Quickzips

We all know what the key to this one is going to be. Limit Can't's perimeter players effectiveness off the dribble. They are not a good outside shooting team, but when they start breaking you down off the dribble they are tough to beat. They keep 3-4 guys on the floor who can break you down off the dribble at all times. If you let them drive the ball into the lane you will never beat this team. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see some more zone tonight from the Zips.

I just want to see one game at the Q here where there is actually some rythm and some flow to the game. Maybe not have both teams in the bonus at the 12:00 mark of the second half. Maybe let the players play and the coaches coach without having the constant foul trouble piling up. You don't have to blow the whistle on pretty much every play to keep the game from turning into a rugby scrum. In fact, I think last nights ending pretty well proves that.

I think that comment was more directed to the fact that the foul trouble really didn't start to become an issue until pretty late in the second half. By that point in time if you haven't been in yet, to try and go in a highly contested game and play effectively is a very tall task. At that point your halftime warmups and everything aren't going to be helping anymore, and it is going to take some time for you to loosen up on the court. I thought about Egner the moment that Nik fouled out, but in hindsight I think it was the right call not to play him in this one. It isn't like coming in at the end of a blowout at bench clearing time.

even bigger break for us if BSU beats Can't. Even bigger break no matter who wins that BSU/Can't matchup. I like our odds over either of those teams better than I do OU. OU is by far the worst matchup in the conference for us.

Three years in a row, first game in the Q and the Zips make it WAY harder on themselves than it had to be. Give Miami credit for coming back, but if the Zips could, you know, finish a gimme at the rim, hit free throws on a relatively consistent basis, or stop fouling Julian Mavunga all the time this game would have been over about an hour ago. Looking forward to tomorrow night against Western. Broncos looked stout against BG earlier. Hopefully we aren't too worn out by this one to come out and lay a whippin on the horse.

n/m just found my answer. is that a no? ESPN3 should have it. BG/WMU is on right now.

Been thinking the same thing myself. Then again, I felt the same way two years ago at this time. I'm just going to make as many games as I can this week and enjoy the ride.

Really a pretty ugly game on all ends. I'd like to say that was a new low in MAC officiating, but sadly it was just a new middle. I have no idea what those guys in stripes were looking at out there. I'd like to sit down with them and review the video, because there sure were a LOT of puzzling calls. There were some bright spots. I thought Q turned in another pretty nice performance, especially on the defensive end. Alex did a nice job changing the pace up out there. Zeke had a nice game on the defensive end, not so much on offense. His one-man volleyball game in the corner in the first half was one of the best individual efforts from a Zip all season. Nik was frustrated all night by getting hacked every which way on the offensive end and getting whistled just for breathing on the Eagles on defense. Nothing else really stood out tonight for me. Got through the first one, which has typically been the biggest hurdle for the Zips in the tournament. On to Miami.

Too many external factors that are really out of KD's control right now. Poor facilities and an apathetic conference being the two biggest. You've made the comparison to Gary Waters with Cleveland State. At Cleveland State men's hoops in the marquee sport. As a result they have better facilities, they get a larger piece of the athletic budget, they are in a conference where basketball is emphasized to a much larger degree. All of that gives Waters an edge up. Personally, I think Keith has done a tremendous job given all of those issues. There is still more that can be done, but I trust KD leading us in that direction more than starting fresh with an un-proven coach. You've made the comparison to the soccer team with Lolla vs. Porter, I'll make another comparison that is probably more relevant and that is to Toledo. They had by all indications a very successful coach who had the team in contention for the conference title most years in Stan Joplin. They weren't satisfied with that (and some other issues) and canned the guy. They are still trying to dig out from that decision and continue to be one of the worst teams in D-I. Keith has made some adjustments to his recruiting style (going after more athletic players, taking some shots on transfers and non-qualifiers) and his on-court philosophy (playing more zone defense, inserting guys like Abreu and Diggs who like to attack the basket off the dribble more). I'll give him some time and trust that he can make it work out.

Sorry I haven't been around a lot the last couple of days. Work has been getting pretty busy for me. I did get to catch some of the second half meltdown against Can't. Honestly, if the Zips were going to have to play in the first round, this thing couldn't have set up much better for them. EMU at home is a game the Zips SHOULD win. I know EMU beat us once already, but we shot 30% from the floor in that one. I just can't see that happening again. If the Zips shoot anywhere near a reasonable percentage from the floor it should be a double digit victory. Miami in the second round is certainly a game we can win as well and we follow that up with a probable date against a Western team that we know we can beat. I feel pretty good about the Zips shots at getting to Saturday again.

I've got better things to do than watch this. See you guys Friday night for Can't. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

And to start the half our adjustment.........Jack up some more threes.

Zips won't get back into this if they don't start defending. Everyone is so worried about Cooper and he's slicing us up anyways. Stop doubling him out high and start worrying about the guys he's passing to. WAY too many guys left alone under the basket in the first half. On the offensive end we have to stop settling for long jump shots. Work the ball into the post, get some dribble penetration, anything except long contested J's. Then to follow it up we have to start crashing the boards. -12 on the glass is terrible for the game, it is absolutely unacceptable for a HALF.

