Zip Watcher

We'll see if it makes a difference. Go Zips!

It hasn't yet been noted here .. but anyone else wonder why the Zips return to playing Akron Baskeball coincided with Zips Win! moving back to the North GA seats? Inquiring minds want to know. Go Zips! B)

You said if we win we'd have a bye period. Buffalo also had to lose to make it work. You are correct. I'm sorry .. maybe I missed something, but last night's win gives us a bye? Wow! Is the tournament this week?

Jimmy was the man last year.

Zach, Zach, Zach--7,485 posts and still not a good one. McNees--> <--ZN.O The guy only gives everything he's got for the past 4 years and some folks can't help but pile on every chance they get. When McNees is carrying this team in the Q again this year, I'll simply laugh to myself as those same posters talk about how important McNees was and that they always knew he'd come around. +10 What he said. 2009 MAC Title was as much due to McNees as any other Zips player.

When I last summarized my thoughts on the Zippers, they were win the basement looking up at the MAC East, with 2 losses against West bottom feeders, and in a fight to simply earn a home game. What a difference a week makes. The Zips now find themselves a bit closer to the top than the bottom, and the potential for a bye seems slighty more realistic. Still much work to be done fans, but they've pulled themselves together and actually looked like a KD coached Zips team the last few games. The last 2 against the best the West has to offer. So now, as our men pack up like John Candy and head back to the East, I offer my current assessment of my favorite team: The Good: Team Defense: To say the D has improved over the past 3 games is an understatement, IMHO. On the season the Zips are allowing 42% FG shooting and 33% from 3 point land. Also giving up 65 points per game. In the past 3 games (2 of which were against solid MAC squads who have multiple wins against the East), they've pushed those numbers down to 40% FG shooting, 17% on 3 pointers, and are only giving up 57 points per game. These are tangible improvements resulting from a clear improvement in effort and cohesiveness on Defense. They did give up some big individual performances against Ball State, but the perimeter D has been stellar the past 3 games. Just as we know that teams aren't just having the night of their lives when they shoot 50% from outside against the Zips .. so too do we know that they're not just ice cold. The D matters .. and it has been better. Offensive Execution: On the other side of the ball, the past 3 games saw corresponding improvements in offensive efficiency. The Zips have assisted on 2/3rds of their made FG in the last 3 games, with an A:TO ratio of 1.43. The shooting percentages are up, the total points are up over the season averages. Generally, most things are trending in the right direction. Special mention to Steve McNees who seems to be thawing out at the right time for the Zips. Nice to see him get going 2 games in a row. NI-KOLA: The best, most consistent Zips player this season, hands down. The guy is playing hard, shooting pretty well, taking fewer chances with the ball (more on that later), and really leading this team. It's been nice to see someone step forward to do that. Nice couple of games vs. WMU and BSU. Bardo: Mike is a factor, and is apparently way more athletic than any of us knew. His put back late in the half was key for momentum, and he rebounded well. 6 boards in 14 minutes Saturday .. 4 of them offensive boards. That's extra possessions and extra points. Nice work Mike. Stringing them together: I like that they've used these 3 games to start to string some things together. It isn't going to get easier in the coming weeks, but they can beat every team on the schedule if they play complete Akron Zips basketball. There's not a doubt in my mind. Winning the final appearance at Harold "Andy" Anderson Arena would be huge in the hunt for the bye, as it would tie them w/ BG while holding a 2-0 sweep of the Falcons. If you can get out there, I recommend it .. it's a throwback gym. I understand the need for improvements and progress .. but that was a great place to see a game when the BG students cared. Once upon a time, it was a great home court advantage. Zips need a win to come back home for a tune up against