1981 grad

K hesitates when he gets the ball in the paint with the zone. Once he hesitates he going to be surrounded and things are not going to go well. He needs to take the ball right up. Typical frosh mistakes. Overall, he is playing good defense. We are down to one center. It looks like Rec Center Smith is playing backup center and doing a good job. We are giving up way to many open 3 balls but Eastern cannot stay that hot from the 3 line. I like the way we are moving the ball and staying under control. Need Duvivier to hit some shots.

It will be interesting to see if we are any better against the zone tonight. I think frosh have a tough time playing against a zone and we are loaded with frosh. I think we will see a lot of 3 point shots if we cannot penetrate. It would be great if Utomi can find his range from the 3 point range. With Duvivier, Cotton, Jimond and Utomi we have guys can shoot the 3. I would love to see Cotton have 3 great games in a row, especially a great game on the road. Let us hope that his confidence continues to grow.

The Zips have a few negatives going into this game. They have struggled on the road. They have also struggled against the zone. You can penetrate a zone with quick passing and quick moves after you are able to penetrate the zone. Unfortunately, with our young team, once we penetrate the zone we have had difficulty finishing and if you hesitate you are done once you are in the paint. The positive is that the win against Bowling Green has given this team confidence that they can compete in the MAC. They have played 4 games in the MAC and two were competitive that could have gone either way. I heard Cotten on the radio and he indicated that he felt confident on the floor and had no hesitation shooting the winning shot. If he can continue his great play it would allow Duvivier to play the 2 guard, his more natural position. We won on Sat. with Utomi going 1-8 from the 3 ball. We need him to play better, especially against the zone where he should get open looks.

That is 2 great games in a row for Cotten. I am hoping that he continues his great play. He is under control and playing point really well. Not afraid to drive into the trees and draw a foul. My only question is what happened to Utomi's game. He had an open 3 ball and did not draw rim He missed a one and one that started the BG ralley. This is the second game where the Zips were called for more than 30 fouls. I thought a lot were ticky tack fouls. But at least the crowd gave the refs a hard time. Great win for the Zips!!

I am going out on a limb and predicting a win for today as long as the big three, Utomi, Jimond, and Duvivier play like the big 3. We need these 3 to score collectively at least 50 points. Utomi is the key and has to play like early in the season. Jimond needs to limit his turnovers. Duvivier needs to hit the 3 ball and drive to the basket. If we get production from any of the frosh it will be a bonus. (Can Cotton put together 2 good games in a row) I think that based on the Buffalo game that Bowling Green will pressure the ball. How we handle the pressure early will determine whether this team will compete. Looking forward to this game. Go Zips!

I could also see some small ball with Utomi at center. We did it at Toledo and it was effective. Having Utomi at center opens up the lane since they have to respect his 3 point shooting. We can also move the ball up the court faster. On defense we can play zone. Sayles and Klac have to be more offensive minded and move to the basket. They need to post up, move well on a give and go and rebound, rebound and rebound. Sometimes a sickness or injury can bring a team together. Go Zips!

I hope his surgery goes well. I saw him go out of the game and thought it was a minor injury. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

I am curious to see if other people on this board believed there was a lack of effort? Buffalo pressured us all over the court. We had a lot of early turnovers, many of the stupid variety. We could not make a shot. I then saw a young team get frustrated. Since we are a young team, we have to play well to compete, especially our big 3, Jimond, Utomi, and Duvivier. Utomi was non existant, Jimond was driving into a brick wall and Duvivier could not make a basket. As I stated before, we got nothing from our center. Patton and the other first year players went into panic mode with the pressure. I don't think Groce had this team prepared for the constant pressure on the ball. I did not like the offensive sets where our center has the ball 30 feet from the basket and just passes the ball backward. This team did not look prepared to handle the pressure and with the lack of talent played like a high school team. I thought the second half was better offensively and Cotten looked good. Do people on this board agree with the coach that the effort and attitude were lacking?

