1981 grad

I really enjoyed how the Zips played tonight. They started out hot from beyond the 3 line and when they cooled off in the 2nd half it did not make a difference. Both Hankerson and Nate penetrated tonight and scored inside. If Nate can become a 3rd scorer and Hankerson starts driving to the basket this team can really be good. I thought the defense was good and we killed them on the boards the first half and had about 8 more rebounds. Freeman and X have been outstanding every night. If they get support from the rest of the team we can play with anyone in the MAC. Great team effort and a great game to watch. If we can play like this in Toledo we could upset them at home.

Emani is showing some improvement. He went 1 for 9 jacking up three pointers against us. He went 1 of 8 jacking up 3 pointers against Kent. Why was that a national game of the week?

I do feel a little bad for their announcers. They have to watch this team over 19 times.

I cannot believe there is any discussion about him going in the NBA draft.

Am I the only one to notice but when Emani comes in the game they stop playing defense?

X is having an off game. He really has not taken that many shots and has not gotten to the foul line like he usually does.

Nate drives to the basket and now he has made 2 straight 3 point baskets. I guess he is a 2nd half player. (LOL)

As I have indicated before, Nate Johnson gets the start and really has not added much. He is looking to pass and really has not made one move to the basket. I know he is a frosh but I just cannot understand why Tavari is not getting some time.

Why would Eastern take a quick 3 from the corner instead of running clock. This has to be the worst coached team in the MAC or Emani decided to shoot it on his own. Either way, terrible look. Of course, we also did not run clock on our last possession. We have taken a lot of three balls tonight.

We are really playing bad. I would bring in Tavari, cannot do any worse than what is out there. We have been stuck on 13 for at least 5 minutes. No offensive flow against the worst defense in the Mac

I wish Sammy or Hankerson would learn to finish at the hoop. If they can't do it against this team it is not going to happen.

So glad we decided not to ban sarcasm on the board.

As much as Nate played against Ohio I am pretty sure Sammy is not sick

Gameday!!! Gameday??? Nothing quiets this board more than 2 losses in a row. We went from a high of beating Kent State to a low of losing to Ohio and Toledo. However, both Toledo and Ohio played really well in beating the Zips. A lot of the Zips wins came against teams that did not have great records and did not shoot the ball well against the Zips. The problems with this team is obvious, in the win against Kent we got production from the entire team. In the loss against Ohio, we got 8 points from the bench and Hunter was MIA. And although Hankerson had a good night scoring, most of his points came in the 2nd half when we were already down by 18 points. Although Groce complained about the defense, it is difficult to contain a team when they get hot from beyond the 3 line and that occurred in the past 2 games. We need a team effort tonight to right this ship. Go Zips!!

If you were his mom or dad, would you tell him to stay another year if he wants to make a career playing basketball? Would it benefit him to go pro, transfer to a bigger program, or stay at Akron? If he were undecided about making this a career, I would advice him to stay at Akron and have fun since he is not going to find a better coach than Groce and all the guys on the team are class guys. For most players their college careers are the highlight of their athletic careers since very few college players make it to the pros unless you are committed to playing in Europe where you may find less fans than in Akron. May not find that somewhere else.

I agree that Groce gets credit for developing Freeman. I still remember his first game. Skinny kid with skinny legs that I thought was just a walk on who would never see any time. However, my original post was that Groce was great at recruiting guards and KD was great at recruiting big men. Groce has yet to bring in a big guy that made a big difference although he has a short time frame compared to KD.

For those of us who have been on this board for a long time, we always used to drool over the great guards in the MAC and wonder, why cant KD and Akron find these players and get them to Akron. Well, with the play of LCJ and X, we have had the best guards in the league 4 of the past 5 years. Groce has an eye for guard talent. Meanwhile, KD seemed to have an eye for great centers and big men such as Big Dog, Zeke, and Treadwell. (Groce did not recruit Freeman, he walked in from the cafeteria).

I just looked at the box score and Nate had 5 rebounds so what game was I watching. However, I saw at least one play where he did not go for a rebound and it resulted in a Ohio layup and a play where he did not stay in front of his man and gave up an easy layup.

Groce went with Nate Johnson instead of Hunter and I know he had one nice drive and dish in the second half but he is very hesitant on offense and needs to learn to go for the ball and rebound. I cannot remember him pulling down a rebound tonight and he probably played 30 minutes. He is a frosh but I just don't understand when you get a chance to shine you do not play with more aggressiveness.

At least they are fighting hard until the end. We played some bad basketball and may lose by single digits.

Sammy Hunter is back to being the popcorn player. Cannot hit no matter how wide open. Hankerson is struggling also. We have seen this movie before but Bobcats are just hitting everything.

They shoot an air ball and their guy gets a layup. That is just plain luck. Tribble letting his man cut to the basket and ball watching, that is bad defense.

All the baskets in the 2nd half have been near the basket. Nothing outside. When Freeman goes for the block Nate Johnson needs to get the rebound.

I do not think the defense is that bad. Ohio has hit 6 of 9 from 3 point and a lot of those shots are contested. They will not continue that in the 2nd half.

We started off slow again when Hunter and Hankerson cannot hit a shot in the first 5 minutes. Same thing happened against Toledo. Hankerson ran 2 very nice fast breaks with passes to Tribble and Freeman for dunks although Freeman got fouled. When Freeman gets the ball down low we always run somebody down the lane for a give and go and it never happens. All it does is jam up the lane. Nate Johnson cannot play defense by giving up the baseline drive. I just don't understand how he can play defense that way. The Zips are struggling on offense and Ohio is hitting their 3 ball. Not looking good.