1981 grad

Kwan was one of the KD players that really improved from his frosh to his senior year. As a frosh he did not rebound well or play great defense. However, he turned himself into a great rebounder and very good defensive player. His senior year he was playing amazing and many on this board thought he should be player of the year in the MAC. However, he went into a slump and had a good year but not a fantastic year. The only negative about Kwan is that he never had a great tournament in Clev and Akron did not win a MAC championship while he was with the team. Tough to compare the two players since Williams has not even played a third of a season. They are both good rebounders and play good defense. I like it how Williams is taking better shots and his shooting percentage is way up. I think Williams runs the floor better, drives to the basket better while Kwan could post up a player a little better than Williams.

I went to that game in Michigan and I remember how slow our guys looked against VCU. Tree was the only one that looked good on the court and had the quickness to stay with an athlectic and hard pressing VCU team. Zeke, as much talent as he had looked very slow on the court against a quick athletic team and was very ineffective. The game was over midway throught the first half.

LCJ has been nothing short of amazing. In the second half when the game got close he had a drive and dish to Ali for two easy points. He then went on a tear from the 3 line. Cheese then started hitting the 3. I love to see LCJ take control when the opposing team is making a run. Shows maturity. The Zips played great offensively toward the end of the second half. The Zips were shooting 28% from the 3 line when Western made their run and they then finished shooting over 40%. The big difference I see from the beginning of the season is how Williams is not taking 20 shots and his shot selection has really improved. Tribble's game has also improved from the beginning of the season. Groce indicated that the defense was bad in the second half. I thought that Western made some tough shots and got hot from the 3 line. I thought the intensity of the team on defense was good but both teams got called for ticky tack fouls that really destroyed the flow of the game. I am amazed at how well Banks and LCJ draw offensive fouls. It was driving the Western Coach crazy.

When this team hits the 3 ball well they will always be tough to beat. The Zips did a great job with ball movement after the first 10 minutes of the game. Jackson really played well by shooting the outside shot and had some great floaters. Tribble is a great backup. Our big men on offense are still the weakness on the team. Riak just can't seem to hold onto the ball. Ali is still a frosh and will make frosh mistakes. I like Camron Reese but would like to see him be more aggressive on offense. He has some nice moves on the drop step but never seems to be an offensive factor. Too many offensive rebounds by Eastern Michigan. Reese, Banks Jackson and LCJ really played well and are very athletic and can get to the basket. I still did not like it when Banks made a 3 and then stared down the opposing bench. I thought that would be done after the T on Monday.

Eastern Michigan has been very aggressive on the offensive boards. I like the way their players follow their shots. It does not surprise me that they are leading the Zips on the boards. Great shooting by the Zips. Some of those 3 pointers are very deep. There little chance that continues the entire game. (although I hope that it does). I love Jackson's steal at the end of the half. I have seen him do that several times. For a small guy he can get high to deflect the ball and then score at the other end of the basket. Great first half by the Zips. Lets see if they can keep up the intensity in the second half.

The lighting does suck. I had to brighten my tv. Glad to see it is not the streaming. Zips are having trouble against the zone. Too many turnovers. LCJ hitting the 3 ball is saving this team. We have 2 inside baskets.

I stand corrected. Being at the game I was unaware of the coaches box rule or that the coach had been warned before about talking to the refs from that position. I have a friend who is an experienced ref and he told me that he will only T up a coach that is abusive to him or another ref. I sit behind the visitors bench and did not see any abusive behavior. On the Bobby Hurley scale of I would have given the coach a 3.

The Mass press was ineffective most of the time. Once we broke the press we had superior numbers. In the second half our guards would drive to the paint and either dump to a player for a layup or pass it to the corner for a 3. Our offense broke down when we stopped hitting the open 3 from the corner. Banks and Williams missed several open three balls from the corner. I was really impressed wit the play of Tribble. He is very good for a frosh and is not afraid of driving to the basket. I think he has potential to be an all MAC player if he keeps improving. I was upset with Banks jawing to another player when he made a 3 ball. Play the game. There is no reason to mouth off to another player just because you sank a 3 ball. I think he deserved the T. However, I do not think the Mass coach was disrepectful to the ref when he got his T. The ref gave him a t from the other side of the court. I think in a way it was a makeup call for the Banks T. I was really impressed with the Zips foul shooting down the stretch of the game. We were not hitting our foul shots early but must have hit our last 10 when the game was on the line. Love watching 2 good teams at the JAR. I hope they visit us again.

