LoyalZIP

EMU is one of the biggest embarrassments in the MAC that I can ever remember. They made headlines when they landed that clown. 6-21. Absolutely pathetic. Some of the worst MAC teams I’ve ever seen have won more.

Zips now up 14-12 heading to B9

Hadn’t watched a second of it and just put it on. 2nd pitch I see is a game tying grand slam for the Zips in the 9th!

No joke. I was never privileged enough to hear the inside scoop on what happened then. I'd love to hear KD's immediate reaction, Wistercill's, the entire team's. And the investigation's that led to it. At what point did the authorities know it was him? I remember being crushed. Calling friends and family. Friends and family calling me. Hoping for it to somehow not be real, and be some sort of mixup. The team came out so flat against Kent. Pinky was 0-4 against UA going into that one, and lucked into his first win. Then in 2014 he needed a 35 foot prayer to beat Akron. Blah. Hate to remember those games. It really shows you what a selfish POS Abreu was at the time. I hope he's better now, and has become a more stand-up person. He knew at the time what could happen. And if you're going to do it behind everyone's back, that's one thing. But for Zeke to be aware of it and flat out tell him to cut it out, and he keeps doing it, man that is a low of lows. He was such an excellent player. ESPN story on him from 6 years ago: https://www.espn.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/110166/former-point-guard-drug-dealer-learn-from-my-past

Sure can. Adam and his staff will be happy to help you out.

Great read. Very well constructed by GT. But man, Groce has Akron rolling pretty well now. A mini deep dive into the last 4 years here would be a fun read. Talking to guys like Tribble, Clarke, Freeman who have been here for it all. I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

Dan Gilbert loves my wallet, those Thursdays all day can add up fast!

I haven't missed a men's MAC tournament game that is open to the public since the 2010 quarterfinals. Didn't get to see the Steve McNees game live. I remember listening to Groce pound Kent on the radio later that night. Been to every MAC tournament game I'm allowed to since then. 2021 QF weren't open to the public for some reason, that's it. My favorite week of the year. Sticking around after the 82-46 behind-whooping at the hands of Buffalo was well worth it to see CMU run Kent off the floor in 2019, for example.

We are well beyond that stench being covered up. At this point we’re praying we get an invite to the dance despite that funk you can smell. Get to Cleveland and give yourself a chance, that’s all we can hope for.

Hell of a win. They did all they could to let it go at the end, but that was a very important win for this team. Onto Kent!

I find it simply staggering that there are so many folks on the EMU board that feel Bates and his whole situation isn't an issue and that the team would be far worse without him. It blows my mind. Trimble didn't have nearly the negative impact here that Bates does at EMU, and it was still an understandable, yet difficult, decision to kick him to the curb and go from there. Like, awesome, he hit a few contested step-back 3s in a couple of their 5 wins with him playing this year. Last night, he missed no fewer than 4 of those alone. And then he went 1-fer against Akron and quit in the middle of the game. I've been rooting against the Eagles all year and will continue to. Stan Heath is a bum, Bates is a bum, and that program doesn't deserve to compete for a title in Cleveland.

Didn’t get to watch live so to the replay we go. Nice win. Dominating on the road is so fun. My disclaimer is that EMU is pathetic, and if you simply removed Bates and that disaster from the program, they would quite easily make it to Cleveland. The 1-2 punch of Farrakhan and Acuff can be pretty good, and those guys are fun to watch. Emoni is a bozo and is not a winner. Heath has ruined what was setup to be a nice foundation. As for the good guys, wow was that shot making hard to watch early. I feel the looks were there once again, and became more plentiful later on, but the finishing around the basket is terrible outside of Freeman. Clarke could have easily had 10+, Tribble with his usual misses, Nate with a few misses, Hankerson and Sammy should’ve had a few more. Blah. But the O was humming to a point where that was not the end of the world. We’re starting to get to a point with Nate where we can possibly consider him as an “important” contributor. Basically, he is beginning to do what I would’ve expected from Sammy, and Sammy is contributing what I thought we’d get from Nate. Nate picks his spots very well, hustles at both ends, takes and makes good shots. Sign me up. He’s in his first year of eligibility, and is about 1.5 years ahead of what Dawson’s production was at this point in his own career. X was damn good. You’ll have some off nights shooting, but he still did so much. Hankerson continues to learn how to play winning basketball. Taking great shots nearly every time, and starting to pick spots to take the ball to the hoop. Great to see the guys closing out on shooters again. And great to see them playing the back cut or cutting off the cutters. Thank you “Basketball Gods” for the R&R trip to EMU. Let’s make it look like last year all over again. Go Zips!

Happy Valentine’s Day, ZN! 🍻

I can't remember another time going into a game against an opponent the Zips previously beat by an insane margin and being worried about a letdown. I'm not sure if that's more an indictment of EMU's effort at the JAR and overall or Akron's Malaise.

It's been by design for me. Definitely needed to take a step back before that s*** really turns up in a couple weeks. Started to feel a bit too much like the KD days of just winning for the sake of winning. As Groce says, winning can be a darn good deodorant, and winning has covered up some pretty crappy defense at times during MAC play. After the Kent game, the Zips had the top rated defense in league play. They hold that crown no longer. They are now rated #3 in offense and #2 in defense. The sky is not falling, and I'm hoping the reality check has hit this program like a truck. A trip to Ypsilanti was the proper medicine to spark the longest winning streak to end a season in program history last year. I don't think we'll win out, but some nice roadkill always gets the hopes up. The top of the league will be cheering for the Zips tonight, as nobody wants to see EMU in an NBA arena in March. Go Zips!

