Urbana Game

[bUAkronG]

Listening to the Urbana game on the 1350 stream and I just turned it on to hear that the Zips are up 59-15 with 15 minutes to go in the second half. Urbana has only made 5 field goals. That is just unreal. Are they just that bad or is our defense dominating?

[Quickzips]

Having been paying that much attention (going back and forth b/w listening to the Zips and watching LeBron and the Cavs dismantle the Knicks).We have a Steve Swiech sighting. 4 points 3 rebounds in his first college action.

[ksu sucks]

Having been paying that much attention (going back and forth b/w listening to the Zips and watching LeBron and the Cavs dismantle the Knicks).We have a Steve Swiech sighting. 4 points 3 rebounds in his first college action.

Uh oh...nbs95's boy is in...here we go...

[tpsjugglerdude]

Having been paying that much attention (going back and forth b/w listening to the Zips and watching LeBron and the Cavs dismantle the Knicks).We have a Steve Swiech sighting. 4 points 3 rebounds in his first college action.

Uh oh...nbs95's boy is in...here we go...

I hear he scored 8 pts...

[ZachTheZip]

Having been paying that much attention (going back and forth b/w listening to the Zips and watching LeBron and the Cavs dismantle the Knicks).We have a Steve Swiech sighting. 4 points 3 rebounds in his first college action.

Uh oh...nbs95's boy is in...here we go...

I hear he scored 8 pts...

he had 8 pts and 4 rebounds. A little too excited when he dunked the ball, though, and I'm sure he'll hear about that. He also had a good 5 minute interview with French, and a lot of KD's interview was also focused on him.

[bUAkronG]

just to get everyone up to speed, the Zippers pulled out a squeaker 81-37

[zippyrifle32]

He looked a bit awkward out on the floor, but I was really glad to see him get some quality minutes. He needs to work on stepping up and being more assertive with the ball. It appeared to me that he has the desire to be the player KD wants, but just needs more development.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Urbana is the worst team ever. I'd have rather watched the Zips scrimmage themselves, or one of the better UA imtramural teams. Thank God the gauntlet of lower division schools is complete.I never thought I'd be so excited to see Fairleigh Dickenson or Eastern Ke.ntucky.

[Deeustin89]

exactly why you shouldnt schedule NAIA teams. what good came of this? there are 300 plus D1 programs out there. get a game with any one of them.

[The Hip Zip]

While I hate games like this, it was great to see Swiech get some minutes. This kid tries so hard to give it his all, so I was happy to see him play.Nice going tonight Steve!! On the down side, Brett went 1 for 8 after his great outing at Pitt. Go figure.Wonder how the scrimmage went for Zeke tonight??

[Valpo Zip]

I drove for 2.5 hours hoping to see the soccer game. No Soccer, let's see KD's men. Granted it was not the most exciting game, but seeing our golden kids (the basketball team) was well worth the trip. If nothing but seeing Steve Swiech in action and that dunk, still worth it.I feel that KD rode steve real hard and Steve responded well, you could tell he had a chip on his shoulder. He was not running on the court, he was sprinting in transition defense, he was rebounding like a man amongst kids and defending very fiercely. This team (Urbana) was not a serious competition, but you wait and see, starting Jan 10, our first MAC game, no one will even remember that those guys are freshmen and sophomores. Mark my words.

[ZachTheZip]

exactly why you shouldnt schedule NAIA teams. what good came of this? there are 300 plus D1 programs out there. get a game with any one of them.

You act like we had a choice. This was part of the Legends Classic "tournament", along with the game at Pitt. What a ripoff this thing was. They give us one team we have no chance against, and another team that has no business playing in a D-1 tournament, and to top it all off we are barred from actually winning the thing.

[GJGood]

just to get everyone up to speed, the Zippers pulled out a squeaker 81-37

Impressive score but some things I noticed in the box score for this game are beginning to worry me. Keep in mind this was against a team that is in the process of transitioning from Division III to Division II and hasn't even beaten any of those teams yet.Akron had zero blocked shots. ZERO...despite substantial minutes by Linhart, both McKnights, Bardo, and Sweich.And the one I think we'll all be discussing all season... 7 for 16 at the free throw line.Also Hitchens had more turnovers than assists and picked up four fouls in 20 minutes. I hope that can be attributed to "growing pains" though.

