Quickzips

So much for Euton redshirting. Guess when you are getting hammered like this ya gotta make some tough calls? Could Brett McKnight be in a worse situation than we thought?

Zips are playing tight and not working together right now. Can't say I understand why we are still playing zone. This Flyer run started when we went to the zone, too many second chance opportunities. Right now Nitro is our best man on the floor and that is not a good sign for the Zips. Gonna have to find some offense here soon or this thing is going to be over at halftime.

KD needs a TO, Zips starting to lose contact with this one. The threes stop dropping and the Zips start to struggle. Need a run out of the TO here.

We lost to Austin Peay last year, and ended up having a phenomenal season...at least by some people's standards. To paraphrase Mark Twain -- "Reports of OU's death are greatly exaggerated." With hard work and dedication, the CBI is still within reach of the Bobcats. The Bobkitties are no better than the team that went into last seasons conference tournament as a 9 seed. In fact, they may even be worse. All the talk that DJ Cooper was the real catalyst for that team in the tournament is already starting to be proven hogwash. The guy who was the real spark for that team was sitting in the stands at the Convo last night wondering what in the world made him think he was an NBA draft pick. Cooper is a good point guard, no doubt, but Bassett was the man who put that team on his back in March and lead them on that unbelievable run. Anyone who argues otherwise was simply not paying attention. Not to mention they have nothing that resembles a low post scoring threat and they are relying on three true freshmen for major minutes in their backcourt. The idea that they are the best team in the conference is a joke and should be taken as an insult by KD and our players.

Actually he did. He stated that he far prefers defense but recognizes that he needs to score more to help the team win and he has started to do that. Recognizing that you need to score more and wanting to dominate guys on the offensive end are two entirely different things. With Zeke's height and athleticism, that jump hook that he is getting so good at and his ability to occasionally step out to 12 feet and knock down a jumper he has it in him to be a dominate offensive force. I don't want to hear, "I recognize I need to score more, but if I had it my way I would just focus on defense." What I want to hear is, "I'm going to score 20 every night and our opponent doesn't have anyone on defense who can stop me." To me that is going to be the difference between Zeke becoming an all-MAC/POTY candidate who can win us a conference championship or two and maybe get us a win or two in the tournament and Zeke becoming an All-American candidate who can take us on a deep run or two through the big dance.

Updated to include an offer to Desmond Ridenour, 6'0" PG and former teamate to future Zip Nick Harney at Benedictine. Seeing an early trend in our 2012 recruiting with three of the five known Zips offers being PGs.

+1. Good stuff! Thank you! Thank you for posting. This was not your normal post game press conference. KD is a fans dream during interviews. The dude is coaching during the interview!?! I enjoyed listening to Zeke. I like the way he thinks about his answers before giving them. I love the interaction between coach and Zeke, and coach and Josh, you don't normally get to see something like that. My favorite KD comments "when your potential best player is so unselfish, you can't help but have a good team.". Second favorite "Josh thinks he's good." Third best "we get along", telling statement. Says more about last years team. Keep up the good work ZTV. Part 1 Part 2 Like the quote from Dambrot about Zeke being unselfish. What concerns me is Zeke's comments about being so unconcerned with scoring the basketball. We all knew he was a defensive minded player coming in, but at some point he is going to have to develop more of a taste for offense. He's such an advantage over every team in this conference and most teams in the country IF he ever develops that attitude of "you know what, I'm going to score on you and there is nothing you can do to stop me." Hopefully KD can coax that out of him some more.

More bad news for the MAC, those vaunted Bobcats, the pre-season favorite poised for that deep NCAA tournament run, fell to Oakland at home last night by a 78-66 count. Guess D.J. Cooper and Co. are mortal after all.

Can't argue with much of anything there. Zips will have to keep Dayton off the offensive glass and limit 2nd chance opportunities, defend the 3 point line and try not to let Chris Wright get the ball in the open floor. If Zeke's early season success with those jump hooks continues and we can knock down a reasonable percentage of our 3's we will be in good shape. So hard to predict this game as we haven't seen the Zips against anything close to this kind of competition thus far.

Thanks for the inside info GoZips. Looking forward to watching this game tomorow on Fox Sports. Very encouraged by the news on Gilliam, Walsh, Treadwell and Harney. This team is already pretty talented and it is only going to get better in the coming years. Hopefully we can go down to Dayton and score the upset on the Flyers home floor. That would definitley be a big early season eye opener for the rest of the conference.

