How Many Cupcakes Remain on the Schedule?

[Captain Kangaroo]

[ZachTheZip]

Two. Two cupcakes. Ah. Ah. Ah.

[zen]

beware

[tbozeglav]

[vuweathernerd]

Two. Two cupcakes. Ah. Ah. Ah.

hopefully you're not considering the bracketbuster game among them, although i can't say i'd blame you if you are.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I'm only counting NIU as a cupcake. Valpo is scary because they have tradition, they're at home, it will be a tournament environment, unfamiliar gym...all that stuff.

[GoZips]

Frankly, I do not see any cupcakes remaining on the schedule. NIU proved to Cant Skate that theydare not be taken likely. Sunday up in DeKalb will be a severe test.I think the Zips will not lose any game, if any, at least until they get into the East wars again. Playing at Cant and Buffalo will de tough, tough games.Sorry, Valpo fan, the Zips are likely to steam roller right over the Crusaders. Two teams going indifferent directions. And, forget next year. The Zips return nine of their ten man rotation and addthe seven footer, a six-eight power forward and two outstanding guards. The Zips will be huge anddeep at every position.Hopefully the Zips got the stumble out of their system last night against Ball State.

[skip-zip]

Go Zips...nice job. I can't predict what'll happen at NIU this weekend, but some folks need to be brought a little closer to reality sometimes. You bring up a good point that doesn't get brought up often enough. Not only will Zeke be here next year, but Parrish and Sullivan will be RS-F by then as well. I don't know much about Parrish except for his size, but have a lot of knowledge about Sullivan. Some of my old NE Ohio coaching buddies have watched him play for years now. And I was fortunate enough to hear of his verbal commitment to Akron the moment it happened, and reported it on here. He's a non-selfish player, team oriented, and can flat-out fill it up as evidenced by his well-over 20 ppg average both his junior and senior year. I'll be pretty excited to finally see him play in the blue and gold. And I'm hoping to turn a lot of East-Of-Cleveland high school basketball fans into Zips fans by encouraging them to come down here to see him play.

[Quickzips]

I just don't know how we are going to come up with playing time for all these guys. I mean, we're already returning a 4 guard rotation and that doesn't even include Ronnie. Where are the minutes for Sullivan gonna come from? You have to imagine that Zeke is going to play next year and we already have Bardo, the McKnights, Cvetinovic and Conyers in the front court. Are there any minutes for Swiech and Parrish? Could we play with an 11 or 12 man rotation?

[Z.I.P.]

I just don't know how we are going to come up with playing time for all these guys. I mean, we're already returning a 4 guard rotation and that doesn't even include Ronnie. Where are the minutes for Sullivan gonna come from? You have to imagine that Zeke is going to play next year and we already have Bardo, the McKnights, Cvetinovic and Conyers in the front court. Are there any minutes for Swiech and Parrish? Could we play with an 11 or 12 man rotation?

I have to think Swiech can see the writing on the wall. If he wants to play, it will have to be somewhere else. I bet he would help a Youngstown or Wright State type program -- definitely a Robert Morris (closer to home). He has always been a great kid, so let's help him find his way, wherever he plays. But in Akron it seems limited to practice time.

[skip-zip]

Quickzips...that would have been one of the bonuses of leaving McClanahan sit out the remainder of this year....so that he and Sullivan could have been a guard combination along with Zeke 4 years from now when they are all seniors together. The BJ article yesterday even alluded to that. But let's face it. We had to activate another guard this year. With Ronnie's situation, the more and more I think of it, we had no choice.Unfortunately, we'll have a log jam at guard next year, and someone is going to eventually get disgruntled about playing time, and might transfer. And it might just happen to more than one of them. But plans do not always work out like you expect.

[Dave in Green]

As I said in another thread, it really doesn't matter if some Zips fans take Valpo lightly, as I'm sure the Zips coaching staff will not. This is a team with a good basketball tradition and a strength of schedule rating about the same as UCLA. They will not be intimidated by the Zips, and will play us tough, especially on their home floor.

[zip37]

Coach has mentioned to me that Alex bench presses 300lbs! I don't know about playing time but I see hard, hard pressing defense next season, stamina will be key so thereshould be LOTS of energy expended in short period of time.

[Zip Watcher]

I just don't know how we are going to come up with playing time for all these guys. I mean, we're already returning a 4 guard rotation and that doesn't even include Ronnie. Where are the minutes for Sullivan gonna come from? You have to imagine that Zeke is going to play next year and we already have Bardo, the McKnights, Cvetinovic and Conyers in the front court. Are there any minutes for Swiech and Parrish? Could we play with an 11 or 12 man rotation?

I have to think Swiech can see the writing on the wall. If he wants to play, it will have to be somewhere else. I bet he would help a Youngstown or Wright State type program -- definitely a Robert Morris (closer to home). He has always been a great kid, so let's help him find his way, wherever he plays. But in Akron it seems limited to practice time.

