Zip Watcher

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!

How can you guys be forgetting our favorite Zip, Dwight Lowery? He's been a huge component of the Jets defense this year, hasn't he?

You on the selection committee for this season?

No question that the elbow thing is a new focus .. but it's intended for the spreading of elbows and swinging .. for them to take 5 minutes to review on video whether or not there was an elbow swing was a bit ridiculous. He hadn't even really pivoted on the play, he's bringing the ball down in the normal course of play .. his arm's going to move. It's not like Zeke was doing a rotary clear out with his elbows pointed out. IMHO that was a mis-application of the rule .. and the fact that they needed so much time and to go to video to look for a flagrant foul sort of supports this contention.

So let me see if I understand what you're saying here: They play music when the dance team is on the floor?

I find I'm agreeing with R4R a lot lately .. and that Jupitertoo has a pretty good perspective on OU.

OU isn't as good as they looked last night, and the Zips aren't nearly as bad. In my opinion, they're much closer to each other than you might think. There's a story you hear about Jim Tressel as an offensive coordinator somewhere early in his career where he ran the same play like 4 or 5 times to start a game. I think it may have been at BW with his Dad's team. HC asks him "why don't you run a different play?" Young Tressel says .. "Why? They haven't stopped the one I'm running now." To me, that was the game last night. OU did one thing well last night. REALLY well. And the Zips efforts to stop it were either futile, half-hearted or wholly ineffective, maybe all of these things. The game for me was a glimpse: One one hand, it was a glimpse of how badly a Zips team can look on both offense and defense at the same time. It was a glimpse at how to let a one-dimensional team with a very good PG drill you in your own building. It was a glimpse at how to not attack a 2-3 zone .. over and over and over again. On the other hand at times, it was a glimpse of how to defend OU well and force them in to bad shots or bad decisions. It also had a glimpse of how to attack a 2-3 zone when the opponent can't keep your PG from going by them. Clearly we saw more glimpses of the former than the latter. Ultimately, last night was verification of what we already knew .. the Zips are inconsistent in effort at times. When they play well together & with energy .. good things happen (probably about 10 minutes of the 40 last night). And when they don't .. they can look pretty mediocre. You do that against a team that does one thing really well .. and you don't take that one thing away .. you can get pasted on your own floor. I'm hoping it's a learning experience. In the press between Saturday and Wednesday, KD was clearly concerned about keeping his team even keel. He had real reasons to be concerned. Complacency was king last night. Thoughts .. on Abreu vs. Cooper: The box score doesn't lie .. Abreu had 7 TO's .. likely his high thus far. But what we saw in the first 5-7 minutes of the game tell me a few things: Abreu is as quick with the ball as DJ Cooper. DJ Cooper generally was not able to beat Abreu off the dribble. For a moment .. Abreu was in Cooper's head. To be clear, Cooper killed the Zips last night. I didn't see anything different than anyone else. But he killed them with the pass and not the shot. Where the Zips fell down last night was in the rotations, or lack thereof, to the shooters. I think this was due to A LOT of unnecessary double teams. They were doubling OU's post players, leaving Kellogg and Freeman open. Those guys can't be left open. You let Baltic, Washington and Freeman go one on one against our bigs .. and stay with the shooters. And with Abreu at the point, I think you let him guard Cooper straight up, and don't double Cooper in the half court. I'd take my chances letting Abreu check him one on one, and stick to a straight up man defense to take away his assists. Maybe you have Zeke help at the rim if Cooper gets loose down the lane .. but you do NOT come off the perimeter guy to help out. If half his assists were on 3 balls last night, then he assisted on about 38 points. If you single cover him .. he's not going to put 50 on the board against you. He's a better passer than distance shooter. Abreu had his challenges last night. Made some unbelievable plays .. made some bone-headed plays. At least two of his turnovers were "Jason Kid @ Cal" types .. where he hit guys with the ball that weren't ready for it and couldn't comprehend how in the world he got them the ball. But I believe one thing for sure: Abreu is good enough to guard Cooper straight up the next time and stop with all this Hipsher-era "let's leave an open shooter" silliness we saw yesterday. Keep 'em on .. this is a good Zips team. B) B) Go Zips!

