Game 25—Ball State

[Let'sGoZips94]

11 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

We can pee and moan all we want about the refs, but the Zips are just playing getting out played.

 

That's 2 games against Balls that we've been literally taken out of the game/had the game stolen by the refs. We missed shots, sure, but the refs played too big a role yet again. 

[Illini Zip]

4 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Anyone know whether Cotton is playing tonight?  If we want to beat Ball Sweat we're going to need more than 4 guys scoring.

 

I completely missed that the first time around. Nice!

[clarkwgriswold]

Once they figured out how to get the ball inside to the big men, the game was over.  I think their big men were 15 of 19.  Kostelac had a couple of cheap ones called on him, but he he contributed to the cause with a couple of mind numbingly stupid fouls, the worst on which he fouled out.  It would have been a different game with E-man and Sayles, but that could be said of many games.  After that first half run where they looked so good, the rest of that game just plain hurt.  The last minute of the first half was a real momentum killer.

[clarkwgriswold]

49 minutes ago, UAZippers said:

Yep. 

 

I don't blame the Zips, they are playing hard. BSU had a great gameplan to take advantage of the size discrepancy and things have been falling their way. 

 

Groce was happy with the effort, not happy with the mental breakdowns at the end of the first half.

 

6'9" 245 LBS > 6'5" 195 LBS.   It's simple math.

[NWAkron]

We had two close games with Ball State last year, and they brought back most of their players and their same coach.  With Sayles or EMan these games may be at the 5 or 6 point differential instead of the 15-30 points.  Zips fans aren't used to saying that another MAC team is simply better.   With this loss, we are looking at an away game first round for sure...maybe at PCCC.  Would be cool if that is our first road win!

Edited February 14, 2018 by NWAkron

[zipfan84]

11 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Kostelac has to have taken E-man's fouls per minutes played record away.

5 fouls in 7 minutes. That equates to a foul every 84 seconds. Ridiculous! He desperately needs playing time to get a feel for the game but he can't stay in long enough. Very frustrating! I can only imagine how he feels.

[zippyfan34]

9 minutes ago, zipfan84 said:

5 fouls in 7 minutes. That equates to a foul every 84 seconds. Ridiculous! He desperately needs playing time to get a feel for the game but he can't stay in long enough. Very frustrating! I can only imagine how he feels.

Another reason I have liked the move to start Smith most games.  We are so shorthanded, that with Smith there are sometimes we can make it to the under 16 timeout without any foul calls which sets the team up better long term for the game.  With Mark in, he just likes to bang and get under people's skin with extra pushing that the refs see it and call it and then that translates into more fouls being called against us.  Some of Mark's calls were weak, but then again I think some of them are brought against himself when he does things he doesn't have to do.

[morris buttermaker]

16 hours ago, morris buttermaker said:

Headed to the game tonight... first one this yr. I gave up my season tickets -- I hope they make me rethink things tonight

It was like the last several years - not all that satisfying.... which is too bad. 

[1981 grad]

I said before I am not sure about the development of Klac.  Big men take longer to develop but he looks so slow at times I wonder if he will ever develop.  Right now he is being outplayed at the center position by a Lucas Smith, a 6 foot four walk on.  Klac needs to take the ball straight up when he gets the ball in scoring postion.  Needs to learn to move his feet on defense and rebound rebound and rebound.  I do not blame the refs for his fouls.  He has set numerous illegal screens all season.  He has been called for touch fouls all season on defense when he uses his hands instead of his body.  He needs to show improvement as the season progresses and that is not happening.  This is his opportunity to shine since 2 of our 3 centers went down.  Instead, Lucas Smith and Utomi are getting the majority of the time at center.

[clarkwgriswold]

28 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

I said before I am not sure about the development of Klac.  Big men take longer to develop but he looks so slow at times I wonder if he will ever develop.  Right now he is being outplayed at the center position by a Lucas Smith, a 6 foot four walk on.  Klac needs to take the ball straight up when he gets the ball in scoring postion.  Needs to learn to move his feet on defense and rebound rebound and rebound.  I do not blame the refs for his fouls.  He has set numerous illegal screens all season.  He has been called for touch fouls all season on defense when he uses his hands instead of his body.  He needs to show improvement as the season progresses and that is not happening.  This is his opportunity to shine since 2 of our 3 centers went down.  Instead, Lucas Smith and Utomi are getting the majority of the time at center.

