St. Francis Game

[johnnyzip84]

Just got back from the game and a few tasty pizza pies at Luigi's. The result (game) was not exactly what I expected, but these things can happen to a young team I suppose. Here are a few thoughts.1) If I'm a MAC coach, I play zone against the Zips until they show me they they can beat it. Our zone offense right now is really, really bad.2) For a Senior that his team depends on quite a bit during crunch time, Nate still makes some silly mistakes that make you shake your head.3) Jimmy Conyers might be the most important player on the team at present.4) Chris McKnight seems to be getting lost in the shuffle a bit. I wonder of he is playing at 100% yet?5) There are still enough parts and pieces on this squad for KD to have them make a run in the MAC tourney when it counts. But, I think he's going to have to settle on his rotations pretty soon for this to be possible.Go Zips!!!

[GoZips]

johnny, you make several good points. I have to agree with you. Right now Jimmy Conyers isthe one Zip playing like a Zip. He is the glue. Great game, Jimmy.Nate seems all over the place. He lacks confidence with his shot, which hurts the team. Nate,just take the shot. Its going to go in more often than not. We believe in you.The big surprise for me is Steve McNees. Steve had an excellent game at both ends of the floor. Steve drove to the basket a number of times there by picking up free throw opportunities. Which, for a change, he cashed in. Steve seemed to play better as the game wore on.Defense? What defense? The Zips got burned inside and outside. St. Francis has several players that can and did loft up three balls. Unfortunately, most of them went in. They coupled that with good lane penetration. Once St. Francis players realized that they could compete with Akron they became a darn tough opponent. The difference in skill saved the Zips. Surely not their lack luster and lazy play. Coach mentioned in his post game that the Zips tire easily. I noticed that as well. I commented to some friends during the game that Akron was playing tired. Not enough suicide drills coupled with KD's relucatance to go to his bench. Where is Steve Swiech? Come on, this kid can play at least as well as several people getting plenty offloor time. We are going to need Swiech later in the season. He needs floor time to prepare for whatis to come. I am disappointed that Swiech is not playing.A tip of the hat to Brett McKnight and Darryl Roberts who both delivered when the game was on the line.

[Dave in Green]

It was just an ugly game. The Zips started fast, everyone was playing their role well and I was feeling a little sorry for the St. Francis guys. Then it appeared as if either the Zips relaxed, St. Francis adjusted or a combination of the two. Through the middle of the game I was feeling a little sorry for the home team. Finally the Zips seemed to wake up, adjust and take control when it mattered.The fact that the Zips can turn it on late to win suggests to me that it's not a conditioning issue. They seem to be able to play with intensity late in the game when it matters. The sloppy play in the middle of the game seems more related to taking an early, easy lead, and then relaxing and losing their way. Not to pick on Roberts, because he wasn't alone in this, but I lost track of how many times he threw a lazy pass directly into the waiting hands of a St. Francis player. I'm not used to seeing this from Roberts. But St. Francis was simply playing harder and smarter during the middle of the game, and none of the Zips looked great during this spell.I really think it's more mental than physical. For example, late in the game Brett was showing a lot of energy. I like the way he was going after rebounds, and his fake and inside pass to a breaking Conyers for a bunny was a thing of beauty that should be repeated several times a game. McNees was pretty steady throughout the game, and is starting to get into that quick release rhythm I expected to see from him this year on his 3s.Overall I think this year's team is a big tease. They've shown the potential to play close against higher-ranked teams like Dayton and VCU, and even Pittsburgh for a half. Yet they struggle at times against weaker teams. They usually regain enough focus at the end of close games to put away weaker opponents but not stronger ones. Even great teams have bad stretches, just fewer of them than weaker teams.I just really don't know how much the coaches and players might be holding back for conference play. It's been said many times on this forum that the MAC is a one-bid conference, and the only thing that matters is winning the MAC tournament. If the coaches and players all believe that, and if they're all focusing on that, and if all the off-and-on struggles we're seeing prior to conference play are related to that, then I'm OK with it. Make your mistakes early in the season, learn from the mistakes and peak at the end of the season.I sure hope the season plays out that way. I think this team is capable of doing it, and it's all going to come down to mental sharpness and execution in crunch time. Which team will show up for conference play?

