1981 grad

I heard Freeman on post game radio talking about AZZiz and how they are best friends and how he thinks Azzis is going to be a great player. He then said you can tell that some players are going to be really good and that some players just never get it. I immediately thought of Kostelac in that latter group. I wish him well but I do not believe he ever made it as a contributor.

I still think this team is playing their best basketball of the season right now. The only problem is that they have been cold from the 3 line while their opponents have been shooting better from the 3 line. I did notice that when Akron switches on a screen we often end up with Aziz on a shooter and it is a total mismatch. Aziz give the shooter too much room and he shoots a wide open 3. How will the Zips react after losing to their rival at home and then having to travel to Michigan? I see this game as crucial for the Zips to stay in the top 4 for the tourney.

Winner Winner Winner!!!!!!!!

I watched the replay and in hindsight he should have passed the ball to Ali since X had drawn the double team. He actually beat 2 guys but the 3rd Kent player forced him into a tough shot. Ali could have done a better job of moving without the ball and would have had a wide open 3. However, this is all hindsight. For the last shot I would want the ball in X hands. Kent played good defense.

I hate to say it but the Zips players also showed some less than exemplary behavior on the court. Ali made a 3 in front of the Kent bench and started talking to the bench. I saw some gesturing from Trimble after a few made baskets and saw him give a forearm to a Kent player and get called for an offensive foul. It was a dumb foul because the refs had just told him and a Kent player to cool it. It was down the stretch when we could not score and the game was tied. I will chalk it up to youthful exuberance and I think the college players are just mirroring what we see in the pros. Does anyone remember when a football player scored and gave the ball to the ref after he scored? My only concern with Kent getting in the face of the Rowdies is that LZIP is correct in that there is a risk of physical violence that cannot be tolerated.

I thought it was a great game even though we lost. We had a chance to win it at the end but failed to execute. Groce said post game that it was a 2 man game with Ali and X and that he thought X should have passed it to Ali. We also had a terrible possession at the end of the half. Our team has had problems when we have to hold the ball for the last shot. X does not have that explosive quickness to get to the basket like LCJ. I thought the main difference was that Kent shot the 3 ball better than we did. Tribble and Clark both air balled wide open 3 points attempts. We also had several possessions where we struggled to shoot the ball before the time clock expired. Remember, this is the first winnable game that we came out on the losing end. I was hoping that X would pass the ball to an open man for a winning 3 ball. Finally, I could care less about the Kent team getting in the faces of our students. Hey, that student section is great and it just shows that they were getting on the nerves of the Kent players. If the teams meet in Cleveland it will be another toss up. I thought we were very physical and did not back down from the Kent players. Great crowd. I think we had about 90% capacity. Best college atmosphere in 2 years.

The problem with Trimble is that if he is not shooting the ball well he does not add much to the team. He has one offensive rebound the entire season and has a very low number of total rebounds this season. He is not a great defender nor does he have great assists numbers. He is amazing when he is on. However, there is only one game against Western Michigan when he went inside the three point line and started scoring. If Groce's emphasis is going to be on rebounding and toughness, I would not be surprised to see him limit Trimble's minutes if he is not hitting from the 3 point line.

This is not brain science. We were 1 of 11 from 3 point land in the 2nd half, got outscored in the paint by 10 points and got outrebounded by 10. Based on our recent play I expect more points in the paint, better rebounding and less reliance on the 3 pointers.

It is way to early to judge Freeman since he is technically a 2nd year player. However, if I would compare a 2nd year Zeke to a 2nd year Freeman I would go with Freeman. Zeke was always good on D but his offense developed much slower. Most importantly, Freeman is so quick to the ball and is a strong rebounder. He is more athletic that Zeke. Also, Freeman wants to improve his game. Zeke was a self proclaimed nerd and I do not think he put the time into the game that he needed to elevate his game. After he turned pro he seemed to get the idea that he needed to concentrate on B ball. Zeke was a better shot blocker and rim protector but I like Freeman's game comparing 2nd year players.

The Zips are playing their best basketball right now so I think this should be a very close game. Last time Trimble went 1 of 9 from 3 and I just do not see that happening. Wynn and Dawson are better defenders and unless Trimble gets hot I think we will see more of a team effort. As long as Freeman stays out of foul trouble and we score from the paint instead of settling for the 3 I think we will be able to handle Kent. Anyone want to predict the crowd? Sell out, 75% or 50% capacity?

Sucks to be an underclassman at Loyola

I did not take it as a criticism. I just love the way the Zips are playing and not relying on the 3 ball. They won with strong passing, getting the ball inside, and playing good defense. Northern made some tough shots the first half and I knew if the Zips kept up the defense those shots would not fall in the 2nd half. The only mistake was Freeman inbounding the ball instead of Ali in the last minute and Ali missing 2 free throws. When Ali and Trimble are off, we usually lose. That did not happen tonight.

