1981 grad

No reason to lose this game. We have to come out strong in the second half. Cannot have slow start. Go Zips!!!!

If we would have hit our foul shots we would only be down 3. Need to keep this up!!!!

Need to get the ball to Utomi instead of a constant diet of 3 balls that are not even close.

Looking forward to the game tonight. I think the key to the game is Daniel Utomi. The last 5 games he has been averaging over 20 points. He has been scoring from the inside and is no longer relying on the 3 point shot. The Zips are feeding the ball to him with his back to the basket and he is distributing or driving to the hoop. Would love to see Duvivier get hot from the 3 line or drive to the basket. Jimond also needs to have a good offensive game. Parish and Cotten have been playing well and if we can get something from Klac and Patton we should win this game. I know that Lucas Smith will give us everything he has on the defensive end. The Zips need to stay out of foul trouble, especially, Duvivier. We need him to end the game. Not sure why he is such a foul magnet. I like the way the Zips competed in the last 5 games even though we 3 losses we were in every game and played tough defense. Go Zips!!

I believe that Cotton can learn from his mistakes. I saw Cotton make those faces after the game and it upset me that an Akron player would do that but Cotton is a frosh. Also, there is really no senior leadership on this team as Duvivier is the only senior being a transfer. New coach, mainly first year players on the team, you are lacking a mentor to tell him right or wrong. There is a fine line between competitive and being respectful. Sometimes even the pros disagree on what is unprofessional conduct. Jordan Clarkson throws ball at Dario Saric, setting off Cavaliers-76ers scuffle _ ESPN - YouTube (360p).mp4 Also, the last game Cotton sees the coach charge the court and go after the referee. I understand why Groce did this but it may have sent the wrong message to the team on being respectful. Next year Cotton will be a year older and a year wiser and hopefully will learn that you can be competitive while being respectful.

New Rule: Team should be able to drop down on the brackett to play their rival. We are the higher seed and should have the option to drop down!

During one of the earlier timeouts Parish stuck his head into the Kent huddle when they were gathering during a timeout. Senderoff got really upset about it and talked to the ref. As I stated earlier, one of the assistant coaches pulled Cotton aside after the game because Cotton was making faces at the Kent bench immediately after the game. The team played so well it is a shame that these frosh do not understand that you need to have respect for the other team even if this is a rivalry game.

Great win by the Zips!! The are playing their best ball of the season. Parish really came through with the foul shots. He is really playing well. I love to watch Daniel drive to the hoop. Klac had a nice drive to the hoop in the first few minutes with no hesitation. Next time he had a layup he used 4 pump fakes, got fouled and missed the 2 foul shots. Not sure what happened under the basket. Immediately after the game, Cotton looked at the Kent bench and made gestures with his face that were uncalled for, immature, and reflected poorly on the University. He then went through the line and I think that is why DeLarosa started something with him as he went through the line. I saw one of the assistant coaches say something to Cotton. Hopefully, the coach will talk to him about this conduct as it is not acceptable.

Since we are at the end of the season, I would like any and all opinions on which Zip has improved the most during the season. I have raised this topic in previous years with regard to which Zip has improved the most from last season to the current season but considering our first year roster that would not work this this year. I do not think there is a clear favorite. My pick would be Lucas Smith. When he first stepped on the floor I thought "who the heck is that guy." However, during the season he has in many respects outplayed Klac. He hustles, plays good defense and makes an occasional basket. Daniel would probably be a second choice since he has really played well at the end of the season. However, he was playing great early on so not sure how much he has improved. I would probably say the same for Jimond. Played great in the beginning of the season after the first few games and has been playing solid ball. Duvivier has had a solid season but cannot say that he has shown dramatic improvement as the season progress. The one surprise about Duvivier is how many times he has fouled out. I cannot say I have seen great improvement from any of the others. I thought Cotton was really coming on after he made the game winner at Bowling Green but that has not happened. Parish has had a solid season but he started the season well and I cannot say that he has shown solid improvement each game. I was hoping that some of the frosh would make a solid impact this season but I think they seem content to have Daniel, Jimond and Ivey do the heavy lifting on offense. (not that there is anything wrong with that).

I guess I am going to be the optimist in this group. We have had the best team in the MAC and not won the tourney. Based on the last 6 games, we can compete with any team in the MAC. We have just not been able to finish. Groce is fired up over the effort his team is giving him. Maybe some of that energy will flow over to the team. Based on our recent games and as long as we continue to play good defense anything can happen in a tourney game. Still looking to make it to Cleveland. I would love for the trip to start in Portage County.

I had the same thought but since we play Friday we have no way of knowing what to do. If we played Saturday night I would dump the game in a flash to play at Kent. I know that you do not believe that we have a snowballs chance of going anywhere but this team is playing as a team, playing good defense and the coach finally likes the product on the floor. Maybe we can have a team overachieve in the MAC Tourney. Finally, I know we have similar beliefs about Klac's abilities, but he played good basketball the last 5 minutes. I really want him to do well but he drives me crazy when he hesitates under the basket and just will not take the ball straight up. If he takes the ball straight up he gets that call that upset Groce. He who hesitates is lost.