 

Let's be brutally honest.  Kostelac is 6-11, 250 and is playing at the University of Akron after high school at NDCL and a year at IMG.  At NDCL, he was 3 time All-League Honorable Mention.  The NCL is not a basketball powerhouse league.  He seems like a great kid and has potential, but he's a freshman who would never see the floor on a decent team or a team with some depth at the bigs.  He has been thrown to the wolves and hopefully that will benefit his long term development, but given his background we shouldn't get too excited by his potential or too disappointed when he has difficulties. 

[LZIp]

17 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

Let's be brutally honest.  Kostelac is 6-11, 250 and is playing at the University of Akron after high school at NDCL and a year at IMG.  At NDCL, he was 3 time All-League Honorable Mention.  The NCL is not a basketball powerhouse league.  He seems like a great kid and has potential, but he's a freshman who would never see the floor on a decent team or a team with some depth at the bigs.  He has been thrown to the wolves and hopefully that will benefit his long term development, but given his background we shouldn't get too excited by his potential or too disappointed when he has difficulties. 

I don't care what he was in high school. Some kids are simply later bloomers. The coaching staff realized he was good enough for a scholarship offer (as did Iona) and I can't blame them based on what I see. He was good moves and wonderful touch around the rim, shoots efficiently, can play some good defense, hustles, is athletic, and very coordinated for somebody his size. I see the potential but am not too disappointed, as like you said and we all know, he was thrown to the wolves when he really should have been redshirted under normal circumstances. I think we need to keep in mind that all of these freshman have been thrown into the fire and need to consider that when evaluating them. I do have some that I'm higher on than others, but certainly not going to write anyone off in their true freshman season playing a lot more minutes than they should.

 

His biggest issues to me are adjusting to the speed of the game at the D1 college level and getting rid of freshman mental errors. He does get called for some crappy fouls, but some of them are completely avoidable. I'm high on big Mark. Certainly not the rest of this season, and he might be a candidate for a red-shirt next season, but I think he has a bright future based on what I've seen he's able to do. He just needs to do it on a consistent basis.

Edited February 14, 2018 by LZIp

[Hilltopper]

There is no way Kostelac will be redshirted next year.  It just isn't done that way. Big men just take time to develop.

[LZIp]

15 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

There is no way Kostelac will be redshirted next year.  It just isn't done that way. Big men just take time to develop.

I agree it isn't *normally* done that way. Do you think anyone on the team is a candidate for red-shirts next year? If this doesn't get staggered some, we are looking to be pretty much exactly where we are now in a few years when we graduate 7-8 players in the same year. I'm sure it will naturally work itself out some in time, but as of right now there aren't really any players I'd be okay losing to transfer, mostly because its too early to tell.

[clarkwgriswold]

44 minutes ago, LZIp said:

I don't care what he was in high school. Some kids are simply later bloomers. The coaching staff realized he was good enough for a scholarship offer (as did Iona) and I can't blame them based on what I see. He was good moves and wonderful touch around the rim, shoots efficiently, can play some good defense, hustles, is athletic, and very coordinated for somebody his size. I see the potential but am not too disappointed, as like you said and we all know, he was thrown to the wolves when he really should have been redshirted under normal circumstances. I think we need to keep in mind that all of these freshman have been thrown into the fire and need to consider that when evaluating them. I do have some that I'm higher on than others, but certainly not going to write anyone off in their true freshman season playing a lot more minutes than they should.

 

His biggest issues to me are adjusting to the speed of the game at the D1 college level and getting rid of freshman mental errors. He does get called for some crappy fouls, but some of them are completely avoidable. I'm high on big Mark. Certainly not the rest of this season, and he might be a candidate for a red-shirt next season, but I think he has a bright future based on what I've seen he's able to do. He just needs to do it on a consistent basis.