I disagree. I love watching this team. We scored a lot of points in the paint tonight. We had great passing finding the open man. Tribble played his best game. We did not have a long scoring drought because we were scoring inside. This team is getting the ball into the most consistent player, Freeman. Ali and Trimble had an off night and we still lead the entire game. I liked the fact that Trimble went inside for his first shot and basket. He then aired a couple of 3 balls. He messed up on D and Groce pulled him. Wynn is a better rebounder than Trimble and Dawson is a better defender. I was surprised that Groce did not put him back in but the team was playing real well without him. My only complaint is on D Groce had us double team on the post leading to some open 3 balls. Freeman is a great defender and there is no reason to double team unless he thought the double team would keep Freeman out of foul trouble. I believe the Zips are playing the best ball of the season and I hope it continues Friday against Kent.

It is always difficult to win on the road and Akron has lost only 2 MAC road games. I will be impressed if they can win tonight since we always have a tough time in Northern Illinois. It is great that we have players that play hard every night. Trimble is the only wild card with his streaky shooting. To me the keys to the game will be rebounding, not falling in love with the 3 point shot early, bench play, and getting the ball into the hands of X and Freeman, our most reliable players.

I just do not see a new arena on the horizon. We lost about 20% of the fan base when KD left. We lost another 25% with covid. The jar is about half full on good nights. The interest in Akron basketball has diminished even though we have had some good teams under Groce. Akron has cut general admission to $5 and we are 10-3 and we still are not getting great crowds. I will bet that the Kent game will not sell out. Also, build it and they will come did not exactly work with Infocision field. We need to build our fan base before we even think of a new arena.

Really good team effort. Ali had a good 2nd half but the whole team played well. I do not believe that Azziz played in the second half because Freeman played the entire 2nd half. He is a great rebounder and had some great assists. This team plays so much better when he is on the floor even though he scored only 4 points.

I think we made our run with 3 starters on the bench. This team is really playing well with 9 deep.

As soon as Freeman hit the bench this team started to struggle. A couple of bounce passes to Aziz that he could not handle and a couple of long 3 balls. Once again we are taking a long time to get into an offensive set with a lot of dribbling outside. I agree with running down the shot clock at the end of the half but put the ball in X hands. That mistake cost us 4 points. The refs sure like blowing the whistle in this game. We are going to set a record for moving screens and offensive fouls. AZZis has to challenge guys who are driving in the paint. He backed off twice on the last 2 plays and Groce finally pulled him.

I also appreciate what KD did for Akron basketball. Prior to KD, Akron basketball was not a consistent winning program. Although we could have done better in Cleveland, we always had quality players who improved each year.

it was rare for KD to bring in a transfer. Pat Forsyth was a West Virginia player. Nick Dials was a Ohio St recruit and Brien Walsh transferred from Xavier. Look how many transfers we have had with Groce.

I feel bad for KD. His team has lost 6 straight and lost the last game to Richmond by 20. They are in next to last place in their conference. Their forum is getting out the tar and feathers. I think the new transfer rules probably hurt KD in that you cannot develop talent if the players can quickly jump ship. He developed 4 year players and that just does not happen anymore. Look how he developed players such as Zeke, Big Dog, Tree, Jake and numerous others. I am sure this is his most difficult year.

When you look at the stats, the one stat that jumped out at me is that we got 17 bench points and that includes Dawson shot 0 for 4 from the 3 line. If we can play 9 with quality minutes from the bench, this team could hit a new ceiling. The bench players had 15 rebounds with Dawson getting 5. The offensive rebound off the missed foul shot was important. This team shot 30% from 3 ball and 50% from the field and had 38 points in the paint. I like the fact we got the ball inside to score instead of relying on the 3 ball. We often start a game with consecutive 3 ball shots that miss and we end up behind and play catch up the rest of the game. Finally, I thought we did a much better job of starting our offense earlier in the shot clock. I can't tell you how many times we pass the ball around the perimeter or dribble on the perimeter and start the offense with less than 15 seconds on the shot clock. We got the ball into Freeman early or Ali went one on one early and they had time to operate. We rarely were at the end of the shot clock last night and we did not see any bad shots or desperation 3 point shots. I hope we continue to put an emphasis on getting the ball into Freeman's hands the rest of the season. If this team can shoot 50% from the field we should be able to compete with Toledo Ohio and beat Kent.

I liked how we were able to get the ball inside to Ali and Freeman. Trimble is a great player but because the bench played so well I did not feel like we missed him. Nice to see Clarke get extended minutes. He had some nice steals but he needs to move his feet quicker as he still gets beat off the dribble on defense. Nice to see him drive to the basket and dish the ball to a big. He was doing that last year and has not been driving to the basket this year. This team really needs good minutes from the bench if we are going to do anything in Cleveland. I was very surprised that X did not take control of the game in the first 5 minutes when we scored only 5 points. I have seen this all year that if Trimble starts cold we will be down 7 points in the first 5 minutes. We are notorious for our slow starts.

I sit behind the visitors bench and I agree that this was an awful T. This was the most positive coach in the MAC. He did not yell at his team or the refs. Whenever a player came out he patted him on the back. He just reacted to what he thought was a bad call. I think he may have crossed over half court by an inch and that may have been the T. It clearly was not anything he said.