clarkwgriswold

Opening night in the MAC. Watching PCCC/Ball State. Ugly game so far. Apparently, the play by play guy wasn't given the rosters as he's only used the name of two players (Payton and Santiago) through 4 minutes.

They're building us up to Friday night's 9:00 game against Ball State. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I planned on using my eclipse glasses.

👍I'm sure there were. I was saying it tongue in cheek.

I'm not confident it will make it through the day!

Ball State didn't get to see him in person this year. Sequence- enters portal; BSU sees stats; BSU offers; player accepts; BSU watches all of tape; BSU runs away.

Thornton and Scott have been less that expected. They're also not getting many minutes, each averaging less that 20 minutes a game. It takes a while to build Groce's trust and become an important part. Right now, he's going with the guys he trusts and that's why Tribble is playing the point (he's always going to be on the floor whether or not he's the point). When LCJ left, we lamented our point guard play until X hit his stride. When Big Dog graduated, we lamented the drop off in post play. When McLaughlin left, we missed the great point guard play. When Joe Jakubick left, we missed high scoring guard play. I suspect when Len Paul graduated, we probably missed top notch small forward play. Now we're missing X's play. You always miss the play and contribution of legends. Scott and Thornton have career three point percentages that are nearly identical to the Zips average this year. I'll be more worried if they haven't settled in by the end middle of February.

Maybe he mouthed off to someone as he arrived on campus.

As much as I hate Mr. Pinky he always seems to have the Flushes in the mix. As for NIU and BG I'll have to see it to believe it. NIU has played a less than stellar schedule and has dropped 5 or their last six, beating only Calumet College, an NAIA program. BG just never seems to get there. Maybe a change at the helm helps, but their schedule has been pretty damn weak.

Here's NIU's starting five from their last game and their stats going in: G- David Coit (5'11", 175, 17.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.1 spg, 42.2 FG%, 33.3 3FG%) G- Philmon Gebrewhit (6'7", 190, 9.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.9 apg, 36.1 FG%, 26.3 3FG%) F- Zarique Nutter (6'7", 200, 15.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.4 apg, 55.5 FG%, 46.2 3FG%) F- Xavier Amos (6'8", 215, 11.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.0 apg, 55.9 FG%, 44.1 3FG%) C- Yanic Konan Niederhauser (6'11", 255, 8.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 64.3 FG%, 28.6 3FG%) That's some decent size.

I think he could be a decent big man. Groce must have thought he wouldn't see the floor much so he gave him the choice to take the red shirt. I guess the lack of spare bigs won't be quite as much of an issue in MAC play.

They still need another guy to play as a big. At his height, Sammy needs to be more than a 3 or 4 rebound guy or someone like Nate or Dawson needs 'play bigger" to be the guy. I had high hopes for Shammah but it looks like he's just going to be an 18 to 20 minute guy. We may not see all of his talent until Tribble graduates. Nate always seems to be on the cusp of breaking out but never seems to quite get there. Maybe being on the floor so much with the vets will prepare him to do that next year when he becomes the "vet." I'm a little surprised that with this team's depth we haven't seen more pressure defense. They've been good in the half court defense but I thought we might see them jump into a press occasionally. We all want someone to step into X's shoes and seem to want to judge Thornton and Scott in X's shadow. I think we all forget that X's start with the Zips wasn't great. It was pretty damn average or worse as he settled in (and many were judging him against LCJ!). As such, maybe we need to give Thornton and Scott a little more time.

I think the following is a very important quote from Groce in the St. B article- “Obviously, getting Ali after eight games has been helpful at both ends of the floor. Trying to figure out our combinations and all that is maybe a little bit more delayed than normal just because he didn't play the first eight. But I think we're headed in the right direction.” Translation- they are a work in progress. I have every confidence they'll get there. Quote two that I liked from Groce- "“I've got to do a better job putting Ali in a little bit better position there. I put him in a tough spot. We didn't execute the down screen great. They pushed the catch out. The ball got deflected. Now it's in the back court. The timing of the action's off a little bit, but that's not on Ali. I've got to help Ali a little bit more there.” I can't imagine there's a better way to teach accountability to a group of young men than by taking accountability yourself. This guy has a future in motivational speaking and team building if he ever gives up coaching.

Here's a better link to the Beacon article on the game. Thanks to the Beacon for assigning decent reporters. There are even quotes from the opposing team! https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2023/12/31/akron-zips-mens-basketball-st-bonaventure-enrique-freeman-ali-ali-john-groce-mac-northern-illinois/72061406007/

Post deleted for better link to article farther down in thread.

St. B may be one of the only older teams than the Zips in the NCAA.

The Zips open the 2024 MAC season on Tuesday by heading off to DeKalb, Illinois to face NIU. NIU has dropped 5 of their last 6 coming into the game with their only win against Calumet College. NIU comes in at 6-6, fresh off of a 103-74 loss at Iowa. Preseason All-MAC second teamer junior guard David Coit leads scoring at 17.9 ppg while also leading the team in assists. 6’7” junior guard Zarique Nutter scores 15.3 ppg while contributing 5.1 rpg. 6’8” sophomore forward Xavier Amos scores 11.2 ppg while leading the team in rebounding at 5.9 rpg.

Good prep game going into conference play. I'd have loved to win that one but in reality, as we all know, it would really have no consequence as to where we end up at tournament time.

You do realize Ali is one of Akron's starting guards, right? The inbounder was their most dependable guard passing the ball into Ali. Unfortunately, the pass got deflected.

The deflection on that inbounds pass completely threw off that final play and turned it into 1 on 5 basketball. They need to work to transitioning into an effective on the fly play sometimes rather than go to the timeout, especially against a good defensive team.

Amen.

Awful finish. Damn. Great game. Two solid mid-majors. The Zips will not play a better team the rest of the year.

Okay. Here's our chance.

I really wish Nate would get some confidence.

2 points and 5 boards for Enrique. Their focus is obviously on him.