clarkwgriswold

George's most recent article regarding Groce and his statements about the team's attitude/effort- https://www.ohio.com/akron/sports/university-of-akron/university-of-akron-basketball-john-groce-says-zips-need-to-develop-better-habits-more-toughness

I think this is the first time Utomi has struggled. He was a huge scorer in high school and didn't have any real expectations placed on him last year. This year, the exodus of so many players combined with his early season play against inferior opponents sent the expectations of him through the roof and I am sure he bought into it to some extent. Now he's being forced into strange territory from jumping center to start the game to guarding the other teams' bigs. I certainly hope it doesn't push him towards a transfer and that he sees reinforcements are on the way. He could be a big part of the future.

Good memory NWAkron!

...and some Verizon stores had free tickets.

OK, if we're going to stretch back, Russell Holmes from the 85-86 team. Huggins was short on bigs and they got UA football player Holmes to come out to help. At 6-3 , he was outsized but survived on grit, hustle and muscle. Guy lettered in football and basketball. When was the last time you heard that?

I cringed when I typed it, but it is factual. I guess the truth hurts.

The Zips head to Athens Tuesday night to face the 9-13 Snobcats. OU is 2-8 in the MAC and last in the East (which makes me smile inside just a little.) They have a 4 game losing streak which started with a 71-68 loss to the Zips. Freshman guard Teyvion Kirk leads scoring at 15.2 ppg with senior guard Mike Laster kicking in 15.0 ppg. Junior forward Doug Taylor leads rebounding at 7.2 ppg. Gavin Block kept OU in the game at the JAR with 18 points, 7 rebounds and was 6/11 on three pointers. A loss would drop the Zips into the cellar with the Snobcats.

Groce had some head cases at OU and Illinois, equal to or greater than Tree or Diggs. Their problems were off the court, but when they were on the court they went 100% and had an edge we've seen none of from this squad. Diggs also had the heart to work his way back to the team as I recall.

Nick Harney. Sorry, couldn't help myself. I've thought all season Antino would have done well under Groce. Two others that come to mind were knuckleheads who limited their Zips' careers- Treadwell and Diggs.

I just went back and looked at our early source of hope- the early season out of conference schedule. The teams the Zips beat are now 51- 92. IPFW is the only team over .500 at 16-10. I guess that explains the success. This team is just not very good. Not the coaches' fault. Not the players' fault. Just the cards they were dealt when KD left, players bolted and they were left to hustle up a roster of players. There are kids seeing time that would be riding the pine on other MAC rosters or if KD never left, but we can only hope the floor time they are seeing benefits the squad down the line. There may well be kids who see less time next year than they see this year when the roster settles.

He earned it. Guy makes me crazy.

39% shooting, 4 freaking assists. That's just plain damn brutal. Too much dribbling, not enough movement off the ball, no ball movement. If I see another guy on defense get caught watching the ball and losing their man, I am going to lose my mind. How many shots did they miss within 5 feet of the basket today? I was really concerned by some of the body language I saw today. OK, now that I am through my rant, the Zips are playing some kids that wouldn't be seeing major minutes, if any, if they weren't so thin. They lost to a better team. I just hate to see them do things that help that happen.

News flash- the Zips are getting beaten by a significantly better team. They are also contributing to the thumping.

Well, Malcolm woke up.

Nice start to the second half. At this rate, I will be on time for snack time.

NWAkron's queezy feeling is on the verge of transitioning into projectile vomiting.

The quick start was a mirage...

The refs will miss 3:00 snack time at the assisted living facility.

Really fed up with the refs always delaying the game to go to the monitor.

You can tell by all of the posts on this thread how excitement for this game is building.

GT comes through with some worthwhile info.

That was in an email I got from the ticket office. A similar version is on GoZips.com.

The Rockets are 15-2 overall and 7-2 in the MAC. They lead the MAC West by 2 games. The Rockets lost Tuesday night to Ball State, ending a 7 game win streak. They had just beaten BG 101-75 where they were lights out, shooting 67% from the field. Against Ball State they were outrebounded 58-41, (19-7 offensive) in a 75-63 loss. They were without Willie Jackson, the 6-6 sophomore Missouri transfer (shoulder) from Garfield Heights. They were 7-for-27 on 3-pointers. 6-7 G/F Colorado transfer TreShaun Fltecher leads the Rockets at 18.6 ppg with Jaelan Sanford kicking in 16.5 ppg. Fletcher also leads rebounding at 8.5 rpg.