Creighton. The Bad: I've got nothing bad to say after the last 3 games. There are clearly areas for improvement for this team to become as good as they can be. Some of those items are individual in nature, some are team related. Suffice it to say, I'm stoked enough about the progress seen last week at the JAR, that I for one am not going to waste too much time on the negatives. They're there, we all see them .. so I'm going to quickly skip over them and keep hope that the Zips awakening we're seeing continues. The Ugly: Only one entry today qualifies: Not Dr. J In addition to all his excellent play and leadership, Nikola provided us one of the better comic relief moments of the 2010-11 season when, for a brief moment late in the first half, he simply forgot he wasn't Dr. J. It must have been his 2nd or 3rd steal of the game out top, and he heads to the south basket with only one trailing defender. A layup and perhaps a dunk is assured when Nikola, feeling good about his game (as we all do) takes off for the rim from what must have been 10 our 12 feet out on the left side of the lane. Had he made it there, it might have been one of the most spectacular put downs in recent JAR history. However, even the most casual fan around me could sense he had left the runway too early in his approach. I haven't reviewed the tape yet, but judging by the play-by-play, the ball didn't make it above the rim, or to the rim .. or near the rim .. it doesn't even appear as a shot attempt. He adjusted course in mid-air, but to no avail. Reminded that he was NOT Dr. J .. Nikola fell to the baseline grabbing his ankle in an apparent career ending injury. Thankfully for all involved, it was the dreaded ankle stinger, and not much more. Whether there was extremity pain, or merely bruised pride, we may never know. But now we all know that Nikola Cvetinovic is NOT Dr. J. Thanks for that Nik. And a few Comments More ... The current seedings are posted here and elsewhere, and you can see the Zips have risen from 11th to 6th in recent updates. With a game @ BG on Tuesday, the opportunity exists to make that 5th. The bye is in play for the Zips, but they have to find a way to beat a good team on the road. Because with BG, OU & Can't State remaining on the road, they likely need at least one of those games to get into the top 3 in the East. I think things will play out in the usual fashion with the top 3 in the East securing the free pass .. so that's where they need to be. Interior passing can improve even more than it has. We counted 3 occasions in the second half alone where a big was alone on the weak side, and the Zips failed to recognize it in time for the easy hoop. It was a different guy with the ball each time, and the guy open underneath each time was different .. so it wasn't a case of lack of confidence in any one player .. it was simply missing the open man. These types of things will further help the chances of the Zips if they start to take advantage of them. Few MAC schools have 2 capable big men .. the Zips have 3 or 4. This needs to be a strength. Rotations seem to be settling in the past few games. Combining Diggs & Abreu gives KD an up tempo lineup which has shown to tire out the opposition. In general, I think something that has worked for the Zips this season is pushing the tempo when available. Not Doug Moe style with no D and reckless abandon, simply taking advantage of any and every opening in the full court, and even making openings here and there. Diggs & McNees had a nice 2 on 4 break that yielded an old fashioned 3 point play in the 2nd half. In both the last 2 games, I think fatigue affected the opponent more than the Zips. In the last post, I finished by saying I thought the Zips could get to 6-5 coming back to the East, but it would take some progress and improvement on a possession by possession, half by half basis. Well they got there, and now I'll say I think that 10-6 in the MAC isn't impossible for the Zips. They need to win their home games and beat 2 of 3 on the road. Well they've beaten 2 of the 3 at home this season, and the 3rd team has struggled at home a bunch this year. The opportunities are here. The Zips need to take care of business at home also. If the team that played last week is what KD can build upon in the next 3, the Zips will be fine. B) B) Go Zips!!

