clarkwgriswold

Not holding my breath on this one happening.

I think you can remove all of the directionals and Ball State from any chance of being there at the end. Right now, OU and Toledo are at the top of the MAC, with PCCC, Akron, Buffalo a little behind, and BG and Miami not that far back. Any of those seven could beat the other on any given night and it wouldn't be an upset. I think Buffalo will eventually come around and be a factor in the standings, seedings and tournament. If I had to seed them today: 1. OU 2. Toledo 3. PCCC 4. Akron 5. Canada 6. BG 7. Miami 8. Ball State 9. EMU 10. NIU 11. WMU 12. CMU

I have two extra tickets for this one if anyone is interested. Shoot me a PM.

"Ire" is simply defined as anger. I was not angry. I am tired, sick and damn tired of this debate taking over forums. You'll note that this is apparently a popular view given the likes for the post. Apparently, you've taken it as a personal attack as you see the post as directed at you. That wasn't the intent as I actually agree with your position. I fear now that this "debate" has now become the second most frustrating series for this thread. To get things back on track, this weekend's MAC results: OU- 80, PCCC- 72 BG- 87 MIami 83 Ball State- 78, EMU- 82 Toledo- 94, NIU- 63

The 7-7 Muncie Redbirds fresh off of a 78-72 win over Eastern Michigan come to the JAR Tuesday to face the Zips. 6-1 sophomore guard Luke Brumbalough leads the Cards at 12.4 ppg. 6-2 sophomore guard Tyler Cochran is second in scoring at 11.4 ppg while pulling down 5.6 rpg. 6-9 freshman center Payton Sparks scores 10.5 ppg while leading the team in rebounding at 6.2 rpg. They were predicted to finish 8th in the MAC in the MAC preseason poll. Three Man Weave summarized Ball State as follows: “There is a noticeable lack of talent on the roster and an absence of a true creator and/or go-to scorer. Whitford might have a solid floor as a head coach, but this could conceivably be his worst team since 2014-15, the last time he finished outside the KenPom top 200.”

It's not ire (anger) and it's not directed at anyone in particular. I'm addressing the ongoing debate.

There's one thing I hate worse than losing to PCCC. It's a Covid policy debate in a sports forum. Maybe I am in the minority but I come to this forum to get away from a world where Covid policy and debates overwhelm the daily news narrative.

I guess that's where we have to trust in Groce and hope every other team is having the same troubles. Hopefully, this will run its course and they'll be back on the beam by the middle or end of February.

It took a year for them to figure out how bleak things were without Ianello.

This on/off, players in/players out has to be a very tough environment in which to coach. It has to be difficult to get in any rhythm. The team should be settling into rotations and roles now but that has to be tough when you don't know who you're playing, who will be available or when and where you're playing.

Damn, I was hoping that Trimble was the last of the Zips covid cases.

Ahhhh hell, send Charles!

Good point. I'm not a fan of the "10 minutes with John and George" post-game pressers as they just seem so contrived. I guess it's an exercise a D1 basketball program is expected to have.

I think you could see more players leave after the coaches look at tape and have "heart to heart" talks with them about their future playing time. One of the primary downfalls of the Arth staff was their failure to attract D1 FBS level talent or conversely their ability to attract non-FBS level talent, and some of those kids are going to learn quickly from this staff that they may not measure up and move on.

Good points, but as an aside, I'm not sure GT is actually there for some of those pressers. It sounds to me like some kind of speaker phone at work.

I think that's also a factor in why you don't see a lot of schools like Akron having big early signing days in December. The top and schools are all doing the math of reducing 5 to 2 and the remaining talent then flows down.

I think it was a little of both. KD told them what his expectations were and if they didn't like they could get the hell out. The players ran through the open door.

I love his energy off of the bench but he's a good alternative when Trimble is out.

I get a lot more out of his post-game radio comments than his post-game pressers with GT.

He's (GT) back- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2022/01/04/akron-zips-nearly-steal-one-but-fall-ohio-bobcats-69-63-college-basketball/9035583002/

If Trimble is not back I'd like to see Dawson in the starting lineup rather than Bandaogo. Bandaogo made some sense against OU with Carter and BVP but against a team with a smaller front line I'd rather have Dawson and his outside shooting in the game to start.

He does that, but he needs to get his 3 point field goal percentage up. Last I checked, he was 2nd in the MAC in attempts but 15th to 20th in percentage.

The Zips head off to Oxford Saturday to face the 7-5 Redhawks. The Redhawks will not have played since December 29th due to Covid postponements of games against CMU and Bowling Green. The Redhawks were voted to finish 7th in the MAC preseason poll, placing 6-1 junior Dae Dae Grant on the All-MAC second team. Grant averages 16.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 4.3 apg. 5-8 senior guard Mekhi Lairy averages 14.8 ppg. 6-7 5th year forward Dalonte Brown leads rebounding at 7.3 rpg while scoring 11.8 ppg.

Need to stop digging these early holes.

Ali just gets out of control sometimes. Nice job of coming back but they needed to be more composed in the last 2 minutes.