1981 grad

The Kent State game was not an anomaly. We can't play inside out because the defenders are not leaving their man on the double team. In the last 5 minutes we brought our Big Dog to set a screen instead of pounding the ball inside to him. Jake and McAdams cannot create their own shot, Noah and Josh cannot drive to the basket, and Antino who can drive to the basket starting forcing things when we fell behind. KD did not do anything different from Kent State and the results were the same. Noah cannot keep his guy in front of him but he continues to get in the guys face 40 feet from the basket. It makes no sense. We should not lose to a team we beat by 30 points last time. This group is fading at the end of the season just like last year. It will be interesting if we can get it together for Friday's game. Need to do something different with the offense.

Our offense looks very stagnant. Jake and Kretzer once again are not getting any open looks and are not creating their own shots. We need to dribble drive. Noah had a nice dribble drive and then fed the ball to Josh for 3. We have got to play better the second half on offense. This looks like Kent State again.

KD was quoted in the Beacon today that Pat will probably not be back until March 1st against Ohio so that he can get back to being 100% healthy.

Miami has just lost 3 games in a row including a home loss to Ball State and a 44 point loss at Toledo. We have lost 2 of our last 3 including our last 2 away games. Miami did not look good at our place and I wondered whether this team would win any games in the MAC. However they won 3 out of 4 before their current losing streak including an away win at Western Michigan. As KD indicated at his press conference after the Kent win that Kent made all their shots within 3 feet of the basket. We need to improve our defense especially against the dribble drive. Lurking in my mind was our terrible finish at the end of the conference play last year when we lost 6 of 7 including 2 games to this Miami team. With Pat out we only have 2 rim protectors, Kwan and Big Dog. If one or both of them get into foul trouble (Kwan is prone to dumb fouls), we could have trouble like we did at Kent. If other teams do not double team Big Dog and stay with our perimeter players we need to be able to drive to the basket and force an opposing player to stop the drive. Antino had several nice drives to the basket but Noah and Josh had trouble penetrating the defense. (both are coming of injuries) Jake and Reggie could not penetrate past their man at Kent. I think KD should get Jimond more playing time since he is our best guy to dribble drive. Based on the Kent game, I think he could be a great asset but he needs playing time.

This game was not an anomaly. Kent played a great game and exposed our weaknesses to the dribble drive on defense. KD likes to play tough in your face defense. However, when you get in the face of your opponent you have to keep the guy in front of you. Kent continually drove past our defender forcing help from inside exposing Big Dog and Kwan to foul trouble. Further, Jake and Reggie are not athletic enough to be rim defenders. Without Pat, it would have been better to lay off Kent and force them to take the outside shot. They are not a good shooting team from the outside. We simply must do a better job of preventing Kent from getting past the first defender penetrating to the basket. On the offensive end, Kent did not double team Big Dog and had a big night. But that meant our outside shooters were rarely getting open looks with passes from Big Dog. Jake and Reggie only took 9 shots and Jake's shots came at the end of the game when it was almost out of reach. The Kent defenders played in your face defense and Antino made some great moves to the basket but simply was not able to consistently finish at the basket. On Kwan's three that tied the game, it was from a Josh penetration. We rarely penetrated the Kent defense to get open looks off passes to the shooters. Antinno and Noah shot 3 of 18 from behind the 3 line and every shot was off the dribble, not from a pass. We only had 9 assists last night. KD has 2 weeks to figure out how to get his players open looks when there is no double team on Big Dog.

Noah had a terrible game on offense, defense, and had 4 turnovers. I have no clue why he plays a man close 40 feet from the basket. They blow by him every time. Without Pat we just did not have the interior defense after the Kent guards blew by our guards. Maybe the big crowd on national TV got to him but one of the worst games I have ever seen him play. Reggie missed an open 3 when the game was tied and that seemed to be the turning point. Although Antino did not shoot the ball well he played with a lot of intensity on defense and looked like he did not want to lose this game. Big Dog was amazing. Kent did not double team him and figured that without Pat that they would wear him out. They were wrong! When he picked up his 4th foul there was almost no interior defense. Kent was athletic around the rim and without a rim protector we were doomed. KD did not use Ivey because he was so bad last game but he is our most athletic guy and we could have used him tonight. I think the league title could go down to the last game and I hope we have Pat back.

I thought Buffalo did a great job stopping Big Dog in the first half last week and stifled our offense when we were not making our 3 ball early in the game. I am hoping that Big Dog scores early and often in the first half. He played extremely well in the 2nd half going 33 minutes. His endurance has improved dramatically. The key to our offense is getting the ball to the post and letting Big Dog and hopefully Pat work their magic. The open 3 point looks come when we play inside out. Our last 2 trips to Kent were decided in the last second. I think this is another game that will come down to the last possession hopefully with a Zip win. Would love to see the Zips blow out Kent but find it hard to predict since this is an away rivalry game. Go Zips!

