The Good & Bad—2016-17 Season

[1981 grad]

If you had to sum up this season, were you satisfied with the team or frustrated?  It has been a week since our last game and I thought this would give everyone an opportunity to comment on the season. 

I think there were a lot of good things that happened this season.  I have never been more impressed with our offense than when we played Marshall, a good team that lost to Middle Tenn in their conference final.  We set a record for wins, KD became Akron's winningest coach, we won 2 tournaments and won a post tournament game even though it was an NIT win, it was a good away win against a top 50 team.  Kwan, Big Dog and Jimond had great seasons, more than anyone ever expected going into this year.  During the year we saw some solid play from Noah, (I thought he stepped it up toward the end of the season) , Antino (best defending guard),  and Josh.  The Bench had some solid play with Utomi going crazy in some games, Dunn Martin and Poke (amazing dunks and blocks). 

 

However, like a gambler who wins a lot but is always hoping for the big win, I feel some frustration with this season.  We lost the NCAA invitation to Kent with a sub par game in the final, just like last year. (Kwan and Big Dog never made it to the NCAA because of a 4 year drought.)   We had very few if any wins against top 50 teams.  Most importantly, the last game of the season against Texas Arlington was a major disappointment where we were blown out of the game.  (Last year we played poorly at Ohio State).  Once again if we would have won our last game we would have had a home NIT game.   Overall, I feel like the team underachieved when it counted the most, the last game at Kent and at Texas Arlington.  If we play a good game and lose, no problems.  If this team could play with Gonzaga and Creighton, we should beat Kent at the Q and have a competitive game with Texas Arlington.

 

My last point is the most important, KD is a great coach and brings in great student athletes into the program.  As an alum you have to be proud of that fact.  I liked hearing the students on the radio and seeing them on the TV on the KD show.  Best of luck to Kwan and Bid Dog in their future careers.

 

 

[clarkwgriswold]

I quoted this on here before, but in the words of Dennis Green, "They are who we thought they were."  We knew their shortcomings but as long as they were winning, we were gleefully happy to look the other way and enjoy the run.  When those weaknesses came to the fore in the last month of the season, they stung us like newly discovered flaws as we'd become so accustomed to overlooking them.

 

There were many positives on the season.  The emergence of Utomi and the growth of Ivey stand out.  Big Dog carried over from his strong junior season to be the most dominant big man in the MAC.  Kwan grew up as a player and may have been the team's MVP in the first half.  Poke was a pleasant surprise, giving the Zips valuable minutes and energy despite playing out of position.   Martin Dunn gave us depth at guard we didn't expect.  Also, the kids were good citizens with no arrests or other embarrassing incidents.

 

There were also negatives.  Josh Williams had a difficult time getting on track.  Aron Jackson regressed and nearly disappeared as a contributor.  For spells, Noah posed too little of an offensive threat.  Big Dog's free throw shooting was often atrocious.  They continued to get beat repeatedly off of the dribble.  Kwan's early season magic dried up late. 

 

All in all, it was a positive season.   I hated losing 2 out of three to PCCC and that's my primary disappointment in the season.  Looking back, I cant attribute the team's failures to any lack of effort.  KD and the staff got as much out of the team as could be expected.  Next year's team will be much more of a challenge as adjustments will have to be made for the talent.