Thursday's Scrimmage

[Blue & Gold]

I can't make Thursday's scrimmage vs. Walsh. I know that most of you will be in attendance and that I'm sure we'll get some great post-scrimmage write ups, but could someone take their camera and get some pics of our new Nike uniforms? I'm curious to see what they look like.Btw, I was @ the JAR last week and asked @ the team shop if replica jerseys were going to be available. They said that UA didn't sign the contract w/ Nike soon enough to get replica jerseys for this season. Could that have something to do w/ the fact that we're not getting our LBJ23 line jerseys until next season? I guess we're just wearing standard Nike jerseys this season?Anyway, could someone get some pics @ Thursday's scrimmage and post them? Thanks!

[Blue & Gold]

I just wanted to pop this back up to the top and ask again if someone would/could please take some pics of our new Nike uni's @ the game tonight? Thanks!

[bUAkronG]

If I can find my camera I will go ahead and snap some pics for ya!

[zipfan 81]

If I can find my camera I will go ahead and snap some pics for ya!

Is it true Akron was losing at half time?

[tpsjugglerdude]

No we were not losing at half. The final was 83-81 Akron. Walsh shot a 3 as time expired it bounced around the rim once and bounced out.

[zipfan 81]

No we were not losing at half. The final was 83-81 Akron. Walsh shot a 3 as time expired it bounced around the rim once and bounced out.

Wow, are we that bad, or is it because its a scrimmage and everyone played? Didnt we beat them by 20 or more last year?

[ZachTheZip]

I can't get a feel for this team at all. Nobody played for more than five minutes at a time before being subbed out, and everybody's shot was off. We had trouble defending the three, which was Walsh's primary weapon. Nate did some things that I saw showed his presence as a senior. This team has great potential, but we will go through lots of growing pains.As an observation, I don't think anybody for the Zips played at full speed. I saw bursts of speed from a few players, but they kept it toned down. A few guys didn't play that I wanted to see, but we might be hiding them from future opponents (I hope).

[zipfan 81]

I can't get a feel for this team at all. Nobody played for more than five minutes at a time before being subbed out, and everybody's shot was off. We had trouble defending the three, which was Walsh's primary weapon. Nate did some things that I saw showed his presence as a senior. This team has great potential, but we will go through lots of growing pains.As an observation, I don't think anybody for the Zips played at full speed. I saw bursts of speed from a few players, but they kept it toned down. A few guys didn't play that I wanted to see, but we might be hiding them from future opponents (I hope).

If they didn't play tonite, why would they play later, it's a scrimmage, you would think eveyrone would play.

[The Hip Zip]

Just got home and was hoping to get a bit of a feel for this years team but failed to take much from this tilt.I thought our defense was pretty bad. Walsh had guys wide open on the wing all night long. Given what I saw tonightKeith will have his hands full.Positives... Hitchens can flat out fly in the open court and Bardo looks like he has developed some better low post moves.Weak points ... defense defense and defense.I'm a bit disapointed but not overly so. We play these things to work out some problems. It will get better.Uniforms : the tops are pretty vanilla but I like the new shorts

[Blue & Gold]

No we were not losing at half. The final was 83-81 Akron. Walsh shot a 3 as time expired it bounced around the rim once and bounced out.

Wow, are we that bad, or is it because its a scrimmage and everyone played? Didnt we beat them by 20 or more last year?

If I remember correctly, we beat them by over 40 last year. Man, we've really taken a big step back. Might take a while for this team to come together.

[tpsjugglerdude]

Couple things I thought:Started off great at 11-2 with us stealing their first 2 passes for breakaway pts.Bardo- Did so much better then last year, had some dumb defensive fouls but he knew he messed up and was disgusted with himself every time. Scored in double digits.C McKnight- looked a lot better then last year to. Scored over 20pts. Hit a lot of nice open shots from distance but couldn't get the close ones in late in the game. Lienhart- Great leadership and hit lots of 3s. 19pts last I looked.Hitchens- WOW! Speedy, made some great plays and can shoot.Steward- I like him a lot, he ran the team really well.Nikola- Looked lost the entire 5 minutes he was out there.Uniforms- Shorts looke really bad with "Akron" on their butts.Walsh was greatly improved from last year. They were really fired up in the 2nd half and really wanted to win this one for bragging rights. Every time we would get a 3 or they would foul just deflated them. A few of the Rowdies who were there actually clapped for them as they left and told them good job and they were really surprised.

[tpsjugglerdude]

One last stat 37-29 in Walsh's favor....anyone dare to guess what this stat is? Ill just give a hint that it needs to improve and that we shouldn't have ANY problem with this next year with you-know-who coming.

