Dave in Green

Cooper has been traveling to multiple states, and his latest tweet just a few hours ago says: I'm stuck in Cleveland So it's not 100% clear to me whether he missed the team meeting deliberately or due to a bad travel connection.

Christian's 6-season winning percentage at Can't is interesting to compare with KD's 8-season winning percentage at UA: .699 = Christian (137-59) .679 = Dambrot (184-87)

Christian, per a sources, will also make comparable money. He was making about $600,000 per season at TCU. Christian's wife also went to Ohio U. That would up the ante for MAC basketball coaches. In any case, this would make it even easier for Zips fans to dislike OU. Ohio University hires TCU coach Jim Christian Note: Some reports are saying that Christian is saying that "nothing is official." If he wasn't taking the job, he'd just say "I'm not taking that job." If he was taking the job and didn't want to spoil the official announcement, he'd say "nothing is official." In other words, it won't be official until the official announcement.

Looking back on how Euton played while at UA reminds me of how optimistic I was about him based on his 2009 performance against Jared Sullinger in the King James Classic at the JAR:

Let's see now, what exactly are the qualifications for having a blog? OK, so the guy took a fragment of a story, imagined the worst and ran wild with it. If today's "real" news reporters can do it, why not a blogger? But the last line of his blog says it all: If you like this blog post, then please sign up for my weekly newsletter. It’s free! You get what you pay for.

Bassett's headed to the Middle East to get some of America's oil money back. Armon Bassett to play in Dubai

OU is loaded with Groce-style players. They'll have a good team next season as long as they have a Groce-style replacement coach. On the other hand, there could be more than one disgruntled player if the new coach tries to bring in a new style of play. While interesting for Zips fans to follow all the drama in Athens, the Zips team just needs to focus on controlling its own destiny. The Zips return 7 talented, veteran players from the regular rotation, 2 subs with game experience, several promising freshmen and a proven MAC championship coach. With all that stability on the team, the Zips should be favored to represent the MAC in next season's NCAA championship.

Lots of details on a potential Thistledown move to Akron-Canton Airport property in Green: Airport would defer racino decision to Green

"Cooper hasn’t been happy with the direction of the program for some time" under Groce, but he'd follow Groce to Illinois? Makes no sense to me.

You've discovered the secret of tabloid news -- the more bizarre or negative, the better it sells. One glance at the screaming headlines in the tabloids at the local supermarket reveals the formula: Rosie O'Donnell Gives Birth to Two-Headed Dog After Secret Encounter with Donald Trump! Journalism has always been conflicted between the extremes of sensationalism, which sells to the masses, and responsibile reporting, which builds credibility among a smaller audience of those genuinely seeking the facts.

By coincidence, there happens to be a story up on ESPN right now about the point guards playing in the Final Four that parallels what Groce had to say about Rivers' comment. Here are a couple of sections from that story, along with a link to it: ..... "There probably aren't many players who [Kansas coach Bill Self] would let come down on a one-on-four and shoot a 3," Tyshawn Taylor admitted sheepishly. "That's something I've done more than a few times this year." That's frankly something all of these guys have done more than a few times this season. This mercurial quartet will determine our Final Four winners by both its control and lack thereof. ..... ..... That trust part, that's the real tricky business. College basketball coaches are by their DNA control freaks. If they could choreograph layup lines, they would. Instead they have to turn over the keys to their million-dollar programs, not to mention their livelihoods, to teenagers. It is not exactly a comfortable arrangement. ..... Point guards guide Final Four teams

@skip-zip, the shade of gray I'm talking about is where a disciplined team plays aggressively and opportunistically by design, not "just let them play" any way they want all the time. The coaching staff plays an important role teaching fundamentals, but gives the players more freedom to freelance within the structure. OU is similar to VCU in this respect, and I've already expressed my admiration for VCU's style of play under Shaka. KD has a reputation for wanting to control his players, and we've had many discussions here about his "short leash" philosophy and how it may have negatively impacted some players. All I'm suggesting is that the Zips players returning for next season might be more effective if KD adopted a little more of the Groce/Shaka philosophy of turning them a little more loose within the system. I think Doc Rivers' comment is one well worth considering, especially in the context of Rivers' coaching success.

@ZippyRulz, discussion on that story started back here.

Bassett ran out of options: Armon Bassett goes all the way

Another potential problem for OU is that Walter Offutt has already sat out a year and will probably have a college degree before next season starts. That might free him up to move to another school for his senior season without having to sit out another year. With Groce gone, Offutt may not hang around OU if he has a better opportunity to showcase his talents elsewhere.

Cute quip but missing the main point that Cooper's performance next season without Groce could seriously degrade his NBA draft potential and end up costing him a lot of money. It's unlikely that he'll get an opportunity next season to look any better than he did in this year's NCAA tournament.

