1981 grad

Marshall arrives tomorrow. Will this be 3 losses in a row for the Zips and back to back home losses? (I do not count Bluffton as a win since they are division 3). When is the last time we had back to back home losses against division one opponents? Marshall lost to both South Carolina and Penn State. However, they played West Virginia tough and only lost by a few points. They are 4-7 but have played better competition. I believe we can win but everyone must play well. When I looked at the box score at North Dakota I noticed that they only had seven players and only played 5 the majority of the game. However, we still got beat. Not a good sign. We need a big game from our big guys, Pat, Big Dog, and Kwan. If we do not score from the paint I believe things could get ugly. Our outside shooting has been streaky at best. I wonder if B.J. will get a start. Hopefully, we can get a win to prepare us for the MAC that starts next week.

Anyone that thinks a new arena will bring in more fans only has to look at the football stadium to realize that this is "fools gold". The thought back then was that better facilities, better football players, better record, and more people. After producing a terrible football team for 3 straight years with coach I, the football games are scarcely attended. Add a schedule with Tuesday night games, and it is a ghost town. A new arena will not increase attendance. I would bet the last 5 years the attendance was worse with the new stadium than when we played at the rubber bowl. A couple of years ago the basketball team went up to students and asked them to attend the games. The word of mouth brought more students. KD has had a good basketball team on the floor and we have had good attendance the last 7 years. Having a good team will increase attendance. The winning streak a couple of years ago increased our attendance. The best way to increase our attendance is to put a great product on the floor. When you go to the movies, do you have a great time if the movie stinks but the theatre is brand new with state of the are seating? When our soccer team was great, attendance was great. When we became average, the attendance became average. If the team starts stinking, the attendance will stink even though we have great a great soccer field. My renovation for the JAR would be better scoreboard, better sound system and better seating for general admission.

As big as Big Dog is he could throw a mean pick or screen, especially up high. However we never use him that way. He is always down low on the post. Anyway, most of our players have no idea how to use an off the ball screen anyway. It is rare. We use a double screen as part of our set offense but that is to get the ball to a guard who is moving away from the basket. I think we need to be creative to score points this season.

I only saw the 2nd half but it was interesting to see Big Dog struggle and throw up some wild shots 5 feet from the basket. We need him to get in shape and be good or this is going to be a long season. I heard KD on the post game show and he said that we have to start playing inside out and not the other way. That is a good thing to hear because us playing a perimeter game is not going to work. Gladden was also on the post game show and when asked about his talents he indicated that he likes to get to the basket. He is a big body and we can use somebody with some toughness. He looked terrible during the tournament but hopefully will be a contributor when we get into the MAC. KD also indicated that the guys are not in shape. I do not understand that statement. How can guys not be in shape when we are a quarter into the season? He also indicated that the guys are not playing well in practice. So the poor play in the two losses is easier to understand. We looked better in the tournament than we are playing now. Hopefully, they can turn things around.

How do you argue with success? I have watched Akron basketball for 20 years. The last 10 have been far better than the previous 10. Remember, Akron did not even make the NCAA tournament since Higgins was the coach back in the 80s. I have seen a lot of great basketball at the Q with KD as the coach. This year he should have had 2 or 3 seniors that would have made this team very competitive, Alex?, Tree and Harney. I do not believe it was KD's fault that these 3 players did not finish at Akron. Also, numerous other players have transferred to division 2 programs when it was obvious that they did not have division one talent. I do not believe that is unusual in a competitive division one program. We have benefitted from players transferring from other programs when they did not get playing time. I judge success for a MAC team by making the NCAA tournament or even the NIT. By that standard we have had a successful program under KD. I went to Detroit 2 years ago and realized that for us to win a NCAA game we will need an exceptional athletic team that plays well under pressure. There is always hope for the future based on our young team.

It is difficult to win on the road and we are not a very experienced team. The announcers thought this was a big upset but after watching Saturdays game I did not expect to win tonight. I only saw the second half but that was enough. Big Dog keeps missing easy layups at the end really hurt. One time he used his body to get position on the smaller defender and scored. He should have been doing that all night. Pat had his worst game. Ibi had some nice drives at the end of the game. We need him to drive to the basket the entire game. He is our most athletic player. It was interesting that we made our comeback without Kwan or Pat in the lineup. We also lost at the end without Pat or Kwan. Rebounding at the end of the game was another problem. You cannot let the other team rebound a missed foul shot with less than 2 minutes remaining. This team needs to get better and attack the basket and rebound or it may be a very long season.

