LoyalZIP

Very well said. I think she could be one of the best players in the league if she was coached better. A lot of times, it's hard to see what direction they are going with the offense when she is all over the place. Also, I would limit her to 3 15+ foot jumpshots a a game and if she hits one of those 3, she earns the chance to shoot another. There are enough decent shooters on the team (need one more) that she shouldn't be shooting from out there. Granted her career perimeter shooting statistics aren't terrible, it's clear her jumpshot is very flat and reminds me of a worse Greg Tribble jumper. As I've said before, this coaching staff has shown a tremendous inability to develop players with many of them being just as good as seniors as they were as freshman. Now that we see the potential with the personnel, I would love to see them make something of it in the future. They haven't played a game in Cleveland in the tournament since 2016 I believe.

The game times listed on that link are confusing. Zips will only play at 4:30p if everyone else were to have a running clock. I understand misreading it as it says "Game 4: 30 minutes following game 3". First game tips at 11:00a and it will be like a typical women's quarterfinal day. Once that game tips, there are 3 straight right after it, all of them starting 30 minutes after the game before ends, as opposed to normally having 2 games in the afternoon, kicking everyone out of the arena, and starting again with 2 more in the evening. So to estimate it will approximately be (assuming no wicked fast games or overtime games): Game 1 (#1 Toledo vs. #8 Balls Tate) -- 11:00a-1:00p Game 2 (#4 vs. #5 Ohio) -- 1:30p-3:30p Game 3 (#2 vs. #7 Miami) -- 4:00p-6:00p Game 4 (#3 Akron vs. #6 BGSU) -- 6:30p-8:30p

I believe she is coming back

I’m hearing it’s Akron with Covid, but they are not being shut down and will play next Thursday. It must have been contained to one person/living space. We’ll see what details follow.

Game likely canceled due to Akron COVID issues. Not looking good.

Yes and who they play off the bench and the style of play. They've been playing kind of an inside out motion with Molly Neitzel by having her take mid range jumpers while Brewer hangs out in there with her. Tecca spots up while Dawson creates and Ferrell has developed a great perimeter shot as well.

The new lineup they've used the last few games has been very good, unfortunately it's too little too late

Just announced this morning, I saw it on D1 Ticker. His contracts ends June 30, 2021.

The fight certainly makes me feel better, but from 12-3 to 12-6 and all three of those games involve long double digit deficits, this is not good.

Agree on all points. Perhaps the first 15 games of MAC play winning was deodorant for Akron. As was hitting shots and playing some solid D. But as everyone else has figured the game out they’ve passed by the Zips. And it was all a lie.

I tend to go into each game independently, but this has simply become a trend and I know we’re all tremendously worried, and can kind of feel where this is going. My theory on the matter has changed quite a bit since it’s started, but I’m zeroing in on what I think the problem largely is. While the defense has been abysmal for about a month now, and it certainly has been a big issue during this stretch, I think the problem right now is the stagnant offense. Since Ali missed a bunch of easy ones to start the OU game, nobody on the offense can seem to get it going. Late in the first half today, Trimble got pulled and was on the bench for most of the end of the half. Guys like Trimble and Ali have been reliable all year on the perimeter offensively, and since they’ve gone cold they’ve begun missing plays on defense. So as the offense has hit a wall, it has shown up at the other end even worse in some cases. Nobody can get into a rhythm offensively and I think they’re carrying that to the defensive end. That says a lot about this teams mental strength against last years. Just my two cents.

Don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed in Groce but here we are. He’s lost the team.

I wish I could take Tuesdays off like the Zips have most of the year

We suuuuuuuck

No way in hell LCJ comes back. My guess is Groce and Maishe kind of see he isn’t really working out and he moves on. Reece? No clue

Yuck. Yuck yuck yuck. 4 straight sh*t halves. First time that's happened in a couple years. There's really not much more to say than this team is not fun to watch right now. At all. A month ago it was poetry in motion, go figure. And no LCJ is not being too selfish. This was actually one of his better games as far as shot selection, he just didn't hit the 3s he normally does. He had a ton of good looks that didn't fall. As for the two high major transfers, that's their collective worst performance since St. Bonaventure. Maishe made a hell of a Euro step finish early and Trimble made his only 3s very early. Then? Maishe is Maishe of course, but then Trimble was taking awful shots and missing badly. And then he bricked his most wide open shot of his life. Then once the team collectively felt it was out of reach (it wasn't yet), effort went straight down the toilet. BG isn't overtly talented, but they play like Akron did at one point. Use hard defense to create offense. They shut down Akron and in turn played loose and played smart basketball, props to them. I'm jealous. The sky is a lot closer to the ground than it was last week, but I still have faith. BG has rattled off 4 great road wins in a row after dropping I believe 6 in a row, teams can be up and down, Lord knows we have. At the end of the day, I will officially retire my hopes of this team developing the toughness and swagger of last year's team, my hope for a slasher/finisher died a while back too. If this team is to do anything special, it comes largely down to execution. The pieces are there, the effort is usually there, just execute. It'll be a long 3 days off before Buffalo, that's for sure.

