1981 grad

Congratulations to our seniors. They are the epitome of a student athlete and represent the best of the University of Akron. I think Kent will see a different team than they did at Kent. Aaron Jackson and Jimond Ivey were not part a part of the regular lineup when we played in Kent and I think they are more athletic and out team will play better defense than what we saw in Kent. Also, Reggie had a bad shooting night at Kent and he has been on fire. I think we will see more dribble drives from our players. On defense KD will do everything he can to force Kent to shoot from the outside so we do not give up the dribble drive. I think we will also see more intensity from the players than we saw at Kent where they seemed very flat. Go Zips!

Winning the MAC is the goal and I hope we do it this year. However, losing in the finals of the MAC and playing in the NIT would not be a bad thing. We should get 1 or 2 home games bringing in good non conference competition into the Jar. (a first for the season) This team could make a run and get to New York whereas the NCAA would be more likely a one and done since we have yet to win a game in this tournament.

I have been waiting 3 years for Kwan to have a breakout game like tonight. He played smart the entire game. No moving screens, no turnovers, great defense and a rebounding machine. It always amazes me with this team when somebody gets hurt, it seems to motivate another player to step up. With Pat out, Kwan put on the big boy pants and had a career game. He just seems to be playing with more confidence. We certainly seemed to have more energy tonight with 18 offensive boards and we had 12 more shots than Ohio. We shot 46% from 3 land and had 18 assist. It was a great game to be a Zips fan. I agree that the refs let a lot of stuff go but it was nice playing without the constant whistles. Reggie had a great first half. He seems to thrive at the Jar. Jimond played well and I would still like him to get more time on the court. I think we did catch a break having a Friday game whereas Ohio had an overtime game on Sat and then had to travel to Akron. They just didn't seem to have any energy in the second half. I hope we can crush Kent on Friday and keep our record perfect at home. Go Zips.!!

I think it will be a sellout with many people coming early because Lebron in an Akron uniform will be popular and people may see it as a collector item. If they distribute it at half time the crowd will probably thin at the half. I hope I am wrong on this but it would not surprise me.

I hope that this is not true because it would be a terrible way to end his senior season. It seem that every time it looks like Pat is going to have a break through season and injury always seems to impede his career. Last year at the end of his best season he had an injury that limited his time. This year he started strong and again had to play through injuries. I still hope that he gets on the court even if it is only for a few minutes. With Pat out I am a big Jimond Ivey fan. With his athleticism and jumping ability I still think he is a better rebounder and rim protector than our other guards and even some of our forwards. He had a great dunk at the end of the game. KD needs to let his dribble drive from the top of the key after spreading the floor. Right now KD has him on the wing as a substitute for Reggie. I hope to see him more on the floor tonight and would like to see him score double digits.

Why an 8 start? The game is only being streamed and is not being televised?

The only thing I remember is that the refs added time to the clock and gave us .2 or .4 seconds to score inbounding the ball from under our own basket. It made no sense. I also remember watching the NIT selection show and they showed that shot and talked about how some teams were upset in the conference finals. They then did not select Akron for the NIT. I think we got some national press over that snub and that may have led to the rule change about conference champions getting an automatic bid.

Thanks for the memories. I just watched the video of the game winning shot and still wonder if the clock operator had started on time whether it would have counted. It is weird in that we had a second controversial loss in a championship game when we tried to miss a foul shot and it looked like Zeke tipped the ball in and we tied the game. Instead, they looked at the replay and ruled the shot went in without a tip and we lost the game. I always wondered whether that play was reviewable.

The Zips came out with a great deal of intensity and had 11 steals tonight. Reggie could not miss and had 21 points in the first half. We also outrebounded Bowling Green by 10 and they had only 3 offensive boards. We had 21 assist to 10 turnovers. Kwan really played well from the inside. It seemed like the team made a concerted effort to take the ball to the hoop. KD indicated that Jimond and Aron Jackson are back in the rotation and they both played 14 minutes. I think that is a smart move since I think at times this team looked tired at the end of the last 2 games. I liked it at the end of the game where they spread the floor and let Jimond drive on his man from the top of the key for an explosive dunk. I see him on the wing but I think he is much better from the top of the key when the middle is kept open. If we can bring the same intensity to the next 2 games we will win the MAC regular season. Go Zips!

Considering that we have lost 3 out of 4 and just lost by 10 to the last place team that we crushed at home, I think this will be a hard fought game. The last 2 games have exposed an offensive problem if teams do not double Big Dog and stay with the outside shooters. Our inside out game is Kaput. We need players to dribble drive to the basket to create space for the outside shooters. We need more than 8 assists and we need to find open looks for Reggie and Jake. I still think that Jimond can help this team if we spread the floor and allow him to drive to the basket. Obviously, KD has no faith in him but desperate times call for desperate measures. This is probably the biggest game of the season in that we need to show that we can handle a defense that does not double down on Big Dog. Go Zips!!