[Big Zip]

I'm not sure how I feel about this game other than I'm glad it is over with. If the price to pay to get Pittsburgh on the schedule was to play Urbana then fine I'll take it, but who the hell runs the Legends Classic and why the hell would you ask Urbana to be involved?

[Zip Watcher]

Akron had zero blocked shots. ZERO...despite substantial minutes by Linhart, both McKnights, Bardo, and Sweich.

Perhaps that jumps out from the box score .. but from being at the game, I can tell you that Urbana didn't really go in to the paint much at all. There simply weren't a lot of opportunities to block shots.The defensive effort last night was pretty solid, IMO.

[tbozeglav]

Akron had zero blocked shots. ZERO...despite substantial minutes by Linhart, both McKnights, Bardo, and Sweich.

Perhaps that jumps out from the box score .. but from being at the game, I can tell you that Urbana didn't really go in to the paint much at all. There simply weren't a lot of opportunities to block shots.The defensive effort last night was pretty solid, IMO.

Thats the only way to interpret the blocked shot stat... Id like to see just how many (or how few based on what zip watcher said) shots Urbana attempted within the paint versus our 0 blocked shots. Sounds like it was a nailbiter anyways

[Dave in Green]

Akron had zero blocked shots. ZERO...despite substantial minutes by Linhart, both McKnights, Bardo, and Sweich.

Funny, I thought I saw a number of blocked shots to go along with a bunch of rushed shots, steals, etc., due to intense defensive pressure from the Zips and limited abilities of Urbana.Finally seeing Swiech play had to be the highlight of this mismatch game. My perception from watching him in warmups that he is slow was blown away. He really hustled back and forth down the court, and does not appear to be a major speed liability. He's at least in the same speed range as Bardo, who is above average for his size. Swiech demonstrated the nice shooting touch he shows in warmups. Even more impressive is his ability to finish around the rim. His slam lit up the Zips bench like a buzzer-beater winner against Can't. His teammates were all on their feet jumping, yelling and smiling. If Swiech could slam two or three like that in every game, it would be demoralizing to the opposition. He is definitely an offensive force around the rim, and a rebounding presence at both ends.Swiech appeared less skilled at the defensive end, but not for lack of trying. He showed pure hustle the whole time on the floor. His enthusiasm and good foot speed led to a few problems, such as fouling one of the Urbana small players while chasing him around outside the 3-point line. But those kind of mistakes are so much better than playing lazy defense. I see a good potential upside for Swiech as he gets more experience as long as he listens to the coaching staff and learns from his rookie mistakes.The most annoying part of the game to me is that several Zips had lazy, careless passes stolen by an obviously less talented team. Crisp passing is an essential basic that separates good teams from bad ones. A stolen pass should be more embarassing to a player than shooting an air ball.

[Zip Watcher]

.... My perception from watching him in warmups that he is slow was blown away. He really hustled back and forth down the court, and does not appear to be a major speed liability. He's at least in the same speed range as Bardo, who is above average for his size. Swiech demonstrated the nice shooting touch he shows in warmups. Even more impressive is his ability to finish around the rim. His slam lit up the Zips bench like a buzzer-beater winner against Can't. His teammates were all on their feet jumping, yelling and smiling. If Swiech could slam two or three like that in every game, it would be demoralizing to the opposition. He is definitely an offensive force around the rim, and a rebounding presence at both ends.Swiech appeared less skilled at the defensive end, but not for lack of trying. He showed pure hustle the whole time on the floor. His enthusiasm and good foot speed led to a few problems, such as fouling one of the Urbana small players while chasing him around outside the 3-point line. But those kind of mistakes are so much better than playing lazy defense. I see a good potential upside for Swiech as he gets more experience as long as he listens to the coaching staff and learns from his rookie mistakes.

