1981 grad

The Zips strength is supposed to be our shooting, especially our 3 point shooting. We only shot 25% from the 3 point line and 36% from the field against a weak team. We had 17 more rebounds than American and we were more athletic and played with more hustle tonight. We started hot on the 3 point line and had a double digit lead early. I do not think we made a 3 point basket the entire second half. I liked Ivey's game last year and he played almost the entire 2nd half. He played good defense and had some nice drives and assists. Robotham had 3 turnovers and most of his points came from the line in the second half. Antino did not play much in the second half. I finally got to see Utomi play and he really did not do much in his 4 minutes of play. Not sure how much talent this team has if we do not hit the 3 ball. Kwan had some nice takes under the basket and led the teams in rebounds. He seemed to play with more hustle tonight than in Youngstown. I am hoping that Ivey becomes a starter and we are done with the 3 guard offense.

I went to the American web site and found that they are picked to finish 5th in the Patriot league and have lost their first 2 games. We seem to shoot better at home so I am hoping that our shooters will find their mark. I would still like to know why Utomi did not see any playing time last game and wondered if he was hurt or if it was just a coaching decision. I was looking forward to seeing him play. I expect the ball to go into Big Dog early and often tomorrow until they can stop the big guy. Based on our second half collapse at Youngstown it makes me wonder if conditioning had anything to do with our loss. Tomorrow we will find out if we were that bad at Youngstown or if they were that good. Go Zips.

I agree with you 100%. Antino is a point guard, not a two. He can drive to the basket and dish but wants to have the ball in his hand. He played his best basketball as a frosh when Noah got injured. I would start Antino over Noah. I see Noah as a distributor, but we just do not have any scorers around him that can create their own shot. It would be nice to see these 2 compete for the starting job. Hopefully, that would raise their play.

I think that KD needs to rethink his starting lineup. The 3 guard starters, cannot penetrate and drive to the basket. (Antino is the best at getting to the hoop but did little last night) Further, the starting forward, Kwan, is also a person that does not play close to the basket. It is Big Dog or bust. When they started to triple team Big Dog, he kicked it out to the shooters who were not consistently hitting the 3 point shot. Further, this team is not fast and we have few fast break points. The offense looks like the same as last year, play inside out and have shooters waiting on the wing for the 3 point shot when they double team Big Dog. However, no Jake or Reggie on the wing. I was expecting a more athletic team with Utomi and he never made it off the bench. Unfortunately, I still think that Robotham is a step slow on defense after his ACL tear. We need more speed and toughness on D. We will need the cupcake schedule in the beginning of the year at home to get this team on the right track. KD is a great coach and he will need to make adjustments if this team is going to be successful.

I would start Ivey over Josh since he is more of a forward and gives the team some athleticism and height. The 3 guards are great shooters but if they are not hitting the 3 ball, we look ugly like tonight. I noticed that as soon as Ivey makes a mistake KD pulls him but he has a much more patience with the starters.

I guess it is going to be a long season. Very unimpressive start. KD started 3 guards, Antino, Robotham, and Josh Williams. I do not think that any of them played well consistently well tonight. Kwan started hot and ended cold. Our offense is based on hitting the 3 ball. If we do not hit that shot we are going to have trouble. When we got close we shot quick 3 ball instead of working the ball into Big Dog. I thought Tavian, Big Dog and Jimond played well but that was about it. Once again Kwan relies on his outside shot and does not want to go outside.

I am surprised that we have not seen Daniel Utomi. He played a couple of games last year before they decided to redshirt him his freshman year. I wonder if he is hurt. We started with 3 guards, Robotham, Anitno and Josh Williams. Ivey was first off the bench and went on a scoring binge. Big Dog looks good and Kwan started hot but has cooled off. Youngstown is keeping it close and looks like a good game.

Bowling Green had been kicking the ball short the entire game on the kickoffs. That should not have been a surprise. No reason to let it bounce. That was the key turnover of the game. Wasted a great effort by our third string quarterback.

The defense has really stepped up this half. The only points scored by BG was on the fumble. It is great to see us stop the run.

We have life! Great pass by our 3rd string quarterback/wide receiver. Can our defense hold. We need to stop the run!

Midfield? Midfield? I would be happy to see a first down. Went the entire quarter without moving the sticks!

The defense actually made an adjustment after the first series. They were playing 10 yards off the receivers and that resulted in several first downs. In the second and third series they were playing right on the receivers. The defense has held 3 times forcing 2 punts. Now we need the offense.

I was wondering how somebody could get that wide open. We blitzed 6 guys and they had 6 blockers, nobody came close to the quarterback. The defender was reading the eyes of the quarterback and the safety was in the middle of the field. The receiver ran past the defender and was wide open. This defense cannot play with good teams.

We had 12 men on the field last week several times. At that juncture should have used a timeout and not given them a free play. Has anyone else noticed how quickly this game is being played as compared to last week when CBS did the sports coverage. I think they add an hour to the game based on the number of commercials. It is nice to watch a game in 3 hours. Also, great feed!

