[UAZip0510]

1) The message has been sent loud and clear to everyone, from players to coaches to administrators: Last year is last year. It was a great ride, it's something we'll never forget, but it has very little to do with the 2009-2010 basketball season. This game was won by Akron and they let it slip from their hands. Hopefully the lesson has been learned, and they'll go for the kill the next time around. I'd rather it be this game than an important one in MAC play, or even worse, in March.

2) This whole Tim Carroll starting thing is hopefully over with. I get that KD wants Zeke to "earn" the starting spot, but he's too much of a weapon defensively not to start. Hitchens/Roberts/McKnight/McKnight/Marshall are your best 5 - start them. Nik plays the "Varejao" role - energy off the bench as the 6th man. And the rest of the rotation shakes out based on performance.

3) KD was right in his postgame - the Zips weren't going to get an at-large bid anyways. This loss hurts some of the excitement going in, but all it really prevents is Akron having any remote possibility of sneaking in to the back end of the Top 25 until late in the season. Hopefully it was a lesson learned, and the "new" season starts with a big win in the next game.

[The Hip Zip]

I agree with much of your thoughts with the exception of our guards. I think we are better with McNees in place of Roberts. Steve brings great energy to the floor while Roberts does not show any emotion out there at all. I also think Steve shoots it as well, can play both spots and can run the offense which Roberts can not do.

[UAZip0510]

I agree with much of your thoughts with the exception of our guards. I think we are better with McNees in place of Roberts. Steve brings great energy to the floor while Roberts does not show any emotion out there at all. I also think Steve shoots it as well, can play both spots and can run the offense which Roberts can not do.

I don't think Roberts showing or not showing emotion on the court affects his value to the team one bit. Sometimes you need a guy out there who has a more "even keel" type of personality, a steadying influence to avoid guys getting too high or low.

[Captain Kangaroo]

3) KD was right in his postgame - the Zips weren't going to get an at-large bid anyways. This loss hurts some of the excitement going in, but all it really prevents is Akron having any remote possibility of sneaking in to the back end of the Top 25 until late in the season. Hopefully it was a lesson learned, and the "new" season starts with a big win in the next game.

1.) If you need KD to tell you the Zips won't get an at-large after losing a home game to Austin Peay, you need help. KD gets the "Captain Obvious Award" for that observation.

KD said the same thing after his loss to Dayton last year. And many other losses before that one. This much is absolutely clear - The Zips will never merit consideration for an NCAA at-large if they lose games like Arkansas-Little Rock, Illinois Chicago, Winthrop, Dayton, Austin Peay, Valpariso and on and on and on...

Quit losing games these "measuring stick games" and using the BS excuse that "we weren't going to get an at-large anyways...". Win the games. Then prove to me that the NCAA overlooks the Zips. If we keep losing such games, it should be no shocker that we don't get any at-large consideration.

2.) Dambrot constantly grouses about the weak basketball attendance. Lose at home to Austin Peay, in the fashion we lost, and those sell-out crowds will continue to be a pipe dream. Joe Akron doesn't get too revved up about teams that can't beat Austin Peay at home. A big-time buzz-kill to begin the season.

3.) "Akron sneaking back into the Top 25?" Top 25 WHAT?

Big fat egg laid this afternoon by the Zips men's basketball team. It is as simple as that.

Pull out whatever coping mechanism you want...the kids learned something...we just miss that awesome Nate Linhart...Jimmy Conyers is going to bust-out any day now...the football team <insert stadium comment>...it is a long season...the Zips will grow and improve...it was only one game...yadda yadda yadda.

The Zips laid a big fat egg this afternoon and saying anything else is slathering a lot of lipstick on a pig of a game.

[UAZip0510]

3) KD was right in his postgame - the Zips weren't going to get an at-large bid anyways. This loss hurts some of the excitement going in, but all it really prevents is Akron having any remote possibility of sneaking in to the back end of the Top 25 until late in the season. Hopefully it was a lesson learned, and the "new" season starts with a big win in the next game.

1.) If you need KD to tell you the Zips won't get an at-large after losing a home game to Austin Peay, you need help. KD gets the "Captain Obvious Award" for that observation.

