1981 grad

I have had problems with my feed on Zips games from ESPN. This is the best picture I have had in weeks. Has anyone else had problems with the quality of the picture? Zips offense looks good. A couple of weak calls already. Really dumb foul by Tevari on the 3 point shooter. We seem to have a lot of those lately.

I will be interested in how Nate plays. He has been the most consistent player all year because he does not rely on the three ball and scores inside, on the fast break, and with a great fade away jump shot. He is also their best defender and probably leads the team in steals. We will need his leadership tonight to right this ship.

The pressure of having the nation's longest winning streak is off their back. Everyone on this board could see the quality of play, especially the outside shooting was trending downward. Now that the streak is over it will be interesting to see if play gets better. I just wonder what was going on with Nate. We were just talking about him being the MAC player of the year. He got subbed off with only 2 minutes gone in the game when usually he is the last started to hit the bench and does not come off until 8 minutes has expired. I thought he might have been injured or sick but somebody indicated it was a coaches decision. Three starters, Nate, Okonkwa, and Grey scored a total of 5 points. Nate usually plays over 30 minutes and he played 18. Whenever we needed a basket during the streak, he will score with a mid range fade away jumper. That shot was AWOL. I thought he played inspired basketball of 5 minutes in the second half when he drove to the hoop and got to the foul line. I guess even your best player has a down game but that was totally unexpected. Hopefully, this beating will be a wake up to the team that they need to bring their A game or risk defeat. Looking forward to Tuesday.

And we knew that had to turn around tonight and it did not happen. Nate is the glue that holds this team together when it has been rough going and it did not happen tonight. We looked very stagnant and hesitant as the game progressed. The good news is that we did not give up and outscored Ohio by 12 or 14 in the last 8 minutes.

And they follow it up with another terrible call. The refs are just piling on.

Nate came out playing hard off the timeout and finally scored but Ohio seems to have the answer making some nice shots. Hardman is just off today. Just missed another wide open three.

I thought our offense looked better in the latter part of the first half. Really need Hardman or Wilson to hit a three. Also, Nate came out after only a minute in the first half and was not in at the end of the second half. Makes me wonder if he is hurt or sick. He certainly has not played to his usual standards and not even sure if he has scored.

We need to move the ball and take good long distance shots. It is one thing for good shots not to fall, another to take poor shots from distance. Really need Nate to step up and steady the ship. He has not been a factor yet.

Sullinger is there best player. How did they not get him the ball in the last few possessions?

Two big differences between that team and current team. No discussion about height or lack of height. We had a 7 footer Zeke Marshall at center and 6-8 or 6-9 Demitreus Treadwell at power forward who was a beast under the boards and quick for a big man. Marshall also was an amazing shot blocker. Both players had very successful years playing overseas after leaving Akron. Second, for lack of a better word, citizenship. The Abreu incident will not occur with todays players. KD took a chance on some players and sometimes it kicked him in the butt.

I just checked my spectrum programming and it is listed on ESPN 2. I then went to Gozips.com and after 5 clips and scrolling down the schedule, it is listed on as follows: IT'S [ALMOST] GAME TIME Akron vs. Ohio | ESPN2 Saturday, February 22 | 6:00 PM Finally, since our men's basketball team has the longest winning streak in the country, you would think that would render a headline on Gozips.com and an easy way to find the next game. Nope, to find the Zips next basketball game, it takes 5 clips to get to their schedule and then you must scroll down the schedule to get a listing for the game.

I am excited about his game this year. When he first came to the Zips, I wondered how a 3rd or 4th year player could have so little offense. He has really improved each game and has provided much needed rebounding and toughness around the boards.

If you review last years board, many posters had given up on Tevari and was hoping he would transfer. Others had given up on Lyle and did not see him having a future with the Zips. Personally, I was hoping that Scott would transfer. Never happier to be dead wrong on my basketball acumen.

Great point. He is a streak shooter. Meanwhile, Scott has really shot the ball well the last 2 games and has filled this gap. I am amazed at how much better he is playing this year. Not only is he shooting better but ten times better attacking the basket.

The game has a 6:00 P.M Sat. starting time and is being nationally broadcast on ESPN 2. I hope there is a big crowd at the arena when the Zips used to fill the Ozone over a decade ago. The Zips can hopefully bring their A game and show to the nation that we are a talented team. Maybe a good showing on national TV and the nations longest winning streak can get us that elusive one vote in the national polls.

When you look at Bowen and Seth's shots, they were not off a pass but often quick shots from distance that seemed hurried. Nobody cares when they go in but they looked rushed.

Do you think the Zips are feeling the pressure of the winning streak or is it just a bunch of guys who are not used to playing a whole season wearing down at the end of the season? This was the worst game we have played all season.

Shammah Scott hit the shot of the game. We shot 23% from 3. Our outside shooting has gone south. A lot of the long distance shots were not even close.

Young with a couple of nice plays to get the team going. Need to build this lead back to double digits.

That last play where the ball was bouncing on the ground and 3 Akron players just watched and a Norther Illinois player picked up the ball and took it up for a layup is just indicative of how this team is approaching the game tonight. They know that Northern Illinois sucks and just going through the motions. And that is why it is a close game. She need to play hard to win.

Every game when we needed a basket we would go to Nate. Lets hope he starts off hot in the 2nd half. We need to play some decent basketball in the 2nd half. Northern Illinois played terrible in the first 10 minutes and we simply did not keep the pedal on the metal.

Speak about playing down to the competition. Everything is looking bad for Akron. Terrible shooting and some bad defense and turnovers. Need to right the ship in the second half.

Who knew that when this board was created many moons ago that instead of talking about zones, presses, defenses, rebounding, and my favorite, terrible refs, we would be discussing over-under, parlays, and the money line. Actually, I am fine with it since anything that draws interest in Akron basketball is a positive. There is no question that gambling on college sports has drawn more interest in college sports. There is a reason that ESPN is broadcasting almost every college basketball game this year no matter how bad the teams. However, it does very little to put butts in the JAR and may even reduce attendance since it is so easy to watch tonight's game on ESPN instead of braving the cold to honor Freeman. If anyone has any ideas how an interest on betting on the Zips could increase attendance, would love to hear them.

I find it amazing that this thread is 28 pages long and it started 3 years ago when Capt. Kangaroo thought Freeman might be a top 10 player in Akron history even though he was only in his 2nd year: "I think when all is said and done, Freeman’s numbers will merit a Top 10 all time ranking. He’s only going to get bigger and better. And he’s not going to do something stupid to curtail a great career." The discussion then compared Freeman's game to other great Akron players and I commented at that time that as a 2nd year player it was still to early to tell if he was as good as if not better than the other great Akron players. With his jersey going to the rafters, I certainly think he was the most dominant Akron player that I have seen since watching the Zips. The only negative is that he did not bring us that elusive win in the NCAA tournaments. I still go back to that game against UCLA when the refs called a very questionable illegal screen on him and fouled him out of the game to protect the blue blood UCLA and made sure they got the win. Worst call in Akron history.

That play also stood out for me. I noticed last year when Nate came back from injury he started throwing some bad passes and I thought it was just him getting back to the speed of the game. This year he has been simply amazing. His jumper is almost unstoppable and every time we need a clutch basket he seems to come up big and stop a run by the opposing team. However, he still has those one or two dumb passes. He was the only one who could score at the beginning of the game and kept us close. Every player has their one minor flaw and I guess with Nate it will be the ill timed pass.