I think that is the worst display of basketball I have seen on the offensive end. Buffalo was shooting only 10% from the three ball on wide open looks so it could have been a lot worse. I heard the post game where Groce indicated that there was a complete lack of effort. Not sure about the effort but it looked like we were outmanned, frosh against seniors. The one thing that stood out on the offensive end is that their center doesn't play defense against our center. He keeps his eye on the ball and when we drove the lane he double teamed the ball and stopped our penetration. Their center was big, muscular and quick and we could not finish around the basket. We got killed in points in the paint. Our center comes out 30 feet gets the ball and then looks to pass without any intent to penetrate to the basket. Our center sets picks and then that is about it. No post up, he just clogs the middle. Kostallac points were fade aways. When our center did get some nice passes they hesitate, bounce the ball and by that time they have 3 guys on them. Groce needs to get our center away from the paint to open up lanes to the basket. The picks and rolls are not there. Other teams realize that our centers do nothing and it is killing this team. Finally, Utomi started like he was going to be a star. Tonight had to be his worst game. His defense is suspect and he seems to disappear. He did not score his first points until the end of the second half. Patton cannot make a foul shot. I did not expect this team to be blown out in our own building. There is no place but up with this team.

He was also a great coach. In Antino's first year, we lost Robotham to injury and we had to win 5 games in 6 days to win the MAC. Antino played his best ball of the year (maybe his career) and we won our first 3 games including a win over Kent at the Q. We played Buffalo in the semi final and Hurley put full court pressure on Antino when he brought up the ball. It wore him out and he was ineffective and Akron lost.

The Zips played well. The mental part is going to be able to close out close games on the road. Duvivier had the shot but he hesitated and then missed. Looking forward to Tuesdays game. We did not shoot many foul shots tonight and that hurt us.

Toledo finally cooled off from the 3 line and Zips are really hustling on boards. This team is athletic and it is great to see the turnaround on the rebounding. Poke is getting some shots. Great comeback. Go Zips!

On Tuesday Utomi had a bad first half. Tonight it is Ivey. However, we are rebounding the ball so much better than Tuesday. Unfortunately, we are leaving them wide wide open for the 3 ball. Utomi got burned twice on consecutive plays on defense. He has to stay with his man. Once again we have no post up game. Poke, Sayles and Kostelac aren't even thinking of making a move toward the hoop. Once again nothing from the center position. The 3rd foul on Poke when he set a bad pick and had his feet wider than his shoulders. Just stupid B Ball.

Zips are boxing out and keeping Toledo off the boards. Really like what I am seeing. Looks like they are playing exclusive zone. Keeping with Toledo in the early going. Poke has 2 early fouls. Refs are calling it close.

I would love to see Kostelac get minutes but when he gets the minutes he looks a step slow both on offense and defense. Again, he is a frosh and most frosh big men need time to adjust to the quickness of college game. He is the one guy that Groce has on a tight leash. I feel bad for the guy because he wants to contribute but right now he hurts us when he is out on the floor. Sayles and Poke are not lighting the gym on fire but Kostelac is still the worst of the 3.

I am not as pessimistic as others on this board and still think this team can win 20. You can teach players to box out, to rebound, and to play with toughnesss. However, you cannot teach athleticism and quickness. We have guards that can penetrate to the basket, we have big men that are athletic, and we have guys that can shoot the 3. Our problem is that we do not have any experience. The college game is quicker and more physical than in high school. Our guys cannot relax on the court and forget to box out. We have to play well mentally. We finally get the lead to single digits and Jimond launches a 3 ten feet behind the 3 line. Just a stupid mental error. Most frosh are not great rebounders. Zeke, Kwan, Big Dog, Pat, were not good rebounders there 1st year. We have 3 experienced players, Utomi, Duvivier, and Jimond. Last night, Utomi had a terrible first half. We need him to play well to win on the road. We need to get the ball to our center and get them involved. We have gotten almost nothing from our center the last 4 road games. Groce should design some plays for them. We had one play to the center last night and it was a turnover. This team will get better as long as the team keeps listening to the coach and do not lose their desire to win.

The Zips played better the 2nd half. You could tell the coach talked to them about their effort on the boards. This team needs to learn to find a man and box out. Utomi had a better 2nd half. We got just about nothing from the center position. Poke had a couple of nice games with post up moves and haven't seen an offensive move from him all night. Sayles has to be more aggressive. We are so young that it did not suprise me that we will have troubles winning on the road. Groce needs to teach this team to be more physical and tougher on the boards. The main positive for tonight is that we played a better 2nd half for the first time on the road.

Very little effort to box out or to rebound. I saw it against Concord. Earlier in the season I saw 3-4 guys looking for the offensive rebound. Kostelac needs to go up strong with the ball. He hesitates. We do not need him to shoot 10 footers that clank.