KD said the same thing after his loss to Dayton last year. And many other losses before that one. This much is absolutely clear - The Zips will never merit consideration for an NCAA at-large if they lose games like Arkansas-Little Rock, Illinois Chicago, Winthrop, Dayton, Austin Peay, Valpariso and on and on and on...

Quit losing games these "measuring stick games" and using the BS excuse that "we weren't going to get an at-large anyways...". Win the games. Then prove to me that the NCAA overlooks the Zips. If we keep losing such games, it should be no shocker that we don't get any at-large consideration.

2.) Dambrot constantly grouses about the weak basketball attendance. Lose at home to Austin Peay, in the fashion we lost, and those sell-out crowds will continue to be a pipe dream. Joe Akron doesn't get too revved up about teams that can't beat Austin Peay at home. A big-time buzz-kill to begin the season.

3.) "Akron sneaking back into the Top 25?" Top 25 WHAT?

Big fat egg laid this afternoon by the Zips men's basketball team. It is as simple as that.

Pull out whatever coping mechanism you want...the kids learned something...we just miss that awesome Nate Linhart...Jimmy Conyers is going to bust-out any day now...the football team <insert stadium comment>...it is a long season...the Zips will grow and improve...it was only one game...yadda yadda yadda.

The Zips laid a big fat egg this afternoon and saying anything else is slathering a lot of lipstick on a pig of a game.

1) I didn't need KD to tell me anything...I'm just glad to see him being realistic. I don't need any kind of "help", but thanks for caring.

2) I actually said the "back end" of the Top 25, not "back into" the Top 25. You can laugh if you want, but many had Akron listed as one of the top mid-majors in the entire country prior to the season. It seemed as if the program was finally getting some National respect. Before today, I felt like, had the Zips started the season on fire, they could sneak into the last few teams in the Top 25 at some point. I didn't say it was likely, or that I thought that it was going to happen...I just stated that any remote possibility of it was now gone. What's wrong with that?

3) As for today's game, I think the team can certainly take something from it. They blew it today. They know it, we know it...everyone knows it. Winners move on to the next game and learn from the experience. It will be interesting to see how this team responds in their next game. I'm staying positive, because I believe big things are going to come from this team this year. If you want to dwell on it and act like the season's gone now that we lost the opener to Austin Peay, that's fine. There were many that did the same when last year's team barely made it past Walsh in an exhibition game. We know what that team ended up doing...

[Ada Zip]

This loss is absolutely to be blamed on leadership. The team was not prepared to play and the players seemed to think that since they are the Mac champs/8th midmajor/<insert any other accolades here> they didn't even have to worry about working hard to earn the win.

We have two seniors on this team. Chris McKnight is acting as if he is a role player whose job is to grab 4-5 rebounds and score occasionally. Jimmy Conyers... let's not go there.
Our deffense is usually the source of our pride, what happened? we didn't give 48 points in one half to Gonzaga, not even Pitt...How on earth did we give AP 48 points in the second half?
And finally, when we desperately needed a couple of points, we miss 4 free throws and our "supposedly" best offensive player airlballs a layup

Our seniors do not seem to provide the needed leadership and BMac is not our "go to" guy, someone else must step up and take that role.

[Zip Watcher]

My brief takeaway's from the APSU game:

#1. The defense isn't there yet. The guys were working at it .. moving their feet, etc. But the communication on help and switches isn't there. There were way too many open looks inside 10 feet for the Governors. I point to this as the single most important reason the Zips lost the game. How does the D improve? More time together .. better communication .. some more intensity .. and perhaps (just for the haters) more Conyers and Bardo. For all the shortcomings that are pointed out .. those two guys are willing to get after it defensively and put people on the ground when they drive the lane. I think the Zips were soft in the paint Sunday.

#2. McNees is our only point guard at the moment. When he was on the floor, with any other guards .. he ran the point Sunday. Even with Humpty out there .. Steve was the 1 and Humpty the 2. A/TO seems to say he struggled, but my feeling at the time was that the team was better w/ McNees than without him. This is where I really wish that popcornmachine.net did college games .. because I'd like to see everyone's +/- for the game. It might be telling.

#3. This team will score points. My guess is that they'll average somewhere around 70-75 points per game. Over / Under on the Scorchers promotion? .. my guess is 4 home games.

