I caught the 2nd quarter and dvr'd the rest, but Zeke looked frustrated out there. Despite the good first half stat line, I came away thinking that maybe this isn't the best future for him. At the end of the day, as appreciation for what he did for the program, all I want is for him to be happy in whatever he's doing. I'm no psychology major, but here are some factors that I think come into play. First, the d-league, at least this game, was not about defense which is obviously his strong suit. Many times he'd make a switch which would result in a dunk from the person he just left. You could see him look at his teammates and throw up his hands. Maybe I have blue/gold tinted glasses, but coming from Akron with our style of defense and teammates working together, this has got to be frustrating. Also, I'm sure that part of his renewed love for basketball during his time at Akron was related not only to what he was doing, but who he was doing it with. You grow more comfortable with your teammates... is the same happening in Maine? I also noticed in the offensive gameplan (if you can call it that) the game was mostly about dunks, or guards bringing the ball up, coming off of one screen and hoisting it. I watched the entire second quarter and saw maybe 4 entry passes to Zeke. Consequently, his rebounding attempts, which have never been spectacular, were pretty rough. Many times he would just lean into the guy who was boxing him out, and not make any move to get around him. I know he's no Varejao, but the effort just wasn't there and I think that was at least in part to the lack of team play/frustration/guards hoisting shots.
Again, if he came out tomorrow and said he was quitting basketball because his heart wasn't into it and he wanted to do something with his degree, I'd wish him all the best. He doesn't owe us anything else on the court.