clarkwgriswold

Down to 5.5.

I think the Zips are playing with house money here. If they win, it is nice national exposure and gives them the confidence on having a beaten a good nonconference team on the road, however, it won't impact whether they make the tournament. We all know that comes down to March 14th to 16th. It may impact seeding, if JMU keeps playing well, but even then not substantially.

Ohio.com article on the game- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2024/02/10/akron-zips-mens-basketball-score-james-madison-enrique-freeman-ali-ali-greg-tribble-jr-john-groce/72533544007/

True. According to Groce, when he was considering taking the job they thought that they could quickly get up to speed as they'd have a nice core of returners but by the time he arrived in Akron for the presser nearly everyone was out the door. That makes the fact that he made a competitive team that first year out of a bunch of last minute recruits even more impressive. At the end of the day, if you're still sore about the KD situation it's well past time to move on.

Often imitated, never duplicated....LOL. I'll sue when somebody steals Mr. Pinky or uses a derivative!

From your mouth to the basketball Gods' ears!

JMU recent starters: Friedl- 6'4"- guard- 12.6 ppg/5.5 rpg/2 apg Edwards- 6'6"- G/F- 16.7 ppg/4.6 rpg/3/1 apg Wooden- 6'8"- F- 10.2 ppg/3.1 rpg Bickerstaff- 6'9"- F- 13.6 ppg/8.8 rpg Brown- 6'2"- guard- 6 ppg/2.1 rpg Other major contributors: 6th man, occasional starter- Horton- 6'6" junior G/F- 7.1 ppg/4.4 rpg 6'1" senior guard Green appears to have started quite a bit but seems to have fallen out of the starting order and averages 7.3 points and 3.5 apg

In conference too, which I forget about Arkansas State.

JMU squeaked by Arkansas State last night, 77-73. They were up 13 at half but Arkansas State rallied to make it close. Noah Friedl, a 6'4" senior guard led scoring and rebounding at 19 and 10.

Headed to OT.

That's true, I was just joking about the difficulties he's had on them throughout the season.

13/23 for an impressive 56.5%! On the topic of percentages, Shammah's FG percentage on contested layups remains at 0% after the CMU game!

For the sake of continuity and given that he's been a part of Groce's success, I'd be okay with Dustin Ford taking over the reins if Groce left and he wanted the job.

JMU has a decent big man, TJ Bickertsaff, a Boston College transfer (Drexel before that). He's averaging 13.9 and 8.9. Besting him would be a nice show for the country.

I'd love to see Dawson occasionally take it to the hole. It might actually result in defenses giving him more space on the perimeter. To date, 129 of the 152 shots he's taken have been threes. That's 91%!

The Zips head off to Harrisonburg, Virginia Saturday to face the James Madison Dukes in part two of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge. The Dukes are 20-3 heading into a game tonight against Arkansas State. Their three losses have all been in conference play, two to App. State and one to Southern Miss. As to common opponents, they lost to Southern Miss as mentioned and to Brimfield Tech in double OT in round one of the Challenge and beat Buffalo handily in late November. They are currently tied for third in the Sun Belt. This year's version of the Dukes reached 20 wins at the earliest date (Feb.2) in program history. 6'6" redshirt junior guard/forward Terrence Edwards, Jr. leads Dukes scoring at 16.8 ppg. 6'9" graduate forward TJ Bickerstaff is their second leading scorer at 13.9 ppg while leading rebounding at 8.9 rpg.

Amen. I didn't think he had it in him as it is not easy to overcome over a decade of bad form and muscle memory.

Not a great night shooting. Very pleased by how Tavari continues to develop. He could have packed it in when he was sitting early in the season and watching Kaleb and Shammas taking his minutes but he's stuck with it and really come along well.

Sore knee keeping Sammy out.

Amen. They've had a propensity to do that.

Sammy in sweats.

Thornton starting for Sammy.

I saw a picture of him participating in the shoot around so I assume he's okay.

No idea. Their 6th man, McMillan, has stepped in for Pritchard. He led the Chipps with 19 points against BG.

Oops. That would be quite the shootout!