72 Roo

Be nice now 😉. You don't have to like my picks, just think about 'em. And, yes, I think we should have a good year next season.

The only thing I wouldn't defer to Groce is craft beer. When it comes to Bball I trust his judgement. He will do what is best for the team and our long term chances of success. He's a good coach and we all better enjoy him while we got him.

Good point. Personally Don't think we can be a consistent winner, in big games, relying mostly on the three. I hope that Groce relies less on the three and more on spreading the ball to whoever is open in a motion offense. What I noticed more and more as the season went was that no outside shooter from Akron followed their shot. Usually only one rebounder was under the basket, most times Freeman or Cam. That meant that we had a poor chance of getting the offensive rebound on a miss. That has got to change. Watching Trimble, Dailey and Ali shoot and then admire their shots drove me nuts.

In looking at next year's team I'd like to offer a lineup that may differ from a lot of your opinions. Post - Bandago ....... Freeman ....... Salle PF - Freeman ........ Ali Wing - Ali ....... Dawson ....... Wynn SG - Trimble ....... Mitchell ....... Johnson PG - Clarke ..... Mitchel/Johnson ...... Tribble I would start Aziz and play him into the position. He has the ability and by tournament time I think he could be that force in the paint we need. Freeman can back him up, but I feel Freeman has the Bball IQ to transition to PF where he can still rebound, block shots and score low while being a little further from the basket. Salle is a nice third option down low. Ali is my first choice at Wing. He has the skill and body, he just has to show up. If not I wouldn't hesitate to go to Dawson who may win the spot outright anyway. I love his development. At SG I will begin with Trimble, but if he doesn't start playing defense or show a willingness to move to get open more, rather than be served up the ball, I'd seriously consider a freshman. At PG Clarke is my hands down choice. One of the freshman could back him up. Unfortunately Tribble is in jeopardy of losing PT. He is a liability from 3 pt range and at the line. He cannot dribble penetrate when closely guarded. As pointed out before he also needs to finish at the rim better. Until he improves his shot and at the line I see him sitting more. Next year could, and should, be a good year for us. So bring it on.

I was also there. The excitement was incredible and I hope to again experience it soon. I lost all respect for Shaka when he had his starters in with a 40 point lead and the game was near the end. I don't care how good of friend he is to KD, that's showing no class.

No way you can rank Marshall ahead of us. We outplayed them and were clearly better. We will continue to run up the rankings ladder.

Dawson hurts the team as much as she helps. Her turnovers are high and it is because she shows poor judgement in trying to make something happen when the opportunity is not there. Rather she needs to learn how to dish off to her teammates before she is totally covered with nowhere to go, especially in the paint. There are times she doesn't even come close to being a team player. Her raw talent is exceptional, but Jackson needs to coach her into using it for what is best for the team and not Dawson's ppg.

George has been an Akron guy from the moment he was a student athlete here. Unfortunately he has not developed a track record of success to indicate he could manage an athletic dept and lead us out of the problems we now have. Williams was not the answer altho' I give him credit for spotty improvement in some areas. We need to go outside the university to find someone who will give us five years of exceptional leadership. But Akron's administration, especially this board of trustees, never misses an opportunity to blow big hires. A change in AD's should give us all hope, but our track record takes all that away. In this instance I think the board of trustees should follow the lead of George Costanza and have an Opposites Day wherein they do the opposite of anything they would normally do. It worked great for George. Why not us. We deserve a break.

The Zips were the better team, no doubt. The first half was pure vintage Akron soccer. Lots of possession, pressure and penetration. In the second half we lost the rhythm and let a less talented team back in the game. To me the midfield seemed to fall apart and the backs did not overlap and widen the field. In the first half Pol was a monster at that. He and Diago created so many problems for UK's back four. It bothered me that in the second half we stopped settling the ball and passing on the ground with our short pass game. Instead we got caught up in the momentum going to UK and we started going for more long ball and thru passes. UK was effective in cutting off any thru balls and winning their share of the long balls. The Zips are back. We took on the #12 ranked team and showed we are better. At this stage of the game the only thing I saw lacking was a burner who could stretch the D and get behind the back four. We need a mid to emerge as a dominant distributor also. Regardless, Jared will find a way to win and this team will improve. At tournament time we will be a beast.

Never liked the guy at PCCC or OU. Never respected his coaching or the way he treated players. He seemed to be all about himself. No tears here. Makes me like Groce more and more.

