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Topic: RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Topic: RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

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Andrew Ruck
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Location: Columbus, OH
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/15/2026 10:11:59 AM

FearLeon wrote:

The John Groce apology tour from some folks in this thread should be commencing in 3…2….1….

John Groce is perfect in MAC title games.

He’s now 6-0 with 5 coming right down to the end.

2026: Akron 79-76 over Toledo
2025: Akron 76-74 over Miami
2024: Akron 62-61 over Kent
2022: Akron 75-55 over Kent
2012: Ohio 64-63 over Akron
2010: Ohio 81-75 OT over Akron

But hey…it’s John Groce…which means according to so many of the Groce haters in this thread from eight years ago he’s just lucky right?

#WhenFearLeonWasRight

No, none of us here are "Groce haters" we just don't want to listen to you slobber over him any chance you get. John Groce is gone. He isn't coming back. We don't need you to share details of your boner every time he has success.

Imagine your sister is married to a guy you really like, but he leaves her. She remarries to another guy who seems good enough, but if you're being honest you don't like him as much as the 1st husband. And at Christmas and Easter, you can't stop talking about all the successes of the 1st bro-in-law and how well he is doing and how his new wife and kids are amazing. Will you just shut up about the 1st husband? He's not here. The 2nd husband is. Get over it and shut up, or you're just a shitty brother.

Andrew Ruck
B.B.A. 2003

Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/15/2026 10:22:54 AM

Andrew Ruck wrote:

FearLeon wrote:

This is a bad analogy. Jeff Boals didn't marry Ohio University, and he's not related to any of us.

He's an employee and comparing his performance to a predecessor who is now coaching at a conference rival isn't even remotely akin to what you outlined. Boals has to be able to compete with Groce to do the job he's paid a lot to do.

SBH
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/15/2026 11:34:59 AM

Terry Pluto of the PD wrote an article a couple of weeks ago for which he interviewed former Akron coach Keith Dambrot. Focus of the article was the pressure on coaches in a one-bid league. Dambrot individually highlighted Groce, Senderoff, Steele and Tod K as "great coaches." I found it interesting that Boals was not included in his accolades given that Jeff coached under him in Akron for 2-3 years.

FJC31
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/15/2026 11:44:11 AM

SBH wrote:

As surprising as that is given he coached under him (you’d think he’d give him a curtesy shoutout), Boals is just an average coach. His body of work shows that.

Last Edited: 3/15/2026 11:44:23 AM by FJC31

OhioCatFan
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/15/2026 2:34:58 PM

FJC31 wrote:

SBH wrote:

As surprising as that is given he coached under him (you’d think he’d give him a curtesy shoutout), Boals is just an average coach. His body of work shows that.

I think Boals may be the proverbial great assistant coach who just isn't cut out to be a head coach. Without naming names, we've had more than our share of these coaches in both basketball and football. I'm sure that all of you with even a slight bit of institutional memory can think of a few of these, oldkatz (aka dogface grunt) and I can probably remember more than most others on here.

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

Bobcat1996
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/15/2026 3:05:58 PM

FJC31 wrote:

SBH wrote:

As surprising as that is given he coached under him (you’d think he’d give him a curtesy shoutout), Boals is just an average coach. His body of work shows that.

Correct on his body of work being just average. He had one good season at Stony Brook in his three years in New York. One could ask the question, if he wasn’t a Bobcat former player, would he have been hired by Schaus? In his ten years as head coach, he has three seasons with 20 or more wins. Twenty wins in this day and age when schools play 33 or more games, is not outstanding.

FearLeon
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/15/2026 10:55:04 PM

Andrew Ruck wrote:

This is right up there with one of the stupidest posts I've ever seen.

I can't even wrap my mind around what you're saying. So what does Groce do that makes him so magical in March in your mind? Does he hold back and not tinker as well during the regular season only to really turn up the heat in the postseason? Are his halftime speeches so poetic in March that in inspires youth to suddenly do things they didn't do all season? You make no sense.

So Groce led a team to a 1 point win against a .500 team thanks to 2 free throws in the last second in a completely insignificant game. Boy this clearly proves your point and helps push your agenda, better get on the internet and prove my opponents wrong! Then his team has one of the more epic collapses that I can remember in MAC tourney history and it is shrug oh well he didn't have a good team.

