clarkwgriswold

31-9, 11:46 left in half.

Lineup right now is Thornton, Scott, Dawson, Johnson and Enrique. That's damn solid for having 3 non-starters.

20-5 5 minutes in.

No one at the table. They must have all committed to the football game. So far, a Heidelberg quality crowd.

Just wait until they see what we do to Heidelberg!

I'm going to tell them to put my parking on NWAkron's tab.

Anyone have an idea of what they'll charge us poor general admission peons for parking now that it doesn't come with a season ticket?

Just a head's up- the game is at 7:30, not our usual 7:00. They must have known I have a vet appointment.

It wouldn't be great but they would have him for next year. I spoke to him very briefly at the practice before they left for Puerto Rico. He and Groce came over by where I was sitting and Groce thanked me for coming. I said it looked like they were coming into shape and he said what a joy it was to coach kids like this, motioning towards Ali. I said "welcome back" and he responded with some sincerity "it's good to be back." I think he regrets that lost year at Butler and now realizes what he gave up.

I'm just glad we got them in the boat before they saw Heidelburg.

I heard that Ali had 8 credit hours left to complete which would be done this semester.

I don't see his skill set and position overlapping much with Ali. He was thrown into duty last year with the lack of bigs and I thought he was okay. To me, he looked like a freshman. You can tell from looking at him that he really focused on building muscle in the offseason. He looks like a different kid.

I'm a little concerned that we've only seen 2 minutes from Lyles so far. Groce has seemed to be content with Sammy being the second big man.

Anyone have any idea what's up with Darrion Baker? I really think he could give us some productive big man minutes. Sammy's just not physical enough to defend true big men.

The Zips are really blessed to have 4 guys that can play the point- Tavari, Thornton, Tribble and Scott. The trick for Groce will be to keep all 4 involved and engaged. I think we've only scratched the surface of what Scott can contribute as a combo guard.

He'd written a couple of Zips articles recently so I was hoping this was the way it was going.

It'll cost me approximately $4. It's a chance to work on things for the team. I don't like these games but every team has them and it's a chance for a small school to play on a bigger stage (and Cedarville wasn't available). I think it is a positive in some regard as the Zips are on the other end with football where their top competition asks "why are we playing this team?"

Wasn't quite sure where to put this, but Bandaogo's NCAA appeal was shot down. https://www.si.com/college/cincinnati/basketball/ncaa-denies-waiver-appeal-for-aziz-bandaogo

2 for 5 so far. At Kent that's 60%.

The Zips get to catch their breath after real challenges from South Dakota State and Southern Miss as Heidelberg visits the JAR this Tuesday night before the Zips head out onto the road for 4 games. Heidelberg does not yet have a game of record as I post this but are playing in a tournament this weekend. They finished last season at 19-8, losing in their league semi-finals to Mount Union. One of Heidelberg's leaders is Hoban grad Isaiah Young, a 6'2" junior guard. Last year, he appeared and started in 27, led the team in assists, averaged a team-high 27.8 minutes per game, averaged 13.1 points per game and was second team All-OAC and Academic All-OAC

Up one with 4 minutes left. Win by 18. Wow.

Zips showed a lot of maturity tonight. Nice to have a veteran squad.

When I used to coach and my teams got like this I'd tell them in practice that they couldn't take a shot until they made at least 5 passes. LOL.

Way too damn many quick shots tonight.

There's that improved Freeman shooting I told you about.