Zip Watcher

Nice posts & observations ... dont agree with all of them, but hey .. that's why the Nation is here, right?A couple of observations about the SF position on the Zips:Linhart & Conyers were tasked w/ guarding Christian & at times Tyndale. Now Cedric was involved in the defensive rotations on those 2 as well ... but lets look at the production of Temple's 2 key swing men.Coming in, they were combining to average 36 points & 9.8 rebounds.On Monday night they produced: 20 points, 12 rebounds & 8 turnovers. Rebounds up by 2, but significant drop in points w/ lots of TO.First & foremost, the Zips beat opponents w/ defense. The defense keys the offense by starting the transition game. And slowing down the opponents top 2 scorers goes a long way to securing a win.Last night, Jimmy & Nate were instrumental in holding the top 2 Temple scorers 16 points below their average .. most of this was done by holding Tyndale to 3 points .. more than 13 under his average .. I'm certain that he was always guarded by Jimmy or Nate when out there. Tyndale only played 20 minutes .. and when he wasn't out there, our SF's were helping harrass Christmas into a 3-14 shooting night.The Zips don't necessarily need to have 20 points a night from the SF spot. Locking down the opponents top scorers can be just as effective.That being said, Monday was Jimmy's best game as a Zip. 9 & 9 in 20 minutes w/ no turnovers. You can almost see the game slowing down for him. I'd still like to see him get more agressive .. he's showing signs. Had that putback dunk gone down, it'd have been the most athletic dunk I've ever seen @ the JAR (at least I can't remember one better). The crowd reaction was something.Team's getting better .. Calvary is still a few games away .. December is for building chemestry & rotations. Having attended all 6 games thus far, I like the trends I see. Put 'em on Zips Fans!!