[Quickzips]

This team is going to continue to be the rollercoaster ride that any reasonable Zips fan should have expected this year. There was plenty to like about that game, but also plenty to dislike. I can't say enough about what Conyers did last night. The guy has FINALLY worked his way into the rotation and he seems to have the confidence to stay there. As long as he keeps attacking the rim on offense, getting up for some rebounds and playing good defense he needs to stay in the starting lineup. Nate showed almost the entirety of his Zips career in one night. He started off smoking hot going in for 8 points in what seemed like no time. Then he picked up two quick fouls. Then he disappeared for fifteen minutes or so. Then he took some wild off the mark shots. Finally he wrapped it all up with some nice defense down the stretch. What can you say. That's Nate. Bardo continues to baffle me. He plays decent defense when he stays down low in the post, but gets himself caught trying to defend the perimeter too much and allows some very easy drives. His offense is still nonexistant and there is hardly ever an effort to even get him a touch on offense. If he would keep his butt parked down inside, defend the post and rebound I'd be more comfortable with him out there. Humpty didn't have his greatest game, but it wasn't a bad game. There weren't as many freshman mistakes, but he didn't score a lot either. The dilemna with him is you can either try to limit his mistakes and risk limiting his production or let him produce and deal with the mistakes. Not sure which is the best way to go right now. Brett did have one of his best games IMO. He was actually putting in the effort on the glass and on defense and he passed out of double teams on a couple of occassions. If he can keep that up his minutes should increase. Roberts had a couple nice 3's and hit some FT's down the stretch but did little otherwise. McNees was stroking the 3 ball early, but his range betrayed him as the game wore on. He's still just a streaky catch and shoot guy that can play a little PG in a pinch. Chris McKnight is obviously not back in shape yet. He's not attacking the basket like you'd expect from him and he looks very tenative out there. Other than that, like someone else said, our offense against the zone is abysml. I know a lot of MAC teams don't play much zone, but you wonder if some guys will start to after watching the tape on us. I really like this team when we are playing fast and aggressive. We force a lot of turnovers and we can actually get ourselves some good shots. When we try and slow things down and play a halfcourt kind of game we get tenative on both ends of the floor and it leads to bad shots and missed offensive assignments.

[Blue & Gold]

I think we desperately need a low post presence. Is SS really that ineffective? I just don't think we can win consistently by simply continuing to pass the ball around the perimeter looking for the open 3-ball. We need to throw it down low to either score or pass it back out for open shots. Throwing it down low at least give the D a little something else to be concerned about.I liked how McNees drove to the hole. Again, something different than simply passing the rock around the perimeter. When you drive to the hole you can score, draw a foul, or dish it back out. McNees did all 3 last night.Jimmy Conyers looks like our best all-around player. Good job Jimmy!

[Zip Watcher]

This game was won with Defense when it counted.@ the 15:43 mark in the 2nd half, a SFC player made a three to give them a 5 point lead, 50-45.@ the 2 minute mark, SFC had scored a whopping 12 more points in ~14 minutes of play. 12 points in 14 minutes. During that stretch, they were 4 of 21 from the floor (19%). The big serbian shooter was shutout by Jimmy / Nate, and the Zips built a lead they wouldn't relinquish.The offense at times is shaky. But what I like about this team is that it buckles down and defends people. If we're struggling on one end, making the other team struggle more helps get the W. Certainly we hope to see more efficiency offensively .. but the defense is what will help this team compete in conference.In the end, 77 points isn't bad. And for stretches like the one mentioned above, the D was pretty good.I do think it's a sign of a young team that they're not yet stringing these stretches together or putting 2 halves together. That's why I'm glad it's the preseason. A game like this against Miami might well have been a loss. Only a week or so to tighten things up.Another nice game from Jimmy. A nice game even though he wasn't unconscious and did turn it over a few times on the break. He hangs 17 & 8 with a good effort in the flow of the game. With each game his confidence seems to build. It's great that he can contribute on the O side .. since we need him badly on D.Hope to see the McKnight's break out soon. That would help things immensely. I don't think Jimmy's giving up his minutes anytime soon .. but there's plenty to go around.Things look good to me. 7 & 4 with 12 underclassmen. 2 more preseason games. UNCGG is a must win (bad team) in a road situation, and URI would be a big win on the road if they can sort it out. Conyers is at his best against the A-10, so I'm hopeful.The league isn't very good, so even with growing pains .. the East is up for grabs. Buffalo needed a last second OT jumper to beat a 1-11 Pepperdine squad in Hawaii last night. B) B) The future could be now.Go Zips!

[RootforRoo44]

Some pictures from the game for the out of towners

[skip-zip]

I agree with Zipwatcher that this team has the ability to buckle down and play defense when they want to. I believe that's our only chance of having a decent year....if we can play great, inspired defense as often as possible. Because, it still looks like it's going to take some time for these guys to determine who is going to be their consistent offensive weapons, and solve this problem of always seeming to look for perimeter shots. I'd like to cut Nate some slack. He's trying to contribute in ways that he has not been asked to contribute in the other 3 years he has been here. It may still take some time. Conyers with an 8 rebound night? Gosh, we'll sure need some of that when conference play starts.I'd sure like to take the attitude that "well...we played bad, but showed that we could close out the game when it counted"......but that's hard to do considering that we were playing at home against a team ranked around 300th in the computer polls.

