1981 grad

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.

We give a player a hard time and he makes a three.

I have heard the Freeman tryout story so many times from the visiting announcers where he tried out and made an immediate impact on this Akron team. I have to laugh because I still remember Freeman's first year as a walk on and I would have given him zero chance of being a contributor on this team. I have never seen a player improve as much as he has in two years. He has put in the hard work to get where he is today and I hope the improvement continues the next 2 years.

It is great when you suck offensively and still have a 12 point lead. Really like the double team. Our defense is playing great and Ball State has missed a lot of shots. Did not like it when Azziz goes up for a block and nobody for Akron tries to rebound. Clark need to go for a rebound and not shy away from contact. Dawson might be our best 3 point shooter right now. Akron needs to play better in the second half or they could get in trouble. Ball State will not continue their bad shooting the entire game.

The Zips have missed a bunch of wide open shots. Ali just shot a 3 ball that landed 5 feet short of the basket. We are getting great looks but nothing is falling. Ball State is worse but I like to think it is because of the Zips defense.

I expect the Zips to win this game since they just beat the first place team on the road. Since Trimble has left the team, this team is playing quicker, more ball movement, bench players are playing better, and they are scoring more points in the pain. The guys who are picking up Trimble's minutes are all quicker than him on both offense and defense. Clark has really improved the last 3 games and those transition threes have be giant killers. I see the Zips winning their last 2 and having a real chance to win their first in Cleveland. I never expected this team to play so much better without Trimble.

I remember Lebron being at a Buffalo game for 2 reasons. One, a Buffalo player dove for a ball and ended up on Lebron and he helped him up. Probably the highlight of that guy's college career. Second, Bobby Hurley was their coach and went crazy after a call and the ref gave him a T. Lebron almost fell down laughing at Hurley's antics. Always fun to watch Hurley going crazy.

After mentioning Kwan, I looked him up and he is playing in Madrid in the top league in Spain and is their 3rd leading scorer and 2nd leading rebounder. Glad to see a former Zip doing well. Does his home arena that seats 5400 remind anyone of the Jar?

With Buffalo having 2 difficult games to end the season and Ohio having 2 road games to end the season against teams they beat at home by an average of a 10 points, it is a very outside chance we could get the 3rd seed if we win out and they lose and if we own the tiebreaker against Ohio.

I think the Zips found a winning formula without Trimble. We are scoring in the paint and not relying on the 3 point basket. Further, this team is much quicker and a much better rebounding team without him. We outrebounded Ohio by 10 last night. Trimble was a perimeter player who did not rebound. Our traps on defense work better because Trimble was slow and a liability on defense. Also, that is why Groce brings in Wynn in the 2nd half to rest Freeman. Azziz is a great rim protector but not great on the traps because he is not very quick. Most importantly, the Zips made their shots yesterday and shot 62%. Ali was amazing on the fadeaways and moves around the basket. Tribble also scored around the basket. Can they keep that up the rest of the season. Remember, X had an off night shooting but killed Ohio at the foul line. A great team effort last night and lets hope the Zips can continue this type of play the last 2 games.