Hope everyone has had a nice holiday weekend so far. OK, so we're back from Fairbanks .. back on Eastern Time & I've had a little time to put my thoughts together on the team heading into this little homestand on Saturday. Disclaimer: Keep in mind these are the observations of an un(basketball)educated fan .. I'm not a former player or coach .. just love the Zips and have watched a lot of college hoops over the years. Current Status: Backcourt The Zips are THIN in the backcourt right now. Dials, Middleton, and (I'm willing to say) McNees are all capable, but they're ALL SG's. Dials can play PG, but it's a big drain on his energy to run the point. That drain reduces his effectiveness at the 2 .. and it cascades from there. Combine that w/ Middelton's not being at full speed (knee) and the inexperience of McNees .. and things are a bit shaky right now in the backcourt. This hurt us in Fairbanks in 2 principal areas: 1. On the break offensively. The fast break chances weren't converted at nearly the rate you'd like to see. Not as well as last year .. in fact, not so well at all. Some of this is chemistry, and some is poor decision making .. forwards dribbling 3/4's of the court .. SG's dishing too late & picking up charge calls. Touchdown passes out of the back of the endzone, etc. So I think having a true point that can attack the basket on the break .. and make the clean pass will help that. 2. Penetration defensively. The opponents (especially Dominguez from Portland State) are getting into the paint on the dribble WAY too easily right now. They're either beating their guy straight up, or beating the help in switch situations. Either way, it's leading to good opportunities in mid-range jumpers and lots of wide open shooters outside. It creates a need need for help D from the perimeter, leaving open shooters .. and bang .. 3 points at a time you're hurting. In a prior era .. a certain coach and a broadcaster would complain that shooters were having their career nights against the Zips .. when really they were just standing wide open. What's the solution? Well, we would appear to have 2 PG's joining the force within the next 3 weeks. Ronnie Steward is with the team and working through a hip-flexor injury. Depending on who you talk to, he could be ready in a week or 3 weeks. I vote for conservatism here so that we don't risk a longer outage. Also, it's being said that Daryl Roberts may be available when the Fall Semester concludes on 16 December. That would theoretically make him available for the NC A&T game on the 19th. This reminds me a bunch of the 2000-2001 season when we opened the season w/ Emmanuel Smith (R.I.P.) at the point, while waiting for the transfer sit out period of Rashon Brown to expire. They struggled mightily at many facets of the game early that season. Then in the first game after the Fall Semester ended, Brown and Andre Sims came in and gave us 2 new point guards .. and the Zips obliterated CSU that night. The season saw improvements .. and I think that was the first year we made it to the Gund. To me this is similar. KD likes to use the 3 guard in certain situations .. and he's unable to do that now. He's got 3 SG's with decent ball handling skills, but none are exactly quick enough to stop the opponent's quickest player, usually the PG. That leads to excessive penetration (see above). We need to get deeper & more healthy in the backcourt .. and that will solve some of the defensive issues all the way around. So let's keep our fingers & toes crossed that we have some roster additions in the next couple of weeks to help the backcourt. Current Player Reports: Dials: He's been pretty good. Had a few TO's trying to make the perfect pass on the break .. but also had some money looks to Quade for monster jams. His shot has been pretty good, and he hit the clutch jumper against TN ST. It appears that his knee can act up w/ back to back games .. but he played through it. He's nothing if not tough. A good leader & floor guy .. but the Zips need him as a scorer to be successful. Middleton: Looks to be in phenomenal shape physically. His knee has been bothering him so he was a bit out of sync shooting wise, after an extended break from practice. Nothing tells me he won't be our steady Cedrick soon .. as he gets back from the injury time. McNees: I like what I see so far. From an offensive perspective, he has a big upside I think. He's a smooth shooter with a quick release, and may be our 3rd or 4th best shooter right now. I think his decision making is pretty good (it far exceeds the last #4 on the Zips) .. and his ball handling is ok. He did get stripped a couple of times out top .. that turned into 2 quick points the other way. However, he wasn't throwing the ball away .. he was pretty good with it. As has been written and discussed before, he's still learning the D end of things. I think the guy could end up being a bigger Dials if he can apply himself to being a good defender. Sallee / Goddard: They can contribute if called upon, but I don't see them as extended minutes options. Sallee gives good ball handling & some quickness on defense, but there's not much offensive production. Goddard has improved, and remains our best pure shooter, so he'll be used primarily as a zone buster this season, as last year. Current Status: Small Forward This position is at the same time one of the Zips biggest strengths and one of their biggest weaknesses. First off, Linhart and Conyers are the best defenders on the team right now. In all three games, the opposing teams did not get much in the way of production out of their SF's where it comes to penetration and attacking the paint. Jimmy and Nate are good on the ball defenders. Jimmy especially can generally keep his guy in front of him all the time in a man situation. I'd label Jimmy our best defender right now. Nate has a great knack for rebounding, in this area he's probably a bit better than Jimmy. Both are tough and in great shape. Nate had some bumps and bruises against Portland State, but showed no signs of slowness against TN St. On the offensive side, it seems like both of these guy need a big shot of confidence. They just don't seem comfortable w/ the ball & as a result, we're not getting much offensive production from the position. They have their moments (JC had a nice shooting day against TNSU) .. but they seem gun shy when wide open, and willing to drive into tight situations. I find myself wishing that Jimmy would put the ball on the floor more when he has a gap .. seems to me he could beat his guy to the rim a lot. Nate seems to hesitate when he's wide open, and then puts the ball up in tighter spots. Given the pace of his delivery, he's got to have a little space. Both have shown (in the three games this year) that they can help on the offensive side .. I just think there's a mental aspect on the offensive side that isn't there yet. We need more scoring from the 3. Perhaps Brett McKnight will provide some pop here. Folks around the program seem to think he's too good to redshirt. I think it will be interesting to see how that shakes out if he is in fact eligible at the end of the semester. Current Player Reports: Linhart: I think he's under appreciated. He fills the box score .. can guard guys bigger than him and guys smaller than him, and is really active on the glass. His shot will come around, he's shown in the past that he can score the basketball. He remains one of our most complete players. Never question his toughness. Conyers: If you've been to this site before, you probably already know that I think this guy can play. In 4 appearances this year, including the Walsh game, I think he's had 3 solid outings and 1 rough outing. To me the guy can flat out defend .. and in this system that will get him on the floor. I feel like he can probably finish at the rim & I'd love to see more of that. When Can't State made their big run, they essentially had 3 great pieces & some role players. The three great pieces were a good PG (Mitchell), a pro level talent (Gates), and an absolute shutdown guy that could stop the 2, 3 or 4 when called upon (Shaw). To me, Jimmy can be the kind of player Shaw was. He's certainly not there yet .. but can he get there? Current Status: Frontcourt For the 2 big positions, the Zips used 4 guys to share the minutes in Fairbanks. Combinations of Wood, Milum, C.McKnight & Bardo were used. I think there were 2 or 3 different starting lineups in the 3 games. Wood is certain to play 25-30 minutes a night, foul & health permitting. He's our best frontcourt player and will play a bunch. That leaves about 50 minutes to split between the other 3 guys (16/17 per guy for the Can't Fans reading this). We've been effective at times in the post, but it's been rusty. As with the backcourt, there's a transition going on with the loss of a 4 year contributor in Travis. Turnovers have been a problem .. but maybe not from where you'd think. The leading culprit has thus far been JWood. I chalk this up to having different post partners this year than he's had the past 3. He and Rome did have a smooth understanding of each other's game last season. Their interior passing was exceptional. Wood could wait for the double and find an open Rome 4 out of 5 times. This season it's not as smooth .. though I think it will be better quickly. He's finding McKnight, Quade & Bardo .. but at the moment, the passes are too fine, in the wrong place, or simply poorly placed. JWood's trying to do it all .. and that's fine. But once he settles in and makes the passes that are there .. and kicks out when it's not. The team will be better. One thing I noticed a bit: he seemed to be waiting for the THIRD guy before kicking out / over to a teammate. And it was usually the 3rd guy coming that caused problems or disrupted the pass out. Coaches were encouraging him to kick as soon as the double arrived & not wait too long for the triple .. or for the defense to rotate over to restore the strong side D. Again .. a work in progress. We've seen what he can do this way .. and once the chemistry with the new rotations is worked out, I anticipate that JW's turnovers will drop considerably. Defensively, I think the frontcourt was a strength in Fairbanks. However, as in other areas, the chemistry of switching and rotations will improve over the next month. Remember the game last season where a conference opponent had 6 or more shots blocked in the first half. Quade was rotating down on the driving player and just sending it away. I think it was Western Michigan on ESPN2 .. the post players just dominated the inside of the court defensively. This season's Zips are just not at that point yet. They have the bodies & similar athletic makeup from last season, deeper even than last season .. but the communications and help are not yet a well oiled machine. It should improve. With 4 solid big guys inside, the rebounding has to improve for the Zips to be successful. My on the spot impression is that they were out rebounded in everygame. Some of this can be tied to the guard penetration and help rotations. When the bigs have to rotate over, it's almost like playing a zone out there .. and zone teams are never good rebounding teams. There's almost always a guy left alone for slashing to the offensive glass. They appeared to be out of position several times on the defensive glass & gave up several easy putbacks to opponents. This is a needed area of improvement. Current Player Reports: Wood: He's been good .. but not yet great. It's clear that JWood recognizes he needs to be a leader on this team. Beyond just being the workhorse inside, he's embraced the role a 5th year senior has to fill. Just watching him stand on the bench calling the defense switching for Goddard was awesome .. he was an extra coach helping a guy through the defensive end. His production has been STRONG .. both scoring and glass. He's extended his game to 10-12 feet out & that will open things up for him. Turnovers have been a problem. He has a tendency to take the ball on the break and dribble far up the court. I think he ought to be dumping off earlier in the break, and then filling the lane to give the guards a huge target on the break. His touch and hands are good & can help the team tons. I think he could easily be a 20-10 guy this year & push for POTY consideration. Milum: Quade has surprised me somewhat. His offensive post game is much much more than just the dunk off the lob. Quade has a nice back to the basket game & dropped several sky hooks in. Haven't seen much up an under moves, but his hops help him get good looks inside over his defenders. I think he'll help replace some of the lost scoring from Travis. He's had some blocks, but overall, I think his defense & rebounding need to improve. Too often, the Zips give up easy second chance tip-ins after going for the block and leaving the weak side guy open. As a group, they need to better find a guy and seal them off for the rebound when the ball goes up. McKnight: Similar thoughts as those for Quade. He needs to rebound his position better than he is. He has a lot of size & athleticism. Needs to not get taken out of position defensively. Offensively, I think Chris has a big upside. He's got legitimate 3 point range and in. Nice touch all around the basket. I think with improved rebounding, he'll start to see more consistent minutes. He can become a really good weakside guy to go w/ Wood similar to Travis. This guy has big upside as a power forward. Bardo: Pleasant surprise early on. Mike rebounded well, and made 3 of his first 4 shots. I think his only miss has been on a tip attempt. There were some big centers in Fairbanks, and Bardo showed some nice defensive effort. He's big, and tough .. doesn't get pushed around out there too much. As with young players, positioning is sometimes difficult (whether to front or not .. blocking out, etc.) but that should come with time. Not sure on the conditioning yet. He played about 25 minutes in Game 2, but came back with only 8 or 10 against TN St. in Game 3. It's not clear to me why. Overall: I do think that we all need to be patient with this club. Even though we lost only 2 bodies in the off season, we lost 2 of the guys that took the big shots .. were leaders on and off the court. Replacing them won't happen overnight. One coach says (paraphrasing here) "These guys still know how to win, but they've got to go out and do it .. and realize they can get it done w/o Dru & Rome." I think there's some sense in that concept. Our expectations are high .. and they should remain high .. but I think that we've got to be prepared for some adjustments and learning early in the year. An assessment after the non-conference portion of the schedule may have more value than now. Generally speaking about the roster / depth ... If we assume that Steward and Roberts will be playing in December sometime, depth on this team is crazy. I've NEVER seen a Zips team that goes a legit 2 deep at every position. Consider the following: PG: Steward / Roberts / (McNees) SG: Dials / Middleton / McNees SF: Conyers / Linhart / (B. McKnight) PF: Milum / C. McKnight / (B. McKnight) C: Wood / Bardo Add Brett McKnight to the mix at the 3/4 spots .. and we're talking about having 12 legit D1 guys who can contribute. Not 3 or 4 w/ 6 other guys who can merely eat minutes. Each of these 12 guys are capable of helping this team win. This is a really good thing .. and a great sign for this season and beyond. Now, no one, including me believes you can really work with a 12 man rotation. I expect that it will be boiled down to about 10 by conference season start and perhaps down another 1 by the end of the season. But it's great to have talented depth on hand to be able to find out who your best 9 guys are. It wasn't too long ago that we didn't even have 8 D-I quality guys to rely on .. and we had walkons in key reserve roles. Kudos to the staff for building a pipeline of talent to the roster (and especially for getting & keeping them eligible). My expectations at this point? I think I'm going to really like the team. After traveling to see them in Alaska and watching how the staff handles things .. it's a group of REALLY good guys, coaches on down. They appear to like playing together and working together .. and that can help the group find the chemistry the Zips need in order to be successful. Judge this team on the whole season .. and be realistic .. they're not going to win every game by 20. But the effort will be there, and we'll see improvement. Without putting down numbers, I'm very optimistic about this season. Get your tickets and get there early. Put em on Zips Fans!! The future is bright. Yikes!! I've been adding a little to this here and there since I got back on Tuesday .. didn't realize it was this long .. my apologies for the long post. Just a brain dump, guess I must spend a lot of time thinking about Zips Hoops. Thanks for sticking with me if you're still here.