[Valpo Zip]

Things are not as rosy on my side here. I saw a bad zips team taking on a terrible opponent yesterday. The zips mannaged to win the game all right but they put their fans to sleep and didn't show any inside game potential.Jimmy, Linhart, McNeese, and Humpty were allright, they will take care of the ball, score on fast breaks, deffend the arc and shoot from outside... Brett McKnight seems to be the only one who goes inside eventhough he is more of a 2 or 3 player rather than a 4/5.Chris McKnight and Mile Bardo... Holly crapWhy on earth are these two getting all those minutes when they can't contribute jack (and i mean both sides of the floor). I don't remember seeing Chris taking a single layup/jump shot. Bardo seemed to play the old Connyers (give me the ball to give it back) game. Those 2 are in their 3rd year with the program and are supposed to make up our "veterans" inside game, when they fail so miserably, why can't we try other people? Why didn't Nik and Swiech get more time?

[Z.I.P.]

The league isn't very good, so even with growing pains .. the East is up for grabs. Buffalo needed a last second OT jumper to beat a 1-11 Pepperdine squad in Hawaii last night. B) B) The future could be now.Go Zips!

Well, I was at that game in the Rainbow Classic last night. UB looked like they were caught in a Buffalo snowbank mentally and physically last night against a very young but more aggressive Pepperdine team. Seemed like Bulls have very little senior leadership, at least last night. Rodney Pierce, who's supposed to be their star was totally lacklustre, getting relatively few touches offiensively. Calvin Betts (is he a junior or senior, not sure) at least played persistently, and led the Bulls in scoring with 18, and according to the paper had 14 rebounds! He was all over, though he didn't get that many good looks offensively. Bulls had little motion in their offense, so struggled against a very young but fairly athletic Pepp squad. Nice additions from two kids who I think are freshmen for Buffalo -- Andy Robinson and a forward from Arizona (forget his name, but gonna be a very good player). No way this team should be close to Akron at the JAR, but they could be favored at home vs UA. Reggie Witherspoon was very escited to get the 'W', as they lost all three overtime games they played last year. Tonite, UB plays another young but big and somewhat athletic Colorado team. I expect another close contest. Best team in this event is Vermont Catamounts. Best team UVM has put together -- better than their NCAA upset teams.

[skip-zip]

skhorbotly...I'm not feeling that good overall right now either. I'm seeing efforts like we had against Niagara and Dayton giving us reason for optimism, and efforts like we had against teams like Eastern Kentucky and St. Francis taking us backwards again. And a number of our wins are against teams that are so inferior to us that we really can't guage much of anything from the results. The youth of this team certainly would explain some of this roller coaster ride. But unfortunately, if we are hopeful of anything coming out of this season, we'll need many more efforts similar to the Dayton and Niagara efforts. And we only have a couple more games to aim the ship consistently forward in that kind of direction. Don't fool yourselves...many of our conference teams are more experienced and will be ready to play us, regardless of how some people feel about some of their performances during non-conference play.

[jeaglet1]

Nice additions from two kids who I think are freshmen for Buffalo -- Andy Robinson...

Andy Robinson is a senior. He's the one who used facebook to try to pay someone $40 to write a book report for him...

[ziptrumpet87]

Things are not as rosy on my side here. I saw a bad zips team taking on a terrible opponent yesterday. The zips mannaged to win the game all right but they put their fans to sleep and didn't show any inside game potential.Jimmy, Linhart, McNeese, and Humpty were allright, they will take care of the ball, score on fast breaks, deffend the arc and shoot from outside... Brett McKnight seems to be the only one who goes inside eventhough he is more of a 2 or 3 player rather than a 4/5.Chris McKnight and Mile Bardo... Holly crapWhy on earth are these two getting all those minutes when they can't contribute jack (and i mean both sides of the floor). I don't remember seeing Chris taking a single layup/jump shot. Bardo seemed to play the old Connyers (give me the ball to give it back) game. Those 2 are in their 3rd year with the program and are supposed to make up our "veterans" inside game, when they fail so miserably, why can't we try other people? Why didn't Nik and Swiech get more time?

