Dave in Green

@NickHarney and @Tall_ass_tree are best bros on Twitter. Reading through their many tweets, it appears that they work out together and scrimmage together every day. They obviously take their basketball very seriously, which should be good news to Zips basketball fans. The closest thing I saw to ego about being "saviors" for the basketball program was a tweet from Tree to Harney saying "we about to rewrite the history books at Akron." It wasn't really clear if that was a reference to what they think they can do to the Zips basketball record books. But if it was, I have no problem with it. I like the idea of Zips basketball players having lots of self-confidence. If they deliver, they would deserve credit for backing up their words. If they stumble out of the gate and get humbled a little in the early going, hopefully their egos are strong enough not to be crushed but to bounce back with even more intensity and enthusiasm.

Actually, 7-21 from 3 point land isn't that bad. Hitting 1 of every 3 treys (.333) is the point equivalent of hitting 1 of every 2 field goals (.500). As a team, the Zips are currently shooting .425 on 2s and .344 on 3s, which is the equivalent of better than .500 on 2s. Nothing wrong with taking whatever shot the defense gives you as long as you're making the shots at a good true shooting percentage, which takes into account how many points the shot is worth.

Good point on the number of shots Zeke's taken. The rest of the team has not done a great job of getting the ball to Zeke in shooting position. But that's just one aspect of the game. For example, Zeke had 11 rebounds against Can't, and only 18 total in the last four games, which averages out to 4.5 rebounds per game. Zeke was aggressive and focused against Can't on both offense and defense, and has not repeated that in the four games since. This is not intended to be critical of Zeke, who's not playing poorly since the Can't game but playing at roughly the same level as before the Can't game. This is just me retracting my overly optimistic assessment that his level of play against Can't represented the kind of breakout game that would have him performing at a similar level more frequently. Until he actually does, the performance against Can't does not qualify as a breakout game. It was only a hint of what Zeke might do when he consistently plays at that higher level.

Four games after what some of us thought was Zeke's breakout game, he has failed to come close to matching that performance. The Zeke I've seen in the last four games is roughly the same Zeke I was used to seeing prior to the Can't game. He continues to develop at a modest pace. But the light really hasn't gone on in his head that what he did to Can't he could do in every game against any team remaining on the Zips schedule. So I have to admit that I was too optimistic and jumped the gun when I said this was Zeke's breakout game. I just couldn't imagine that he could play the way I saw him play, and then lose that attitude and revert to being more tentative. I still think this is eventually going to happen, hopefully before the end of this season. I do like the way that KD is holding Zeke out and trying to keep him out of foul trouble until the last few minutes of the game, when he can be a huge impact player at both ends of the court. I really don't have a problem with Zeke not scoring a lot early in the game as long as he's on court at the end of the game and the team is using him as one of the primary offensive options. His hook shot is still virtually unstoppable, and he shoots it at a higher percentage than any other player on the team shoots their best shot. So it's a wonderful offensive option to have in crunch time with the game on the line.

Walsh and Gilliam already have DI experience, and should be the backcourt replacements for McNees and Roberts. Add them to the returning Rico, Nitro and Q, and you have a pretty full guard rotation, with several of them also capable of minutes at small forward. Unless one or more of these five stumble, I could see possible redshirts for Ibitayo and Justice. The frontcourt replacement situation for McKnight, Bardo and possibly the Serb is a little more complex, with five forwards in the mix to take their PT. Egner and Euton will have at least a little more experience than Green, Harney and Treadwell. But Harney and Treadwell may well be stronger, more athletic players with more upside in scoring and rebounding. It seems unlikely that either of those two would redshirt if they are really as talented as advertised. Will be interesting to see how the less settled frontcourt situation works out, and if there are any surprises in the apparently more predictable backcourt. It's always possible that at least one of the young forwards may decide they don't have a viable playing future with the Zips and end up transferring.

A review of the play-by-play shows that my math was a little fuzzy on the Zips' scoring in the second half. They "only" went the first 8 minutes, 25 seconds of the second half with 3 points. They scored 2 more points with 11:35 left in the second half, and another 2 with 10:05 left. So they actually scored a remarkable 7 points in the "3rd quarter." So no new low-scoring records set.