Hope everyone has had a nice holiday weekend so far.OK, so we're back from Fairbanks .. back on Eastern Time & I've had a little time to put my thoughts together on the team heading into this little homestand on Saturday.Disclaimer: Keep in mind these are the observations of an un(basketball)educated fan .. I'm not a former player or coach .. just love the Zips and have watched a lot of college hoops over the years.Current Status: BackcourtThe Zips are THIN in the backcourt right now. Dials, Middleton, and (I'm willing to say) McNees are all capable, but they're ALL SG's. Dials can play PG, but it's a big drain on his energy to run the point. That drain reduces his effectiveness at the 2 .. and it cascades from there. Combine that w/ Middelton's not being at full speed (knee) and the inexperience of McNees .. and things are a bit shaky right now in the backcourt.This hurt us in Fairbanks in 2 principal areas:1. On the break offensively. The fast break chances weren't converted at nearly the rate you'd like to see. Not as well as last year .. in fact, not so well at all. Some of this is chemistry, and some is poor decision making .. forwards dribbling 3/4's of the court .. SG's dishing too late & picking up charge calls. Touchdown passes out of the back of the endzone, etc. So I think having a true point that can attack the basket on the break .. and make the clean pass will help that.2. Penetration defensively. The opponents (especially Dominguez from Portland State) are getting into the paint on the dribble WAY too easily right now. They're either beating their guy straight up, or beating the help in switch situations. Either way, it's leading to good opportunities in mid-range jumpers and lots of wide open shooters outside. It creates a need need for help D from the perimeter, leaving open shooters .. and bang .. 3 points at a time you're hurting. In a prior era .. a certain coach and a broadcaster would complain that shooters were having their career nights against the Zips .. when really they were just standing wide open. What's the solution? Well, we would appear to have 2 PG's joining the force within the next 3 weeks. Ronnie Steward is with the team and working through a hip-flexor injury. Depending on who you talk to, he could be ready in a week or 3 weeks. I vote for conservatism here so that we don't risk a longer outage. Also, it's being said that Daryl Roberts may be available when the Fall Semester concludes on 16 December. That would theoretically make him available for the NC A&T game on the 19th.This reminds me a bunch of the 2000-2001 season when we opened the season w/ Emmanuel Smith (R.I.P.) at the point, while waiting for the transfer sit out period of Rashon Brown to expire. They struggled mightily at many facets of the game early that season. Then in the first game after the Fall Semester ended, Brown and Andre Sims came in and gave us 2 new point guards .. and the Zips obliterated CSU that night. The season saw improvements .. and I think that was the first year we made it to the Gund.To me this is similar. KD likes to use the 3 guard in certain situations .. and he's unable to do that now. He's got 3 SG's with decent ball handling skills, but none are exactly quick enough to stop the opponent's quickest player, usually the PG. That leads to excessive penetration (see above). We need to get deeper & more healthy in the backcourt .. and that will solve some of the defensive issues all the way around.So let's keep our fingers & toes crossed that we have some roster additions in the next couple of weeks to help the backcourt.Current Player Reports:Dials: He's been pretty good. Had a few TO's trying to make the perfect pass on the break .. but also had some money looks to Quade for monster jams. His shot has been pretty good, and he hit the clutch jumper against TN ST. It appears that his knee can act up w/ back to back games .. but he played through it. He's nothing if not tough. A good leader & floor guy .. but the Zips need him as a scorer to be successful.Middleton: Looks to be in phenomenal shape physically. His knee has been bothering him so he was a bit out of sync shooting wise, after an extended break from practice. Nothing tells me he won't be our steady Cedrick soon .. as he gets back from the injury time.McNees: I like what I see so far. From an offensive perspective, he has a big upside I think. He's a smooth shooter with a quick release, and may be our 3rd or 4th best shooter right now. I think his decision making is pretty good (it far exceeds the last #4 on the Zips) .. and his ball handling is ok. He did get stripped a couple of times out top .. that turned into 2 quick points the other way. However, he wasn't throwing the ball away .. he was pretty good with it. As has been written and discussed before, he's still learning the D end of things. I think the guy could end up being a bigger Dials if he can apply himself to being a good defender.Sallee / Goddard: They can contribute if called upon, but I don't see them as extended minutes options. Sallee gives good ball handling & some quickness on defense, but there's not much offensive production. Goddard has improved, and remains our best pure shooter, so he'll be used primarily as a zone buster this season, as last year.Current Status: Small ForwardThis position is at the same time one of the Zips biggest strengths and one of their biggest weaknesses. First off, Linhart and Conyers are the best defenders on the team right now. In all three games, the opposing teams did not get much in the way of production out of their SF's where it comes to penetration and attacking the paint. Jimmy and Nate are good on the ball defenders. Jimmy especially can generally keep his guy in front of him all the time in a man situation. I'd label Jimmy our best defender right now. Nate has a great knack for rebounding, in this area he's probably a bit better than Jimmy. Both are tough and in great shape. Nate had some bumps and bruises against Portland State, but showed no signs of slowness against TN St.On the offensive side, it seems like both of these guy need a big shot of confidence. They just don't seem comfortable w/ the ball & as a result, we're not getting much offensive production from the position. They have their moments (JC had a nice shooting day against TNSU) .. but they seem gun shy when wide open, and willing to drive into tight situations. I find myself wishing that Jimmy would put the ball on the floor more when he has a gap .. seems to me he could beat his guy to the rim a lot. Nate seems to hesitate when he's wide open, and then puts the ball up in tighter spots. Given the pace of his delivery, he's got to have a little space. Both have shown (in the three games this year) that they can help on the offensive side .. I just think there's a mental aspect on the offensive side that isn't there yet. We need more scoring from the 3.Perhaps Brett McKnight will provide some pop here. Folks around the program seem to think he's too good to redshirt. I think it will be interesting to see how that shakes out if he is in fact eligible at the end of the semester.Current Player Reports:Linhart: I think he's under appreciated. He fills the box score .. can guard guys bigger than him and guys smaller than him, and is really active on the glass. His shot will come around, he's shown in the past that he can score the basketball. He remains one of our most complete players. Never question his toughness.Conyers: If you've been to this site before, you probably already know that I think this guy can play. In 4 appearances this year, including the Walsh game, I think he's had 3 solid outings and 1 rough outing. To me the guy can flat out defend .. and in this system that will get him on the floor. I feel like he can probably finish at the rim & I'd love to see more of that. When Can't State made their big run, they essentially had 3 great pieces & some role players. The three great pieces were a good PG (Mitchell), a pro level talent (Gates), and an absolute shutdown guy that could stop the 2, 3 or 4 when called upon (Shaw). To me, Jimmy can be the kind of player Shaw was. He's certainly not there yet .. but can he get there?Current Status: FrontcourtFor the 2 big positions, the Zips used 4 guys to share the minutes in Fairbanks. Combinations of Wood, Milum, C.McKnight & Bardo were used. I think there were 2 or 3 different starting lineups in the 3 games. Wood is certain to play 25-30 minutes a night, foul & health permitting. He's our best frontcourt player and will play a bunch. That leaves about 50 minutes to split between the other 3 guys (16/17 per guy for the Can't Fans reading this).We've been effective at times in the post, but it's been rusty. As with the backcourt, there's a transition going on with the loss of a 4 year contributor in Travis. Turnovers have been a problem .. but maybe not from where you'd think. The leading culprit has thus far been JWood. I chalk this up to having different post partners this year than he's had the past 3. He and Rome did have a smooth understanding of each other's game last season. Their interior passing was exceptional. Wood could wait for the double and find an open Rome 4 out of 5 times. This season it's not as smooth .. though I think it will be better quickly. He's finding McKnight, Quade & Bardo .. but at the moment, the passes are too fine, in the wrong place, or simply poorly placed. JWood's trying to do it all .. and that's fine. But once he settles in and makes the passes that are there .. and kicks out when it's not. The team will be better.One thing I noticed a bit: he seemed to be waiting for the THIRD guy before kicking out / over to a teammate. And it was usually the 3rd guy coming that caused problems or disrupted the pass out. Coaches were encouraging him to kick as soon as the double arrived & not wait too long for the triple .. or for the defense to rotate over to restore the strong side D. Again .. a work in progress. We've seen what he can do this way .. and once the chemistry with the new rotations is worked out, I anticipate that JW's turnovers will drop considerably.Defensively, I think the frontcourt was a strength in Fairbanks. However, as in other areas, the chemistry of switching and rotations will improve over the next month. Remember the game last season where a conference opponent had 6 or more shots blocked in the first half. Quade was rotating down on the driving player and just sending it away. I think it was Western Michigan on ESPN2 .. the post players just dominated the inside of the court defensively. This season's Zips are just not at that point yet. They have the bodies & similar athletic makeup from last season, deeper even than last season .. but the communications and help are not yet a well oiled machine. It should improve.With 4 solid big guys inside, the rebounding has to improve for the Zips to be successful. My on the spot impression is that they were out rebounded in everygame. Some of this can be tied to the guard penetration and help rotations. When the bigs have to rotate over, it's almost like playing a zone out there .. and zone teams are never good rebounding teams. There's almost always a guy left alone for slashing to the offensive glass. They appeared to be out of position several times on the defensive glass & gave up several easy putbacks to opponents. This is a needed area of improvement.Current Player Reports:Wood: He's been good .. but not yet great. It's clear that JWood recognizes he needs to be a leader on this team. Beyond just being the workhorse inside, he's embraced the role a 5th year senior has to fill. Just watching him stand on the bench calling the defense switching for Goddard was awesome .. he was an extra coach helping a guy through the defensive end. His production has been STRONG .. both scoring and glass. He's extended his game to 10-12 feet out & that will open things up for him. Turnovers have been a problem. He has a tendency to take the ball on the break and dribble far up the court. I think he ought to be dumping off earlier in the break, and then filling the lane to give the guards a huge target on the break. His touch and hands are good & can help the team tons. I think he could easily be a 20-10 guy this year & push for POTY consideration.Milum: Quade has surprised me somewhat. His offensive post game is much much more than just the dunk off the lob. Quade has a nice back to the basket game & dropped several sky hooks in. Haven't seen much up an under moves, but his hops help him get good looks inside over his defenders. I think he'll help replace some of the lost scoring from Travis. He's had some blocks, but overall, I think his defense & rebounding need to improve. Too often, the Zips give up easy second chance tip-ins after going for the block and leaving the weak side guy open. As a group, they need to better find a guy and seal them off for the rebound when the ball goes up.McKnight: Similar thoughts as those for Quade. He needs to rebound his position better than he is. He has a lot of size & athleticism. Needs to not get taken out of position defensively. Offensively, I think Chris has a big upside. He's got legitimate 3 point range and in. Nice touch all around the basket. I think with improved rebounding, he'll start to see more consistent minutes. He can become a really good weakside guy to go w/ Wood similar to Travis. This guy has big upside as a power forward.Bardo: Pleasant surprise early on. Mike rebounded well, and made 3 of his first 4 shots. I think his only miss has been on a tip attempt. There were some big centers in Fairbanks, and Bardo showed some nice defensive effort. He's big, and tough .. doesn't get pushed around out there too much. As with young players, positioning is sometimes difficult (whether to front or not .. blocking out, etc.) but that should come with time. Not sure on the conditioning yet. He played about 25 minutes in Game 2, but came back with only 8 or 10 against TN St. in Game 3. It's not clear to me why.Overall:I do think that we all need to be patient with this club. Even though we lost only 2 bodies in the off season, we lost 2 of the guys that took the big shots .. were leaders on and off the court. Replacing them won't happen overnight. One coach says (paraphrasing here) "These guys still know how to win, but they've got to go out and do it .. and realize they can get it done w/o Dru & Rome." I think there's some sense in that concept. Our expectations are high .. and they should remain high .. but I think that we've got to be prepared for some adjustments and learning early in the year. An assessment after the non-conference portion of the schedule may have more value than now.Generally speaking about the roster / depth ...If we assume that Steward and Roberts will be playing in December sometime, depth on this team is crazy. I've NEVER seen a Zips team that goes a legit 2 deep at every position. Consider the following:PG: Steward / Roberts / (McNees)SG: Dials / Middleton / McNeesSF: Conyers / Linhart / (B. McKnight)PF: Milum / C. McKnight / (B. McKnight)C: Wood / BardoAdd Brett McKnight to the mix at the 3/4 spots .. and we're talking about having 12 legit D1 guys who can contribute. Not 3 or 4 w/ 6 other guys who can merely eat minutes. Each of these 12 guys are capable of helping this team win. This is a really good thing .. and a great sign for this season and beyond.Now, no one, including me believes you can really work with a 12 man rotation. I expect that it will be boiled down to about 10 by conference season start and perhaps down another 1 by the end of the season. But it's great to have talented depth on hand to be able to find out who your best 9 guys are. It wasn't too long ago that we didn't even have 8 D-I quality guys to rely on .. and we had walkons in key reserve roles. Kudos to the staff for building a pipeline of talent to the roster (and especially for getting & keeping them eligible).My expectations at this point? I think I'm going to really like the team. After traveling to see them in Alaska and watching how the staff handles things .. it's a group of REALLY good guys, coaches on down. They appear to like playing together and working together .. and that can help the group find the chemistry the Zips need in order to be successful. Judge this team on the whole season .. and be realistic .. they're not going to win every game by 20. But the effort will be there, and we'll see improvement. Without putting down numbers, I'm very optimistic about this season. Get your tickets and get there early.Put em on Zips Fans!! The future is bright.Yikes!! I've been adding a little to this here and there since I got back on Tuesday .. didn't realize it was this long .. my apologies for the long post. Just a brain dump, guess I must spend a lot of time thinking about Zips Hoops. Thanks for sticking with me if you're still here.View the full blog post here.

