Dave in Green

I think I had pretty realistic expectations for Zeke based on my understanding of just how difficult it is for a true freshman to adapt from small HS competition level to the longer, tougher D1 season. It's even a tougher transition for a 7-footer, especially one who hasn't been playing basketball all that long, and who suddenly sprouted to 7-feet tall in just a few years. It takes time for everything else to catch up to such a sudden and major height growth spurt.I expected Zeke to be better on defense than offense. But he is not only a good defender, he has also developed some nice offensive moves. He is better coordinated, more agile and quicker than I expected. He moves like a "regular guy" on court, definitely not a "plodder."I never expected Zeke to play long minutes early in the season. I figured KD would try to find that delicate balance with Zeke of enough playing time to develop without too much stress that would wear him out and make him less energetic at the end of the long season. His playing time has slowly increased throughout the season except for the period in which his development was slowed a bit by minor ankle and leg problems that resulted in him playing fewer minutes.Zeke now appears to be completely healthy, and played a full 26 minutes in the last game against CMU -- second highest play time in the game behind McNees' 29 minutes. Zeke looked energetic at the end of the game, and his fierce rebounding and shot blocking were instrumental in winning the game. So there's a lot of cause for enthusiasm that he appears to be peaking at the end of the season when he will be most needed to help the Zips try to duplicate last year's MAC tournament championship and NCAA tournament bid.I'd guess the most optimistic fans may be a little disappointed that Zeke was not dominant from game 1, and that the most pessimistic fans are probably delighted that Zeke has grown to the point of being a starter, and is now starting to take on the role of closer as well.Realistically, Zeke is everything the expert talent evaluators said he'd be. He's a little bit of a project in the sense that most 7-foot true freshmen have a lot to learn to be competitive in D1. But even we amateur talent evaluators can see the progress from game to game. If he keeps improving at this rate, he has the potential to be a real force in the MAC tournament, and could even make an impressive showing in the NCAA tournament should the Zips peak as a team in the MAC tournament as they did last year.It's still not too late for Zeke to develop into the best all-around freshman player in the MAC by the final game of the season.

Nothing official, but I always assume a suspension for violation of team rules is for 1 game unless it's specified as a multi-game or indefinite suspension.

Aside from a dip in his playing time when his legs were hurting, Zeke's minutes have been slowly increasing as the season has gone on. He's averaged 20 minutes per game over the past 3 games, and there's no reason to think he won't continue to play half or more of each game.We can't lose sight of the fact that he is a 7-foot true freshman still transitioning from a short HS season to a longer, more physically demanding D1 season. The physical stress is greater on the really big players. It's a fine balance between playing Zeke enough to let his game grow and not physically draining him so that he runs out of energy when they need him most.Let's face it. The Zips are good enough to qualify for a decent seed in the MAC tournament with Zeke playing limited minutes. They don't really need Zeke to play long minutes until they reach the point of win or go home (MAC tournament).We have to trust KD to get it right, and that Zeke will come into the playoffs with just the right balance of experience and energy from having played enough, but not too many, minutes in the regular season.

No upsets tonight. Clean sweep for the MAC east.

It really pains me to say this, but Can't looks really impressive as they are annihilating Ball State. They look like they've regained their old swagger and are ready to make a run in the NCAA tournament. I'd like to think that reality will catch up with them and they will fall back to earth. But the way they look right now, anyone can see why they deserve their high ratings.Having said that, I think the Zips are fully capable of beating Can't if they get their act fully together by the final game of the MAC season and the beginning of the MAC tournament. It's all going to come down to who executes consistently when it counts the most.

Last season when a few posters were dogging Bardo, I manually calculated his +/- numbers. It was pretty time-consuming to do manually even for a single player, so a program that could digest the text file and spit out +/- numbers would be great.By the way, the +/- numbers for Bardo were mostly +, which explains why KD keeps saying that he sees Bardo doing good things that all the fans don't see. But even posting the positive +/- numbers for Bardo didn't seem to change anyone's mind about his performance.Go figure.

I really appreciate the fact that you are a passionate Zips fan who really cares.As CK has already pointed out, KD does not have a history of having to suspend players for a game, certainly nothing like the stories we read of rampant problems with some other coaches at some other schools. It's well known that KD recruits high character players from good family environments, so he obviously puts a high premium on player behavior and attitude. KD is a proven leader of young men as well as a good coach. That's why the 1-game benching of Hitchens came as a surprise -- because there was no history of similar occurrences under KD's watch, and because we believe that Hitchens is not a troublemaker.The B. McKnight benching is currently a total mystery. No one has yet reported on this forum even a guess of what the problem was. From everything we know about the McKnight family, it's a good, loving family of strong character -- the kind of family who we fans can all admire.Knowing what we do about the Zips' history under KD's leadership, as well as the good qualities of the McKnight family, most of us are willing to give them all the benefit of the doubt that this was a minor issue that should not be blown up out of proportion on pure speculation.Continually focusing on the worst possible outcome brings back memories of a certain SNL character:Yahoo Video Link

