LoyalZIP

In 2023, both MAC tournament championship game participants featured a player from a terrible 2022 Ball State team. All 3 top seeds in 2023 featured old MAC West transfers. This year, the clubhouse leader in the MAC after 15 games features an Old MAC West transfer who is top 10 in the MAC in assist and steal rate as a backup PG a season after leading the league in steals and assists as a starter. I wonder if Groce went after Kevin Miller and Payton Sparks, or even Jarron Coleman. Surely they would have been happy to come off the bench at Akron.

I hate when Groce recruits role players who do exactly as they are asked

And if the Zips get their head out of their rear and prevent it, the final 10 aren’t as much of a scramble. Zips looked to be playing not to lose, Ohio was playing to blow us out.

Groce not mincing words re: final 10 minutes. The 45 second OU possession coming out of the U12 timeout was the ballgame.

Epic collapse. And it happened fast. Zips will go without a road win against a good MAC team.

Todd Von Sossan has been the worst ref in the MAC for decades. And he’s a d***. The whole package.

Oddly selfish game by Greg. Ball has been way too sticky.

I’m stunned Nate is already playing

Dread levels off the charts. Even more than last Tuesday. We'll hear from him at 8:55.

Feels like the 2020 game at Buffalo, as far as importance goes. Win and in* to the #1 seed.

He is an odd character. He uses the tennis ball as a stress reliever and also signals plays with it every once in a while. He also employs the use of laminated 8.5x11 sheets of paper with plays on them to signal to the players on the floor, strewn across the scorers' table. At coaches conferences, Dambrot and Groce (his friends) are often the coaches he speaks with the most as many guys in the business, while they respect him, find him awkward and "weird" for lack of a better term.

Freeman as POY and Barbee as COY are both locks. First team, Freeman and Hill are locks. Someone from Toledo will make it, likely Moss. Ali has a decent chance too. I’d also take Jihad on first team. Considering how the league has played, it’s far from a slam dunk like it typically is to come up with these teams.

He added a stability and lockdown D, but you are definitely right about his effectiveness overall. He’s fallen out of shape and his 40% 3pt. shot hasn’t been tested in almost 2 months. It’ll take him every bit of the next 2.5 weeks to be ready to contribute in Cleveland.

Akron beat Kent by 13 last night, sweeping them for the season series to sit alone in first place with 2 weeks to go. But the coach has a vendetta against the 3rd string PG. Message boards are hilarious.

Reggie Bass...wow. Emoni Bates type loser. Tackled Shammah and sold it as a flop. If Pinky had a spine he'd ditch him like Groce did with Trimble.

Everybody contributed. Awesome.

I read that in their Miami game, he snapped at Pinky when being taken out early in the 2nd half (maybe, memory hazy) and has barely played since then. Also, Mike Bekelja has received D1 scholarships from two different basketball programs. I find that confounding.

Zips -7.5. A tad bigger than I expected. I believe the 2017 home game vs. them was around 8 points or so. This is probably the biggest spread in the rivalry since then. Definitely want a different result than that night. Go Zips!

The TV networks have gotten way too lax when it comes to determining which games they want to pick up. It used to be a strict 21-days out determination. Now, they're waiting until roughly two weeks, leaving people hanging. It's insane.

High level game

Reggie Bass transferring from CMU to Kent to play less, score less, and win less (than CMU this year) is absolutely hilarious.

In the last decade, we have been closer to going 2-0 at Ohio State than we have winning at Toledo just one time.

Take all the Freeman overs on Friday

Perfectly said

Akron hasn't won at Toledo since Zeke Marshall blocked 9 shots (IIRC all in the first half) in a 71-56 victory in January of 2013. Many of the games haven't been close, either. At one point, Akron had a similar drought against Buffalo but 11 years is pretty wild considering everything Akron has done over the years. Maybe we're due. I hope so.