Are we supposed to not care that his Illini lost by 20 in the 1st round last year in the 8/9 seed game? What happened to the Groce magic? Their season ended with a 31 point loss the previous year, though he did get a tourney win before that. The year before that, an 18 point 1st round loss. All told he was 3-5 in the big ten tourney with no appearances in even the semifinals.

Even at Ohio, he was 2-2 in the years we did not win the MAC. In 2010 it took I think 3 missed shots in the final minute by BSU to even force overtime...an inch on any of those shots and Georgetown never happens and we instead have a first round exit, and we had a million chances to lose the MAC championship in 2012 or the sweet 16 never happens. Sure coaches matter in those moments but so do a crapload of other things like players and refs and luck.

You can say all you want about him just having that March edge but it is all garbage. The narrative could easily be DJ Cooper was an elite March player that carrier his team when it mattered most. John Groce now has a 10 year head coaching career and the only thing you give a crap about is 2 weeks 24 months apart. Give me a break.

Your crusade against coach Phillips is one thing, but holding coach Groce as the gold standard is just ignorant. At what point did you switch to rooting against Ohio and for Akron just to push your agenda?

After reviewing this post from eight years ago, you did have one thing right in your assessment of our former Sweet 16 coach and that is mentioning "John Groce" and "gold standard" in the same sentence.

John Groce last seven seasons at Akron:

Overall Record 162-59
MAC Record: 99-28
Four MAC Tournament titles
Winning percentage during this stretch: 73.3%

"Gold standard" numbers indeed.
_______________________________

FearLeon (3-5-2018): John Groce knows how to win March tournament basketball games and this should worry every Bobcat fan. And it's going to get tougher to beat him in the coming years with the talent he has coming in. #HeCanRecruit

Last Edited: 3/16/2026 7:14:33 AM by FearLeon

#BleedGreen #TrentIsGOAT #NoMissesAllowed #NoOtherTeamInAmericaFlexesLikeOhio #11Months

Andrew Ruck
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/16/2026 8:22:16 AM

Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:

Andrew Ruck wrote:

FearLeon wrote:

The analogy isn't about the current brother-in-law. Never did I say he couldn't have an issue with him. If he is a lazy and mean husband, he could address those issues as a loving brother. The analogy is about his infatuation with the ex brother-in-law, who chose to leave and is gone gone gone.

It's obvious I have no problem with critiques of Boals and have done some myself (though nowhere near the point of repetitive dramatics as some others).

Andrew Ruck
B.B.A. 2003

Andrew Ruck
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/16/2026 8:31:17 AM

FearLeon wrote:

Andrew Ruck wrote:

I don't stand behind everything I said 8 years ago, but I do this, thanks for sharing. Your entire post was about a mystical ability to turn it on in March and I broke down why that was silly. His run the last 5 years isn't about that, it is about sustained success at the top of the conference. And no mention of his tourney results in this historic run? Where's that March magic?

But above all that, you just don't get it. You insist on taking anything short of "You're right John Groce is the greatest and everyone else sucks" as hatred. None of us hate John Groce, and we never thought he would fail miserably at Akron or elsewhere. You pounce on any chance to slobber over him, including a random 1st round MAC game. It's just tiresome.

Andrew Ruck
B.B.A. 2003

M.D.W.S.T
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/16/2026 9:56:53 AM

Bobcat1996 wrote:

FJC31 wrote:

SBH wrote:

As surprising as that is given he coached under him (you’d think he’d give him a curtesy shoutout), Boals is just an average coach. His body of work shows that.

Lets talk about everyone's body of work starting with 19-20 when Boals came to OU, shall we?

Jeff Boals: Avg 18 wins per season
129 - 93
1 NCAA Tournament Win
1 MAC Title

Rob S: Avg 22 wins
151 - 76
0 NCAA Tournament Wins
1 MAC Title

Tod K: Avg 21 wins
148 - 82
0 NCAA Tournament Wins
0 MAC Titles
0 NIT Wins

Groce: Avg 23 wins
166 - 59
0 NCAA Tournament Wins
4 MAC Titles

Groce... the clear outlier in terms of wins and MAC tournament prowess. Still looking for his first NCAA tournament win since 2012. Has yet to replicate the success he had at OU.

Boals... OU is the last MAC team with a tournament victory. He's had less regular season success, but winning an average of 2 games less than others.... has paid zero dividends for them. Other than perhaps less shitposting.

