1981 grad

A big game for the Zips: Can we get a top 4 seed? Can we maintain our string of 20 win seasons? Can we get a road win? KD indicated in his post game show that he has given the keys of this team to Antino Jackson. He liked the way he played in the Ohio game and really like how he has improved his defense. Antino has certainly improved greatly over the course of the season. If he gets really good, it improves the chances of the Zips winning immensely. In the Ohio game we were successful because we finally shot the 3 ball well in the second half. We also got 19 points from our wing players, Kretzer and McAdams We had a 10 point or more lead in the final 5 minutes and the game did not come down to the final minutes. It will be interesting to see if KD starts the twin towers again. They had difficulty handling the press last time we played Miami. We need to keep the turnovers down. Early in the season that was a problem with Antino but he seems to be playing much better under control. The best way to break a press is quick passing and quick transition points. Hopefully we have learned from our defeat at their hands and will play a better game. Go Zips!

Hilltopper, your premise that it is easier to play against the second unit may be a valid one. We brought Reggie and Kretzer off the bench to play against the 2nd unit and they score a combined 19 points. When is the last time that happened? It may be better to bring your players who are struggling off the bench to get them more confidence. The stats do not lie and when you look at MAC play, Deji is shooting 49%, that is third behind Pat and Big Dog. He also has more offensive rebounds in MAC play than Kwan and has played less minutes. His scoring has increased in MAC play where many of our players have reduced scoring in the MAC. KD cannot afford to bring his arguably best or 2nd best player off the bench. (Do Labron, Love, and Kyrie come off the bench?) We lost 4 games with Deji coming off the bench and won with him starting. Keep him a starter.

Kd indicated on his postgame last night that if we win out that we can tie for first in the MAC. Is this correct?

Start Deji- we win! Actually, the starting lineup of Big Dog, Pat, Antino, Evans and Deji did not start well and we were down 7-0 and losing 9-6 at the first time out when the subs came in. However, this starting combination played a little over a minute in the second half and went on a 6-0 run. KD did not put Deji in the game in the second half until 14:08 of the second half and the score was tied at 35. When he left the game at the 1;44 mark of the game they were up 12 points. This team plays better when he is in the lineup. I would still start him because I believe you should start the game with your best guys. I thought the Zips really played well with Pat, Antino, Evans, Deji and Aron Jackson. It will be interesting to see if KD uses this same starters at Miami.

The last time I started a game thread was against Marshall and we won. So I thought I would open the topic. Deji is the only 4 year player and I went back in the archives to look at the recruiting class his freshman year and it included, Tree, Harney, Blake Justice, CJ Oldham. I guess technically Deji is the last man standing. I think everyone would agree that Deji has improved remarkably this year and is having a great year. I thought Evans also improved greatly this year but has had a few games lately where he just not gotten a great deal of minutes. I thought he played well in Buffalo and hopefully will have a great game on senior night. Congratulations to Deji and Nyles. Hopefully, we can make can get rid of this losing streak. I would like to see more of Gladden and Aron Jackson. If we are going to make a run in the tournament we need these freshman to step up. Finally, this is a weird season in that even though we have 7 MAC losses, we have only been blown out in the game at Toledo. Even our better teams have had nights when they got blown out. This team still has a chance to turn it around!

If this was not senior night, my starting 5 would be Deji, Antino, Pat, Big Dog, and B.J. Gladden. Since it is senior night I would start Evans instead of Gladden or Big Dog. I think that Kwan has been playing better coming off the bench so I am going with the twin towers. I am also going with Gladden because when you look at minutes played, his scoring is just as good as Reggie or Kretzer. Finally, I think KD is a great coach. Having watched the Hipsher and Coleman Crawford years, he has done wonders with this team. However, my understanding of this forum is to express my ideas of what I like or dislike about this team. I do not like KD's idea of the 6th man spark plug off the bench when the team is struggling to score. He did it last year with Q. He finally started Q and it improved the team. It is time to abandon that idea with Deji. He is playing too well to come off the bench.