#4. The team defense needs to get better .. and it will. It's been one game. Things are keyed differently without Linhart, and even more importantly with Zeke. This is something that doesn't just take Zeke getting adjusted, but the whole team needs to adapt to. One thing that I noticed was that APSU got into the paint at will on Sunday. Very similar to the Portland State game in Alaska two seasons ago. This led to astronomically high percentage shots. This will be improved. The team did a pretty good job in 08-09 of denying the paint .. and they can do it again.

#5. Cvetinovic plays hard.

#6. The new kid can play. There's tons of time to break down his game as the season goes on .. but I walked away with a good feeling about him. Two significant things stood out to me today watching him. First, he already understands the double team and what to do with the ball when it happens. He did a very good job several times passing out of the double team to find the open shooter. 1 assist, and I counted 3 other occasions that his pass out led to a ball rotation that got the Zips a wide open look. This will make the Zips offense in 2009-10 look more like 07-08 than 08-09. Second, I offer props to the guy for looking up immediately after rebounds to see if he can get an outlet pass off to start the break. Not perfect, but a few times he got the team some fast break opportunities. No 3 Second violations. No travelling. No TO's. Solid game.

An ugly game. An unfortunate loss. But there's never been a better combination of talent and potential for success for the Zips than there is this season.



Go Zips!

[GP1]

I know some don't like when I post about Wake Forest, but there are interesting parallels between Akron and Wake at times. A lot of you would like the vibe of a Wake football or basketball game. I hope this game doesn't become a parallel.

Wake has an older guy named Bill Urbanik who does their color for football radio. Some of you may be old enough to remember that Urbanik was a defensive lineman for the 1968 tOSU team that won the national championship. I wasn't born yet. Anyhow, he doesn't speak very well, but he always makes good points that cut to the chase of success or failure.

One of the points he made this season about why Wake was losing close games late in the year is that they lost close games early in the year. If a team doesn't execute and win close games early, they will never learn how to win late in the season.

The Zips need to win games like this early in the year so they don't fall into the trend of losing them. I don't expect Akron to win games against good ACC, Big East, Big 12, etc. teams, but I absolutely expect them to win a game at HOME against a team like AP. It's nothing against AP, they deserved the win. Akron is too good of a team to lose games like this. Expectations are too high and the players are too good to lose a game like this.

[Zip Watcher]

One of the points he made this season about why Wake was losing close games late in the year is that they lost close games early in the year. If a team doesn't execute and win close games early, they will never learn how to win late in the season.

Personally, I like hearing parallels from other teams & other fans .. plus Winston Salem is a great town.

However, it sounds to me like Bill needs to hang up his headset. If you don't win early .. you'll never win late? Has there never been a Wake team that improved over the course of a season? Really?

I say BS. You certainly don't want to drift into and keep reinforcing bad habits .. but last year's Zips team is a perfect example of a team that wasn't good early, improved upon its weaknesses, and put it together when it counted .. which is at the END of the season, not the beginning.

Go Zips!!

[GP1]

Has there never been a Wake team that improved over the course of a season? Really?

Not really. The history of Wake football is they are usually between laughing stock and average with some good years thown in now and then that keeps their strange, Ivy League type alumni coming back for wine and cheese before games on sunny North Carolina fall afternoons. The expectation for winning are low because football is really not a priority. There is almost no difference in the post game tailgating after a win or loss. It's different.....nobody gets to happy when they win or too low when they lose. The past four years have really been atypical of the program.

Teams don't learn to win by losing. The learn to win when they win.

[GP1]

I say BS. You certainly don't want to drift into and keep reinforcing bad habits .. but last year's Zips team is a perfect example of a team that wasn't good early, improved upon its weaknesses, and put it together when it counted .. which is at the END of the season, not the beginning.

This isn't last year's team and last year is now officially on the shelf. This is 2009/2010 with a team that experienced winning last year and understands how to win now. I expect more out of this team than the usualy "building process". The real BS is reverting back to losing to teams we should not lose to and excuse it away as part of a "building process".

[Zip Watcher]

I say BS. You certainly don't want to drift into and keep reinforcing bad habits .. but last year's Zips team is a perfect example of a team that wasn't good early, improved upon its weaknesses, and put it together when it counted .. which is at the END of the season, not the beginning.