Interesting stat on Zeke. After last night's game, Zeke's block percentage (an estimate of the percentage of opponent 2-point field goal attempts blocked by the player while he was on the floor) is 11.1%.That's not just a high percentage, it's a real high percentage. It would rank Zeke 16th in the country among all D1 players except for one minor problem. The national rankings require that a player be on the floor for a minimum 40% of minutes played to qualify. Currently, Zeke has played 39.3% of the Zips total game minutes.The good news is that Zeke's minutes are increasing as the season goes on, so he should reach the 40% minutes played mark before the end of the season. Then he would show up in the top 20 of the national standings for block percentage.To make the top 10, he would have to raise his block percentage from 11.1% to above 12.02%, which is the mark currently held by Dallas Lauderdale of that team in Columbus.Pomeroy National Block Percentage LeadersPomeroy Zips Stats

WE ARE AVERAGEWAY BEYOND AVERAGE

Look for my new sign at the JAR on Sunday, WE ARE AVERAGE. Everybody will get pumped when they see it.Selective quoting will often lead to false conclusions. The rest of the statement suggests that the Zips are probably above average in turnover percentage for a team that substitutes so many players so frequently.Like most teams, the Zips are average in some areas and above or below average in others. Most important is the overall average. By most rating systems there are currently about 100 D1 teams that are better on average than the Zips and about 200 D1 teams that are on average worse.So the Zips are above average overall, but not as good as they or we would like.

Lots of apples and oranges in any comparison between recent situations in UA football and basketball. Lots and lots.I don't think it was ever officially announced, but there seemed to be a consensus that Hitchens skipped one class. That's not a good thing for a scholarship athlete, but he was appropriately punished for the minor transgression by being made to sit out one game.It's pure speculation on B. McKnight at this point. But if he comes back into the regular lineup after a 1-game suspension, I think we can all assume that whatever he did was roughly the same level of minor transgression as cutting a class. In the overall scheme of things, these are roughly on the level of minor traffic violations. They certainly are nowhere near the level of felonies.It's enough to raise eyebrows a little, but no reason to overreact.

Nothing to flame about. You are correct that the more player rotation you have, the more difficult it is for everyone to have good timing. There are advantages and disadvantages to every strategy.So how does the Zips season turnover percentage of 20.7% compare with other D1 teams? Dead average. The average season turnover percentage of all D1 teams is 20.7%.So the Zips are able to rotate more players in and out than average without having an above average turnover percentage. The CMU game just happened to be one of the Zips worst in that category, and was probably affected by the absence of their go-to guy on offense (B. McKnight).Pomeroy Zips Stats

How about a nod to the much maligned Mike Bardo. With B. McKnight on the bench, Bardo got to start the game alongside Zeke, Conyers, McNees and Hitchens. He only played 10 minutes, but was 1-2 from the field and had 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 0 turnovers and 0 fouls. Nice contribution to a big road win.Maybe the worst statistic of the night for the Zips was turnovers -- 17 ugly ones. But the guy who played the most minutes and probably handled the ball more than anyone else, McNees, had 0 turnovers. It didn't hurt that he chose this game to break out of his shooting slump by hitting all 4 field goal attempts (all treys) and all 4 free throws for 16 points.It's when different players step up each game to make the difference that you begin to appreciate the philosophy of having a deep bench with lots of players getting a chance to contribute.

But you can blindly slam the coach without knowing the details?Perhaps that's proof that old age doesn't overcome a lack of perspective or priorities.Go Zips!I am not slamming the coach. I am saying that two suspensions of starters in a week shows lack of control.Wrong. At what point do you attribute these suspensions to the actions of the players? It shows he does control the team and the program has the proper perspective for it's student athletes.+1We don't know why B. McKnight was suspended. But we do know that college kids sometimes do silly things. If they happen to be on the basketball team, the coach needs to provide an appropriate lesson. The other players obviously rallied around the coach.Let's not play down the importance of losing B. McKnight from the lineup. Only 5 D1 players in the country take a larger percentage of their teams' field goal attempts than B. McKnight. Think about it. The Zips regularly use 11 players per game, and B. McKnight takes more than 1 of every 3 Zips field goal attempts (34.2% to be precise). That represents a monumental change in the team's offensive plan when he doesn't take the floor.That explains why the Zips appeared to be so lost at times tonight on offense, and it also makes tonight's win all the sweeter.

