Quickzips

I'm really not certain where all this KD might leave talk is coming from. I guess it has something to do with Christian bolting on Can't. To be honest, they are completely different situations. Christian is a younger coach whose still on that proverbial upswing of his career. KD was down that road before when he was at CMU. Christian had no previous ties to Can't before he arrived there. KD grew up in the area and went to school here. KD's been around the block a lot more. To be perfectly honest, he's kind of lucky to have scrapped his way back into DI coaching after what went down at CMU. I've never gotten the impression from KD that Akron is just another stepping stone towards some dream of a job with a larger program. With Christian that's always been an issue. I could be totally blinded to something here, but I really think a lot of this KD might leave stuff is just overreaction to that school from the East losing their coach.

Caught the final 2 minutes of a rerun of the Championship game last night. All I can say about Hitchens on the last play is WOW!. Libbey doubled him on the inbounds w/ 5 seconds left, he still worked free, walked the tightrope down the sideline and had the awarness to find Chambers waiting for the layup inside. All in 5 seconds. The kid doesn't just have a second gear, he's got a third and maybe a fourth as well. When he turns 'em on it's really something exciting to watch. Can't wait to see this kid handling the ball for us.

I hate hearing that the O-line looks like a turnstyle. I don't care who you have at QB, RB, WR, TE, FB, whatever. If the offensive line can't block you aren't going to do piddly on offense.

I can't figure this one out to be quite honest. It really seems like Christian just went for the dough and the promise of better facilities. Sure the Mountain West is a better conference than the MAC, but TCU finished 7th out of 9 teams in the conference w/ a sub-.500 record both overall and in conference. They're focus is primarily on football. They haven't had a winning season since '04-'05. They are in a conference with teams like BYU, UNLV and New Mexico that have pretty well established basketball programs that will be difficult to overcome. Quite frankly it seems as if this move was Jim Christian throwing up the white flag and surrendering that he's taken Can't as far as he can get them. Can't's gonna have some problems over the next couple of years. This is where that JUCO recruiting strategy hurts. Whoever the new coach is is going to have to either keep up with the JUCO route where he may not have quite the eye and the connections Christian did or he's going to have to move to a traditional high school recruiting strategy and risk having a couple year gap in there where the last of Christians JUCO's are gone and the new high schoolers are still developing.Very interesting.

He's just a freshman next year, but if you're looking for guys who is hungry and plays with a chip on their shoulders based on past childhood experiences I think you'd have a hard time finding a better guy to play that role than Nik Cvetinovic. The kid grew up in war-torn Serbia.

I've said a couple of times now that I really think the best role for Steve would be that 6th man role that Cedrick held for a couple years. He can provide some of that instant offense with that nice stroke of his and his defense really isn't that bad. Just so long as he doesn't have to play too much PG. He's a much better catch and shoot kind of guy. As far as Conyers, a lot will depend on whether he decides to stick it out in hopes of more playing time, but I think you bring up an interesting point. It is looking more and more like KD wants to pick up the tempo with this team based on the recruits he's bringing in. I think that style of play, at least on the offensive end is much better styled to Jimmy's game. I also think he would benefit from being moved to SG. I know we have a lot of guards right now, but outside of McClanahan (who skip-zip would point out may or may not be able to contribute right away) we are quite small in our backcourt. I've heard quite a few people say SG is his more natural position and I think at 6'5" he would give us some much needed size in the backcourt. Also, with Nate and Brett McKnight seemingly ahead of Jimmy on the depth chart going into next season a change in position might be a way for him to earn some more playing time while some of the younger guards are still developing.

For the record, I don't think that all of these freshman are going to come in and provide Purdue-like freshman impact. I do however think that a couple of them will have a strong role on this team. Particularly the two redshirts. Our main contributors, at least at the start of the season are probably going to be Nate and Chris McKnight. I don't think we can rely on those guys for everything though and with all of the young talent (Hitchens, Sullivan, Steward, McClanahan, Cvetinovic, Parrish, Sweich) being added next year one has to think that the law of averages is in favor of at least one or two of those guys stepping up and having a successful role on this team. Am I talking 10, 5 and 5 averages? Probably not, but you don't have to see those kinds of numbers to have a positive impact on the team.

Please go back and read what I wrote again. I was talking about the overall athleticism of our guards. Did I once say that these guys were better players than Nick and Ced? No. But, by all indications that I've seen those four guys give us more athleticism at the guard spots than what Nick and Cedrick could give us this year because of their injuries. Nothing more, nothing less.

I think there are a few big things that help out a young group of guys like ours are going to be next year.First, as has been mentioned before, we aren't the only team in the conference losing major pieces. You look at Quantance, Reitz, Pollitz, Williams, even guys like Bubba, Giordan Watson and Mike Scott represent big losses for some of the better teams in the conference. We probably lost more in terms of sheer numbers than other teams, but by no means will we be the only team looking to replace a major piece of the puzzle.Some of our younger guys have had time in the program. While we will probably rely upon Nate and Chris McKnight as the "go to guys" early on, McNees, Brett McKnight, Bardo and Roberts have all seen playing time while Sweich and Steward have a year of watching and learning under their belt. It isn't like College Basketball is going to be a complete surprise for eveyone on the team.The overall athleticism of this team improves greatly, particularly at G. Again, love Nick and Cedrick, but both were bothered by injuries (Cedrick probably lost a lot more than Nick did to this, but both were hampered by the injury bugs) and it really hurt us in terms of that athletic backcourt. Steward, Roberts, Hitchens and Sullivan should all come in and provide a major upgrade in that area.KD recruits for high charachter kids. Lets face it, these guys will probably take their lumps, especially early on in the season. But with the way KD recruits, I have a hard time seeing guys collapsing, losing confidence or letting a few bumps in the road hamper their development. Finally, as I mentioned in another thread, this is the year that I really think those cupcake schedules we all hate so much will come in handy. You can have the mentally strongest team in the country, but going out on the road and playing (and probably losing) to a top 25 SOS or something like that would probably be a little much for a young team like this.