Did anybody else notice Ivey holding the coach back and getting him away from the officials. I always thought that Ivey had the quickest temper on the team. Now we know it is the coach!! Great move by Ivey to get the coach away from the officials.

I would like to play Kent no matter what. Kent has a history of playing poorly in the first round and it is close enough where we would get some Zip fans to the game. Not sure what has to happen for that to happen. Since we play on Friday I guess we will not know till Saturday.

Groce has the team playing good defense. That last found on Duvivier was bogus. Duvivier went to box out his man and he put a body on him and the guy fell down. Should have been a no call. Parrish has got to move his feet on defense. Ivey picks up a foul after Parish gets beat. Considering the turnovers this team is playing decent on offense.

The Zips will struggle against a good defense and Buffalo is playing good defense. The refs have been calling it close both ways.

Zips playing great defense and rebounding the ball. However, they are turning the ball over like crazy. Good to see Cotton in the game. Keeping it competitive.

Maybe Klac should get his own thread? I have not seen this much discussion over one player since Kwan. I wrote this post before the above discussion but my computer did not post it. I am hesitant to add this but I have my own feelings about Klac as I have watched him over the season. Here is what I wrote earlier: If Klac was getting better every game we would not see so many zeros by his name the second half of the season. He has been inconsistent. He is a frosh and makes frosh mistakes. He has been getting extended playing time, not because he earned it but because the 2 guys in front of him have been injured. I thought he had a good game on Saturday but he has to play like that every game. He is often slow to the ball, hesitates when he gets the ball under the basket and does not take the ball strong strong to the hoop. He rarely draws any fouls. Look at how many foul shots Big Dog took last year. He also needs to improve his box out and moving to the ball on the rebound. I would like for him to get the ball on the post more and take his man to the hoop. Even if he is not successful the experience will help him in the future. I like his hustle but he needs to be more physical on defense without committing stupid fouls.

I was just going to start this post when I saw your post so here is my take. Even though we lost yesterday in a game that we led almost the entire time, there are a lot of positives going into Buffalo and the MAC tournament. Zips fans, be happy: Three weeks agp Groce did not like this team's effort, intensity or coachability. In the post game he indicated he was happy with all 3. Happy coach, happy team! We have been competitive the last 5 games. Utomi is playing his best ball right now. We finally have a road win so if we play on the road in the first round we have got that monkey off our back. We led most of the game yesterday without 2 scholarship players that will hopefully return for the MAC tournament. We played our best defense of the season yesterday according to the coach. This is the MAC, playing well at the end of the season even with lesser talent can mean upset in the tourney. Finally, for the small but vocal minority that is still is upset with KD leaving, the Dukes have lost 6 in a row. Go Zips!!

I saw a concerted effort to get Klac the ball in the first half and after mumbled and fumbled the ball several times they did not go back to him. Lucas Smith and Torrey Patton gave us nothing offensively although they played good defense. Duvivier hit only 1 of 10 and 8 of his shots were from 3 land. He did not penetrate or drive to the basket today. Parrish had a nice game. Groce indicated that he was happy with his team's defense and coachability. They have been competitive the last 5 games and this was their best defensive effort. I hate losing but the guys are at least improving. It will be interesting to see what happens in Buffalo. We will be on the road for our first post season game. I am hoping to play Kent so I can make the game.

I thought the key to our win in Bowling Green were the points from guys other than Duvivier, Ivey and Utomi. Lucas Smith, Klac, Gbadebo, Parish and Patton. They each played good defense and collectively scored 27 points. That is a first for this team, where everyone contributed to a win. It is difficult to compete when only 3 players control the ball and do all the scoring. The above guys may be frosh and walkons, but for this team to compete they have to touch the ball, make offensive moves to the basket and shoot the ball. The highlight of this approach was Gbadebo shooting a 3 without hesitation because he was open. Klac posting up and making an offensive move. Smith scored 9 points. That was a career high. If we can get some consistent scoring from this group we should be able to compete in every game. Go Zips!!!

The Zips competed the entire game at Kent. They made some stupid frosh plays, Klac throwing the ball away while Avery from Kent hit every 3 pointer. The Zips did compete for 40 minutes but in the last 5 minutes Kent was the better team. The effort was there but the talent was lacking.

Fewer fouls called on home team. Interesting article on ref bias: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/news/story?id=4682821

I made the original post and I thought it was a foul because Jimond made contact with the player after the block. I did not post this comment as a bad thing. My point was that everyone complains about the refs and sometimes (not often) Akron get the benefit of the doubt. I cannot tell you how many times on the road that call will be made against Akron. This team played a great game and deserved the win.

Top 4 of the 5 teams are from the western division. Does anyone remember when the east used to be the class of the league? How the mighty have fallen.

You could see them playing better at Kent State. That is 2 solid games in a row. We cannot complain about the refs this week as there was clearly an Akron foul on the last offensive rebound. Eventually, everything evens out. Hopefully we can continue to play well. Go Zips