1981 grad

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.

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.