I understand what you are saying but this team needs scoring, needs somebody to get to the foul line and make foul shots, and can get to the basket and not rely on a 3 point shot. We do not have the luxury of bringing the one guy who is producing these 3 things coming off the bench. I also think if Hondo were playing today, he would be a starter.

Kd changed the starting lineup at Buffalo. He started Kretzer instead of McAdams. Same result. Kretzer gave him the same offense that McAdams gave him, zero points in 31 minutes. Maybe KD will insert Deji into the starting lineup for senior night. I know putting your second highest scorer into the starting lineup is a radical move but but after losing 4 games in a row it is time to live dangerously.

I give this team a lot of credit in that we were very competitive. We just cannot make an important shot in the last 5 minutes. Pat had 2 short shots from the paint and short armed them both leaving them short from 5 feet. Deji had a turnover. Kretzer, Qwan and Antino missed 3 point shots. Kretzer played 31 minutes and did not score. Reggie only played 8 minutes and did not score. Basically, Kretzer and McAdams gave us no points in 2 games where they have played 80 minutes. I understand that KD likes Kretzer because of his defense but how do you justify playing him 31 minutes when he cannot put the ball in the basket for a second straight game. This is the 4th loss in a row where we have executed poorly in the last 5 minutes. I am sure it is getting to be a mental thing with the players. I know that I was having some doubt when it was a close game with 5 minutes left. Finally, I will also eat some crow with the twin towers. They played well offensively with Big Dog playing at the top of the key feeding Pat. Kwan also had some nice passes. The spacing looked real good. However, we gave up 20 offensive rebounds! I notice that we had nobody moving to the ball on the deep rebounds. I think both Pat and Big Dog were too deep under the basket. Kwan played 23 minutes and had only 3 rebounds. Not very good for a 6-9 guy. I thought we played well tonight and you have to give Deji and Pat credit for their scoring. I just wish we could run plays for Deji at the end of the game instead of the play for Kwan so he could take a 3 point shot. Hopefully, we can turn this thing around on Friday.

I hope we can keep this game competitive. We need more from Kretzer and McAdams than we got from them Saturday. If they are not on I hope he goes to Aron Jackson and Gladden. They are more athletic and can drive to the basket instead of relying on the outside shot. Lets see if we can attack the basket and get some easy shots.

Currently, the Zips rank 4th in 3 point attempts and rank 164th in 3 point percentage of made shots. Not a winning combination. Hopefully, he will get his team to take higher percentage shots and we can stop this losing streak.

Not odd timing asking for Deji to start. Even though his shooting has been a little off, he has still averaged 9 points per game after his big game at Ohio which is probably 2nd best on the team after Pat during this period. The reason is that he is the one Zip player that gets to the line and then makes his foul shots. Deji is 70 of 95 from the foul line this season playing 481 minutes. For comparison, the next closest person playing more minutes (635) is Pat with 59 made foul shots and he is 59 of 96. Reggie, Kwan, and Kretzer have played a combined 1772 minutes and have made a combined 59 made free throws for the season. We need points t the beginning of the game and Deji is the ticket. He has earned a start.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. We have lost 3 in a row, going to Buffalo where we rarely win, just lost our starting point guard to injury, might have lost our other starting guard for other issues, and Kd has never lost 4 in a row. Last game KD was looking for more production in the starting lineup and started the twin towers. We scored 4 points in 5 minutes. When he went back to the twin towers late in the first half we were outscored by 9 in two minutes. It is time to put your second leading scorer, one of your highest percentage shooters, and the guy who gets to the foul line more than anyone except Pat into the starting lineup. KD likes to bring a spark off the bench. Last year it was Q and this year it is Deji. But Antino was 2 of 10 last game and 0 for 5 from the 3 line. This team needs more scoring in the starting lineup without Robotham. Last year KD finally inserted Q in the starting lineup and it immediately improved the team. Deji is a senior and having a great season. Give him the start.

Thanks for the information on Evans and Robotham. I thought the parents yelling at the coaches stopped at high school. I noticed that KD has continued to start Evans but he has been getting less and less minutes. His production has tailed off offensively but you could say that for a lot of players on the team. I hope it was a one game thing because Friday is senior night and he should be recognized.