This is a weakness of this team. I cannot remember the last time a guard stripped the ball from an opposing player and went in for a layup or anticipated a pass and went in for a layup. I always thought that Quincy Diggs was a good player at anticipating a pass, stealing the ball and finishing a fast break.

I did not hear KD on the post game. But we do have a player who can penetrate and create his own shot and his name is Jimond Ivey. He has a skill set of being quick, athletic, and being able to dribble drive. He played terrible at the Buffalo game and KD yanked him after 4 minutes after his man drove past him twice and he committed a turnover. KD did not play him in the Kent game. The first thing he did when he got into the game last night at the 10 minute mark was take a jumper from the top of the key early in the shot clock. My internet went down for a couple of minutes and when I turned it on he was out of the game. He never played again until the game was out of reach. Jimond has to understand he is in the game to attack the rim, not take jumpers. This team desperately needs his skill set of attacking the rim. ( I know some of you have already given up on Jimond but I also remember people giving on Deji early in his career with Akron) What is most frustrating about last night is that it was a carbon copy of the Kent game. We had only 8 assists. Big Dog had a big night with 21 points. Reggie and Jake did not get any good looks and only took 8 shots. Noah could not penetrate and scored only 5 points. Kwan played well but picked up stupid offensive fouls for moving screens. Our players cannot penetrate even when Big Dog sets a screen. (Reggie had a costly turnover in Kent coming off a Big Dog screen) We were tied near the end of the game and then Miami pulled away when the game was tied. KD loves Noah's game of being a field general playing under control and directing our attack. But right now this team does not needs a general to guide our offense but a grunt who will attack the basket. We still can win out and get the number one seed but we need to do something different than the last 2 games. Go Zips!

The Kent State game was not an anomaly. We can't play inside out because the defenders are not leaving their man on the double team. In the last 5 minutes we brought our Big Dog to set a screen instead of pounding the ball inside to him. Jake and McAdams cannot create their own shot, Noah and Josh cannot drive to the basket, and Antino who can drive to the basket starting forcing things when we fell behind. KD did not do anything different from Kent State and the results were the same. Noah cannot keep his guy in front of him but he continues to get in the guys face 40 feet from the basket. It makes no sense. We should not lose to a team we beat by 30 points last time. This group is fading at the end of the season just like last year. It will be interesting if we can get it together for Friday's game. Need to do something different with the offense.

Our offense looks very stagnant. Jake and Kretzer once again are not getting any open looks and are not creating their own shots. We need to dribble drive. Noah had a nice dribble drive and then fed the ball to Josh for 3. We have got to play better the second half on offense. This looks like Kent State again.

KD was quoted in the Beacon today that Pat will probably not be back until March 1st against Ohio so that he can get back to being 100% healthy.

Miami has just lost 3 games in a row including a home loss to Ball State and a 44 point loss at Toledo. We have lost 2 of our last 3 including our last 2 away games. Miami did not look good at our place and I wondered whether this team would win any games in the MAC. However they won 3 out of 4 before their current losing streak including an away win at Western Michigan. As KD indicated at his press conference after the Kent win that Kent made all their shots within 3 feet of the basket. We need to improve our defense especially against the dribble drive. Lurking in my mind was our terrible finish at the end of the conference play last year when we lost 6 of 7 including 2 games to this Miami team. With Pat out we only have 2 rim protectors, Kwan and Big Dog. If one or both of them get into foul trouble (Kwan is prone to dumb fouls), we could have trouble like we did at Kent. If other teams do not double team Big Dog and stay with our perimeter players we need to be able to drive to the basket and force an opposing player to stop the drive. Antino had several nice drives to the basket but Noah and Josh had trouble penetrating the defense. (both are coming of injuries) Jake and Reggie could not penetrate past their man at Kent. I think KD should get Jimond more playing time since he is our best guy to dribble drive. Based on the Kent game, I think he could be a great asset but he needs playing time.

