clarkwgriswold

...and on that note I am going to mumble the Serenity Prayer and follow zippy5's wise advice.

KD should be much farther along at the end of his second year.

Not that facts should get in the way, but Groce took on a 17 win team then won 23, 20, 19, 15 and 20 games. Since he was dispatched, they've won 14 and 12 games. Did he lead them to the promised land, no, but he was not the unmitigated failure at Illinois you continue to suggest. While we are on the topic, the others repeatedly mentioned for the UA job at the time Groce was hired have not set the world on fire. Anthony Stewart is 44-53 at UT Martin. Lamont Paris is 22-43 at Chattanooga. Jeff Boals struggled somewhat early at Stony Brook and is now 55-41 there, in large part due to an upsurge in his THIRD year there. Also, Groce's problem has not been keeping timeouts in his pocket, it has been not having them at the end of games. What the majority of "we all" are going to say if the team makes no progress next year is that it is time to move on. It's inaccurate to characterize the ZipsNation posters as die-hard Groce apologists when the considerable portion of us have essentially stated that a lack of progress next year could justifiably seal Groce's fate.

But...but...but...Dambrot's team's got better faster. Ugh. Thanks for posting this. I'm too worn out from having to say the same things over and over...

I can stomach the Grocery criticism but you need to do some research into the roster Dambrot inherited versus the roster Groce inherited. Entirely different situations.

One thing I forgot was the lack of depth. Our point guard really had no backup. They were so thin that after playing strong defense for 35 minutes that I think they were simply gassed late in games. Subtract Ivey, add Williams, Reece and a healthy Sayles and Toles and I think depth is no longer an issue. I'll start a 2019-2020 thread before long to address what to expect from next year in a separate discussion from our dissection of this season.

90% of teams could use that. I can think of only 2 teams in Ohio, Cinci and Toledo, that have 6"11" kid that contributes.

Well, the season has come to an abrupt, yet expected end. I am curious as to what ZipsNation thinks were the positives and negatives looking back on the season. Seems like it was just yesterday that we were headed off to the JAR to face Cedarville, but here we are. I thought I;d throw this thread up on the board rather than have us all unload in a game thread. As I look back- Positives and highlights: * Defense, defense, defense. This team played hard on defense all year. They not only played good team defense but Jimond spent the year shutting down the opponent's leading scorer. * Tyler Cheese developed into a solid MAC player, especially on the offensive end. He was the one person on the team aggressive with the ball in his hands. * The team was in a lot of games. Even in most of the losses, they kept the games close. * Groce got the kids to buy into playing hard. Effort was never an issue. * Strong performances against Nevada and Clemson; thrashing of PCCC; Bowling Green win, Miami tournament win. Negatives and lowlights: * Inability to close tight games. * Woeful offense in all but a few games. * Iffy big man play, particularly on offense. * Bad 3 point shooting. * The Buffalo tournament loss; the loss at Miami; ugly collapse and loss at NIU; the Gueye- Kostelac incident, the OU loss.

...or the situation that Dambrot did.

Agreed, but people also want quick results and that generally doesn't happen with the traditional freshman recruiting, especially when you get a late jump. In the final analysis, nobody is generally happy short of a MAC title. One need only review the old KD posts to see that phenomenon. Also, before we all give up, we need to step back and realize that this is a historically good MAC team in Buffalo that some are measuring the Zips against.

Exactly. There are certainly shortcomings but it's too early to play Chicken Little. If we're having this conversation the second week of March in 2020, then I'll have a far different attitude.

Track and field, rifle, women's diving and swimming are all pretty solid. This game has me yearning for a good rifle match.

Calm down dre. It is pretty clear that the consensus on here is that: 1) the refs suck; 2) have sucked for both teams and 3) are not impacting the result of the game.

Refs are bad, but Buffalo wins this one with me, John Groce and Jimond's mom as the refs.

They may have to use Marquelle's 5 today.

Refs apparently getting paid by the whistle today.

Oh well, at least I won't have to call Verizon to see if they have free championship tickets this year.

More talent > less talent

Turnovers will be the key. If the Zips can pressure the ball and get in passing lanes like they did against Miami (2 assists/16 turnovers) they can be in the game. In their two MAC losses, as I recall, Buffalo had 17 and 18 turnovers, well in excess of their 12 turnover average. Get them to 18 to 20 turnovers and they can be in the game. The counter to that is the riskiness of being aggressive on defense against a team that athletic can result in a lot of easy points for them.

Thanks to NWAkron. My morning has been a little crazy and I am not possessive about starting game threads. I take full responsibility for the two prior losses to Buffalo.

51% FG, 52% on 3 pointers. Wow.

Wow. Where's this been all year?

I have an extra GA ticket if anyone wants it. Shoot me a message ASAP if you want it.

For the sake of redundancy, just to review- I am not 100% pleased with Groce. The offense has struggled, time management has been an ongoing issue and the team has had major issues closing games. That being said, I am moderately satisfied with the progress of the team. KD moved on and it left this program in shambles. Groce got a late start in recruiting and had to start from ground zero. Last year's team was 14-18 and 6-12 in the MAC. It was untalented, gave inconsistent effort and had some head cases. This year's team is 16-15 and 8-10 in the MAC. Not a huge difference in record, but this team has been in the game in most of its losses, plays outstanding defense and gives effort every night. In the end, they're getting better. Swap out Ivey for Williams and Roscoe and add another year of D1 experience to Cheese, Banks and LCJ and I think this team continues to trend up. We were really spoiled with KD and the consistency from year to year. If next year, we're again a middle of the pack MAC team, then I will be ready to move on, but if they do as I expect and move into the top four teams, win 20 games and bring in decent recruits, I will continue to conclude Groce was a worthwhile hire.

Miami's leading scorer, Sabande, has a combined 5 points in two games against the Zips this year. Cheese has a combined 44 (17 and 27).