Quickzips

Some keys to the game from my standpoint: *Let Morrison have his, but don't let his supporting cast beat you. Morrison is a guy that you can't reasonably expect to shut down. I don't expect to see us throw a lot of double teams at him tonight. You can't focus so much on him that you neglect the rest of the Golden Eagles (see Wednesdays first half against Miami) *Crash the boards. For all that ORU does well scoring the ball, they are not good at all on the glass. I expect a huge game for Tree who should be able to have his way against the ORU "bigs" *Good individual defense. Nobody for ORU averages a lot of assists. Tells me that they tend to play a lot of one on one ball. I think this actually favors the Zips, as it should allow Zeke to control the paint more without having to worry about stepping out to defend the pick and roll. *Depth. The Zips bench is a known commodity. ORU only goes about 7 deep (6 guys play 25+ minutes, two others get around 10-15). If the Zips can keep it close early, they should be able to wear down the Golden Eagle's in the second half.

He's starting to come around on defense too. He arguably got the better of his matchup with Mavunga, and the Zips weren't having to bring help for him every time down the floor. At this point I am liking Tree more than Harney who seems to not care about defense one lick and is starting to look out of sorts on offense as well. Attendance is what it is. It was a Wednesday night game, which tends to draw less fans as it is. Add in that most fans can't stand watching Charlie ball and you are set up for a poor attendance night.

Strike that, more concerned about Alex's knee right now. If there is one guy that we can least afford to have go down it is AA.

More worried about whether or not the Zips are going to decide to defend the 3 line right now.

Had a difficult time figuring out who too root for in that one. As a Zips fan I cannot in good conscience root for Can't. On the other hand, a Buffalo loss coupled with a Zips win tomorrow night gives us a 2 game lead on the conference with 4 contests remaining. In the end I just tried to enjoy a hard fought basketball game without caring who won. We are in the drivers seat. Can't worry too much about what is behind us.

My thoughts on the MAC Tourney: The Favorites: Akron: By nearly every statistical measure the Zips have had the best team in the conference all season long, and the standings bear that out. They are bigger, deeper and more athletic that the rest of the league right now. They have proven they can win on the road, and Dambrot's record at the Q is as good as you will find in the MAC. Biggest Quetion Mark: Free Throw Shooting. Zips fans don't need to be reminded how poor free throw shooting can impact a game in the MAC tournament. If the Zips have an achilles heel, converting from the line is it. Buffalo: If Akron is the best team in the MAC, then Buffalo is a close second. The Bulls have all the ingredients to make a run in Cleveland. Strong post play, solid PG, and a 3 point threat in Filzen who can be a huge wild card come March. Like Akron, they have shown that they can be successful away from home. They are also the only team that has shown that they can beat the Zips. Biggest Question Mark: Can Reggie Witherspoon get it done in Cleveland? The Bulls have been in this position before, and have never been able to close the deal. Is this the year that Witherspoon finally gets his team over the hump, or will MAC Madness bring more disappointment for the Bulls faithful? The Contenders: Can't State: The Flashes are always dangerous come March at the Q. They have arguably the most experienced team in the conference, and the returning PoTY and DPoTY on their roster. Offensively they can score with anyone in the conference and beat you in a lot of different ways. Whether it is Greene posting up, Guyton and Holt draining threes or Porinni breaking down defenses off the dribble, Can't is a tough guard, and will be a difficult out come March. Biggest Question Mark: Rebounding. The Flashes are arguably the worst in the league when it comes to going after the boards. They need to score as much as they do because they give up too many easy buckets and second chance points inside. Can the Flashes crash the glass well enough in Cleveland to make a run? Ohio: By now everyone knows that the Bobcats are a flawed team. But that doesn't mean they can be ignored. Ohio has the firepower to run teams out of the gym when they decide to show up. D.J. Cooper is still as dangerous a PG as there is in the entire country. Nick Kellog can still get it rolling from 3, and if Ivo Baltic and Reggie Kelley can provide solid minutes in the frontcourt the Bobcats can still make another run at a MAC title. Biggest Question Mark: Can they score against a zone defense? The Bobcats have been completely inept against zone defenses all year long. The book is out. If you want to slow the Bobcats down, throw a zone at them. John Groce will have to get this straightened out before March. The Wild Cards: Bowling Green: Louis Orr has quitely assembled a pretty good team in Northwest Ohio. The Falcons have enough size up front with Calhoon, Black and Thomas to match up with the conferences elite. Jordan Crawford and Dee Brown have been a fairly effecient backcourt as well. If their zone defense is running at full steam, they can give teams some problems and maybe make a run in the tournament. Biggest Question Mark: Size in the backcourt. Running the 2-3 zone that Louis Orr loves so much requires size and length at the top of the zone. The Falcons just don't have it right now, and it makes their zone defense less effective than it could be. Eastern Michigan: EMU will assume the role normally played by Charlie Coles' Miami Redhawks this year. They aren't as talented or as deep as the rest of the league, but they keep games close by slowing the pace way down in the hopes that they can pull out a close one at the end. If the Eagles can impose their tempo on teams they can make a run in the tournament. Biggest Question Mark: Can they score enough points to win? If the Eagles can force the tempo down, they simply don't have enough firepower to win a high scoring game. Western Michigan: To call this season a disappointment to Broncos fans would be an understatement. Injuries and suspensions have slowed the team all year long. Still, Western has as much fire power as anyone in the MAC if they are all healthy and on the court. They have shown that they can compete with the top of the MAC East the last couple of games. If they get healthy, Steve Hawkins group will have an impact on the tournament. Biggest Question Mark: Health. Whitfield, Douglas, Ward, etc. None of these guys have been healthy for the Broncos all year. It is difficult to see that changing at this late juncture in the season. Toledo: The last few years the Rockets have been an afterthought come tournament time. All that changes with the addition of Pearson. Here is a kid who could well end up having one of those magical individual performances that carries a team that otherwise has no business making any noise in the tournament. As Pearson goes, so will go the Rockets. Biggest Question Mark: How far can Pearson carry them? The Rockets are not talented enough to overcome an off night from their star player. If Pearson isn't feeling it, the Rockets will be an early exit yet again. The Field: Ball State: Earlier in the season they looked like a contender. After 6 straight losses, the Cardinals look like a one and done. Not enough talent to make an impact in the tournament. Miami: Charlie Coles' Redhawks are too banged up to make much of an impact in the tournament. This promises to be a sad ending to an otherwise brilliant career for Julian Mavunga (and maybe Coles as well) Central Michigan: The Chips have some big decisions to make in the coming weeks and months. What hotel to stay at in Cleveland is not one of them. Northern Illinois: New coaching is starting to help, but the Huskies are still a LONG way away from competing for a spot in Cleveland.

