Let'sGoZips94

Solid post move by Reece to draw the foul and have the opportunity for an And-One. I love this team.

Marketing idea for NIU: if ESPN is going to send this broadcast crew to DeKalb, they should have a fan-commentator night where 2 different people are picked each half to commentate for the stream. This is cringe-worthy commentary at best. I'd like to see us get to the basket a bit more early on here, although my goodness are we hot from deep.

8-0 START! BOOM! THIS TEAM IS INCREDIBLY FOCUSED!

Facing the right way, their center court looks like an owl. From this angle, it looks like an older gentleman with one hell of a stache.

I love it. The lack of success O-Who has had since Groce's departure is simply salt in the wound. I hope we finish this season in spectacular fashion, just to rub it in. What's sad is I think they made the right hire in Boals, who is an O-Who grad to boot. Yet due to the slower start to his tenure and Groce having Akron playing solid basketball currently, they can't help but fail to appreciate what they have while crying about yesteryear.

Week 3 MAC Schedule TUESDAY Akron @ Cornfield Dogs 72-49 PCCC @ Sweaters (OH) 77-74 BUGS @ Inebriated Horses 85-82 CMU @ Toledo 74-67 Balls @ EMU 69-52 Bobkittens @ Canada 76-73 SATURDAY Toledo @ Akron Sweaters (OH) @ Balls Canada @ CMU Bobkittens @ EMU PCCC @ Inebriated Horses Cornfield Dogs @ BUGS

Here you go, @Blackford. I appreciate all the background information and updates regarding Luke Brown! Sounds like a heady ballplayer that will make some noise at the next level. I've compiled all your key posts from the Offers thread into this thread, that way the 2021 Offers thread doesn't get TOO crowded and we can keep an eye on a player I hope to see in an Akron uniform after next season! _________________________________________________________________________ https://www.maxpreps.com/m/athlete/luke-brown/a8QP9s7lEeeT-Oz0u-e-FA/videos.htm start with this video produced by the Indiana Pacers for some good background it’s from his sophomore year it’s the second or third one down titled “ the old man and the team “ _________________________________________________________________________ https://amp.indystar.com/amp/1013220001 this is an Indianapolis Star in depth piece from his freshman year _________________________________________________________________________ https://usatodayhss.com/2019/doyel-blackford-hartford-city-ind-phenom-luke-brown-leads-state-in-scoring-lifts-community/amp this is same writer from last year during his sophomore year if you google Luke Brown Blackford basketball you’ll get pretty much endless Material ...he has a super impressive 8th grade video on YouTube ( yes I realize it’s funny to say that ) but watch it and you’ll see what I mean it’s like he Was just born with a sixth sense for court awareness ....if anyone has any interest let me know and I’ll post some unique stats and accomplishments to date ....also Blackford sports network on YouTube has archived most Blackford games _________________________________________________________________________ No problem ...in addition to the kind of Disney like Movie script story ...the kid is a flat out gamer. Blackford has not been blessed with many solid players but I’ve been lucky enough to get to see several high school players who have gone on to successful college or pro careers. I’ve been especially fortunate to see two players MANY times who ended up being impact starting guards at IU and Purdue. Luke is farther along as a junior with shooting or ball handling and has a higher basketball iq than either of those two very talented players. He is undersized and doesn’t have “Jump off the page” athleticism so he will have challenges defending larger d1 guards and having on to wing players. He is extremely quick and gets lots of steals because he can anticipate plays but he will need another 15 pounds to be able to not be really taken advantage of inside the arc. He is listed at 6’2 and he isn’t in my opinion. He’s taller than me but not significantly my guess would be he’s a solid 6ft approaching 6’1 isn’t a crazy assessment but I’d be shocked if he was over that. He plays in the CIC conference at Blackford who recently switched from 3A to 2A as a result of reduced enrollment which has produced two state Champions in the last 4 years at the 2A state level ( frankton and oak hill ) and last year their schedule last year had 7 sectional champions. One concern is that of their 23 games 5-7 are against solid to great teams, 5ish are against extremely poor teams that don’t have business on the schedule and the others fall between those two. He is regularly double or triple teamed for the entirety of his games and I can’t recall him having an open shot unless he created it this entire year. He plays on INdiana Elite 2021 platinum team which was ranked nationally in the top 10 on the adidas gauntlet. He holds his own against top level D1 competition there and leads the team in assists. He has an insanely long resume some interesting stats or accomplishments are as follows : -most points scored by a freshman in an Ihsaa game -took a Blackford team on a 1-7O streak and won 15 games as freshman even missing the final 8 games of the year with injury -as a freshman he was the only player in the entire stare of any class level out of over 400 schools to have a 50/40/90 shooting percentage line - 3 games of 50 or more points including 2 with 55 - only sophomore to ever lead the state of Indiana in scoring at 35 points per game - as a junior he is leading the state in assists by over an assist per game at 10.2 and he is one tenth of a point off the scoring lead at 32.2 per game...no player in Indiana history has lead the state in both categories _________________________________________________________________________