 

Don't get me wrong LZip.  I like the kid, but I think people need to temper their excitement as well as their disappointment.  I hope to hell he's a late bloomer.

[clarkwgriswold]

16 minutes ago, LZIp said:

I agree it isn't *normally* done that way. Do you think anyone on the team is a candidate for red-shirts next year? If this doesn't get staggered some, we are looking to be pretty much exactly where we are now in a few years when we graduate 7-8 players in the same year. I'm sure it will naturally work itself out some in time, but as of right now there aren't really any players I'd be okay losing to transfer, mostly because its too early to tell.

I think we may well see another odd situation next year where some kids see less time than they dd this year.  Such is life with this transition.

[Let'sGoZips94]

KLac hasn't adjusted to the speed of the game yet, but when you look at the low-post moves he already has in his repertoire, I think he'll be just fine. He LOVES to play physical, but he needs to learn better defensive positioning. He also needs to learn how to play help/weak side defense. But he'll be just fine. 

 

15 minutes ago, LZIp said:

I agree it isn't *normally* done that way. Do you think anyone on the team is a candidate for red-shirts next year? If this doesn't get staggered some, we are looking to be pretty much exactly where we are now in a few years when we graduate 7-8 players in the same year. I'm sure it will naturally work itself out some in time, but as of right now there aren't really any players I'd be okay losing to transfer, mostly because its too early to tell.

 

Torrey Patton is my #1 choice for a redshirt. I'm interested to see if anyone transfers out. Also, does anyone know if they're expecting Poke to be able to play basketball again? 

[skip-zip]

I don't want to say too much more about this situation, which I have addressed a few times dating back to the preseason, but a couple of posts got my attention.  

 

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Let's be brutally honest.  Kostelac is 6-11, 250 and is playing at the University of Akron after high school at NDCL and a year at IMG.  At NDCL, he was 3 time All-League Honorable Mention.  The NCL is not a basketball powerhouse league.  He seems like a great kid and has potential, but he's a freshman who would never see the floor on a decent team or a team with some depth at the bigs. 

 

I think this should have at least been a warning sign in terms of expectations.  The year he spent after high school with IMG which only resulted in offers from a Metro Atlantic team and a MAC team desperate to fill late roster spots should have been another red flag.  Recruiters salivate over guys his size.  Even if they think it would take a couple of years for them to contribute.  That didn't happen.

 

2 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

 Needs to learn to move his feet on defense and rebound rebound and rebound.

 

Besides some of the obvious offensive woes, some of which you mentioned, I think this is the important thing to examine right here.  

 

I'm stunned that a guy of his stature, who's played 242 minutes, has recorded a TOTAL of 28 rebounds.  Even if he can't score, he could help us TREMENDOUSLY in this department.  But you're right.  He doesn't move his feet well enough.  That could have a lot to do with why he commits so many fouls while defending.  That's what most guys do who can't move well enough to guard opposing players.  And unfortunately, you can't really do much to "teach" a guy to move quicker.  

Edited February 14, 2018 by skip-zip

[UAZip0510]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I think we may well see another odd situation next year where some kids see less time than they dd this year.  Such is life with this transition.

 

This will happen.

 

Next year you're probably starting Loren Jackson, Eric Hester, Jimond Ivey, Daniel Utomi, and either Olojakpoke or Deng Riak.  Then Olojakpoke/Riak, Cotton, Parrish, Patton, Sayles as a likely second unit.  You could even see Toles push his way in depending on their long-term plan with him.  I don't expect Kostelac to play much next year.

[1981 grad]

11 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

I don't want to say too much more about this situation, which I have addressed a few times dating back to the preseason, but a couple of posts got my attention.  

 

 

I think this should have at least been a warning sign in terms of expectations.  The year he spent after high school with IMG which only resulted in offers from a Metro Atlantic team and a MAC team desperate to fill late roster spots should have been another red flag.  Recruiters salivate over guys his size.  Even if they think it would take a couple of years for them to contribute.  That didn't happen.

