EMU Game

[Zip Watcher]

Brief Sunday night comments a day later:

0. I wholeheartedly disagree with any notion that fatigue had anything to do with the last 8 minutes last night. These were mental and strategy breakdowns.

1. It will never make sense to me that teams that play good pressure defense can sometimes have enormous difficulties in breaking the press. This was very clear last night, and I suspect the rest of the MAC will pick up on this until they prove otherwise. Way too many backwards passes in the back court. Dribbling into traps all too common.

2. When a team is struggling to break the press and get the ball up the court, why does a coach continue to bring all 5 guys into the backcourt? 5 offensive players in the backcourt = 5 defensive players in the backcourt. This can ONLY serve to crowd things up more than usual, and often enables the defense to employ a zone press in the backcourt to effectively disrupt the offense's ability to advance the ball. Get at least 2 guys out of there to the front court and things will open up! To be fair, this was the first decision all year by KD that didn't make sense to me. There's reasons he's the coach and not me.

3. Best game yet by Preston, Futch was solid .. these guys should get better throughout the year.

4. 30 minutes of the best hoops in the JAR since 1989. That team can beat anyone in the MAC. 10 minutes of some of the worst hoops in the JAR since 1995. Erasing these episodes will be a big part of this team growing up and coming together.

5. Can someone tell Joe Dunn to ASK QUESTIONS IN THE COACHES / PLAYER INTERVIEW??!!! After the game, we already know what you think Joe, from your 10 minutes w/ Frenchie. When KD sits down, it's your job to ask a brief question and let the coach give us some insight into the game. We shouldn't be hearing you give some seminar on what you saw and ask the coach to agree. Ask a question and get out of the way. We'll all (you included) learn a lot more and enjoy the interview more.

6. The Mr. Hero Perseverence Guy of the Game Award goes to: The kid on the press row side of the court during the 12minute timeout in the 2nd half. Nice recovery after getting your head lost in the jersey during the dressing component of the contest. Didn't lose his head for good & recovered to sink the hoop first. WELL DONE!

Finally:

:gun:

How fun was that first 30 minutes? I haven't been this pumped about the team in a long time. I rarely miss games, but I can't wait until Saturday for the next game. Hey PASTIE! You've been missing some good action this week. You'll be glad you're there when you make it back.

Defense wins championships, and there's a MAC East Championship to be had here with a few road wins! Go get the Herd & we'll see you back at the ranch on Saturday night! Go Zips.

[Z-P]

Thanks for the shout, and luv that avatar.

OTR next weekend unfortuntely. Want my ducket?

I'm kicking myself for missing Ohio, but you know me, I can't miss playoff FB when it's the greatest weekends of the year. (EMU)

I'm around...........and a big KD fan.............nm, thanx

[Akron Hooper]

Just found this board, by accident. You should really promote it more MODS.

Regardless, I was at the EMU game and am not as impressed by Akron as some of you. I am not an alum, but did play basketball at a local D-II school many years back. I love basketball and watch all types as much as possible.

This Akron team is better than lsat year's team but is still very inconsistent. In time they may be pretty good though so I will continue to come back.

My biggest concern of this team is how they only play well at home. This team has won 9 games, but only 2 on the road. Unless they can learn to win on the road they will not get over the hump this season.

This team has also played no one on the non MAC schedule, which leads me to believe that this team is being coddled by their coach. I would do the same thing but that has got to have an effect on the crowds. I listened to the postgame show on the radio after the game on Saturday night and Coach Dambrot said it best, even he would not come out to see his team play the way they showed up the last 10 minutes. As soon as this team figures out that the game lasts 40 minutes and not 30 minutes more fans will come. A win on the road to run a 3-game streak would also be a nice touch.

[zipper]

You're right about the inconsistency. They've got to learn to go for the jugular.

However, I don't think it's fair to say they only play well at home. For example, they were leading WMU at the mid point of the second half - by six I believe. WMU is proving a formidable opponent for everyone in the MAC, so my guess is we did play well on the road that game, but were simply outplayed.

Anyway, time will tell. We'll see what happens at Marshall, which SHOULD be a win.