That's wrong. Swiech is able to play here .. he's just a work in progress. I sure hope he doesn't go anywhere. I've seen him in practice enough to know he can be a big contributor here.I think something we as Zips fans need to get used to is that we have a deep Deep DEEP roster. Guys aren't as likely to come in here like Linhart, Joyce, Wood .. etc, and start for 4 years. They're going to have to work their way up the depth chart. The experience factor will become a bigger factor as our talent gets better. When we were mediocre .. a talented guy could come in and start right away .. see: Peterson, Andy Hipsher .. the guys listed above. Now that there's actually talent already here, it very well may take some really talented players a year or 2 to push their way onto the court.It's a new concept .. but it comes with (relative) success and an overall increase in talent across the board.I personally would refrain from opening the door for ANYONE to transfer out .. KD is showing he will go deep if the team can handle it .. and a guy like Swiech could be a MAJOR player down the road. Remember, he's 25 games or so into a 120 game career. Lots of time left.

[RootforRoo44]

I just don't know how we are going to come up with playing time for all these guys. I mean, we're already returning a 4 guard rotation and that doesn't even include Ronnie. Where are the minutes for Sullivan gonna come from? You have to imagine that Zeke is going to play next year and we already have Bardo, the McKnights, Cvetinovic and Conyers in the front court. Are there any minutes for Swiech and Parrish? Could we play with an 11 or 12 man rotation?

I think we could yes. But that's not the point, it's that we are deep and if anyone gets injured we have people behind them who could not only pick up where the other left off but possibly blossom into stars. I know it was a tough decision for KD on who he wanted to redshirt and who he wanted to play as true freshmen this year as well. Ya know we would have like 7 or 8 guys as seniors all at one time if he didnt redshirt a few of them so it's good to know that these guys are getting experience just being in the program and with the talent i've heard many of them have, it's scary to think how good we could be years.

[Valpo Zip]

I follow D3 Ohio Athletic Conference basketball. In that conference, John Caroll university has a 'decent at most' level of talent compared to some other schools. However, John Caroll has more depth. In every game, the coach has 10 players divided into 2 formations. Every 4 minutes in the game, the whole five on the floor are substituted with the other five. This allows JC to play 40 minutes of full court press every single game. The opponents, sometimes with a higher level of talent, commit tons of TOs and are usually exhausted. The result, JC is currently on the top of that conference ahead of the OAC traditional power houses. Why am i telling this story? with our depth, can KD implement the same plan or do we still need to have starters and substitutes?

[skip-zip]

I certainly don't want to speculate about what is going to happen to some of these players. But I'll say this...it's very rare that I see a young player who didn't feel that he deserved more playing time. The huge difference between now, and a few years ago, is that there is now going to be many bench players who know that they have the talent to play at other D-1 schools, and in some cases were heavily recruited by many other D-1 schools. This is not Duke, where many talented players might be patient enough to sit until their senior year for a chance to play for a national championship. But, will our guys show that kind of patience for the chance to earn playing time for a solid MAC program? I think it's less likely. This is by no means a jab at our coach. I love Keith, and I am thrilled that he was able to recruit so many talented guys at the same time. You have to get what you can get...when you can get them. It's just not appearing to be lining up like a situation where everyone is likely to be happy.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Frankly, I do not see any cupcakes remaining on the schedule. NIU proved to Cant Skate that theydare not be taken likely. Sunday up in DeKalb will be a severe test.

CUP-CAKE. C-U-P-C-A-K-E. Mark it down for all to see...NIU is a 100% cream-filled, heavily-iced chocolaty delight. Should they be taken lightly? Of course not. Should they play the Zips within 12 points? Of course not.K.e.n.t. is bad, and NIU committed every possible basketball atrocity known to man in the last 25 seconds of regulation to hand them the game.The Cleveland Browns are cupcakes. The Detroit Lions are cupcakes. The Northern Illinois Huskie men's basketball team is a cupcake. If the game in DeKalb is a severe test, then the Zips will have played their worst game of the season. This "test" will be as easy to the Zips as the Pope taking a sobriety test.Second verse same as the first.

[tbozeglav]

NIU isnt a cupcake.they are a cupcake the size of your stove...

[Zip Watcher]

I certainly don't want to speculate about what is going to happen to some of these players. But I'll say this...it's very rare that I see a young player who didn't feel that he deserved more playing time. The huge difference between now, and a few years ago, is that there is now going to be many bench players who know that they have the talent to play at other D-1 schools, and in some cases were heavily recruited by many other D-1 schools. This is not Duke, where many talented players might be patient enough to sit until their senior year for a chance to play for a national championship. But, will our guys show that kind of patience for the chance to earn playing time for a solid MAC program? I think it's less likely. This is by no means a jab at our coach. I love Keith, and I am thrilled that he was able to recruit so many talented guys at the same time. You have to get what you can get...when you can get them. It's just not appearing to be lining up like a situation where everyone is likely to be happy.

