mes102

Couple things I take away from that article

I could be wrong about this, but Kostelac's game seems to remind me a lot of when Groce had Ivo Baltic at OU.

On a side note, those Zippy cookies must have closed the deal on this one

He's #44 +1

Skip better be thinking about the location of those Zippy cookies

I was going to stay out of it, but I just couldn't keep my fingers off the reply button. There is no way you can say Kwan and Big Dog graduating isn't us losing a lot. You may be looking at it from an offensive standpoint at times, but Kwan's defense for majority of this year was what we'll miss the most next year. There were portions of the season where he let his lack of offensive efficiency effect his defense, but for the most part, he was our best defender. There was actually times that I wished KD would have put Kwan on Jimmy Hall instead of Big Dog, just because of Kwan's defense. Big Dog was the focal point and the cornerstone of everything this team did offensively. I think you are extremely overlooking his passing ability and vision of the court. By your basis, if we take Kwan and Big Dog out of the lineup last year and gave the reigns to Jackson, Utomi, and Ivey that we would have been better?!?!?!?!?!?!?! No way. Personally, I don't think Williams, Noah, Hughes, and TDM will be major losses other than depth issues potentially, but Kwan and Big Dog will be huge losses for us no matter who our coach would have been/will be and the players we would have had/will have next season. As for Ivey and Utomi, I think they've shown signs of being solid players but you have to be more consistent than they were last season to be considered a cornerstone of the program. Hope they work on that this off season. As for Jackson, if he comes back, great. If not, next man up(whoever that may be).

Correct, he originally went to Youngstown Ursuline.

Wouldn't mind seeing them take a hard look at Reese, Van Ry, Wilson, and Graham in that order.

http://www.gozips.com/sports/wsoc/2017-18/schedule

I'm a basketball coach. It's not simple and boring to me. I just found it evident in several games, especially the Ball State MAC semifinal game, that we forced it into Big Dog when he wasn't open because he was being fronted, and we would consistently turn it over. That game should not have been that close. If you move Big Dog to the high post, they can't front him. Plus, he has that quick first step and I feel putting him at the high post could have helped him use that more.

He would have been more effective in the high post against Ball State in the MAC semifinals. They wouldn't have been able to front him like they did if he was at the high post. That's just one example. I understand that it all depends on matchups, and there would be games that going isolation with Big Dog on the block would be the better option, but I think if Big Dog at high post was our normal base offense, and not the exception, we would have had a more entertaining offense and wouldn't have those late regular season embarrassing losses. But KD is gone and this new coaching staff seems to be on track to take us to the next level.

I think Groce had the #1 recruiting class in the Big Ten for 2017, and top ten overall nationally? I think the Illinois A.D. was feeling pressure because how well Northwestern is doing under Collins, and didn't want to be second in that Chicago Big Ten market.

Who's JC? I hope you meant JG. Because if it's JC(Jim Christian) recruiting for us, we're not getting him

Haven't seen anyone post this yet

We're going to have to keep an eye across the northern border as well for recruiting. I found this out on twitter from a Canadian basketball expert on Fulford.

I'm sure some are looking at this as an eye-opener, but without looking at the PIT game, I can't imagine that this type of shot selection from Big Dog would have translated to more wins for us. In fact, I think we would have lost more games, to be completely honest. Now do I think we utilized Big Dog the right way? Yes and No. I believed that we should have given him the ball more in the high post. With his vision of the court, being at the high post sets up a lot of things you could have done with the other four on the court. I'll just give you one situation where you could have done this. For those that aren't used to the basketball terms, I apologize in advance. Antino passes to Big Dog at the high post. Cheatham is posting up on the left block for a little high-low, while Antino is then going to the left side of the floor for a flare screen. While that is going on Noah is on the right wing and backdoor cutting to try and get a pass from Big Dog. If Antino's flare and Noah's backdoor is not open, Cheatham and Ivey set a stagger screen for Noah. While that is going on, Antino is coming back over to Big Dog to get the handoff. Noah's stagger screen is mainly a decoy for the handoff. Cheatham then sets a back screen for Ivey and either Antino takes it all the way to the hoop or he alley-oops it to Ivey. Cheatham pops out after setting that back screen for a potential 3 if his defender shades to help on Ivey. Now, during all that time(which should be no more than 10 seconds) Big Dog has the ball, if he sees any opening to take his defender 1v1 , he has the green light. And to be honest, with the other four players moving this much with Big Dog having the ball at the high post, it makes it difficult for any of the opposing team's defenders to stay in help side for longer than a second. My biggest problem was how we went iso with Big Dog and the other four hardly moved, and just watched Big Dog go to work. That is the most easiest way to defend a team. That's why I was so impressed with Big Dog, because everyone knew where the ball was and knew what was going, and he STILL found a way to score or find the open guy even though they weren't moving. That would be my issue with how KD used Big Dog. However, no way would I allow Big Dog to shoot 3's in a game for Akron Zips. He's best around the high post and block. Plus, we had enough 3 point shooters. We didn't need another guy to take up that space.

Agreed. Like I said, I already had somewhere I had to be that night. Wasn't much of a heads up for me to be able to move my schedule around. I would like to see them hold another meet and greet and announce it at least a month in advance, and then advertise it. I guarantee you that more people would show up to that one if they have time to work their schedule around. As for not talking about Zips Basketball for a few days, there's not much more that can be said. The fact we've been talking about cookies, LSU academics, Boals/OSU recruiting, etc. tells me that we're all waiting for news. We have a lot of question marks, and not a lot of answers right now.

Agreed, but if that can't happen, I much rather have the MAC tourney title. I think everyone wants to win both, but we're just being realistic at this moment. As a coach, you're looking to win every game. As fans, we can be a little more realistic. I think this upcoming season will be one where we're hitting our stride in February and March. I believe Ohio should be the favorite to win the MAC regular season title next season, especially if Campbell gets a medical redshirt for last season. It will be how we develop over the season and make a run at it in Cleveland.

No one is saying they wouldn't want to win both. But if I had to choose, I much rather win 15-20 games and win MAC tournament than to win 20-25 games and win MAC regular season title but lose in the MAC title game.