LoyalZIP

This x10000. Sure, old habits die hard, but players can vastly improve jump shooting with work. Look at Trimble's college career 3pt numbers from his first year on. Ditto LCJ, Channel Banks, and even Tyler Cheese developed a hell of a 3pt shot in his second year. I apologize for always brining up Cheese in particular, but he was a lethal weapon, a 5-tool player if you will. And if Tribble develops a respectable jumper and learns how to finish (Lord knows he can get to the bucket), that could be the difference between a good and great season for Akron.

I'm well aware that many people would put Akron on a list of most forgettable FBS schools (meaning D1 football & basketball in this case), but Tulsa may be near the top of that list for me.

Just saw the tweet, and he has retweeted it. Damn. He had the body to develop into a damn good MAC player.

I think hiring Whitesell at Buffalo would have been like hiring Rick McFadden here when Dambrot left. All of the talent that initially left would have instead stayed, and there would be some success, but nothing much would come of it. On the surface, it's nice to keep those guys around and still be decent, but once their big 3 of Williams, Segu, Mballa either don't play well or leave, they will be middle of the pack at best.

Overall talent level between this past year and next year is definitely an interesting conversation to have. Returning 7-8 guys that regularly contribute to a rotation and having them go through an entire offseason program says a lot to me. On top of that, there are a lot of veterans within the program too as you have Trimble who's going into his senior year (jr. year, whatever) and third in the program (yes I know only second playing), Tribble's third year, Ali's third year, Freeman's third year, Dawson's third (ish) year. That's a long time for a group to be at the same school, playing and practicing together. Remember, LCJ's breakout season was his third in this system. My hope is that despite losing a guy like LCJ, his collective talent and experience is spread out over a rather large handful of important contributors who have played meaningful minutes. Who steps up to be the leader of the team? That's a more interesting and important conversation when it comes to next year's roster. As for the COVID policy not making last year count toward eligibility, I really don't feel like a ton of players or coaches are going to take advantage of that. Of course, every situation is different. But how much would it throw off the scholarship chart for next year's "juniors" to stick around for what would be their 5th year, pushing away a newcomer? To fans it's exciting, but I feel like coaches would rather have a strict timeline set for their personnel. It will be interesting.

I spent most of this past season ultimately caught up in the guard play of this team, as I was rather impressed with what Freeman and Reece provided to this team. I'm very excited to see what Freeman can do with another offseason, hopefully it includes more time in the weight room than this past. I have a lot of faith in the staff to help him improve his game. He had some nice hands this year that failed him in crunch time, I look for improvement there as well. A person I don't think is talked about enough is Aziz Bandaogo. Of course this is a situation where I'm largely guessing based on the lack of knowledge on the guy, but every time Groce talks about him you can hear him perk up with excitement at how good he thinks Aziz will be. He's incredibly long and clearly needs a lot more time in the weight room, but from what I've seen he looks like a pretty good athlete for 7'. That kind of size can be a big problem for other MAC teams if he can develop his game, unfortunately due to COVID he didn't join this team until January so he was pretty worthless, but I think after a couple of months to acclimate to the country and to the team, he's got a nice head start to be a breakout player. As for the future of the point guard position, I really like Garvin Clarke. Sure, he was a little overwhelmed at times, but he showed some pretty great flashes for a true freshman that didn't have a proper fall camp. It only took one play a game for me to get excited, he certainly looked the part. As the group collectively began to struggle, he did too. Earlier on in MAC play, he hit a few perimeter jumpers and was more of a contributor to the offense, that kind of disappeared down the stretch though. His pass in the semifinal game to whoever it was that dunked it--that's reason enough to get excited. This staff is recruiting well, now I'd love to see the development!

Right?!?! October can't come soon enough!!!