Maybe they saw how we got hosed by the refs in the last 2 minutes of the game.

After the half the coach was talking to ref about a call for about 30 seconds and then the second ref came over and motioned for the ref to come to the locker room. The coach and the second referee then got into an argument and the 2nd ref gave him the T. It was interesting because when the 2nd half began the coach was glaring at the refs at half court from the bench. Eventually, he spoke to the ref who gave him the T and everything settled down. On the pregame KD indicated that he had complained about the refs at N. Illinois to the MAC.

I thought Buffalo played great defense in the first half. The first team to shut down Big Dog in the post. They had 3 guys in the lane so that he could not score. When he passed to the open man we were not hitting our 3 point shots. They are quick and athletic and drove to the hoop past our guards and forward. I still cannot figure out why Noah defends so close to a player when they are 50 feet from the basket. He just does not have the lateral movement to keep his man in front of him. The second half Antino did a great job defending. We also had several stupid turnovers where Buffalo was just beating us to the ball. Our 3 point shooting once again did the trick in the second half.

I agree!! Kwan played with a big pair of _____. He picked up some great defensive boards and had some great blocks. He did not play much in the first half but I thought he was great defensively in the second half. This team needed some toughness and he held his own under the basket. I think he has found his role on this team as a distributor on offense and a rebounder and shot blocker on defense. I hope to see more of his tough defense at Kent.

I agree that the Zips did not play badly. However, they were outrebounded on the offensive boards 15 to 6 and turned the ball over 13 times with Antino having 6 turnovers. We shot the ball well and had 15 assists so not a bad offensive performance. We simply need to box out better on the road and take better care of the ball. I watched the replay of the last foul on Akron and Jake reached into the lane and put his foot down as the guy was driving to the lane and the offensive player stepped on Jake's foot and tripped into Big Dog. Big Dog did not commit the foul but Jake put his foot into the path of the offensive player and tripped him so not the worst call in the world. However, I also watched the foul on Robotham where Dambrot drew the T. Robotham had position and the Northern Illinois player was clearly jumping on his back. Robotham boxed him out and the official under the basket did not blow his whistle. The trail official called the foul and it was clearly a foul on the Northern Illinois player and Robotham was clapping when the official blew the whistle because he clearly thought it was against N. Illinois and it would have negated the Northern Illinois basket. Robotham showed a great deal of class for a second year player at the end of the game by getting KD and bringing him back to the Akron bench to shake hands.

When Pat comes in they stop playing inside out. They need to have Pat in the lane and feed him the ball. No reason to change the offense when he is in.

Last year Pat played so well after Tree left the program. This year he has some early injuries and his play has been inconsistent while Big Dog has been playing so well. The team needs to play the same whether it is Big Dog or Pat in the middle. The team needs to have confidence in Pat by getting him the ball and Pat needs to have confidence in himself and take it to the hoop. If Big Dog does not play this may be the game for Pat to regain his form from last year.

Last season we were 2nd in the country in 3 point attempts but only ranked 127th in 3 point percentage. Currently we are 7th in 3 point attempts and ranked 19th in the country in 3 point percentage. Last year we ranked 296th in foul shot attempts. This year we are ranked 183 in foul shot attempts. Big Dog is leading the team with 138 attempts and is ranked 3rd among centers in foul shot attempts. (91st in the country in foul shot attempts. The leaders in foul shot attempts are all guards. Last year we were ranked 258th on foul shot percentage. This year we are ranked 187th in foul shot percentage. Last year I did not like Akron's dependence on the 3 point shot because we did not shoot it well and it limited us from drawing any fouls. This year playing KD's inside out game has worked to our advantage. Since our guards are young I am hopeful that in future years an Akron guard will be one of the leaders in foul shot attempts. (Jimond?)

I agree with you that this team is playing well because players have found their roles. It is nice to see Kwan passing on the 3 points shots and feeding the ball to Big Dog. Jimmond is slashing to the basket and drawing fouls. The passing on this team to find the open man has been fantastic. However, I still think this team still has major weaknesses when playing top level competition. We are not athletic, our team is not quick on defense, and our guards are young, small and are not great defenders although they have improved. Our offense is built around getting the ball to big dog and Pat where they have been dominating in the MAC. Not sure if they will be as dominating playing in the tournament against high level competition. A good team will bury us if we open the second half like we did against Bowling Green or Central Michigan. Most importantly, we do not have experience playing against top level competition. I think if we play good defense and shoot the ball well we could compete against a top level team but I do not think that we are a top 16 team.