Utomi finally drives to the basket and scored! They are killing us on the boards and in the paint. I don't think we have one offensive rebound. Expect more of an effort on the boards.

Can somebody on the Zips box out. We are getting killed on the offensive boards. We need more toughness. Utomi does not look very good. Duviver is keeping us in the game.

With the new coach and more athletic and stronger players I thought we would be more aggressive scoring in the paint. In a couple of the early games I would see Ivey penetrating and dishing. I saw a real effort to get offensive rebounds and then score inside. I saw some nice moves inside by Sayles, Poke and Kostalec and some nice bounce pass give and goes. Against Concord, I expected us to use our athleticism to score inside. Instead, we once again relied on the 3 ball. In the tournament, we were outscored in the paint by Davidson, 32-18, by Princeton, 28-16, by USC 24-14. Once again we relied on the 3 ball and averaged 31 3 ball shot attempts per game. All loses. Early in the season, Utomi was hot from the 3 line. Now it is Duvivier. But going into MAC play, we need some consistent inside scoring. I just don't see this team winning in the MAC unless we get more points in the paing. I am hoping that Groce gets these guys to understand that they need to penetrate, score and hit the boards. Otherwise, this is going to be a long MAC season.

Against a division 2 opponent I thought we would work on our interior game and score points from the paint. I was wrong. We shot a lot of 3 balls. Duvivier got hot and made 7 of 11. It is so hard to judge this team against an inferior opponent but I see some bad tendencies. Reliance on the 3 ball. Saw it agains USC. If we get cold from the 3 line we will struggle. What happened to our offensive rebounding. I liked it when we had 3-4 guys going for rebound. Not seeing much scrappy play. When we took a fould shot, Sayles immediate went to the shooter instead of trying for an offensive board. When we shoot the ball guys are going backward instead of trying to get an offensive rebound. Againt a division 2 opponent I expected more penetration and dish offs for dunks. We had trouble penetrating. If we cannot penetrate against a division 2 team we are hurting. Finally, in the second half Utomi went to the basket and score and he was fouled. Our centers had almost no post up moves against this team. Sayles had one basket under the basket. Kostelac had one at half. Poke had a couple of dunks on rebounds but really no inside game. At times Kostelac looks very slow on offense and defense. Do not expect him to see much time once we start conference play. This team needs to get tougher. Tired of seeing fade aways from our big guys instead of taking it strong to the hoop. Need stronger play from Poke and Sayles. These guys should have been in double figures tonight. When they played zone and we penetrated, we hesitated and did not finish. I hope I am being too critical but time will tell next week. Go Zips!

Groce went with his starters and stayed with them. Utomi played the entire game and 3 of the 4 starters played around 35 minutes We win this game if Daniel would hit the open 3 ball. He went 2 of 9. He was bad from long distance on Friday also. Once again we got nothing offensively from Poke. Our offensive rebounding, assists and steals were also in the low digits. At the Jar Ivey has been making great passes driving to the basket. The penetration and dish has not been there during the tournament. It could be the better competition that the players are quicker. At the Jar it seems llike we had at least 3 guys going for the offensive boards. Have not seen this rebounding intensity in the tourney. On the positive side Duvivier kept us in the game when we needed a basket. Always great to have a "go to" guy when the game is on the line. Parish had a great first half. The team definately played better in the second half last night. Hopefully, can salvage one game. Go zips!

This team being a young team has played decent in the first half against Dayton, Marshall, and USC only to lose it in the second half. Being a young team they do not have the mental toughness against good teams in the second half. They can play poorly against Miss. State and still win. They play like that against USC they will lose by 30. That zone was tough, especially for a young and inexperienced team. When we did penetrate the zone we hesitated and could not finish. We had 16 turnovers. Kostelac had a open dunk. He held the ball, hesitated, was surrounded and then walked. He did not see the floor again. We then relied on our 3 point shooting. In the first half we were around 40%. We ended up shooting 25%. I did not think our intensity against Miss. State was very good in the 2nd half and it carried over against USC. I do not see the value of playing weak teams before good matchups. I know it was finals week but that game was a bad tuneup against a better team. Hopefully will play better tonight. Go Zips!

Live by the 3, die by the 3. This team cannot penetrate against the zone. Almost no attempts from the paint in the second half. This team has folded in the 2nd half on the road several times this year. Nothing from Poke, Utomi 1 for 7 in the second half.