1981 grad

I hate to answer my own question but thus far he is bringing it!!!

The question I have is whether Sammy Hunter will play tonight with the same intensity he played with on Tuesday. Sammy went to the foul line 7 times on Tuesday. He has only attempted 25 all year!! That is because he was hustling on offense, hitting the boards, and taking the ball inside. He was also hitting his 3 ball and playing great D. I have not been a big fan of Hunter because he tends to stand on the wing, shoot three balls and primarily misses until we are up or down by 20. Not a recipe for success. However, on Tuesday I saw a completely different player. The third scorer we have been looking for all season. What was the difference Tuesday night, his parents were visiting from the Bahamas and he obviously wanted to impress them. He certainly impressed me and all other Zips fans. Unfortunately, on the post game he indicated his parents were leaving the following day. I hope Groce must have a heart to heart with Sammy to explain that if you have the talent to be successful, you should not waste that talent. Or in the alternative, the Zips forum needs to take up a collection and fly Sammy's parents up to Cleveland for the tourney. He needs to bring the intensity every game and should be at the foul line at least 4 times a game. This team needs Sammy Tuesday to show up on Friday.

Thanks, did not think of it that way.

I thought the idea behind the one seed playing first is the give them the advantage of having the most rest between game. if that is the case, shouldn't the 2 seed be the next game?

It occurred right in front of me and I could not believe the no call. They were literally blocking. Tribble who is former linebacker motioned to the bench he was blocked off his man. They also missed a goal tending and a Ball State guy who had his foot on the line before a Zip got called for a foul. This is usually a good crew.

Tough to think we are playing for 2nd place. However, the Kent home winning streak is on the line and it would be nice for the Zips to end it. Big question, can Hunter have another big game and keep playing like he did today. Worth the price of admission.

Listen to the post game and Sammy's parents got to see him play for the first time. The guy surely loves his parents. What a performance. He played tough the entire night. Would love to see him play like that every game. Without his play we lose this game. Heard him post game and really a nice guy. Love to see a guy who has had a rough season have a breakout game.

Great minds think alike. Did not see your post before I posted (LOL)

It is senior night for X and Hankerson. Congrats to our seniors!! It has been 5 years since we had a player stay with the program for 4 years, Jimond Ivey. Next year we will hopefully have two 4 year players, Freeman and Tribble. The new transfer rules have certainly done a number on players staying with one program during their 4 years of eligibility.

Okay, maybe they will just forfeit. (LOL) I don't care who they put on the floor, the Zips can play down to the competition so the the Zips have to play well to win this game and clinch the 2-3 spot.

Wow, the preseason poll is looking pretty accurate right now. They have the top 5 except for Toledo being second instead of first and it was very close. No surprises this year.

Groce stated that If he took his medicine he thought he should be ready on Tuesday. But with sickness you never know for sure.

Heard the Johnsons on the post game show. Really represents Akron well. So impressed that Groce can find great student athletes. Tavari talked about how Groce wants him to play better defense to get more time. He had 2 steals tonight. Also admitted the bank shot was not planned. Nate talked about how much the red shirt helped him to prepare for this year. He also indicated that he is being more aggressive. I hope he continues to improve each game. We need that to advance in Cleveland.

Not me. Tired of seeing Sammy miss his first 5 shots to start the game. He had a great dunk and a couple of nice baskets after the lead reached 20. No way should he start.

Kent down 10 to Bowling Green but it is still 1st half.

Hard to believe but Eastern is up 4 points with 3 minutes left against Ball State. Imani has a double double and he even rebounded his own missed shot.

I agree! He has the talent but I watched an earlier Butler game where he hit an opposing player in the back when the player had a breakaway. I think he was the one player last year who would occasionally look at the opposing bench after hitting a three. If he bought into the program he would not have left. However, I still wish him well and it is still interesting to see how former Zips do after they transfer.

As I indicated on Sunday, if we played as well as we did against Kent and Buffalo, this game would be a toss up. Against a good team like Toledo, you cannot go 0 for 15 behind the arc and expect to be in the game. it was not their defense, we had great looks and Freeman and Tribble were able to score from inside. It was our inability to score from the outside starting the game. We have seen this all season, the lack of consistency on offense.

When we are down by 30 Hunter finally finds his stroke. I just wonder if this guy just tenses up early in the game and it throws off his shot. When we were up by 30 against Buffalo he hit a couple of three balls. I know it sounds crazy but it makes me wonder especially when I hear he lights it up in practice.

I see your point in the second half. No way I thought we could stop Toledo. However, if we shot the ball decently like we did on Saturday I thought we could be in this game. We are 0 for 12 from the 3 line with most of those being open looks. If we hit 40% of those shots we would be in this game.

Hunter gets an offensive rebound under the basket. Instead of taking it up strong he dribbles away from the basket and loses the ball. That is just bad basketball. Take the ball up strong!!!!

Our wings, Hunter and Hankerson cannot hit a three and they give us nothing inside. We have seen this too many times this season. Tribble and Freeman are keeping us in this game by hitting inside shots. We closed the gap because Toledo finally started missing some shots. It is not that we match up badly with them, we just cannot shoot the ball. We need some consistent shooting on the road. Hankerson usually heats up in the 2nd half. This lead is not unsurmountable but we need to start hitting some 3 balls.

Great shot by Nate Johnson as time expired!!! Great drive by Clarke.

We have had a bunch of open looks. Starting out slow once again. We are playing well just cannot drain an open three.

If we play as well as we did against Kent and Buffalo than this game will be a toss up. We need contributions from everyone on the team. If Nate, Hankerson, and Hunter contribute on offense we should score into the 70s and have a chance to win. We know what we can get from X and Freeman, we need the supporting cast to step up. If they double and triple Freeman down low, we need to hit the 3 point shots. We control our destiny. If we win out, we win the MAC and get a one seed. That makes the tournament a lot easier since we would avoid Kent and Toledo until the finals if we advance that far.