clarkwgriswold

Tavari the last guard in on the rotation tonight.

Sammy has no idea what to do with a 10 foot open shot. LOL.

They're forcing the Zips into a lot of switches that are putting Enrique on the perimeter.

Gonna be one of those MAC officiating nights.

Nate in.

Here's hoping they keep Clayton on Freeman without help.

Fresh off of getting booted out of Oklahoma State for beating his girlfriend. He could have taken Treadwell's place on campus as campus assaulter.

Couldn't agree more. The new guy was hamstrung by what he walked into. They'll be back in time.

The list of MAC teams that have decent football AND basketball programs is pretty short. UMass is not ever going back to the Calipari/Camby days but they'll hold up their end of MAC basketball and compete on a higher level than the directionals that have essentially given up on basketball.

I have an @NWAkron level sense of dread about this one. 😟

Mike Beaven getting assigned to the Zips has been a real blessing.

Payton was on the PRE-season team selected by the coaches. He's obviously played himself out of it.

To stir up some conversation, as the 2023-24 regular season winds down, who are the members of your 23-24 All-MAC Team? Give us your first team, POY and COY. As a reminder the preseason team was: First Team Ali Ali, Guard, Akron, Sr. Enrique Freeman, Forward, Akron, Sr. Chris Payton, Forward, Kent State, Grad. Jaylin Hunter, Guard, Ohio, Sr. Dante Maddox Jr., Guard, Toledo, Jr. Second Team Tyson Acuff, Guard, Eastern Michigan, Jr. Jalen Sullinger, Guard, Kent State, Jr. Anderson Mirambeaux, Center, Miami, Sr. David Coit, Guard, Northern Illinois, Jr. AJ Brown, Guard, Ohio, So. From what I have seen so far, my All-MAC team would be: Enrique Freeman- Akron Basheer Jihad- Ball State Tyson Acuff- Eastern Michigan Marcus Hill- Bowling Green Jaylin Hunter- OU POY- Freeman COY- Groce

Here's a line for you- 13 minutes played; 0 for 5 from the field; 0 for 2 on threes; 0 assists; 0 rebounds: 1 turnover. This performance brought to you by last year's MAC Freshman of the Year Reggie Bass.

With Tavari, Scott and Thornton, the Zips have the ability to play whoever is the best on a given night, an advantage many teams don't have. My only worry would be that that splitting up the time may keep any single one of them from getting into the flow. In Groce I trust.

We're not being critical, we're just explaining what might be in the coaches' minds relative to his minutes as compared to the others at his position.

He's apparently not wanting it more and leaving it all on the court!

Some food for thought. Tavari has a higher rate of turnovers per minute played than Tribble, Scott and Thronton and has a lower assists per minute rate than the other three. Do with that what you will.

I really like Nate but I think we need to pump the brakes on our expectations. The kid averaged 8 points and 3 boards a game when healthy. I like him and think he'll help but he's not likely to be a huge difference maker.

The Zips headed to Athens Tuesday night to face the Bobcats. The Bobcats are 14-12/8-5 going into today's game against NIU. The Zips beat the Bobcats 67-58 earlier in the season in a relatively competitive game at the JAR. The Bobcats played the Zips even in the second half. Senior guard Jaylin Hunter continues to lead OU in both scoring and assists.

The coaches see every minute of a player's life with the team, from team meals to interactions on the bus to practice to play in the games. You have to trust what they're seeing over what we see 80 minutes a week.

At least Mr. Pinky didn't go with "the game wasn't important" schtick to put a gloss on his @$$ kicking this year. Tavari is still an immature player. Some nights, he'll play under control and intelligently and earn more time on the floor, other nights he'll be out of control and lack attention to detail and settle in on the bench.The good news is that he is growing up as a player and gets closer to a 30 minute a game player every day.

Groce making a point in the post-game to credit Dawson for being impactful/forceful even when he's not scoring.

Welcome back Dawson.