Dave in Green

A couple of key points Zips fans tend to lose sight of in our euphoria over having a 7-footer on the floor in blue and gold: 1. Zeke didn't develop on playground basketball courts as a little kid. He came to basketball relatively late in his youth, had a huge growth spurt, and ended up as a raw rookie kid in a potential NBA body. He is way behind basketball prodigies who dreamed of playing in the NBA as little kids, worked tirelessly toward that goal throughout their youths, and are ready for the NBA after a year of college like Jared Sullinger. 2. Zeke is not a poor kid from the projects whose only hope for success in life is playing professional basketball. He's a smart kid who is as interested in computers as sports. Basketball is a part-time focus, and not his whole life. He may never make the investment to be as good at basketball as he could be if it consumed his life. I personally do not know how important basketball is to Zeke, and I don't think anyone on this forum knows, either, outside of maybe Zeke's mom. Then there's the simple fact that height is only one element of basketball. Some big men never develop into great basketball players no matter how hard they try. Again, I personally don't know how good he's capable of being even if he makes it the most important focal point of his life. Having said that, there are some things Zeke does on court that are the responsibility of the coaching staff. I don't watch enough college basketball to know how many other college teams coach their 7-foot centers to be chasing guards around near the 3-point line. Maybe it's common and maybe it's uncommon. I just can't say for certain. But I can certainly say that it's now a known fact to every semi-conscious person who attends Zips games that Zeke gets into foul trouble by doing things he doesn't really need to do for the Zips to win. Ultimately, Zeke's performance on the court is a combination of how good he is, how good he wants to be, how hard he works to get better, how well he is coached to maximize his abilities, and how he interacts with his teammates and they with him. If one or more of those factors is off, things can look bad on court without it being totally obvious what the root of the problem is. It has to be frustrating to everyone to know that Zeke performed like an all-star in leading the Zips to victory over Can't, and then faded into relative obscurity. Everyone who witnessed that game knows what Zeke is capable of doing under certain circumstances. The question everyone wants answered is why can't he be more like that in every game?

Disappointed? Well, OK, I suppose that could be a two-way street. The pessimists can be disappointed when the optimists overreach and the optimists can be disappointed when the pessimists underreach. In any case, I've been back to being a realist for awhile now, having corrected my expectations for Zeke several games back after initially saying I thought he could replicate his Can't performance on a regular basis. No more player predictions from me on the basis of a single-game performance. We're now all the way back to the earlier Zeke who can cleanly block shots by outstanding players like Jarrod Jones, and then end up sitting on the bench in foul trouble for silly body fouls on guards outside the 3-point arc, unnecessary reach-in touches, and getting faked off his feet by much shorter players he doesn't even need to leave his feet to guard. Zeke still has a ways to go to play smart all the time. If he can master that, he'll be a huge contributor to the Zips on a regular basis.

Another solid game. Not great, but better than average for this season's Zips. Keep playing like this, and they have a chance to do well when it counts the most. While some of the freshmen and sophomores have been playing important roles, it's the juniors and seniors who are anchoring this team. There's no longer any question that the Serb is the heart and soul of this team, and that he is going to give everything he has trying to lead this team to the top. With that settled, everyone else seems to be settling into the roles they do best, and executing better and better. That's not to say there weren't some silly brain fades tonight. But they were all brief and temporary. When it started to get tense, the Zips got intense. I really like watching the Zips team I saw perform tonight. This is why I buy season tickets.

There must be millions of posts on various internet forums about whether or not Auburn is the biggest cheater in college football, and whether or not the Alabama gambling scandal will spill over into college football and take Auburn down. I know that most folks on Zips Nation aren't interested in the preliminaries, and are waiting for the big hammer to fall somewhere if it ever does. So I try not to post everything here that grabs my interest on the subject. I think the following post is interesting because it comes from someone closely related to another SEC school. It sounds credible, but I can't vouch for that. It could be a figment of someone's imagination, which is common on internet sports forums. But it made me think about how dominant the SEC has become in college football, and how SEC schools are probably pushing the envelope more than other conferences. But if they think one of their own has crossed the line, it has to burn them that they may have lost their shot at the national championship because another SEC school literally ripped the envelope to shreds. With that said, here's a post I found more interesting than most (UGA = University of Georgia and AU = Auburn University): ...for the first time I can confirm that UGA has some real concerns about how AU is conducting its business on the recruiting trail. For a while, my thoughts were that they were aware of what was going on but were taking a passive wait and see stance. Now I know that is definitely not the case. Not going to get into names because nothing good to come from that. Can tell you for 100% fact however that UGA is in the process of gathering information and that it will be submitted through the proper channels. This isn't stuff involving boosters and fans. This is information being gathered by members of the administration and the athletic department (compliance). They feel what they have gathered so far is real and needs to be heard. Of major concern is the obvious (extra benefits) and the methods used to contact prospects ie going around HS coaches. The latter isn't necessarily against NCAA rules but there are HS coaches in Georgia that aren't happy about a lot of "off campus" meetings arranged by the AU coaching staff without the knowledge of the HS coach. Sorry if this is vague but I am glad they are doing the things they are doing. Coach Richt and his staff are under a tremendous amount of pressure and being undermined by this kind of stuff in your back yard is reason to speak up.

