Game 10- Florida A & M

[clarkwgriswold]

The currently 2-4 Rattlers of Florida A & M come to the JAR next Sunday at 2:00.  The Rattlers come north with wins over LeMoyone- Owen College and Fort Valley State and losses to Kansas State, Miami, UC- Riverside and UTEP.  6-4 senior guard MJ Randolph leads the Rattlers at 18.5 ppg and is second in rebounding at 6.2 rpg.  6-5 grad student Bryce Moragne leads rebounding at 7 rpg while scoring 9 ppg scoring.  On a positive note, the game will give us a distraction from the Browns.   The game is the first part of a doubleheader with the women playing Cleveland State at 5:00.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Predicted actual attendance- 586.

[Let'sGoZips94]

34 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Predicted actual attendance- 586.

 

Accurate, and the program has only itself to blame. This schedule blows and following up your near OSUcks upset with 2 clunkers in Florida killed any momentum. 

[clarkwgriswold]

Just a thought.  The Browns bye was today, a Sunday.  Seems like a great time for a Sunday game.

[zipsrule]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Just a thought.  The Browns bye was today, a Sunday.  Seems like a great time for a Sunday game.

Yep.  When I was looking at the schedule, I was hoping next Sunday's 2 PM game was this weekend.  

[NWAkron]

FWIW.  It's finals week.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Groce said the game was on Sunday due to graduation on Saturday.

 

My comment regarding attendance could apply to any game. I really wonder how much Covid and the mask mandate will cut into this season’s attendance. There are a lot of familiar faces missing from the JAR so far. It’s always sparse in the non-conference season, but seems much more so this year. Giving the students the lower reserve seats helps fill what would otherwise be a pretty barren section. Hope attendance improves. This team will only get better as the year goes on. 

[NWAkron]

19 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Groce said the game was on Sunday due to graduation on Saturday.

 

My comment regarding attendance could apply to any game. I really wonder how much Covid and the mask mandate will cut into this season’s attendance. There are a lot of familiar faces missing from the JAR so far. It’s always sparse in the non-conference season, but seems much more so this year. Giving the students the lower reserve seats helps fill what would otherwise be a pretty barren section. Hope attendance improves. This team will only get better as the year goes on. 

Groce politely mentioned the importance of graduation, etc.  But when he praises something other than a player, I often think he is biting his tongue and just being diplomatic.  

 

I think covid,  more than the masks, will keep some away or gave them an excuse not to renew.  Most of the usuals in my section are back, but I can count about 12 who I haven't seen this year.  

[LZIp]

9 hours ago, NWAkron said:

Groce politely mentioned the importance of graduation, etc.  But when he praises something other than a player, I often think he is biting his tongue and just being diplomatic.  

 

 

I definitely think he isn't happy regarding overall attendance. I make an attempt to watch every game, but driving down to Akron on weeknight's and/or watching them play some random low major or D2 team is just hard for me to justify.

[Akron1]

14 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Just a thought.  The Browns bye was today, a Sunday.  Seems like a great time for a Sunday game.

Move the game to 5 PM or think outside of the box and play at 11 AM.  Have a community church fellowship day (kinda joking, but who knows if something like that would work - can't draw any worse than this next game).  I am the biggest Zips fan, but I will watch the Browns game over attending Sunday.  

I think Charles Gunthrie will get creative when scheduling in the future and pay closer attention to these things.  

Just not fair to the entire program to go head-to-head against the Browns. These guys are too good to play in front of such a small crowd that will attend on Sunday. They deserve better! 

[NWAkron]

24 minutes ago, Akron1 said:

Move the game to 5 PM or think outside of the box and play at 11 AM.  Have a community church fellowship day (kinda joking, but who knows if something like that would work - can't draw any worse than this next game).  I am the biggest Zips fan, but I will watch the Browns game over attending Sunday.  

I think Charles Gunthrie will get creative when scheduling in the future and pay closer attention to these things.  

Just not fair to the entire program to go head-to-head against the Browns. These guys are too good to play in front of such a small crowd that will attend on Sunday. They deserve better! 

I would take the Zips (basketball) over the Browns.  11am on on Sunday?  I think this was a logistical nightmare game that is a one off.

 

Yeah, I do think they should be playing after the women's game.  The Radford game is at 7, and I like the New Years Day game at 7. 

 

I wonder if these MAC games are starting early (12/29 and 1/1) just in case there is a "you know what" issue and rescheduling is needed.

 

@LetsGoZips mentioned the Florida debacle.  Look at the offense over the last 5 games:

 

43

45

69

86

79

[kreed5120]

Offense definitely showed up during Marshall. Southern was kind of over matched so really hard to use that game to judge. I feel Trimble is the closest thing we have to a #1 scorer. I expect the offense to do well when he's hot and not so well when he's not. Ideally a little more consistency will be nice.