Notes from Game 3 vs. Tennessee State: - A nice all around effort by the Zips. Don't concentrate too hard on the margin of victory .. they played better as a team defensively and moved the ball better on offense than Saturday night. - Dials had a nice night .. was finding his shot in the second half. Clutch shooting when it counted late. - Free throws were certainly a factor & the game would not have been at issue if they even shoot their usual 70% in the second half. By my rough count, I think we missed something like 7 of 8 down the stretch. So that wasn't a highlight. I think fatigue had to have played a role in this. 3 games in 3 nights this early in the season isn't very commmon & it may have affected their legs a little bit. - Wood was as effective on Sunday as he was all tournament. He's a beast inside .. good hustle on the glass, and not intimidated by size mismatches. One thing he showed a bit of against TSU was a smooth 10-15 baseline jumper. By my count, I think he went 2 of 3 from "outside" his normal range. I'm certainly not advocating what OU did w/ Hunter his senior season (needed to have 3 point range to be an NBA prospect so he didn't go inside) .. but Wood being able to hit a short range jumper will open up the paint a lot by pulling his man out. - Conyers seemed more comfortable than the earlier games. The trend is good here. He got his shot working (jumpers) and hit some open J's. Good selections. And solid defense to boot. - Nate also had a nice outing. Good shooting .. and a nice day on the glass. - Just as in earlier games, the lack of a true PG hurt the Zips in the second half. I'll comment more in my overall TOW notes .. but this affects much more than just the quality of play at the point. It bleeds into lots of other areas. Ultimately they got it done & a bunch of guys played. 3 days in three nights after some crazy travel. This will help the team late in the year. They're learning quickly what they need to work on. Now we get a little homestand to see how well they can ajust and move forward. Great trip .. more TOW notes shortly. Go Zips!

