1981 grad

Cool, how is this not cool?

The T was on the coach. After they got it down to 3 he huddled his team and literally exploded at the ref and was held back by his players. He slammed the clipboard on the ground and the ref heard it and then gave the coach a T. I have no idea what got the coach so mad but somebody indicated one of his players was bleeding and he was upset that there was no foul called.

Does that make it right? I have gone to many functions, business and non business activities because it was the right thing to do and I did not leave early because it would have been disrespectful to the host. If the University is training these student athletes for life and a business career, should they not learn respect for others? If I was the U I would make it mandatory that the coaches escort the teams on the floor and that the coaches and teams stay till the end of the game and cheer on the Zips any time a student athlete is honored during a sporting event.

Last night they honored the student athletes who made the honor role at halftime with about 150 students being honored. After they were honored, about 95% left. I was disgusted by their choice to leave. It showed zero school spirit and I thought was disrespectful to the basketball team who has the nation's longest winning streak. They use the basketball crowd to honor the students and the students dishonor their fellow athletes by leaving ASAP. The school does this every year during a basketball game as long as I can remember. Am I the only one that feels that way?

It is one thing to box out. However, you still have to go to the ball strong. We needed everyone to rebound tonight and on many WMU got numerous offensive rebounds because we were flat footed. I watched Hardman and he was just really slow to the ball and kept getting beat on the rebound. I thought WMU played really well offensively driving to the basket and they shot the ball well. Nate is the man in the clutch. When they got the lead down to 4 he made some clutch baskets. The team played really well offensively but WMU seemed to be playing downhill to the basket in the 2nd half. The refs called nothing in the first half and everything in the 2nd half. The Zips had 2 foul shots in the first half and probably 15 in the 2nd half. I thought WMU got tired in the 2nd half and started to miss foul shots. It may not be pretty but the streak continues.

Two hours of extra drinking for those members of this board who hit the campus bars before the games.

It is game day and I am expecting a half empty jar even though Akron has the longest winning streak in the country. I could sense Groce's frustration on the post game last Tuesday where he encouraged Zip fans to show up and support our team. Unfortunately, if you are listening to the post game you are already a Zip fan and Groce is preaching to the choir. For those that are going tonight, we may be few but lets be loud!!!!!! (and not just when Evan Wilson gets into the game)

I would not be shocked if we go undefeated in MAC play if we stay healthy and play good basketball in the remaining games. I think this is a unique season in that can anyone remember blowing out the 2nd place team by 30 points or blowing out Kent at Kent or an Akron team shooting 50% in MAC play and 37% from distance? Plus we are outrebounding our opponents and racking up assists. Also we play 10 guys and it seems as though each night anybody can step up and score. All the people on the team are quality guys who seem to have a winning attitude and we have a great coach. I do not see us losing to Western Michigan, Buffalo, or Northern Illinois at home. We just beat Kent at their place so we should do well against them at home. I think if we play as well as we did at Kent we could beat Toledo, Ball State and Central Michigan on the road. I know that if we go undefeated in MAC play that puts more pressure on the team in Cleveland but that is the nature of sports. We need to take one game at a time and continue to play at a high level and I think anything is possible.

Looking at the box score, what really surprised me is that Scott went 0 for 6 and had 4 turnovers. (He did have 4 assists) I have really been a Scott fan this season as I believe he as really stepped up his game especially shooting the ball and driving to the basket. Because of our dominance and balanced scoring, one guy can have an off night and it really does not get noticed. Because Young was injured in the 2nd half, he did play point guard for the first time this season and that may have hurt his game. Also, Nate had a career high 10 assists. I knew he did not score much that game but was surprised he has a career assist day. I like Groce's attitude in the post game conference, we are not worried about the winning streak, only our next opponent. It is a cliche but, take one game at a time.

If Akron wins out the MAC, I will start a thread, Should Akron get an at large bid?

You and I do have different takes. I meant discussing it with an chance that it would happen. I cannot remember a serious discussion about Akron getting an at large in a long long time.

This board used to discuss at large bids but I cannot remember the last time we discussed it. Might be 10 years ago.