I pretty much disagree with the entirety of this post.It's rare to have buy in by a whole team to a defensive concept. Especially at mid-major levels. And KD has it. Whether a player "feels he / she deserves more playing time" is not really a debatable point. The question is whether or not they use it as motivation to work harder to earn that and in doing so make the team succeed to a greater degree. The player that decides that the team's success falls second to their own minimum minutes requirement doesn't fit into the system at UA. He probably wasn't recruited if the signs were there in HS.What evidence do you have that this is a group of guys thinking about themselves before the team? I see none. You say it is not Duke .. but I say, this group of 15-20 people are focusing their every effort in practice, on the court, in the offseason and in the classroom to elevate the program to heights never before seen. Will it be Duke tomorrow, of course not. But the sights are set higher than the current strata. This IS what they are working towards. These guys wouldn't be here if they didn't buy into KD's vision .. and they GET that the teams success means they are successful.I don't think your post is a jab at KD at all. I think it illustrates that you are a fan that doesn't have the "belief structure" or buy-in to what KD is trying to accomplish here. IMHO, you're using the prior 20 years of D1 mediocrity and the current state of the conference as the boundary conditions to speculate on why a guy would stay here if he doesn't start as a sophomore. I believe you have to focus on KD's program and that program alone .. look at how far it has come .. and consider that it can go that much farther again and more. And that will take DEPTH .. lots of it. And that depth needs to be comprised of players who understand that they succeed ONLY as a team. Not as individuals. What I know and have experienced of these guys tells me that every one of them puts the team first.Remarkable? Yes, I agree!Look up the last guy who averaged 20 in a Zips uniform .. and then ask yourself if that team could stay within 15 points of this years team.Go Zips! B) B)

[Dave in Green]

I think something we as Zips fans need to get used to is that we have a deep Deep DEEP roster. Guys aren't as likely to come in here like Linhart, Joyce, Wood .. etc, and start for 4 years. They're going to have to work their way up the depth chart. The experience factor will become a bigger factor as our talent gets better. When we were mediocre .. a talented guy could come in and start right away .. see: Peterson, Andy Hipsher .. the guys listed above. Now that there's actually talent already here, it very well may take some really talented players a year or 2 to push their way onto the court.It's a new concept .. but it comes with (relative) success and an overall increase in talent across the board.

This is a really good point to keep in mind. This year's team is the deepest Zips team I've ever seen. All the pieces are in falling into place to indicate the bench may be even deeper next year. What the Zips have to offer is an opportunity for 10 quality players to play about 20 minutes per game. This is different from the past, when quality players could come to Akron thinking they had a chance to play 30+ minutes per game for 4 years. If this trend continues, the Zips have the potential to be a MAC power for years to come.

[Zip Watcher]

Frankly, I do not see any cupcakes remaining on the schedule. NIU proved to Cant Skate that theydare not be taken likely. Sunday up in DeKalb will be a severe test.

CUP-CAKE. C-U-P-C-A-K-E. Mark it down for all to see...NIU is a 100% cream-filled, heavily-iced chocolaty delight. Should they be taken lightly? Of course not. Should they play the Zips within 12 points? Of course not.K.e.n.t. is bad, and NIU committed every possible basketball atrocity known to man in the last 25 seconds of regulation to hand them the game.The Cleveland Browns are cupcakes. The Detroit Lions are cupcakes. The Northern Illinois Huskie men's basketball team is a cupcake. If the game in DeKalb is a severe test, then the Zips will have played their worst game of the season. This "test" will be as easy to the Zips as the Pope taking a sobriety test.Second verse same as the first.

GREAT post .. but have you forgotten there's a German in charge at the Vatican these days?Benedict & his buddy say Go Zips! Cupcakes ahoy!Edit: I guess that was from his younger days as Cardinal Ratzinger. Here's a more current image:

[Captain Kangaroo]

GREAT post .. but have you forgotten there's a German in charge at the Vatican these days?

Come to think of it, I did notice the Popemobile swerving a bit on CNN the other day?

[skip-zip]

Watcher...interesting thoughts to my last post. I agree with some of what you are saying as well. But don't get me wrong. Where we've been in the past (many unsuccessful years), and what I've witnessed here, has nothing to do with my thoughts. Secondly, I certainly don't believe that these kids have a "If I don't start by my sophomore year, I'm leaving" attitude. And thirdly, I use the Duke example merely to point out that a kid, as badly as he wants to play, would likely be more patient about his lack of playing time if he were a part of a national championship program, as opposed to a good MAC team.I obviously don't know how each individual player feels. I'm only sharing some experience here, and raising some questions for discussion. And it breaks down very simply to the following questions: Will there be enough playing time to spread around over the next 4 years to make everyone happy? If not, will the team's success be enough to keep them here anyway, even if they can go and play somewhere else?If KD accomplishes this, I think he's done a remarkable job. I would just be surprised if all of them, as the next 2-3 pass by, would still feel that "I don't care if I don't play...as long as we are winning".

[Zip Watcher]

Mmmm .. getting hungry.Now, which one of these is a husky?