A team on the Rise

The University of Akron Zips Men’s basketball team is currently 21-7 and Second in the Mid-American Conference East standings. The Zips are projected to be a top seed in the MAC tournament and could make some noise heading into the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Basketball tournament. Akron is a projected 13th seed. So how did we get here? , well that all starts with Head Coach John Groce. Coach Groce has a long track record of turning around programs and has done it in the Mac before. At Ohio University where he led the Bobcats to two NCAA Tournament Appearances. In his last season with the Bobcats coach Groce led them to a 29-8 record and a trip to the sweet 16. In John Groce’s 1st season as the Zips Head Coach the team finished 14-18 and in his 2nd season the team finished 17-16. In the 2017-2018 season which was the first season under coach Groce the team was 4th in the conference in 3-Point percentage at 34%, 9th in the conference in Points at 71.1, 3rd in Free Throw percentage at 73.9%, and 10th in the conference in field goal percentage at 42.6%.  This season the team is 2nd in the conference in 3-point percentage at 36.4%, 1st in the conference at free throw percentage at 76.9%, 5th in Field Goal percentage at 43.8%, 5th in scoring at 75.3 points per game. Hopefully, the team can continue its stellar play heading into the MAC Tournament and get their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2013. The Zips are 0-4 all-time in the big dance but maybe this is the year that Cinderella will find her slipper in Akron Ohio.