This isn't last year's team and last year is now officially on the shelf. This is 2009/2010 with a team that experienced winning last year and understands how to win now. I expect more out of this team than the usualy "building process". The real BS is reverting back to losing to teams we should not lose to and excuse it away as part of a "building process".

No team has run the table since the 1976 Hoosiers. So every team the last 33 years loses games now and then. No one is excusing it away, it's a bad loss .. but some folks, like the Great GP1 are making it out to be more that it is.

The Great GP1 in the past few weeks has exposed himself to be nothing more than a contrarian and a prejudiced one at that (see the Amish thread and others where he's the first to drift into off-color sweeping generalizations). And lately, he's also clearly established his agenda at Zips Nation .. the contrarian pot-stirrer. Take the opposite opinion of the majority and make it suit your need with self congratulatory keyboard diarrhea .. mix in some elitist drivel implying or in your case outright stating that anyone who doesn't agree is just too dense to really understand. Congratulations, you have a web persona .. good for you.

Which is it, GP1 .. do you want to root for teams that are perennial losers like your beloved Demon Deacons, or teams that (apparently unlike WF) play every game in the season .. win some, lose some & try to move forward with lessons from both that lead to growth as a team and improved performances?

You probably already know that Browns Fan would never know what to do if he wasn't calling some drive time sports hack in September demanding the ouster of a coach who's been on the job for 6 months and 3 games. This is the same Browns Fan who'll be calling the hack back on Tuesday morning if a miracle occurs tonight, singing the praises of the new coach and dreaming of 8-8 seasons in the future with the guy he currently thinks is the worst coach since Bill Belicheck. Well, I'm here to tell you that in the Zips Nation, you are Browns Fan. In football, you find a way to take a single D1 FBS victory over a mediocre to bad opponent and turn it into some optimism .. nay CONFIDENCE .. about the future of the club. But in hoops, you're here to tell us that losing a game in November is reason for alarm and that you don't want to see a team improve over the course of the year or think that they can.

What the Great GP1 and Browns Fan (redundant I know) lacks is the patience or interest to observe the process that a full season is. My recommendation to you is to just buy a paper or check the scores online in mid-March and save yourself from the season, because clearly you're not really interested in the team or the season. You only care about what it says at the end, and how you can spin it to make yourself feel better and smarter. You could just save the rest of us the trouble and check in when the season's over.

The unfortunate part of the Great GP1 and his two-faced agenda is that he does have a way with words and his metaphors are entertaining. It's commonplace to laugh out loud at one of his posts. It used to be for his humorous observations and creative writing skill. Lately however, it's more like laughing at the poster as he struggles to keep his stories straight and disagree with everyone, painting himself in one post as a protector of minorities and exposing himself in another as a prejudiced generalizer. Truly unfortunate, but humorous.



Go Zips!

[Quickzips]

1) The message has been sent loud and clear to everyone, from players to coaches to administrators: Last year is last year. It was a great ride, it's something we'll never forget, but it has very little to do with the 2009-2010 basketball season. This game was won by Akron and they let it slip from their hands. Hopefully the lesson has been learned, and they'll go for the kill the next time around. I'd rather it be this game than an important one in MAC play, or even worse, in March.

2) This whole Tim Carroll starting thing is hopefully over with. I get that KD wants Zeke to "earn" the starting spot, but he's too much of a weapon defensively not to start. Hitchens/Roberts/McKnight/McKnight/Marshall are your best 5 - start them. Nik plays the "Varejao" role - energy off the bench as the 6th man. And the rest of the rotation shakes out based on performance.

3) KD was right in his postgame - the Zips weren't going to get an at-large bid anyways. This loss hurts some of the excitement going in, but all it really prevents is Akron having any remote possibility of sneaking in to the back end of the Top 25 until late in the season. Hopefully it was a lesson learned, and the "new" season starts with a big win in the next game.

1) No disagreement there. If this game isn't a wakeup call I don't know what is.

2) I disagree with this one. Not with the Tim Carroll part, but with the proposed starting lineup. I don't think the 4,5 spots are necessarily the problem for us at the moment. Chris and Nik are holding those down pretty well. Now Zeke is doing well himself, but there were still some freshman mistakes (most notably the hand in the face 3 pointer with 20+ seconds left on the shot clock) that need to be cleaned up before we insert him in the starting lineup. The problem we have is at the guard spots and SF. Personally my starting lineup would be Humpty, McClanahan, Conyers, C.McKnight and Cvetnovic. That gives you a second unit of McNees and Roberts (who combined are probably our best PG), B.McKnight and Zeke with Bardo grabbing a few minutes here and there. I think those units give us a good 5 on the floor at all times.

