Zippy87

Im more concerned about the officiating tonight than anything else. If Freeman gets in foul trouble, we're extremely vulnerable. Kent knows they can't stop him, so they'll be trying to get him off the floor. We need to play smart and have composure. I like Ali playing with fire, but you can't give these refs any reason to T you up because they will. Tribble has to stay away from bad fouls too. We need to make life hell for Santiago and Sullinger. I expect us to play with a pace similar to the 2nd half yesterday. Kent is basically playing 7 guys for heavy minutes...run then off the floor. We're the better team. I know our seniors don't want Kent to end their collegiate careers. It's their time tonight - let's go get it!

Enrique Freeman has what I think is his first sports card in the 2023-24 Bowman University set. Card #1 in the set. There's some up for sale on eBay for anyone interested.

I do think they need to re-visit the format, especially after adding UMass. From 2002-2011, everyone made it and the top 4 teams received byes to the quarterfinals. From 2012-2015, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds received byes straight to the semifinals, with the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds beginning tournament play in the quarterfinals. From 2016 to 2019, the top four seeds received byes into the quarterfinals. The current format doesn't really offer any advantage to top seeds aside from possibly better matchups. In a one bid league, I'd prefer the top 2 or 4 teams to get some sort of bye to gain an additional advantage and add value to the regular season.

You're diminishing his successes and amplifying his failures. Saying he "consistently underachieved" just isn't rooted in reality. If it's championship every year or failure, Groce has underachieved too, no? And I don't think any of us would say or think that. Duquesne had a good team. They were missing their top scorer for he first chunk of conference play and took off once he returned. It's no fluke, and saying they didn't even deserve to be in the tournament is wild. Ah well, to each his own.

Just locked in tickets- Angela Rizzo coming up clutch once again!

Groce publicly expressed frustration with home attendance this year more than once. Was that OK? These coaches love their kids and see how hard they work every single day. When it doesn't feel like the fan support matches that energy, they get frustrated, and I don't blame either of them for it. KD did make comments related to the JAR and frustrations with being a one bid league. Is he saying anything that wasn't true? These were his comments after his last game here: “I feel sick for our guys because they had a terrific season and that’s just the reality of this league,” Akron coach Keith Dambrot said. “If you have an average night when it really matters, the regular season kind of goes out the window. I’m a big boy, I can take it, but I really feel bad for all the work our guys put in because we just can’t go to the Big Dance. “They made all the plays in the last eight minutes. We didn’t, and just feel bad for our kids.” Again, no excuses, just loves his players. I do agree it was probably time for a change. I actually think KD leaving forced the Athletics program to stop taking having a really good coach for granted. Hopefully they never stop that feeling, because if we win tomorrow, Groce is going to get some calls. Last two points... The VCU game was hard. We didn't have our PG we had all year, half the team had the flu, and they drew the absolute worst matchup. That was a special team. Final point - tonight should be a reminder that getting to the championship game isn't easy. This is a down year for the MAC overall, and we've still had to grind out two wins to get there. Tomorrow wont be easy, either. Of course we want to win them all, but diminishing them if we don't ("participation trophy accomplishments") doesn't make much sense to me either. Anyhow, time to focus on Kent but I wish the Dukes the best, too. Aside from KD, they also have former Zips player/coach Rick McFadden, former Zip Dru Joyce III, and longtime Zips coach Terry Weigand. It'd be great to see them go Dancing (alongside us of course!)

Quick thoughts: - What a game. That was an all-timer. One of the wildest 4-5 minutes in recent MAC Tournament memory. - OU is a good team. I was disappointed we lost the #1 seed because I didn't want to see them until the Final. They gave us everything we could handle though. - Freeman, Ali, and Hunter stepped up as seniors and carried this team. They combined for 54 of our 65 points! - I thought Tavari looked good. Didn't score but made some beautiful passes to find his teammates. He can break down a defense even if he isn't scoring. - Of course, it's Kent. They were ridiculous from deep tonight (12-18, 67%) and that obviously can't happen tomorrow. Sullinger and Santiago both played all 40 minutes tonight and Santiago played the entire game Thursday. Hopefully they'll have tired legs tomorrow (I miss the days of #8 seeds having to win an additional game or two. Hopefully the MAC fixes that) - Enrique Freeman...man...what a phenomenal player. I won't compare him to players from different eras like Jakubick, but he's got to be our best modern-era player in program history. He's special. Let's go get one more tomorrow!!!!