Worst combination of the night: Pat, Big Dog, Kretzer, Robotham and Kwan towards the end of the first half. Three straight Zips turnovers and Miami scored 3 layups and a three pointer. Close game the rest of the night. I hope we never see this combination again.

I did not see the meltdown by Noah. What happened? Does anyone know what went on with Evans? That explains some of the combinations last night if he was not on the bench. In the beginning of the year Evans was a big surprise about how well he was playing. He has certainly trailed off toward the end of the season and has been getting less time. We need him big time. Kd decided to shake things up and started Reggie instead of Gladden and Reggie does not score a point all night. He also started both Big Dog and Pat. We still only scored 4 points in the first 5 minutes of the game. That was the last of the twin towers. I was hoping that he would shake things up by giving Deji the start. Putting the second leading scorer into the starting lineup would add some punch in the beginning of the game. However, even Deji did not have a good scoring night and missed several open three pointers. I thought Noah looked tired the entire game. He did not drive to the basket and seemed to miss a lot of opportunities to get the ball to Pat. I would have like to see Malcom play more. He looked good last game and should have been rewarded with more playing time. KD used Noah and Antino together and the ball did not move well and we did not score well. Gladden and Aron Jackson did not get much time in the second half and I think that was a mistake. If Kretzer and McAdams are not scoring he should have gone to Gladden and Jackson. I thought KD did one thing well and that was pressure the ball in the last 42 seconds instead of letting Miami run out the clock like we did against Toledo. It resulted in a turnover and a 3 point play by Jackson. However, at the end of overtime when we needed to keep the ball out of the hands of Number 33 he puts Jake on him for defense. Jake was way too slow to cover 33 and he easily got the inbounds pass. Should have put Deji or Antiono on him. We only scored 4 baskets in the last 16 minutes of the game including overtime. That is pathetic. KD needs to get this team easier shots or get them to shoot better. Hopefully, can turn it around for Buffalo.

The wheels have come off the bus. Three losses in a row in the MAC and two in the row at home. Now we travel to Buffalo. A recurring theme of this team is that we cannot score at the end of the game. We probably scored less then 10 points in the last 5 minutes of the game and the last 5 minutes of overtime. We just do not have a go to guy at the end of the game. Antino was 2 of 10, Reggie and Kretzer were a combined 1 of 8 for a total of two points. These guys are juniors and suppose to be leaders of this team. Big Dog missed an easy shot in the last 5 minutes. Kwan missed a wide open three that would have won the game. You could tell that Robotham was not 100%. He had 5 turnovers and just did not seem to be able to feed the ball to the big guys the way he has in the past. KD used a lot of different combinations but offensively we really never clicked. At one point he used Kretzer as a second guard and it was a disaster when we kept turning the ball over on the press. We had 20 turnovers. This offense seems to be built on feeding the ball inside or shooting 3 pointers. Well, our offense is not clicking. Hopefully we can turn it around in Buffalo.

I think is a must win for the Zips but it will be a test of how strong this team can compete: Playing without their starting guard. Just lost a tough game at home. Have now lost 2 in a row. Playing a Miami team that just won by 11 points against OU. I think it is important that we start strong. However, against Toledo we once again started very slowly. Among the starters, Antino was the only player to score in the first 5 minutes by hitting 2 3 pointers. The one thing I have noticed is that Evans is simply not scoring very much. We need to get more from our starting 5 in the beginning of the game. I would still like to see Deji start but know that is unlikely to happen. Looking forward to the game. I hope the snow does not deter anyone from showing up.