Great to see Pat play well and score in double figures. This is the 2nd game in a row where we lost a lead starting in the 2nd half. We stopped getting the ball into Pat and start taking outside shots without working the ball inside. It seems like this team has a brain freeze starting the second half and forgot how they built the lead. It is amazing how this team started the 0 for 7 in 3 point shooting and ended the game shooting 50%. Antino was on fire from the 3 point line. It seems like every night a different player gets hot from behind the arc. I hope that Big Dogs injury is not serious. Nice to see Jimmond get some extended minutes. He had 4 turnovers but played good defense and scored 6 points. I think he will get better as he plays more.

I would really like to see Pat have a great game offensively. The last 2 games he got called for travelling and it seems to get in his head and he hesitates on his post moves. Pat had a great year last year and we need to feed the ball in the post and then everything seems to open up. It is always tough to win on the road so I expect a close game. The one difference this year than in previous years is that we have guys who can finish off games at the foul line. At the end of the Central game we had a lineup of Josh, Noah, Antino, Jake and Big Dog. Everyone but Big Dog is shooting over 80% from the foul line. Go Zips!

Thanks for the link: "You're allowed 2 steps upon completion of a dribble, so if you dribble while pushing off of one foot it is not counted toward one of your 2 allowed steps." The Central Michigan player had already picked up their dribble before they take the push off step. That is why I think it is a travelling.

I looked at the replay and you are correct. Several of the drives by the Central Michigan guards were 3 steps to the basket. They drive to the basket and pick up their dribble and then take 3 steps to the basket. I could not see it until I looked at it in slow motion. But what is most interesting is none of the Akron players or coaches complained. I see it in the NBA all the time but usually they call travelling in college much closer.

That is the one. The replay showed that the Central Michigan player just lost control of the ball. It looked like the ref indicated it came off Jake. Unfortunately, Jack had a turnover last game when he dribbled the ball off the foot of the opposing player. The ref indicated it came off his foot. Hopefully, the bad calls will even out by the end of the season.

That is called the "Can't Step." When a player goes from the top of the key and makes a layup without a dribble to win the game.

I also thought the refs were terrible at the game. I recorded the game and reviewed the plays that I thought were bad calls against Akron and I hate to say it, but the calls were not terrible. Antino got called for an offensive foul and on the replay you can see him pushing off. The foul where Kwan got knocked over was a 50/50 call that could have gone either way. Kwan moved over just before the guy ran over him. The same for the offensive call against Big Dog, it could have gone either way. On the 3 point foul against Kwan that I thought was a total flop, Kwan definitely hit the guys arm on the follow through. The guy did flop but it was a legitimate foul although it did not effect the shot. The only call the refs missed was an out of bounds call against Akron where the replay showed that Jake did not touch the ball. I also noticed at the end of the game when Central was fouling that the refs blew a very quick whistle. I guess when refs get suspended for 2 games the message was received to blow a quick whistle when the other team is trying to foul. To our players credit, no player gave the refs any problems. I remember last year when some players picked up technical after a bad call. I also noticed that Scirotto looks like he is having a great time at the game.

I agree that Pat has not been playing well offensively. He only took one shot tonight. Last year when we lost Tree he played great and had a great season. Now that Big Dog is playing well he seems to have lost some confidence in his shooting. Pat has always had great drop step moves and it seems like he just is not using them and just goes with his left handed hook. Hopefully, he will get the confidence back. The team is really playing well with some great passing. Josh is just on fire. Heard him on the post game interview and he credits the team with his open looks. It reminds me of how Antino came on real strong at the end of the season. I like how Kwan is concentrating on defense and passing the ball. Both Reggie and Jake have been very active rebounding. It is the most aggressive I have ever seen them play. They have some nice offensive put backs. Jake had a terrible shooting night and we still won. My only complaint is that the last 4 minutes we seemed to go into a prevent defense when we were up by 20 and KD told the team not to foul. Central made a nice run and almost stole the game. I would not have changed our defense since we were playing so well. This team is playing great team ball and we had 22 assists. I hope we keep getting better and it will be a great season.

Great to see a Zips 12 point win on the road when we did not play our best ball. Josh Williams had a great game and hope that continues as he gets more experience. Great tip ins by Reggie and Jake. These guys are not great offensive rebounders and it just shows how hard these guys are playing in their senior year. Robotham can certainly finish a game at the foul line. Big Dog seems to get better every game and Kwan did his best Zeke imitation in the first half. We shot 80% from the line. I think our team may get a little tired from back to back MAC road games. I thought we played better at Ball State. It is interesting that we got our best game from Josh Williams who did not log a great number of minutes at Ball State. Looking forward to a great game on Friday. Go Zips!