When I last summarized my thoughts on the Zippers, they were win the basement looking up at the MAC East, with 2 losses against West bottom feeders, and in a fight to simply earn a home game. What a difference a week makes. The Zips now find themselves a bit closer to the top than the bottom, and the potential for a bye seems slighty more realistic. Still much work to be done fans, but they've pulled themselves together and actually looked like a KD coached Zips team the last few games. The last 2 against the best the West has to offer. So now, as our men pack up like John Candy and head back to the East, I offer my current assessment of my favorite team: The Good: Team Defense: To say the D has improved over the past 3 games is an understatement, IMHO. On the season the Zips are allowing 42% FG shooting and 33% from 3 point land. Also giving up 65 points per game. In the past 3 games (2 of which were against solid MAC squads who have multiple wins against the East), they've pushed those numbers down to 40% FG shooting, 17% on 3 pointers, and are only giving up 57 points per game. These are tangible improvements resulting from a clear improvement in effort and cohesiveness on Defense. They did give up some big individual performances against Ball State, but the perimeter D has been stellar the past 3 games. Just as we know that teams aren't just having the night of their lives when they shoot 50% from outside against the Zips .. so too do we know that they're not just ice cold. The D matters .. and it has been better. Offensive Execution: On the other side of the ball, the past 3 games saw corresponding improvements in offensive efficiency. The Zips have assisted on 2/3rds of their made FG in the last 3 games, with an A:TO ratio of 1.43. The shooting percentages are up, the total points are up over the season averages. Generally, most things are trending in the right direction. Special mention to Steve McNees who seems to be thawing out at the right time for the Zips. Nice to see him get going 2 games in a row. NI-KOLA: The best, most consistent Zips player this season, hands down. The guy is playing hard, shooting pretty well, taking fewer chances with the ball (more on that later), and really leading this team. It's been nice to see someone step forward to do that. Nice couple of games vs. WMU and BSU. Bardo: Mike is a factor, and is apparently way more athletic than any of us knew. His put back late in the half was key for momentum, and he rebounded well. 6 boards in 14 minutes Saturday .. 4 of them offensive boards. That's extra possessions and extra points. Nice work Mike. Stringing them together: I like that they've used these 3 games to start to string some things together. It isn't going to get easier in the coming weeks, but they can beat every team on the schedule if they play complete Akron Zips basketball. There's not a doubt in my mind. Winning the final appearance at Harold "Andy" Anderson Arena would be huge in the hunt for the bye, as it would tie them w/ BG while holding a 2-0 sweep of the Falcons. If you can get out there, I recommend it .. it's a throwback gym. I understand the need for improvements and progress .. but that was a great place to see a game when the BG students cared. Once upon a time, it was a great home court advantage. Zips need a win to come back home for a tune up against Creighton. The Bad: I've got nothing bad to say after the last 3 games. There are clearly areas for improvement for this team to become as good as they can be. Some of those items are individual in nature, some are team related. Suffice it to say, I'm stoked enough about the progress seen last week at the JAR, that I for one am not going to waste too much time on the negatives. They're there, we all see them .. so I'm going to quickly skip over them and keep hope that the Zips awakening we're seeing continues. The Ugly: Only one entry today qualifies: Not Dr. J In addition to all his excellent play and leadership, Nikola provided us one of the better comic relief moments of the 2010-11 season when, for a brief moment late in the first half, he simply forgot he wasn't Dr. J. It must have been his 2nd or 3rd steal of the game out top, and he heads to the south basket with only one trailing defender. A layup and perhaps a dunk is assured when Nikola, feeling good about his game (as we all do) takes off for the rim from what must have been 10 our 12 feet out on the left side of the lane. Had he made it there, it might have been one of the most spectacular put downs in recent JAR history. However, even the most casual fan around me could sense he had left the runway too early in his approach. I haven't reviewed the tape yet, but judging by the play-by-play, the ball didn't make it above the rim, or to the rim .. or near the rim .. it doesn't even appear as a shot attempt. He adjusted course in mid-air, but to no avail. Reminded that he was NOT Dr. J .. Nikola fell to the baseline grabbing his ankle in an apparent career ending injury. Thankfully for all involved, it was the dreaded ankle stinger, and not much more. Whether there was extremity pain, or merely bruised pride, we may never know. But now we all know that Nikola Cvetinovic is NOT Dr. J. Thanks for that Nik. And a few Comments More ... The current seedings are posted here and elsewhere, and you can see the Zips have risen from 11th to 6th in recent updates. With a game @ BG on Tuesday, the opportunity exists to make that 5th. The bye is in play for the Zips, but they have to find a way to beat a good team on the road. Because with BG, OU & Can't State remaining on the road, they likely need at least one of those games to get into the top 3 in the East. I think things will play out in the usual fashion with the top 3 in the East securing the free pass .. so that's where they need to be. Interior passing can improve even more than it has. We counted 3 occasions in the second half alone where a big was alone on the weak side, and the Zips failed to recognize it in time for the easy hoop. It was a different guy with the ball each time, and the guy open underneath each time was different .. so it wasn't a case of lack of confidence in any one player .. it was simply missing the open man. These types of things will further help the chances of the Zips if they start to take advantage of them. Few MAC schools have 2 capable big men .. the Zips have 3 or 4. This needs to be a strength. Rotations seem to be settling in the past few games. Combining Diggs & Abreu gives KD an up tempo lineup which has shown to tire out the opposition. In general, I think something that has worked for the Zips this season is pushing the tempo when available. Not Doug Moe style with no D and reckless abandon, simply taking advantage of any and every opening in the full court, and even making openings here and there. Diggs & McNees had a nice 2 on 4 break that yielded an old fashioned 3 point play in the 2nd half. In both the last 2 games, I think fatigue affected the opponent more than the Zips. In the last post, I finished by saying I thought the Zips could get to 6-5 coming back to the East, but it would take some progress and improvement on a possession by possession, half by half basis. Well they got there, and now I'll say I think that 10-6 in the MAC isn't impossible for the Zips. They need to win their home games and beat 2 of 3 on the road. Well they've beaten 2 of the 3 at home this season, and the 3rd team has struggled at home a bunch this year. The opportunities are here. The Zips need to take care of business at home also. If the team that played last week is what KD can build upon in the next 3, the Zips will be fine. B) B) Go Zips!! View the full blog post here.

