Let'sGoZips94

Reading BobcatAttack in full meltdown mode is beautiful, comforting, and promising. They are at a loss at what to do with their basketball program, and are in full-blown fear mode of Groce at the helm of the Zips. They know Groce's ceiling, and I think they expected his starting floor at Akron to be much lower. We are 10-9, 3-4 in the MAC (tied for 4th or 5th, however that cluster reads. We have 1 junior and 1 graduate student playing right now, with the rest being underclassmen. Heck, we even have a guy we found in the Rec Center getting playing time in crunch time. We have 2 bigs out, only one of which we're getting back this season, and 3 solid transfers waiting on the end of the bench. And we just beat OU in the middle of their coach's 4th season in the position. This is fun. Go Zips!

I think he's the #1 candidate for a redshirt next year. We all have to keep in mind that these results (the last two have been Ws) are without Poke & Sayles. Once we get Sayles back, we really could be firing on all cylinders.

Kostelac was the MVP for me. Heck of a game. Great crowd and the players fed off of it. That was fun.

Ivey has neutralized his positive moments in this game with some boneheaded plays.

I'd say that was a great first half. Would have liked to push the lead out a bit more but it was competitive basketball. Kostelac is a little slow for the speed of play right now and needs to find a way to make his presence heard in this game as the tallest player. We're shooting the ball pretty well (46% FG & 50% 3PT), and have made some excellent defensive plays. Need to come out of the gate hard in this second half and start driving the nails into the coffin. Go Zips!

@Illini Zip I figured I'd get ahead of the question, "What's PCCC?" PCCC stands for Portage County Community College. Portage County is where Can't State is located. It's just another rivalry-driven derogatory name for our main rival. The original poster got a lot right in his post, but I thought he underestimated or missed Duvivier's ability to get to the basket. This is going to be a great game. I really wish Sayles was going to be healthy for this one. Kostelac is going to be a key factor I think, since he'll be the tallest player on the floor for once (although Doug Taylor at 264 lbs will give him all he can handle); don't leave your feet, Mark! Go Zips! Beat the Bobkittens!

5 free throw attempts (and makes) by Akron to 20 for NIU.

Amazing how different a game can be when you make your shots.

I don't want to speak for Kreed, but he might be pointing out that Jaaron is an example of why players should stay at their mid-major schools if they're having success. He's riding the bench at Michigan and had much more exposure at OU.

I don't know if that's entirely true. Aside from Steph Curry, who was the last standout from a mid-major to single-handily lead his team to an upset in the NCAA tournament while producing All-American statistics throughout that season or their career? Most upsets/Cinderellas are team efforts either where the coach puts together an extraordinary game plan/motivational speech or a few players play out of their minds, well above their season's standards. Another possibility is that more parity is created. The goal for many of these players is to get to the NBA or professional basketball in general, right? You get there by standing out, and as or if the P5 level teams start to get crowded, players might want to distance themselves from the crowd and create a name for themselves at the mid-major level.

He's sitting out this year, right? So upward mobility is already occurring under the current transfer rules. The tweet mentions it possibly being a one-time freebie. As I mentioned before, the P5 player that loses his spot to the star mid-major transfer might transfer to a mid-major to get more exposure. If they implement a one-time freebie, I'm assuming that means he can't bolt for a bigger school the year after having success at the mid-major he transferred to.

It is not the same conference or "cupcake" teams. Last year, the A10 finished 8th in conference RPI. They had 8 teams finish in the top 137, 3 of which finished in the top 31. They currently have 4 teams in the top 150, 2 of which are in the top 50, with a conference RPI of 10. For comparison, the MAC had a conference RPI of 14 last year, which has improved to 11 this year, with 5 teams in the top 150; the MAC also has a better winning percentage than the A10, albeit against a weaker SOS. I didn't think Duquesne would be towards the top of the A10 standings, but I also didn't expect the A10 to be so down this year. They have a sophomore stud in Mike Lewis II that is helping carry the team, and they have an atrociously low SOS (333) which they've taken advantage of. I still contend that part of why Dambrot left was he somehow knew that the A10 would be down. He also left the cupboard more bare in Akron than what he left for at Duquesne. It's no secret I have been and am very critical of Dambrot. I don't necessarily know if those who support him quite understand the side of those who are critical of him. In my opinion, Dambrot was a good/great coach to take Akron from a bottom-of-the-cellar MAC and mid-major program, to a top of the MAC and mid-major contender. The honeymoon period of that level of success ended in 2013 with the embarrassing loss to VCU in the NCAA Tournament, and continued to down-spiral from there with no return to the Big Dance in his final 4 seasons at Akron and continued disappointment in big games. I'm not surprised Dambrot has won more than 10 games at Duquesne this year, and I wouldn't be surprised (after seeing the level of the A10 this year) if he approaches 20 wins. That's his method of operation - schedule weaker competition, pray on a weaker conference, and build a "winning" reputation. As previously mentioned, a TAMU or Texas Tech coach used this strategy. It is yet to be seen if Dambrot can turn his regular season "success" into NCAA Tournament success, which is where his fallout occurred at Akron.

Right but it also means the middle tier P5 player that loses his spot to the star mid-major transfer can transfer to a school like us and also have a shot at the NBA due to exposure and experience.

Dambrot must have heard you say, "big game."

Interesting. Not sure I like it. Not sure I dislike it. I don't know what effect it will have in either sport, because it's a two-way road that might cancel itself out.

The MAC is a crapshoot this year, aside from Canada.

- Completely agree. His lack of desire to follow his shot is infuriating, especially when he is missing so many consistently. He has become a liability on the floor, and to overcome his shooting struggles, he needs to exert more effort on the boards and defense. - I don't know if yesterday's game was the best to evaluate our abilities or inabilities against the zone. Without Sayles and Poke, we were probably half a foot shorter than EMU on average, and with the refs letting them play, driving inside probably wasn't too enticing to our guys. The only way to counteract a zone when you aren't making your shots is dishing the ball to a player cutting to the basket once the defenders in the paint collapse on you, but that requires some pretty strong team chemistry usually. It's absolutely something that needs improved, but I'd like to see us play against EMU's zone when healthier to get a better judgement. - I wonder how much attacking a zone is an uphill battle for a college coach. I don't watch AAU basketball, but everything I hear about it is it's mainly running up and down the floor in more of a showcase manner, rather than technical and strategical basketball. I can't imagine these guys play against much zone during their high school/AAU days. 31-18 personal fouls, in favor of BG. Duvivier, Kostelac, and Utomi fouled out (nobody on BG did). Sayles exited the game early with his concussion/injury. Poke obviously wasn't available. We were down to 5 players after all of this. A guy we found in the rec center came up with a massive rebound, and a freshman hit what ultimately was the game-winning 3. Just wanted to give you a summary of the game because it seems like you missed it and have no idea how much adversity the team overcame.

The cupboard is just 2-3 players too bare. The effort is there. The wins will come.

Why wasn't Thompson just called for the T for hanging on the rim?

We need to quit chucking it. Easier said than done when they're a bunch of trees, but still. 8 pt game. Let's get this down to 2 possessions.

We need to quit chucking it. Easier said than done when they're a bunch of trees, but still.

Great off the ball movement and pass.

I thought that was a foul. The block was all ball, but you can't body someone during a block attempt.

MARK, WAKE UP UNDER THE BASKET!

Marky Mark is already in Thompson's head! I love it!