Can't disagree with anything you guys have said. Spot on. To get a little deeper into the root of the issues that plagued this team all year, I think Maishe Dailey being the bust he was isn't something Groce was able to patch up at the end of the day. Aside from Tribble, Dailey was the only other options behind LCJ with the skillset to attack the basket and win matchups at the rim. Great teams these days must shoot the three well, but the teams that take it to the next level have at least 2-3 guys they can rely on to get to the rim and put up a high percentage shot or get fouled and make free throws (see Cheese, X). Perhaps Groce could have done something different or planned better to avoid that happening, but that's above my head. He trusted a 6'7 athletic and gifted P5 transfer senior to step up into a role that he was most certainly capable of filling. The Toledo game made me hopeful, but a whole lot of nothing came from that. Groce missed on that one, that's all there is to it. As the season went on, Mike Wynn became one of the more reliable transfers with Trimble being so streaky. I will feel very good about those guys after another offseason. I contend that with a normal offseason and normal season in general (and it should go without saying that there are no excuses, I'm just making an observation), Akron, Ohio, Buffalo, Kent, Ball State, and Toledo would have made for one of the best and most competitive seasons of MAC basketball we've seen. As good as most of these teams were, they all could have been a good bit better. I could be wrong, but all of these teams had so many great pieces that got robbed of the consistency that makes teams perform their best, whether that be a proper preseason/nonconference, a regular Tuesday, Fri/Sat game schedule, pauses and stoppages, players being unavailable because of an airborne virus, etc. Nobody really got into much of a groove besides Toledo and Akron for a few weeks and now Buffalo as of late. That's a shame for the fans. Going forward, I would be shocked if any of Akron's seniors return. Ditto Pippen at Kent, most likely the case at Toledo and BG as well if I had to guess. Ohio and Buffalo are loaded even if they have seniors that leave. The Zips have a lot of experienced and quality pieces, and there is a lot of evidence of strong player development on this staff, so I'm feeling good going into next year. I'm curious to see what those freshman do and which of them play immediately too. It could be a rocky start as I'm sure they'll need every one of those nonconference games to tune up, but I have no doubt that Groce can bring back yet another championship contender.

The two tournament games were far and away the best two games the Zips have played in the last three weeks, and I think they played better last night than on Thursday. Again, it just comes down to execution. I would argue that Friday was one of the best games this team played all season--they simply did not execute. Defensively, they played their asses off, Buffalo just took advantage of any windows they could find. Credit to them. I only wish LCJ wouldn't have tried to force so much, but honestly he had a ton of good looks that he normally cashes. He's money on those runners and shots off the glass, and he got plenty of looks. But if you look at any social media, he owns that he should've been much better. I'm glad we went all-in on LCJ, that's a great bet no matter the end result. We wouldn't be here without him. I'm very much looking forward to discussion on the future of the program. Topics such as what's the starting 5? Who's the new go-to? How will the somewhat proven guys like Dawson, Ali, and Trimble step up? How does Freeman hone in on being a dominant MAC F/C? Will Aziz start to live up to the hype? Any freshman contributions? What do Clarke and Marshall look like next year? And I think the ultimate question with a new AD coming in is what will they do with Groce's contract situation? I don't know about you but I'm excited! GO ZIPS!!!

Just got home. I’m tired. I’ll post more tomorrow (later today). I’m looking forward to the off-season and the continuation of Groce building this program. Akron had every chance to win that game. Good looks all around, LCJ getting good looks within 7 feet, decent rebounding, really good D. Groce coached his ass off the last couple of weeks to get these guys to where they were tonight. But credit to Buffalo, they took advantage of almost every single blown coverage. Despite (another) bad shooting night by every Zip, they gave themselves a chance. Just didn’t execute. Thank you LCJ. For everything. You were a blast to watch, I’m crushed it had to end that way.

Family and friends only last night. I’m hoping to be joined by many Zips fans in the Rock tonight! (Is that what they call it now?)

If Mballa has anywhere close to 23&19 like he did last night, the Zips are toast. Key offensive boards for BG kept them in the game much longer than they should have last night. I don't worry nearly as much about the perimeter shooting of Buffalo as I do them wearing down the Akron interior. Segu and Williams probably won't combine for 10-12 from three again. If they do that to Akron, they deserve to play for the title.