Just saw this thing on GoZips.com .. seems you can ask Coach Porter a question on twitter and possibly get a video reply. So if you're interested in the amount of his dry cleaning bill or what his wife thought of the hair style .. and you're a twitter type .. check it out. Twitter Ask A Zip is here. Go Zips!! B)

As a proud UConn alumn .. and NOT an athlete in pretty much any way, I thought I might add the following: I think the donor isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer if he thought that a FB donor, even as prolific has he was, should have immediate and substantive input into the daily life and decisions of the AD. There's one simple reason for this. Memo to joe donor: It's a hoops school! H O O P S. And Jim & Geno don't need your money. Go Zips!

I think it's safe to say that not many of us expected to see the Zips in their current position halfway through the MAC portion of the season. After several seasons of leading or always being within a game of the East lead, our Zips find themselves in unfamiliar territory: The Zips are looking up at every team in the East, including OU when the tiebreakers are considered. Not only that, but the Zips only lead CMU and UT in the combined seedings at the moment. CMU by virtue of last weeks win vs. the Chips at the JAR. For the numerically challenged reading this, the Zips are in 10th place. The Zips have not won a road game in conference yet this season. With 5 conference losses and 4 remaining road games, it's apparent that securing a bye is quite unlikely, and getting a home tournament game will require a rebound in the second half. I'm not alone among Zips fans in being quite surprised at the current state of things. On paper, the Zips looked to be primed to continue their run at or near the top of the East, despite the warnings of some staff members over the summer. Losing 2 seniors (big contributors in Conyers and McKnight) was going to hurt, we knew that. The other losses, mostly role players or players who didn't like their roles were expected to be more absorbable, given the addition of Abreu @ PG, and the number of incoming players to fill the extra minutes. Could we have been more wrong? I'm not sure. So my snapshot heading into the UT game: The Good: The Zips beat Can't to open the MAC slate. It had been a couple of seasons since our guys got over on the rivals, and it was a nice refreshing sight to see the Zips take out Can't at the JAR to open the conference slate. The coaches were both saying the same thing after the game. What they do after was more important than one game. Can't State sits near first, 3 games up on the Zips in the loss column. Maybe these guys know their teams? Regardless, Zeke had a huge game against Can't State and the Zips won one for the fans that we needed. Young athletic players (at times): There have been glimpses of the positive impact some of the roster changes can make. At times, Diggs has looked like the most athletic swing man we've seen in a long time, and I believe Abreu has the tools and basketball sense to become one of the Zips great PG's over time. Having to rely on these two at times when others have faltered is a component of the Zips struggles. Young players are going to make mistakes .. they're not going to be as steady as a senior who has won a MAC title and played almost 100 games. Regardless, these 2 guys as well as Zeke have shown stretches of what can be a more athletic running team. Nikola Cvetinovic: Has there been a more workmanlike season game in and game out than Nik is having? I think if we didn't have Nik, things could be a lot worse. He's matured to the point of not taking himself out of games emotionally, he leads the Zips in points and rebounds, is 3rd in assists and 2nd in steals. The guy is far and away the MVP of this team. He's improved his FT shooting, and is shooting a respectable 44% from the field. Put me in the group of people that hopes he finds a way to put off going home to Serbia one more year. We need this guy. The Bad: Consistency: I can't remember a Zips team, perhaps because I've blocked most of the 90's out, that was as inconsistent as this team. I remember a few times in the Hipsher era where I felt the team should be better than it was, and that a bad game here or there unplugged a season. But I can't remember any team being as up and down as this team has. They beat Can't, they should have beaten U@B in their gym before giving it away, and then they lose to NIU & EMU. It's consistency at a whole bunch of levels, not just game over game. Within a game, within a half .. even within a single possession, the Zips are struggling to find consistent