If CSU weren't on our OOC schedule too I could maybe, MAYBE see biting my tounge, resisting the urge to vomit and being alright with a Can't State win (I could never openly root for the Piss and Blue, doing so would be blasphemous). With CSU on our schedule any RPI hit that comes to the conference from Can't losing is pretty much evened out once we spank the Vikings around the JAR next week.

No idea where you got that they just beat UNC at home. They won a game vs. Mount St. Mary's there this-afternoon which was their home opener. They beat UNC at Madison Square Garden by 11 at the end of last year to win the NIT Championship. Last years UNC team was amongst the worst in recent history. Not that I wouldn't take the win if it were the Zips in that position, but... Dayton will be a tough matchup for the Zips. They are a very good team anchored by Chris Wright. The Zips will have to control Wright on the offensive end and particularly on the glass if they want to have a shot at this one. That is easier said than done. If the Zips have an advantage it will be experience in the backcourt as the Flyers are very young there. Talented, but young. Needless to say, if the Zips pull this one out I will be much more impressed than I have been with beating up on D-III schools at home.

Didn't get to the game last night, but listened to as much of it on the radio as 1350 would allow. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. It seems to me that Zeke is really working at becoming more comfortable in the offense. In the two games this year he has shot 13 of 17 for 32 points while averaging about 24 minutes per night. I expect his minutes to increase against real D-I competition where we will actually need him in the second half. It remains to be seen if the offensive production can maintain as well. If he can give us anything close to those kinds of numbers, and still be a force on the defensive end, it is going to be a very good season for the Zips. Very surprised by the fact that Nitro led us in rebounding again last night. If he can give us that kind of effort on the glass and on the defensive end while knocking down a few shots he might just not be a bust of a recruit after all. KD had some harsh criticism of Abreu and Diggs in the post-game show. Said Alex has to step it up on the defensive end or he will start losing playing time. Said that if Alex doesn't pick his game up on defense the team will run with Roberts as the backup PG and play Nitro more minutes at SG. Quincy needs to pick up his effort in practice. Made the point that he doesn't like playing guys who aren't putting forth good effort in practice. He bit his tounge and did it with Diggs last night, but wasn't too happy about it. I was very surprised that Egner will be playing and Euton redshirting, but KD's reasoning actually made quite a bit of sense. Said we already have a pick and pop kind of forward in Brett McKnight, so getting Egner and his athleticism in there gives us some diversity in how we can play. Also said that all three guys were asked if they wanted to redshirt, Josh was the most emphatic about not wanting to as he felt he could help the team right now. Sounds like Josh is the kind of guy who can morph into a nice leader for this team down the road. I almost wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of him in the Dayton game as we will need some athleticism to match up with Dayton's all everything PF Chris Wright. Very disappointed in Nikola. For all the talk about how he has settled down and wants to take on a leadership role with this team, to go out and get T'd up in the second half of a blowout against at D-III team for no good reason is unacceptable. Looking forward to Tuesday and this big matchup in Dayton. Hopefully this Zips squad can go in there and avenge the heartbreak of the last time we played that arena.

You read wrong. http://www.whsv.com/jmumensbasketball/head..._104530894.html

I guess the Egner question has been answered as Josh just scored the first 2 points of his Zips career, then follows them up with 2 more.

1350 feed is starting to come in, though it is pretty weak at the moment.

UNREAL This school is doomed. They will never ever win anything. Do you think the fans would be treated this way at Penn State or OSU? Or even K E N T? Ok easy there bud, I'm as confused by this as anyone, but I would hardly say that having a hoops game against a D-III team not get on the radio qualifies as dooming the program. Take a drink and calm down man. It will be ok.

I think French and Co. are still heading over from the soccer game. When I got on just after 7 they were still finishing up post game there. Hoping they will be getting going here.

Not listed on channelsurfing at this point, but it doesn't mean it won't be there. I would check back closer to 7:00pm and see.

It will certainly be nice to see some size in the Zips backcourt next season. Not only will we have the two new guys at 6'3" but we also will return McClanahan at 6'4" and add Xavier transfer Brian Walsh at 6'4". After years of watching mostly undersized combo-guards it will be interesting to watch how this plays out. I think the biggest thing I like about Deji and Blake are the diversity they bring talent wise. Blake being a knock down shooter and a big offensive threat, Deji being a more athletic slasher and a more lock-down defender. It will give the Zips some more options and just make them that much more difficult to prepare for.