KD cannot play big dog and Pat at the same time. Pat needs space to work his shot and Big Dog is taking up that space. Glad to see KD sub right after Pat lost the ball.

Not sure why KD had Kretzer in at the end. He did not score the entire game. When we are down one why do Kwan and Kretzer have to shoot 3 pointers. This 3 go to guys last year were Q, Tree and Harney. There was not really a guy on the floor who has the experience to take the last shot and it showed. I would have had Ibi drive to the basket. I think Kwan was 0 for 10 after hitting his first two 3 pointers. This is a young team and a tight game will help our experience. Pat had some really nice baskets near the rim and there were some really nice passes to him. Jackson played very well and had only one turnover that I remember. Middle Tenn really pressured our guards up top and I thought they handled the pressure very well. The refs call some tough offensive fouls against us that hurt.

Thanks for the information. Tree has given so much to this program. It is a shame he will not celebrate senior night with his parents. I believe he has a lot of talent and hopefully he will be able to develop that talent for a professional career if that is his desire. I wish him the best for the future.

For those that know the NCAA rules I have a question. Since Tree was a senior and played a few games this season, has he used up his eligibility or can he come back and play Division one or two basketball. Based on the article, it seems like KD does not want him back but I am curious if he could still play somewhere.

Against decent competition: Miami, 20 minutes 2 rebounds Penn State 27 minutes 3 rebounds S. Carolina 29 minutes 1 rebound Kwan has a great deal of potential. However, he needs to get stronger, learn to box out better, and be more aggressive to be a better rebounder. Without Tree, we really will need him to be a better rebounder when we play better teams.

Kwan is one of the few players to take a 12 foot jump shot. I have no clue why McAdams, Kretzer, Evans and others don't try easier shots but only want to shoot a 3. I think Kwan has improved but not sure he is destined for stardom. He needs to get stronger, rebound better and learn to drive to the basket. I wish he would look at video of the Serb. The Serb would fake a jump shot, get his man off his feet and then drive to the basket and score or dish the ball. I think Kwan could be that type of player. Once players have to play him close to stop him from shooting, he has the type of body and length to get to the basket.

It is amazing how much better Pat is playing with Tree out of the lineup. Tree gets triple teamed down low and the ball movement either stops, turnover, or it gets sent back outside without taking advantage of the triple team. When Pat gets the ball there is no triple team and he has been able to score down low. We definitely miss Trees rebounding and toughness on defense. We need to do a better job with Tree and Pat playing together.

We finally had a good second half. We figured out how to attack the zone by getting the ball to Kwan at the free throw line who fed it to Pat underneath and he was scoring. Reggie finally found his shot and hit some open 3 balls. Pine Bluff could not score in the 2nd half. There coach did not complain the entire game and then went ballistic when Kwan blocked a shot and the ref did not call a foul. Would have love to see a replay. Could not tell if it was a good block. Worst play of the game: Kretzer had an open layup. Instead of taking the ball to the hoop he threw it 2 rows into the stands. He needs to take the ball to the hoop and finish. Best play of the game: Noah had a fast break where he had 2 spin moves and finished for a layup. Deji had a great dunk on a Reggie miss. (Reggie had a contested layup but chose to move away from the basket and take a 5 foot jump shot). Reggie needs to take the ball to the hoop and finish.

In the second half we got away from what we were doing well in the first half, driving to the basket, taking threes when we were open and squared up and feeding the ball to Pat. We also missed some easy shots. Reggie had an alley oop and missed the shot, Evans missed an easy layup. The lack of assists does not bother me if we are getting layups off the dribble. When Pat gets the ball and scores there is no assist but no big deal. I really like how we are keeping the lane open. Penn State played much better the 2nd half and deserved the victory. How about our foul shooting. Simply amazing!!

We are not a second half team. When is the last time we hit a 3. But we still keep shooting from there.