execution. This is leading to inconsistent results, to put it mildly. Cohesiveness: One of the mantras of KD Zips Basketball has always been to "Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together!" I'm not here to question the effort, I haven't seen people loafing or anything, so I think they're playing hard. Playing smart is up for debate. But playing together isn't a strength of this team. There seem to be times when the backcourt just isn't on the same page as the bigs & vice versa. It's usually on Defense. A key to good team defense is good communication. Perhaps this relates to their struggles? Defense: KD has been up front about this all season. The D isn't where he likes it to be yet. At times, they've been blistered by outside shooters standing all alone. At times a singular player like Silas and Cooper has really hurt them. Either way, the Zips aren't stopping people enough. In the interest of fairness, it has been better the past few games. In 3 of the past 4 games, the Zips have held the opponent to 60 or fewer points. They won 2 of those 3. In the previous 12 games, they only held one team to 60 or less. In the same 4 games, they've held opponents under 40% from beyond the arc, a stark contrast to the 50%+ they allowed OU and U@B. So maybe the defense is evolving? We'll have to wait and see. The Ugly: The Offense: This is a frustrating area to watch the Zips struggle with. They've shown an ability to get open shots, and shoot solid percentages. They've shown the ability to dominate people in the post. They've shown an ability to play inside-out to leverage both skills. However, due to the cohesiveness and inconsistency, they're rarely showing these things on a night in and night out basis. One game, the post players will dominate and get the ball in, yielding wide open looks from outside. The next game, or 10 minutes later in the same game .. they'll start passing the ball over the top looking for three balls, and ignore the post all together. I think it's driving the coaches nuts. Bottom line is that the Zips are shooting 41% as a team in conference play and only 34.5% from outside. Included in that is 4 games where they attempted more than 20 3PT FG's and made LESS than 30%. If the percentages remain as they are trending, the Zips will struggle until they find a little more balance between inside and out. Rebounding: Pointed out earlier as a team weakness, it seems to me to have improved ever so slightly. They're winning the rebounding in about half the conference games. They did well against CMU and Can't State and won. They did poorly against BG & still won. Other games, they've been crushed. This is a hard stat to harp on, given the defensive problems. As KD continues to need to resort to the 1-1-3 to improve the defensive end .. rebounding will struggle, as it's hard to rebound out of a zone. This is further compounded by having a good shot blocker. They're almost never great rebounders, as going for the ball has you moving away from the rim .. and therefore away from the rebound. .. And a few comments more: The season's not over .. there's lots of time. So the bye *looks* out of reach .. so be it. They won the title by playing 4 games in the tournament, and they can do it again. They have time to rebound. 3 games remain against the West, and there's 4 home games left to try and get into the middle third of the league and secure a JAR game. One game at a time, they can solve their issues and become the team they've been when March rolls around. They have a history of winning & veterans abound. Four guys who were key in winning the MAC tourney 2 years ago are the leaders of this team. They know how to win. They've done it a LOT. This experience has to help them at some point this season. They can put it together .. teams don't just forget how to play in a month. They can re-discover it .. and I think they will. There's numbers to the Zips' advantage: KD has a deep bench, and can use these guys to his advantage if he tries to speed teams up. This may mean more Egner & Bardo .. but I see no reason why the Zips can't push the ball more on offense & wear teams down more. We saw it work against CMU .. I think it could work against a bunch of teams in the league. As Mike White once said .. "it ain't over!" Here's hoping the Zips can pull a road win out at UT and start to string some games together. With 3 left against the West & 2 of those at home, it's possible to go into the 2nd East Swing at 6-5 with a shot at a home game. It won't be easy. One game at a time .. one half at a time .. one defensive possession at a time. Gotta start stringing these together. Go Zips!!