I watched the Mass team play a ranked team (virginia?) and they played them tough till the very end. I believe this will a very tough game for the Zips.

I do not think that Youngstown is kicking in $275,000. We gave his his first division one head coaching gig. He owes us a game!!

I saw that Youngstown State gets to host W. Virginia? I know they were our first game. Do we get to host them next year?

LCJ has really impressed me the last 3 games. He had no turnovers today and did a great job of running the offense and breaking the press. When he drives to the basket he has been under control and found Reese for some easy dunks. (Reese missed another dunk today and I think that is at least 3 missed dunks). He also leads the team with 6 assists. Banks and Cheese played well although I think that Banks gets beat off the dribble too easily. However, he seem to make it up because he knows how to take an offensive charge. Cheese had some great drives to the basket and got to the line 11 times. Our defense was better in the second half and I was glad to see the team pull away. I did not think the crowd was that bad for a Sunday game against the Browns. The Southern team had 3 buses so they brought some fans. Great win!

Great win for the Zips. Williams and Jackson played there best games as Zips. Jackson has really found success with that floater. The team shot 50% from 3 and outrebounded the Heard. The Marshall announcers were very complimentary of the Zips. We had some great success in the paint. Probably our best road victory under Groce. When this team shoots the ball well and runs offense they are tough. They did not run the ball down the court as in past game and I think it helped their team to play a more controlled offense.

I finally got the steam after paying the $6.75, The stream is very good. Williams is hitting some open 3 pointers. He is a much better shooter when he squares up. Jackson made another steal on a lob inbounds play and then made a 3. This team needs to run better offense like they did against the zone. A lot of missed shots but good defense.

I am on reddit and no stream. Anybody have it?

Does anyone know if the game is being broadcast. Akron only has on their web site TBA?

I noticed on the box score we only attempted 10 three point shots. It reminds me that in the last few years under KD and now with Groce it seems this team has become dependent on the 3 point shot and we shoot 30 a game. Sometimes it seems that shooting a 3 is settling for an easy shot instead of working the ball into a better shooting position.

I remember losing to a really good VCU team at home when we were leading by one point with about 7 seconds left in the game. Although VCU was a really good team and went to the 2nd round of the NCAA they were never ranked.

I have watched a lot of Akron basketball since the eighties and do not recall an Akron team ever beating a ranked team. Please correct me if I am wrong. Will this be the year?

I check his stats at USC and he is 7th in minutes averaging 19 minutes a game, averaging 4.3 points a games, shooting 31% from the field, and a team low 19% from the 3 point line. His bright stat is averaging 4 rebounds per game. It is still early but their schedule is only going to get tougher in the PAC 10. Not sure if shooting 19% from the 3 line will help any team. I wonder how Daniel would have adjusted to the faster play. I am sure that the play is faster at USC and maybe that is why he is struggling with his shot.

I actually enjoyed watching the game because the Zips played very smart and disciplined basketball attacking the zone. LCJ looked like a leader and made several nice floaters in the paint. The Zips only took one bad 3 point shot and that was by LCJ. Both Cheese and Williams were able to attack the zone when they got the ball at the elbow by the foul line. They both made some nice 12 foot jump shots or faked the jump shot and attacked the rim. The Zips only took 12 3 pointers and 2 came at the end of the game when they were running out the clock. Groce did a great job coaching our team on how to attack the zone. Williams finally had a good game shooting and went 6 of 12. He had 6 turnovers but many of the turnovers were passes that were miscommunications between him and another player. I have been down on William because of his poor shot selection but I heard him on the post game show and he is a very articulate guy and does play by play on e sports. During the interview he indicated that he watched the film and noticed that he has been taking to many difficult shots and he needed to take better shots. He indicated that he had been settling for easy shots. I only saw him take one poor shot tonight, a 3 pointer. I hope he watches the film tonight and realizes he has the talent to score 20 points a game without shoot 10 3 balls. He is a great foul shooter. Really impressed with Cheese and Banks. This team has some real talent and was fun to watch tonight.