Alright, someone has to do it, might as well be me. Time to get a prediction thread rolling. We all know this is going to be a laugher. The game will probably be well out of hand by halftime. Milliken is a D-III team with no size to speak of and no chance to win this game. The Big Blue only boast two players over 6'6" (a 6'6" Senior Center and a 6'7" Freshman Forward). Their backcourt is even smaller than the '09-'10 Zips with four players under 6'0". The Zips should have no problem with this one. I look for a similar kind of game to the exhibition with John Carroll with the Zips establishing their frontcourt dominance early and wearing Milliken down, then burrying the Big Blue with the 3 ball as the game goes along. Zips: 92 Big Blue: 45

KD's direct quote is: ''He is deceptive. He looks like he's slow as molasses, but he's always getting by guys." He's not slow as molasses. He just looks that way. The deceptive part is that defensive players have a problem staying with him even though he doesn't appear to be moving that fast. I always marvel when I watch Chris Paul play the point because he doesn't look as fast as some other NBA guards, but he calmly dribbles right into the lane, weaving in and out of defensive players like they aren't even there. Now obviously I'm not saying that Alex Abreu is equivalent to Chris Paul. But my initial look at Abreu playing last week reminded me of the way Paul can keep defenders on their heels despite not appearing to move fast in a straight line. As I try to analyze it, I think it has to do with making many sudden, unpredictable changes in direction and speed instead of moving consistently fast in a single direction. This requires great peripheral vision to know where all the other players are on the court, and it requires being extremely comfortable dribbling the ball close to defenders without fear that it's going to be picked so that the total focus can be on finding the open player to hit with the pass. I was thinking as I watched Abreu weave around defenders as if they were statues that this is one of the most important qualities of a really good PG. I can't recall having seen a converted shooting guard or combo guard make those kinds of moves, and most PGs aren't really that good at doing it. Over the years we've complained that the Zips are a little too predictable, which makes them easier to defend against. Abreu appears to have that rare combination of being both unpredictable and in control. Keep your eyes on him every moment he's on the floor. He's fun to watch. +1 It's hard not to make comparisons between Abreu and the man he is replacing in the lineup, Humpty. Humpty was the exact opposite of what you just described. Lightning quick in a straight line, but often out of control and not much moving horizontally. He got himself in trouble far to often by just going flat out, top-gear into the teeth of the defense and then having no where to go with the ball once he got there. I didn't see that out of Alex. Alex looks like the kind of PG I've been wanting to see run this team. Shifty enough to keep defenses on their toes without dribbling himself into trouble.

Alex Abreu could emerge as the starting point guard as a freshman. If Alex is PG and Zeke and Steve can work an inside out game, Steve should get great looks at open threes. I think we go as far as Zeke and Steve working together takes us. I'm hoping (getting excited) to see a different style of game from last year. I don't like the "slow as molasses" comment by KD. I'll have to evaluate that myself on Friday. A better evaluation will come on Tuesday, but I'll still be able to tell by Saturday morning. Nice article BTW I really liked the Abreu/McNees combination in the exhibition game. Gave us two guys on the floor who can handle the ball and it really seemed to open some space up for guys. Like I've said all off-season, McNees looked like he could be even more effective playing some minutes off the ball. Once Alex settled down a little bit, it looked like they had the offense clicking pretty well. Again, it is just an exhibition game, but the early returns were positive. To me it really looks like we've got three guys on this team that are capable of bringing the ball up the court and initiating the offense. Abreu, McNees and Diggs. If I'm KD I want to have at least 2 of those guys on the floor at all times just to put some more pressure on the defense

Should be an interesting matchup. Dayton's Chris Wright and the Zips' Zeke Marshall are both NBA prospects. Wright actually entered this past years draft before deciding to return to school. Both teams are breaking in some new faces with Dayton losing their starting C and returning only one backcourt contributor from last year in 6'4" Junior Paul Williams. The Flyers newcomers are talented though, and include 4 star PG Juwan Staten and Drake transfer Josh Parker who averaged 10.7ppg as a sophomore before transfering and sitting out last season. Being so early in the season, this one might come down to which team can get their new guys acclimated more quickly. Definitly an early season measuring stick for this Zips team. GO ZIPS!

I disagree .. since he was a freshman, it appeared to me that he had the highest upside on the Falcons, while everyone else was focused on Polk, Jakubowski & Nate Miller. Thomas can play. Reminds me a lot of Nate Linhart .. maybe a better shooter, and not the rebounder Nate was .. but he'd be among my first & second team all-MAC players. Go Zips! Brandon Bowdry D.J. Cooper Justin Greene Jarrod Jones Zeke Marshall Julian Mavunga Steve McNees Xavier Silas Rod Sherman DeVaughn Washington Flenard Whitfield Trey Zeigler All players I would take on my team over Scott Thomas. There are probably more. And please don't compare Scott Thomas to Nate Linhart. That is an insult to Nate. Thomas is nowhere near the player Nate was.