[Zippysgotagun]

One last stat 37-29 in Walsh's favor....anyone dare to guess what this stat is? Ill just give a hint that it needs to improve and that we shouldn't have ANY problem with this next year with you-know-who coming.

Wow! We blocked 29 shots I'm not that worried about the boards. With Bardo/Sweich/C. McKnight matched up against undersized MAC teams, I think that stat will even out. It was a scrimmage, and I doubt some people playing underneath will be there. (I wasn't there, if someone who was there could let us know if that's not the case, please do).

[Blue & Gold]

No we were not losing at half. The final was 83-81 Akron. Walsh shot a 3 as time expired it bounced around the rim once and bounced out.

Wow, are we that bad, or is it because its a scrimmage and everyone played? Didnt we beat them by 20 or more last year?

If I remember correctly, we beat them by over 40 last year. Man, we've really taken a big step back. Might take a while for this team to come together.

I was wrong about last year's score. Last year's final score was 79-55. But I don't think the game was that close. For some reason I thought I remembered us being up by 40 @ one point. I'm probably mistaken.

[GoZips]

It sure was not pretty.Not to be mean spirited to a previous poster, BUT, are you sure you were watching Humpty shooting?Humpty was zero for four shots including a couple of air balls. I see great promise in Humpty, justnot last night. He yielded the starting PG spot to a fun to watch Ronnie Steward.Speaking of yielding one's starting role. Steve McNees still has no clue on defense. He gave his starting job to a deserving Darryl Roberts. Go ahead, argue with me. Who was on the floor at theend when the game was on the line? Darryl Roberts was. There is a clue.Rebounding? What rebounding. There is a glaring problem that needs immediate attention. I thoughtthat Mike Bardo did a decent job on the boards. I was disappointed in CMac's rebounding. CMacdoes so many things well that the rebounding is a lesser issue. That heavy taping of his arm hadto hamper getting his hands over his head.Linhart played well. He was a joy to watch.Coach D says that the team is two weeks away from jelling. Fortunately only a weak Canisius standsin the way. Winthrop will give us a true read on this edition of the Zips.Well, I came out of retirement to take a full time job. So, until I get adjusted to working a fortyhour stress level job I will not be making as many comments.

[Quickzips]

My thoughts:Ugly, ugly game. Walsh should never come that close to beating us, regardless of how many freshman we have.It is obvious who the leaders on this team are. Chris and Nate have control of this team. Unfortunatly both still look like they are trying to figure out just how to lead and what kind of a stamp they are going to put on this program in that role.Chris had a heck of a game on offense. He should lead the team in scoring.Nate had a very Nate game. A couple threes, a few rebounds, followed a missed shot in for a layup, played nice defense (about the only guy who did), took an elbow to the face.Round 1 of the PG battle goes to Ronnie. The offense just looked more in sync when he was on the floor. He also hit a few shots which is more than I can say about most of the freshmen. His defense was a little suspect, but he seems to be further along than some of the other guys. Humpty played ok defense, even blocking a 3 pointer at one point, but he was lost on offense. Rushed a few shots and accounted for some turnovers.Surprise of the night for me was Mike Bardo. He looks like he's really worked on his offensive game. Broke down on defense a couple of times, which isn't a good sign, but he ought to get that straightened out. Where in gods name is Steve Swiech? Have we given up on this guy already?Brett McKnight still has a long way to go. He was pitiful on defense and he's trying to do way too much on offense. Early in the game he was essentially a black hole. Once the ball hit his hands it wasn't coming back out and he took some terrible shots as a result of it. He settled down a little bit in the 2nd half and made the game winner for us, but he also sat on the bench a lot.Most of the freshman (except maybe Ronnie) were suffering from a severe case of nerves. At least I hope that was it. Rushed shots, missed defensive assignments, bad fouls. You name it they did it. These guys will have to settle down sooner rather than later.I'm hoping they got this clunker out of their system when it doesn't really matter and that this serves as a wakeup call for this team. We've got a lot of hard work ahead of us.

[The Hip Zip]

Wow, I had no idea that the rebounding was that bad until I saw the boxthis morning, I knew that Walsh got some easy boards but not that the numbers were that much in their favor.I was not the least surprised that the game was close. Remember people,Walsh is a very good NAIA program and we are basically a new team still tryingto learn our roles. As I recall, Findlay beat Michigan State last year in a similarcontest. A key word this year will be : PATIENCE !! This team will be OK in time.It's not going to happen overnight.

