clarkwgriswold

I love Enrique. He's a great player at this level. However, there's a name for 6'7" guys in the NBA- small forward. He doesn't have the skill set to play the 3 in the NBA. He may well have a nice career in Europe, but it won't be in the NBA. He's also in for a great future outside of basketball. Very smart, great personality. I'd buy stock in that kid.

Here's one. It's not the one I was thinking of but it's still pretty good.

I think the times are a little different too. There's not nearly the emphasis on having a big man (6'9" and up) that there was 10 years ago. Coaches want mobile kids that can get up and down the floor now. Also, KD was here for 13 years and really had only 2 premier big men (Zeke and Big Dog). All others were undersized guys that played bigger (e.g. Travis, Treadwell, Wood...).

Groce certainly gets no credit for getting Freeman to Akron but should get a great deal of credit for his development. All you need to do is see his old Akron Canton Pro Am league tapes to understand that development.

Same here. In 23 games I've gone from thinking the program was improving to thinking the program was going sideways to now being concerned it's going backwards.

Nate also plays much bigger than his 6'3" height and that's very much helped in the absence of reserve bigs.

I'd be more concerned if he was 2 or 3 years in and lacking that assertiveness/confidence, but he still has time to develop it.

He has stretches where he looks like one of the best players on the floor and stretches when you wouldn't even know he's on the floor. That's part of being 18 or 19 years old in your first real season of D1 basketball. The thing I find most concerning is that he's already pressing Sammy for time, which is not a good comment on Sammy's contributions.

I think the Zips lax defense is probably still better than about half of the defenses in the MAC. As much as I hate the 2 losses in a row, this team is about what I expected heading into the MAC season and I need to keep that in mind. This team has two stars and a bunch of otherwise very average talent. The team just doesn't have the talent of the teams of the last 3 seasons. Ali, Dawson and Bandaogo would make this a different team. That's not to say the young kids won't develop into something special in time. What this team has in spades is heart and character and that will pull them through to some gritty wins (like PCCC) but the below prior standards talent can result in what we've seen in the last week. We'll survive and the kids will play their hearts out.

I read something that said it had to do with hazing. Yikes.

Groce pretty well sums it up in the Beacon article- “We have got to get better on defense,” UA coach John Groce said. “Our defensive numbers have been putrid for about the last five or six games other than the Kent game. We have got to be a lot better on that end of the floor.”

The Zips head to Ypsilanti Tuesday to face Stan Heath and his EMU Emonis. The Emonis stand at 6-18/3-8 heading into today's game at Toledo. As the season has worn on, the Eagles have been more competitive. They've clearly improved since their 37 point drubbing here when Bates scored a mere 3 points and spent an inordinate amount of time whining and sitting on the bench with a towel over his head. Even with that poor performance, Bates averages an impressive 21.4 ppg, pressing X for being the league's leading scorer. He also leads the team in rebounding at 5.5 rpg. The Eagle have been able to score the ball on occasion but have the MAC's worst defense. Here's hoping this is the game to bring the Zips out of their malaise.

That makes for an easy transition from Sammy.

It is a part of our burden as Zips fans to go through this...every...damn...year.

40 points scored in a half= good 44 points surrendered in a half= bad

We're in game 25 and still waiting on Sammy Hunter. He starts, but in reality he's slowly becoming Nate Johnson's backup.

44 points in a half? That's not Zips' defense.

That first half was one of Enrique's worst in some time. He just seemed to be out of sorts. It will be interesting to see how Ohio decides to defend him tonight.

He's a kid I'd have liked to keep closer to home!

I see AJ Brown hasn't played since the Akron game and their board. He had 15 points and 5 rebounds against the Zips in late January.

The Bobcats have a couple of freshmen that impressed me, AJ Brown and Elmore James (who played at Brush). I suspect Boals won't leave Wilson on an island guarding Enrique tonight again. Wilson is a very nice player, but his lack of lateral quickness hurts him on the defensive end.

I think you are right, I had them mixed up.

Prather had a walking boot on his foot at Tuesday night's game.

Yikes. Down 31 points with 5 minutes left to a team that's 3-7 in the MAC.

His pained expression pretty well sums it up.