NCAA Tournament- Game 1- UCLA

[1981 grad]

Watching the replay, the Zips did not play very well the last 5 minutes.  This is the difference of having the experience in playing in the tournament.  We just did not make shots in the last 5 minutes except for an X bank shot and a Clark layup off a rebound.  That drive by Ali was just stupid.  Especially when the coach told him to call a timeout when they did not have numbers. 

 

However, every call in the last 5 minutes went against the Zips. UCLA did not get called for any fouls the last 7 minutes.  Freemans 4th foul was a rebound where he knocked the ball backwards.  It was 50/50 ball under the basket and there was no foul.  The UCLA guy put his shoulder into Aziz and Aziz got called for the block.  Even the announcers indicated it was clearly a charge.  Finally, the moving screen in the last 2 minutes that took Freeman out of the game.  It was an iffy call.  Freeman did shift his body weight but it was not an obvious call and should have been a play on with 2 minutes left.  If that had been the UCLA best player, do you think the ref would have made the same call?  Finally, if Groce really wanted that timeout he gets into the face of the ref and calls timeout.  Instead, he froze and watched Ali make his move to the basket. 

 

I am very disappointed in that you have so few games to make a statement and the Zips could have made a statement that they beat a top ranked team.  However, the last 5 minutes showed that they could not close out this game.  I feel the same way I did against Ohio State, we let another one get away.  Bitter pill to swallow for Zips fans.

[1981 grad]

46 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Never should have been able to even shoot the ball. X was thrown into the stands by 24 before he passed it. 

I saw that on the replay and I am okay with that no call and letting them play but then do not call an illegal screen on Freeman 10 seconds later.  If you are going to let them play then do it on both sides of the ball.  

[mivid12]

"the Zips did not play very well the last 5 minutes"

 

agree....7 point lead late and pissed down your leg...refs sucked BUT

[zipsrule]

Even though last night's game had a rough ending, I really enjoyed the ride over the last week or so.  Maybe it's because my expectations were a little lower than in other years.  Maybe it's the fact the Akron was playing their best basketball at the right time.

 

Last night's game showed us something we were all concerned about - depth.  To be able to complete at this level, we need another F that can rebound and score.  Another G or wing wouldn't hurt either.  Hopefully, we have that with next year's incoming class.  If so, this team could be really special.

[jupitertoo]

Groce had team very well prepared for a tough matchup 3,000 miles from home. 

[akzipper]

On one hand, I went into the game not expecting much. The last time we made the tourney it was a disaster. A 46-point blowout that never had a chance. So yeah I should be happy about being one shot away from sending UCLA to overtime. But honestly sometimes I think it hurts more to know they were so close, and probably should have won. I doubt we would have had a shot against St. Marys. But to just finally see the Zips win a tournament game would have been a giant relief.

 

Nobody expected them to make it very far in the MAC tournament. So we should be happy about just making it right? In the back of my head I can't help but think about when teams like the Indians and Browns made their improbable playoff runs. I remember thinking: Oh cool the Indians were short handed and almost won the world series or the Browns were short handed and almost made the AFC Championship. They'll get better next year, add some talent and nobody is going to stop them. Instead both teams turned into dumpster fires. I hate lumping the Zips into the failures of NE Ohio professional sports, but PTSD can't help me forget those teams. Hopefully the Zips come back next season stronger and ready to roll in the tournament and not follow in the footsteps of NE Ohio's other sports failures. 

[AkronAlumnus]

18 minutes ago, mivid12 said:

"the Zips did not play very well the last 5 minutes"

 

agree....7 point lead late and pissed down your leg...refs sucked BUT

Yeah they had them.. that's the hardest part to swallow. 

[zipfan84]

8 hours ago, LoyalZIP said:

Softest 5 fouls of all time

 

Agreed.

 

Enrique has been in foul trouble many games this season. Many times, I don’t see them (even on replay). But the officials are seeing something. It was more than the last call for illegal screen. Last night was a classic case of this and his fouling out was catastrophic, obviously. The MAC championship game was a different story and the outcome reflected it.

 

Going forward, the coaching staff has to get a handle on this. If they don’t know the reason(s) why, they need to get it figured out so it can be remedied. It certainly is NOT because of a bad attitude from Enrique. He always has a positive demeaner on the court, never complaining or whining. Perhaps a video review of past games with a retired official in the off-season could shed some light.

 

Regardless, I couldn’t be more proud of last night’s effort by the entire team and the great coaching by the Groce and his staff. Tremendous defensive display. They can certainly hold their heads high! So looking forward to next year’s campaign.

 

Go Zips!

