LoyalZIP

Agreed, so do the bettors apparently.

Line opened at Akron -8.5, now down to Akron -7.5

Wouldn't shock me if someone is out. Hopefully they can be at full strength by the end of the week. If they can beat Buffalo without Trimble, by double digits even, they should be able to take out Balls Tate without another key contributor. I like the make up of this team, it's far less dependent on getting scoring from one guy like last year. I don't know if I saw anything come out about the MAC updating its protocols to 5 days of isolation + negative tests for positives. I'm hoping they did, since whatever cases popped up last week did on Thursday. That would make today or tomorrow the day that whoever that is would be back available. Hope everyone's okay. Go Zips!

Absolutely love this! The MAC will be tough just about every game this year, especially with any roster uncertainty that pops up. While the Zips may win a blowout here and there against the NIU’s and WMU’s of the world, I don’t expect them like I used to. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Go Zips!

Hell of a win. Maybe the best 40 minutes of the Melissa Jackson era, it’s certainly up there.

Go Zips!

Bobcats take down the Flushes tonight. Game was kind of similar to Tuesday, Bobcats gave up a big first half lead and it was pretty close down the stretch. Another big game for Sears and Sincere Carry had a nice game for Duque…I mean Kent.

Game postponed due to COVID issues in………. Akron’s program

Zips take a bus trip to Portage County on a day’s notice and somehow hold on to win an ugly one. Big game for Dawson. Great win! Bleep Kent!

On Jennings and recruiting in general: When evaluating MAC recruiting, I think the best thing to look at is what kind of interest the player has from different coaching staffs. I can't recall many Arth recruits with many MAC offers, let alone FBS, sometimes even Division 1 offers. I've never seen Akron beat out UMass and UT-Chat. for so many players in my life. I get building a program with your kind of players, but it gets to a point where you have to realize you're not competing with other schools in the conference for recruits for a reason. Following football, let alone recruiting, in this league requires much different expectations than following a P5. There is so much recruiting coverage of those schools that its honestly nauseating. There aren't dozens of article analyzing what high school Jrs. and Srs. are doing so you have to dig a bit to see who wants a player, and it's great to see P5 transfers AND sought-after high schoolers being targeted and picked up by the Zips. Signing day can't get here soon enough!

In no way have I ever downplayed Dambrot's accomplishments and trips to the final and championships in any way. I simply found the end of it to be embarrassing to have by far the best team for the last two years yet be completely out-toughed and out-classed by far inferior coaches, teams, and programs in back to back seasons, with the second coming to Senderoff of all coaches. And my view of that whole situation would be far different had KD not walked off the court without having the fortitude to shake Pinky's hand after the game. That was about as pathetic an act I have ever seen from a coach in this athletic department, and I still get to hear about it from my friends who are Kent people. In no way is that discounting his success he had at Akron, it was simply very disappointing to see from a coach that is the most AKRON person to ever coach at the school. With that said, Akron was not the same program it was in 2017 as it was in 2013. Josh Williams and Noah Robotham were transferring whether KD was going to leave or not. That is a problem that has now followed him to Duquesne. As for Groce? He took over a completely gutted program and has made it about values that I consider to be more favorable, but it's just flat out different and that has appeal in my eyes. There is no ego allowed. You must practice hard. You must take care of yourself. You must play defense. We may not have a Tree, but we also don't have a Harney. KD could develop a player better than most MAC coaches I have ever seen, but coaching isn't so much about that any more as it was ten years ago. Groce recruits a lot better than he develops, again the opposite of Dambrot, but the best MAC teams now are the ones that recruit, not necessarily the ones that develop the best players for 4 years. It is a discussion of nuance. I can love Dambrot and be thankful for what he did her while also pointing out his deficiencies. I love Groce and love what he's got going, but unfortunately it did take 3 seasons to meet expectations and I do think they could be better than they are. Like @Captain Kangaroo has said before, this situation has worked out pretty well for all sides thus far. Duquesne is a better, still not great A10 program, Akron is still a great MAC program, and both coaches seem to be happy.

The best player in his Duquesne era is now the best player for his buddy Pinky over in Streetsboro, whose hand he refused to shake after Pinky embarrassed him in the 2017 title game, effectively putting the stake through the heart of Akron basketball as we all knew it. Look, I love KD and I hope he's successful at Doo-Cane, but I just don't see it ever working. And I'm not upset that he's not at Akron anymore and I don't necessarily miss him. It just became too much about excuses and failed expectations at the end. Groce is kind of like the Bizarro KD and I'm loving it. He seems far better equipped to coach in this environment of college basketball. To loop this back into more of a UA-related convo, Groce's transfers have largely either transferred down and succeeded or transferred laterally and done little. Utomi is the exception, though he was a KD recruit and ultimately did for USC what he came here to do. Like I've said, Jermaine Marshall is the only Zip I've been bummed to see move on, and I can live with that.

