Let'sGoZips94 Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 11 hours ago, NWAkron said: What will everyone be looking for in this game? My focus will be first on Aziz. What can he bring to the team. He's apparently the real deal but we've heard that before. And even thought Zeke made a huge difference he could have done much more. Hard to fault him when he was constantly misused and out of position. I don't think Groce will be leaving his 7 footers on an island at the 3 pt line, in harm's way of a moving screen violation with a mile to run back to the hoop for the "roll" part of a pick & roll. _________________________________________________________________________ A few things I'm looking at... 1. Movement - How's the ball movement? - How's the off-the-ball movement? - Last year, we were very stagnant. It never quite came together on offense. 2. The Bigs - Are Aziz & Sekou up to higher-level DI snuff? - Does Enrique take a step back or continue being one of the best stories in Akron basketball history? - Are we disciplined down low and able to avoid unnecessary fouls? - Will we get offense from the post or are our Bigs mostly assets on the defensive side of the ball? 3. New Faces in the Backcourt - Is XC the perfect replacement for LCJ? - Does Clarke look ready to step up and be the floor general after learning from LCJ for a year? 4. Shooting - Who are our shooters this year, aside from Trimble? - Are we going to settle for 3s, or will the offense be more opportunistic with aggressive drives and kick-outs if needed? 5. The True Frosh - Will we get anything out of Kobe Mitchell & Nate Johnson early in the season? 6. Development - Ali Ali took a nice step in the right direction from 2019/20 to 2020/21. Does he take another step? - Do we see similar developmental leaps from the likes of Wynn, Tribble, and Dawson? Ali, Wynn, Tribble, and Dawson are crucial to our matchup advantages, as they are 4 athletic guards/forwards with the ability to create mismatches on offense, and shutdown athletic opponents. Ali was a nice surprise on defense his true freshman year, and took a surprising leap on the offensive side of the ball for his true sophomore year. I'd like to see the same from Wynn, Tribble, and Dawson, who have all been assets on defense, but more on the liability side on offense. _________________________________________________________________________ Time will tell if this statement holds true, but I believe the COVID situation has been a positive for this program aside from killing our potential MAC Title & NCAA run in 2020 (that team was so incredibly special). With last year not counting against a player's eligibility, our class numbers look like this... Senior(s)/Grad Student(s): 1 Junior(s): 3 Sophomore(s): 4 Freshmen: 7 (I believe 2 are walk-ons) Talk about an opportunity to build something special, with 9 key players being underclassmen, with 5 of those underclassmen having at least 1 year of significant DI experience (Aziz had about half a season, but I did not count him in that 5). Let's Go Zips! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 (edited) 13 hours ago, NWAkron said: What will everyone be looking for in this game? I don't have nearly as much to add as @Let'sGoZips94 , but... Xavier Castaneda - starting PG? Suitable replacement for LCJ. Floor general? Garvin Clarke - has his game taken a step forward? Improved outside shot? Solid backup PG? Did he benefit from playing for the Bahamas national team this summer? Greg Tribble - will he be anything more than an athletic defensive specialist who gives us one spectacular play per game? Has his ball handling and outside shot improved at all? Ali Ali - IMO it all comes down to personal confidence with Ali. Is Ali more confident? Is his body language more dominant? Does he morph into an alpa? Enrique Freeman - Does he continue to be one of the better bigs in the nation, or do the addition of Kalle and Bandaogo cause him to take a step back this season? Bandaogo and Kalle - simply curious with these two. Any legit added benefit on the offensive side would be a huge plus. Mikal Dawson - Does he become a little more consistent with his 3-point shot & morph into one of the better players in the MAC? Kobe Mitchell & Nate Johnson - I think Johnson is hurt & hasn't practiced much. Curious to see if Kobe gets much PT & how he adjusts to D-1 ball coming from such a small high school. K.J. Walton - To be honest I don't remember much from him at Ball State so I'm just curious to see what we've got here. He was a 4-star prospect coming out of high school. Michael Wynn - has his offensive game improved at all? Does it flow more naturally? To me last year it looked like he thought too much on the offensive end (Ali too). Can he (and Ali) get out of their own heads and just have fun playing ball? Bryan Trimble - I think we know what we've got here. I'm going: PG - X Clarke W - Walton Dawson W - Trimble Wynn P - Ali Kalle P - Freeman Bandaogo Edited October 29, 2021 by Blue & Gold 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 The nice thing about tonight is that we get a game that doesn't count against high-end competition. Learning & Developmental experience and a chance to gel more before getting into games that count. Looking forward to watching all of the new faces and see how returning players from last year have changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 Great post, @Let'sGoZips94 !!! All very well said. My eyes will be glued to everything, but the two factors I will be paying the most attention to are Castaneda and Aziz. Ever since Aziz made it onto campus last year, Groce's eyes would light up whenever he was asked about him. I wish he would have been able to contribute more last year as a rim protector, that would have helped that group a lot. Now with a proper offseason program, I am pumped to see what he can do for this program. As far as XC goes, he will need to contribute as a scorer filling in for all of the offense that LCJ took with him. That's not to say he needs to average 20+ points, as he can be better about getting his teammates involved in the offense to a point of increased production. However, the Akron offense of the last two seasons has been guard dominated, and hopefully he can maintain the perimeter threat in addition to getting Trimble and Ali good looks. Hopefully one other shooter can step up as well. I'm just excited. Aziz, XC, KJ Walton, maybe one of the freshmen. There's a lot of new faces and old faces I'm very excited about. Even though this one doesn't technically count, it still feels like Christmas day to me! Time to finish what we started 2 years ago! GO ZIPS!