The strategy was clear: Our defense is so bad he did not want to give the ball back to Ball State if we did not convert on 3rd down since we were on our own end of the field. He did not want to be down 24-7 at half time. Our bad defense now dictates our offense. This is also the reason he did not go for it on fourth down. Against Appalachian State, Western Michigan and Ball State, this game is the first time we have seen the opposing kicker in the first half. That is the definition of bad defense.

I went to the game today. I did not expect us to win but I expected us to compete. We did not compete. Dropped passes, missed tackles, costly penalties and poor throws. We did not have a first down the first quarter. Our defense was bad. They spread out the receivers and kept throwing quick screen and they have 3 receivers to our 2 defenders and one of the defenders is 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Their running back had a career high as he ran over our defense. It reminded me of Appalachian State where they spread the field and we cannot stop their offense. I believe our defense will be weak all season against decent teams like Appalachian State and Western Michigan.

I was sitting on the VMI side on the fifty yard line and their coach was pissed at Bowden when the game was over and we kept throwing the ball downfield trying to score. He was staring at Bowden across the field the last series and his body language was what the heck are you doing. He ran over from the sideline in record time to get in Bowdens face as soon as the game was over. Akron had a great fireworks display at the end of the game. I am glad I stayed for it. The sound system sucks. Every time they play a song with any bass with it all you hear is distorted static. You would think that somebody would check that out before the season began. As with most posters, was not impressed with Akron football. Way to many penalties and their defense was suspect. The VMI back caught several passes out of the backfield and you would think that somebody would eventually cover him.

I think KD is a great coach and we have first class student athletes at Akron. But the last 2 games were frustrating since I think we should have won both games if we played anywhere near our midseason form or how we played at home. When you look at the last 2 losses, you see that the team went away from what was working. In the last 2 games there was very little if any penetration from anyone. Everything was from the perimeter or from Big Dog. In the Buffalo game we shot only 2 foul shots the entire game and that was in the first minute. In the Ohio State game, Big Dog has 16 foul shots, Antino 3 and Big Dog 1. Basically we had almost no penetration from any of our guards except maybe Antino. Ivey played 5 minutes total the last 2 games. We have 3 small guards that are not very athletic, (Antino has some quickness) not good rebounders, do not box out well and have a difficult time penetrating to the basket. They are good passers, good shooters, and do not turn the ball over. However, when they do not shoot well, we are not going to win many games. I would liked to see Jimond play the 2 guard instead of the wing to take advantage of this ability to penetrate to the basket. Jimond played 5 minutes in our last 2 games and scored 4 points. Noah played 80 minutes in the last 2 games and scored 5 points. KD indicated he was going to play Jimond more and it just did not happen. For this team to reach the tournament we are going to have to win 3 games in 3 days. I remember after the Green Bay game how KD indicated that the team was tired and that is why they played so poorly. Kwan had a terrible game at Green Bay. Well the same thing happened at the Q. We need to learn to play tired, We need to have some back to back games. We had some great wins away in the middle of the season at Ball State and at Ohio. However, at the end of the season we lost at Kent and at Miami. We did not peak at the end of the season. KD is a great coach for Akron but this season was a season of 2 lost opportunities. Lets learn from our losses and get our first tournament win next year. Go Zips!

This was the night to take down Ohio State and we just cannot get over the hump. We scored 5 points in the last 5 minutes of overtime and 1 point in overtime. Very similar to the Buffalo game when we could not execute down the stretch. Noah had another 30 minute 5 point game just like Buffalo. Our guards were horrible tonight shooting a combined 7 for 27 and 2 for 18 from 3 land. Our guards are great shooters but that is about it. When their shots are not falling they cannot consistently drive to the basket. KD loves Noah and he is a great kid but I expect the lead point guard in big games to play big. These losses would not hurt so much if we had played well.

We cannot close out games. We had our chances but came up short once again. Jake had another turnover in clutch time. Antino took a quick 3 instead of playing through Big Dog. Antino missed a foul shot on a one on one. Good teams find a way to win in big games. We just could not do it.

Need to play the ball through Big Dog. Bad shot by Antino

We need guys to penetrate. Our guards dribbles left and right and right and left but cannot penetrate. Same thing against Buffalo. Good to see a couple of layups and kickouts after penetration. I still question why KD does not play Jimond since he is one guy that can dribble drive. Makes no sense to me. Great to see Kwan score.

Start Kwan and Big Dog together. Take Aron out of the starting lineup. We could use the extra rebounding.

I am hoping that KD will start Big Dog and forget about the starting lineup of Kwan, Aron Jackson, Noah, Antino and Reggie. In the Buffalo game that lineup gave us a combined 7 points in the first five minutes of the game and the first five minutes of the second half. For whatever reason KD has a history of bringing his best players off the bench and not starting them whether it is Q or last year Deji. Kwan had a bad tournament going 4 of 24 and I would take some pressure off of him by not starting him at center. I know we risk getting Big Dog in early foul trouble but I think it is worth the risk.

I agree 100%. Let win in Columbus and win the NIT.