I agree that the Zips have not consistently shown the kind offense required to consistently win. When the offense is off, as it has been more often than not, defense is the only hope of keeping the Zips in games. I believe the Zips players have it in them to produce better offense, and that they just haven't executed to the best of their abilities. The Zips have a fair number of potentially good scorers. If they can learn to execute offense better, they wouldn't be so dependent on defense to win. Practically speaking, tough defense currently needs to be there night-in-night out in order to win most games. But I'm not giving up on the possibility of the offense getting better before the end of the season and playing a bigger role in the Zips' combined offense/defense.

At UNO, Q made 13 of 41 3-point shots for a 31.7% average. So far at UA he's 11 of 30 for a 36.7% average, and his 2-point field goal percentage is 47.4%. Hitting 36.7% of 3s is the equivalent of making more than 55% of 2-pointers, and anytime a player's 3-point shooting percentage is effectively better than his 2-point percentage, it's hard to complain that he's taking too many 3-point shots. McKnight currently leads the Zips with a 3-point shooting percentage of .390, followed by McClanahan's .375, Roberts' .371, Diggs' .367, Abreu's .348 and McNees' .306. Diggs' .367 is well above the Zips' .348 team average. Remember that whenever you ask a player to focus on one type of shot to the exclusion of others that you're telling the defense they don't have to guard that player for the type of shot he's not likely to take. That makes the player easier to guard and more difficult for him to score. The best case is to mix up shot selection to the point that the defense never knows what the player they're guarding is going to do next. All this tells me that Q should keep right on shooting 3s at the appropriate time, even though it's more entertaining to watch him blow past people on his way to the basket.

Here's a brief update on my previous post above about the self-confessed lobbyist in the Alabama gambling scandal who volunteered to start serving his prison sentence long before he actually went to court to receive his sentence. Yet another person indicted in this case had his bond revoked after a judge found him guilty of trying to bribe the lobbyist above into not revealing all he knew about others in the case: The Gadsden (Alabama) Times Link Another area potentially related to human trafficking and pay-for-play that is coming under scrutiny is the way that various organizations are conducting seven-on-seven youth football. It's believed that some of these organizations may be getting paid off to steer the youths to certain schools. The NCAA has recently taken an interest in this, and Sports Illustrated had a big story on it today: Sports Illustrated Link

I never rely on the Zips consistently doing the same thing two games in a row. If the offense is running smoothly, then defense is not as important. If the offense isn't running smoothly, then defense becomes more important. Point is, no two opponents are the same and no two games are the same. The Zips have to be capable of playing both good offense and tough defense if they want to be consistent winners. Offense is generally more fun than defense, which is more like hard work. Playing tough defense takes a lot of energy, and I don't expect to see them expend as much energy on defense when the offense is clicking and they have a healthy lead. If the offense starts to sputter and a lead begins to evaporate, I expect to see them double down on defense. Neither the offense nor the defense needs to be great to win most games unless the other component stinks. It's the combined offensive/defensive effort that wins games, and just being good at both will result in more wins than losses. That's why I'm not hung up on the concept that the Zips absolutely must have a great defensive effort or a great offensive effort every single game. I'm perfectly satisfied with a combined offensive/defensive effort that's superior to whatever their opponent throws at them in any given game. In other words, I would just like to be able to rely on the Zips consistently producing a combination of offense and defense that leads to scoring more points than their opponents.

