Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 5 minutes ago, akronzips71 said: We NEED a big. MUST save that last scholly for a big. We won in the Zeke and Big Dog years mainly because we had a dominating big. This year, if nothing else, shows the folly of playing small. False. We never went to the NCAA Tourney with Big Dog, struggling in the MAC Tourney for a couple years because of a lack of a backcourt. Zeke was a bit of a different player, because he was a highly touted recruit with a massive wingspan that really changed the game defensively. However we lost Abreu, and got stomped by 40+ in the tourney, despite Zeke and Tree. While I do like a good big, NCAA games are won with killer guards and athletic forwards. This year showed it sucks to be young and lack depth. Period. Taking away anything more than that on the negative side is a bit of a reach, and shows pessimism. We have KLac, EMan, Sayles, and Riak in the front court. That's plenty to win in the MAC and beyond. The difference comes from the backcourt, which we need to solidify due to a lack of depth to begin with, plus the losses of Cotton and Duvivier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 15 minutes ago, akronzips71 said: We NEED a big. MUST save that last scholly for a big. We won in the Zeke and Big Dog years mainly because we had a dominating big. This year, if nothing else, shows the folly of playing small. Ugh. It wasn't like the coaching staff said "hey, just for fun let's try playing small and see what happens." Groce had one "big" left on the bench after the home BG game. That guy was an inexperienced sometimes awkward freshman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Oats made a comment that caught my attention after they beat Arizona. He said they weren't worried at all about stopping Ayton because he knows you can neutralize forwards by going smaller and making them chase you around all night. I've wanted to go back and see how our bigs have done against Oats teams but haven't had the time yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronzips71 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 10 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: False. We never went to the NCAA Tourney with Big Dog, struggling in the MAC Tourney for a couple years because of a lack of a backcourt. Zeke was a bit of a different player, because he was a highly touted recruit with a massive wingspan that really changed the game defensively. However we lost Abreu, and got stomped by 40+ in the tourney, despite Zeke and Tree. While I do like a good big, NCAA games are won with killer guards and athletic forwards. This year showed it sucks to be young and lack depth. Period. Taking away anything more than that on the negative side is a bit of a reach, and shows pessimism. We have KLac, EMan, Sayles, and Riak in the front court. That's plenty to win in the MAC and beyond. The difference comes from the backcourt, which we need to solidify due to a lack of depth to begin with, plus the losses of Cotton and Duvivier. We must agree to disagree. EMan may or may not be back. Much too soon to tell. That will be up to his doctors as the season gets closer. No one can predict that future. Sayles was starting to look good, then he got hurt. Aside from not being a true center, my concern is that he may be gun shy because of the way he got hurt. I would not blame him. I am a big fan of Klac, but clearly he was thrust into a role he was not ready for. Sure hope he stays and improves. All that being said, KD was right, we have to be built for the Mac. That is where we live. Over that span of years where we got to the title game year after year, we almost always had a height advantage. Zeke, Big Dog, Pat, Tree, Jake, Reggie, these were all big guys. This year there were times our tallest guy on the Court was 6-6. We can NOT win in the Mac with that size. And don't tell me about the Dance. The game you refer to, we did not have a PG AND two of our starters got sick and barely made it into the arena. Fast athletic guards are a good thing, we are not winning in the MAC without a GOOD big man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 33 minutes ago, akronzips71 said: Sayles was starting to look good, then he got hurt. Aside from not being a true center, my concern is that he may be gun shy because of the way he got hurt. I would not blame him. If I ever see another ref call a T for hanging on the rim I'm going to have to resist the urge to run out on the court and immediately kick his ass. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 38 minutes ago, akronzips71 said: All that being said, KD was right, we have to be built for the Mac. That is where we live. Over that span of years where we got to the title game year after year, we almost always had a height advantage. Zeke, Big Dog, Pat, Tree, Jake, Reggie, these were all big guys. This year there were times our tallest guy on the Court was 6-6. We can NOT win in the Mac with that size. This is confusing. Why do you keep bringing this up as if it was the coaching staff's plan to play a 6-6 post? KD left the cupboard bare. We had 3 eligible bigs, and two of them got hurt. The third was a freshman. Unless you're on a steady diet of Duke or Kentucky, you rarely see freshman bigs who are any good. Next year we'll have 4 bigs on scholarship. On a roster of 12, 4 bigs is plenty. Beyond that, one can only speculate how injuries +/or development will play out. