Dave in Green

A little background for Zipsbabie: 2014 MAC Basketball Top 25: #20 G/F Jake Kretzer, Akron Zips

GJGood gets his wish. But be careful what you wish for. WMU is a better team now than they were when the Zips beat them in Kalamazoo without their starting PG, and now it's the Zips who are short-handed. David Brown, who went off for 34 points tonight (8-14 3-pointers) to sink OU, will be a handful at the Q. BGSU beat BSU and, in the battle of defensive specialists, EMU beat MU by 1 in OT to set up the other quarterfinal game.

Thanks to running up the big lead early, no one had to play excessive minutes: 28 = Jake 27 = Nyles 25 = Kwan 25 = Deji 24 = Reggie 24 = Antino 22 = Big Dog 13 = Aaron Coach Dambrot said in the interview he was most concerned about not overplaying Big Dog and Antino, so they should all be good to go Wednesday. Getting Pat out there for 2 minutes was good for Pat and the rest of the team. He should be able to play at least limited minutes Wednesday.

Tournament mode.

No need for Pat tonight.

I did a little more searching around for turf toe information and found the following on the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons website, which seems to be a little more promising on recovery time than the earlier info I found. As long as it's not a Grade 3 sprain, there is a chance that Pat could be able to play. Here's what the AAOS says about Grade 1 and 2:

Clevebus.

Might as well get used to the fact that Big Dog is going to get screwed on calls due his massive size. Opponents bang pretty hard on him, but the refs ignore it because his big body barely moves even when hit hard. And when he starts that slow, back-in dribble to the basket, opponents are learning to fake exaggerated flops because the refs take the bait and whistle Big Dog for hammering the poor little defender. It was one of many non-calls on Big Dog being hammered at Miami that drew protests from the Akron bench that the refs rewarded with a technical.

The Hurl promised he could wear a hoodie during player introductions.

As previously acknowledged by critics of MAC officiating, some of the same refs that are reffing the MAC are also reffing games for MSU and Indiana and other B1G games.

Most medical sources agree that typical recovery time from a torn ACL is 6-9 months before normal athletic activity can begin again. Could be a little less or a little more, but that's the typical range. So it would likely be September at the earliest before Noah could begin seriously practicing. It's not likely that he would be in great game shape before the first game next season. But he might be ready to play short minutes early in the season. That makes Antino's tremendous progess at the end of this season so critical, and also likely means that Josh and Jimond would get more minutes in early season games than they would if Noah was 100%. After the Alex/Carmelo situation, I don't think we'll ever see Coach Dambrot short of qualified PGs again. To be safe you need at least three guards who can play the point well, even if one or two are combo guards who can play the 1 or 2 equally well.

Might as well get used to the Hurl landing top recruits and having tough teams at UB until he gets hired away by a high major program.

There are plenty of fans with favorite players who aren't necessarily relatives. Over the years we've had many fans on this forum who've lobbied for their favorite player to be a starter. I can see how a fan who's not a relative might pick Antino as their favorite and want him to be a starter. He's fun and exciting to watch. Honestly, I didn't think Antino had the stamina to play 30+ minutes per game. He has surprised me with his ability to play 30+ minutes and be fresh enough at the end to drive to the basket and nail 3s in addition to dishing to his teammates. How he, Noah, Josh and Jimond will divide the 1 and 2 guard positions next season will remain a hot topic of conversation. My best guess is that the starters at the beginning next season will be Noah at the 1 and Antino at the 2 in place of Nyles. Both Noah and Antino have proven they can effectively play 30+ minutes, so I'd expect to see both playing long minutes until Josh and Jimond prove themselves capable of earning more PT. One scenario that makes sense based on what we've seen from Antino over the last few games is to have him in the game in the closing minutes alongside Noah. Antino has shown that he's a pretty reliable shooter from both inside and out in crunch time. I think that Antino's energy and speed would be especially effective at the end of games where the opponents are a little worn down and might have trouble staying with him. Noah is also a good shooter, so having a pair of good-shooting PGs playing together at the end of games would present a lot of trouble for opponents. If having both Noah and Antino creates a big debate over which is better, that's a great "problem" for the Zips to have.