WHAT...A...GAME! Our boys have some fight in 'em!!! Anyone know what section Akron fans are in tomorrow?

Unless Ali said something we don't know, that's a weak T. Emotions are high. These teams are playing for their seasons.

Let's see if this team has some fight in them. I know OU does.

OU's crowd putting ours to shame so far, too

3PT shooting in March (NIU, EM, WM, UM) Scott: 4-4 (100%) Tribble: 4-7 (57%) Hunter: 7-18 (39%) T. Johnson: 1-3 (33%) Thornton: 1-5 (20%) Dawson: 2-14 (14%) Ali: 2-17 (12%) N. Johnson: 1-10 (10%) Freeman: 0-6

1) I have no recollection of KD ever ripping Akron fans. Source on that? He still considers Akron home and roots for us to do well. There was conflict between he and Larry Williams, but he never harbored any negativity toward Akron. 2) He didn't "empty the cupboards of the program" - Tavian Dunn-Martin and Michael Hughes were the only ones that followed him, and given they were freshman, I understand why they did it. Antino Jackson transferred, but this came after Groce's hire. He attended Groce's introductory press conference and told the ABJ his recruitment was still open, but eventually decided to go elsewhere. Noah Robotham was the other transfer and he was leaving no matter who was coach as he had an offer from his hometown team, UNLV. So two guys left because of Dambrot. 3) It's hard to consistently win as a mid-major program. We made it to seven straight MAC Championships and got there nine times in eleven years. That's an insane run for a MAC school. Do I wish we won more than 3 times? Absolutely. We lost twice by one point (Penno being one of them...ugh) and another in OT. But I don't think that should take away from what was an incredible run. We've only made it back once since he left (although I think they would've gotten there in 2020). 4) While I do think it was time for mutual change between the program and KD, I hope fans never lose sight of his impact here. Akron basketball was a mediocre MAC basketball program. We had never won a MAC Championship. We rarely advanced beyond the first round. While we never got that elusive NCAA Tournament win, he built the program into a a consistent winner. If the program wasn't in good shape when he left, Groce would've never come. If you don't believe me, here's Groce shortly after being hired: "We had battles, and I have just great respect for him not only as a coach but as a person," Groce said. "We hired three former Akron Zips people in different capacities during my time at Illinois for the most part strictly based on Keith's recommendation. "I told him, 'What you've done is a big reason why I'm here.'" We don't have to make this KD vs Groce. We can appreciate what KD did here and wish him well while also being happy about having Groce.

Why? I'll never understand the bitterness...

Overall numbers in our two matchups this season: FG% Akron: 44-99 (44%) Ohio: 46-109 (42%) 3PT% Akron: 14-35 (40%) Ohio: 13-48 (27%) Rebounds: Akron: 67 Ohio: 64 Turnovers Akron: 26 Ohio: 19

I looked at the score and expected to see them be on fire offensively - but they weren't, really...41% from the field, 31% from deep. But they forced 18 turnovers and scored 29 points off of them, while only turning it over 3 times on offense. We turned it over 14 times tonight, for reference.

Just got home from the game. Tough start, but proud of them for grinding out the win. Interesting to see Freeman not start out on Mirambeaux - probably helped him stay on the floor. Tavari, Thornton, and Scott provided some good minutes tonight - 19 points between them. Ultimately though, the difference was having the best player in the league. Enrique is special. Tomorrow will be a dogfight if it's OU. Can't wait!

Let's see if we can put them away early. Need that killer instinct right now.

Evan Wilson has made every 3 point attempt in 2nd half warm-ups #FreeEvanWilson 😂

Freeman shouldn't sit much in the 2nd half - that's a definite positive.

Death, taxes, Toledo choking in Cleveland.

Per Wikipedia, Ball did win it in 1997.

Bought two tickets for tomorrow using the code. I looked and would've paid double without it. Really appreciate her putting these out there for Zips fans.

They really finished the year strong. Started 0-5 in conference play in large part to injuries then went 10-3 the rest of the way. Unfortunately for them they draw Dayton tomorrow, who is the #3 seed despite being the only team in the A10 currently in the Top 25.