Notes from Game 3 vs. Tennessee State:- A nice all around effort by the Zips. Don't concentrate too hard on the margin of victory .. they played better as a team defensively and moved the ball better on offense than Saturday night.- Dials had a nice night .. was finding his shot in the second half. Clutch shooting when it counted late.- Free throws were certainly a factor & the game would not have been at issue if they even shoot their usual 70% in the second half. By my rough count, I think we missed something like 7 of 8 down the stretch. So that wasn't a highlight. I think fatigue had to have played a role in this. 3 games in 3 nights this early in the season isn't very commmon & it may have affected their legs a little bit.- Wood was as effective on Sunday as he was all tournament. He's a beast inside .. good hustle on the glass, and not intimidated by size mismatches. One thing he showed a bit of against TSU was a smooth 10-15 baseline jumper. By my count, I think he went 2 of 3 from "outside" his normal range. I'm certainly not advocating what OU did w/ Hunter his senior season (needed to have 3 point range to be an NBA prospect so he didn't go inside) .. but Wood being able to hit a short range jumper will open up the paint a lot by pulling his man out.- Conyers seemed more comfortable than the earlier games. The trend is good here. He got his shot working (jumpers) and hit some open J's. Good selections. And solid defense to boot.- Nate also had a nice outing. Good shooting .. and a nice day on the glass.- Just as in earlier games, the lack of a true PG hurt the Zips in the second half. I'll comment more in my overall TOW notes .. but this affects much more than just the quality of play at the point. It bleeds into lots of other areas.Ultimately they got it done & a bunch of guys played. 3 days in three nights after some crazy travel. This will help the team late in the year. They're learning quickly what they need to work on. Now we get a little homestand to see how well they can ajust and move forward.Great trip .. more TOW notes shortly.Go Zips!View the full blog post here.

