Dave in Green

Darn it! Who recruited all these "nice, but not spectacular" players anyways?I think the complete question should be: Sorry, I'm not good at rationalizing.Me neither. Just stating facts.

Darn it! Who recruited all these "nice, but not spectacular" players anyways?I think the complete question should be:Who recruited and coached all those "nice, but not spectacular" players who worked together last season to beat out all the favored teams with perhaps slightly more spectacular players in the MAC tournament, and played even with Gonzaga for 75% of an NCAA tournament game?Of course, most of the really spectacular players went to the spectacular universities with the big budget programs.All the coaches of the smaller, lower budget programs had to make do with less spectacular players. Some did better than others. Given comparable resources to those provided by UA, and comparable high personal standards to those required by UA, not many coaches produced better results than KD.

I don't think it's so much that facts are discouraged as it is a case of not taking the time to research facts when emotion takes over. One consistent thing on ZN is that whenever the Zips have 2 or more below average games in a row, some fans start going into a funk, lament the demise of the Zips as a winning team and grab at anything that looks like it may be a cause. A little factual research helps point out that many perceived causes are not actual. A couple of good wins generally returns discussion to normal.

I've always thought that starters are less relevant than closers. So it really doesn't matter to me who the Zips have on the floor to start a game. To close out a game, it really depends on whether the Zips are trailing or leading.As far as the backcourt goes, one absolute is to have Roberts in as a closer at the end of the game when the Zips are nursing a small lead. Keep the ball in Roberts' hands and let him be the player the opponents have to deliberately foul. It's a no brainer. No one else on the team can shoot free throws like Roberts.McNees does the best job of guarding the ball (fewest turnovers), but isn't as reliable on free throws. Still, he's probably the best backcourt mate with Roberts when the Zips have a small lead with the game clock running out.If the Zips are trailing and need a guard to make a big shot in crunch time, Hitchens may be the best option. He's not a high percentage shooter throughout the course of a game, but seems to rise to the occasion when the pressure is on.If Zeke were not a freshman, he'd be a logical player to have on the floor during crunch time at the end of a close game But it's really rare to have a freshman who makes all the right decisions when the pressure is on. So Cvetinovic probably makes more sense at center with his extra year of experience, at least for now.If the Zips need rebounding late in the game, I don't know how you can't have Conyers in the game. He's developed a knack for being in the right place at the right time, and is the most likely Zip to clear the boards on defense or get a putback on offense.I wish the Zips had a reliable clutch shooter at forward who I'd feel confident about in crunch time. But the McKnights are just not consistent enough. Sometimes they're brilliant, and other times not so.I don't know if KD keeps switching players because none of the players has demonstrated that they are clearly superior to their teammates, or if none of the players has had adequate opportunity to demonstrate that they are clearly superior because they keep getting switched around.I suppose a lot comes down to how much confidence we have in the coach.

You might be onto something here. Nik has an incredibly quick spin move for a big MAC forward, and Zeke has incredibly good blocking ability for a MAC center. MAC refs don't have much experience with either, and I think we all agree that the Zips are the victims of bad calls on both.Maybe something proactive and creative like KD having someone take slo-mo footage of Nik's spin move and Zeke's clean blocking ability and sending it to the guy in charge of MAC refs. Seriously.

If the object is to find players to blame for a team loss, there are plenty of options to be found in the stats:Box ScoreIndividual players have up and down games, just like everyone has up and down days at whatever they do. What I saw last night was more than just a few players not playing up to their individual capabilities. What I saw for most of the night was a team breakdown in virtually every aspect of the game.Whatever fans are saying, I trust that KD and his staff understand that this group of individuals is, for whatever reason, not meshing well as a team right now. They're all a half-step off in knowing where their teammates are and where they're going.There are no superstars who can take the rest of the team on their backs and overcome this adversity. This Zips team will only succeed as a close-knit group who all cover each others' backs. If they don't, they will fall apart and lose a lot of games.

Yeah, where was Conyers last night?He only grabbed 6 rebounds (1 more than any other Zip).He only had 4 steals (3 more than any other Zip).He only scored 9 points on 4 of 6 from the field (second leading scorer for the Zips).He had 1 turnover in 35 minutes.Conyers will make a convenient scapegoat for all the other players who obviously played so much better than him last night.Not.

Absolutely the same thing I saw last night. But it was just one night in a long season. Ask EMU fans what they thought of their team earlier in the season when their team assassinated themselves, missed crucial free throws, etc. Ask fans of any team in the MAC what they thought after their team played a great game, then after a stinker.There are no MAC teams with a consistent assassin's mentality, who consistently score by driving hard to the rim, who consistently go for and make the big shot, who consistently hit the crucial free throws. The MAC is a middle-of-the-road conference, ranked 16th of 33 D1 conferences, with middle-of-the-road teams that take turns looking OK and not so OK.Within the context of middle-of-the-road schools with middle-of-the-road basketball budgets that guarantee a certain level of performance range, the Zips under KD are slightly above average. They consistently win more than 20 games a year against a fairly weak schedule, they're usually at least in the running for the MAC regular season championship and they always have a chance to win the MAC tournament against a collection of similar teams.The Zips generally hang around the bottom of the top third or the top of the middle third of all D1 teams, which generally puts them in the top third of the MAC. Fans of about two-thirds of MAC teams and two-thirds of all D1 college basketball fans have less reason to rejoice than Zips fans.Would I like to see the Zips get even better? Heck yes!Do I appreciate what we already have? Heck yes!