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 Quote Huggs went in to see Guzzetta one final time before Guzzetta was going to formally offer him the job. When Guzzetta asked him what his favorite colors were, Huggins answered blue and gold. He was tipped off beforehand not to answer green, a color Guzzetta hated. "He hired me right there," Huggins said. "That's how I got the job." Sounds like the extent of the vetting we do when we hire a football coach. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyZip Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 I honestly think Walton will be a key this year. He's the only one on the roster that can replace some of the slashing/penetration provided by LCJ. However, he does lack an outside shot to balance. Will be curious to see how he's guarded and if it allows for good floor spacing like we had with Jackson on the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1981 grad Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 I will be seeing if Freeman has developed an offensive game to match his quickness on defense. It seems like forever since we lost in the playoffs in Cleveland. This team will be a lot differenct without LCJ. I also wonder how this team will shoot the 3 ball. It seems that has been our weakness the last few seasons in that the players like to shoot the 3 but we do not shoot a high percentage when shooting the 3 ball club. I also am hopoing that Trimble will develop into an all around player and just not a streak 3 point specialist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 Loren Christian Johnson... Mike Groce... Jim Groce... These announcers are in preseason form. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 Not a fan of that lineup that started. Hopefully an exhibition lineup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 (edited) 3-2-1...these refs are awful! Edited October 29, 2021 by NWAkron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 (edited) Has a coach ever been ejected from an exhibition/charity game? Edited October 29, 2021 by Let'sGoZips94 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 I rarely complain about officiating, but man this is brutal. Hopefully it toughens up the Zips if nothing else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 Just now, Let'sGoZips94 said: Has a coach ever been ejected from an exhibition/charity game? I'm not a refs complainer but geez it's only going to get worse if they let them get away with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 KJ Walton. He's a keeper. Aziz...shades of Zeke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 Aziz looks a step behind indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1981 grad Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 I only saw Trimble briefly and he made a 3. Surprised he did not get more time. Ali looks out of sync. A lot of tribbling without going anywhere. The offense does not look very fluid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 A dearth of 3 point attempts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted October 29, 2021 Report Share Posted October 29, 2021 Zips look very raw. Not a terrible defensive effort overall, WVU playing well. Nothing to be too concerned about yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted October 30, 2021 Report Share Posted October 30, 2021 This went south very fast. Lots of blown coverage. Castaneda non factor...of course what Zip is at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted October 30, 2021 Report Share Posted October 30, 2021 VCU. Fire Groce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted October 30, 2021 Report Share Posted October 30, 2021 Glad this is an exhibition game. WVU is good. They are out-efforting us in every sense. Sherman can shoot. Not a fan of how "behind" we look. Offense has very little movement, sloppy hands, etc. We simply don't look in control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted October 30, 2021 Report Share Posted October 30, 2021 This’ll be good for us. Zips seeing what playing tough defense looks like. In comparison our D is lackadaisical. I love what WVU’s throwing at us. Sherman is unconscious. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted October 30, 2021 Report Share Posted October 30, 2021 1 minute ago, Blue & Gold said: This’ll be good for us. Zips seeing what playing tough defense looks like. In comparison our D is lackadaisical. I love what WVU’s throwing at us. Sherman is unconscious. I'm certain Groce is making mental note of who is willing to hustle. Tribble...ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted October 30, 2021 Report Share Posted October 30, 2021 Maybe the guys were too comfortable with the whole “exhibition” label and it’s kind of led to them looking lost. Maybe Groce has a lot more work to do with this team than we thought, he did say after all he wasn’t too happy with their last scrimmage either. They’ve got a lot of improving to do before they head to Columbus in 10 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigzip1 Posted October 30, 2021 Report Share Posted October 30, 2021 Nobody’s playing well lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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