The dance team's music was cleaned up and the scoreboard was showing the correct shooting percentages. But the yellow RC car still lost control and the red car maintained its perfect record. So there's still work to be done. Oh yeah, about the game. The Zips had a decent first half. I thought they had some of their best passing yet this season, though the shots weren't all falling. But still enough to pull to a 7-point halftime lead over a BGSU team that didn't seem capable of being 3-1 in the MAC. As the second half began, I said to those around me, "Now comes the moment of truth. The Zips have really been bad coming out of halftime." With 10 minutes left in the second half, the Zips had only scored 3 points. That's 3 points in 10 minutes of playing time. Major catastrophic embarassment. The Zips finally buckled down on D near the end and began hitting their shots to put BGSU away. But I'm not sure the Zips have ever gone a full quarter only scoring 3 points. I'm afraid it's destined to be an ugly season. Even when the Zips win, it's not pretty. On the positive side, there was a big, noisy crowd at the JAR tonight. Whatever happened to bring so many enthusiastic fans to the JAR should be repeated.

Maybe this belongs in the basketball recruiting forum. There are 13 scholarships available. Here's what the situation looks like right now for 2011-12. Departing and opening up scholarships (4): Bardo McNees Roberts McKnight Possibly departing to play in Europe and opening up scholarship (1): Cvetinovic Probably returning scholarship players (6): Abreu Diggs Egner Euton Marshall McClanahan In line to be scholarship players next season (7): Gilliam Green Harney Ibitayo Justice Treadwell Walsh Looks to me as if one of the 7 in line to be scholarship players next season would be left out if Cvetinovic decides to return for his senior season and nothing else changes. If Cvetinovic leaves early, there'd be scholarships available for all as long as they meet all academic requirements.

No matter what any coach or any team in any sport accomplishes, some fans always want more. It's human nature. Under KD, Zips fans have gone from having to live with the Zips either not making the MAC tournament or going out in the first round to making it to the MAC tournament championship four years in a row and winning one. Now that's no longer good enough for some Zips fans. Some Zips fans would only be temporarily satisfied if the Zips won the MAC championship five years in a row. Then the complaints would be that they don't go deep enough into the NCAA tournament. There's no end to wanting to continuously improve. It's human nature. It's healthy.

Haven't seen him play, but he looks to be a pretty athletic 6-7 small forward. Noticed that in one game this season he scored 30 points and pulled down 20 rebounds, and generally seems to shoot for a pretty high percentage. The Zips could use an athletic small forward who can both shoot and rebound. MaxPreps

I admit that my expectations for this season's Zips team were a little high. KD hinted prior to the start of this season that fans probably shouldn't have high expectations for this edition of the team. Most members of the sports media seemed to agree with him, as did some forum members here. I was a little too optimistic, and have readjusted expectations after three straight conference losses. At this point I choose to believe that KD hasn't suddenly lost his ability to coach, and that he may be doing as good a job as he can with the players he has to work with. It may just be that the Zips miss last season's departing players more than the returning and new players are able to compensate for. I have to get it in my head that this is truly a rebuilding year. The Zips are in transition into a different style of team that will become more evident next season when it's likely that Rico will be the only Zips player under 6-4 who gets any PT. Rico will have a full year of experience running the Zips offense, Zeke will be a junior and the experienced transfers and grayshirts should add up to a much different Zips team. Naturally I hope the Zips turn it around quickly and win most of their remaining games. But even if they don't, I'll remain optimistic that they still could get hot for the MAC tournament. If that falls through, then I'll just look at this season as a transition year that was not up to the previous four seasons. It happens to every team. I'll be there tonight lending my support, as always.

The other pattern that continues game after game is being seriously outrebounded despite having the only 7-footer in the conference. Is there anyone wasting away on the Zips bench who believes in his heart that every rebound belongs to him, and he's going after it no matter what?

Yet another MAC team shoots nearly 50% from 3-point land against the Zips. This is a becoming a pattern, and there are reasons for patterns. To break a pattern, one must analyze and address the reasons for the pattern.

I think it's more accurate to say that this Zips team has so far given us no good reason to believe they are a good team. As the season goes on, the picture will continue to become clearer. Maybe they will get much better, maybe not. I'm not giving up on their potential to get better, but I can't blind myself to their body of work to date. They are digging themselves a deep hole in the MAC to climb out of. They will have to have a major reversal in performance to overcome what is turning out to be an extremely slow start in conference play.

For six decades, Findlay native William Frack has followed the Bowling Green State University men’s basketball team. Now, he is taking steps to strengthen the program for generations to come with a series of irrevocable trusts that have a combined value of more than $10 million. Frack’s endowment will be the largest, single private gift in BGSU’s history. It is also the largest one-time gift ever designated to a Mid-American Conference basketball program. So the question is whether or not any MAC school has ever received a one-time gift of more than $10 million for the exclusive use of its basketball program? BGSU News Release

Shaking things up, just as some of us have been asking. Good for KD.

