Zippy87

Yep, he was diagnosed with Crohns when he was 16.

I did some digging - we were #24 in the Week 17 Coaches Poll in 2012-13. There are four things that haunt me as a long-time Akron basketball fan: 1) Doug Penno and the clock operator. That team deserved better. 2) Suspensions of Abreu/Diggs. People rightfully recall Abreu getting suspended right before the Kent game that year, but we also would've had Diggs too had he not f'd up. Marshall Treadwell Abreu Diggs Harney Walsh Gilliam Kretzer McAdams Ibitayo Betancourt Damn. 3) CJ McCollum wanted to play for Akron but we didn't have a scholarship open and KD didn't want to "push out" a player. Was the same class as Zeke...we would've had Zeke and CJ together for 4 years 4) The UCLA game. The phantom Freeman fouls. Would Wynn have hit an open 3 in the corner if Ali kicked it out? We were so damn close.

Akron, Toledo, Kent, Ohio, and UMass seem likely to be contenders in the MAC most years. The first four have been more good than bad over the last 20 years and I think UMass will join that group. For awhile I thought Buffalo would be there too, but they've really reverted back to a lower-caliber program.

If Akron loses and BG and Toledo both win, it lists Akron #1 above Toledo based on winning percentage against the #5 team [BGSU] (1-0). No idea if that's correct or not.

They may be wrong but I put that scenario in the bracket scenario simulator and we'd still be #1 according to it if BG wins. If BG also loses, then they drop us to #2. https://bball.notnothing.net/mac.php?sport=mbb

Who is the team you'd least like to face? I'd prefer to avoid Kent on Thursday. I think we'd win, but rivalry games are always tough, physical games and I'd rather us have an easier road to the semi-finals. Beyond that, we probably want Toledo on the other side of the bracket (although they never finish the job in Cleveland). My sleeper team is BG - they've been very inconsistent but I like their guard play and although I can't see them winning 3 straight, I do think they could pull off an upset somewhere in the tournament.

Scenario Builder Discounted Tickets (Code: ARIZZOMAC2024) Teams who have clinched spots: Akron, Toledo, Central Michigan, Ohio

The biggest thing with Nate IMO is he shoots outside at a pretty high clip - 43% from deep last year and 42% in the 16 games he played this year. Teams are too comfortable doubling Freeman and daring our guards to make they pay for it. I'm hopeful Nate can help that. Tavari is a much better scorer than Scott and Thornton. But Groce may be more willing to go with ball control/defense with those two right now because he has other scorers around them. Tavari definitely has the highest overall upside though.

This is 100% correct. It's the reason Groce stuck with Dawson through his prolonged shooting slump. I do wish Tavari would get more time because he's already a better offensive player than Thornton (too passive) and Scott (can't knock down open shots), but to be fair those two do play better defense and don't have as many mental lapses. I'd personally still rather see Tavari and live with some of those growing pains to see if he can lead this team next year as starting PG, but as you said, you have to trust they know what they're doing.

This is fantastic news. I'd assume he was able to do conditioning throughout given the nature of his injury, so hopefully it doesn't take him long to get back out there, especially with 4 regular season games left.

His botched dunks were my favorite

Great game and atmosphere overall. A few quick thoughts: - Probably the smallest Kent crowd I've ever seen at the JAR. Almost non-existent. - Great to see Dawson finally get going. Him shooting at just a decent clip would be huge for this team. - Teams are going right at Freeman, trying to get him in foul trouble. They know how important he is to us on both ends. With no real front court depth, he's got to find ways to stay on the court. We become very average when he's out. - Loved seeing Thornton take it to the hoop aggressively a few times. He's far too passive on offense at times. - Bummed we didn't see more of Tavari. - I can't say enough about the leap Tribble has taken offensively. He shot 1-12 from deep last season and is currently 36% on 58 attempts. - Payton has learned the hard way that sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut. Freeman dominated him. He ended up with 14 but most seemed like they came when Enrique was sitting. - I can very easily see a scenario where our 2024-25 season looks like Kent's this year. I'm going to enjoy every bit of this group and Freeman in particular while I have the chance. - Speaking of Kent, there's a realistic scenario that they don't make it to Cleveland at all. They have Buffalo next (should be a win) but then have CMU at home and Ball State and Toledo on the road.

Interesting subplots: - Akron is aiming to stay on track to get the #1 seed in the MAC Tournament. If CMU stays in 3rd, we'd win a tiebreaker over Toledo since we beat CMU and they lost to them. Win out and it's likely ours. - Kent State, on the other hand, is still fighting to get to Cleveland. EMU, Buffalo, and NIU seem unlikely to make it, which leaves 9 teams to battle for 8 spots. Kent is currently on a 3-way tie with Miami and Western Michigan while Ball State sits one game behind them all. After tonight, Kent has Buffalo and CMU at home and Ball State and Toledo on the road. There's a very real scenario where Kent loses tonight and drops games against CMU, Ball State, and UT and misses the tournament altogether. Wouldn't that be fantastic?

I did the same.

Looks like senior Night is 3/2; women's team plays at 3 PM, men's team plays at 6 PM (so our last home game will not be senior night).

It will be interesting to see how the rotation evolves over the last five regular season games. T. Johnson, Scott, and Thornton have all had their minutes fluctuate over the last few games and Prather has started to see limited minutes. Tavari in particular looked good against Kent the first time, so I'd expect to see a decent amount of him on the court Friday.

I think Tavari can, too. Just don't think Groce fully trusts him yet.

60 of our 64 points came from Freeman/Ali/Tribble/Hunter. We have zero depth.

Freeman/Tribble/Ali/Hunter have 43 combined points. Thornton/Scott/Johnson/Prather/Dawson have 4.

You have to give up some defense to get some offense sometimes.

Freeman Ali Tribble Hunter Johnson I need to see that five get the most time together the remainder of this game.