1981 grad

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.

I guess the idea of the zone is to slow down the game but it lead to some wide open threes and then Ohio developed some confidence in their shooting. Not sure if that was the best move. Great win for the Zips. We are undefeated after Trimble left the team. Coincidence?

I am starting to feel really good about this one. Back to back great plays by Tribble.

Great steal by Dawson. Unfortunately, our zone defense often leads to open threes.

You knew that Ohio would make a run. We just need to keep our composure. I would love to see X take control of the game and make a couple of shots. Rare miss by Freeman down low. Once again I would love to see Tribble take that wide open jump shot.

I replayed that moving screen call on Freeman and it was very weak. He moved his foot an inch and the ref called it. Did not effect the play.

I liked that Tribble took the open 3 although he did not make it. He has to start taking the open shot. He passed on that same shot in the first half. I still think he can hit some open jump shots.

The Zips are really taking care of the ball and a lot of crisp passing leading to easy points. I can only remember one turnover the entire half which was a bad pass from Wynn to Freeman. They are shooting well, passing well and not turning the ball over. Who said our offense is boring? Can we duplicate this effort in the 2nd half?

One of the best halves for the Zips all year. Everyone is playing well. Great passing and sharing the ball. We only had one shot at the end of the shot clock. However, I know this game will get closer in the 2nd half. The Zips have to keep the peddle to the metal in the 2nd half. I like to trapping defense.

Great start for the Zips. Another transition 3 for Clark!!

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Clark and Dawson had their best games of the season. As someone mentioned earlier, the transition 3 from Clark has been a long time coming. We outrebounded BG big time. Great to see everyone looking to rebound. Azziz struggled on defense and did not play a great deal tonight. This is the 2nd game that X fouled out. Weird that X is fouling out and I think Freeman had only one foul. The Zips looked really good the 2nd half on offense and it was fun to watch them making shots. Not sure if BG's defense was that bad or the Zips were playing that good. Freeman was a beast on the boards again. Tribble also had some really nice rebounds. I would still like to see him shoot more. He keeps passing up wide open shots.

Saul Philips ended up at Northern State in South Dakota. I believe they are division 2 basketball. It is a step down for him but the team has been doing very well.

If Trimble is gone, this team will win if the guards play better. X should be a double digit scorer every game. He cannot disappear in a game and needs to take 10-12 shots a game and hit 40% from 3 and get to the foul line. Tribble needs to up his game. He has to hit a couple of jump shots. They do not need to be threes but anything from the outside will help. I am not big on Clark but he has some quickness. I hate to see him dribble out the clock. He needs to go to the basket and not laterally. Last year he penetrated and this year it has been dribbling without the penetration. He also does not have a good shot and that really hurts our team.

Interesting article. By indicating that Trimble is not suspended, it looks like Groce is leaving up to Trimble whether he wants to return to the team and become a coachable player. I thought one of Trimble's best game was against Ball State where he went 1 0f 7 from 3 but then decided to abandon the 3 ball and score around the basket and went 7 of 8 from the field. I remember posting that Trimble would be so much better for the team if he did not shoot the 3 ball exclusively. However, after that game it was sink or swim on the 3. Lately, it has been mostly sinking. I could see where Trimble' might be upset with Groce since Groce has given him the green light to play as a 3 point specialist his entire career with Akron. After the 3 game slide, Groce probably wanted more and took him out as a starter. He might have felt singled out for the losing streak when this is the way he has been playing his entire career under Groce. When I look at Trimble's stats for the year, one stat really struck me in that he has one offensive rebound in 656 minutes. if you multiply Wynn's stats to the same playing time as Trimble, he would have 40 offensive rebounds. As people have pointed out on this board, this is not the most talented team so we need to be scrappy. If Wynn gets more playing time, it might improve the team if he plays well. I certainly hope that Trimble sees that he can add value to the team and decides to rejoin the team. However, he also knows he can leave the team and play somewhere else next year. Such is life under the new transfer rule.