I'm enjoying Fairbanks a lot. It's really cool to be travelling (with) near the team .. at the same hotel .. and sit behind the bench. Thanks to all the coaches & parent's fans for including us.I will say that the Portland State team was a solid club. They had some size & quickness and burned up the nets from outside. The 3 ball really kept them in the game .. and ultimately I think provided the margin of victory.Thoughts on Game 2: Portland St.- BirdZip, I agree with you about the time clock at the end of the game. Boals was on him & KD asked a few times. I really thought there should have been something like 1.2 or so left. It really confused me as to why they didn't go to tape. The thing I'm going to look at is whether or not they even have monitors on the scorer's table. They're piping video to the scoreboard, but since it's not really a broadcast, maybe they don't have monitors on the table. Also, I think there's only one camera angle & it's likely that it doesn't have the time clock superimposed on video. So that's probably a non-starter.- The reffing was pretty even I thought most of the night. It WAS very tight. In the first half, they called everything .. every reach, shove .. almost all contact yielded a foul. I can think of 1 or 2 where guys stayed on their feet, with arms up .. and still got called. In the first half, I think both teams were in the bonus w/ about 9 minutes left. In the second, neither made the bonus until the final minute .. when the Zips had to foul repeatedly to put PSU on the line. I think it was more of a case of the Zips realizing they couldn't hand check / body up. Which leads me to ...- PSU KILLED us from outside all night long. My view is that the perimeter Zips were getting pinched a lot in the first half on the hand checks & reaches .. so they gave a little more margin on the shooters to prevent the drives .. which gave just enough room for bombs to be dropped. The Zips were also late on the rotations several times, running at the open guy as he set his feet to drop a 3 ball in. To me, this really was the difference in the game. I didn't see a final box score yet, but they must have been about 45% for the game .. and I would bet almost 60% for the first half.- The Zips are really banged up right now. So much so that it appeared to affect the rotations late in the game last night. I'm not sure of the foul situation while I'm sitting there (makes me really appreciate the scoreboards at the JAR) .. so I have to assume that JWood was coming out a lot due to offense / defense fouls .. although perhaps it was because PSU went a lot smaller late in the game. Off the top of my head, the following guys are not 100%: Dials (ankle?), Cedric (knee), Wood (hip), Linhart (hurt his back in this game), Sallee (nose .. doesn't appear to affect him), Quade (hand / wrist). They played the 6pm game on Friday, the 8pm on Saturday and have the Noon game today .. we're playing Tennessee St., who played on Thursday, had Friday off, and played @ Noon or 2:30 on Saturday .. so they should be rested. I vaguely remember they had a nice season in the OVC last year, but I haven't looked it up.Some General Observations, not specific to either game:- The team defense is still very much a work in progress. There's not yet the smoothness of switching and communication that we've gotten used to the past 3 seasons. I'm certain it will come, but it's a little rough at the moment. We've got some really good on the ball defenders (Conyers & Linhart .. Bardo getting there) .. but our perimeter man defense is pretty ugly right now. We don't really have a guy at the moment that can shutdown a quick PG straight up. This bodes badly for playing Watson @ CMU .. but I think it gets better when we get a couple of guys back.- It's become clear to me why Swiech will be redshirted. I have no idea how ready he is or isn't .. but it's a numbers thing. There's just not any minutes for him .. and most importantly, Bardo is ready to go .. the kid can play. So often you see a big kid who has size and some good shooting, but is a liability defensively and is a little soft. Not so w/ Mike. This guy is tough .. he battles in there & is a pretty good defender & rebounder. I think there was probably about 10 minutes of his 24 last night when he was the 5 and was in there w/ Wood. This is what I was hoping to see this season. It showed promise. He doesn't shoot a ton, but he's around the rim & on the glass .. that stuff will come. Mike is a capable defender and rebounder .. and will continue to improve. Good sign if you ask me.- I must admit that Quade's offensive game really took me by surprise. The guy has legit post moves .. back to basket, hook shot .. and good touch. I think that he's another reason that we won't see Swiech this year .. a capable interior scorer. And some of his dunks against SCU were ridiculous. There was one that he didn't get to go down, where he put the ball on the floor from the corner, beat his guy baseline and went over the help guy that was almost awesome .. think John Starks against the Bulls. One of the ones from Dials in traffic needs to be on YouTube.- Jimmy Conyers is our best defender. I think he had a bit of a rough game against SCU, but he was in there much of when it counted against PSU. He just doesn't get beat one on one .. maybe he can improve in the switching or help stuff .. but on the ball he's been tough. He's had a little bit of a rough start getting his shot to fall .. but he might be rushing it a little. He'll be fine. I still think he can flat out play .. we'll see this year.- We need a PG .. bad. This reminds me (in a small way) of the season that we had about 5 or 6 years ago when we started the season w/ Emmanuel Smith at the point, while we waited for the Fall semester to end so Rashon Brown (and Andre Sims and another) would become available. Then we had that game against CSU where we just blew them out with a reconfigured backcourt. I think this season may be similar. I think KD's preferred rotations are a bit out of whack right now not having Steward available. Roberts may be in the mix .. we need 1 of these guys to contribute. - What we have are 3 guys who are capable of playing the 1 or 2 .. but these guys are all SG's .. and it shows. The Zips turnovers & PG defense right now are quite uncharacteristic of a KD coached team. That's what's held them back the first 2 games. Missing Joyce a lot right now .. and they've got to work to fill that hole. The pieces are there .. and it will take some time to get it resolved.This is getting long .. and I'm getting hungry .. so I'll finish w/ some quick hitters:- It's game 2. I think I felt like the offense would just be back to the smooth, efficient thing it was last year. It will .. but just not yet.- We're banged up .. time will fix this and help the above.- The Zips aren't working completely as a unit yet. There's a little bit of selfish play still .. not always finding the open guy .. perhaps a little to much "ME" and not enough "WE" yet. KD & staff are working on that.- I think they're playing a little tight right now .. they don't seem to be relaxed yet .. - I do think this is Wood's team. CM leads by example and play .. Wood leads the same way, with a little more of a vocal (encouraging others) component.- We're deep. Really deep. I don't know what happens when B McKnight becomes available. We're already playing 9/10 guys. All of whom can play .. there's just not anyone out there that can't play. C McKnight has played well. Jimmy is contributing, McNees seems to be capable & Bardo has been a nice piece. It's just not feasible to play 12 guys .. some folks are going to be losing minutes when the best rotations are found. We'll see who ...I'll post more after today's game .. post here if you have any questions leading into today's game.Go Zips.. even here in Fairbanks, it's clear that

