Heck of a good time yesterday in the Convo. Cold, but warmed up pretty well for a Athens down & back trip.

Great crowd, always good to see us prevail when we have a lot of visitors in the house & on the national telecast. Seems like that happens less frequently than we'd like. No egg was laid this time.

Crowd still has it. Things are different, but they were really into it for the vast majority of the game. Wish we could get those last 3k seats sold one of these games, but oh well, I guess this crowd would sell out a JAR/Stroh center 2X over as-is. We remain the best fans in the MAC.

The team is really stepping up in Tony's absence. Jaaron for certain, but everyone needed to be on their game to beat a great Akron team. Only a few defensive lapses stand out to me on the kick-outs for 3's, but not too much.

I sat next to another BA'er yesterday, and told him that if things ever get chippy during a game, I'll put my money on it working out in Ohio's favor far more often than not. Turns out it happened about 1/2 hour later. We've got a relatively cool under pressure group, that takes it to the absolute edge and lets the other guy go over. I think Cheatham was trying to coordinate a post-game 'meetup' with some of the fans behind me. When a player starts jawing with the fans, you know their head isn't 100% in the game.

And Cheatham was the difference maker last game(shot the lights out), and this game he was the difference again, couldn't knock down a thing. And coincidentally, or not, he was the main one of the 3 Akron guys jawing with the fans during the game. Very good job by the O Zoners to get his attention.

Awesome job of Saul to call a timeout early in the game when sometimes he lets things go. And great to empty the bench when Akron was out of control to avoid a chance at them dragging us down to their level at the end of the game.

One suggestion for the Convo staff, or question at least. Why doesn't the court get swept after the halftime act anymore? My unofficial count in my head(which could be totally off) has far more travelling calls in half 2 than the first. Not just this game. Can't help but wonder if it's the 100 athletes that just came in from the outside to be recognized for some reason, the 40 jump ropers, the dozen grade schoolers that play hoops at halftime, or whatever else goes on at halftime. It's not a big deal, until it is.

Free throws. Could we be benefiting from some reversion to the mean of sorts on FTs? I've heard a dozen times Saul say that he doesn't understand the FT madness because they practice them plenty and make them plenty in practice. Perhaps we could reap the rewards of 'luck' catching up and shooting well at the line the remainder of the season?

Also great to see former Bobcats in the house and Lou recognizing them. Seems like we've had one every couple games lately.

I could go on and on. Nice having these sort of days.

I can't say I know what he was thinking, but at the time, I thought he WAS trying to protect his players. I thought he was calling them to talk them into settling down, but given how they acted, maybe I am wrong.

Pull your starters, let Ohio dribble the clock out, shake hands and you're done. Why have them foul with 12 seconds left and then take another TO? I just think he doesn't do himself or his team any favors sometimes.

Not sure. But he was lobbing plenty of f-bombs at the ref after the T. Just doesn't serve you well down the line.

Jaaron was clearly pissed that I called his poor 3 point shooting out and set out to prove me wrong. #Motivator #YoureWelcome

30 free throws made, good grief. Without looking, I'm guessing the Akron narrative is foul imbalance when we shoot 22 more FTs than them...but it was clear Akron just melted like a spoiled child who finally doesn't get what he wants.

Did you know...Akron's only MAC win by more than 10 points was against us (13)? 5 wins were by 5 or less. ANd their 2nd half schedule is much tougher. I'm not saying Akron won't win the regular season crown, but I think we'll see 3-5 MAC losses for the Zips by the end of it.

Brilliant decision to front Johnson. He got his points but he didn't have a single assist. So much of their offense is predicated on kicking it out from the post and we didn't let them do that much. It will be interesting to see if other teams pick up on that strategy and how much Akron adapts.

Also, for what it's worth, Akron has a CBI banner in the JAR. Or at least did, I can see it in pics.

Interesting to look and see projected losses for us and Kron.
deny


As Tommy was helping on the scout and game planning for Akron we went back to Groce's 3 levels of Post defence.

1 pressure on the passer

2 Front the post and actively deny

3 Help weak side.


I think we need to really understand weak side help better. Block does a great job in gaps and center line help concepts but that is habit from Lincoln.

Need to fill in Saul's defensive philosophy and make that a habit guys learn from day 1. Carter and others have expressed a desire to improve shooting from range this summer. Rodney and Butler are going to get one on one shooting instruction for sure. Simmons work last summer is paying off as his confidence in shooting in pressure situations is showing.

I think this is spot on. It really looked like Akron was not expected the defensive strategy we employed. It really took Johnson's passing out of the equation.

Agree. And the few he did most ended up misses