and we have a good 5 inches already. It’s supposed to drop between 1-2 feet by Saturday night. Just curious if this mess is due to hit Akron before game time? Never mind, it looks like you might get a few inches of snow late tonight/early Saturday.

I was thinking the same thing.

Tribble shot well today for 14 pts.

The bank just closed, too bad. Another road kill for the Zips.

Do I dare mention that the Zips have a higher NET ranking than Indiana too? Ha!!

How funny, I just addressed this in another post. Good catch.

I have done my share of joking about playing the likes of Miami-Hamilton and Heidelberg on here in the past, but I guess it makes sense in this era where the NET metrics rule the day. I mean, say Groce wants to schedule a "practice game" mid-season in which he can get all of his players minutes and polish up on specific aspects such as a full-court press or eliminating turn-overs prior to traveling to a tournament for example. And of course, coming off of finals week where he wants his players to focus their attention on their studies. In the past he might have scheduled a bottom tier Quad 4 team at these times. But by playing a quality D2 or D3 school the game doesn't count against the NET metrics. We play enough Quad 4 games as it is. Especially this year. This approach saves us 2 Quad 4 games in the equation. Now I know if you're paying for a season ticket package you don't want to watch such a match-up, but I am putting the blame on the NCAA's use of the NET going forward.

Something that sticks out to me is that the Zips have played a whopping 3 home games at this juncture. Whereas many schools that are ahead of us on the NET have played 7-11 home games.

Out of Conference Review was a nice post @csims0917. Sorry, I'm out of likes. I brought the conversation over here as to not distract from your good work. It's not always easy to get bigger, power conference programs to play Akron. And when you do it's usually the first game of the year and in their house. Which is why I like the Thanksgiving tournaments. So even though there are no flashy names on this OOC schedule (Louisville, West Virginia, Ohio State, Mississippi State, LSU and Nevada are some we have played recently.) one could argue this year's slate was more challenging and prepared us better for the MAC season than in years past. Where does everyone stand on this?

Freeman ended up 9 for 11 at the free throw line. Much better.

Not really anything of substance. No.

It might not have been the most exciting game, but it's still a valuable road kill.

Tavari, Lyles and Prather Jr. to close us out.

What I don't like is seeing Tribble shooting a 3 pointer as a jump shot. That's not him. His set shot 3 pointers have a better chance.

I agree. Their rotation and covering for each other on defense is much better today.