I think it's safe to say that not many of us expected to see the Zips in their current position halfway through the MAC portion of the season. After several seasons of leading or always being within a game of the East lead, our Zips find themselves in unfamiliar territory: The Zips are looking up at every team in the East, including OU when the tiebreakers are considered. Not only that, but the Zips only lead CMU and UT in the combined seedings at the moment. CMU by virtue of last weeks win vs. the Chips at the JAR. For the numerically challenged reading this, the Zips are in 10th place. The Zips have not won a road game in conference yet this season. With 5 conference losses and 4 remaining road games, it's apparent that securing a bye is quite unlikely, and getting a home tournament game will require a rebound in the second half. I'm not alone among Zips fans in being quite surprised at the current state of things. On paper, the Zips looked to be primed to continue their run at or near the top of the East, despite the warnings of some staff members over the summer. Losing 2 seniors (big contributors in Conyers and McKnight) was going to hurt, we knew that. The other losses, mostly role players or players who didn't like their roles were expected to be more absorbable, given the addition of Abreu @ PG, and the number of incoming players to fill the extra minutes. Could we have been more wrong? I'm not sure. So my snapshot heading into the UT game: The Good: The Zips beat Can't to open the MAC slate. It had been a couple of seasons since our guys got over on the rivals, and it was a nice refreshing sight to see the Zips take out Can't at the JAR to open the conference slate. The coaches were both saying the same thing after the game. What they do after was more important than one game. Can't State sits near first, 3 games up on the Zips in the loss column. Maybe these guys know their teams? Regardless, Zeke had a huge game against Can't State and the Zips won one for the fans that we needed. Young athletic players (at times): There have been glimpses of the positive impact some of the roster changes can make. At times, Diggs has looked like the most athletic swing man we've seen in a long time, and I believe Abreu has the tools and basketball sense to become one of the Zips great PG's over time. Having to rely on these two at times when others have faltered is a component of the Zips struggles. Young players are going to make mistakes .. they're not going to be as steady as a senior who has won a MAC title and played almost 100 games. Regardless, these 2 guys as well as Zeke have shown stretches of what can be a more athletic running team. Nikola Cvetinovic: Has there been a more workmanlike season game in and game out than Nik is having? I think if we didn't have Nik, things could be a lot worse. He's matured to the point of not taking himself out of games emotionally, he leads the Zips in points and rebounds, is 3rd in assists and 2nd in steals. The guy is far and away the MVP of this team. He's improved his FT shooting, and is shooting a respectable 44% from the field. Put me in the group of people that hopes he finds a way to put off going home to Serbia one more year. We need this guy. The Bad: Consistency: I can't remember a Zips team, perhaps because I've blocked most of the 90's out, that was as inconsistent as this team. I remember a few times in the Hipsher era where I felt the team should be better than it was, and that a bad game here or there unplugged a season. But I can't remember any team being as up and down as this team has. They beat Can't, they should have beaten U@B in their gym before giving it away, and then they lose to NIU & EMU. It's consistency at a whole bunch of levels, not just game over game. Within a game, within a half .. even within a single possession, the Zips are struggling to find consistent execution. This is leading to inconsistent results, to put it mildly. Cohesiveness: One of the mantras of KD Zips Basketball has always been to "Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together!" I'm not here to question the effort, I haven't seen people loafing or anything, so I think they're playing hard. Playing smart is up for debate. But playing together isn't a strength of this