Edited December 6, 2021 by kreed5120

[clarkwgriswold]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

Offense definitely showed up during Marshall. Southern was kind of over matched so really hard to use that game to judge. I feel Trimble is the closest thing we have to a #1 scorer. I expect the offense to do well when he's hot and not so well when he's not. Ideally a little more consistency will be nice.

 

There's just not "that" guy.  They have the benefit of depth but no one that has emerged as that guy to go get a bucket when needed.  Obviously, LCJ filled that role for the last couple of years and two years ago you had two decent alternatives if he couldn't do it with X and Cheese.  It's going to be interesting to see if any of these guys develop into "go to" guys.

[LZIp]

Ali isn't that far off IMO.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1) I'm still in the camp of burning one of the freshman guard's redshirts. 

 

2) If we're keeping tallies as far as reasons why one is not go to the JAR, the schedule is absurd (do better, Groce), and gives me zero reason to set aside my hatred and disdain for the mask mandate.

 

3) Let me emphasize number 2: THE SCHEDULE IS ABSURD!

Edited December 6, 2021 by Let'sGoZips94

[kreed5120]

The home OOC schedule is always this bad. That's not the reason attendance is down so much compared to previous years. Covid impacted it in two ways. 1) covid got people out of the habit of going to Zips games. It will probably take years to get some back. 2) Old people (the ones who make up a good chunk of Zips fan base) are highest at risk so take covid more seriously therefore don't want to put themselves at risk attending a game when they can just watch it on TV.

 

The mask mandate honestly is a non-factor. You have to wear it all of 3 minutes from the time you enter the door until the time you get to your seat. I can't see that discouraging anyone from attending.

Edited December 6, 2021 by kreed5120

[Let'sGoZips94]

5 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

The home OOC schedule is always this bad.

 

Non P5 schools need to create their own Bracket Buster event again to help with this. I miss the anticipated payback visit from Nevada, VCU, NDSU, etc. Those were fun.

[kreed5120]

2 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Non P5 schools need to create their own Bracket Buster event again to help with this. I miss the anticipated payback visit from Nevada, VCU, NDSU, etc. Those were fun.

All the conferences better than the MAC have challenges setup with one another. I wish the MAC was able to team up with the MVC and do a MAC vs MVC challenge. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

38 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

All the conferences better than the MAC have challenges setup with one another. I wish the MAC was able to team up with the MVC and do a MAC vs MVC challenge. 

 

Able to? They are. Smart enough to? They are not. 

[Illini Zip]

5 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

There's just not "that" guy.  They have the benefit of depth but no one that has emerged as that guy to go get a bucket when needed.  Obviously, LCJ filled that role for the last couple of years and two years ago you had two decent alternatives if he couldn't do it with X and Cheese.  It's going to be interesting to see if any of these guys develop into "go to" guys.

Tavari Johnson can’t get here fast enough for my liking. Not only did LCJ become a great shooter and leader, but he was the straw that stirred the drink. He wasn’t containable with just one defender so when he drove to the hoop he forced the whole defense to react and open up opportunities for his teammates to exploit. I agree we don’t have that guy right now. But they will improve. Tribble has had his moments lately. And I’m surprised Garvin Clarke hasn’t been more effective driving to the hoop. And I thought Castaneda was a combo guard when I first watched his video and he hasn’t proven me wrong so far. I’m pretty confident the next true lead guard for the Zips will be Tavari next year. 

[Bigzip1]

5 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

The home OOC schedule is always this bad. That's not the reason attendance is down so much compared to previous years. Covid impacted it in two ways. 1) covid got people out of the habit of going to Zips games. It will probably take years to get some back. 2) Old people (the ones who make up a good chunk of Zips fan base) are highest at risk so take covid more seriously therefore don't want to put themselves at risk attending a game when they can just watch it on TV.

 

The mask mandate honestly is a non-factor. You have to wear it all of 3 minutes from the time you enter the door until the time you get to your seat. I can't see that discouraging anyone from attending.

The year Covid ended our tournament run we had a big 12 and a ACC team on the OOC schedule. Not bad. 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Bigzip1

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, Bigzip1 said:

The year Covid ended our tournament run we had a big 12 and a ACC team on the OOC schedule. Not bad. 

Yes, on the road. Someone was commenting about nobody showing up to the JAR because of who the opponents are. My comment was that these are the same type of opponents we always get to come to the JAR OOC.

Edited December 7, 2021 by kreed5120

[clarkwgriswold]

Enrique is the MAC Player of the Week!

 

https://gozips.com/news/2021/12/6/mens-basketball-freeman-earns-mac-player-of-the-week.aspx

[Bigzip1]

15 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

Yes, on the road. Someone was commenting about nobody showing up to the JAR because of who the opponents are. My comment was that these are the same type of opponents we always get to come to the JAR OOC.

Got ya.

[KangarooInExile]

19 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

All the conferences better than the MAC have challenges setup with one another. I wish the MAC was able to team up with the MVC and do a MAC vs MVC challenge. 

Exactly!  I would even be excited for some MAC v. MAAC action. (Winner keeps the A?)