Respectable opening post, though. Pretty solid background information & analysis leading up to the game; that poster must have attended the @clarkwgriswold School for Fan Forums. This is a massive game for 3 reasons. 1) NIU might be the class of the MAC West. They are tied for 1st in the West, and have been quite competitive all season. 10 pt loss to UNI, 12 pt loss at SMC, 9 pt loss at Pitt, and 1 pt loss at CMU. 2) NIU is our Kryptonite, and have been for a while. Dambrot had a 50+ home game winning streak if I remember correctly, which was of course ended by an abysmal NIU squad. 3) Keep. Winning. None of these polls matter if we lose. Plus, our momentum on the road is key this season with our road struggles in the past. Our defensive style and athleticism bodes well in this matchup. German will hopefully be tamed by our ability to be our opponents to the spot. We move our feet so well on defense; it's impressive.

Something of note - our 3 losses are all in the AP Poll. Louisville & WVU are 11 & 12 respectively, while Liberty is getting 11 votes currently. @Captain Kangaroo Are you sure you're ok buddy? Between the USC Trojans/Gamecocks debacle and posting LAST WEEK'S poll, just wanted to check in. ?

St. Louis has victories over Kansas St. and Boston College, with 2 of their now 3 losses being #12 Auburn and #12 Seton Hall (at the time, respectively). So I would definitely say that was a decent win. St. Joe's (0-4, 3-13), George Washington (0-3, 6-10), and UMASS (1-2, 7-9) are the other 3 wins, which are actually quality wins compared to the rest of Duquesne's cupcake schedule. We'll know pretty quickly if they're contenders or pretenders, with 4 out of their next 7 being URI, Dayton, St. Louis, and St. Bonnie.

They also talked about hairstyle for a solid minute, Manny's bar floor being slippery with beer, and how lungs were important in basketball. They were about as focused as Bill Walton.

Outstanding coaching, effort, and win. 15 pt. victory against what should be a top 4 MAC squad. Balls beat Georgia Tech by 18 and Buffalo by 20.

I BELIEVE THAT!

Didn't realize that was a crime.

What the hell was that T for? Reece just put that guy on a poster and didn't get in anyone's face. What T was worse: that one or Zeke's against NDSU for hanging on the rim on his fast-break dunk?

This team is completely bought into what Groce is selling.

CBS is having some awful technical difficulties, presenting viewers with the worst NBA 2K view known to man. 12 pt. lead for Akron. Keep the foot on the gas!

GREAT start to this second half!

Who called Sayles being a positive factor? Props to ya!

Balls is having their way inside. Gotta have better help defense and find a way to force the ball to stay out on the perimeter. On offense - get some better ball movement (on and off) and make your damn shots.

All this sloppiness and we're only down 4. Love how we never slow down on the defensive side of the ball no matter how bad our offense is struggling at times.

Getting sloppy with multiple turnovers recently.

High-energy start. Lots of effort from Akron. Agreed with @clarkwgriswold - could get chippy.

That's like shutting down any movies with Santa Claus for copyright infringement. They bring joy to kids like sports moments with the Titanic theme bring joy to society as a whole. I'm upset.

I appreciate him for the early-morning laugh.