I also would like to see more offense from the bigs.IIRC, CMcK is playing with a cracked rib, so that could explain his lack of time and tentative play inside.Nik played good earlier in the season, but let his emotions get to him in the Dayton game (3 PFs) and he got benched. He hasn't seemed the same since that. I do like the way he wasn't afraid to go inside and I hope he gets it back together soon.SS seems to be good at finishing around the rim. Maybe he just needs to play with more abandon to get some time?

[RootforRoo44]

Things are not as rosy on my side here. I saw a bad zips team taking on a terrible opponent yesterday. The zips mannaged to win the game all right but they put their fans to sleep and didn't show any inside game potential.Jimmy, Linhart, McNeese, and Humpty were allright, they will take care of the ball, score on fast breaks, deffend the arc and shoot from outside... Brett McKnight seems to be the only one who goes inside eventhough he is more of a 2 or 3 player rather than a 4/5.Chris McKnight and Mile Bardo... Holly crapWhy on earth are these two getting all those minutes when they can't contribute jack (and i mean both sides of the floor). I don't remember seeing Chris taking a single layup/jump shot. Bardo seemed to play the old Connyers (give me the ball to give it back) game. Those 2 are in their 3rd year with the program and are supposed to make up our "veterans" inside game, when they fail so miserably, why can't we try other people? Why didn't Nik and Swiech get more time?

I also would like to see more offense from the bigs.IIRC, CMcK is playing with a cracked rib, so that could explain his lack of time and tentative play inside.Nik played good earlier in the season, but let his emotions get to him in the Dayton game (3 PFs) and he got benched. He hasn't seemed the same since that. I do like the way he wasn't afraid to go inside and I hope he gets it back together soon.SS seems to be good at finishing around the rim. Maybe he just needs to play with more abandon to get some time?

when Nik was in yesterday had had a nice defensive play and caused a St Francis turnover. Immediately after he let out a loud scream and clapped a few times and showed alot of emotion there as well. I love it. I know there is a time and place for doing that and most of the time he brings emotion in the right way, i cant wait to see him play more.

[Z.I.P.]

Nice additions from two kids who I think are freshmen for Buffalo -- Andy Robinson...

Andy Robinson is a senior. He's the one who used facebook to try to pay someone $40 to write a book report for him...

Yeah, you're right. The guy I was trying to describe is UB freshman Titus Robinson -- from Charlotte, NC. He's already an impact player, as is the guy from Phoenix, whose name I think is Mitchell Watt. They're both about 6-9 and can move.In any case, Buffalo managed to scratch out another last second victory, their second in as many nights 62-60 against Colorado tonight. The Bulls did play much better than on Sunday versus Pepperdine. They led by double-figures at halftime, and though the lead was slowly chipped away, I don't believe UC ever led, though it was tied more than once. Buffalo got the ball with 8 seconds remaining after Colorado tied it up. Calvin Betts drove through an open top of the key, and pulled up and swished about a ten-footer for the go-ahead basket with 0.5 left. UB tipped the last-ditch pass to pick up their ticket to the Rainbow Classic championship game on Tuesday night against Colorado State. They will be favored, but its a wide-open final. I am impressed with Buffalo's experienced-looking offense, which makes few turnovers, allowing their strong half-court D to give them a chance to defeat bigger and more athletic teams. Got to shake Reggie Witherspoon's hand after the win. I'll pull for the MAC team, until Jan 13, at which time they'd better have learned the Humpty Dance. :blink: Zip in Paradise,Honolulu, HI

[johnnyzip84]

Nice additions from two kids who I think are freshmen for Buffalo -- Andy Robinson...

Andy Robinson is a senior. He's the one who used facebook to try to pay someone $40 to write a book report for him...

Yeah, you're right. The guy I was trying to describe is UB freshman Titus Robinson -- from Charlotte, NC. He's already an impact player, as is the guy from Phoenix, whose name I think is Mitchell Watt. They're both about 6-9 and can move.In any case, Buffalo managed to scratch out another last second victory, their second in as many nights 62-60 against Colorado tonight. The Bulls did play much better than on Sunday versus Pepperdine. They led by double-figures at halftime, and though the lead was slowly chipped away, I don't believe UC ever led, though it was tied more than once. Buffalo got the ball with 8 seconds remaining after Colorado tied it up. Calvin Betts drove through an open top of the key, and pulled up and swished about a ten-footer for the go-ahead basket with 0.5 left. UB tipped the last-ditch pass to pick up their ticket to the Rainbow Classic championship game on Tuesday night against Colorado State. They will be favored, but its a wide-open final. I am impressed with Buffalo's experienced-looking offense, which makes few turnovers, allowing their strong half-court D to give them a chance to defeat bigger and more athletic teams. Got to shake Reggie Witherspoon's hand after the win. I'll pull for the MAC team, until Jan 13, at which time they'd better have learned the Humpty Dance. :blink: Zip in Paradise,Honolulu, HI

I know these sentiments have been expressed before, but it is AWESOME to get these kind of "in person" reports from Zips in Hawaii or whereever Thanks for the UB scouting report. From the sound of things, they'll provide plenty of challenge for the Zips, especially our interior D.Oh, and since you and I are both pulling for UB to win THIS tourney, make sure Witherspoon doesn't start wearing one of THESE for good luck Better yet, maybe you could give one to him as a "present" after the game against CSU!