This is an interesting matchup in a lot of ways. Considering depth and relative experience, these two rosters stack up well next to each other. Them being 2 and 3 with Toledo at 1 makes sense if you look at the personnel. But when Akron plays to their potential, you get the second half of the game last week. Buffalo is tough, they always are. If you match that toughness and intensity, you give yourself a great chance. If Trimble can continue to get himself going and Ali can build on a solid night, I feel a lot better. The Bulls are playing great, but they are no longer immortal. Also, here's to hoping they used up their lot of hot shooting last night. But at the end of the day, the Zips have been their own worst enemy all year. I think and hope last night instilled tremendous confidence and they really bring it tonight. Getting random contributions from a guy like Marshall remind me of earlier this year when it was next man up, I got your back. Any night could be the last night we see LCJ in an Akron uniform. Just remember that and remember how lucky we are. Go Zips!!!

Since we found out roughly a week ago that the Miami game was canceled due to COVID and these are the only roster changes that popped up on either team, I would assume their earliest availability would be Saturday if they got a 10-day quarantine. The players live in pods of three so with those two and Currie out, my best guess is someone got it and the other two are in quarantine. Hoping for the best for those guys' health. I'd also hate for them to work so hard all year, no matter how uninspiring Dailey has been in particular, to end the season sitting in their bedrooms.

What a breath of fresh air the DEFENSE and ENERGY was!!!!!! Lord that win felt great! And I've been waiting for Marshall to throw down like that all year, he was superb on defense, the boards, and those 3s were a result of the collective energy and belief of the team. Still far too reliant on one guy, and not having Wynn hurt, but this performance says a lot about this coaching staff. Two weeks ago BG embarrassed us at the JAR, and revenge (albeit closer than it should've been) was served. As far as what we need to see tomorrow: Tribble's game is fine and works if he makes his MF foul shots. He's so good at attacking to draw contact, but can't finish or consistently hit FTs. Like Big Dog used to, he could make a big difference in a game at the foul line. Secondly, I'd like to see Clarke play a bit more aggressively, but that will come with time. Thirdly, Trimble saw the ball go through the net, 3/5 too!! He and the other 3 guys not handling the ball MUST work harder to get him looks. I'd like to see (quality looks of course) at least three more attempts for him in a game like this, we need perimeter shooters to step up NOW. On to the semis baby!!!!! GO ZIPS!!!!!

There's a theory on the Kent board that a "season ticket holder" heard Pippen punched Hamilton and that's why neither of them went to Buffalo last week. Amazing if true.

GAMEDAY!!!!! Woke up feeling dangerous!! I'm really looking forward to this game. I wonder if anyone's out for Akron?? Anywell, I'm ready to see the Groce magic we're all ready to see in Cleveland!!

I don't really disagree with any of the MAC awards other than Freeman not being All-MAC. That is absurd. But all I care about is winning Thursday so hopefully it's motivation.

Just win Thursday. See the ball go in the basket. See on the scoreboard you have more points than the opponent at 2H 0:00. In LCJ and Groce we trust.

Agree 10000%. We got one of the best games ever in the tournament and then arguably one of the worst! LOL!

The Buffalo vs. CMU game in 2019 was one of the best college basketball games I've ever attended

Makes me sick. Prayers to him and his family.

Were they avoiding Akron to play Toledo? If Ohio can't come to Cleveland then BG moves up to the 5, and they still have Toledo on their side of the bracket? I do believe Kent threw that game, I just can't figure out why.

Bonnies take down Duquesne 75-59 in the A-10 Quarters. And it wasn't even that close.

This is a weird tournament in so many ways. The #3 seed hasn't won in 2+ weeks, half of the teams (assuming they all make it to Cleveland) will have had 8 straight days without games by the time Thursday rolls around, I still have not heard what player(s) Akron and whoever else is affected will be out, and everyone played a weird amount of games. Hopefully it makes for a fun tournament regardless of who wins (besides Kent of course) as opposed to Toledo just steamrolling everyone.