OU isn't as good as they looked last night, and the Zips aren't nearly as bad. In my opinion, they're much closer to each other than you might think. There's a story you hear about Jim Tressel as an offensive coordinator somewhere early in his career where he ran the same play like 4 or 5 times to start a game. I think it may have been at BW with his Dad's team. HC asks him "why don't you run a different play?" Young Tressel says .. "Why? They haven't stopped the one I'm running now." To me, that was the game last night. OU did one thing well last night. REALLY well. And the Zips efforts to stop it were either futile, half-hearted or wholly ineffective, maybe all of these things. The game for me was a glimpse: One one hand, it was a glimpse of how badly a Zips team can look on both offense and defense at the same time. It was a glimpse at how to let a one-dimensional team with a very good PG drill you in your own building. It was a glimpse at how to not attack a 2-3 zone .. over and over and over again. On the other hand at times, it was a glimpse of how to defend OU well and force them in to bad shots or bad decisions. It also had a glimpse of how to attack a 2-3 zone when the opponent can't keep your PG from going by them. Clearly we saw more glimpses of the former than the latter. Ultimately, last night was verification of what we already knew .. the Zips are inconsistent in effort at times. When they play well together & with energy .. good things happen (probably about 10 minutes of the 40 last night). And when they don't .. they can look pretty mediocre. You do that against a team that does one thing really well .. and you don't take that one thing away .. you can get pasted on your own floor. I'm hoping it's a learning experience. In the press between Saturday and Wednesday, KD was clearly concerned about keeping his team even keel. He had real reasons to be concerned. Complacency was king last night. Thoughts .. on Abreu vs. Cooper: The box score doesn't lie .. Abreu had 7 TO's .. likely his high thus far. But what we saw in the first 5-7 minutes of the game tell me a few things: Abreu is as quick with the ball as DJ Cooper. DJ Cooper generally was not able to beat Abreu off the dribble. For a moment .. Abreu was in Cooper's head. To be clear, Cooper killed the Zips last night. I didn't see anything different than anyone else. But he killed them with the pass and not the shot. Where the Zips fell down last night was in the rotations, or lack thereof, to the shooters. I think this was due to A LOT of unnecessary double teams. They were doubling OU's post players, leaving Kellogg and Freeman open. Those guys can't be left open. You let Baltic, Washington and Freeman go one on one against our bigs .. and stay with the shooters. And with Abreu at the point, I think you let him guard Cooper straight up, and don't double Cooper in the half court. I'd take my chances letting Abreu check him one on one, and stick to a straight up man defense to take away his assists. Maybe you have Zeke help at the rim if Cooper gets loose down the lane .. but you do NOT come off the perimeter guy to help out. If half his assists were on 3 balls last night, then he assisted on about 38 points. If you single cover him .. he's not going to put 50 on the board against you. He's a better passer than distance shooter. Abreu had his challenges last night. Made some unbelievable plays .. made some bone-headed plays. At least two of his turnovers were "Jason Kid @ Cal" types .. where he hit guys with the ball that weren't ready for it and couldn't comprehend how in the world he got them the ball. But I believe one thing for sure: Abreu is good enough to guard Cooper straight up the next time and stop with all this Hipsher-era "let's leave an open shooter" silliness we saw yesterday. Keep 'em on .. this is a good Zips team. B) B) Go Zips! View the full blog post here.

Actually, he's 48% from two, really good for a guard. It's that poor three-point shooting that's dragging him down. He's taking almost 7 threes a game, which is just silly considering how bad he is at it and he good of a slasher he is. By the way, here are the margin of victories the last three seasons: 6, 3, 5, 9, 5, 3, 1. Three of those went into overtime. If you look back at the last decade, there are a lot of close contests. In other words, expect a battle. Some heartening facts: - Ohio hasn't won in Akron since 2003. - Akron has swept Ohio twice in the last three years. - Ohio has not had a better conference record than Akron since the 2001-02 season Thanks for stopping in, zoner .. good to have you here. The more I think about it, if I'm gameplanning for the Zips .. I'd probably have Diggs concentrate on Freeman, and have Abreu and Roberts do their best to limit Cooper's drives. Lay off him a bit and let him try to beat us from outside. Given his very nice assist numbers and his percentage in the arc .. the Zips need to keep Cooper outside .. and whatever they do, keep a body on Freeman. If they take away DJ's best kick out option .. that will help. As for inside, the Zips need to play their game. Go Zips! B) B) PS .. I know it was another era for OU .. but the last time they came to the JAR in snowy conditions ... It wasn't pretty for OU.. Let it Snow .. Let it Snow ...