clarkwgriswold

That was Knapke from Marion Local. He graduated and is playing in Europe. Oh, by the way, Toledo beat Eastern last night by 33! 96-63.

This game scares me as it could be a demoralizing a$$ whoopin' if the Zips play like they have in the last week. On the other hand, this team seems to play up or down to the competition. It wouldn't surprise me to see the team from the OU game or the second half of PCCC.

Since we need a reminder of that abomination- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2021/01/12/northern-illinois-bench-revs-up-sink-akron-zips-67-65/6632772002/

The struggling Zips host the Sprockets this Saturday at 2:00 at the JAR. Toledo is 10-3 and 5-0 in the MAC going into a Tuesday night game against EMU. Marreon Jackson leads Toledo with 16.2 ppg. 6'6" junior forward Milner leads rebounding at 7.2 rpg while scoring 13.7 ppg.

This team on paper the deepest and most talented team of Groce's tenure. Unfortunately, the games aren't played on paper. This team is the high point of every MAC Team's schedule. Look at how EMU and NIU celebrated their wins, like they won the damn league championship and every team is going to give its best effort to knock off the reigning league champ. It took a while, but teams have started to figure out LCJ. They're not going to shut him down but teams are starting to body him when he drives, tighten up on him when he's on perimeter and focus their defensive rotations on stopping him. It's up to the coaches to figure out a way to counter what the other teams are doing and his teammates to step it up. Some of these kids need to realize this is when Groce starts settling into rotations and if they don't pretty soon start showing something they'll have a long season on the socially distanced chairs.

Tyler had something those guys didn't. Almost a "get in my way at your own risk" attitude. Don't get me wrong, I liked those guys and wish we could "get the band back together" but Tyler had a drive and nastiness to him this team could really use right now.

Letting a crappy team hang around.

This team needs a Tyler Cheese, someone other than LCJ with some grit and determination.

Oooh, the 1-3-1 zone.

LCJ, Trimble, Tribble, Ali and Currie in. Interesting 5 and proof they're still figuring it out.

Currie in.

It's clear that part of the "ripping" was telling Trimble and Dailey to be aggressive.

With our old friend Dru as an assistant and recruiting director. Congrats to Patton on CSU working out for him. I don't think he'd have had that much opportunity or success with the Zips but I certainly appreciated his effort in Groce's first year.

I hate weekday afternoon tips almost as much as midweek MAC football games. I wonder what the logic is. I assume it is a desire to get teams back out of town and avoid overnights during COVID but it's a killer for followers of teams.

More Matt news for those interested- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2021/01/08/oscar-winner-give-virtual-talk-akron-library/6582495002/

Can you imagine the furor on here if they would have fired KD? The Bowden firing (of a sub- .500 coach) is a constant point of debate to this day on ZipsNation. I can't what a firing of KD would have brought.

Basketball- 1-8 Football- 0-6 Baseball- 7-10 Soccer- 7-10-1 Tennis- 6-6 Women's BB- 4-5 Women's Soccer- 2-14-2 Softball- 7-15 There's an awful of athletics misery in DeKalb.

Yep, tough to get too up or too down in this weird year. Following the same timing as in past years, they'll be in mid-season form at the end of the season. My biggest concern yesterday was as Groce described- “We’re soft." "We weren’t very tough with the ball. We weren’t very tough defensively." With limited practices and games in this weird year I can excuse missed shots and players being out of sync with their teammates, but being soft and bad defense are effort things. Not the end of the world. On to NIU. Here's hoping that game was a one off and not a not a blueprint for future teams stopping the Zips.

The team was disjointed. Nobody, especially LCJ ever got into a rhythm. Nobody stepped up when LCJ struggled. They often got outhustled/outworked. For stretches in the game EMU made everything. The Zips had trouble with the zone. Just ugly all around.

Beacon game story- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2021/01/09/self-inflicted-mistakes-doom-university-akron-loss/6594397002/

Somebody has to step up and take the spot as the number 2 option. Last year, LCJ had Cheese and X while no one has stepped up this year.

Tall. LOL Tough to tell. Played 3 minutes of garbage time. Had a couple of rebounds and made two free throws. Also had two fouls in those 3 minutes. I would say he did not look clumsy as some young big men will.

Lovely DeKalb, Illinois awaits the Zips for a Tuesday night matchup with the 1-8 Huskies. The Zips are fresh off of taking a big slimy dump in Ypsilanti. Just last week, NIU “separated” from long time head coach Mark Montgomery. The sole Huskies win was on December 18th against Chicago State (apparently, they were unable to squeeze Olivet into the schedule). Thus far in the MAC they have lost to Toledo, BG, OU and Miami. 6’2” sophomore guard Tyler Cochran is the Huskies’ leading scorer and rebounder at 13.8 ppg and 7.4 rpg. They were picked 10th in the MAC Pre-season poll.

Bandaogo get a couple of minutes.