If we want to discuss average coaches, Tod and Rob are the class of the field. Boals has a tournament victory that can't be taken away from him, despite the best efforts of few.

If Boals was to be let go, because of his regular season regression the last two seasons. I wouldn't scream to the heavens. It wouldn't surprise me and I wouldn't argue. It is what it is. But to sit around here and act like Boals is not the last coach to win an NCAA tournament game from the MAC is just sad. I would take an NCAA Tournament victory over 21 wins a season and no tournament appearances all day every day. I would HAPPILY take an NCAA tournament appearance over ZERO appearances in the last FIVE DECADES, though many wouldn't cause Tod wins 3 more regular season games a year.

When discussing body of work in the future, please use body of work and not your personal qualifiers.

GoCats105
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/16/2026 10:38:13 AM

Bobcat1996 wrote:

FJC31 wrote:

SBH wrote:

As surprising as that is given he coached under him (you’d think he’d give him a curtesy shoutout), Boals is just an average coach. His body of work shows that.

I mean...

...he did say he was passed over TWICE for this job.

FJC31
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/16/2026 10:44:26 AM

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

Bobcat1996 wrote:

FJC31 wrote:

SBH wrote:

As surprising as that is given he coached under him (you’d think he’d give him a curtesy shoutout), Boals is just an average coach. His body of work shows that.

Respectfully, sports are a what have you done for me lately industry. If they weren't, Saul Philips would be still getting D1 head coaching looks and considered a great coach because he too has an NCAA Tournament win to his name a similar career W's and L's to Boals at this point.

Groce, Tod K, and Sendy might not have tourney wins in the same span since Boals was hired, but they also don't have losing records in that span or even a .500 record.

Boals has a .500 and a losing record over the last two years (recently).

M.D.W.S.T
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/16/2026 1:29:56 PM

FJC31 wrote:

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

Bobcat1996 wrote:

FJC31 wrote:

SBH wrote:

As surprising as that is given he coached under him (you’d think he’d give him a curtesy shoutout), Boals is just an average coach. His body of work shows that.

And I agree with that whole heartedly.

However, I don't put Rob (60% career MAC win %) over Boals (59%) just because he won a few more games. We're both sitting at home. I bet Tod K would cut off his left nut for a tournament appearance, let alone a win that we so flippantly dismiss because it way back in the early aughts of five years ago.

I think he's earned the time to figure it out next season. If he does not - BYE. You won't hear a single argument from anyone. I'm just so bored sitting here and playing this comparison game, because some other dudes also sitting at home, with less actual meaningful success won a handful more games more recently - because at this moment - everyone is getting chopped down by Groce. And the emergence of Steele, which is about three weeks from figuring itself out.

Maybe Groce goes to Miami and this REALLY gets fun.

FJC31
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/16/2026 2:05:04 PM

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

FJC31 wrote:

M.D.W.S.T wrote:

Bobcat1996 wrote:

FJC31 wrote:

SBH wrote:

As surprising as that is given he coached under him (you’d think he’d give him a curtesy shoutout), Boals is just an average coach. His body of work shows that.

I was wrong, Kent went 17-17 in 23/24. Sandwiched in between 23, 28, and 24 wins twice. That said, I don't doubt Tod K would do anything for an appearance. I genuinely feel bad for him at this point. The Rollins/Dennis team needed to be the year.

Just my own opinion, but Sendy's win totals of 23 and up over the years is where I'd like to and expect to be (for better or worse) with a legit shot at winning the MAC tournament title each March. If the latter doesn't happen, so be it. That's March. That's the separation at this point for me if we're comparing Boals today with his top counterpoints.

As for Boals, yea, he has to figure it out. He's coaching for his job next season. I think we're all curious what this offseason will look like and what he means by "reset the program". Does that mean shaking up his staff? Going bonkers on roster turnover in the portal? Finally implementing an offense? We'll find on on some of this in the next few weeks.

GoCats105
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Tournament Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/16/2026 2:32:14 PM

I keep going back to the 2021-22 season. That was Boals' best regular season by far (and best roster) and even that one had just some inexplicable stuff that made no sense at the time. We all wrote these things off because he had just won an NCAA Tournament game the year before. But there were obvious cracks in the foundation. Call it the benefit of hindsight, I guess.