I appreciate it. I certainly don’t post nearly as much on WBB as I do MBB or FB, but I’m the same season ticket holder & donor I am for them as I am the others. Coach Jackson has played a huge part over the last 15 years in changing the trajectory and perception of Akron women’s basketball. It was a nowhere program before she got to Akron, even if just as an assistant at the time. I won’t speak on the administration side of things, which seems to be the biggest gripe. I don’t know enough about what’s going on there in regards to the program, support, etc. What I can speak to, is the performance on the floor, and it is not up to the standard. That’s got zero to do with the administration at this point in time. They are separate discussions.

Yes, the team has out-performed expectations coming into the season. I have followed this program very closely for a long time, and even felt doom and gloom coming into this year. Thanks to a pretty light nonconference schedule, the new (ish)-look group built up some confidence and was looking fantastic through the early stages of MAC play. Then, the 4th quarter against BG happened. Since the 3rd quarter of that game, aside from the awesome 2nd half against UB, the play on the floor has regressed to a point that's as bad if not worse than at any point in the HC Jackson era. They've lost to a couple of really bad teams, one in blowout fashion, and have blown a couple of great opportunities to a couple of the better teams. This past Saturday, they hosted the annual Akron for Nakon game. One of my favorite games of the entire season year after year. The program takes so much pride in putting on such a great event, I've been fortunate to win quite a few auctions over the years. The team was looking like they were going to pull out an outstanding win over one of the best mid-majors in the country. Then they turned the ball over 23 times. This team is far too old to be doing that. Ferrell is a Sr., has been in the program a long time. Ditto Neitzel. Ditto Martindale. Camp was at the best program in the MAC with the best coach last year, and she turned the ball over 9 times Saturday. Ball State turned it over 10 times, a lot of them from great defense from Akron. Far too many of Akron's turnovers were from throwing the ball out of bounds. That is not acceptable for a team of this much experience. Period. With the loss of Dawson, the coaches in this league expected Akron to drop 5 spots in the standings by the time this season ended. As of now, they've dropped 3 spots to the sixth place. Fred Castro at EMU is a coach that I have always seen on about the same playing field as Coach Jackson. The Zips controlled the game in Ypsi and it was never really in question once they got going. If Akron loses to them at home on Wednesday, they could be in great danger of not making it to Cleveland, which would be a massive disappointment. Beat them, and you have the tie-breaker over them with a trip over to Kent on Saturday against a team you're more than capable of beating. My biggest gripe with this staff remains the same as it did a couple of years ago. Player development is severely lacking. That extends far beyond the current group, as the last few graduating classes had a bunch of players that either regressed throughout 4 years or did not get significantly better. As for this group, Martindale came to UA as a deadeye shooter and was an awesome piece to have on the floor as a Fr. Unfortunately, that ACL injury prematurely ended a great first season, and she could have really helped that team as they lost a 1st rd. home game to EMU. Since then, her development has stalled, as her 3pt% has declined every season since. Ferrell has come a long way, but is not the kind of player to be the best player on a championship contender. Neitzel has come the furthest, as she was incorrectly utilized until the end of her Sophomore season. Corcoran, before her Walton-esque exodus this season, hit a plateau midway through last year and wound up falling down the usage totem pole and finishing the season injured. Bass is the best player on the team this year and has shown some progress, but her efficiency is down without a player like Dawson to carry the brunt of the load. As compared to her season with Buffalo, Camp's AST numbers are down, TOs up, and 3pt% way down. She is way out of control at times, and the BG meltdown happened in part due to Akron running out of timeouts due to her calling one on a loose ball that was unnecessary. Faith Stinson has shown some potential to be a great MAC player down the line. This year, though, as the best option on the bench, she has become fairly invisible in MAC play. It's just frustrating. Last year really showed what this program could become. I was mortified as to what this season could be after losing the best player in the league, but the entirely new style of play won me back over, only to see if fall by the wayside to past issues popping back up again. I am still not ready to move on from this staff, but preseason expectations be damned. The recent stretch has been unacceptable and it is not up to the standard of this roster and coaching staff. There is no arguing that. In year 5, we should not be fighting to stay in the top 8 like this. I'll be there Wednesday cheering them on as they take a huge swing at getting the season back on track. If you're able, you should join too.

IIRC, he suffered a season-ending injury last spring

Sallee is awful. He used to have a babysitter AD on the bench due to being such a D***. He’s been talked to be the league about it and everything. If you think he’s bad now, he’s been 10x worse in the past. It would have made the comeback so sweet yesterday.

I’m not sure how they kept it so close with that many turnovers, but the Zips looked the part today. First time in a while. Hopefully getting back on track.

Nate is Great. At relatively low volume, he’s a pretty reliable shooter. Has some versatility offensively. 44% 3pt shooter and has shown the ability to hit a nice turnaround fadeaway jumper with consistency. He plays really good defense and is getting more aggressive actually driving the ball, still with a lack of finishing skills. If he’s our 4-5 best option, we’re in pretty good shape. With that said, we will need Sammy to wake up again at some point. I can live with him going 2-11 in a game as long as he’s defending and rebounding, but he’s become an illegal screen machine and plays defense like a newborn giraffe. He was the only soul on the left side of the floor on his only 3pt attempt last night and left it way short.

Oh, we’re just getting started. #FireEverybody

If you would have asked me in November, I’d have probably said 9-3 after 12 games would be the best I would expect. Just got to get back on track. 2022 tempered me quite a bit, it’s almost weird how calm I am. If nothing else, Groce is helping smart bettors get a better price on a MAC title future. Go Zips! Big one for the women today

Zips falling into the 4 seed this weekend. Not good. It’ll be hard to win the league from the 4 slot. I can’t remember the last time a team was able to overcome that kind of adversity. I guess Groce won’t be getting a bigger job after all.