team. There seem to be times when the backcourt just isn't on the same page as the bigs & vice versa. It's usually on Defense. A key to good team defense is good communication. Perhaps this relates to their struggles? Defense: KD has been up front about this all season. The D isn't where he likes it to be yet. At times, they've been blistered by outside shooters standing all alone. At times a singular player like Silas and Cooper has really hurt them. Either way, the Zips aren't stopping people enough. In the interest of fairness, it has been better the past few games. In 3 of the past 4 games, the Zips have held the opponent to 60 or fewer points. They won 2 of those 3. In the previous 12 games, they only held one team to 60 or less. In the same 4 games, they've held opponents under 40% from beyond the arc, a stark contrast to the 50%+ they allowed OU and U@B. So maybe the defense is evolving? We'll have to wait and see. The Ugly: The Offense: This is a frustrating area to watch the Zips struggle with. They've shown an ability to get open shots, and shoot solid percentages. They've shown the ability to dominate people in the post. They've shown an ability to play inside-out to leverage both skills. However, due to the cohesiveness and inconsistency, they're rarely showing these things on a night in and night out basis. One game, the post players will dominate and get the ball in, yielding wide open looks from outside. The next game, or 10 minutes later in the same game .. they'll start passing the ball over the top looking for three balls, and ignore the post all together. I think it's driving the coaches nuts. Bottom line is that the Zips are shooting 41% as a team in conference play and only 34.5% from outside. Included in that is 4 games where they attempted more than 20 3PT FG's and made LESS than 30%. If the percentages remain as they are trending, the Zips will struggle until they find a little more balance between inside and out. Rebounding: Pointed out earlier as a team weakness, it seems to me to have improved ever so slightly. They're winning the rebounding in about half the conference games. They did well against CMU and Can't State and won. They did poorly against BG & still won. Other games, they've been crushed. This is a hard stat to harp on, given the defensive problems. As KD continues to need to resort to the 1-1-3 to improve the defensive end .. rebounding will struggle, as it's hard to rebound out of a zone. This is further compounded by having a good shot blocker. They're almost never great rebounders, as going for the ball has you moving away from the rim .. and therefore away from the rebound. .. And a few comments more: The season's not over .. there's lots of time. So the bye *looks* out of reach .. so be it. They won the title by playing 4 games in the tournament, and they can do it again. They have time to rebound. 3 games remain against the West, and there's 4 home games left to try and get into the middle third of the league and secure a JAR game. One game at a time, they can solve their issues and become the team they've been when March rolls around. They have a history of winning & veterans abound. Four guys who were key in winning the MAC tourney 2 years ago are the leaders of this team. They know how to win. They've done it a LOT. This experience has to help them at some point this season. They can put it together .. teams don't just forget how to play in a month. They can re-discover it .. and I think they will. There's numbers to the Zips' advantage: KD has a deep bench, and can use these guys to his advantage if he tries to speed teams up. This may mean more Egner & Bardo .. but I see no reason why the Zips can't push the ball more on offense & wear teams down more. We saw it work against CMU .. I think it could work against a bunch of teams in the league. As Mike White once said .. "it ain't over!" Here's hoping the Zips can pull a road win out at UT and start to string some games together. With 3 left against the West & 2 of those at home, it's possible to go into the 2nd East Swing at 6-5 with a shot at a home game. It won't be easy. One game at a time .. one half at a time .. one defensive possession at a time. Gotta start stringing these together. Go Zips!! View the full blog post here.