3) If I continue to have one complaint about KD it's this self fulfilling prophecy crap when it comes to at-large bids. The team I saw yesterday has a chance to beat anyone in the country if they come to play for 40 minutes (although as we saw yesterday they can lose to just about anybody if they decide the game is only 25 minutes long). Man up and schedule some good games. If you have to go on the road so be it. When you do play cupcakes, make sure you actually beat them. Otherwise stop whinning about crappy attendance and some conspiracy theory that we can't get an at-large. If you want your program to take the next step you actually have to make a move.

[GP1]

I say BS. You certainly don't want to drift into and keep reinforcing bad habits .. but last year's Zips team is a perfect example of a team that wasn't good early, improved upon its weaknesses, and put it together when it counted .. which is at the END of the season, not the beginning.

This isn't last year's team and last year is now officially on the shelf. This is 2009/2010 with a team that experienced winning last year and understands how to win now. I expect more out of this team than the usualy "building process". The real BS is reverting back to losing to teams we should not lose to and excuse it away as part of a "building process".

No team has run the table since the 1976 Hoosiers. So every team the last 33 years loses games now and then. No one is excusing it away, it's a bad loss .. but some folks, like the Great GP1 are making it out to be more that it is.

The Great GP1 in the past few weeks has exposed himself to be nothing more than a contrarian and a prejudiced one at that (see the Amish thread and others where he's the first to drift into off-color sweeping generalizations). And lately, he's also clearly established his agenda at Zips Nation .. the contrarian pot-stirrer. Take the opposite opinion of the majority and make it suit your need with self congratulatory keyboard diarrhea .. mix in some elitist drivel implying or in your case outright stating that anyone who doesn't agree is just too dense to really understand. Congratulations, you have a web persona .. good for you.

Which is it, GP1 .. do you want to root for teams that are perennial losers like your beloved Demon Deacons, or teams that (apparently unlike WF) play every game in the season .. win some, lose some & try to move forward with lessons from both that lead to growth as a team and improved performances?

You probably already know that Browns Fan would never know what to do if he wasn't calling some drive time sports hack in September demanding the ouster of a coach who's been on the job for 6 months and 3 games. This is the same Browns Fan who'll be calling the hack back on Tuesday morning if a miracle occurs tonight, singing the praises of the new coach and dreaming of 8-8 seasons in the future with the guy he currently thinks is the worst coach since Bill Belicheck. Well, I'm here to tell you that in the Zips Nation, you are Browns Fan. In football, you find a way to take a single D1 FBS victory over a mediocre to bad opponent and turn it into some optimism .. nay CONFIDENCE .. about the future of the club. But in hoops, you're here to tell us that losing a game in November is reason for alarm and that you don't want to see a team improve over the course of the year or think that they can.

What the Great GP1 and Browns Fan (redundant I know) lacks is the patience or interest to observe the process that a full season is. My recommendation to you is to just buy a paper or check the scores online in mid-March and save yourself from the season, because clearly you're not really interested in the team or the season. You only care about what it says at the end, and how you can spin it to make yourself feel better and smarter. You could just save the rest of us the trouble and check in when the season's over.

The unfortunate part of the Great GP1 and his two-faced agenda is that he does have a way with words and his metaphors are entertaining. It's commonplace to laugh out loud at one of his posts. It used to be for his humorous observations and creative writing skill. Lately however, it's more like laughing at the poster as he struggles to keep his stories straight and disagree with everyone, painting himself in one post as a protector of minorities and exposing himself in another as a prejudiced generalizer. Truly unfortunate, but humorous.



Go Zips!

Wow, personal attacks after the first loss. Everyone else should take note that if you dare to lay any criticism on this team, this is how you will be treated.

I will stop asking more out of the defending MAC Champions. It is now OK to lose to AP.

You are a real douche ZW. I always thought more of you as a poster.

[Zip Watcher]

No attack .. just an observation. You on the other hand? Nice response.