Let'sGoZips94

We need to find a way to keep Gibson through the regime change.

Ali got left on an island. Leave the man in the corner open for a 3 or not - that was his dilemma and he hesitated too long. OSUcks deserves credit for going inside on that play more than Akron's D was bad. He still recovered and made Key make a contest floater/layup.

What a play call by Ohio State to go inside.

Mickey Mouse connection crap from ESPN, continuing their downfall. Double dribble missed on that press.

Luke Getsy was such a big deal, we had Mike Tirico, Kirk Herbstreit, and Erin Andrews on the call for our lone MAC Title. His resume... Charlie Frye's resume doesn't include a MAC Title, but it does include... ... and...

5+ years of true mediocrity would start to warm the seat. They've been in and out of the top 10/25 all season, and have wins over multiple top teams. The only Top 10 Akron Football finishes in is the ESPN Bottom Ten.

I'm pretty sure his College Cup & National Championship Game runs 3 out of the seasons prior bought him some leeway.

I don't want the following... 1. Recruiting Coordinator for a school that recruits itself 2. Non-DI college coach 3. Anyone Peyton Manning endorses I want to be a stepping stone for the next coach, because right now we are hardly that. Coaches leaving Akron are going to lateral schools/positions because of their lack of success at Akron. I want to be paying attention to a P5 school in 5 years because our coach was hired AWAY from Akron after having head-turning success here. If I'm Guthrie, that's my pitch. Come to Akron, give us 3-4 years of high-level G5 success, and go collect a massive payday from a P5 school. Help me, help you, help me, help you.

WHOA

Unbelievable. Poor ZG5. Heck of an effort. Really like him as our QB. Great comeback from Arth, ZG5, and company. Bummer.

Key players Young & Towns will miss the start of the season. Massive news in regards to our chance at a major upset. Young is the heart & soul of that team effort wise, and Towns is a key piece with grad-level experience in their front court. Their tallest player is a 6'11" grad transfer from Indiana, and their next tallest players are 6'8" (but built). With Towns & Young out, we have an opportunity to catch the Suckeyes off-guard, as they lost 6 players from last season, and have 5 new faces in their rotation. If we learn to bring the energy that Press Virginia brought in the Exhibition game, this could be a W. At the very least, I'm expecting a close game.

Early on, the leader on this team has to be Walton. He was the one who pulled things together for this team, creating scoring opportunities with his aggressive, to-the-basket style on offense. I think XC will develop into a leader as the season goes on. I thought he looked confident on the floor, but not in this offense (yet). He seems like the kind of PG that needs chemistry to develop before his impact is truly shown (i.e. anticipated off the ball movement, spacing, positioning, etc.). Aziz and Freeman will be a force when they're on the floor together. Their body control was impressive, and some of the fouls they picked up were bogus calls. Freeman got in trouble last year because he didn't have a backup presence on the floor with him; if he got beat, he was forced to try and recover due to a lack of help, often committing a foul in the process. He doesn't have to do that with Aziz on the floor. @Blue & Gold nailed it by stating Dawson is the perfect 6th man for this team. I hope his performance last night wasn't solely due to it being a homecoming, but I think we've seen him being that type of spark plug enough these past 1.5(?) years, even with more raw/less developed skills. I didn't mind the lineup. LCJ's absence has clearly left a void on offense; not so much in the points themselves, but in the sense of creating opportunities to score. The guys who returned from last year looked like they were trying to take on too much of LCJ's role. By playing an 8-man rotation for 40 minutes, Groce was clearly trying to iron out the issues he has seen in practice/the previous scrimmage. I don't think anyone will argue that the 8 who played are the main 8 on this team, and they clearly have chemistry issues. We saw Aziz & Freeman develop better chemistry as the game went on, and I think we saw Walton establish himself as the leader (for now). Those were key developments. Tribble clearly doesn't know his role yet, and Trimble looked like he was making a concerted effort to take the next step on both ends of the floor (I attributed his air ball 3 to dead legs). Clarke showed he can't be a 2 guard, and I think we'll see him start on the bench until further notice. I don't know if we have any word on redshirts, but any contribution from the true freshman this year will be a bonus. I was excited to see Kalle, but I think we figured out it was more important for Aziz & Freeman to develop together. Ali looked lost, but again, I think there's a question of what his role is on this team in the absence of LCJ (Ali looked outstanding last year when LCJ opened up the offense for him). @clarkwgriswold pointed out the difference in the game being the turnovers/points off turnovers. That's fixed with chemistry (again, why I think Groce found it so important to forge those 8 by fire). WVU also had an unconscious first half from beyond the arc. The one thing we didn't see last night was who is our shooter outside of Trimble? That's the biggest concern for me. That isn't something that necessarily develops. You're either a shooter or you aren't come the regular season. I don't know if XC is a shooter, as he seemed apprehensive to chuck it up from deep, but he's the only other compliment to Trimble I see on this team. That's a bit troubling. For OSUcks, I'm hoping to see the following rotation... XC... Clarke Walton... Trimble Ali... Dawson... Wynn Freeman Aziz I don't know what the plans are for redshirts, but if the true freshmen are available, add Mitchell & Johnson behind Trimble, and Kalle behind Freeman/Aziz. I think both Mitchell & Johnson were known for their scoring in high school, so there's a chance we could really use them this year if they're up to DI speed. To echo @Blue & Gold, thank you Huggins for bringing true Press Virginia effort on both ends of the floor for a full 40 minutes. That was a very beneficial exhibition in my eyes.

