Zippy87

The share of blame I'd pin on coaches is primarily the roster and recruiting. No frontcourt depth and Thornton/Scott were portal misses.

My approach to next week is going to be thinking positive and enjoying what remains of Enrique Freeman as a Zip. One of my favorites to come through the program. I have a feeling next year will be rough - likely similar to what Kent did this year - so I'm hopeful we can make one more run.

Looking at Miami: - Only EMU, CMU, and UB were worse offensively this year in the MAC. - However, Miami was actually the 2nd best team defensively in the conference this year. - The Redhawks were 2nd in 3PT%, while the Zips ranked 1st in 3PT defense. - The have some size - Mirambeaux is listed as 6'8", 305. They also have Potter, a 7'1" center coming off the bench. Freeman absolutely has to stay out of foul trouble. - Miami won our only matchup, shooting 51% from the field and outscoring us 26-12 in the paint.

Everyone shares a little blame. The coach isn't above it.

Miami it is.

The way I look at it - if you don't beat Miami in R1, you were never going to make a run anyhow.

They definitely could. I'm more worried about Ohio than Toledo. Toledo always chokes in Cleveland.

Including a heavy favorite in a ML parlay is always terrible value.

Assuming Toledo holds, this is the bracket: 1-Toledo 8-Kent 4-CMU 5-BGSU 3-Ohio 6-WMU 2-Akron 7-Miami I like getting Miami in R1, but Ohio looms large in R2. They'll be coming into Cleveland on a 6 game win streak and feeling confident. Let's hope almost a full week off will allow our guys to reset and come in focused and ready to win 3 straight.

We'll know our opponent soon. Looks like Kent, Western Michigan, or Miami.

One week to figure it out. Win 3 in Cleveland and nobody remembers these losses.

32-16 so far in the 2nd half

Holy hell that was bad defense by Sammy

Lack of frontcourt depth showing up yet again with Freeman on the bench

I know we poked fun at Payton Jr and rightfully so, but they're going to really miss him. Their frontcourt is down to Hornbeak, a junior who started the year coming off the bench in limited fashion, and Entenmann and Hunter, a sophomore and freshman respectively who have barely played this season. Freeman feasted on them twice and I have no reason to believe he wouldn't do it again.

For some reason I feel less worried about an opening round afternoon game against Kent than a morning tipoff against Western Michigan. Maybe recency bias of their not showing up against EMU?

That is awesome, hopefully Enrique is next. Also, I can't believe they still have an award named after Karl Malone 😂

Was it the black ones they sold? I remember they sold out FAST.

Curious for those who follow the NBA closely, does Freeman have a shot at being selected in Round 2 this year?

Thornton started 17 games last year for NIU, and averaged 13 points/7 assists in those games. I expected he would start and pitch in close to that. Instead, he's barely in the rotation. He's been a huge disappointment.

I didn't realize he and Dawson were both so low. Wow.

Drilling down further and looking at individual players, Freeman and Tribble have significantly improved. Hunter has improved a bit over last year. Nate Johnson is just below his 22-23 %. If you compare this year to their last full seasons, the two big disappointments when it comes to 3PT% are Ali and Dawson. Ali 21-22: 40.7 23-24: 27 4 Dawson 21-22: 36% 23-24: 30.3% Tavari is shooting 48.8% from deep on 43 attempts. It obviously won't stay that high with more volume, but I do think he can add some much-needed 3PT shooting with more minutes. Maybe they consider Tribble/Johnson together with Tavari playing more off-ball? Take advantage of his scoring but lower the possibility of turnovers?

I'd definitely rather start Tavari and live with his deficiencies than roll with Thornton or Scott. Interesting to look at our team 3PT% over the past five years: 2023-24 - 33.3% 2022-23 - 35.5% 2021-22 - 35.7% 2020-21 - 33.3% 2019-20 - 35.7%

I still very much believe this team can win 3 games next week and cut down the nets. Here's why: 1) Experience- No team in the conference has more MAC Tournament experience on the roster. Cleveland is different (ask Toledo) and our most of our key players have been there before. I also don't think it will hurt us or OU that we both played at RMF this season. 2) Defense travels - We've seem some lapses, but we still have the top rated defense in the conference and that's huge in Cleveland. 3) We have the best player - Enrique will be POY and deservedly so. He has showed up big the last two years in Cleveland and I expect the same this year. 4) We have the best coach - Would you trade Groce for any other MAC coach? I wouldn't. Groce knows how to win in Cleveland and that experience will be huge going into next week. 5) I believe in our guys - I think Freeman, Ali, and Tribble in particular will show up in a big way. They don't want their legacy to end with a home loss to EMU followed by an early exit in Cleveland. They all didn't come back for it to end that way. I believe in our guys.

I thought we'd get a solid starter and he could average 7-8 points per game.