John Groce Officially Hired

[zippy5]

37 minutes ago, lilroodude said:

 

 Big Dog's production can easily be replicated due to a different style of play. 

 

Just stop

[kreed5120]

21 minutes ago, lilroodude said:

 

I don't think anyone is trying to downplay Big Dog's importance to the team last year. The point that is trying to be made is Big Dog was the best player on a team that LARGELY underachieved (due to the coaching/style of play) in a conference that was down, a conference in which we didn't win the MAC Tournament, and struggled to win the regular season title. If Dambrot were still here, yes, he would be a huge loss. But with Groce, Big Dog's production can easily be replicated due to a different style of play. 

 

With Big Dog/Kwan, we didn't make the NCAA Tournament once, and struggled in the MAC Tournament. Whether that's due to coaching, surrounding talent, etc., who knows. 

 

Yes, Blackburn is most definitely downplaying Big Dog's importance. The Zips didn't make the tournament like we wanted, but they still set the program record for wins and beat a pretty good Houston team. We had the regular season title locked up by mid February so I'm not sure what you mean struggle to lock that up.

 

There have been better players than Big Dog that have played for the Zips and one would certainly hope we have better ones in the future. In the long-term I'm confident we'll be fine with Groce, but in the short-term going from a front line of Kwan and Big Dog to the inexperienced and unproven frontline next year we'll be seeing a significant downgrade. I don't see what's so hard about awknowledging that a player on an underachieving team was still a pretty damn good player.

 

 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

6 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Yes, Blackburn is most definitely downplaying Big Dog's importance. The Zips didn't make the tournament like we wanted, but they still set the program record for wins and beat a pretty good Houston team. We had the regular season title locked up by mid February so I'm not sure what you mean struggle to lock that up.

 

There have been better players than Big Dog that have played for the Zips and one would certainly hope we have better ones in the future. In the long-term I'm confident we'll be fine with Groce, but in the short-term going from a front line of Kwan and Big Dog to the inexperienced and unproven frontline next year we'll be seeing a significant downgrade. I don't see what's so hard about awknowledging that a player on an underachieving team was still a pretty damn good player.

 

 

 

 

It's not just that some of us wanted to make the tournament, it's that we expected to make the tournament. For some of us, the ultimate goal is the NCAA Tournament, and preferably an NCAA Tourney WIN. Barring injuries, anything short is a failed season in my eyes. The regular season wasn't locked up until late February due to us leaking oil. And by "struggle to lock that up" I mean not only did we leak oil down the stretch, but we didn't blow teams out. Too many close games for my comfort. A win is a win, but we struggled to win a lot. 

 

Our front line was Big Dog, and only Big Dog. Kwan faded further and further towards the perimeter as the season went along, and became "3" happy. He didn't have much of a post presence - eventually not having much of a presence at all. I think we'll be just fine moving forward. Again, the reason you noticed Big Dog so much was because of the day-in-day-out same old Dambrot strategy - inside/outside. He fit that system well, but that system didn't get us very far. 

[kreed5120]

4 minutes ago, lilroodude said:

 

It's not just that some of us wanted to make the tournament, it's that we expected to make the tournament. For some of us, the ultimate goal is the NCAA Tournament, and preferably an NCAA Tourney WIN. Barring injuries, anything short is a failed season in my eyes. The regular season wasn't locked up until late February due to us leaking oil. And by "struggle to lock that up" I mean not only did we leak oil down the stretch, but we didn't blow teams out. Too many close games for my comfort. A win is a win, but we struggled to win a lot. 

 

Our front line was Big Dog, and only Big Dog. Kwan faded further and further towards the perimeter as the season went along, and became "3" happy. He didn't have much of a post presence - eventually not having much of a presence at all. I think we'll be just fine moving forward. Again, the reason you noticed Big Dog so much was because of the day-in-day-out same old Dambrot strategy - inside/outside. He fit that system well, but that system didn't get us very far. 

 

In regards to the bolded section isn't that a testament to how good we believed Big Dog, Kwan, and others on the team to be? We struggled even that much more anytime Big Dog was on the bench and Poke was in the game in his place. The same guy that will likely be asked to play a much larger role this season and is the only eligible big next season outside of Aaron Jackson, if you want to call him a big, that has D1 experience.

 

Kwan was still our best defender. Kwan regressing from being a 1st team All-MAC contender to him and Antino combining for a grand total of 5 points in the MAC championship is what did the Zips in. Our supposed 2nd and 3rd best player combined for 2/12 shooting. That's hard to overcome for any team. Big Dog was the center of our offense and the opposing teams knew it. He constantly had to fight for position and work through double teams. Despite that he still managed to make >62% of his shots. That's off the chart efficiency.

 

 

[Captain Kangaroo]

Big Dog was dominant, and durable. He has as good a senior season as I've seen at UA. He was awesome. 

[Hilltopper]

27 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Big Dog was dominant, and durable. He has as good a senior season as I've seen at UA. He was awesome. 

To say anything otherwise is down right laughable!

[NWAkron]

Pat Forsythe was great this year.  Don't we have that Kostelac next year as a center?

[Blue & Gold]

20 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Pat Forsythe was great this year.  Don't we have that Kostelac next year as a center?

Huh??

[skip-zip]

6 hours ago, lilroodude said:

struggled to win the regular season title.

 

Whaaat ??

 

The outright title by at least a 3-game margin over every other team in the league is a "struggle" that I would welcome every single year.    And exploiting the match-ups down low against Big Dog were a HUGE part of that success.  

 

I'll be interested to see how you define some other much-less-successful years that might be headed our way in the near future.  

