Let'sGoZips94

Yeah... Groce ripped them all a new one since Saturday. The effort, energy, and overall movement is so much better than Saturday.

How did he look?

The #1 weapon against the zone is team chemistry. Off the ball movement, knowing where those guys are gonna be moving to off the ball, etc. With the limited time this team has together, especially in a competitive environment, the slow start doesn't surprise me.

Steve Hawkins: "The MAC is always so close. I can never identify the top or the bottom." Spoken like a WMU coach who spent 20 years in the middle.

Wrong year.

Toledo rolled OU tonight.

Florida was set to come here. Although we should've hosted OSUcks in the first place. Gave the game to OSUcks due to their bigger arena, but I don't think the attendance in CBus would've filled the JAR. Had that game been at the JAR, could you imagine the atmosphere? I doubt the NIT, given the decision to give OSUcks that home game, would've let Florida come up to Akron. Everyone is right about that game and it being a should-have-won. Every single flaw with Dambrot's system showed that game, and they all had to do with basic fundamentals. Free Throws also cost us the ranked Nevada game and I believe the ranked VCU game (or they were eventually ranked) - both at the JAR. The Dukes are a 65% shooting team from the Charity Stripe so far this season. That's probably their ceiling under Dambrot.

Tribble could be that #2. Do we have an update on why he didn't dress last night?

Correct. The few times they showed them, the announcers were in what looked to be their respective homes. I'll excuse the missed calls, but their all-around ability to commentate on a game was atrocious. If Akron wouldn't have won, I probably would have been more pissed that I just wasted 2 hours listening to them, than the actual result.

KENT STATE STILL SUCKS! And Senderoff is still 50 Shades of Pink! Heck of a win, without Currie, Aziz, and Tribble, and a brutal start to the game. 2-0 in the MAC against two squads - OU and PCCC - that had GOOD P5 teams on the ropes this season.

Freeman - playing straight up - changing this game. He has to be the most coachable kid aside from LCJ, because no way did he not get looks if he had these types of fundamentals down.

Even without fans, games against PCCC are slugfests. Amazing.

LCJ is the best guard I've ever seen in an Akron uniform, and for me, the best player I've ever seen in an Akron uniform.

Freeman is such a pleasant surprise.

HERE WE GO! LCJ LEADING THE WAY AND DAWSON'S EFFORT PROVIDING SOME SPARK!

What's up with Tribble not dressing?

These announcers went to Wikipedia, found the '02 PCCC team page, and said, "This sounds like a cool team to root for."

I think today is proof that, if that St. Bonnie game weren't at the cavernous empty Fieldhouse (or if it weren't our first game post COVID issue), we'd be undefeated. I missed the game (honestly forgot about it). We obviously shot well, but were the shots contested, uncontested, flukes, the real deal? How was the defense? What's the story with Currie? How did Clarke look in his limited time? What did Freeman do well to get 8 boards?

No Fans at Games = Nut Kick Emoji 2pm Game Time During Work = Nut Kick Emoji ESPN+ (subscription required) = Nut Kick Emoji The trifecta.

Athleticism wise, we're there. Shooting wise, we'll be there. Effort wise and defensively, lots of room for growth. One of those teams I could see Groce having ready for March, but it's going to be a turbulent regular season.

Welp, that partially explains the shooting. The intensity differences in this game are why I was pissed about Cedarville being the "warmup" game. We've had to figure out DI speed on the fly against a good team.

Did we get any practices up at The Rock in advance?

I have to set my alarm to remember to throw this on. Last year I'd have to stream this at the office on a 20" monitor. This year we're streaming this in the home office on the big screen. One of the perks of 2020!

Not entirely Akron-related, but I hope OSUcks realized maybe they should have honored their matchup with Akron somehow, before reaching out to Cleveland State for an impromptu regular season game that ended up being a sphincter-tightening result.

Washington Football Team. Cleveland Baseball Team.