Really great Akron win in that this was a difficult zone and we really passes the ball well with a lot of patience and shot the ball well. Groce indicated that this might be his best shooting team. This is also probably his smartest team in the they really took care of the ball after the first couple of minutes and moved the ball around until they found the open 3. Glad to see Hardman finally hit a couple of three balls after missing 4 in a row. Seth Wilson also had a good shooting day and Tevari was just plain feeling it. This is a fun team to watch!!!!

I grimaced when I heard Groce say that because the last 4-5 possessions we used the whole clock and did not start any offense until there was 10 seconds left and the shot selections was not very good. It was the right play at the end of the game although our margin of victory went down from 20 to 12.

Great interview. Very lucky to have him as a coach. He has brought in a bunch of quality guys who are also good basketball players.

Freeman is back with the Pacers and played 4 minutes with 1 rebound and 1 assist. Glad to see him back with the Pacers after not being with the team for a couple of weeks.

Although my memory sucks, I am 99% sure last year they charged for parking in the deck and I had to show my season holder parking pass to get into the deck. I was surprised this year that they were not charging for the deck. If it was free why did the U send me parking passes for lot 1 as part of my season tickets? I think they made it free after they sent out the season tickets.

Looking at the stats, certain points just jump out. First, the starters were throwing up bricks from 3 point distance and went 0 for 12. Yes, I do mean bricks in that Wilson and Grey did not hit the rim on a couple of their attempts and most of the attempts were not even close. On a great note, our point guards played 50 minutes and had no turnovers after playing loose with the ball the last 2 games. The team only had 8 turnovers and that includes travelling and offensive fouls so I think there were only a few errant passes including one where Nate almost took out a fan in courtside seating. Nate is really struggling with his 3 ball and went 0 for 5. However, his inside fadeaway is unstoppable. I thought our big guys did a good job on Sparks and yes he was winded at the end of the game and it did effect his play. (I sit by their bench and he was sucking air when he came off the court). Ball State shot over 50%. Groce blamed it on the defense but I thought they were just making good shots. Great win and looking forward to the game Sat.

We wondered what would happen when we had a cold night shooting the 3. We made the 2 pointers. I thought Ball State was the best team we faced all year. The big play tonight was the Scott 3 point play which gave us our first 6 point lead. Groce indicated how well the bench played and that the starters did not have it. I did not think the starters played poorly but thought Ball State played well and we could not hit any 3 balls in the beginning of the game. I think we wore them down in the 2nd half with our pace of play. Also, a shout out to Seth Wilson who drove the lane tonight and made some 2 pointers. Love it!!

I read this post and about half way through the conference schedule everything is coming ups roses. Amazing leaps from Lyles, NJ, TJ, and Scott. Wilson is shooting an amazing 47% from three point range in conference play and Okonkwo has established himself as rebounding machine down low. The chemistry is coming together and we are undefeated in conference play. Grey has been consistent but Nate Johnson has even been better leading the team in scoring. We are a 10 deep team even with Harris being out for the year. Your analysis was spot on and much better than the MAC preseason polls.

Continuing the conversation, we just blew out Northern Illinois and Kent on the road. Historically, 2 places that Akron has struggled to win. We dominated the boards in both games. In the OOC schedule our weakness has now become our strength. Nate Johnson is becoming a stud and played 35 minutes. His fade away around the basket is deadly and unstoppable. As long as we continue to shoot 40% or better from the 3 ball we will be tough to beat. However, our point guards have played loose with the ball and had 7 turnovers against Kent and TJ had 7 against Northern Illinois. Sharon Young went 0 for 5 at N. Illinois. My point is that we are not playing our best and still blowing out teams on the road. I think we are a good team playing a weak schedule. Barring injury, running out the MAC seems doable. Agree or disagree?

Even though Kent's basketball team is currently not firing on all cylinders the Kent faithful know its only 6 short months till football begins.

The color commentator indicated there is no reason Akron could not run the table. We have impressed!!!

The Zips shooting is just too much for Kent. Really surprised how we controlled the boards and just seemed quicker to the ball than Kent. Also, Kent was not very physical. I will give Kent credit in that it was a very clean game and the Kent players showed good sportsmanship when the game was basically a blowout and I think they were only as close as 12 in the the 2nd half.

I guess somebody told Sullinger about my post because he has looked much better in the 2nd half. They are giving him too much room and he is making that floater.