1981 grad

Interesting that UCLA went small to deal with the Akron pressure defense. Interesting to see if they play small in the second half. X is having a great game. Hate that he and Freeman both have 2 fouls. That turnover under our own basket really hurt. I wish they would have called time out. Our only really bad play of the half.

Clearly not as good as Freeman but who is. He just is not that quick to the ball but he will get better.

Hate to see Wynn airball an open three. He has been playing so well. Like the Zips aggressiveness on defense. Everyone is going for the ball. Need to keep up the d.

Clark for three. We are looking good. Need to keep playing with composure. The more we can keep up our good play the more pressure builds on UCLA.

I am glad to see Aziz get some playing time and score. He needs to get stronger. I cannot count how many times his shots have gotten blocked from behind. He will be much better next year.

Azziz with a strong rebound and put back. Zips playing great defense. Need to keep this close. Hate that Freeman picked up a quick foul.

I am hoping for a competitive game going into the last 5 minutes. In my mind, the pressure is on UCLA since we are not the team that went to the final 4 last year and has everyone back next year. The keys to the Zips being competitive Freeman staying out of foul trouble. The one thing that nobody noticed on Saturday is that Freeman did not pick up a single foul. I cannot tell you how many times MAC refs have taken him out of the game by calling ticky tack fouls on him. Will the refs let the boys play? Not running out the time clock and forcing a bad shot. Yes, we play slow. However, we cannot play so slow that we run out of time to take a shot or forced into a desperate shot. We have to play as well as we did during the tournament with no bad passes, no unforced errors, aggressive defense, points in the paint and good 3 point shooting. In other words, we must shoot around 50% from the field and at least around 40% from 3. Finally, we have to rebound. We cannot get beat off the boards. Unfortunately, when you play a highly talented team, there is little room for error. Go Zips!!!!!

Great article by Pluto on Freeman. Not sure if anyone posted but here it is: https://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/2022/03/akrons-enrique-freeman-from-an-unknown-walk-on-to-tournament-mvp-terry-pluto.html

Thanks for all of the posts. Obviously, I went to all of those games but I did not remember them being a lower seed. I must have a selective memory because what stands out in my mind are the Saturday nights I walked out of the Q disappointed by a loss and a poor performance by a team that had the talent to win but just did not play well in the championship game. (I also remember the bank shot that lost us a game and the missed jumper that gave Ohio U the championship and the run in the NCAA that lead to Groce going to Illinois)

Having followed the Zips since Dambrot first became an assistant coach and always going to Cleveland for the games I was trying to figure out what was different about this title run and it finally struck me. This is the first time I can remember is that we overachieved in Cleveland. For those people who are historians of this team, have we ever won the championship from a 4 seed? I cannot remember playing 3 difficult teams in a row and winning each time. It seems to me that although we have been to the NCAA tournament 3 times with Dambrot, we were always a high seed. I can also remember losing the championship as a high seed after the team performed poorly in the final game. The Zips came to Cleveland and played to the best of their ability in 3 straight games. The coach and the team deserve a lot of credit ignoring the pressures and just playing great basketball in Cleveland.

I cancelled right after the tournament and they charged me 2 extra months indicating I did not cancel. I am disputing it with my credit card company.

I thought they may take one other MAC team in the NIT. Kent did not help itself by losing to us by 20. I wonder if other MAC teams will be in a post season tournament?

Thanks!!! Good luck in the NIT

No worries, I am sure Hilltopper will have 2 tickets to Portland that he cannot use. Dibs (LOL)

Last night I checked the flight to Milwaukee and it was $500. We got screwed!!!

Groce made 2 big moves. First, he parted ways with Trimble. This made the team quicker on defense and less dependent on the 3 ball. Also, since Trimble did not rebound and Wynn and Dawson hit the boards, we became a better rebounding team. Also, Trimble rarely got to the foul line and by driving the ball to the basket more we got to the foul line more. Also, he limited Aziz minutes. Because of his length, Azziz is very slow and once he jumps off his feet he cannot recover and cannot rebound. He was also a liability of offense. Groce had Ali and Freeman as post up players. We played better small without Azziz. Also, I had given up on Clark halfway through the season and Groce had faith in him and he had a very good tournament. Especially hitting 3 three pointers in the finals. After Trimble left this team really played well and I agree it was a very pleasant surprise based on great coaching.

Thanks for the correction.

All during the tournament, this team kept its cool and never got rattled. Last night when Kent pulled within a point, Clark hit a tough 3 followed by an X three. The lead was back up to 7 and the next thing you knew it was up to double digits. Ironic, last time we won the tourney, we beat Kent and our center Zeke had a great game and was named tourney MVP and this year we beat Kent and it was our center, Freeman who was named MVP. I know this will not be popular but give credit to Kent, after the game they got in line to shake hands and they displayed good sportsmanship after the loss. The coaching staff shook hand with the Kent players while our guys were celebrating. Hopefully, the phone incident will be a learning experience. Speaking of learning experience, I watched Carrie closely during the Ohio game and he is a good player. However, he does that dance frequently when he makes a 3. Also, his pregame routine of rubbing his back against the support of the basket and his other antics bring attention to him. When your team is winning, that is great but when your team is losing and you have 6 points and 9 turnovers it just makes you look foolish. Also, your league MVP loses a lot of its value when you have a terrible game in the tournament championship. Humility is not a bad thing even if you are a talented player.

Aren't you the same guy who compared the Zips to a sinking ship? When did you become an optimist? (LOL)

I thought Ohio did a good job on Kerry yesterday by pressuring him and making somebody else beat you. The Zips did it again by doubling him and he had trouble against the pressure and had 9 turnovers. Clark has struggled with the 3 ball and made 2 or 3 three ball and they were difficult shots. Groce indicated earlier in the season that he was coming off an injury and would get better. He played a great game. X did a tremendous job on Kerry. Freeman was a beast and the team did a great job getting the ball to him. The team played very quick on defense with a lot of ball hawking causing 19 turnovers. Never thought the Zips would win by 20. Great game. Nice going back to the Big Dance. Now lets get our first NCAA tournament victory. Go Zips!!!

One of the things that college coaches need to teach their student athletes is to have respect for your opponent. I still remember before the tip off I would see student athletes acknowledge each other with a few words before the game and I have not seen that lately. Further, as I have indicated earlier, I have seen Ali talk to the opposing bench after he hits a three. I have not seen it during the tournament and hopefully Groce has spoken to Ali on this issue. Student athletes are supposed to represent their respective school and that video is embarrassment to Kent. Good for Kent.

Yes, I believe that it was the appropriate response by Kent. Another response would have been an apology by the players on social media.

Good for Kent.

One of the advantages we have in this game is that of our 7 players, 4 of them have not logged huge minutes this season. Although Ali leads the team logging 1100 minutes, Tribble is at 796, Dawson, 766, Clark, 452, and Wynn at 212. When you look at the Ohio State game, these 4 players logged a combined 39 minutes. Last night they combined for a total of 100 minutes.