Zeke really did own the court in crunch time. With 1:24 left and the Zips trailing 50-52, he had 3 rebounds and a block over those last 84 seconds.Conyers had pulled them to within 2 with a layup, C. McKnight tied it with a layup after a Zeke rebound, McNees put them 2 ahead with a pair of free throws after a Zeke rebound, and Hitchens sealed it with 2 more free throws after a Zeke block.It was a team victory, but Zeke was just outstanding at the end. I don't know how you don't have him on the court at the end of close games after this performance.

Zips win it at the free throw line with a perfect 12-12. MAC refs finally catch on as Zeke gets 4 clean blocks and only 1 foul. Life is good.

Anyone for guns in the locker room if it will help the Zips win?DISCLAIMER: I suppose it needs to be said that B. McKnight did not bring a gun into the locker room. This is purely a hypothetical question to those who seem so quick to excuse any player indiscretion in blind pursuit of winning at any cost.

Good punch average?

How about an update on attendance for a 12-year-old arena at Ohio's most popular institution of higher sports:Plain Dealer Link

I think there was a local connection with the presence of LeBron's ex-HS teammates that also contributed at least partly to the Zips' higher numbers of a few years ago.It is embarassing that the Akron area can't turn out as many fans as the Toledo area for a more consistent winning team.

Great question.Average Toledo men's basketball home game attendance:2009-2010 -- 4038 (3-21 overall record)2008-2009 -- 5610 (7-25)2007-2008 -- 4605 (11-19)2006-2007 -- 5752 (18-11)2005-2006 -- 4096 (20-11)2004-2005 -- 4508 (16-13)2003-2004 -- 5292 (20-11)2002-2003 -- 4826 (13-16)Team record, quality of home game opponents, weather and economy will all play some role. But the big bump up in 2008-2009 certainly was not helped by the team's record. The even bigger bump up in 2006-2007 was almost certainly the result of two good seasons in a row for the otherwise up and down Rockets.

Barn here. Sorry bout aimin for the bullseye and puttin a hole in yer roof. Let's try to get er fixed afore the spring rains.My previous critical posts overstated the situation and didn't properly express my thoughts. They were not referencing any single comment in this thread, but the questionable tone of a few comments I've read recently in this and other threads.I agree with about 98% of the moderating decisions made on ZN, and disagree with about 2%. I'm talking about raising the bar an inch or two, not a foot. I'd rather see ZN forum members and moderators err on the side of slightly higher standards than slightly lower standards.That's all, nothing more.Back to Zips sports talk.

Outstanding in-depth feature. I can say from personal experience that a huge amount of time and research goes into writing a story with this level of detail. The fact-checking alone can be overwhelming.It's funny, but I've been through this so many times over the years. I've adopted many teams across the country in the different areas where I've lived, and been through so many coaching changes. I've been optimistic so many times, and let down so many times. I know exactly why many longtime Zips fans are so reluctant to get excited that this coaching change will be any different from all the previous changes.Well, maybe it won't. There are no guarantees in life, especially when it comes to turning a losing football program into a winner. But with each additional chapter I read on RI, my optimism rises another degree. I just really like the combination of a smart, youthful, energetic, organized, methodical, people-oriented family man as a head coach. When I read RI's rationale for doing various things, I don't immediately think of ways that would be obvious to me to have done it better.What results do I expect from the new head coach and the new staff he has assembled? I expect an immediate change in player attitude. I expect the players to be better prepared, more disciplined and more enthusiastic. I expect they will mesh better as a team, and be more competitive in every game. I expect a better record this season than last.But I don't expect a dramatic and turnaround in the win-loss column. I expect the Zips to win 2 or 3 more games this season. That would make them 5-7 or 6-6. Anything better than 6-6 would exceed my expectations for RI's first season. The following seasons, as he has more time to put his mark on the program, my expectations will be higher.

Just one question for the few fans who have decided to put KD on their personal hot seats:Can any of you name any coaches that UA would have a realistic chance of getting to replace KD -- proven winning coaches who would be excited about coaching in the MAC at a typical MAC coach's salary?Once we have some names, we can start going through the resumes of these coaches, analyze their records in detail (including how many losses in big games and easier games they should have won) and compare those records to KD's.

Back to the discussion about Hitchens and McNees, they are now tied in an important statistic for point guards: They are both averaging 2.1 assists per turnover.This is a big accomplishment for Hitchens. As Skip-Zip pointed out last season, Hitchens had more turnovers than assists, for an assist-to-turnover average of less than 1. So he deserves a lot of credit for the huge improvement. Likewise, McNees has improved from last year, when he averaged 1.5 assists per turnover.Even if Hitchens and McNees are not currently shooting at a high percentage, they contribute to the final score when they average more than 2 assists for each turnover. Their styles are different, but they have both grown into effective point guards who can protect and distribute the ball.EDIT: Forgot to mention that the assist-to-turnover percentages above are for conference play only. They are somewhat lower for the entire season when all the early games are included.