1981 grad

Keep the format as it now stands. I remember 2015 when the Zips had to play their 4th game in 5 days. The played Bobby Hurley's Buffalo squad that were playing their 1st game with the double bye. And Bobby Hurley did something smart, he pressed our guard Antino Jackson full court the entire game and it tired him out and he shot 1 of 13 from 3 point land. I remember there was a minute left in the game and they were up by 10 and the Buffalo guard looked at Hurley and he finally took off the full court pressure. I always felt like KD should have had Big Dog bring up the ball to give Jackson a rest. Big Dog was actually a very good ball handler for his size. But it was patently unfair to have a well rested team playing the Zips. If the Zips or any other MAC team cannot win three in Cleveland, then they do not deserve the tourney.

The Zips did not play their best basketball but still came out with a win. We only shot 33% from the three line and when we do not shoot the 3 ball well we are beatable. It was tough watching Buffalo come back 2 games in a row. We cannot close them out. We had a 16 point lead shrink to one but we came through in the clutch. Lyles was 0 for 5 from the 3 point line. We need better than that against Kent. Eric Mahaffey only took one shot that he made. Would like to get him more involved in the offense. Considering this is his first MAC tourney game, he may have been a little hesitant to shoot. Glad to see we were even on the boards. Both teams sucked at the foul line. Buffalo shot 50% and we shot 60%. However, we did get some offensive rebounds off of our misses. Lets hope we can raise our game against Kent. I still think our 3 point shooting is key.

Wasn't that the same scenario when Big Dog made a three pointer to win the game several years ago? The Mass Coach is yelling at his player. If I am the coach I tell him to throw the ball into the nearest player and screw the shot. Bad coaching.

In the first half the refs are letting them play. Physical play with few whistles and that benefits Mass. HOwever, would not be surprised if the whistles come fast and furious in the second half to benfit Miami.

Am I the only one that wishes the Miami game and the Akron game were back to back?

I agree. The strength of this team is not the height but athleticism and quickness. Currently, I like Marvin more than Chabi becaus Chabi just seems slow to me. He just has not done well after his injury. We need to clone Evan Mahaffey. I have really been impressed with him this season. The last dozen games he has been amazing. I have questions about Oggie, Briscoe and Chabi but I never thought Amani would be as good as he has been this year. You just never know who is going to develop their game in the off season.

I just read Groce's contract and if he makes that shot, Groce gets a $37,000 bonus for being champions of the MAC.

We shot 60% from three. Ever since the Kent game Young has been lighting it up from the outside. If the Zips stay hot from the three point line we will be tough to beat. With the seniors starting, I wonder if Groce might be tempted to keep Scott in the starting lineup and sit Halligan who has sturggled on offense. With Young coming off the bench with instant offense, it might be a consideration.

Chilly? Groce was pissed. I sit behind the opposing bench and there coach was yelling to his players we are going to keep playing hard and pressing in the last minute of the game when down by a dozen. And then their star went down with a concussion.

I have been a member of this board for years and in the past we would always have discussions about whether Akron could get an at large bid. We would then lose on the road to a terrible MAC team and end of discussion. But this week Akron had been mentioned numerous times in relationship to March madness in the national media. Why, because the discussion revolves around whether Miami, the only undefeated team in the nation, should get an at large bid if they do not win the conference championship. And the argument set forth by national commentators is that they are not even the best team in the MAC because the Zips had a better schedule and have been blowing out teams in the MAC. Lets enjoy the national attention!!!

I heard the announcers in Miami's win Tuesday declare them conference champions. I have also had people on this board indicate they are rooting for Miami because the Zips have nothing to gain from a loss since they own the tiebreaker against us. However, if Miami loses on Friday and we win Friday we would both be conference champions. Under the MAC rules the tiebreaker is only for seeding purposes only. And tradition dictates that the Zips would cut down the nets as conference champions as we did last year. It is a well deserved reward for our players after a great season. Normally, if Akron wins friday they would cut down the nets in front of a home crowd if Miami loses. However, because of the TV schedule, Akron plays at 6 and Miami plays at 9. Therefore, we will not know till 11:30 whether the Zips won the conference championship. It is senior night and it is terrible that the Zips could lose this opportunity to cut down the nets in front of their fans because of the TV schedule. But that would be the reality. On Friday night: Go Zips!! Go OU!!