Been saying that all season long. Cooper trying to play hero ball is the best thing you can see if you are an OU opponent.

Funny. EMU gets a board. The announcer "outlet pass and Eastern wants to run.....or trot." Eastern plays at a snails pace, but OU is playing right into their hands.

Two teams from the West I don't want to see in the tournament are Toledo and Western. Western has been injured all over the place this year, but if they get healthy they have the talent to make a run. Toledo has a guy in Pearson who can make one of those spectacular individual runs in the tournament and carry the Rockets to the semis or even further.

OU has no idea what to do against a zone. Their worst loss of the season was against BGSU (also a zone team). Surprising that a team that loves the 3 ball so much could be so absolutely terrible against a zone.

Man when I look at how close we were in some of those games and think about our at large chances it makes me angry. Valpo, Duquesne, CSU, VCU, Buffalo. Take 2 or 3 of those games and make them into wins (we were in every one of them) and all of a sudden we are a 19 or 20 win team already. We probably have an even better bracket buster matchup and we are firmly entrenched on the bubble if not one of the last 4 in.

Not at all worried about beating out EMU for a bye to Thursday. Quite frankly, EMU would have to win out and the Zips would have to lose every game the rest of the season for them to move ahead of us in the standings. I see that as highly unlikely. If EMU ties with us, we hold the tie breaker. I want to get the bye to Friday. EMU beating Ohio today would be more helpful for that, although frankly, as I said earlier, if the Zips hold serve at home they should have one of the top 2 seeds anyways. That would put us a 13-3 in the conference. Buffalo would have to go 5-1 including a win at least one road win (at either Can't or Akron) to move ahead of us. Ohio and Can't would both have to win out just to tie with us. Ohio would have to take 3 on the road against Buffalo, Can't and Miami. Can't would have a more realistic chance with their only road games being at Miami and at BGSU. Even if it were to happen we may still end up with the tiebreaker depending on the circumstances.

I find it odd that you knock Nik for travelling too much and then tell us that Nick has the better post moves.

If the Zips hold serve at home they all but guarantee themselves a bye to Friday in the conference tournament. That has to start tonight with NIU. The Huskies are the worst program in the MAC and arguably one of the worst in all of D-I hoops, but as Hip pointed out, they have been in this position before and come into the JAR and stole one from us. Is this team going to be mentally strong enough to not play down to the level of competition? I'm not sure it really matters. Even if we play at NIU's level we should still win this one (although I predict an utter meltdown of Zipsnation if it plays out like that). I'll say Zips 78, Huskies 52. This one should be a laugher. Let's put the MAC West to bed and get back to the East.