This game was not an anomaly. Kent played a great game and exposed our weaknesses to the dribble drive on defense. KD likes to play tough in your face defense. However, when you get in the face of your opponent you have to keep the guy in front of you. Kent continually drove past our defender forcing help from inside exposing Big Dog and Kwan to foul trouble. Further, Jake and Reggie are not athletic enough to be rim defenders. Without Pat, it would have been better to lay off Kent and force them to take the outside shot. They are not a good shooting team from the outside. We simply must do a better job of preventing Kent from getting past the first defender penetrating to the basket. On the offensive end, Kent did not double team Big Dog and had a big night. But that meant our outside shooters were rarely getting open looks with passes from Big Dog. Jake and Reggie only took 9 shots and Jake's shots came at the end of the game when it was almost out of reach. The Kent defenders played in your face defense and Antino made some great moves to the basket but simply was not able to consistently finish at the basket. On Kwan's three that tied the game, it was from a Josh penetration. We rarely penetrated the Kent defense to get open looks off passes to the shooters. Antinno and Noah shot 3 of 18 from behind the 3 line and every shot was off the dribble, not from a pass. We only had 9 assists last night. KD has 2 weeks to figure out how to get his players open looks when there is no double team on Big Dog.

Noah had a terrible game on offense, defense, and had 4 turnovers. I have no clue why he plays a man close 40 feet from the basket. They blow by him every time. Without Pat we just did not have the interior defense after the Kent guards blew by our guards. Maybe the big crowd on national TV got to him but one of the worst games I have ever seen him play. Reggie missed an open 3 when the game was tied and that seemed to be the turning point. Although Antino did not shoot the ball well he played with a lot of intensity on defense and looked like he did not want to lose this game. Big Dog was amazing. Kent did not double team him and figured that without Pat that they would wear him out. They were wrong! When he picked up his 4th foul there was almost no interior defense. Kent was athletic around the rim and without a rim protector we were doomed. KD did not use Ivey because he was so bad last game but he is our most athletic guy and we could have used him tonight. I think the league title could go down to the last game and I hope we have Pat back.

I thought Buffalo did a great job stopping Big Dog in the first half last week and stifled our offense when we were not making our 3 ball early in the game. I am hoping that Big Dog scores early and often in the first half. He played extremely well in the 2nd half going 33 minutes. His endurance has improved dramatically. The key to our offense is getting the ball to the post and letting Big Dog and hopefully Pat work their magic. The open 3 point looks come when we play inside out. Our last 2 trips to Kent were decided in the last second. I think this is another game that will come down to the last possession hopefully with a Zip win. Would love to see the Zips blow out Kent but find it hard to predict since this is an away rivalry game. Go Zips!

Maybe they saw how we got hosed by the refs in the last 2 minutes of the game.

After the half the coach was talking to ref about a call for about 30 seconds and then the second ref came over and motioned for the ref to come to the locker room. The coach and the second referee then got into an argument and the 2nd ref gave him the T. It was interesting because when the 2nd half began the coach was glaring at the refs at half court from the bench. Eventually, he spoke to the ref who gave him the T and everything settled down. On the pregame KD indicated that he had complained about the refs at N. Illinois to the MAC.

I thought Buffalo played great defense in the first half. The first team to shut down Big Dog in the post. They had 3 guys in the lane so that he could not score. When he passed to the open man we were not hitting our 3 point shots. They are quick and athletic and drove to the hoop past our guards and forward. I still cannot figure out why Noah defends so close to a player when they are 50 feet from the basket. He just does not have the lateral movement to keep his man in front of him. The second half Antino did a great job defending. We also had several stupid turnovers where Buffalo was just beating us to the ball. Our 3 point shooting once again did the trick in the second half.

I agree!! Kwan played with a big pair of _____. He picked up some great defensive boards and had some great blocks. He did not play much in the first half but I thought he was great defensively in the second half. This team needed some toughness and he held his own under the basket. I think he has found his role on this team as a distributor on offense and a rebounder and shot blocker on defense. I hope to see more of his tough defense at Kent.

I agree that the Zips did not play badly. However, they were outrebounded on the offensive boards 15 to 6 and turned the ball over 13 times with Antino having 6 turnovers. We shot the ball well and had 15 assists so not a bad offensive performance. We simply need to box out better on the road and take better care of the ball. I watched the replay of the last foul on Akron and Jake reached into the lane and put his foot down as the guy was driving to the lane and the offensive player stepped on Jake's foot and tripped into Big Dog. Big Dog did not commit the foul but Jake put his foot into the path of the offensive player and tripped him so not the worst call in the world. However, I also watched the foul on Robotham where Dambrot drew the T. Robotham had position and the Northern Illinois player was clearly jumping on his back. Robotham boxed him out and the official under the basket did not blow his whistle. The trail official called the foul and it was clearly a foul on the Northern Illinois player and Robotham was clapping when the official blew the whistle because he clearly thought it was against N. Illinois and it would have negated the Northern Illinois basket. Robotham showed a great deal of class for a second year player at the end of the game by getting KD and bringing him back to the Akron bench to shake hands.

When Pat comes in they stop playing inside out. They need to have Pat in the lane and feed him the ball. No reason to change the offense when he is in.