Really enjoyed watching this game and how the Zips responded after Central Michigan took the lead. There is no quit in this team. We were the much more physical team and quicker to the ball. We controlled the glass. And Tavari scored 8 straight points after having a miserable night shooting the ball. Groce has really built a great team. Lets finish the regular season on a high note Friday.

Halligan missed 2 wide open threes at Kent and missed one tonight. I hope he can find his shooting touch. We will need him in cleveland to hit those open threes.

I met RJ's dad at the Zip-Kent game as we were walking to the arena. Great guy. I told him that Groce recruits not only great basketball players but also athletes that are good citizens and willing to learn and that says a lot about his son.

I sit behind the opposing teams bench and Frank Martin was verbally abusive to his players. Now these are division 1 athletes and not high school kids who can take the abuse but it made me wonder if this is the best coaching style and at some point in time do the players just tune him out. Ironically, the only time I saw Frank smile was when he bursted out laughing while talking to one of the Akron fans after complaining about the refs . The next game I asked the fan what he had said to Frank. He told Frank that he agreed the refs suck but look at the bright side, he is being paid a million bucks to watch them work tonight and the Akron fans have to pay good money to watch this sh_t show of a reffing crew.

The injury occurred when they were pressing with less than a minute left and they were down by 12. Can anybody spell stupid.

We shot 50% from 3 and the Kent fans went home early tonight. We were up by 25 and Groce slowed it down the last five minutes and we scored only five in the last 5 minutes. I heard him in post game where he was upset that we did not play well in the last 5 minutes. But this team is just not built to take the air out of the ball and have Tavari dribble the ball till the shot clock is down to 8. Slowing the ball down is the right thing to do but it also means we score 5 points at the end of the game.

When we shoot the ball well from 3 we are unbeatable in the MAC. We just have too much talent and athleticism and wear teams down. We saw that in the 2nd half against Buffalo. However, when we do not shoot the ball well from 3 we have enough talent to stay with the competition but it will be a close game. Really hoping we get hot from 3 and send the Kent fans home early tonight.

I just bought my ticket for the Kent game on stubhub. I just printed the ticket and I will be sitting with the Kent fans since it is a season holder ticket. I did the same thing about 5 years ago wearing my Akron hat and a Kent season ticket holder told me I was sitting in the wrong section. I told him I was in the right seat. He yelled for the usher to check my ticket. A young college student usher came over and meekly stated he did not want to do this but asked to see my ticket. I showed him my ticket and the usher thanked me. I then suggested that he check the ticket of the guy who complained and we both laughed. Looking forward to tonights game.

This team broke the game open in the 2nd half when they went 8 of 10 from 3 point range. When this team shoots the ball well from the outside they look really good. In the first half they were 1 of 10 from 3 point range but their inside game kept them in the game. The Zips would have 3 more offensive rebounds if the 3 point shooters would follow their shots. The short ball comes right back to them but they just stand still. Finally, Groce looked upset that Buffalo was pressing in the last 30 seconds. The Buffalo coach was gung ho on keeping the press. I thought Groce wanted Scott to shoot the ball at the end instead of holding it. Groce gave the Buffalo coach a quick handshake and moved on quickly.

The next step of getting time in the NBA is the hardest step in Freeman's journey. He has to have more games where he both scores and rebounds in the G league to get noticed. I would like him to have 30 points and double digit rebounding in every game in the G league. Now that Zicarsky is with the Timberwolves maybe it will give Freeman more of an opportunity to score.

Freeman is back down with the wolves but had probably his best game with 29 points on 7 of 9 shooting and a team leading 12 rebounds. He did foul out and the Wolves lost in Overtime.

I always wondered what pursuaded Tavari to stay at Akron after putting his name in the portal and the annoucers indicated it was only for half a day and the coaching staff told him he needs to think about what he was losing. He then stayed with Akron. Like these announcers. Best yet.

Scott with another buzzer beater to end the half. That is 2 in a row. Not sure which shot was better. They both rate a 10 in my book.

Really strong defense from the Zips. Nice rip away by Young. They are also rebounding the ball well. Great start!!!