1981 grad

I am glad to see him playing basketball again. I was afraid that he had given it up. There is always room on a team for a shot blocker who can intimidate guards going to the basket. He needs to be a step quicker and a little more fluid on offense. I hope he keeps playing. I miss having 4 year players and watching them develop.

Sayles athletic front court guy? His first year he showed some flashes of being good but rarely showed any athleticism and last year he was very passive when he played before he got injured. I really hope his third year will be better and injury free but he is a big question mark. One person on this board has him as transferring which makes no sense this late in the process. I like your optimism and I hope that you are right but essentially this is the 3rd year under Groce with a substantially new roster. I would still like to know who will be our 13 scholarship players.

Another transfer? If he transfers in this year that is another scholarship spot for next year and I thought we already are one over our scholarship limit. Can someone explain how we have room for another transfer?

Time will tell if he is a division one player. If he dominates at Walsh and leads the league in scoring and rebounding, we will know that he was a division 1 player that needed time to blossom. If he does not dominate at Walsh, we will know that he is a great guy who was a division 2 player. My feeling is that he will be a good division 2 player. He just did not have the athleticism, quickness, or instincts to play division one. I wish him the best success.

TRibble was our last scholarship. In hindsight, I would rather Dos Anjos than Maishe. We would get a player who can play next year and then develop hopefully over 4 years. I just don't think our needs were to have someone sit for a year then play for one year. WE need to build a team, not rent a player.

We were out of scholarships. Groce probably knew that he was not going to commit and decided to fill it with our last recruit.

Does anyone remember how excited we were to get Forsythe, a West Virginia transfer who did not have to sit out a year. He had some great games but it did not end well.

Florida, Akron to Tallahassee Junior College. Anyone else see a trend here.

I am not big on another transfer coming to the school for just one season. Groce has a revolving door of players. This year we had 2 scholarships that were wasted on transfers, Hester and the guy that punched out Klac. ( I cannot remember his name) I would much rather Groce try to build a team with frosh. He has 3 years left to prove that he can build a winning program.

I guess since the guy is transferring we might as well pile on with the weaknesses in his game. I always thought he could have averaged one offensive rebound a game if he followed his shot. Most of his misses were short and the rebound would come back toward him. He was our best 3 ball shooter but this year a lot of his outside shots were way off. Seemed like he shot more air balls and bricks this year where last year a lot of his misses drew the inside of the rim and just fell out. When he was hot he could carry this team offensively. He just rarely got hot this season. I wish him well but still wonder as much praise as Groce gave him this season why he decided to transfer. It seems odd.

You mean like Akron?

Ivey graduated and used all 4 years of eligability. It was a reporter's error. It will be interesting to see where Utomi lands. He is coming off his worst shooting year. I cannot tell you how many times I saw him drive the lane and hesiate and get in trouble. He relied on the 3 ball to score and when he was off it was difficult to watch. Not sure if he will get recruited to a big time program. I wish E man the best but no great loss for the Zips because he never learned to take the ball to the hoop and he greatest asset was his shot blocking ability. Riak is a defensive center. We had 4 centers on the team, E Man, Klac, Riak, and Sayles and not one of them could consistantly put the ball in the basket. Groce needs to recuit a center that can score. The jury is still out on Sayles because of his injuries but he needs to work his game.

I hope that you are right about the future. Only time will tell.

11 returning? I have 5 scholarship players returning that have experience playing. Riak, Banks, Cheese, Jackson, Roscoe. Roscoe I believe is the only true frosh. Sayles has missed more games than he has played and has not been impressive when he has played. (no fault of Groce or Sayles, cannot control injuries). This is not a recipe for success.

I expected more than what we have received. I expected players who want to play for a coach. I expected players who do not punch out other players. I expected to score more than 4 baskets in a half of basketball at the Q. I expected not to lose a quarterfinal game by 40 points, no matter how good the team. I expected that our team would not lose by 30 to an Ohio U team that had a losing record. I expected to have at least one center of our 4 centers that has an interest in scoring. (not from the 3 line) I expected our team to shoot better than 25% from long distance. I expected Groce's recruits to stay with our team after playing here for a year. With Utomi and E Man leaving, this looks more like a revolving door than a team. I hope that Groce will be successful but with these 2 Zips leaving I feel like we are starting all over again. Another year of new players and empty seats.

