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Game 22—Toledo


clarkwgriswold

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On 1/31/2018 at 2:29 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Over/under 4.5 for the number of people that wear white?

 

Since the game was nothing to talk about, we can talk about this.  

 

If you don't count the shirts that were given out at the gate, I'd probably say that less than 4.5 were informed enough to participate on their own.  

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I heard Groce on the radio and it is the same speech, guys are not hustling and not playing hard nose basketball except for Smith.  Makes me wonder if he has lost some of the players on this team.  Duvivier and Ivey were out for long stretches of time.

 

 We were terrible on offense.  Only 4 assists the entire game.  We missed at least 3 layups if not four.  Missed 5 foul shots.  Most of our points were on drives to the basket or three point shots without a pass.  I hate the spacing on the offense.  Their center justs sits in the lane and double teams when we drive to the hoop.  No dish offs, no give and goes, no back door, no shots coming off a screen. I think Klac may have posted up 2 times.   Most times Klac sets a screen he goes to the basket before he draws contact from the other player.  Our offense just looks sluggish at best.  I hate watching us take a shot and nobody follows the ball looking for the  rebound.  I watched Daniel move away from the offensive end when we shoot the ball.  I guess he is saving energy.  I am glad to see him get out of his shooting slump but he looks a step slow on defense.  We are also starting to take quick three point shots.  Great if you hit them but sucks if you miss.  I think we missed every 3 pointer early in the shot clock.  Duvivier kept playing off his man at the 3 point line.  He kept hitting 3 pointers.  You woud think by the second half he would get in this face.  You would think wrong.

 

This is a young and athletic team.  This team work and cohesiveness on this team just looks bad today.  Not sure whether to blame the coach or the players.   No place to go but up after this game. 

 

 

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39% shooting, 4 freaking assists.  That's just plain damn brutal.  Too much dribbling, not enough movement off the ball, no ball movement.  If I see another guy on defense get caught watching the ball and losing their man, I am going to lose my mind.  How many shots did they miss within 5 feet of the basket today?  I was really concerned by some of the body language I saw today.

 

OK, now that I am through my rant, the Zips are playing some kids that wouldn't be seeing major minutes, if any, if they weren't so thin.  They lost to a better team.  I just hate to see them do things that help that happen.

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19 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Makes me wonder if he has lost some of the players on this team.  

 

21 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

 Not sure whether to blame the coach or the players.  

 

Players can start checking out.  Especially those who've been on this roster when we won all the time.  Visibly observing "Bad attitudes"  seem like the obvious sign.  But that's a natural reaction to losing.  I'd contend that the lack of ball movement is much more telling.  So, those 4 assists should be a huge red flag that there's a dire problem with cohesiveness.  

 

It's tough on the coach too.  You can't correct the problem by yelling more, unless you know  your players well.   And oftentimes, different guys are going to respond to that in different ways.  

 

This kind of loss at home can be a tipping point.  Lets hope that's not the case.   

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Malcolm had some nice drives and finishes in the second half.  He also had some nice rebounds and can box out.  Something we rarely saw by Noah after his injury.  Our guards are so much more athletic than last year.  However, everything today was individual effort, that is why we only had 4 assist.  We got within 3 at the end of the first half after Utomi made 2 straight 3 pointers.  I thought get the ball to Utomi, he never saw the ball again in the half.  That says something about this team.  I really thought that as the season progressed that they would get better.  Instead, I think the tougher competition in the MAC, the grind of road games, the longer college schedule and the constant losing is wearing this team down.     

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5 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Malcolm had some nice drives and finishes in the second half.  He also had some nice rebounds and can box out.  Something we rarely saw by Noah after his injury.  Our guards are so much more athletic than last year.  However, everything today was individual effort, that is why we only had 4 assist.  We got within 3 at the end of the first half after Utomi made 2 straight 3 pointers.  I thought get the ball to Utomi, he never saw the ball again in the half.  That says something about this team.  I really thought that as the season progressed that they would get better.  Instead, I think the tougher competition in the MAC, the grind of road games, the longer college schedule and the constant losing is wearing this team down.     

Having not played on a basketball team, I don't know what is the magic that makes a winning team click.  The team wasn't doing that well in the MAC when they were at full strength.   The road slog and schedule just seemed worse than previous years.   Away, away, Buffalo.  The opening 3 games were particularly brutal for a young team.  Then away, away, Toledo.  The chance to pick up the road win was at Ball State or Miami but we were down two big guys.

 

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I just went back and looked at our early source of hope- the early season out of conference schedule.  The teams the Zips beat are now 51- 92.  IPFW is the only team over .500 at 16-10.  I guess that explains the success.

 

This team is just not very good.  Not the coaches' fault.  Not the players' fault.  Just the cards they were dealt when KD left, players bolted and they were left to hustle up a roster of players.  There are kids seeing time that would be riding the pine on other MAC rosters or if KD never left, but we can only hope the floor time they are seeing benefits the squad down the line.   There may well be kids who see less time next year than they see this year when the roster settles.

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  • Dr Z changed the title to Game 22—Toledo

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