1981 grad

Really difficult to watch this team. First, I do not recognize half the players because we have so many new faces. When you cannot penetrate, shoot a three. If you miss, just shoot another 3. When LCJ is off this team is going to struggle. I thought the team played better in the last 5 minutes. Not sure why LCJ was not playing that way the whole game. He played very passive most of the game and nobody on this team stepped up. On the last shot, give the Northern Illinois player credit. Ali played great defense and the guy made a tough shot. I think N. Illinois only had 8 players. Does anyone remember when we loss to N. Dakota when they only had 7 players? I thought that was our worst loss, until today.

Playing a Mac game on the road- tough Playing against a zone- tough Playing against a zone with all new players- tougher Akron playing when LCJ take 45 foot shots and cannot penetrate- a blowout. Lets hope we do not see a zone in the future.

That is a game that we should have won. Ohio State was missing some players and I think we blew a big lead. I also think that if we would have won that game we would have hosted a big program because their gym was being renovated.

One of the best comebacks from an Akron team against Kent. I am really impressed with Freeman. He is very quick to the ball, gets up in the air quickly and can make foul shots. Pippin had nowhere to go stuck his left arm out to defend against Freeman and then lost the ball. The announcers seemed to be lost on a lot of calls. I assume they are calling the game remotely. On the one call LCJ had an offensive foul (great acting by Kent guard) and they called a moving screen on Ali Ali who was not near the play.

Reese, if you rebound the ball in the lane take it up strong to the basket. Killed the Akron momentum with a very stupid play.

And just like that LCJ penetrates and passes for a basket and on a prior play LCJ penetrates and dumps to Reese for a basket. That is Akron basketball!!

We have not seen LCJ be able to penetrate in the lane to either shoot a floater or to dish it to an open man. Kent has really clogged the the lane daring Akron to take the outside shot and we have not produced. The one time LCJ did penetrate it was a shot violation. Good to see Akron finally score on an offensive rebound. Need to score more in the paint and stop forcing the 3.

Our half court offense sucks!!!. We keep running a pick and roll and coming up empty when Kent clogs the middle. Nothing inside. Finally, with 5 minutes left in the half Reese scores from inside.

I don't get it. Are we back to playing Central Michigan or does ABJ not know that the game has been switched to Kent State. It is bad enough that I do not know half the players, now I cannot even figure out who we are playing!

LCJ had 3-4 beautiful assists when he drove the lane and then dished to a big man who scored an easy layup. Makes up for his poor 3 point shooting. (LOL)

I was really surprised that we played this well. Of course when you are shooting the 3 ball well it makes the game a lot easier. We still had a lot of stupid turnovers. I loved Ali Ali playing guard and breaking the press, until he threw the ball away. We had some nice points from the paint, a few offensive rebounds, ahd some good but not great defense. I though OU missed a lot of open 3 shots. I think we were the quicker team today. I am pretty sure we outrebound the Bobcats. Was OU that bad or were we that good? Only time will tell.

It seems like the bench guys from big name programs are playing like bench guys. These guys better learn to play defense or they will be back on the bench no matter how much talent they had coming our of high school. I have faith that Groce will get things turned around at some point in the season.

I always travel to Kent and buy my seat early online and one year I found a second row seat center court. I am wearing my Akron stuff and as I am going to my seat a Kent fan yelled at me that I could not sit there. I waved my internet ticket and yelled back yes I can. I sat down and did not think much of it until 2 minutes later a young usher came to me and told me he was sorry but he had to check my ticket. I showed it to him and then he apologized and said they have some crazy fans. I remember when Kent came to Akron I was looking for the guy so I could demand to see his ticket. Unfortunately, never saw him again.

I just read all the post of the game. Can somebody give me the final score of the scrimmage?

I always travel to Kent and buy my seat early online and one year I found a second row seat center court. I am wearing my Akron stuff and as I am going to my seat a Kent fan yelled at me that I could not sit there. I waved my internet ticket and yelled back yes I can. I sat down and did not think much of it until 2 minutes later a young usher came to me and told me he was sorry but he had to check my ticket. I showed it to him and then he apologized and said they have some crazy fans. I remember when Kent came to Akron I was looking for the guy so I could demand to see his ticket. Unfortunately, never saw him again.