Go tell that to Purdue. 4 freshman are their main contributors and their giving a VERY good Xavier team everything they can handle for a Sweet 16 bid. Is it a rarity to see youngsters stepping up big for your team? Yes. Is it impossible? Not by any means.

Well, now that the season is officially over, I think it is appropriate to start taking stock for next year. As a couple of people have already said, this is going to be a VERY different looking Zips team starting next year. Gone are the old guard of Wood, Dials, Cedrick, Dru and Romeo. We have a lot of young talent coming in next seasons, but with that much young talent comes a lot of questions. Who starts at PG? Hitchens? Steward? McNees? Can McNees build on the even out and become a more consistent player in his second year? Which freshman if any do we get contributions from and who redshirts? Can Sweich take over enough of what Wood did inside for us to be effective down low? Does Bardo continue to develop and earn more minutes or is he already starting to max out? Who steps up and takes over that leadership role on this team? Nate? Chris McKnight? How do guys like Roberts and Brett McKnight come along with a full offseason in the program under their belts? Does Conyers come back and start contributing with this team? It's going to be a very interesting year next year. I think we have the raw talent, how long it takes for this team to gel is going to be the key. See ya all in the JAR next fall.

Bottom line is that we needed a true PG running the show down the stretch. Someone who can cut down the silly turnovers and create the big shot for himself or someone else in the last seconds. As mad as I am at Wood for hoisting up a prayer with enough time on the clock to make one more pass to a better shooter, I can't be too mad at him. He was a man's man inside tonight and was even hitting a fair amount of his FT's. Dials was taken out of the game once again today by having to play the PG. Cedrick came to play and did a nice job at both ends of the floor even when he was in foul trouble. Nate, yet again neutralizes their best player and adds a little on the offensive end. Brett McKnight hit some big shots. We just didn't quite have enough down the stretch and like I said, that lack of a true PG really came back to bite us today as it did so many other times during the year.

Congrats to the seniors on fine careers. It would have been nice to have a true PG and another inside presence this year and maybe make it a little further, but you can't argue with what guys like Dials, Wood and Middleton have given to this team. Even Quade and Goddard have had their role on this team, although I'm not nearly as sad to see them go as Dials, Wood and Ced. Best of luck down the road guys.

Worry about that when the time comes. Let's just get through this one.

Someone please remind Jeremiah Wood that he isn't a point guard out there. Get your butt inside, look for the rebounds on defense and then get the ball to someone who can handle it.

UMass is just moving at an entirely different tempo than us right now. And yet again we're missing shots close to the basket.

Too many dumb turnovers.

As much as I've been on my kick about pressuring Can't more, I have to agree with this. This year we simply didn't have the personel to play that kind of basketball. When your starting guards are on bad knee's and you lack a true PG to run the show it has to make it difficult to play the way UNLV did today. Impossible, hardly, but a lot more difficult, yes. Next year is a year we ought to be able to play a lot more pressure defense. With a great on the ball defender in Nate, great speed in guys like Sullivan, Hitchens, Steward and even Roberts has shown some speed at guard. It should be a lot more feasible next year.

Not so fast, Cleveland State and Can't are both out of the postseason, but OSU is still in it. As long as OSU is still playing expect us to continue to play 2nd fiddle to NEOhio when it comes to coverage. Even with Can't and Cleveland State playing the Suckeyes got the bulk of the coverage. Can't see that changing now.

Screw Can't and Screw the MAC. You wouldn't see Can't rooting for us if we were there and you won't see the rest of the conference doing it either. We are on our own in this conference for the most part and it's time we stopped caring about what everyone else does. I for one am loving this.And as far as UNLV not playing that well, stop focusing on their offensive work and focus on what they are doing on defense. They are undersized, but they are putting on an absolute clinic on how to pressure the ball fullcourt and force turnovers. Something Al Fisher is completely unequipped to deal with.

Can't just tied an NCAA tournament record for ineptitude by scoring only 10 points in a half.

Can't is down 19 late in the first half. They've got 6 points so far and haven't even come really that close to scoring any more. UNLV is putting on a clinic on the defensive end. Can't is forcing everything, taking horrible shots and turning the ball over. Not a good day for Can't or the MAC.

They've missed quite a few of them. I think to this point they've only hit 2 of them. Can't has at least 8 turnovers already and we are only halfway through the first half. Thats the kind of defensive pressure you have to put on Can't in order to beat them.

Go take a look at what UNLV is doing to them right now. Pressuring them the entire way up the court and forcing Can't into turnovers and sloppy offensive sets. It's exactly what I said we should do on Sat. and the Sun. before that. If you let Can't run their offense they will kill you. If you get up and pressure them, they turn the ball over like its their job.

Noone has forgotten about Steward. He does still have some injury concerns though, and I don't see any real problem in having an abundance of capable point guards.