Captain Kangaroo

If you want my honest assessment...I think McAdams is rushing his shot. He's a catch-and-shoot guy, so he needs to get it off quickly. But he is rushing his shot too much at the expense of accuracy. I mentioned in the Hawai'i tourney that Kretzer's form is off. His shot is typically text book. But I see his elbow and arms drifting to the side on his follow through. That could be due to being off-balance. Or it could be due to him shooting from distances too far from the hoop...the further away you are, the worse your form becomes. If I'm McAdams, I start pump-faking more, sliding to the right, and hitting my shot more in rhythm. If I am Kretzer, I focus on my footwork and balance, and I start taking shots closer to the line. And for both - if the outside shot isn't falling, drive to the hole. It is amazing what a couple lay-ups can do to improve the confidence in your outside shot. Slumps are common to all sports, and are contagious. And these guys are obviously slumping (we know they are capable of hitting the "3" at a 35+ % clip). Once one of them figures it out, the other will follow.

Tough to get an assist when the guy you're passing the ball to cannot hit the open look.

General Observation: Over the past few seasons, opponents would marvel at the fact that the Zips could substitute a 2nd wave of players that was still better than their own starters. That is not the case this season. Specific Observation: McAdams, Evans and Kretzer need to get on track. Our entire offense is predicated on them hitting the open 3. When they are chucking bricks from 23 feet, Tree gets pissed down low. When Tree gets pissed, he saunters. When Tree saunters, and we hoist up 23 foot bricks, we get run out of the gym. Our point guard deficiencies are well known. But our outside shooting woes have officially surpassed the PG woes in my book. OU will beat us by 30 if Evans, Kretzer and McAdams don't start hitting their open shots. Several teams will.

Joins a growing list of Akron assistants that return to UA. His o-lines under Owens were always good. I wish the circumstances of his hire were different, but I am glad he's back at UA. Look forward to seeing him once again at the golf outing.

Offered by the Zips and Temple If he signed (long ways away) he'd be the 3rd WPa QB on our roster.

Divide each of those stats by a factor of 2 and I think he'd fit right in with the Zips.

#1 #2 #3

I vote for Rob "Big Country" Preston because he is Joe Dunn's all-time "Zips Offensive POTG" selection leader. If you are Player of the Game 58 times in your career, you gotta be the best.

I agree. But how can the MAC upper-echelon still be so bad in comparison to the so-so teams they faced in bowl competition? Is a great MAC program still a bottom-feeder in the big picture of D1-A football...can't beat the weakest BCS bowl-level programs, nor the upper-echelon non-BCS teams? Why is there no really great MAC football team? Miami and Marshall of the early 2000's were legitimately great. Now our MAC football "flagship" NIU looks a lot like the Zips men's basketball team. Whips the cupcakes...gets wins against BCS bottom-feeders...but fails against mid/low level BCS programs. As good as MAC football quality-of-play was this season, why no "legit" Top 25 teams? Has the MAC simply improved from horrible, to "almost competitive"? Is the MAC as a whole, in the midst of Bowden's "Lose big, lose by a little, win by a little, win big" process? Is the NCAA happy that they can parade out MAC programs as the Washington Generals during bowl season, and get the remainder of college football some feel-good, season-ending wins? 0-5 begs the questions.

If six is unacceptable, then what's seven?

You use the word "performance" like Joe Dunn uses "No doubt about it."

Maybe the Zips and Herd stink equally?

Tree just sent me a tweet saying "I told ya so!"

I think that pretty much sums it up. I give Ibitayo credit for never giving up. He always plays hard. That can't be said for some of his counterparts. Kretzer's shooting form looks bad. He needs to watch himself on tape. His hands/arms are flailing to the side on his release. It doesn't look like the Kretzer I have seen in the past. Harney is frustrating. Does he like playing basketball? I wonder. When Tree walks up the court in the second half, is he A.) Tired B.) Pissed at his teammates c.) Pouting I hate when I see Tree pack it in, because once he's given up, it gets really ugly, really fast. When we had lesser talent, the Dials, Middleton, Roberts, etc. era, we were a better team. That crew would have won at least 2 games in Hawai'i. This group has great talent, but collectively doesn't play to it's potential. How many times does that sports psychologist need to intervene with this team?

Keith Dambrot So for every person here who said the Zips quit in the second half, said the Zips are lacking character, that the Zips are not mentally tough...give yourself an extra glass of egg nog. You saw the same thing as our Coach.

What disgusting, loser, anti-Zips fans wrote this (below). This stuff from so-called "fans" makes me angry!!

+1 We ride the wave. When things go badly, we fold.

You can blow smoke up the team's butt, or you can call a spade a spade. Neither of the above type of Zips fan is better than the other.

Lazy, uninspired and unorganized. Add in the inability to make a free throws, and you get whipped like we did tonight. How can you give the opponent 7+ points per game by bricking 50% of your free throws? That's pathetic. A second consecutive embarrassing 2nd half by the Zips. How long until someone posts "All that matters is what we do in Cleveland"? I love that one. The past great OU, Can't, Miami, <whomever> past MAC teams don't lay eggs like that in a tourney where the opponent's names are recognizable, but whose game is mediocre. Great MAC teams win. We aren't a great MAC team. To quote Bill Murray: "That's the facts, Jack."

I agree. I was talking to a friend today and we discussed how much better Harney plays when he starts. Merry Christmas to us.

Here. Interesting that WMU has 29 commitments...when you are only allowed to sign a maximum of 25. I would think if you have an obscene amount of commitments by Christmas, you probably aimed low on your talent level.

There's always next year... Only in Cleveland and Akron are they looking forward to the next season when it's only 1/3rd of the way through the present season. Presently, Q is our second best player. And 3rd best isn't anywhere near him. So I would like to enjoy this season because you are only one surprise 5lb bale of weed away from any season going in the crapper.

Poor shot selection lead to many easy run-outs. Lazy defense. It got out of hand quickly. Iowa State is a really good team, but we didn't bring our A-game. Or our B-game for that matter.

Embarrassingly lethargic second half for the Zips. Poor shot selection. No defense. I give Tree a pass because he's dead-tired. The other guys need to pick it up...but our effort and shot selection is steamrolling in the wrong direction. Too bad. There is a lot of time left.

That sucks. Super guy. Great coach. And he had a bright future ahead of him. Absolutely horrible news.