Where to start with Jake and Reggie? Neither is a star but both have played important roles in the Zips' 11-player (recently 8-player) rotation: Free throw shooting percentage: Jake is #1 at 93% and Reggie is tied with Noah for #2 at 75% as most reliable on the team. 3-point shooting percentage: Reggie is #1 at 43.5% and Jake is #3 behind Noah at 35.6%. Turnovers per game: Reggie has the fewest of any Zips scholarship player and Jake is third best. Assists to turnovers: Reggie is #1 and Jake is #2. Steals per game: Jake is #4 and Reggie is #7. Rebounds per game: Jake is #3 and Reggie is #8. A good example of an intangible that doesn't show up in the stats would be hustle plays like saving a ball from going out of bounds, where Jake really excels. Jake is one of the Zips' floor burn leaders. Generally speaking, Reggie is a 3-point shooting specialist. His 43.5% 3-point shooting average would rank him #33 most accurate 3-point shooter in the country if he had the minimum number of attempts to qualify. At 18 minutes per game he's more of a role player. Jake averages 3rd most playing time as more of the team's glue guy. He's an all-around hustle player who's a reliable, steadying influence like Noah, which is especially important right now with Noah out.

You sure you live in NY? It's playa, man, PLAYA.

No wonder people are pronouncing the name wrong. The proper pronunciation respelling is not an-TE-no but AN-tih-no.

You called it -- 5 personals in 17 minutes.

I just step-framed through the ESPN3 video and was just about to post the same thing about Brewer picking up his dribble outside the 3-point line and taking extra steps before his shot. Of course the refs should have called it. It was absolutely an egregious travel. Fundamental rules of the game are not suspended in the last second of a basketball game. This was not a close call that might have been called either way where the officials might be expected to swallow their whistles. It was absolutely clear-cut. In retrospect, Kwan did exactly the right thing. He watched Brewer travel and didn't risk trying for a block, because a shooting foul at that point would have given Brewer 2 chances to make a single free throw to win the game. Kwan immediately and correctly made the travel motion with his hands that the refs should have made. The officials blew it big time, and the video clearly proves it.

Well, we all feel pretty crappy right now because we just lost to the one team in the world we hate losing to more than any other. But we did beat them at our place so at least it was a split for the season. The cards were really stacked against the Zips tonight, and they came a lot closer to winning than most expected. The guts and heart our 8 remaining healthy scholarship players showed tonight was just awesome and made me more proud of this team than ever. With about 6 minutes left Can't was on a run that appeared might put the game away and it appeared that the Zips were wearing out and ready to fold. But they had a burst of adrenaline and gave their all right up to the final buzzer. Sure, they made some mistakes that may have lost the game. But if we focus on that we miss the point that they made enough good moves to be in it up to the end against a good team playing at full strength on their home court.

I know the point guard is the quarterback of a basketball team. But this isn't a Browns forum, so we don't need a quarterback controversy. Noah did a great job running the team before his injury and Antino has performed extraordinarily well as his replacement. The Zips are incredibly fortunate to have two great young PGs and another one coming in next season. How they divide up the playing time will be played out next season. Right now there's no controversy at all. Antino is the only one we have going into the MAC tournament, so he's the man right now.

How did you happen to pick that one post out of such a crowded field of candidates?

Part of the noise factor here is acoustics. The echoes are so bad you can't understand what the PA announcer is saying.

Lots of enthusiastic students live on campus and care about basketball here.

Really LOUD in here.

Yep, there's a counter to every move and a counter for every counter. The players with quick reactions who are basketball savvy and make the best adjustments faster than their opponents are the ones who usually come out on top. One of my concerns about the Zips this season has been that they often seem to be a half step behind on adjustments and counter-adjustments, with the result that opponents burn them too often on both offense and defense. Noah is an example of a player who sees the court like a chess board and is always playing out the game in his mind a few moves ahead.