clarkwgriswold

GT season wrap up article- https://www.ohio.com/akron/sports/university-of-akron/university-of-akron-mens-basketball-zips-growing-pains-this-season-could-set-up-program-for-success

Visually, it looked like a JV vs. varsity game. Littler guys vs. the bog guys, good uniforms vs. the old uniforms... Unfortunately, the entire sports nation will talk about how great it was all weekend but it will make absolutely no difference to the NCAA as to how they view the tournament.

I got really lucky and turned on the UMBC/UVA game about a minute into the second half and stuck with it. I kept expecting it to go south for UMBC, but they just kept turning it on. Unbelievable.

Two words I thought I'd never utter- " Go Buffalo!"

Jimond Ivey was spirited and occasionally showed signs of being frustrated, but he was never a bad teammate requiring the intervention team leaders or the coaching staff. Comparing Ivey to Cotton is like comparing Eddie Haskell to Attila the Hun.

Skip-tradamus!

I don't see that UA "gave up" on Virshon. What I see is a player whose "character" was not in line with what Groce wants to achieve, the type of issue that causes team dissension and drama that individual talent can't counterbalance. You only needed to watch his interactions on the bench with his teammates and consider Groce's comments from the EMU postgame to see this coming. I wish the kid well wherever he ends up, but this outcome was predictable.

If getting to the dance was indeed his goal, he certainly had a better chance of doing it where he ended up then he would have with the Zips in a transition year.

Old Tubby was whining a couple of weeks ago about how often college basketball players transfer. This from the guy who's been one of the most transient coaches in college basketball. Hypocrite.

Back to my often made point. You can appreciate all KD did AND appreciate what Groce is doing and support the effort. They needn't be mutually exclusive positions.

Hawkins is in the mid-major coaching sweet spot. Good enough to hang on as the university doesn't want to be paying two coaches but not good enough to move on to a bigger job. See, e.g. Mr. Pinky.

I'd love that, but I don't see the love being returned from them or the A10 and they have to want the Zips as much as the Zips may want them.

So (I may regret asking this), what conference to you guys see as a viable option for UA?

Coaches leaving a mid-major for a bigger program is the rule, not the exception. If and when that happens, you can't hold it against the coach or UA. The fact that KD was "hometown boy" coupled with controversy in his past prevented this from happening and spoiled us. I too would like to see the Zips move beyond the MAC, but given the realities of being a public university in the state of Ohio and ever increasing budget restraints, I think we're stuck.

Graduate transfer.

As I recall, there are 32 D1 basketball conferences. That means 32 of 347 teams, less than one in ten, end their regular season or conference tournament on a high note with a conference championship. Those numbers suggest that Zips fans have been spoiled and that the Zips haven't really underperformed.

I did miss the kid this year. He always played hard and in the rare occasion I saw him off the court, he seemed like a nice respectful kid. I wish him well.

Wow, way to jump in on your first post. By way of background, Skip and NW are like the old couple that lives next door that you regularly hear bickering. In time, you realize that they do it out of habit and for sport and really mean no harm.

Yep, very tough. Arizona is playing awfully well right now and deserved better than a 4 seed.

Yep, he was. I really went out on a limb there picking the best player on the best team!

Checks are always a bad idea. Has to be untraceable cash.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times- altar boys don't make good D1 basketball players.

I sure hope KD reported that to the NCAA. If you're cheating and can't win the MAC, you're not very good at cheating.

Buying a lottery ticket today. Wes Clark made all Clarks proud.

Some answers: * Transferring players on a coaching change is commonplace; * Can't imagine Ivey transferring in his senior year. He's a team leader and one of the guys who bought in right away; * Improvement is to be expected and enough next year for any reasonable fan. They are expected to be competitive, but a MAC championship and NCAA win in his second year is an unreasonable expectation. Rome wasn't built in year; * Meryl Streep has nothing to do with this.