It wasn't a great game for the Zips, but it was a good one. No big scoring droughts, and enough good D to build a good final margin. I liked the passing and teamwork better than recent games, and especially the aggressiveness and creativity on the offensive end. If the Zips could play a few more games like this, they'd earn my confidence back. WMU is no powerhouse, but they are probably the second best team in the MAC West behind Ball State. Too bad there weren't more fans there to enjoy the W. Caught the radio interview with KD on the way home, and he had interesting comments about Diggs. He said he has told Q that he has the potential to be an NBA player if he learns how to put it all together. He's quick, long, can run the break, make good passing decisions and score. I'm developing a real appreciation for Diggs. Game by game he's steadily improving, and has the potential to be a star for the Zips in his junior and senior seasons. I want to make a special point to credit McNees for changing his game. He's doing a much better job of driving and dishing, which really helps break down the defense and opens up players to pass to. He may not be as good at it as Rico and Q, but he no longer spends so much time dribbling outside the 3-point line. This could pay big dividends in the MAC tournament.

It's all about scoring more than the opposition. I could care less if the Zips give up 43 points in a half as long as they have their shooting touch, don't have a big scoring drought, and score 46.

I'll be there tonight as always. Hope the "good" Zips team shows up.

I don't know why anyone would ever listen to all of the deeply flawed professionals who earn their living doing something when there are so many amateur experts on every subject available on internet forums who willingly dispense their infinitely greater wisdom for free.

Yeah, who would ever guess that an Off Topic forum on a sports discussion site would be for issues off topic from sports? The extreme wing in any political party only represents extremists. Moderates, who generally represent the largest percentage of any population, are best represented by the more moderate political wings. When an extreme wing takes over a political party, it tends to push out moderates. Over the years I've been pushed out of both parties and forced over to the other depending on which one was less extreme in any given political era. After having spent earlier portions of my life as both a liberal and a conservative, I came to the conclusion years ago that neither has all the right solutions to all the world's problems. No one is worthy of getting a free perpetual key to the kingdom. I have an internal "crazy meter" that I apply equally to both major American political parties. When one party has more crazy individuals saying more crazy things than the other, I tend to vote for the party expressing the least crazy positions. Neither party is immune from periods of looniness, though people who buy into the concept of "my party right or wrong as long as I live" might not see it in their chosen party. The genius behind the U.S. system of government is checks and balances. This is the key point that protects citizens from the abuses of one wing taking over the whole system and running roughshod over those who disagree with their point of view. Each of us is imperfect, so it should come as no surprise that the political parties that represent us are filled with imperfect people with imperfect visions of what's best for us. Without a system of checks and balances, imperfect people with imperfect extreme views would be more likely to skew the system and create more serious and lasting collateral damage.

I just wanted to see what a clean post would look like without lots of quotes from previous posts in it.

Just got home and wasn't able to follow the game. Good news is the Zips did what they were supposed to do against a really weak team. Nothing special about doing what you're supposed to do except when you haven't been doing what you're supposed to do in previous games. So this is at least a good start on the Zips getting to where they should be and need to be. Looking at the stats, a couple of things jump out. First, the Serb has become the big rebounder the Zips have lacked. After 16 in the previous game, he snags 9 here. Second, McKnight breaks out of his shooting slump by hitting 3 of 4 from the field. He also grabs 6 boards in just 13 minutes. Can't complain about that performance off the bench, except perhaps the 4 personal fouls in just 13 minutes. The worst stat to me is Rico's 5 turnovers in just 17 minutes on the floor. What's up here? Rico started off the season with a brilliant assist to turnover ratio, and all of a sudden the ratio is reversed. You generally expect freshmen to make lots of mistakes early and slowly improve as the season goes on. It's troubling to me that Rico seems to be in reverse. Hope it's just temporary, whatever it is that's going on there. There are other stats I'd expect to be a little better against a team of Toledo's caliber. But the important thing now is wins, not artistic points. Realistically I'm hoping the Zips at least earn home court advantage for their first MAC tournament game, as earning a bye is something they haven't convinced me they're capable of doing from the deep hole they're in. But I love surprises, so I'm OK if they want to surprise me by running off a big win streak.

I have no preconceptions or expectations for this game. If the Zips continue to play the way they've been playing, they will continue to be very beatable even by bottom-dwelling MAC West teams, especially on the road. Of course I'm hoping that the Zips will wake up and snap out of their funk. I'm waiting for them to show me something.

It's simple to talk about throwing a little orange ball through a little orange ring more than the other team. It gets complex when well-executed obstacles are put in the way that require well-executed strategies to overcome. A well-executed defensive plan leads to fewer high-percentage shots for the other team and decreased likelihood of them putting the ball through the ring more frequently than your team. A well-executed offensive plan leads to more high-percentage shots for your team and increased likelihood of putting the ball through the ring more frequently than the other team. In the end, all that matters is for your team to score 1 more point than the other team before the final buzzer. It doesn't matter if the final score is 1-0 or 100-99. What matters is winning. The Zips current combined offensive/defensive plan is not working so well with the current players. There are many different adjustments available. But not all of them will produce the best results with a given group of players. Coaches make big bucks to resolve situations like this. KD and his staff have to come up with a solution that works for the current players. The players have to buy into it and be held accountable.