Cooper may have his highest draft value right now. It's highly unlikely he will get a chance to perform on the big stage next season as he just did, and memories can be short when it comes to evaluating the performance of college basketball players, i.e. what have you done lately?. It's possible that he could sneak in as a late second-round pick in this season's draft. Cooper would be foolish not to be consulting with his family and advisors about his best course of action after Groce's move.

Good story on Groce. But the most important quote for the Zips in that story is the following hint to KD: "One time at a clinic, Doc Rivers said one thing he wishes he would've done as a young coach was be less controlling with his best players, because it takes away from their aggressiveness," Groce said. "So I try to do that with D.J. He feels like he has to be aggressive, be in attack mode, and to do that he has to take one or two shots that makes people cross their eyes over, so be it. … If you bridle him, he's not going to be nearly as good or aggressive. I want him to attack." How would the Zips perform next season if KD gave Rico and the other players a little more freedom to be aggressive and in attack mode rather than always looking over at the sidelines to see what move KD wants them to do next?

Depends a lot on who relaces Groce at OU. If it's Boals, he would have a lot of insight on how to coach OU against the Zips.

I give major props to David Haugh for spelling Akron correctly.

Here's the best story yet about Groce and the University of Illinois because of the way the story begins: Illinois AD botches search BY DAVID HAUGH Chicago Tribune Tuesday, March 27, 2012 Had Akron guard Brian Walsh hit an open 18-footer with nine seconds left in the Mid-American Conference championship game two weeks ago, Illinois fans might never have spent yesterday Googling the name John Groce. But Walsh missed, the Ohio team coached by Groce hung on for a 64-63 victory to clinch an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament and, here we are, with Illinois ready to take home the girl it met five minutes before closing time.

@Big Zip, I have not changed my perspective a bit. I've been pretty consistent in my agreement with KD, the players and other Zips fans that the NIT is the small prize and the NCAAT is the big prize. Like everyone else, I was disappointed that the Zips ended up only with the small prize and not the big prize. I would have been even more disappointed if they hadn't won any prize of any size. I had less enthusiasm for the Zips' participation in the NIT than I would have if they'd been in the NCAAT. But I still had at least a little interest in following the Zips in the NIT when a few other fans were saying they had no interest at all. I hope that clarifies my perspective for you. It will remain consistent and won't change next season.

Over the past four seasons, both the Zips and OU have made it to the NCAA tournament twice without having won the MAC regular season championship. The difference is that OU has won three NCAA tournament games while the Zips have yet to win. Looking at that, it's not unreasonable for Zips fans to be more focused on the importance of winning NCAA tournament games than anything else right now. To win NCAA tournament games, first you have to get to the NCAA tournament. If winning the MAC regular season championship and/or having a winning record against strong OOC opponents makes it more likely for the Zips to make it to the NCAA tournament, I don't see how any Zips fan could be against having those as secondary goals that contribute to the larger goal. But, ultimately, Zips fans are not going to be completely satisfied until the team not only gets to the NCAA tournament but wins tournament games. OU's done it twice in the last three seasons. Can't did it a decade earlier. Zips fans want their team to be better than Can't, OU, or any other team in the MAC. Exceeding the accomplishments of OU and Can't on the national college basketball stage is the only way to achieve that goal.

The "curse" of a team getting more and more qualified players is that there's not enough PT to go around, and some pretty good players end up on the bench, or transferring. Quickzips has done a great job of summarizing my thoughts. There are always intangibles and surprises. But the starting point for me is that the Zips are returning 7 players from this season's regular rotation, and 2 more players with at least a fair amount of sub time. That's a total of 9 players who are familiar with the system from game experience. I have to agree from everything I've heard that it would be a shock if Bettancourt does not get at least modest backup minutes at the point. That's 10 players. Then there are those who believe that Justice and MacAdams are too talented to sit. Now we're up to 12 players. And then there are those who are calling for a shorter rotation of 7-8 players. I wish I could predict who's going to rise to the occasion and who's going to get left behind. But I've been surprised many times in the past, and I expect to be surprised when next season unfolds.

All you need to know about the importance of the MAC regular season is that John Groce, who is currently being wooed by the University of Illinois to sign up for a multimillion-dollar payday, has a 4-year MAC conference record of 34-30. I really do appreciate that KD and the team finally brought a MAC regular season championship to UA. It's never been done before, and it's nice to know the Zips can do it. Now that they've finally done it, the focus can go back to getting to the NCAA tournament. Winning the most MAC games during the regular season only counts if there are also enough good OOC wins to add up to an at-large bid. Otherwise, winning the MAC tournament championship is the key to the big-time. In the world of big-time college basketball, winning NCAA tournament games is all that really counts.