Worst half of basketball the Zips have played all year. Hard to see the Zips coming back in this one, but the Bobcats have let teams back into games like this all year. Have to make some adjustments at the half though.

We aren't looking to get the ball inside at all. Have to make some adjustments here. And at this point we can't keep doubling Cooper out high. It is leaving him too many guys wide open under the basket.

No defense + No shooting + Turnovers = Embarassment

What the hell is this? Do the Zips just see green and white and crap themselves or something? What is this?

Zips are getting manhandled down the stretch in the first half here. Have to get this back down to a reasonable margin before the half.

I'm amazed that WMU is competitive in the West this year, given their losses from a year ago. I've always considered Hawkins one of the elite coaches in the MAC -- however, he has never gotten over the "hump" and claimed a title -- he's better at taking below-average talent and making them play over their heads. I suspect they are still a year away from being a serious contender in Cleveland. What do people think? It is hard not to wonder if it isn't a case of addition by subtraction where the loss of one player (granted a very, VERY good player) in Kool who dominates the conversation allows the rest of the team to play with more balance and therefore makes them better.

I swear if I have to listening to the O-H-I-O-O-H-I-O-O-H-I-O chant all night I'm going to go Charlie Sheen.

Yes...exactly. He has no clue how to run the offense through a true center like Zeke...i think this is plainly obvious to anyone watching a few games. Zeke is the most under utilized player in the league in terms of his offensive ability. I think what is plainly obvious is that Zeke is not ready to have the offense run through him. It is plain as day to anyone watching that as soon as the ball touches Zeke's hands he is thinking. It has been that way all year. It makes him hesitant and indecisive which are two traits you can't have from the guy you are running your offense through. How much of that you want to attribute to KD and how much you want to attribute to Zeke is open for interpretation, but for right now Zeke simply isn't there. KD has come to this realization too and that is why we aren't trying to run the offense through Zeke as much anymore.

Right now, I really don't care if we start trying to work the ball to Zeke and get him going. This team is winning games in relatively impressive fashion with Cvetinovic and McKnight carrying the load out of the post. Trying to force feed Zeke to get him going (as we did earlier in the season) is only going to serve to disrupt the chemistry and rythm this team has going right now. KD is taking the correct approach right now. Let our proven horses carry the load and whatever you can get out of Zeke on a given night is just gravy. This isn't the time of year to be trying to stroke the confidence of the finiky big man. We'll have the offseason to work on that. Agreed. Zeke is still a project, and next year, when we're minus 4-5 guys is a much better year for projects. Abreu started playing better when he figured out it wasn't his job to drive the lane every time he had the ball. At 5'9 that rarely works against a Buffalo. I'm still not impressed yet. Where was Dakotah? I've been in hockey land the past few months and haven't kept up with the hoops like I should. Not impressed by what? Abreu or the team? If you aren't impressed by what the team has done the past 3-4 weeks I would certainly like to know what unreasonably high standards you have for them. If it is Abreu you are un-impressed with then you need to go back to hockey land and just stay there. Abreu has played a critical role in this streak, coming in off the bench and pestering opposing PG's, hitting some pretty critical shots and bringing an energy to the floor that other teams bench guards can't bring. As far as Dakotah, he hasn't been playing at all lately. I said when we burned his redshirt at Dayton that we would come to regret it and we certainly have. At this point it has been an absolutely wasted year for him. Hopefully things work out as well for him as they have for Nitro after we wasted his redshirt year late in the season.

I think we are in control of our own destiny. If we run the table, we can't do worse than.... And we could be #1 Exactly...let's not over-analyze this. We just win five straight and we go dancing. That'd mean the Zips ending the season with a 12 game winning streak...and could score the MAC a decent seed in the tournament. WIN OUT FELLAS! DO IT! That's not gonna happen with 10 losses and a #211 SOS. I haven't been rooting for Ken+ to win in any way. But, this whole scenario comes down to your personal preference. Have you been wanting to keep a slim chance at #1 alive at the risk of not getting a bye at all? Or, would you have rather seen us simply lock up a bye? Hoping for two historically difficult road wins in a row to even give us a chance at #1 is risky. I think I may have rather seen us have at least the #4 spot virtually locked up at this point, and start getting the guys ready for tournament play. There isn't a team in the conference that wants to see the Zips in their side of the bracket right now. Trust me on that one. With the way the Zips are playing right now, nobody is going to want to see us in Cleveland. Focus on getting the bye just to make sure no freaky injuries happen or anything in the first round game and lets go buzzsaw this conference in Cleveland.

Right now, I really don't care if we start trying to work the ball to Zeke and get him going. This team is winning games in relatively impressive fashion with Cvetinovic and McKnight carrying the load out of the post. Trying to force feed Zeke to get him going (as we did earlier in the season) is only going to serve to disrupt the chemistry and rythm this team has going right now. KD is taking the correct approach right now. Let our proven horses carry the load and whatever you can get out of Zeke on a given night is just gravy. This isn't the time of year to be trying to stroke the confidence of the finiky big man. We'll have the offseason to work on that.

Just as important, the Zips can theoretically clinch a first round bye with a win over OU on Tuesday. Western would also have to lose to Eastern tomorrow.