1981 grad

I really had a good time tonight based on a combination of things. First, great turnout from the Zips fans and we were loud. Second, the Zips lead wire to wire and played pretty close to a perfect game. Other than Clark missing 3 foul shots at the end and a couple of turnovers, we did not take a bad shot, hit the boards hard and played great defense. Whenever Toledo made a run we always had an answer. We also made our foul shots tonight while Toledo was missing their foul shots. Finally, I stayed for Kent game and really enjoyed the college atmosphere. Ohio played poorly and still were within 4 points in the last 2 minutes. Kent is beatable. Also, it was so nice to yell and scream for your team without a mask. It just seemed that we were back to normal. This team is really playing well and really looking forward to tomorrow's game. Go Zips.

ou making it a game

a lot of akron fans tonight. x had the game of the year. everyone played well. tribble had some great floaters. lead the entire game. we were the better team

I wonder if we will play any zone today. Toledo struggled against the 2-3 zone yesterday, especially in the first half. We played zone yesterday for one possession and Buffalo struggled but then after they shot the ball they got an offensive rebound and a put back layup and that was it for the zone. Our zone has struggled this year with leaving guys wide open in the corner for a three ball and rebounding off a miss. I think Groce might try some zone and see if it works.

I think if we win tonight and Kent beats OU we will at least have a strong possibility of getting an NIT bid.

This has been a weird season for 2 reasons. I have never seen a team get better after ejecting a player. We actually lost 2 scholarship players for attitude issues and playing our best basketball of the season. Second, I do not remember a MAC season where the Zips did not get blown out in at least one game. Our worse losses were to Toledo and Kent and we were in both of those games in the last 5 minutes. Other than the Florida tournament, this team has competed in every game.

Yea, if it would have hit the backboard it would have gone in. (LOL)

You indicate that Tribble does not finish at the rim but he has a 461 shooting percentage and he scores almost exclusively from the paint. So he does finish at the rim. He also gets to foul line better than anyone on the team except Freeman. I admit that he does not finish as well as LCJ but not many guards can. Groce had enough confidence in him to take the last shot and it worked and won the game. I admit that sometimes he goes up and has nowhere to go but LCJ also had that problem on occasion especially his first and second year in Akron. His last year he developed a floater and became almost unstoppable. I also agree that Ali dribbles too much and he had a terrible game with turnovers. However, he got hot from the 3 point line and was the leading scorer. Obviously, Groce like to have Ali isolate and post his man. Not going to argue with the coach but he needs to finish better as he often gets stuck in the lane with nowhere to go. He also has the best 3 point shooting percentage among the Zips. My main gripe with Ali is that after he makes a 3 I have seen him talk to the opposing team's bench and has also picked up a couple of techs. I wish he would just play ball and leave the trash talking to Carey and the Flashes.

Who would have guessed of the 4 games that OU would have the largest margin of victory.

After watching that interview Zips fans must be proud of the fact we have great student athletes and a great coach on this team.

miami was playing off kerry at the 3 line and he is killing them. have to stay in his face and let somedody else shoot off his pass. kerry talks more to the crowd than a philadelphia lawyer

great game. no stats at the q but i have to believe we had 15 turnovers with ali having 5. groce went to tribble to win game. love it. going to stay and route for miami

I believe the key to this game is the Zips offense or lack thereof. We need to execute. If we can shoot close to 50% from the field and 40% from 3 we should be in this game. Unfortunately, we have seen a bunch of slow starts from the Zips and inconsistent shooting. I hope we can pound the ball into Freeman and if they double team he finds the open man for an open shot. Go Zips

Has anyone got their tickets yet and know what section the Akron fans are sitting?

I was not going to post anything but since I saw this topic active again, I watched KD's presser after losing 16 in a row and you have to admire him for not ducking any questions and not making any excuses. He indicated that he has never gone through this type of season before and he talked to other coaches who have and they gave him advice on trying to look for small victories even during a losing season. He indicated that currently his team has so little height that they resemble a high school team and they cannot do anything down low and that they are playing frosh who make frosh mistakes. I also heard the radio program where Freeman and Ali spoke very admirably about Groce's passion for basketball. Akron has been fortunate to have 2 coaches in the past 20 years that have been passionate about the game and great coaches.

Wow, I just looked his up and when he was promoted from asst. coach to coach his salary went from $110,000 to $120,000. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

Or your team can go on a 5 game winning streak. (LOL)

And the Dukes have lost 15 in a row.

Wow, another coach that leaves the MAC only to find failure. The list gets longer and longer each year.

Groce indicated post game that the team had no energy. I thought the energy was there but we struggled against the zone to get some good shots. We were at the end of the shot clock on several possessions. Ali got the ball at the key and just could not do anything. He was missing his jump shot that he has been making lately. Freeman struggle inside when we got the ball to him and there was often a double team. Against the zone we need better outside shooting and we were not hitting a three. I do not think we will see much zone in Cleveland so I believe our offense will be better. We have to do a better job shooting foul shots. Great to see the Zips pressure the ball at the end and win the game. Very exciting game at the end and great defense on the last play.

Kent is up by 12 in first 30 minutes. We could face a Buffalo team that has lost 2 in a row or an Ohio team that lost 3 in a row.

Great, maybe if we have another blowout he can make an appearance.

Does anyone know if Brandon Ford, the team manager who scored a basket against Bowling Green still on the team and dresses for games. I know Groce was upset when he scored since the game was a blowout and he scored when time was expiring.

I think based on our recent play that we could win in Cleveland. Can the Zips put 3 good games together and do we have a player or players that can step up in the clutch. In KD last few years he had good teams in Cleveland but had at least one player who never played well in Cleveland and it hurt the team. Further, although LCJ was a great player, he needed to sink his last jump shot from the corner for the Zips to advance. You need that great play to move forward. In a final game against Kent we won in Cleveland because Zeke had 11 blocks. Who will step up for the Zips to have an outstanding tournament for the Zips to win the championship: Freeman, Ali, X, Tribble, Dawson. Time will tell.

The Zips were bad offensively the first half and still won by 19. Great 2nd half by X. This team is really playing well. The announcers were right about that block by Freeman. It was clean. He is so quick to the ball the refs called it because the anticipated a foul. Looking forward to Friday. I do not believe the Zips have a senior for senior night.