I grant you that and stand corrected. I'm just glad we aren't losing players who we can build on for now. I also appreciate GP1's perspective. He is right in that Charlotte, an 8 year old program, is better than ours, at least for now and next year. But on the other hand I am heartened that we have better, cleaner bathrooms. That's one our athletic leadership can put in the win column.

Cam Lyons appears to be the first Zip in the transfer portal who has gone to a similar or better program. I can live with that. Best of luck Cam. I hope you excel at Charlotte and have a great time. Thanks for what you did here.

I hope he can be a shutdown corner. That would be a huge addition. God knows we need it.

You, and us, should be pissed. The announcing was terrible. They ignored the game and multiple story lines that any professional team would have relished as fodder for enriching the broadcast. I like Dakich as a radio personality, but as an analyst he only cared about himself and his stories. He failed to make the game the story.

I trust the staff to find the best person for the job too. Gibson is no answer unless he improves significantly. Kato will have to be the best version of himself to win the job. He will have to be committed to competition. That is something he has shown little appetite for in the past. Yet the talent we have coming in and Maroucek (sp?) may give us the upgrade we must have to even win three games. We will go no further than the QB position takes us. That is priority # 1.

It looks to me that we lucked out in losing a guy who didn't have the temperament and probably the talent to be a Zip. I see this as positive. It frees up a scholly.

What a game. So much to comment on. My new hero is Willie Coleman of our Alumni office for taking Dan Dakich to task for seemingly only talking about his time at BG while analyzing the Akron-Kent game. Well done Willie! I thought it was crude of Dakich to call out Pippen repeatedly for poor play. He made it personal and college kids don't deserve that. Be objective and let his play speak for itself. I did not join the chorus of concerns over LCJ's play against Toledo. Not because I didn't agree, but because there was too much angst. In the second half he reverted to his poor Toledo performance. He started looking only for himself and repeatedly drove the lane, with no openings, and turnovers resulted. When the team stops moving and looks to LCJ to do something we can be beat. When everyone is moving we are damn near unstoppable. Wynn has earned the right to start. Groce is a pleasure to watch. He is always prepared and rarely, if ever, outreached. If we have issues he will solve them.

I think we are all with you in that a balance has to be struck. Right now we need talent that can improve the team and win a few. We are not getting that with incoming freshmen, but have a chance within the transfer portal. After experiencing a 0-12 season Jake's 2-10 season makes me jealous. Never thought I'd say that! Geesh!

He looked like an intriguing project. Does anyone out there have a good handle on exactly how good this young man was? I hate to lose someone who was 2 time all-state and came from a high school that expected to dominate.

There's not much to get excited about in our signings today. I hope and pray that the staff is saving some schoolies for the transfer portal and the grad transfers that are becoming more and more prominent. We flat out do not have the time to wait for 3 or 4 years for "Our Way" freshmen to fill out our roster with 85 scholies. The number of potential starters must be improved now. Even if we do that we will not win more than 3-4 games next season, but that is enough to give hope to the faithful. The lifeblood of every successful program is recruiting. This staff needs to show they can get talent.

Hopefully he isn't an English teacher. That could explain a lot.

Does this dad realize that at Akron the main language is English? It could be a problem when he visits his son and goes to order a beer. Zipmeister, you were in academia. Be an interpreter.

Welcome Perry! Caleb and Tim Bezbechenko has assembled one of the deepest rosters in MLS. If I was Artur I would be worried about playing time. Perry will look great alongside Nagbe as a holding mid. He will be the strong, physical presence that will allow Darlington to push up when he wants to.

I have a stack of "affaDavids" that state Groce was leading in the poll by a huge margin as we went to bed. I also have lined up a NY attorney, with dye streaming down his face, ready to attack anyone who disputes the lead. Only one slight problem, he farts a lot and charges $20,000/day. That should be no problem since Dr. Z and Cast Kangaroo can take it out of ZipsNation's petty cash. Stop the Steal!

It is obvious we need to do everything we can to keep coach Groce. Williams will do whatever president Miller lets him. I can't see Williams bucking Miller for the sake of the future of the program. Williams is in survivor mode. Groce may want to stay if a bright future can be painted for him such as facility improvement, scheduling, recruiting budget, assistants' pay, maybe conference realignment (I admit that's a stretch). But I have no doubt that he will leave one day to coach in a high profile program. I think he needs the challenge and wants to prove it to himself.