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Keeping up with the Three D's (Dambrot, Dru & Duquesne)


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Huggins took over an Akron program that was on probation (previous coach's doings) to the NCAA Tournament in his second year.

 

Although Wikipedia doesn't show it, he also had 2 Akron teams with NIT bids. There's a reason Cincinnati wanted him, and he delivered a Final Four soon after he arrived. Damn good coach wherever he's been.

 

His final two seasons @ UA were as an Independent, with no conference tournament/automatic bid possibility like Dambrot had.

 

But I think a lot of people think in binary terms...either he sucked or he was the Messiah. I like Dambrot. I spent 13 seasons supporting him. But I know Huggins is a better basketball coach. And I'm pretty sure Groce is too. No disrespect to KD.

 

Dambrot was usually the second best coach in the MAC. That's pretty good. But 0 NCAA tourney wins, and 3-9 in MAC Championship finals doesn't get you an A+ grade. More like a solid "B."

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9 minutes ago, dre22era said:

So we propping Quality Loses now? 

Why not?  It's already pathetic that this thread is 12 pages long.

 

John Groce has not yet proven he's a better coach that Dambrot in any way, shape or form.  Unless your only metric is getting hot and winning a couple NCAA tournament games with middling MAC records. 

 

Maybe we can keep this thread going a few more pages and discuss it again when his Akron team wins a MAC Tournament Championship....or at least advances in the tournament until Saturday.

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One Ohio team made it to the round of 32. One made it to the sweet 16.

 

We'll never know what the Chesse/Banks/LCJ/Williams team would have done, but it was the best team I've seen in the JAR wearing a Zips uniform.

 

No one can deny it is a viable argument that he is an equivalent or better coach. 

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KD was a fine coach.  Unfortunately, with coaches, sometimes familiarity breeds contempt in some of the fan base.  We had some great times with him but it became almost too routine for some to win 23 to 27 games and the conference regular season championship...wash...rinse...repeat.

 

Without KD the Zips likely would not have established the consistent winning program we have today.  We could just as easily be Eastern Michigan if he hadn't built a winning tradition.  All that being said, he appeared to have peaked at UA and it was a good time for him to move on both for him and the school.  My only regret was that he left the program in shambles as took some valuable players with him that could have helped the transition here.  That's all water under the bridge at this point.

 

I'm happy with Groce and I am glad he's here.  That doesn't mean I'll feel the same next year or even next week.  I've seen a few things this year that haven't pleased me but overall I think he's represented UA well. 

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6 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

KD was a fine coach.  Unfortunately, with coaches, sometimes familiarity breeds contempt in some of the fan base.  We had some great times with him but it became almost too routine for some to win 23 to 27 games and the conference regular season championship...wash...rinse...repeat.

 

Without KD the Zips likely would not have established the consistent winning program we have today.  We could just as easily be Eastern Michigan if he hadn't built a winning tradition.  All that being said, he appeared to have peaked at UA and it was a good time for him to move on both for him and the school.  My only regret was that he left the program in shambles as took some valuable players with him that could have helped the transition here.  That's all water under the bridge at this point.

 

I'm happy with Groce and I am glad he's here.  That doesn't mean I'll feel the same next year or even next week.  I've seen a few things this year that haven't pleased me but overall I think he's represented UA well. 

The MAC hasn't had an At Large Bid since Miami of Ohio in 1999. 

Unjust to hold that against KD which is why he left. 
Not his fault Cedrick Middleton can't make a free throw. 
Not his fault the MAC as a whole dosen't speak up and defend their conference from getting screwed annually by the selection committee only giving a damn about Football $$$. 
I can't stand the MAC and going 26–7 (13–3) without even a phone call from the NIT is the prime reason why. 

 

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Keith got bounced from the A-10 tournament but it was a close game. I would make one suggestion for him for next year. They have DUQ on the front of their uniforms but on TV it looks an awful lot like DUD. I think I'd change that.

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23 minutes ago, MDZip said:

Keith got bounced from the A-10 tournament but it was a close game. I would make one suggestion for him for next year. They have DUQ on the front of their uniforms but on TV it looks an awful lot like DUD. I think I'd change that.

 

That wasn't on purpose with a 6 win season?

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29 minutes ago, MDZip said:

Keith got bounced from the A-10 tournament but it was a close game. I would make one suggestion for him for next year. They have DUQ on the front of their uniforms but on TV it looks an awful lot like DUD. I think I'd change that.

We went something like 5 years without a blue and gold uniform. At least he's still mostly using the school colors at DUQ. 😉

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3 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

  My only regret was that he left the program in shambles as took some valuable players with him that could have helped the transition here.  

 

Both of those kids ended up at UA because KD was the only d1 coach who believed in them. He made a commitment to their familys that would always have place on his team. They made the choice to follow him to Duquesne. He didn't actively recruit them.

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14 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

One Ohio team made it to the round of 32. One made it to the sweet 16.

 

We'll never know what the Chesse/Banks/LCJ/Williams team would have done, but it was the best team I've seen in the JAR wearing a Zips uniform.

 

No one can deny it is a viable argument that he is an equivalent or better coach. 

Maybe one day.  I'm happy Coach Groce is here, because the alternatives of falling into a Miami/BG/Ball State type doldrum is not a fun thought.  

 

But we can agree to disagree because the fact of the matter is that Coach hasn't been able to reach even a conference championship in the 10 years after those couple good runs.  I'm hoping this afternoon that he begins to prove me wrong.  We're 2.5 point underdogs, by the way.

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On 3/9/2022 at 5:41 PM, MDZip said:

Keith got bounced from the A-10 tournament but it was a close game. I would make one suggestion for him for next year. They have DUQ on the front of their uniforms but on TV it looks an awful lot like DUD. I think I'd change that.

Duquesne needs more than a uniform change. 

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On 3/10/2022 at 8:19 AM, RowdyZip said:

But we can agree to disagree because the fact of the matter is that Coach hasn't been able to reach even a conference championship in the 10 years after those couple good runs.  I'm hoping this afternoon that he begins to prove me wrong.  We're 2.5 point underdogs, by the way.

He definitely hasn't gotten to the tournament and advanced to the Final Four with the Zips?

🤞🤘

 

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