I understand what the STARZ DON'T MATTER folks are trying to say, we all see Jatavis Brown as one of the best Zips of all time after all. But the idea of loading up a roster with STARZ is more of a depth thing, as opposed to loading up a roster with whatever the hell the last coaching staff considered to be talent. So, Stars Don't Matter********* *********-yeah they kinda do (get it, because stars 😉 )

Absolutely. I didn’t mean for my comment to come across as anything other than I just think it’s a funny list of names, that’s all. I’m very impressed so far and I’m hoping and expecting these guys to work out well.

Can’t be stated enough how blown away I am by the experience gap between this staff and the previous. Truly unbelievable and maybe even unprecedented.

That list of “all-time commits” is absolutely laughable. I follow this program religiously and can only recall a handful of players at the top ever doing anything significant, with Deryn Bowser probably being just about the only one to live up to expectation.

What a damn ball game. I would have been a lot more upset losing a game like this a few years ago, but I try to keep cool now. Groce hit the nail on the head. They outplayed Akron tonight. Plain and simple. That would have been an all-timer of a stolen win had Akron come out on top, that’s for sure. With that said, it was great to see the fight from UA because it felt really hopeless at about 53-39. The Zips played tougher than them down the stretch to tie it up with 2 minutes to go and the Zips didn’t score again. I wasn’t a fan of any of those possessions down the stretch either. They played their scouting report on the Akron bugs to a T for the first 30 minutes then Freeman started to loosen up and figure it out a bit. Also fitting that as soon as Clarke plays his best game as a Zip on Saturday he turns his ankle in that one and wasn’t very good today, especially on defense. Dawson was a tremendous glue guy again and played very well outside of the dumb blocked three, he just got beat on the layup by Sears at the end. Total BS that Trimble couldn’t play tonight, but that’s above our pay grade. Fun game between the teams and coaches. It was nice to have the arena come to life the last 6 minutes or so. On to (maybe) Miami Saturday, which will be no easy feat. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Trust the process. Go Zips!

The eyes will be on Ali and Freeman. Their matchups with Vander Plas and Jason Carter are my keys to the game. Take VP out of the game, force him to take contested jumpers and pick him up as deep as 28-feet. He can and will take those and make them all night long. Ali is plenty athletic to keep up with him and run him off the line. As for Carter, when he made his JAR debut in his first stint with the Bobcats a thousand years ago, Big Dog kept him in check on the boards. If Freeman can force him outside and make him beat us with his outside shot, I'm there for it all day long. The Zips dominated OU in their trip to the JAR last year by making them uncomfortable on offense for 40 minutes. They had to work so hard to get good looks, and by the end of the game they were gassed. I'm excited for a high-level ball game. Here's to hoping Trimble is back and He and X have their shot.

(Definitely not trying to reverse jinx anything 😉)

Yes, I know. I would take the points and bet Ohio. As I said in my post, this is the best team Akron has played in 2 months and I don't think Akron is at their potential yet. I am both aware of Akron's ATS record and the fact that I don't think they're going to win tonight.

Zips -1.5. I’d personally take the points if I were a betting man. Zips are 3-1 ATS at home against D1 competition, including 2-0 as home doggies. However, this is the best team the Zips have faced since they opened the season in Columbus.

I wouldn't get any hopes up, but could be worth keeping an eye on: https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1478133479984484352?s=20

Officiating was very, very good. They got control of the game and kept it from getting out of hand. I didn’t love the T on Ali, but considering they called one earlier on Williams for the sake of being preventative, all good with me. Buffalo just committed a lot of fouls. Plain and simple. Akron exploited that, they were lazy defensively and reached and grabbed. If I looked at FT stats I would guess Akron is up there in attempts per game. The entire game plan for like 2 weeks was to have Tribble attack and draw fouls. There’s an art to it. The Zips executed their game plan very well today. Props to Mikal Dawson always seemingly coming up with big momentum threes, he’s a hell of a glue guy! That game was eerily similar to the one played at the JAR 365 days prior. In that one, the Zips hosted Kent on short notice, went down pretty big early on, seemingly had no plan of attack, and just slowly ate away at the deficit and then slowly built their own double digit lead. This squad has a lot of potential, I’m still not entirely sold on them as a group, but more performances like this with their back against the wall will have me singing their praises before long. Can’t wait for Tuesday!

TEAMISM. That’s a culture win if I’ve ever seen one, and Groce said as much. One of the toughest wins since he’s been here, I can’t believe the Zips put up the point total they did after the first ten minutes or so AND without their best shooter. Zips got Williams out of the game and forced the rest of that mess of a team to beat them, and they couldn’t do it. Tuesday won’t be any easier. Put the team on your back, Ali! Go Zips! Happy New Year to all!