I'd be nervous about NIU even if the Zips were playing well, as NIU seems to have the Zips number. But I'll be at the game, as always, hoping to see the Zips break out of their mid-season funk.Let's face it, we all know how good it feels to watch the Zips play up to their full potential. We all know that no team plays up to its full potential every game. And we all know that every one of us has proved to be poor at reliably predicting when the Good Zips or the Bad Zips will show up.So the only guaranteed way to see the Good Zips is to go to every game and endure the occasional nausea of witnessing the Bad Zips at random intervals.

I was dead wrong. The Zips looked no better tonight than they did Saturday night. EMU played with energy, confidence, poise and smarts. They made the Zips look like Toledo.The Zips couldn't hit from outside even with open looks. Ordinarily I'd be screaming at them to take it to the hole. But they couldn't hit the 3-footers, or the 5-footers, or the 10-footers.How long ago that great road win at WMU seems now, uselessly squandered away by losing at home to a team they could have beaten by 20 had they only played as they did at WMU.No excuses. But I do wonder if Hitchens could have supplied enough spark to get the Zips over the hump tonight had he been on the floor. I hope everyone on the team learned a valuable lesson tonight. When a player puts himself in a position of having to sit out a game, for whatever reason, the punishment can go far beyond that one player.Not long ago, Buffalo was on top of the world at 3-0, and Can't fans were crying about their team's inconsistency. Then Buffalo lost 3 in a row and Can't became consistent winners. It's just like last year. This week's hero team is next week's goat team. The Zips could lose a couple more in a row and then go on a roll. Who knows?Who will be at the top of their game for the MAC tournament?

Good point on Green and Egner. There's no guarantee that Euton's HS skills will translate better to the college game than one of the other two. In a perfect world, you'd want to see all three making contributions in their first season with the Zips. It will be fun to watch all three develop.

I don't see a slashing 3 on the Zips' near future horizon. But I do see possibilities of an interesting 3/4 combination in the near future.Cvetinovic is a good hybrid 3/4. He's big and strong enough at 6-8 to rebound like a 4, but quick enough and good enough ball handler to dribble drive to the basket around the slower players who typically guard him. So he can be a fairly effective slasher. But he lacks an outside shot.Similarly, incoming Dakotah Euton could be an interesting hybrid 3/4. He's also big and strong enough at 6-8 to rebound like a 4, and has a sweet outside shot and the potential to shoot treys at a near 40% clip. But he doesn't appear to have the quickness of Cvetinovic to dribble drive around defenders and go to the hoop.I could see a front line of Zeke, Nik and Dakotah potentially giving other teams a lot of matchup problems over the next couple of years.A lot will depend on how much Zeke and Nik improve next season, and whether or not Dakotah quickly adjusts to the college game. But I'm optimistic about Euton, and have just updated the thread on him in the basketball recruiting forum with a sample of his clutch performance in a high level HS game:ZN Euton Thread

Dakotah Euton performance update:Mr. Euton is delivering well in his senior HS season. Although his HS team (Scott County) has lost 5 games this year, all the losses have been to teams that are highly regarded nationally, most from outside the state of Kentucky. He's averaging a double-double in points and rebounds, and making many clutch plays.The most recent example is yesterday's game between #1 ranked Scott County and #3 ranked Clark County. In the waning minutes of the game, with his Scott County team trailing 62-61, Euton stole the ball on consecutive plays. One steal led to a driving layup by a teammate that gave Scott County a 1-point lead, and the other led to a pair of Euton free throws that put them up by 3 on the way to a final 67-64 win.Euton's stats for the big game were 15 points, 14 rebounds and 3 steals. The fact that he is playing so well on a HS team with one of the toughest schedules in the country bodes well for his potential to start contributing to the Zips in his freshman season.Scott County-Clark County Game Story

Great idea to have the FSN Ohio video feed on scoreboard. Also hope they are smart enough to announce the Zips' bracketbuster opponent at tonight's game so we don't have to wait until we get home to find out.I'm looking for the Zips to be both sharper and looser tonight than they were Saturday. I really do think they were trying against Toledo, but for some reason were a little tight against a team for which they should have been loose. When the Zips finally put together the second half run that put the game out of reach, they were all pumped up as they went to the sideline for a timeout as if they'd just won the MAC championship. It was like they had been in a fog where nothing was working right and they couldn't find a way out of it.Hitchens got most of the credit for awakening the Zips. But it was another player who actually lit the fuse. We've been pretty free on ZN in our criticism of B. McKnight for his lack of intensity at both the offensive and defensive ends for much of the season. But with the Zips ahead by just 4 (40-36) with less than 8 minutes left in the game, it was Brett who first drove for a layup, and seconds later stole the ball to initiate the possession that led to a Hitchens trey. Just like that the Zips were up by 9, and from that point on the Zips all played with enough intensity to control the game.So I want to give credit to B. McKnight for the fire in his eyes on those back-to-back possessions that really turned the game. Hopefully all the Zips will show up with that fire tonight.