Utomi leaving. I did not see that coming. I agree that he had an off year. Now you have to wonder how much of that was that he wanted to get out of town. I think Groce has done a good job with what he had but what is going on when players constantly leave the program. If he is a good coach and great guy, why leave? With Kd, we had stability. With Groce, we have had anything but stability. The more turnover we have each year, the angrier I get at the AD for not keeping KD. Parish left program Cotton left program Patton left program Kostlec left program Gueye left program punched Kostlec Hester left program Never played Utomi Left program

Somebody on this board indicated that KD would get his 20th in a post season tournament. I just checked and they were wrong. KD will not win 20. Here is an article on the Dukes season. https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2019/03/17/reviewing-the-2018-19-duquesne-mbb-season/ Basically, the Dukes improved from last season and did better than their preseason pick of 11th. KD"s main point is that he took over a losing program and has turned it around into a winning program that has gotten better each season.

There was another bad call right before that one on a foul where the defender did nothing except touch a Buffalo player on the back down low. Even the commentators replayed it and indicated it was not a foul. It was a terrible call in the last 2 minutes. I thought it was the same ref we had yesterday.

When KD was coach I would get upset that we would get to the MAC final and then lay a big egg. I also got upset when we played in the NIT tourney and lost to a terrible Ohio State team and would have hosted a major program if we won that game. Yesterday, I got upset that we lost to a team by 37 points that we had played close during the season. The old saying is that you don't realize what you had until it is gone. I think any Zip fan would have buyers remorse in that we dominated the MAC while KD was coach and now that is gone. I agree that KD inherited a much better program than Groce. Remember, he was the asst. coach for Akron before he was head coach. He did not have players leaving the team and he was familiar with players that were on the team. It was a seamless transition. Groce had none of that. In hindsight, Akron made a mistake in not doing the right thing to keep KD at Akron. Basically, it blew up the program and we are still paying the price. I think that Groce has done a good job with what we have and we need to be patient to see if he can bring this program back to its former glory and get us that first NCAA victory or at least that first win over a ranked team.

The Dukes ended up 19-13. Needed that win to hit 20.

Reading the above comments indicate to me that people on this board have done a great analysis of this program. I agree with all of the comments thus far and will add a few of my own. Highlights. The athleticism on this team. Watching Tyler Cheese take someone on one on one on a fast break and Euro stepping to the basket. Watching any and all dunks by Ivey. Watching this team shoot over 50% from beyond 3 against Miami and thinking what if they can do that against Buffalo. Upset!! Watching Ivey make his last 3 ball attempt at the JAR. Watching Cheese miss a layup when the nearest defender was at half court. (He got rebound and made 2nd layup) Watching the opposing player get stuffed on a dunk by the rim and then seeing it on sports center over and over again. Beating Kent big time at home. Watching LCJ drive to the hoop and finish among the bigs. Lowlights Watching Riak rebound the ball 2 feet away from the basket and then look to throw the ball out to a shooter instead of going toward the basket. After Riak passes on the 2 foot shot Riak then launches a 3 point shot. Watching a pick and roll with our center on almost every possession and never seeing it being executed for a basket. Missing the front end of a one and one time after time. Watching Groce bring in Walters today and have him play with Jackson. Going small is one thing but that was crazy. The small crowd against Miami on Monday. Noticing how there is less and less interest in this team after KD left. Watching this team shoot the 3 ball. Groce bragged how this team consisted of great 3 ball shooters. WE were almost the worst in the nation at shooting the 3 ball. Watching a close game on the road and know in the back of my mind we will find some way to blow it. And being right!! (Only time I hate being right)

In his frosh year E man had a few games where he had some nice offense and post up moves. Early in the season I also remember Riak posting up and at least make an attempt at scoring. It seems that all of our centers digressed on offense. Does Groce have anyone who works with these guys. Maybe we need an asst. big man coach who know how to make centers better on offense.

I just got back from the Q. All I wanted was a competitive game. The closest we came in the second half was 14 points. I walked out when we were down by 30. This was an embarrassment. The first half is what we have seen all season, a team that cannot put the ball in the basket. Riak and E man are fading away from 3 feet. Take the ball strong to the hoop and stop acting like little boys. Nobody could make a 3 point shot. Buffalo was not that good in the first half. They were missing their 3 point shots and their foul shots. This game should have been close in the first half but we played like crap! Didn't someone indicate that Groce had his team play their best ball come tournament time. So much for that. This team looked terrible. On the way up to the Q all I heard on pregame was how Akron has dominated at the tournament. That was all KD. That era is gone. I agree that the refs sucked the first half. They called 2 illegal screens that were phantom calls. The second half they let the teams play and it was much easier game to watch.

Bobby Hurley parlayed his short time in Buffalo into a $2.1 million/year gig at ASU (plus bonuses). And Hurley really looks like a happy guy with all that money.

Who the hell would want to be a college b ball coach. You get bounced around like an old tennis ball. I think KD had the right idea of staying in one location. But even that can be problematic when a new athletic director wants to spread his wings.