A 2 for 1 was not an option because the Zips did not take a timeout until there were 53 seconds left. Even if we took a shot within 10 seconds, Toledo gets the ball back with about 40 seconds on the time clock. We get a few seconds left but not enough time for a good shot. The problems is that we did not score in the last 3 minutes of the game. Pat missed 2 shots, Antino took a bad 3 shot several feet behind the 3 line that wasn't close and Malcom missed a wide open three. (Antino also took a wild 3 at the end of the Eastern Michigan game) We do not have a go to guy at the end of the game. In the Buffalo game we did not score in the last 5 minutes. In the Middle Tenn. game, we did not even get off a shot trying to get the ball into Pat. The only buzzer beater we had this year is from Gladden on an offensive put back. (I still think that KD needs to have a guy in at the end of the game that can create his own shot, Deji, Gladden, or Aron Jackson) I thought Antino played great in his first start but you could tell he was wearing out in the second half. Malcom was great for a guy who never played any meaningful minutes until tonight. We are a young team and that is the problem with a young team. They have a senior point guard with experience,Juice Brown and we don't.

I agree they should have been out there but Antino may have been winded. He kept raising his hand to come out. He is not used to playing that many minutes and I think he tired at the end of the game. He took a bad 3 pointer with about 3 minutes left that was not close. KD pulled Aron when he did not hustle for a rebound right in front of the Zips bench. He was having a great game and I also would like to see him back in there.

I do not understand what KD is thinking when he did not have Deji out there the last 3 minutes. He is the second leading scorer, can drive to the basket, has senior experience and is very good defensively. We did not score the last 3 minutes. When I saw the lineup of Kwan, Pat, Reggie, Jake and Antino there was no question that the ball was going to Pat down low. They double teams him and he missed a hard shot. The last shot by Juice was a fade away 15 footer with a hand in his face. He made a great shot. Tough loss at home but at least we did not get blown out. When they were up by 10 I did not know if we could come back. At least we showed some fight.

I bought the feed from Eastern Michigan and with about 5 minutes left in the first half it kept freezing. The second half it froze almost every 30 seconds. The game was difficult to watch on two fronts. Did anyone else buy the feed and have a problem? Another road game and another road loss with unusual stats. At OU we only had 6 foul shots and missed them all. Today, we had 26 offensive rebound, took 29 more shots than Eastern and still lost. Amazing. Our big guys had problems with the zone. We would get the ball under the basket and not finish. Big Dog was 1 of 8. All of his shots were from 5 feet or less. Pat also missed some inside shots. I would like to say our foul shooting hurt us but we seem to get numerous offensive rebound off our missed free throws. I think we need to practice more against a zone in case we have to face these guys in the tournament.

Kwan is a young 2nd year player and has improved greatly from last year. He had some great passes last night. He played the high post and fed Pat into the low post for some easy baskets. However, he loves to shoot the 3 ball and takes too many 3 point shots. The fast break that you are talking about, the shot did not even touch the rim. He was 2 of 9 last night and 1 of 6 from the 3 line. Offensively, not good stats. If he could develop a quick first step, he could be a consistent double digit scorer by getting to the basket. Because of his size he should be picking up some points on the offensive boards. DJ had a nice offensive put back last night. Kwan also has a nice mid range jumper and should use it more instead of shooting the 3 ball.

I think KD is still trying to get the best lineup to finish off a game. We had a 17 point lead and with 5 minutes left it went down to 9 or 10. Thinking about Buffalo I was wondering if we could finish this off. KD went with a lineup of veterans including Reggie, Kretzer, Pat, Robothan and Kwan. With about 3 minutes left he took out Kwan and put in Ibitayo. We finished the game and won by 9. Reggie hit a big three. The crowd was great and it was loudest the JAR has been all season. KD has these guys playing very hard and physical. For the second game in a row we attacked the paint and did most of our scoring inside. Kretzer scored on a back door move. I wish this team would learn to do that more. Ibitayo and Robotham both missed easy layups and Pat also missed some easy shots. If we shoot more from the inside one day we may actually shoot near 50%.

They were on the floor together for about 2 minutes last night and it clogged the lane. Big Dog went to the top of the lane and tried to feed Pat. Unfortunately, when you have Big Dog at the top of the lane he is not playing to his strength which is posting up. Right now both guys are strong post up players and neither is very quick. If you take either out of the post you are not playing to their strength. Further, Pat has been foul prone. If you have both out there you are inviting a foul problem for both our guys. Both of these guys operate best when the lane is kept open. No need to have them both in there at the same time. If them playing together is down the line it will be interesting if there will be any success. I do not believe it will be effective.