The thing people are forgetting about Nik is that, for all of his spin moves, up and unders, and the various array of post moves he has, the one thing he has not been throughout his career is a consistently good finisher at the rim. Almost everyone on this board has been ready to choke him at one time or another for making an amazing move to the bucket and then failing to finish when he got there. In some respects, he needed to add a jump shot to his game to become a more effective scorer, and that is reflected in the true shooting % numbers. Nik has had to re-invent his game a lot throughout his days at Akron. As a freshman he was essentially all energy with a few nice baseline spin moves thrown in. As a sophmore he was really pretty volatile and out of control. He calmed it down a lot as a junior and added some pretty nice moves out of the high post and some better interior passing. This year is no different. You also can't underestimate for a second the effect that losing Brett McKnight had on Nik. KD's teams have always featured a "stretch" forward who could step out and knock down the 3 (the McKnights, Romeo Travis, Rob Preston). With Brett McKnight gone Nik has had to reinvent his game again to assume some of that role on this team. I don't look at Nik's performance as a detriment to this team at all. He does what he has too to help this team win.

Honestly, I may duck in from time to time, but I won't be on here regularly as I am now. The bar has been raised for this Zips team. As a team and as a fan base we MUST expect better of this team than NIT appearances. If this team and this fan base have the mindset that the NIT is an acceptable consolation prize then we aren't going to get any further as a program than the occassional early exit from the dance mixed in with NIT and CBI appearances. That isn't enough. Programs like Ohio and Can't seem to think that is acceptable. We have to separate ourselves from that small time kind of thinking if we want to truly be considered the top program in the MAC. Anything less than playing on the second weekend of the NCAA tournament needs to be looked at as a bitter disappointment for this group.

NIT is meaningless for a team that has been to the big dance 2 of the last 3 years. You can throw all the consolation prizes at me that you want. Extra time to practice. A little noteriety if you make it to the Garden. Doesn't matter. The NIT will always be the fat, ugly, redheaded, freckle-faced four-eyed step-sister to the big dance. Don't even get me started on the CBI or whatever they call those wasted end of season "tournaments" that you have to pay to play in.

The student attendance issue isn't all that puzzling. The average student has a wealth of entertainment options available to them on any given night. You can get 100s of channels of cable television in almost every dorm, apartment or house around campus. Pretty well everyone has an X-box, Wii, or Playstation. The internet and sites like facebook and twitter provide seemingly endless entertainment options. Combine that with the more traditional, out of house entertainment options such as bars, concerts, professional sports, parties, etc. and there are more entertainment options for todays student than at any time in history. The challenge of any marketing department is to find a way to rise above all of the other options and attract students to these games. It isn't an easy task by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm not sure that anyone in the college landscape has truly figured it out yet. Having a team like this years squad that plays fast and above the rim and is winning a lot of games is a good start.

http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/akron/game_stats The numbers don't lie. This team is regressing as a whole from the line. We haven't regularly shot above 70% from the line since the Midd Tenn. through YSU games. Four of our last 5 we have shot below 65%. We have only been above 70% once in conference play (against Ball State). Last night against Eastern we barely got above 60%. We currently sit 263rd in the country in Free Throw percentage. I frankly don't give a wooden nickle how many we hit in a row to start the game when we end the game at only 60% from the line. If this isn't a concern for you it should be.

I have no idea what you are watching, but I saw a game last night in which the Zips were well on their way to a sub .500 night at the line until Harney hit a few in a row in garbage time. Diggs' percentage has steadily fallen from above 80% early in the year to 68% as of today. Cvetinovic and McClanahan have both regressed as FT shooters in their senior years. Abreu has become erratic at the line. I suppose you can say that Tree's free throws are looking better as the year is going along, but he is still struggling to make 50% at the line. I just hope that Valpo, Duquesne, CSU and VCU (WAY too many games btw) aren't the only times this year that this comes back to bite us.

I have no idea what problems you guys are having but the feed has been perfectly fine for me all night.

You want to talk about immaturity. Harney just got T'd up while waiting for EMU to replace their starting PG who had just fouled out. Up by 18, but with EMU starting to get some momentum and Nick pulls that crap. Doubt we will see him again tonight. Time to grow up guys.

I wanna see C.J., Deji, Egner and Peterson on the floor the last 4 minuts or so of this one.

KD's teams have never been particularly adept at the line, but this years team seems to be a whole new level of bad from the charity stripe. I don't know if it is because of who is going to the line (mostly our bigs) or what. Seems like it is a team wide phenomenon. Our free throw shooting will cost us another game or two this season.

This is the best the MAC West has to offer? And we wonder why our league RPI sucks year in and year out.