The original CBS Sports story said the donation was "the largest in school history and MAC basketball history." In the basketball scheme of things, I wouldn't say "that's not much."

I mentioned earlier that this was a deadly serious case due to the deaths under questionable circumstances of several people who might be loosely associated with certain aspects of the case. In addition, one of those indicted was reported to have been previously investigated by the FBI in connection with a suspected a murder for hire case, and that same person has been charged in this case with threatening an FBI agent. The latest development on this front is that the former casino lobbyist who last month pled guilty and agreed to testify against the others turned himself in to authorities today. He requested to begin serving time immediately in a federal prison even though he will not be sentenced until this September. There is much speculation that he wanted to be placed in prison immediately for his own self protection because he didn't want to end up dead with a gunshot to the head or in a plastic bag at the bottom of a pond as happened to those mentioned above. Still no direct connection between this and Auburn football, the Newtons or pay for play. But more is expected to become public in the coming weeks and months as investigations by the FBI, Department of Justice, NCAA and SEC continue. Associated Press Story

Just a quick internet search shows no obvious trouble for this player, who appears not only to be really strong and fast, but also was carrying a 3.5 GPA in HS.

The Bowling Green men's basketball program is expected to announce Wednesday that it has received a donation representing the largest in school history and MAC basketball history, multiple sources told CBSSports.com. The donation will be used to increase the program's recruiting budget, grow compensation packages for coaches and enhance student support on academic and conditioning fronts, one source said. The money will also help the school secure an undetermined number of buy games previously unavailable. CBS Sports Link

Everyone appears old to the immature.

Nothing is heresy when you're on a losing streak. If the starting lineup is based on who plays best in practice, then the first question should be whether or not the best players in practice are always the best players in games. Maybe yes, maybe no. How would anyone know for sure if different combinations weren't actually tried in games? Another way to put it would be to ask how many conference games do you have to lose before you begin tinkering with the lineup to find a more effective combination? There's something to be said about sticking with what you think is your best combination even when it goes through a rough period. The key question is how long to wait for the present lineup to break out of its rough period? Then you have to factor in exactly how important a starting lineup is on a team when you begin subbing after the first few minutes anyway. A more critical factor is what lineup to insert when the team is faltering, blowing a lead and falling behind. Which combination of players is most likely to halt a slide and make the team competitive again when the game is on the line? Is it always the same, or does it change depending on the makeup of the opponent, or maybe which players are more on top of their game on a certain day of the week for a variety of reasons? Coaching is an interesting combination of art and science.

Haven't tried it, but it gets generally good reviews.

Looking at this season's full body of regular season work to date, OU is 7-8 overall and 1-2 in the MAC. Looking at last season's full body of regular season work, OU was 17-14 overall and 7-9 in the MAC. Looking at last season's full body of post season work, OU was 5-1, sweeping the MAC tournament and upsetting #3 seed Georgetown in the NCAA tournament. At what point last season did OU go from being proven as a weak team to being proven as not a weak team? If it happened once, could it happen again?

We all have our own personal feelings about the Zips. I'm generally an optimist when the Zips start a new season, prefering to focus on what the Zips might become if they realize their best. I'm one of those who was even trying to find positive points in Brett McKnight's suspension, hoping that would lead to quicker development of one or more of the freshman forwards. I generally remain optimistic until a string of events add up to the need for a change in expectations. The Zips are now more than halfway through their 32-game regular season schedule, so this is about the time of the season when I shift from generally optimistic to more realistic based on results to date. I still like watching the team and I still think the Zips have a good coach, so I'm not talking about deserting them. I see all kinds of potential in both individual players and in the way they might be successful playing as a cohesive team. But the reality is that this Zips team has shown me nothing special when it comes to winning games. Now, the season isn't over, and it's still possible for the Zips to wake up and start realizing more of their potential. We can even get back to talking about the fact that the only thing that really matters is for the team to peak in the MAC tournament and earn an NCAA bid. For a model of what that would look like, one need only look back at last year's lack of regular season success for OU followed by their strong post season run. I'd be happy to kiss off the Zips current regular season if I thought they could make a post season run like that. But so far the Zips haven't even given a clue that they are capable of putting together a run like that. So my revised personal expectations for the team are that it's possible but unlikely that the Zips will suddenly transform from sleepwalker to championship caliber sprinter. For me, having more realistic expectations for what the Zips might do in each conference game will make the losses less painful, and right now I foresee more of those losses than I expected when the season began.