 

 

Besides some of the obvious offensive woes, some of which you mentioned, I think this is the important thing to examine right here.  

 

I'm stunned that a guy of his stature, who's played 242 minutes, has recorded a TOTAL of 28 rebounds.  Even if he can't score, he could help us TREMENDOUSLY in this department.  But you're right.  He doesn't move his feet well enough.  That could have a lot to do with why he commits so many fouls while defending.  That's what most guys do who can't move well enough to guard opposing players.  And unfortunately, you can't really do much to "teach" a guy to move quicker.  

Skip, you are spot on!  Right now he looks so slow you wonder if he will ever catch up to the pace of a division one game.  It seems like he would have more success playing at a division 2 school.  He has shown some good moves in the post, some hustle and some decent defense.  But he has shown in most games a propensity to foul and do nothing in the stat sheet.  What I don't like is that with all this playing time he has not shown consistent improvement from game to game.   Big Dog was pretty bad his first year and I wonder if he was forced to play large minutes his first year whether we would have the same complaints.  Only time will tell if Klac will become a viable center in the MAC.

[kreed5120]

As the old adage goes, your best ability is your availability. This is particularly true for a team that is already thin. He needs to learn to play smarter and quit putting the team in foul trouble so quickly.

[akronzips71]

17 hours ago, LZIp said:

another horrible call to foul Utomi out. You can't make this stuff up! I don't think he was in the arc, but could be wrong.

You are correct. On slo mo he was about 2-3 feet outside the arc.

[NWAkron]

49 minutes ago, akronzips71 said:

You are correct. On slo mo he was about 2-3 feet outside the arc.

I don't think it changed the outcome but was bad.  From my seat in the stands it looked like the Ball State guy also pushed off with his forearm.  Such inconsistency.  I think they called that on Ball State another time but then flip it for this call.

[clarkwgriswold]

1 hour ago, NWAkron said:

I don't think it changed the outcome but was bad.  From my seat in the stands it looked like the Ball State guy also pushed off with his forearm.  Such inconsistency.  I think they called that on Ball State another time but then flip it for this call.

 

 

It was also very shortly after they called a very similar play a charge by Ball State.

[Illini Zip]

I had so much fun responding to everyone last night that I'm all out of "likes". And that's a bummer because I agree with so many of the observations pertaining to K-lac. I will just add that I think it's possible that in a couple of years K-lac could play smarter, faster, and under control. He could become a rebounding machine. He could develop an outside shot forcing the opposing bigs to follow him out of the paint. He could get efficient in the offense and set perfect picks for his teammates and he could be the only guy you know who is 6'-11" that is eager to dive on the floor for a loose ball. It's possible that all of these improvements happen in time and yet K-lac will rarely ever start for Akron due to match-ups.

 

I don't golf personally, but I know that there are a bunch of clubs that are used on a regular basis and some that you carry for that specific situation. I look at the basketball roster in a similar manner. K-lac and Loren Jackson find themselves on the opposite ends of the roster spectrum, but both are specialists. Loren brings elite speed, ball-handling and shiftiness. K-lac as they say, you can't coach size. They will train to be the best, most versatile players they can be, but K-lac is the one guy on this team who will only be a center and Loren Jackson will likewise only be a point guard. Everyone else will eventually learn between 2 and 4 positions. I call K-lac an earth-mover because it's his job to move mountains and avoid what Ball State did to our poor Lucas Smith. K-lac is the driver in Akron's golf bag, but most of the time we will be best served with a 2-Iron at the 5 position. How was that for a non-golfer?

[Hilltopper]

Trying to compare the way Smith guarded Moses to the way Kostelac did it is apples to oranges. Smith fronted the big guy and knew that he had backside help if they threw it over the top. When Mark was in the game they expected him to play straight man to man. Moses being a much more experienced player did a great job of selling any contact between them and the refs bought it. The refs were much more willing to give Smith the benefit of the doubt due to the size difference. The main reason Smith can be effective in the post is due to his quickness. Mark at 6'11" is never going to be that quick.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Hilltopper