[AkronAlumnus]

Regardless same team next year with maybe a big-name transfer or two

[mivid12]

3 hours ago, AkronAlumnus said:

Yeah they had them.. that's the hardest part to swallow. 

we did...controlled the game for the most part....the biggest pain in my a** is watching OU, Cle st. etc recently win tourney games plus the plethora of MAC teams with not only wins but attn grabbing runs & we have NOTHING.....u never know when zips will be back...took 9 years to get to this game

[mivid12]

3 hours ago, mivid12 said:

we did...controlled the game for the most part....the biggest pain in my a** is watching OU, Cle st. etc recently win tourney games plus the plethora of MAC teams with not only win but attn grabbing runs & we have NOTHING.....u never know when zips will be back...took 9 years to get to this game

 

[GP1]

Disappointing loss. However, the level of tournament competency was nice to see.

[akzipper]

3 minutes ago, mivid12 said:

we did...controlled the game for the most part....the biggest pain in my a** is watching OU, Cle st. etc recently win tourney games plus the plethora of MAC teams with not only wins but attn grabbing runs & we have NOTHING.....u never know when zips will be back...took 9 years to get to this game

 

Crazy to think that the last 3 MAC teams to make the tournament all won their games. It was nice to see an Akron team that actually looked like they belonged. Much better than the KD teams that were lucky to keep it within 10 the whole game and never had a real shot. Even if those teams had much more talent. 

[LoyalZIP]

Enrique Freeman: 24 minutes, fouled out, +5

Aziz Bandaogo: 12 minutes, -8

 

Dare I say, that's the difference. It really felt like Freeman was barely in the game. And when he was in the game, it felt like the Zips were going to win. In the end, there were simply too many empty possessions that ended with an Ali or Tribble stinker and almost zero that ended with a good shot attempt for a guy like Dawson or Clarke. At the end of the day, the Zips missed their fair share of shots while UCLA hit a bunch of tough ones down the stretch. Of the big ones, the one that worried me the most at the time was the three that Jules Bernard hit with a hand in his face with 5:16 to go. The Zips were up 49-42 and Freeman had just been taken out with his 4th foul. That's when I said "uh-oh."

 

Ali tried to force too much for pretty much the whole game, and it's fitting that it ended the way it did. Lord knows if Wynn would have made that shot, but it would have been nice if he would've had the chance. It just be that way sometimes.

 

Officiating was fine, but far from good. I don't expect the Zips to get any calls on that stage, but about half of Freeman's were awful, plus a few pushoffs missed, and that block on Aziz was absolutely shameful and Matt Potter shouldn't get another NCAA game. Pathetic and embarrassing. the $3500 or whatever he got paid last night should go to charity.

 

I'm really crushed for these guys. They were the better team for most of the game, and just couldn't make 1 or 2 more plays or we'd be talking about our second round game. Damn it damn it damn it. Feels just like the Ohio State game, but 1000000x worse. As far as the future goes, repeating is one of the hardest things to do in sports. We got everyone back, but so does a certain school making their way back from Southern Utah. Next season could be a big one for the Zips. I'm excited! Go Zips!

[AkronAlumnus]

15 minutes ago, mivid12 said:

we did...controlled the game for the most part....the biggest pain in my a** is watching OU, Cle st. etc recently win tourney games plus the plethora of MAC teams with not only wins but attn grabbing runs & we have NOTHING.....u never know when zips will be back...took 9 years to get to this game

yup it would be easier to stomach if it was a blowout but losing like this blows.

[blueandgold]

Aside from Freeman fouling out which was my biggest fear going into the game, I wish Ali would have actually shown up to play. That really hurt us bad.

[LZIp]

9 minutes ago, blueandgold said:

Aside from Freeman fouling out which was my biggest fear going into the game, I wish Ali would have actually shown up to play. That really hurt us bad.

It did. We needed more from him without a doubt. Honestly, besides Freeman, X and Clarke to an extent, nobody really showed up on offense. Maybe we should give some credit to UCLA's D though. We didn't have many easy opportunities.

 

With that said, just ANY call going our way probably would have changed the outcome.  It stinks.

Edited March 18, 2022 by LZIp

[Let'sGoZips94]

10 minutes ago, blueandgold said:

Aside from Freeman fouling out which was my biggest fear going into the game, I wish Ali would have actually shown up to play. That really hurt us bad.

 

Credit UCLA on this. They watched film and took away all of his strengths. They took away A LOT of our strengths. That was a phenomenal coaching matchup. 

[blueandgold]

1 minute ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Credit UCLA on this. They watched film and took away all of his strengths. They took away A LOT of our strengths. That was a phenomenal coaching matchup. 

I agree. Both coaches did a great job defensively by taking away a lot of the other team's strengths.

