clarkwgriswold

Jeff Boals, an Akron assistant from 2006 to 2009, bring his Ohio U Bobcats to the JAR for a Saturday afternoon game. It is hard to believe, but Boals is now in the 4th year at the helm in Athens. The Bobcats come in at 11-9 overall and 304 in the MAC, with their MAC wins over Ball State, CMU and WMU and losses to Buffalo, BG, PCCC and Toledo. They have had a rough time on the road, posting a 2-7 away record with wins over only Chicago State and YSU. The Bobcats are led by big man Dwight Wilson, a 6'8" graduate student forward, who leads the team in scoring (15.5 ppg) and rebounding (9.9 rpg). They have 3 guards, Miles Brown, AJ Brown and Jaylin Hunter that average between 10.2 and 10.6 ppg. The Wilson/Freeman showdown should be a good one as Wilson is second in the league in RPG while Enrique is first and Wilson is first in FG% to Enrique's 4th. Guard Miles Brown is shooting an impressive .476 on threes for second in the conference. The Bobcats also lead the MAC in rebounding. They are 4th in the league in average points scored and 5th in points surrendered.

...and I thought the zips had a rough night.

Groce was very critical in the post game, as critical as I have heard him. He was happy they fought through it for the win, but was very disappointed in how they were outplayed and how Miami was tougher than most of the game. Game. He said they had an awful practice yesterday and it carried over into tonight's game with the Zips players not staying on their feet on pump fakes and trapping like they had practiced. He gave some credit to X obviously and was happy with how Kobe played, but otherwise was pretty disappointed in their performance.

Zips seem hell bent on making this interesting.

X is so good. Never gets excited, always calm. Ice in his veins.

He was a svelt 6'8" 290 then.

Letting a bad team stick around.

Nice to see Kobe getting some confidence in his shot.

Garvin's knee brace is enormous.

Garvin set to come in early.

We're not allowed to body shame. He's curvy.

Two fouls on Freeman 5 minutes in.

Almost 4 minutes for the first basket. Ugh.

Rough start. Double techs, one of them on Tribble.

The students have on their Miami attire- shorts, beach hats, colorful shirts....

It's important to stay in front of Lairy tonight and not let him penetrate. He's very good at penetrating and scoring or penetrating and dishing for an open shot. He can make threes but he's generally not as big of a perimeter threat as he is a penetrator. I am curious to see who the Zips send at him.

Game day. The line has now moved to Miami +14!

Analytics has its place in sports. The numbers don't lie. The mistake is made when programs place too much emphasis on analytics. Exhibit A- the Cleveland Browns. I've spent countless hours studying shots from every distance on the court. My conclusions: 1) shots that go in produce points; 2) points are good; and 3) the team that scores the most points wins.

For me, I'd like to see more movement and getting the ball more to the picking player on the pick and roll. That being said, it's the same offense and strategy that has been successful before and John Groce knows way more than I do on this topic. I heard Bob Huggins years ago state that everyone knows your offense when you go into a game. As a result, much of college basketball comes down to running your designated play for 15 to 20 seconds, usually unsuccessfully because the opponent knows exactly what you're running, then running a pick and roll towards the end of the shot clock. That has always stuck with me and I think it is borne out if you watch the games enough.

Just watched the end of UConn's thumping of Butler. Ali's line- 21 minutes played, 0-1 shooting, 0 rebounds, o assists, two fouls, one turnover, zero points.

I recognized the name and now I know why!

The Redhawks have a decent big man that can contribute if he stays out of foul trouble, Anderson Mirambeaux, a 6'8" transfer from Cleveland State. At 305 pounds, he appears to be on the Miami Bam Bowman diet.

It doesn't help that conferences like the MAC and Horizon have become the farm leagues for the major conferences. I thought Miami was in a good position to return to being a decent program with the hiring of the former coach and recruitment of guys like Sabande and Grant but those guys bailed and it just never happened. Charlie Coles is rolling over in his grave.

I believe they are half brothers.

The Zips return to the friendly confines of the JAR this Tuesday to face Miami. The Redhawks are 7-12/1-5 with their only MAC win coming against Buffalo. 5’8” fifth year guard Mekhi Lairy leads the Redhawks at 17.2 ppg. 6’5” junior guard Morgan Safford contributes 15.4 ppg while leading then in rebounding at 6.1 rpg. The are 7th in both offense and defense in the MAC.