Illini Zip

Nice hammer by Ivey.

I thought Groce was going to help play defense on that last shot of the half.

There is a time and place for the no-look pass, but Cotton has fallen in love with it and it's lead to turnovers (all season).

Patton shot the ball and made it!!!!!

Rare mistake by Hustle 1.

Take notes Blue & Gold for future use. There is a good chance a recruit is with them. Groce has a history of making the local "waffle house" a part of his recruiting routine. It's time to get to know somebody on staff at the Akron Family Restaurant.

I'm on year four and counting of watching the basketball gods rain down on Groce. It has to end sometime, right?!

Groce waited until the end as to not effect his teams chances, but he forced that ref to T him up. My opinion is he made damn sure the league witnessed it. I am thinking he might be sending a message higher up, not just to that ref directly. Groce can get worked up, but I have never witnessed that approach ever.

LMAO!!!

Not bad considering our substitution rotations were a mess. When was the last time we had Cotton and the Gwalk-on playing together?

Kudos to Parrish for fouling on that back door alley-oop. That would have lit up the place. Keep the crowd out of it.

I like 17 pts/game and 44/3pt% at any level. I don't see "Wow" athleticism, but it could be hiding in there. He has a well developed game and can produce at all levels. Is he a point guard or a shooting guard in Groce's system? It's hard to say. I wonder what Coach Groce has been up to lately?

Another good one. He's a southpaw guard too. That is not an accident.

Ouch.

K-lac doesn't have great hands today. I hope that's just a fluke.

I'm loving me some of that Zips defense!!

True, it's only one game. But it was one solid, complete game. Do it again Zips, Skip is watching!!

After further review, K-lac fouled. He had inside position. Then he gave up inside position. And then he went over the top. Ugh!! I did watch it all again. It might be the best they have played all year, but one thing is for sure they are finally competing for the full 40 minutes.

Hey NWAkron, I don't think it goes down like that exactly. My experience is from watching the Big Ten as a league. And it's never spoken, but it's quite understood that the home team (with the paying fans in the house) will get the benefit of the doubt on bang-bang charging calls, etc. I have come to believe that in a Big Ten game the home team easily has a 10 pt. advantage. It can be frustrating if you prefer to watch a straight up game, but they are pretty consistent as a league. I am not arguing for one approach over the other, I just have not found a level of consistency while watching the MAC.

I'm all out of "likes" again, but I agree. Onward and upward, slowly but surely.

Speaking for myself, I thought your comments were fine and on point. I am still learning the MAC ways, but I do get frustrated with the refs at times. I assume the home team is going to get the benefit of the doubt on 50/50 calls. That doesn't always happen. I would think all the MAC refs would get together and agree on how they want to police specifics like moving screens, but they seem to be all over the place. A big bugaboo for me is consistency of tempo throughout the game. If the refs wake up that morning and decide to call a tight game, then please call a tight game for 40 minutes. My gripe yesterday was that a free-flowing game got a little tight there for a few minutes, but it did appear to bounce back. Refs are human too and often it balances out as you have said. My final bugaboo is I hate to see a player taken out of a game on a weak call. I have to re-watch the game to see if K-lac was really over-the-back on his 5th foul. It just looked weak at live speed. K-lac doesn't need help fouling out of a game. He does a pretty good job on his own. And I agree, they played well and earned this one.

Sorry I'm confused then. Who is hustle 1? Smith?

When Parrish completely blows a defensive assignment and his guy nails a wide-open three, being benched for awhile is a learning tool. Same when K-lac commits a stupid foul. With the roster being as thin as it is, if Cotton was excelling right now he would be starting and playing big minutes at the point. And Duvivier would slide over to the 2 spot much of the time. Not only is Cotton not starting, he is losing real minutes to a walk-on. Gbadebo has his limitations, but he plays within his role. He plays sound defense, brings the ball up the court, but most importantly he protects the ball and limits turnovers. And kudos on hitting the 3pter. We are way too late in the season for Groce to be "sending messages" to Cotton. It is my opinion that Cotton is half-way out the door. As the cool kids say today, Cotton needs to get woke. Players were given 2 years to prove their potential before being let go at Illinois, but I would not be surprised if Groce is aggressively recruiting over him. UAZip0510 introduced us to Neftali Alvarez just the other day. I like what I see. Note to Self: Hustle 1 is Lucas Smith and Hustle 2 is K-lac. Gbadebo is the Gwalk-on.