I never thought I would say this: Why didn't Kwon start the 2nd half. Having Reggie and Kretzer in at the same time is hurting us. Would rather start Ibitayo. We are having success driving to the basket. Reggie missed a chippie and the rest were tough shots. Robotham is the man when we need a shot

I am pleasantly surprised how well we are playing. Evans, Robotham, and Ibitayo able to get to the hoop and finish. Something we did not have last year. Kwon is making some difficult shots. Pat is playing the best I have ever seen him play. And Reggie is finally sinking some 3 pointers. Other than some stupid turnovers, we are playing to our potential. We have also seen some great blocks. Hopefully, they keep it up for the second half.

I went to the link on espn 3 and could not find it listed for 730. It is now listed as an 8:00 P.M. game. The woman's game must have run over.

There were not many assist yesterday because we have guards that can beat their men off the dribble and score. Something we were sorely lacking last year. Nyles had at least 2 drives that he converted. This year we are dribbling north and south, not just east and west. With Tree out of the middle, it opens up the lane. I thought we missed a lot of open shots off passes, therefore the assist were down. I would love to see more off the ball movement but it looks like this year we will our guards taking the ball to the glass. If they can finish, it will work.

Biggest change from last year is this team won a game from the foul line and shot 81% while South Carolina shot 55%. Evans had a solid game shooting 4 of 6 with 5 rebounds and 2 steals. He had some great drives and finishes to the basket. I would like him to learn to take some easy jump shots. He does not have to take 3 pointers every time he shoots. Pat looks very solid in the post. He did not drop any passes and had only 2 turnovers. I think it is essential that we play with only one post player. Pat is much better when he has the whole lane to operate. He can drive to the left and use his drop step moves. I believe that it why he is more effective. Without Big Dog and Tree clogging the lane with their defensive players, it is much more difficult to double and triple team Pat. Kwon is not a post up player and this keeps the lane open for our guards. Even in the second half at Miami, Pat had open shots but they were not dropping. I really thought that McAdams would have a solid tournament. He was rebounding well in Akron and seemed to be doing more that just standing on the wing. I do not like our offense where Kretzer and McAdams are wing players to shoot the 3 ball but that seems to be their role. Kretzer was at his best when Miami went to a zone and they left him wide open for the 3 ball. After he made a couple they came out of the zone. I thought Kwan is much improved from last year. He was perfect from the line and made 2 foul shots to seal the game. (Also something different from last year). The only time he hurt us was in the second half of the Miami game where he forced a three, took a bad 2, and then lost his man on defense who sunk a 3. Their 5 point lead quickly went to 10 point lead. He has a great deal of potential and could be a beast the next 2 years if he gets stronger and learns to slash to the basket.

Tree's minutes had to go somewhere and it is great to see Kwan and Pat step up. I read that Kwan's family made the trip. How exciting for them to watch their son have a career game against a name opponent. I hope that their contributions continue and we can beat Miami tomorrow.

When Pat first starting playing with Akron he was very aggressive offensively and had a great drop step move. The refs then started calling him for traveling and the aggressiveness stopped. He was more hesitant when he got the ball. With Tree gone I think Pat will get a lot more touches. When he makes quick decisions he seems to score. When he holds onto the ball for a long time is when he gets into trouble. He also needs to get better hands since I have seen him drop a lot of passes through the years. Although he fouled out last game, a couple of the calls were terrible. Pat will need to step up as will all of the other players if we are to have a winning season.

Unfortunately, our team does not take many short jumpers. I think this is a problem. He always passes to a player for a three ball. We should be able to get some layups when Tree gets a triple team.

I do not share the optimism of everyone on the board. When Tree was double and triple teamed he had difficulty finding the open man and lost the ball on more than one occasion. I couple of times he was able to drive to the basket and score even with the double and triple team. This will not happen against better competition. Last year he got frustrated with the double and triple team. I hope it does not happen this year. Our offense seems to be built on one on one down low and perimeter passing. If our wing players are hot it works. If we hit a cold spell we will struggle. Our offense is also very predictable. When the player swings around the double pick their players just cut in from of our player and stole the ball in the second half at least 2 times. There is not question that our guards are vastly improved over last year. Noah runs the floor well and anticipates well on defense. He had a great drive to the basket and great full length pass as an assist for an easy basket. I thought Kwan played ok but nothing special. His first 2 wide open shots were 3 pointers that barely drew rim. His 2 made 3 pointers were at the end of the game when we were up big time. He had some nice defense in the second half but I do not believe he is physical enough when we play tough competition. I hope he proves me wrong. I will be very surprised if we do well when we get a dose of tough competition but I believe it will help us prepare for the MAC.