1981 grad

Watching Freeman play on prime and he is really playing well. Last 4 games averaging over 20 points and already has 19 points tonight in 3rd quarter with double double.

Thanks, I am sure we will learn more as this plays out. I was on a flight wearing a Zips hat right after Cleveland and I spoke to a guy who saw my hat and he indicated that he was friends with Groce and helped with the recruiting of Oggie. I now wish I had gotten that guys number. He was very nice and we talked Zips basketball and he had the highest admiration for Groce.

I know there are a few people on this board with some inside information. I would like to know why Groce made the decision to leave Akron which is at best is a lateral move. Was it for more money, more money for players, a realization that he could not win a tourney game coaching Akron? Or was it to give Ford an opportunity to coach and move into the limelight. Just curious to see why Groce made the move since he always seemed to like the area and program.

This is a lateral move and it just tells me that Groce wanted out of Akron. I am sure he had his reasons. Mayber he is getting more money or more money for players. Lets hope that Dustin Ford or whoever turns out to be the next Akron coach continues our succes. My only concern is that Groce will take some players with him or that our recruits now decide to head for another program. KD took several players and it took Groce several years to recover from late recruiting.

I brought up the attendance issue because this board is wondering why Groce is making a lateral move. The only time I have heard him express his frustration is with the attendance so I checked the attendance for the college of Charleston. I understand Groce's frustration is that the Zips had their highest win total, the longest home winning streak, and three out of four years we went to the NCAA tourney and he is playing in a half empty jar. I would also be frustrated. Every person likes to know that there hard work is appreciated and Akron fans just do not show up to support this team. I really hope that Groce stays but I could also understand why he would want to leave and play in front of 4900 fans instead of 2200 fans.

And the attendance. We average 2200 fans while Charleston averages 4900 fans.

When Tavari decided last year at this time to enter the transfer portal, Coach Groce spoke to him and told him "to think about what he already had." Tavari then decided to take his name out of the portal and had a great season. I hope that Coach Groce decides to follow his own advice.

Watching March madness and crying over our stupid picks.

My take on Groce is that the only time I feel his disappointment with the Akron program is that no matter how good the team, we play to an arena that is only half full except for the Kent game. He always encourages fans to show up to the games and considering our home winning streak, we should draw better. The people on the board know that Akron does little to nothing to promote Akron basketball and the half time show of 3 or 3 frat basketball was dismal considering that was our biggest crowd of the season. I hope the pressure that he felt at Illinois is fresh on his mind because with a new program comes the pressure to win. Hoping Groce stays in Akron. Go Zips.

I would like to see Bowen return to see if he could develop other parts of this game besides 3 pointers, driving to the hoop, rebounding, jumper. I thought his defense got better as the season progressed.

I thought we needed a game like we had at Kent where the 3 ball was being shot at a high percentage. This team when it is shooting the 3 ball at 40% or above can hang with the big boys but that just did not happen today. It was not the defense because we had the open looks and we made some tough 3 balls. It is just playing at your best in the NCAA tourney. The Zips did not play their best in Cleveland and we were able to win. Not going to happen today.

We were only down 6 and then we scored 8 points in the final 9 minutes. Was TT that much better than us or did we just have another bad game? Really difficult to be competitive when your best player only scores 4 points and has 4 turnovers. I thought TT had a good game plan of collapsing the defense in the middle and forcing us to shoot from three. We could not make a 3 the second half. Game over. Very proud of our seniors. The Zips had a great season. But we will have to wait for next year to get that elusive tourney win.

Our three point shooting killed us in the second half. We missed wide open threes and cannot do that against a good team. Also, Tevari having the worst game of the season.

Tevari will pick it up in the second half. He has had some balls just fall off the rim.

Amani picking up that 2nd foul was big. When he went out they started their run. Groce put him back in.

Just keep it close in the first half. Lately we have been a better second half team.

Good game thus far. Zips are able to penetrate. We finally got a call going to the hoop.

After watching Miami struggle against MAC teams that we beat by double digits and then lose to Mass I was very surprised that they pulled the upset. However, maybe losing the Mass was not a bad thing in that the pressure of an undefeated season was gone, they did not have to play 3 games in 3 days which is a grind and were well rested, and they got to play an NCAA tourney game an hour from campus.

Shammah Scott's game-winner vs Toledo (2026) Watched it at least 10 times this week. Gets better each time.

When looking back at the Zips season, they had 5 losses and three of those losses were away losses to teams that made the NCAA tourney including Purdue, Miami, and Troy. The Yale loss was on a neutral court and one of the best games all season and that game went back and forth till the very end. Yale is in the NIT and lost out on an NCAA bid in overtime. The away loss to Murray State was our only bad loss of the season.

For a guy whose team just lost on a last second shot I thought he did not act like a jerk. He brought out the fact that we had 5 seniors. I thought Toledo played really well. I thought his players also brought out the fact how the Zips wanted this game. As a Zips fan who has seen Scott make that shot numerous times, I know it was not luck but I can certainly understand his feelings and disappointment.

Groce made a great half time adjustment in that we attacked the basket and stopped relying on the 3 ball that simply was not dropping. People on this board wondered if the lack of close games would come back to haunt us in Cleveland and we answered that question tonight. That shot Scott hit tonight was from the same location that he made the shot at the end of the half against Mass. I sit behind the Mass bench and the Mass coach even told Scott "nice shot" That shot will go down as one of the great shots in Zips history.

Really excited about tonights game. We beat Toledo by 10 at home and Lyles was 7 of 8 from the field scoring 19 points with no 3 point attempts. We shot over 50% from the field. We also outrebounded them 37 to 25. It is weird how a long season comes down to one game for the MAC championship. Win or lose, I think Groce recruited a bunch of great scholar athletes on this team that can make all Zip fans proud. Go Zips!!!!

Does Groce start Halligan tonight? I do not think he has scored in the last 5 games and last night he passed up an open three and turned the ball over. He only played a total of 4 minutes. Also, Groce seems to shorten the bench in these championship games. Do you start Young instead since he has been playing stellar defense or do you keep what has gotten you here and not mess with a winning rotation. My prediction and open optimism is that Lyles comes out of his shooting slumg and lead the Zips to a double digit victory. Go Zips!!!

Winning ugly is still winning!!! Amani Lyles is having a difficult time shooting the 3 ball and is now 0 for 10 in 2 games. I know of at least one former Akron player that shot the ball well during the season but when it came to the MAC tourney in Cleveland his shooting percentage went way down. Not sure if Amani is feeling the pressure of the tourney but hopefully tomorrow will be the day he finds his shot. Zach Halligan has also had a rough time of it lately on offense. He only played 2 minutes and Groce pulled him after a horrible turnover and he only played 4 minutes tonight. Yesterday he got pulled in the first few minutes after missing an open 3 and another bad turnover. I am sure Groce will start him tomorrow but he needs to play better. I think everyone else had solid games. I am going to give a special shoutout to Bowen Hardman who played 26 minutes and 3 of 6 shooting for 9 points and 4 rebounds. I do not think he is a great defender but I thought he played really good defense tonight and hit some big three point shots, Can the Zips have one game where they shoot better than 40% from three and show Toledo the door. I think when they play poorly they are a competitive MAC team but when they are hitting the 3 point shots they should take care of business tomorrow. Go Zips!!!!