1981 grad

This statement is why Groce should not leave and will not be successful at the next level. Listen to our student athletes during the post game interviews. They are smart, articulate and will graduate with a degree. As a Zip fan, I appreciate how well our basketball team represents the U both on and off the court. Further, we have all seen how hard they have worked to improve their game from last year. However, this team would not do well at the Big Ten level. If Groce leaves, he will have to lower his standards to find those players that can excel at the Big Ten level. I think Groce loves working with scholar athletes. If it is between money and enjoying your job, I think Groce is smart enough to stay at Akron.

He did it once and he took a lot of abuse and got canned. Why put yourself and your family through that again. Nothing good came of it. Correction: Something good did come of it: This board gained Illini Zip.

It was Groce's 2nd year and the other player was Khadim Gueye. Kostelac was a bench player and it was Groce's 2nd year and after this incident Kostelac transferred to Walsh. He sued Akron and Groce after the incident but I do not believe the suit was successful. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/education/2019/10/24/former-zips-player-sues-university/2449613007/

No such thing as a sure thing except there will be a basketball game between the Zips and Bowling Green on Thursday. And in 2020 that sure thing did not even happen.

And Prather is having a good year at Robert Morris averaging 8 points a game and Robert Morris won the Horizon league regular season. He scored 13 points in the quarter finals of their tourney.

After the regular season and going 17-1 in the MAC, I think we are a good team in a bad conference. When you look at our ratings on Men's College Basketball Power Index we are ranked 114 but our strength of schedule is 208. We had the loss at Ohio and were really never in that game. We had enough talent to win games but we certainly did not stomp on our opponents late in the season. We need to win our 3 games in Cleveland and hopefully get our first NCAA tourney win.

You forgot to mention the bank shot from the frosh 5-8 NIU player at end of the game who was only in because 3 guys fouled out from NIU and one got injured and they had nobody else to play. Very entertaining game in a weird type of way.

Hardman driving to the basket and trying to finish at the rim. Not something you see everyday. Like to see more of that.

I cannot remember the Zips ever losing a game when they were up by 23. Your memory is better than mine. Any games you can remember when the Zips lost a game when they were up by 20 or more?

And we start off the half with no defense and terrible possessions. Toledo looks like they got the great half time speech while we look asleep. Good time out by Groce.

Really nice to see the Zips shooting well from distance at an away game. Maybe winning the conference has taken any pressure off the Zips and they feel free and loose. Even if Toledo is not playing the best defense, the Zips still have to make the shots. Hope to see more Marvin this game. He is playing well and just has difficulty getting more minutes because everyone else is playing well.

Tevari is 3 for 3 from distance. Zips are scoring inside. Great layup by Scott. Really playing well thus far.

Did not expect to have coach Groce and Ford in this conversation but if we are going in that direction, I will give an honorable mention to Evan Wilson for being the quickest off the bench to congratulate the team and the only player to pick up a T when averaging less than a minute a game.

Since we are near the end of the season, like to hear your opinion of which Zip has improved the most from last year. In this remarkable season, I think you can make an argument for every returning Zip so no right or wrong answer. I am going with Nate just because when I look at the stats he has led the team in different games in assists, rebounding and scoring. He also plays the most minutes and plays the best defense. I also think that in several games when we have needed a basket, he scores with that short jumper. Last year he suffered an injury and had a good season but this year he has been outstanding.

I think even without the injuries, it is tough for a frosh to adjust to the longer season. I remember Tevari was amazing the first part of his frosh year. I still remember half the people on this board thought Sharron would be starting over Tevari at the end of the season. Tevari has really stepped up and I think has amazed most of the people on this board by his steady play this season.

I thought that the play of the game may have been Scott's steal with seconds winding down in the first half. Instead of being down by double digits we were only down 7. I watched the replay of that steal and it was a great spin move but when you slow it down he clearly took 3 steps to get to the basket. The one thing I have noticed is that if a player is stationary and shuffles his feet, they will call a travel. However, if the player is driving to the basket with speed, he can get away with the extra step. (In the NBA they get away with 3-5 steps) This is especially the case on a steal where the official is trailing the play and is not focused on the players feet but just trying to see if he gets fouled.

I give him credit for scoring in the paint which is a rarity with him but he also forced up a couple of three balls. Also, stating his defense was adequate is generous as he got beat to the basket a couple of plays. Most importantly, he has to hit the boards and pick up a least 1 rebound in 14 minutes. He is one of our best 3 point shooters but he needs to move better on defense and show more toughness to log more minutes.

Losing 4 out of the last 5 really surprising. Toledo usually does not start losing until they hit Cleveland. Maybe they are turning things around and playing bad now so they can have success in the tourney.

I watched that play on replay. Okonkwo was in the post trying to get position and the Kent player pushed him out of the lane and he stumbled backwards and no call. Okonkwo comes back and put a shoulder into the Kent player on the box out and Kent player flops. Foul on Okonkwo. They call the retaliation and not the original foul. Even the announcers indicated it was a physical game and the refs were letting them play so that should have been a no call and not a flagrant. Need to enroll Okonkwo in an acting class. If he goes down on the first shove the ref blows the whistle and he gets the call.

Biggest crowd of the year and the Zips brought in the Red Panda to entertain the crowd!!! Just kidding. The half time show was not the Red Panda but some guy mopping the floor. He was amazing.

Great game!! When you look at the box score, I think we wore out Kent with our bench in that we had 2 players playing over 30 minutes, Johnson and Johnson where Kent had 4 players over 30 minutes. I agree that we are not moving the ball as well as we were earlier in the season and not shooting the three as well but we are playing good enough to beat Kent at home. Sullinger is playing better and he can get hot. Tavari always seems to play well against Kent and he had an amazing game. I think Grey struggled but still played good defense. Nate led the Zips in rebound with 10. Really surprised that Marvin only played less than 5 minutes. Looking forward to see if the Zips can win in Toledo.

Expect a big crowd tonight. Reserve seats sold out. Just got 3 tickets for children in GA. Only 250 tickets left as of noon.

I also got the link. It is weird that it did not work on one computer and it worked on my second computer and was able to get discount. I am a season ticket holder and if you buy the tickets from Akron, you will find yourself in the mezzanine unless you are a big donor to the U. Always upsets me that season ticket holders for basketball get no priority for seating during the tourney.

How not to close out the game. However, the Zips played well till the very end. Good teams win close games and Akron had some clutch offensive rebounds and played much better than Saturday.

And I spoke to soon. My feed has started sucking again after the last commercial. And Ball State is coming back.