- lost one of your key players after 5 games (McDay) - this caused them to rely on Schmock and while he was fine, it left the bench completely depleted and basically had a 7 man rotation going into March.
- dead eye shooter goes completely cold (Roderick).
- lost your last three games of the regular season, including to dreadful teams Bowling Green and Northern Illinois.
- got blown out by Toledo twice and Kent State once
- lost to Kent State in the MAC semis, a team I think we were absolutely better than, though not sure it would have mattered because I don't think Ohio necessarily beats Akron in the final

This is why I don't ever blame Mark Sears for leaving. What was he coming back to, exactly? Carter, BVP, McDay, Towns, and Granger were all gone. Ohio's best player coming back in the preseason was a 3 point specialist who just had his worst year shooting the ball. Outside of a young AJ Clayton and Miles Brown, it was a completely new roster Sears would have had to carry.

Last Edited: 3/16/2026 2:33:18 PM by GoCats105

bobcat 2000
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/18/2026 5:03:23 PM

our sweet sixteen year was great. if by chance we had beat north carolina we,d have been annialted by kansas. probaably by a score of 110-40 or something similar.

OhioCatFan
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/18/2026 7:11:11 PM

bobcat 2000 wrote:

our sweet sixteen year was great. if by chance we had beat north carolina we,d have been annialted by kansas. probaably by a score of 110-40 or something similar.

Even, still I would have loved another Elit8 finish in my lifetime.

Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/20/2026 1:12:17 AM

The worst loss in NCAA tournament history is 111-42.

But sure, that Sweet 16 team was bound to lose to Kansas by 70.

My brain cells are fading reading this.

Deciduous Forest Cat
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/20/2026 9:53:15 AM

bobcat 2000 wrote:

our sweet sixteen year was great. if by chance we had beat north carolina we,d have been annialted by kansas. probaably by a score of 110-40 or something similar.

There is no way we would have lost by that score.

Andrew Ruck
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/20/2026 10:06:21 AM

Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:

bobcat 2000 wrote:

our sweet sixteen year was great. if by chance we had beat north carolina we,d have been annialted by kansas. probaably by a score of 110-40 or something similar.

There is no way we would have lost by that score.

Don't forget b2000's unhealthy obsession with Kansas.

Andrew Ruck
B.B.A. 2003

Andrew Ruck
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/20/2026 2:46:54 PM

More March failures for John Groce. 14 straight years of NCAA tourney failure.

Andrew Ruck
B.B.A. 2003

FearLeon
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/20/2026 3:02:59 PM

Andrew Ruck wrote:

More March failures for John Groce. 14 straight years of NCAA tourney failure.

And yet we’d all love for Ohio to be on the national stage playing Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament today.

Instead, we have a coach who specializes in recruiting division-two talent and playing a six-foot shooting guard 30+ minutes per game who can’t shoot.

Stay bitter with the Groce Akron success.

#BleedGreen #TrentIsGOAT #NoMissesAllowed #NoOtherTeamInAmericaFlexesLikeOhio #11Months

Andrew Ruck
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/20/2026 3:10:17 PM

FearLeon wrote:

Andrew Ruck wrote:

More March failures for John Groce. 14 straight years of NCAA tourney failure.

Just playing your game taking any chance to make grand far reaching declarations. Only one of us is obsessed with what Groce is doing at Akron.

Andrew Ruck
B.B.A. 2003

100%Cat
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/20/2026 3:11:33 PM

Hopes of Groce being hired away from Akron probably took a hit with that loss today.

bobcatsquared
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RE: Chalk Up Another March Win For John Groce

Posted: 3/20/2026 3:14:59 PM

Groce's success in the MAC, at Ohio and then Akron, has relied heavily on top-notch point guards. First with DJ Cooper during Ohio NCAA tourney runs in 2010 and 2012. More recently, his Akron teams were led first by Loren Jackson, then Xavier Castenada and finally Tavari Johnson. All three were first-team all-MAC at least one season. Who will be next for Groce? Sharron Scott or does he bring in one from the portal?

Come to think of it, it's possible the Zips' next point guard is not currently on its roster. If I'm not mistaken, each point guard mentioned in this post is from Chicago. Young was a big recruit for Groce but is from Morgantown, WVa.

Last Edited: 3/20/2026 4:48:08 PM by bobcatsquared

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