We got to the hotel about 6PM local time on Thursday. We chose to split the trip up .. flew Wednesday night up to Seattle & stayed the night, then took an afternoon direct to Fairbanks. Worked out pretty well. The flight to Seattle was hell due mostly to crowding and strange happenings around us. Seattle to Fairbanks was about 3hrs .. not too bad. We're doing the Anchorage thing on the way home, so it's good to know we've got 3 hrs for that connection.Weather up here isn't as harsh as I expected, though we haven't been out much yet. The lack of a wind makes it cold, but not so biting cold.Looking forward to seeing folks & the game tonight. Should be a good time.Even up here, it's clear to all that

Sunday was one of the best days we've had in a long time. Our son's 3rd birthday takes place while we will be in Fairbanks with the men's hoops team. So we threw the party early. Much to my son's surprise, his favorite kangaroo paid a visit to his house. I must tell you that it was by far the best thing we could ever get the kid. He took Zippy around and showed him all the presents. He opened things w/ Zippy & had Zippy help. They played together & Zippy conducted the Happy Birthday Chorus. Zippy was awesome! It's been 3 days & my boy is still telling his teacher @ daycare (a current Can't Student) "One day .. Zippy was at MY house! Zippy!" Further proof .. in case you needed it .. that Zippy is America's Favorite College Mascot. Not to mention my son's best friend.