I second everything Dave writes here. Steve absolutely destroyed any concern I had that he'd be as mobile as a tree. Remember Vandersluis on Miami a few years ago? The guy was a mountain that just couldn't move. Steve showed athleticism. I'm content that he will be a factor for the Zips eventually. Probably as quick as Bardo in a straight line .. lateral quickness .. tough to say, and that does matter in these things.My highlight of the night wasn't the slam, since my 4 year old had pulled me out the door before that .. it was in the first half when Swiech ran out at a shooter near the 3 point arc .. hollering like a madman, Steve is running right at the guy, and the Urbana guy just threw the ball out of bounds under the basket as if to say .. "ok you can have it ... just don't kill me."Feeling good about Swiech today .. makes this game (Urbana / DII) worth playing. Good to throw him a bone and give him a taste of the action.Go Zips.

[Zip N' Dots]

I loved steves hustle and excitment, but it was obvious why he had yet to see action. He seems lost, I don't think coach wants him running at the guy at the 3 point line, I think coach would want him under the basket rebouding and not giving up the easy bucket. He needs to learn his defensive responsibilities and positioning on the floor before coach will give him extensive play this season.

[RootforRoo44]

Akron had zero blocked shots. ZERO...despite substantial minutes by Linhart, both McKnights, Bardo, and Sweich.

Perhaps that jumps out from the box score .. but from being at the game, I can tell you that Urbana didn't really go in to the paint much at all. There simply weren't a lot of opportunities to block shots.The defensive effort last night was pretty solid, IMO.

Thats the only way to interpret the blocked shot stat... Id like to see just how many (or how few based on what zip watcher said) shots Urbana attempted within the paint versus our 0 blocked shots. Sounds like it was a nailbiter anyways

There was most certainly a blocked shot. I took a great string of pictures (about 8) of Bardo getting a good piece of a floater in the lane. I don't have my cameras memory card here at work though, guess ill upload it later

[FromdaBurgh]

.... My highlight of the night wasn't the slam, since my 4 year old had pulled me out the door before that .. it was in the first half when Swiech ran out at a shooter near the 3 point arc .. hollering like a madman, Steve is running right at the guy, and the Urbana guy just threw the ball out of bounds under the basket as if to say .. "ok you can have it ... just don't kill me."

I LOVE IT.... That is HILARIOUS...I wish I was there. As most of you know..Zeke had his first scrimmage last night. It was OK. Perhaps because I'm biased and therefore more critical, I wasn't too thrilled with Zeke's performance. He did extremely well on the defensive boards...as to be expected. But offensively he has to get into the practice of going after EVERYTHING coming off the boards and also going after his own shot. As a team, however, they need to work on "gelling" together AND they need to GIVE ZEKE THE FREAKIN BALL!!! which is another issue that has plagued him since 10th grade. For whatever reason, the PG's hate to give Zeke the ball on the inside and by the time they do he as, at least, 3 defenders surrounding him and there is almost nothing he can do....either way, there is ALOT of work that needs to be done with this team. IF they pull it together and work together they will most certainly be champions both in WPIAL and PIAA.

[tbozeglav]

even so... I think the number of attempted shots inside the paint versus the number of blocks we had would be the fairest way to determine how our defense in the paint was. Even then, considering that we held them to some 30-odd points, I doubt they had much of an inside presence as zip watcher pointed out.

[skip-zip]

I'm just happy that.....after the Walsh debacle....we made a practice game really LOOK like a practice game.

[RootforRoo44]

Well im glad we got a true critics assessment of Zekes game! Here's to you guys pulling it together and Zeke ending this season a champion before leading us to a championship next year!

[Dave in Green]

For whatever reason, the PG's hate to give Zeke the ball on the inside and by the time they do he as, at least, 3 defenders surrounding him and there is almost nothing he can do....

Always remember that for every action there is at least one effective counteraction. If there are three defenders on one player, that means at least two others are open. Zeke can take advantage of the situation by immediately passing to one of the open players for a high-percentage open shot. When the defense adjusts and stops collapsing on Zeke, that will open him up for more shots. Some players never learn this. The great thing about Zeke being an intelligent person is that once he learns all of the counters, he will be able to quickly adjust to every situation and can become virtually unstoppable. It really doesn't matter whether he scores himself or gets an assist for someone else. The bottom line is for the team to win, and teams with tall, athletic, smart centers have a big advantage over everyone else.