First thing that needs to be done is to analyze the definition of professional and amateur. Up until now, the generally accepted definition is that professionals earn their living by being paid to do something and amateurs just do it for fun.Pee wee football, high school football and college football have generally been considered amateur, and the NFL professional. But it's true that many college players get monetary reimbursement through athletic scholarships, and many colleges make money on football. So the lines have already been blurred.The next question is how far to blur the lines? Can we legally get the money down into high schools? How about pee wee football? How about paying parents who have the genes to potentially produce good football players?Where does it all end?Wherever some fast-talking promoter and enough true believers want it to end.

Great to see the RPI and Pomeroy ratings side by side, and compare how they treat various wins and losses.Pomeroy had predicted that Can't should be favored at home by 5 or 6 over WMU, and obviously did not reward Can't for winning a squeaker by only 1, whereas the RPI formula did reward Can't.The Pomeroy Ratings Explanation makes a good read to understand how he comes up with his numbers using the pythagorean calculation:Pomeroy Ratings Explanation

With CMU's big road win at Bowling Green, 64-52, and the Zips' modest win over Toledo, the standings look like this going into tomorrow's Ohio-Ball State game:EastAkron 5-2Can't 5-2Miami 5-3Buffalo 4-3Bowling Green 3-4Ohio 2-4WestCentral Mich. 5-2Ball St. 4-3Northern Ill. 4-3Western Mich. 3-4Eastern Mich. 2-5Toledo 0-7

MAC East and West standings after the 3 afternoon games:EastCan't 5-2Akron 4-2Miami 5-3Buffalo 4-3Bowling Green 3-3Ohio 2-4WestCentral Mich. 4-2Ball St. 4-3Northern Ill. 4-3Western Mich. 3-4Eastern Mich. 2-5Toledo 0-6Zips win tonight will keep them tied for 1st in the East. If CMU loses tonight at Bowling Green, Zips and Can't would be the only 2 teams in the conference with just 2 losses.

MAC East standings with Buffalo win:Akron 4-2Can't 4-2Miami 5-3Buffalo 4-3Bowling Green 3-3Ohio 2-4

MAC East standings with Miami win:Akron 4-2Can't 4-2Miami 5-3Buffalo 3-3Bowling Green 3-3Ohio 2-4

Several important games today for the MAC standings before the Zips play tonight:Miami 40, EMU 29 early in the second half (Miami could take over 2nd place in the East depending on other game results).Buffalo 17, NIU 13 early in the first half (Buffalo could fall as deep as a tie for last in the East depending on other game results).Can't - WMU starts at 2 p.m. (Can't could fall all the way to 3rd in the East depending on other game results).Needless to say, the Zips absolutely, positively cannot let themselves be challenged by bottom-of-the-barrel Toledo. But, depending on results of today's first 3 games, the Zips could be alone at the top.

Heaven forbid that we should go back to the 1950s! Back then, if you wanted to watch a good war of words or pushing match, you had to walk all the way to the local elementary school playground to watch the kids squabbling.The modern world is so much more convenient. You can log on to a forum on any computer and watch anonymous kids of all ages beating on their chests and proclaiming they are lords of the playground and everyone else is an idiot.This is progress.

The more time I spend looking at the finer points on the Pomeroy site, the more I appreciate the thought that goes into his system. But no single system is perfect, so it pays to shop around and see what everyone is saying.

Another example of why I like the Pomeroy ratings better than RPI. The Pomeroy system rates Can't lower than the RPI system, rewards the Zips more for their win at WMU and punishes Buffalo much more severely for its 3 straight losses:East Can't St. 90Akron 97Ohio 117 Miami 144 Buffalo 174Bowling Green 198West Western Michigan 125Central Michigan 211Eastern Michigan 224Ball St. 225Northern Illinois 237Toledo 335Full Pomeroy MAC Ratings

Rugby, we're all free to have our own interpretations of the world and all of its many parts. The statistical component of the Zips-Zags game is pure math, but we can also imagine our own scenarios about hidden stories behind the numbers.No one has claimed that the Zips are at the same level as the Zags. But cold, statistical reality is that the Zips played high level basketball on an even basis with the Zags for about 75% of an NCAA tournament game.If you thought the Zips didn't belong on the same court as the Zags, it would have been really kind and thoughtful of you to have volunteered to stay home and offer your ticket to someone who did believe the Zips had at least a small chance to pull off the big upset.