Sunday was one of the best days we've had in a long time. Our son's 3rd birthday takes place while we will be in Fairbanks with the men's hoops team. So we threw the party early.Much to my son's surprise, his favorite kangaroo paid a visit to his house. I must tell you that it was by far the best thing we could ever get the kid. He took Zippy around and showed him all the presents. He opened things w/ Zippy & had Zippy help. They played together & Zippy conducted the Happy Birthday Chorus. Zippy was awesome! It's been 3 days & my boy is still telling his teacher @ daycare (a current Can't Student) "One day .. Zippy was at MY house! Zippy!"Further proof .. in case you needed it .. that Zippy is America's Favorite College Mascot.Not to mention my son's best friend. View the full blog post here.

Last year, this is not the case. A win vs. UALR would have put Texas Tech on the schedule instead of Gardner-Webb. That game alone would have boosted SOS a bunch. A win vs. Texas Tech would have lead to another game (I think vs. Marquette or Duke) ...

I'll be there and plan to try and report after each game.

If RA can teach a drop step to our young big men .. I'm happy to have him back. He did have a pretty good back to the basket game late in his career here. Imparting that to Bardo, Swiech, McKnight would go a long way to helping this team dominate the conference for years to come.

I should clarify this .. I would add staff at the senior assistant AD so that KD can continue as both Head Men's Hoops Coach, and AD. Sort of like Tressel was @ YSU during the second half of his time there. My suggestion is not that he be AD and not HC of MBB .. but that he be both.I really fear the day he is no longer our HC. I hope its about 20 years from now. Or more.

Were we to find ourselves in need of a new AD, which I don't think we will be anytime soon, there's only one guy I would pursue for the job:Keith DambrotBump him nicely and use the budget to add a senior asst AD to the mix to help with the workload. Is there anyone out there who has better ties to the U, with the U's best interest in mind? This would be an opportunity to demonstrate total committment to him .. and really stabilize the Athletic Department.

Mack's been nothing but a gentleman everytime I've encountered him. I think he doesn't get as much credit as he might otherwise get, since most of his contributions have been completely behind the scenes in fund raising and working to finalize the stadium project.No need to throw a guy under the bus. He's working hard for the Zips Nation.And Caleb will end up being a great hire .. probably Kest also.

You could start a poll to get that show of hands. Just start a new topic, and click the "edit poll options for this topic" that's near the top of the post entry area. PM me if you have problems, I know it's different from before.Put me down with the Captain .. and I'll clarify further. If a guy comes to UA to play .. and ends up being so awesome that he is faced with that decision of Million$ or school .. that's not the end of the world. But the guys that come here need to be STUDENT-Athletes. If dude comes in .. makes an honest go of being a student as do all the rifle team members, soccer team members and volleyball players .. then it's good by me. I just don't want to see this rent a stud thing when the whole world knows he's only there to wait out a year and there's no real effort or planning to gain a degree.I attended Big East & Big Ten schools where basketball was king. Since I finished up and moved back to this area, I've been a Zips ticket holder (grew up a Zips fan). I wouldn't trade my seats at the JAR for the same seats @ Mackey Arena or Gampel Pavilion. Now, I still follow the Boilers & Huskies from a distance, but I love & prefer the amateur aspect of UA athletics .. and it's not that clear in other places. Watching Nate Schindewolf get better & progress as a player while becoming a teacher in the area was way better than the Big Dog / Donyell Marshall plans I watched first hand in the 90's .. The C in NCAA should mean collegiant. It's not the NSPAA (semi-pro).I think I'll be most proud of KD & his staff when in a few seasons, Jimmy Conyers is playing his 4th season as a Zip after regaining his lost year of eligibility and preparing to receive a degree from the University of Akron. To me .. that's what matters above all else .. and KD gets that. We cannot and should not sacrifice the academic integrity of the institution to achieve success in athletic competition. Both academic and competitive goals can be accomplished if you have the patience and integrity to bring in the right type of student athlete and support him / her while they are here. And a guy like KD is proof.

Let them all think this .. the Zips will develop nicely as the season goes .. and by the end, I'm pretty sure most of those predictions will be way off.One team among those 4 goes a legitimate 9 DI players deep. 9 that can play .. the rest of the teams are pretty thin really .. especially on experience.

Doesn't the U have several doctorate programs? I'm quite certain the College of Engineering has them.

When Memphis did it at the MCB a couple of years ago .. and when I saw BG doing it against Wisconsin last year .. I thought it was total bush league.And I think it's total bush league now .. if your QB can't make a read .. then put one in who can .. this calling audibles based on a coache's view in the press box seems like HS stuff in my mind.Besides .. isn't it a false start or "multiple men in motion" each time they do this?

Temple won the game. Congratulations. You made a nice run in the 4th quarter to prove that the Owls suck just a little bit less than the Zips.As for this respect from the MAC brethren .. you'll find it here much quicker than you'll find it in the conference .. the Zips have been in for over 10 years, and are still very much outsiders. We hope you find the affirmation you're looking for .. because most of us could give a rats a$$ about what the other MAC schools / fans think.

Are you teasing us?? Were you able to stick around for the practice? There's some hoops junkies here that need their Zips fix. Don't bogart the info!

Server capacity is only at about 20% .. we're on a shared hoster .. and things have been pretty quick. I'll keep an eye on it, but this is the first I've heard of it.