Groce is forging the core by fire. We have looked much better these last 7 minutes.

Has anybody tracked how many guys have played tonight? I feel like Freeman and Aziz have played the entire game.

Aziz is looking more comfortable.

Glad this is an exhibition game. WVU is good. They are out-efforting us in every sense. Sherman can shoot. Not a fan of how "behind" we look. Offense has very little movement, sloppy hands, etc. We simply don't look in control.

Has a coach ever been ejected from an exhibition/charity game?

Loren Christian Johnson... Mike Groce... Jim Groce... These announcers are in preseason form.

Hard to fault him when he was constantly misused and out of position. I don't think Groce will be leaving his 7 footers on an island at the 3 pt line, in harm's way of a moving screen violation with a mile to run back to the hoop for the "roll" part of a pick & roll. _________________________________________________________________________ A few things I'm looking at... 1. Movement - How's the ball movement? - How's the off-the-ball movement? - Last year, we were very stagnant. It never quite came together on offense. 2. The Bigs - Are Aziz & Sekou up to higher-level DI snuff? - Does Enrique take a step back or continue being one of the best stories in Akron basketball history? - Are we disciplined down low and able to avoid unnecessary fouls? - Will we get offense from the post or are our Bigs mostly assets on the defensive side of the ball? 3. New Faces in the Backcourt - Is XC the perfect replacement for LCJ? - Does Clarke look ready to step up and be the floor general after learning from LCJ for a year? 4. Shooting - Who are our shooters this year, aside from Trimble? - Are we going to settle for 3s, or will the offense be more opportunistic with aggressive drives and kick-outs if needed? 5. The True Frosh - Will we get anything out of Kobe Mitchell & Nate Johnson early in the season? 6. Development - Ali Ali took a nice step in the right direction from 2019/20 to 2020/21. Does he take another step? - Do we see similar developmental leaps from the likes of Wynn, Tribble, and Dawson? Ali, Wynn, Tribble, and Dawson are crucial to our matchup advantages, as they are 4 athletic guards/forwards with the ability to create mismatches on offense, and shutdown athletic opponents. Ali was a nice surprise on defense his true freshman year, and took a surprising leap on the offensive side of the ball for his true sophomore year. I'd like to see the same from Wynn, Tribble, and Dawson, who have all been assets on defense, but more on the liability side on offense. _________________________________________________________________________ Time will tell if this statement holds true, but I believe the COVID situation has been a positive for this program aside from killing our potential MAC Title & NCAA run in 2020 (that team was so incredibly special). With last year not counting against a player's eligibility, our class numbers look like this... Senior(s)/Grad Student(s): 1 Junior(s): 3 Sophomore(s): 4 Freshmen: 7 (I believe 2 are walk-ons) Talk about an opportunity to build something special, with 9 key players being underclassmen, with 5 of those underclassmen having at least 1 year of significant DI experience (Aziz had about half a season, but I did not count him in that 5). Let's Go Zips!

Potato/Potato.

This shouldn't be a thing. There should be a spot reserved specifically for Akron as a reward for keeping the conference relevant in the world's sport.

I doubt being Mr. Irrelevant in the G League comes with anywhere near the perks of holding the same title in the NFL Draft, but being drafted is still awesome, nonetheless. Congrats to Jimond. He's the type of guy that possesses the work ethic and ability to improve enough to get a call up to the NBA.

Correct. I had no idea this game will be televised. I'm even more pumped.

There will be people inside Infocision?

We have a marketing department?