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronzips71 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 42 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said: This is confusing. Why do you keep bringing this up as if it was the coaching staff's plan to play a 6-6 post? KD left the cupboard bare. We had 3 eligible bigs, and two of them got hurt. The third was a freshman. Unless you're on a steady diet of Duke or Kentucky, you rarely see freshman bigs who are any good. Next year we'll have 4 bigs on scholarship. On a roster of 12, 4 bigs is plenty. Beyond that, one can only speculate how injuries +/or development will play out. We only have one big. K-Lac. 6-8, 6-9 is not really a D1 center these days. I am well aware that the cupboard was bare, and that it was not Groces fault. But face it, compared to past years we were SMALL, and it killed us. Two guys hurt, K-Lac in foul trouble, the next biggest guy on the team 6-6. We have to fix that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronzips71 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 By the way, if anyone cares to look, I think you will see that I had posted during the recruiting season for this year, when KD was still there, WTF, no bigs on the recruit list. This was a glaring problem two years ago, we never had anyone on the horizon to replace Big Dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) 36 minutes ago, akronzips71 said: We only have one big. K-Lac. 6-8, 6-9 is not really a D1 center these days. I am well aware that the cupboard was bare, and that it was not Groces fault. But face it, compared to past years we were SMALL, and it killed us. Two guys hurt, K-Lac in foul trouble, the next biggest guy on the team 6-6. We have to fix that. Shhhh... Don't tell that to Villanova. I guess they don't have any bigs. How on earth did they win a National Title? Getting slightly back on topic, getting either of the remaining two guards we have offers out to (Moss & Alvarez) would be massive. We would instantly become a title contender again, in my opinion, with the back-court assembled this off-season. Edited April 9, 2018 by Let'sGoZips94 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 It's almost like az71 isn't aware that we have a 6'11" former 4 star recruit who is eligible this year as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) Who was the "Big" on the Kitten 2010 and 2012 teams? I seem to remember Bassett (2010) and Cooper being the stars. In 2002, 6'4 Antonio Gates and the giant Trevor Huffman led PCCC. I see the point of needing a stronger inside guy like Big Dog or a shot-changer like Zeke because in certain games and situations that is what we will need. Riak and Eman could be the shot-changers. Sayles is the strong presence. Not sure what adding another guy will do. Groce and staff know what they need. Edited April 9, 2018 by NWAkron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I'd love for the Zips to have come up with another quality big in the recruiting process, but their failure to do so isn't fatal. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Yeah I'm down for the best player we can get at this point, regardless of position. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 2 hours ago, akronzips71 said: We only have one big. K-Lac. 6-8, 6-9 is not really a D1 center these days. I am well aware that the cupboard was bare, and that it was not Groces fault. But face it, compared to past years we were SMALL, and it killed us. Two guys hurt, K-Lac in foul trouble, the next biggest guy on the team 6-6. We have to fix that. We sucked because our roster was deprived of ready to play talent. We were forced to play true freshman, who probably should have been red shirted, and walk-ons. If all those guys that played were 2 inches taller we still would have been terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Do we have any offers out to any non-guards for this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 4 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: Do we have any offers out to any non-guards for this year? See my link above. It will take you to all the offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Looks to be their 6th man. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/tarin-smith-1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 1 hour ago, zippy5 said: Looks to be their 6th man. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/tarin-smith-1.html Looking at his career numbers, I have no interest in him. I think Groce can do better. .408 fg% .302 3pt % 1.35 assist/turnover ratio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 39 minutes ago, kreed5120 said: Looking at his career numbers, I have no interest in him. I think Groce can do better. .408 fg% .302 3pt % 1.35 assist/turnover ratio The kid was good enough in the A-10 that I think he could help, but I see absolutely nothing tying him to the Zips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 11 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said: The kid was good enough in the A-10 that I think he could help, but I see absolutely nothing tying him to the Zips. Sure he was good enough to play on a bad A10 team that was short handed much like Akron. The A10 wasn't as good as it normally is and Duquesne played the 273th SOS. Their schedule was weaker than all 12 MAC schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 We apparently won't hear anything from TJ Moss till at least after this weekend. (NLOI Day is tomorrow.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 8 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said: We apparently won't hear anything from TJ Moss till at least after this weekend. (NLOI Day is tomorrow.) I wouldn't be surprised if he commits to Frank Martin's program. I've heard players love to play for him, and they're entering their 2nd year removed from a Final Four appearance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 If we don't land either Neftali Alvarez or TJ Moss, I'm thinking Groce should just pocket the scholarship for future use. Jimmond is going to be our only senior who will graduate and open up a scholarship, so this way we'd have two to give out next year. We're already quite stacked: 1. Jackson (5-8) 2. Hester (6-3) 3. Roscoe (6-3) 4. Ivey (6-4) 5. Banks (6-5) 6. Utomi (6-6) 7. Parrish (6-6) 8. Toles (6-6) 9. Poke (6-8) 10. Sayles (6-9) 11. Riak (6-10) 12. K-lac (6-11) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 4 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said: If we don't land either Neftali Alvarez or TJ Moss, I'm thinking Groce should just pocket the scholarship for future use. Jimmond is going to be our only senior who will graduate and open up a scholarship, so this way we'd have two to give out next year. We're already quite stacked: 1. Jackson (5-8) 2. Hester (6-3) 3. Roscoe (6-3) 4. Ivey (6-4) 5. Banks (6-5) 6. Utomi (6-6) 7. Parrish (6-6) 8. Toles (6-6) 9. Poke (6-8) 10. Sayles (6-9) 11. Riak (6-10) 12. K-lac (6-11) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 I don't like the idea of an unused scholarship. If they aren't a fit, I think we've seen our fair share transfer after a year anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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