Moore led Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College to the regular season championship in the Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges. He then led MGCCC to victory over #3 ranked Grand Rapids (Michigan) Community College in the Mississippi Bowl, 62-53. MGCCC finished #3 in the final National Junior College Athletic Association national football rankings. For the 12-game season, Moore was 155 of 257 (60%) for 2,395 yards, 23 TDs and 7 interceptions. While these stats made him only the 14th highest rated juco QB in the country (Zach Stoudt was ranked 12th), the important point is that he led his team to #3 in the country. Moore is a proven winner at a higher level than HS.

Skip, no I wasn't referring to any HS QB in particular. I was speaking in general about leading a team to a juco championship being a much stronger proof point for a QB than performing well at the HS level, including winning a HS championship. Just recognizing that the level of competition gets increasingly stronger as a player moves up through the various levels of football, which makes a player's achievements more impressive at higher levels because they come against a higher level of competition. Quality juco QBs are not a common commodity, and I feel good about the Zips ability to land one like Moore. There are no guarantees. He could be a total bust even at the MAC level. But I think the odds of success are better for a QB who's proven himself to be a champion at the juco level.

Really? Am I correctly understanding you to say that you seriously believe that Ianello deliberately created problems for the team for the specific purpose of creating excuses for himself?

Of course, professional sports analysts know nothing compared with sports forum denizens when it comes to judging recruiting classes. But let's see what one of those dummies has to say, anyway: ''Akron's having an outstanding year. They're doing an excellent job in their area. Rob Ianello is an excellent recruiter,'' said Tom Lemming, an analyst for the CBS College Sports Network and one of the nation's best in his field. ''It's going to take him three or four years to get to the top of the Mid-American Conference, but they're going to do it. ''I was really impressed with the way they went about their recruiting. They really attacked it, beating Bowling Green, Ohio and Toledo to a lot of top players.'' ABJ Link

It's not fair to pick on any one player, because there is plenty of criticism to be shared among all the players. But it's interesting to revisit the Brett McKnight saga. Most everyone expressed mixed feelings when McKnight was off the team. It was seen as a loss of potential senior leadership as well as the loss of the Zips designated shooter off the bench. The only potential bright side was that Egner and Euton would get more PT which might help them develop more quickly. We now know with McKnight's return that development of Egner and Euton was put on the back burner. And while it's hard to measure how much senior leadership McKnight brings to the Zips, we can measure how he's done as the designated shooter by looking at his field goal shooting game by game in which he's played since returning to the team: 3-4 1-3 2-4 8-12 3-6 4-7 5-10 4-10 4-8 4-9 3-9 4-15 1-4 2-9 So it's only really the last 4 games where McKnight has been in a shooting slump. Prior to that he was hitting better than 50% of his shots, and the Zips were still not consistent winners. At the end of the season, we can analyze how much we think McKnight helped the team overall versus what might have been expected from Egner and Euton by the end of the season if they'd had more PT to develop and become contributors.

GP1 nailed it earlier when he said that the kid has talent and wins. Virtually every college football QB was a winner at the HS level. But leading a team to a juco championship is a much stronger proof point than winning a HS championship. I especially like that he has a chip on his shoulder to prove how good he is to those who don't believe in him. He believes that he belongs at a top BCS school. If he completely dedicates himself to proving all the top BCS schools wrong in passing on him, he could become a beast of a QB in the MAC. He also believes that he can make it in the NFL. With the success of previous MAC QBs in the NFL, he knows that if he performs at the highest level for UA that he has a chance of being drafted. You never really know until it plays out on the field. But there's good reason to be optimistic about Moore.

If someone had told me before tonight's game that the Serb would grab 16 rebounds, I would have said the Zips easily win by double digits. But this is a reminder that basketball is not about individual stats. It's about playing together as a team. For whatever reason, the Zips are not playing together as a team. They just can't consistently execute. Doesn't mean they might not catch fire and run the table in the MAC tournament. But with each passing game that's looking more and more like a long shot. It's hard to be optimistic about a MAC East team that is 1-2 against 3 of the weakest teams in the MAC West.

So, any good Zips discussions worth following on any of the YSU forums?