[BirdZip]

Attendance was listed at 2,663. I was surprised to see that many for this game--not sure how to interpret it. However, if you closed your eyes, you would have guessed it was 263. Extremely quiet crowd from the get-go. If nothing else, shouldn't they get excited when the cheerleaders break out the massive quantity of 8 mini balls? Or they throw the T-Shirts (to the same people they throw them to every game)?Conyers was excellent, but I think he struggles with confidence unlike what someone mentioned before. He was 5-9 on shooting and 7-10 from the line but I still saw him hang his head each time he missed. Perhaps in the past he has let that stop him from shooting.Folks on this board asked Brett to start passing. He did it on Sunday! Great passes for three assists along with 2 steals and only 2 fouls. If he continues to pass like he did against St.F, his value skyrockets.

[Dave in Green]

Ohio is doing to St. Francis tonight what we had hoped the Zips could do. With 15:24 left in the second half, Ohio is easily handling St. Francis 54-24. Every team has on and off nights. But it would be really nice for the Zips to have a big night and just destroy someone.

[jeaglet1]

Ohio beats St. Francis by 17 after leading by 30 in the second half.Buffalo won the Rainbow Classic with a 14 point win over Colorado St.Looks like the usual meat grinder in the MAC East...

[ZachTheZip]

The East is always tough, but every team is having a down year. Can't has the worst RPI in the East at 215. Akron is at 105.In the West, it's Ball State, and then everybody else.

[nbs95]

quote from GO ZIPS(Defense? What defense? The Zips got burned inside and outside. St. Francis has several players that can and did loft up three balls. Unfortunately, most of them went in. They coupled that with good lane penetration. Once St. Francis players realized that they could compete with Akron they became a darn tough opponent). quote from GO ZIPS(Where is Steve Swiech? Come on, this kid can play at least as well as several people getting plenty offloor time. We are going to need Swiech later in the season. He needs floor time to prepare for whatis to come. I am disappointed that Swiech is not playing).Go ZipsYou and me both brother!!!!! Why isn't Swiech playing??? It was told to me from one of you guys that Swiech was not playing because to his defensive play was not up too KD Standards. My question is how bad could his play be if the rest of the teams defense stinks!! So why not give him a chance. Swiech with his very little play leads the teams FG%. There was a game where Bardo had no offensive and defnsive rebounds. in what little time Swiech played each time he had both made rebounds. Bardo played 11 games in which he scored 23 points Vs. Swiech who played 2 games and scored 10 points. I'm thinking if Swiech was playing the Zips might have scored more and the games that the Zips lost might have been a closer contest.I will say this Swiech is there to cheer on the time. he is there to give encouragement, Have you seen him on the sidelines?He want to be there to see the team do well. When Swiech played agains't Urbana the team was pumped. If KD would get off his A&s and play Swiech it would at least be a moral boost for the team! As you all know I'm discussed with the the whole situation. My only concern is that if Swiech isn't playing now, then he will never play when the immortal Zeke comes to town! We all know that KD will not Redshirt Zeke because he it will ruin any chances of him ever recruiting a player of his caliber again. By the way Happy New year and a Joyous 2009!!!!!!!!! GO ZIPS!!!

[Dave in Green]

..... We all know that KD will not Redshirt Zeke because he it will ruin any chances of him ever recruiting a player of his caliber again. .....

Name one college coach in the country who would even think about redshirting the country's 8th highest rated center in his high school class.

[nbs95]

..... We all know that KD will not Redshirt Zeke because he it will ruin any chances of him ever recruiting a player of his caliber again. .....

Name one college coach in the country who would even think about redshirting the country's 8th highest rated center in his high school class.

That's my point!

[ZachTheZip]

..... We all know that KD will not Redshirt Zeke because he it will ruin any chances of him ever recruiting a player of his caliber again. .....

Name one college coach in the country who would even think about redshirting the country's 8th highest rated center in his high school class.

That's my point!

Imagine having a 17-man roster with no redshirts. Playing time will be tight. Then again, there should never be a game where the Zips get too tired because of the depth at every position.