[skip-zip]

46 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Pat Forsythe was great this year.  

 

I want what you've been drinking 

[Blackburn]

9 hours ago, lilroodude said:

 

I don't think anyone is trying to downplay Big Dog's importance to the team last year. The point that is trying to be made is Big Dog was the best player on a team that LARGELY underachieved (due to the coaching/style of play) in a conference that was down, a conference in which we didn't win the MAC Tournament, and struggled to win the regular season title. If Dambrot were still here, yes, he would be a huge loss. But with Groce, Big Dog's production can easily be replicated due to a different style of play. 

 

With Big Dog/Kwan, we didn't make the NCAA Tournament once, and struggled in the MAC Tournament. Whether that's due to coaching, surrounding talent, etc., who knows. 

 

Amen...

[NWAkron]

Kreed said that Poke is the only eligible "Big" next year.  Isn't Kostelac 6'11" and joining the Zips for 2017-18 season?

[Blue & Gold]

24 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Kreed said that Poke is the only eligible "Big" next year.  Isn't Kostelac 6'11" and joining the Zips for 2017-18 season?

Correct.  Kostelac will be eligible to play next year (2017-18).

 

Deng Riak has to sit out next year, but will be eligible the following season (2018-19).

[kreed5120]

33 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Kreed said that Poke is the only eligible "Big" next year.  Isn't Kostelac 6'11" and joining the Zips for 2017-18 season?

 

I said eligible big with D1 experience. Kostelac doesn't have D1 experience. We also have 2 incoming PF that haven't logged a minute at the D1 level. I worded it poorly.

[NWAkron]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I said eligible big with D1 experience. Kostelac doesn't have D1 experience. We also have 2 incoming PF that haven't logged a minute at the D1 level. I worded it poorly.

Ohhh.   Don't let it happen again.  We expect pin point accuracy...like a Forsythe hook shot.

[Blue & Gold]

GT w/ Ohio dot com: John Groce building nucleus for future of Zips

[Z.I.P.]

17 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

GT w/ Ohio dot com: John Groce building nucleus for future of Zips

"Guards Noah Robotham, Antino Jackson, Aaron Jackson, Tavian Dunn-Martin and big man Michael Hughes have departed or will depart with the latter two joining Dambrot at Duquesne.

 

I'm almost certain Aaron Jackson is staying put.  Does GT know something I've not heard?  Anyone?

Never mind!  I shed a tear for such a good and well-liked young man as Swaggy!  I thought he was headed to the school record for trips to Hawai'i!

http://zipsnation.org/forums/topic/37227-2017-2018/?page=16#comment-281837

 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Z.I.P.

[Dr Z]

14 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

GT w/ Ohio dot com: John Groce building nucleus for future of Zips

 

Groce said that he hopes to have nine or 10 scholarship players for the upcoming season. Ultimately, he hopes that number rises to the NCAA limit of 13.

[ziptrumpet87]

On 5/11/2017 at 5:05 PM, Blue & Gold said:

GT w/ Ohio dot com: John Groce building nucleus for future of Zips

 

That was really thin on details about the players. Maybe he has a series of player features planned.

Edited May 13, 2017 by ziptrumpet87
misspelled word

[kreed5120]

46 minutes ago, ziptrumpet87 said:

 

That was really thin on details about the players. May he has a series of player features planned.

 

Thanks for the good laugh.

[Glib Shanley]

As someone said earlier (my apologies because I can't find the quote)

George finally finished that Wendy Triple Decker 

[Captain Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, Dr Z said:

 

Groce said that he hopes to have nine or 10 scholarship players for the upcoming season. Ultimately, he hopes that number rises to the NCAA limit of 13.

I seems tough enough to sign three to five players with quality D1 talent when you have a full season to recruit. Groce is being asked to fill...maybe 8 scholarships...and his talent pool is tiny because he got the latest of starts.

 

If we can get to the max allotted scholarship count with quality D1 players in 2017-18, great. If we don't, we're loaded for bear, scholarship-wise, in 2018-19. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

21 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I seems tough enough to sign three to five players with quality D1 talent when you have a full season to recruit. Groce is being asked to fill...maybe 8 scholarships...and his talent pool is tiny because he got the latest of starts.

 

If we can get to the max allotted scholarship count with quality D1 players in 2017-18, great. If we don't, we're loaded for bear, scholarship-wise, in 2018-19. 

 

And with the mass exodus of talent in the MAC, I think I'd rather hold the remaining scholarships for 2018-19. I think we'll be quite competitive this year with the roster he has assembled, although I still want to add Duvivrier (or however you spell his name). 

[clarkwgriswold]

6 hours ago, lilroodude said:

 

And with the mass exodus of talent in the MAC, I think I'd rather hold the remaining scholarships for 2018-19. I think we'll be quite competitive this year with the roster he has assembled, although I still want to add Duvivrier (or however you spell his name). 

 

I really hate the trend that has developed in college basketball where the "lesser conferences" have become recruiting grounds for the P5 and larger conferences, with the established conference schools poaching the top talent from places like the MAC and Horizon League.  I guess I can't expect better from some of the scum at the top.

[akronzips71]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

I really hate the trend that has developed in college basketball where the "lesser conferences" have become recruiting grounds for the P5 and larger conferences, with the established conference schools poaching the top talent from places like the MAC and Horizon League.  I guess I can't expect better from some of the scum at the top.

Is it poaching, or is it the athletes feeling that a degree from a Big 10 or other major conference school will be better for their career than a degree from a MAC or Horizon school?

Back in the day many students transferred from UA to tOSU after freshman year because it was a "better" school.