First half deficit trend continues

Tribble starting tonight in place of Dailey

BG has really picked it up since that disastrous stretch a few weeks ago, and considering how the Zips have been playing I'm much more concerned than usual going into a game against BG. Akron hasn't lost to BG at the JAR since I believe 2009. I love Akron on paper against BG (and most teams in the MAC for that matter), but we all know that means very little. Star power goes to Akron with LCJ > Turner. Post play Freeman/Reece > Whatever BG trots out. The things in the middle are pretty close, with Akron's supporting cast having a far higher ceiling. This is a good matchup for Akron, as is a team like Kent. I'd like to see the Zips go back to their formula from their best play of the season. LCJ playing his game and hitting shots he always hits, Trimble making every open look, Ali hitting perimeter shots but not as the focus of the offense, Freeman grabbing boards, 1-2 really good contributions from Maishe, and then 3-4 really solid contributions from Dawson/Wynn/Clarke. Of course, it's much more difficult than just saying "HEY GUYS, PLAY GOOD" but if the guys focus on playing their asses off on defense and simply making smart plays (aka being an NBA All-Star in their own roles), the pieces should fall into place. I think a lot of the recent struggles come from LCJ being off, similar to how he regularly played in his first season as a Zip. Obviously, Akron basketball is poetry in motion when he's playing well and the room for error becomes enormous. But the talent level on this roster is such that he shouldn't have to do that every game for Akron to play at a very high level. That's where a guy like Maishe could have made the most impact this year. In the past, these are games that Akron tends to come back strong in and look good. I trust Groce and LCJ to get the most out of this team. I'm excited to see what happens! Go Zips!

Agree on Tribble. He should be the Tyler Cheese of this team, slashing D guy who can hit a three every once in a while. Instead, his abilities are still as limited as last season but Akron needs more out of him. I think that’s what makes it feel like he’s regressed.

In true EMU fashion

After taking some time to cool down, I have a few final thoughts. The defensive effort is in disrepair and has been for a few weeks now. Players are penetrating the top and there are blown coverages allowing for open looks out there as well. I'm not schematically gifted as a lot of people so I don't know the reason for this, but it is very frustrating, especially by a Groce team. Last year's team rarely had breakdowns like this, now they are the regular. And earlier on in MAC play, this team was just as good as that one. It's very curious. On the post game, Groce alluded to shooting 71% in the second half at Ball State Friday as a reason the guys are becoming too reliant on trying to win shootouts. After Ali missed a bunch of open looks to start the day, panic may have set in for the group. You could tell, everyone was just off. It happens, but when it does, you can't allow it to creep to the other side of the floor. Look at the game @BG. Shots weren't falling early, but the defensive intensity led to some easy buckets and the rest was history. I'd much rather watch that Akron team than the one I've seen lately. Defense travels, this team needs to keep that in mind. There's no reason Akron should ever lose the game they did today, especially the way they did. Unfortunately, they have followed their own trend to where they are. It's time to peak and they're doing the opposite. Another thing I thought about as the bench guys made it in late, this trend of uninspiring play has also come with guys like Dawson and Clarke becoming a bit more invisible on the bench. Their valuable minutes have pretty much vanished, and Marshall plays about once a month. The front line guys are hurting themselves with poor defense by forcing themselves to take more minutes from the bench to make up for offensive production. Not a good recipe for the upcoming tournament. I feel bad for Maishe. He's clearly an able-bodied and gifted athlete. He has handles and has a pretty stroke. He just can't figure it out. I don't think he hurts this team, I just have a hard time finding his value. All in all, each loss this season has felt like 2 considering how well Toledo has played all year. And Akron's performance has been trending toward what we saw today. Now is the time for LCJ to be the MVP leader he is and for Groce to be the world-class MAC coach we all know he is. Time to step up!! GO ZIPS!!!!

And BG is trailing EMU 29-10 with 5 minutes left before half time.

Team leadership needs to step up. The big difference between these last two seasons is I think last years squad was tougher. The leaders stepped up and carried the team when they were struggling, and they kept their cool. This team has done that a lot this year, but failed to do so today and back against EMU a long time ago. Maybe this is what they needed. Time will tell.

The sh*tty play of the last month is catching up. Against a team without its 2 best players too.