If it is spring break .. anyone with the means should really consider taking this trip. I say from experience that Madrid is a phenomenal place to visit, eat, drink .. and otherwise exist. I'd move there in a heartbeat, and I speak next to no Spanish. 3 or 4 nights in the Mesons would make for a GREAT spring break. B) B) Go Zips!

You gotta love the coaches who take the air out of the ball down 13 in the first half.

Cute backpedal and reply. When it matters, KD's teams have won more MAC tourney games and more post-season games than CC's teams in the same period. What matters is wins in March, not losses in November. You want it to be one way to serve your point, but it's the other way. There's no magic here. It's effort. Hard work. Determination. There's no man behind the curtain .. not even the curtain in Millet Hall in Oxford. These guys are coaching in a league where there's all sorts of disadvantages on the recruiting trail. They're behind the BCS level in resources, facilities .. staffing capabilities. Yet they continue to strive to elevate the programs they run. And they succeed. Some seasons more than others .. but by and by, they get the job done. I'm not here to denigrate Coles. Great guy, great sound bite .. good coach. Ask yourself if the players he won 2 tournament games in '99 were his recruits or Herb Sendeck's. It goes both ways. There are other good coaches in the league. I happen to think that Louis Orr is one. Witherspoon another. And there's also a good coach here at UA, under whose watch, the Zips have exceeded any previous examples of success in the D1 era of Men's Hoops. Playing for championships matters, it's what we all want, and we see the Zips do it EVERY season. Winning championships matters, we've seen it done, and we'll see it again soon. Post season wins matter .. and we've seen those, and we'll see more. Graduating players from the program matters .. and it's happening earlier and earlier than ever before .. by guys who have led us to those Championships and Post season wins. Do we all want to see the MAC season turn into a boat race with a clinched regular season title with three games left in the regular season, and back to back to back tourney titles leading to a Sweet 16 run or further? Sure we do. And you know what? There's not a fan on this board, including Zips Win!, who wants to see it any more than KD himself wants it for his players and the fans. No one here thinks that KD is the perfect coach, and beyond reproach. Not even KD. But most here will agree that he's the best man for this job and UA, and he's doing as good a job as anyone has in over 20 years .. maybe longer. That doesn't make any of us kool-aid drinkers, or believers in magic tricks. It simply means we're objective fans who actually watch the Zips and observe that the program is a top-flight contender year in and year out. You apparently do neither of those things. Stir the pot all you want GP1, you remain disconnected and uninformed about Zips hoops. Go Zips!

I'm going to reply with the statement that they were recruited onto a team with 7 returning contributors and 2 other impact newcomers. It takes a lot to break into the rotation in this situation. You said it yourself at the top .. this isn't 10 years ago when we'd be hoping 2 of these guys could start right away to make the team better. The talent and experience level now is such that Freshman have to be absolute difference makers to barge into the rotation. These guys will be good Zips. But they're not going to play in front of Brett or Nikola. They just aren't. Go Zips!!

Charlie Coles. Multiple MAC Championships (one against KD). Coles does more with less and isn't scared to put his team up against top level teams. We do less with more and don't play anyone. This needs to turn around. The rabbit is behind the liner in the hat..... That all sounds nice, but since KD has been coach of the Zips, CC has one MAC title & exactly ZERO post season wins. It's not as clear cut as you'd like us to believe. Both are good coaches.

Let me know if you'd like it adjusted.

The lower bowl is generally sold out for the entire season.

ROOligans ROOLS! :rock:

In my opinion, we're not seeing that. With all the chaotic substitutions, I don't know what team we're seeing on the floor. Sorry, I like KD (he's certainly much better than Hipsher and Crawford), but he's not above criticism. I think that's a fair answer. My point was that I think some folks aren't considering the trade-offs involved here.

Everyone needs to decide how they want things to be. Do you want to see a Freshman "grow through struggles" on the floor with expanded minutes? Or do you want the best team on the floor to try and win every game and win the league? Which is it? Because they're NOT the same. And with the current state of the team and conference, I would argue that both of the above are reasonable possibilities. Complaining during an early conference season slump that things aren't going well starts when games are lost that we may feel could have been won. Using un-proven freshman, or those who have struggled in earlier action to try and slump bust is going to yield more losses. Is the uber-patient Akron fan base willing to sit through (and I mean .. show up and root for) a true rebuilding year where KD transitions from one style of play to another? Given the already started "warm seat" conversations .. it seems pretty clear that the fanbase doesn't want to observe a transition season. B) Go Zips!

Makes you wonder what goes on in practice? I'm sorry to quote a Steeler's coach so much, but it's what I know. I'm paraphrasing coach Tomlin in a press conference from a few weeks ago. "if you saw Polamalu practice at the beginning of the week, you wouldn't even think he is going to start for you that week, he is bad at practice, but when it comes game time, he knows how to turn it up to another level most players don't reach" Point being, we need the players on the floor that are gamers, not practice superstars. Has everyone forgotten his last two performances? He was really out of his element the last time he saw the floor at the JAR. He quite simply might not be ready.

You go ahead and give up on them in January. Most of us will not. Go ZIPS!

This HAS to be the best ZachTheZip EndZone Gnome statement of fact in a while! Talking about FIFA video games?! :lol: :lol:

Did you read through the thread? INDEED I had missed that. Props to '84 .. for the completeness. Go Zips!