[clarkwgriswold]

The improper screen is the least called violation in all of basketball.  I'm always calling it out from the stands at the JAR (against the opponent of course).  That's what made it so frustrating.  Sure, it was a foul but they could have called a dozen of those in the game.

 

As for Freeman, I think he's hurt by being the only big doing the dirty work down low.  Another big that could defend down deep and help on the boards would relieve him of the pressures to do it all and as a result decrease his fouls.

 

I think depth really hurt this team.  Another couple of contributors would have really helped in the long run.  It's a shame that our Ball State quitter and St. John's head case didn't work out.

 

As for Ali, we've learned that once he's made up his mind to take a shot there's no turning back.  I always told the kids I coached that the refs will not bail you out when you are out of control.  He wasn't fouled on that drive but even of he was I think the refs may well have swallowed their whistles unless it was egregious.

[Akron1]

 

Zips start at 34:50 mark.

Proud to be a Zip!

[NWAkron]

45 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

The improper screen is the least called violation in all of basketball.  I'm always calling it out from the stands at the JAR (against the opponent of course).  That's what made it so frustrating.  Sure, it was a foul but they could have called a dozen of those in the game.

 

As for Freeman, I think he's hurt by being the only big doing the dirty work down low.  Another big that could defend down deep and help on the boards would relieve him of the pressures to do it all and as a result decrease his fouls.

 

I think depth really hurt this team.  Another couple of contributors would have really helped in the long run.  It's a shame that our Ball State quitter and St. John's head case didn't work out.

 

As for Ali, we've learned that once he's made up his mind to take a shot there's no turning back.  I always told the kids I coached that the refs will not bail you out when you are out of control.  He wasn't fouled on that drive but even of he was I think the refs may well have swallowed their whistles unless it was egregious.

I'm with Clark.  Over-achieving team.  But the MAC tourney win and a trip to the Dance should keep all the good players and recruits on the team and make the Zips more enticing for guys in the portal.  Having Sparks and Freeman would be brutal, right?  Those Buffalo teams from 2016-2019 (ish) were the gold standard for MAC dominance.  Zips need a transfer like Jeremy Harris or Wes Clark.  I see this year as the beginning of dominance.  Got to blow through the MAC and get some Power 5 wins.

[RowdyZip]

What an absolutely incredible game and game plan by the team and coaching staff.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire game.  I certainly had my doubts, but this staff is built to coach in March.  I now firmly believe that the 2020 team, had they made the dance, would've had a fantastic run.  And this team as well...lacking depth from the departure of two starters during the season and an completely red-shirted freshman class, managed to take a Final Four team, one that returned everyone, to the brink.  Would've loved to see how we matched up against St. Mary's.  

 

We'll flow into next season, hopefully with all the key pieces back.  I am apprehensive on what we have coming in from newcomers.  Would love to see some depth in the post (can you imagine if we could afford to play Bandaogo and Freeman at the same time for a handful of minutes?). 

 

Speaking of Bandaogo, I thought he did an admirable job.  There were a couple instances where he got stuck on a guard after a switch and he was stuck playing perimeter defense.  I thought he did a fantastic job. 

 

Enrique made himself known to the nation, and I hope he loves UA as much as we all do...because I feel like there's going to be some temptations out there in the portal this offseason for him.  The effusive praise from the CBS crew was both affirming and somewhat nerve-wracking. 

[Illini Zip]

If this last few weeks doesn't motivate our guys to put in the work this off-season to increase their strength and personal skill sets, then nothing will. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, RowdyZip said:

What an absolutely incredible game and game plan by the team and coaching staff.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire game.  I certainly had my doubts, but this staff is built to coach in March.  I now firmly believe that the 2020 team, had they made the dance, would've had a fantastic run.  And this team as well...lacking depth from the departure of two starters during the season and an completely red-shirted freshman class, managed to take a Final Four team, one that returned everyone, to the brink.  Would've loved to see how we matched up against St. Mary's.  

 

We'll flow into next season, hopefully with all the key pieces back.  I am apprehensive on what we have coming in from newcomers.  Would love to see some depth in the post (can you imagine if we could afford to play Bandaogo and Freeman at the same time for a handful of minutes?). 

 

Speaking of Bandaogo, I thought he did an admirable job.  There were a couple instances where he got stuck on a guard after a switch and he was stuck playing perimeter defense.  I thought he did a fantastic job. 

 

Enrique made himself known to the nation, and I hope he loves UA as much as we all do...because I feel like there's going to be some temptations out there in the portal this offseason for him.  The effusive praise from the CBS crew was both affirming and somewhat nerve-wracking. 

 

He and Ali are P5 caliber. However, both were given their only shot by Akron and Groce. I see them as Groce lifers, meaning where he is, they'll be.