L'CJ had his best game as a Zip. If he can play that way the entire season we will be tough. Love the way he attacked the basket and made some floaters. Cheese and Banks are great players. Ali and Tribble looked like frosh. First time in a big arena. They will get better. Good to see Sayles and Riak score some points. Several people indicate that Williams had a bad night shooting. That has been his whole season. A lot of his shots are just bad shots. They are off balance shots where he is not squared up. When his is open he has just missed. He has not shown any ability to his the 3 ball all season. Groce needs to coach this guy to take good shots or look for his teammates or drive to the hoop. Shooting the 3 ball is not his game.

I respect your opinions but after watching every game except the Malone game I would beg to differ on some of the optimism above. This team is fun to watch? First, anyone who says this team is fun to watch did not see the North Carolina Central game. That had to be the worst display of basketball I have seen since being a Zip fan. I got a free ticket to the game for a friend and he refuses to go back. No set offense, just run and gun and turn the ball over. Williams player of the year? Williams has played good defense and rebounded well but his shot selection has been poor, he cannot make a 3 ball, and he has not been able to finish at the hoop. I heard a pregame show where Frenchy claimed he was rusty. He practiced with the team all last year! The difference between KD and Groce, KD would have pulled him when he takes a bad shot. Every bad shot he takes means someone else on the team does not take a good shot. My initial impression is that the guy likes to shoot the ball. When you make them you are great. When you continually miss you are just a "gunner" I am hoping that Groce will start pulling him when he takes a 3 pointer without running any offense. He needs to get his shooting percentage up and taking bad shots is not going to help. Riak, most improved player of the year? His game is the same as last year. No offense but a good rebounder, good defender and good shot blocker. I was hoping he would work on this offense on the off season but he seem to have little interest in getting the ball down low and does not seem to be part of the offense. I simply have not seen any improvement in his game. I love the athletic talent on this team. Like the team defense. Like the enthusiasm when they are playing. I enjoyed the first half of the game yesterday. I think Tribble, Reese, Cheese and Banks are solid players. Ali looks great for a frosh. Did not expect Tribble to be as good as he is for a frosh. LCJ has not proven that he can lead a team. Needs to stop turning the ball over and driving to the basket and getting stuck in the trees. If he can shoot 40% from the 3 line he will really help this team. Remember, this team has had 3 home games against weak competition. Groce's teams have won at home but have sucked on the road. We had lots of guys that have not gone through the grind of a MAC season. Will they develop a discipline to run offense and take good shots? My impression of this team is that this team has the potential to be really good but need to develop an offensive discipline and shoot well for this team to improve on last year's record.

We had a guard, Noah Robotham, who had a great frosh year and we thought he would be a great player over the next 4 years. He suffered a knee injury as a frosh or soph and when he came back he was never the same player. I remember he once had a fast break and instead of going up strong would fake going up. It seemed as though he was always a little tentative after the injury. He had a good career with Akron but never lived up to the career we thought he would have as a frosh. I believe he transferred out his senior year to go back home to Las Vegas. Good point that injuries can affect how a player develops after his frosh year. Sayles is also a little slow for this team. I think he is the last KD recruit. All of Groce's recruits are quick athletic guys. Our defense is so good because these guys are athletic enough to recover when somebody attacks the basket and goes to the hoop. Cheese had a great block last night from behind the play. I think Sayles will have limited minutes but he can still help the team by being aggressive on offense.

This team really played well in the first half. LCJ got into early foul trouble and the team played very well with him on the bench. Tribble looks stronger every game. LCJ must realize this also because he found his shot in the second half and finished with 18 points. Best shooting game he has had all season. My only disappointment is with Williams. This guy just likes to shoot the 3 ball. He needs to have better shot selection and stop shooting so much. His 3 point percentage must be below 30%. I really expected more from him. We finally have an inside player who has some nice strong moves to the hoop. Not Riak, not Sayles, but Reese. You got to love the athletes on this team. If we shoot the ball this well though the season we should compete in the MAC.