[Captain Kangaroo]

A key word this year will be : PATIENCE !! This team will be OK in time.It's not going to happen overnight.

Screw that. This is KD's 5th season and we're 3 points better than an NAIA team? We need to get rid of our coaching staff and find some retread coach who failed as a BCS school. We also need to strongly consider dropping back to the NAIA level where we can be competitive. Is it too late to do this for the 2008-9 season? We also need to get the "money games" (ie. Pitt) off our schedule. They are unwinnable, and kill our chances for any at-large tourney berths. Anyone who thinks this is overreacting is a fool. We need to make changes NOW! The Germans started with France. The Russians started with Czechoslovakia. I'm telling you we need to react NOW!Until we win a game or two. Then we need to extend the coach's contract, and begin membership negotiations with a "major" conference.Sincerely,The Football Board

[tpsjugglerdude]

It sure was not pretty.Not to be mean spirited to a previous poster, BUT, are you sure you were watching Humpty shooting?Humpty was zero for four shots including a couple of air balls. I see great promise in Humpty, justnot last night. He yielded the starting PG spot to a fun to watch Ronnie Steward.

Good call. I think I may have meant to put that under Steward but just put it under Humpty. Humpty looked really good shooting before he game when they were shooting around (but that doesn't matter since no one is guarding lol). It was wierd seeing Middleton on the court without a jersey. Can we assume the players who didn't play are going to be redshirted?

[GP1]

A key word this year will be : PATIENCE !! This team will be OK in time.It's not going to happen overnight.

Screw that. This is KD's 5th season and we're 3 points better than an NAIA team? We need to get rid of our coaching staff and find some retread coach who failed as a BCS school. We also need to strongly consider dropping back to the NAIA level where we can be competitive. Is it too late to do this for the 2008-9 season? We also need to get the "money games" (ie. Pitt) off our schedule. They are unwinnable, and kill our chances for any at-large tourney berths. Anyone who thinks this is overreacting is a fool. We need to make changes NOW! The Germans started with France. The Russians started with Czechoslovakia. I'm telling you we need to react NOW!Until we win a game or two. Then we need to extend the coach's contract, and begin membership negotiations with a "major" conference.Sincerely,The Football Board

Don't forget the always popular phrase that nobody really knows what it means,"It's clear from last nights performance that the coach has lost this team."

[RootforRoo44]

I wouldn't get too worried yet. Yes we did not look great but still it's an exhibition game. One thing i liked was Chris McKnight down low. He looked smooth and quick to the basket. Regardless of if we win 15 games or 20+ games this year, this program is heading in the right direction. We have lots of young talent and plenty more on the way. There should be no worries in where KD is taking this program.

[unZIPped]

" We need to get rid of our coaching staff and find some retread coach who failed as a BCS school. We also need to strongly consider dropping back to the NAIA level where we can be competitive. Is it too late to do this for the 2008-9 season? "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! IS THIS A JOKE????????

[ZachTheZip]

" We need to get rid of our coaching staff and find some retread coach who failed as a BCS school. We also need to strongly consider dropping back to the NAIA level where we can be competitive. Is it too late to do this for the 2008-9 season? "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! IS THIS A JOKE????????

YES IT IS A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!I believe CK was parodying the prevailing attitude that MAC fans have. In football.

[BirdZip]

It seemed like Sweich knew he wasn't going to play at all. Always at the end of the bench, not really listening in the huddle (always way outside), and seemingly talking to himself a lot. I sure wanted to see him play, and I would think you'd throw him out there at least for a minute or two.I didn't think many of the players had much energy, and a few of them seemed somewhat tired. This was just an exhibition, so perhaps their routines weren't gameday type.Very up tempo. I love Bardo--I think he's developing well and going to be key next year and the year after. However, it looks like he may have some adjusting to do with the extreme quickness of our new guards. I counted twice when the ball hit Bardo in the head--once on the back and once on the cheek. Hands up, big guy! On the plus side, he got a rebound and immediately put it back up, rather than taking a meaningless dribble and losing it. Yes!Someone above talked about the heavy tape on Chris McKnight's (Big Mac's) right arm. I believe that was just one of those shooting sleeves like what Kobe wears. I'm not sure what they really do other than make you look cool. I may get one and start wearing it at work...The zone defense we played for a good portion of the second half looked different than last year--much smipler. It looked like a normal zone rather than the very complicated (but much more effective) zone they played last year. Yesterday's zone couldn't keep up and did indeed yield a lot of threes.Most disappointing for me--Jimmy Conyers.

[zipfan 81]

All's I can say, is I am glad I don't have to go through their practices the next few days....