After watching the game I realized I did not recognize half the players and just went through the bio of the new players. It looks like we are picking up players who were highly recruited and played for big schools but did not get a great deal of playing time. I know that Groce had to bring in junior college transfers and he certainly has hit the lottery with the guys he has brought in but in a Covid world we are going to struggle against programs like Bonny that have kept their starting players from last year. Groce needs time to mold these guys into a team. I think we are going to struggle until they learn to play together and I hope that Groce has kept that eye for talent that brought us Cheese, Banks, X man and Riak.

I agree with many who indicated it is way too early to judge this team. However, this is what I saw yesterday that bothered me, uncontested layups by the other team. Groce always stressed defense and I think I saw at least 12 uncontested layups. Without a big man, Riak, as a rim protector we got exposed big time. LCJ got beat repeatedly and there was nobody to protect the rim. Also, rebounding is a team effort and it just did not look like a priority to the zips. The first half saw a lot of Zip turnovers. It just looked like we were dribbling way to much. The good news is that Ali Ali looked very aggressive on the offensive end. I think he will get much more playing time this year. As everyone mentioned, Freeman looked good. Although everyone commented he needs to get stronger, he looks much stronger than last year. I did not expect him to contribute since he was a walk on but I was clearly wrong. The Zips could not hit the 3 ball but we saw that the last 2 years where they have just been a very streaky team. I thought several of the 3 balls were rushed. Although LCJ had 20 points I did not think he had a great game. I am looking forward to Kent. Considering Covid, I am just glad to be watching Zips basketball!!

I just got done watching the last dance and it was great getting insight into the competitiveness of Michael Jordan. The man was driven to be a great basketball player and had the tools to get there. Although LCJ is not Michael Jackson, I see that same drive to get better and willingness to put the time into the gym to get to your goals. I have been watching Akron basketball for a long time and I cannot remember a player who improved as much as LCJ in one year. Our biggest complaint on this board was that we never had a dominant point guard, a guy who could control the game. I think LCJ was that player last year. Unfortunately, we never got to see him in the tournament. I just wonder whether this year we will see even more improvement and whether he spent another off season in the gym improving his game.

With fall sports being cancelled today by the MAC and winter sports including basketball being in limbo with no end in sight to this pandemic, how many fans are going to renew their season tickets. My buddy just told me he is not renewing because of the pandemic. It is time for our Athletics Dept to send out a letter asking basketball season ticket holders to put down a minimal refundable deposit ($50?) to hold their season tickets until we know whether the season will take place.

I do not believe it was a technical. He made the first and then missed the second. We had a double digit lead that game and just blew it. I remember that Patton had picked off several offensive rebounds that year off of missed foul shots and thought it was a bad move to take him out at that point in the game for Klac.

I talked about that game and it was close at the 2 minute mark when Utomi missed the free throw: "Duvivier ended the 14-0 Eastern Michigan surge with a free throw at the 1:59 mark to bring the Zips within two, 60-58." I did not know that Cotton applauded when Utomi missed the free throw. I was upset when Groce took out Patton for Klac. The Hurons scored the last 7 points of the game.

I agree that Sayles should have a great senior year. Akron had a talented team last year and won the MAC. Sayles was our third center and usually saw limited minutes or no minutes. The problem with being the 3rd center is that there is little room for error. Toward the latter part of the season he was playing well and getting minutes. During one of the last games a player beat his man and Sayles was under the basket and never made a move to block the shot or contest the layup. Groce yanked him. I don't think I saw him in the lineup after that play. However, even with limited minutes he was always cheering his teammates and seemed to have a great attitude. He got recruited as a back to the basket center. However, Groce wanted faster play and used the center to set screens and cut the basket. Sayles lost weight and tried to play the up tempo even though he seemed to struggle finishing at the basket. (our starting center also struggled to finish around the basket but played great defense)

I usually trust Groce's judgment on player situations but in Groce's first year in our first playoff game in Cleveland we were down a few points in the last minute and we had a free throw. Groce substituted Klac for Patton. I went crazy. Patton was a hustler and had come up with several offensive rebounds off of missed free throws. In the last minute we needed that rebound if there was a miss. Our player missed the rebound and Klac was running down the floor to play defense and did not go for the offensive rebound. The next offensive possession we threw the ball to Klac and it went threw his hands and game was over. I do not blame Klac. Groce should never had made the substitution. I just did not feel like Klac had great instincts for basketball and that is why he was always a step slow at division 1 basketball. I wish him the best next year and hope he is a starter for Walsh.

I saw this topic and wondered what type of year he had at Walsh. Did not start any games and only averaged 10 minutes per game. I thought he would play better in a lower division. Maybe next year he will improve.

Wow!!!!!