Elton Alexander on the Zips + Zeke

[GP1]

All interesting comments. Zeke is one of the best HS BB players in the country. He needs to be on the court as much as possible next year and in the starting rotation. His type of potential is not developed on the bench. It is developed in games. The kid has the tools and he needs to be put in a position to use them as much and as early as possible. He may learn some tough lessons early, but tough lessons are usually the best lessons.I expect big things out of this kid immediately. Let's not start laying the ground work for him not meeting expectations next year. Have faith. This kid is good and he is coming to a bad conference. I smell good things.

[zen]

His type of potential is not developed on the bench. It is developed in games. The kid has the tools and he needs to be put in a position to use them as much and as early as possible. He may learn some tough lessons early, but tough lessons are usually the best lessons.

trial by fire baby.it's hard not to resent the process when you are going through it, but nothing makes a winner better than truely testing your meddle down to the core.Good post GP1. I agree 100.000001%There is the outside chance he could wither under pressure, but in order for him to become his ultimate destiny, he cannot be coddled. Patience is not about waiting... and patience is not about the lack of wanting. Patience is about the knowing without the fearing.

[Roo]

All interesting comments. Zeke is one of the best HS BB players in the country. He needs to be on the court as much as possible next year and in the starting rotation. His type of potential is not developed on the bench. It is developed in games. The kid has the tools and he needs to be put in a position to use them as much and as early as possible. He may learn some tough lessons early, but tough lessons are usually the best lessons.I expect big things out of this kid immediately. Let's not start laying the ground work for him not meeting expectations next year. Have faith. This kid is good and he is coming to a bad conference. I smell good things.

And if too much is expected of him, it could backfire and he can shut down. Many players do that. Why put that burden on his shoulders? Potential is developed on the bench, because practice, training, film study, weights, all come from not being on the floor. And who said he wasn't going to play? You act like we are having a QB discussion, debating that Brady Quinn can't get experience by sitting on the bench. Zeke is going to play, he is going to play a lot. But the key is not to put the weight of the team or expectations, on his shoulder because he happens to be a big time recruit. I don't get what is so hard to understand about that? And to the other guy, he is not a five star recruit, is a four star recruit. Not that it makes any difference because the star next to his name is irrelevant at this point. Nikola and McKnight were apart of the starting five that won a MAC tourney title and went to the NCAA so why not have that to start the season? Experience in basketball is something that can not be undervalued.Zeke didn't dominate HS basketball folks...he had a strong season and is filled with potential, but this is a guy that couldn't dominate HS basketball and people here are expecting him to dominate the MAC because of a ranking and he is 7 foot. Give it time...he hasn't even graduated HS and many people are already having their expectations for him way too high...

[Zip Watcher]

I'm not sure how that excellent college level coaching has worked with Bardo and Swiech... but I hope Zeke will be a different story.

I will defend the coaches. I see these kids in practice. Neither of them puts in the effort necessary toexcel as a division one player. Bardo, more than Swiech works on his game. After two years of weighttraining Swiech still looks like the Pillsbury doughboy. You understand me up to this point?A coach can teach over and over. It is up to the player to develop. Under different circumstances, thatis, if the were a great need for their services the coaching staff would light an even larger bonfire undertheir azzes. They, not the coaches, play themselves on to the bench.Sure, I am darn disappointed that huge, wide body such as Steve Swiech puts so little effort into improving.It is on Steve to improve. And, frankly, he has not. Bardo seems to be making small gains. Mike needs to learn how to play like a big man. That is, keep theball high off the floor, be forceful, rebound, attack. Instead, Mike tends to lay back and let the game come to him. One player did greatly improve this year. Steve McNees. Frankly, I figured Steve for the deep end ofthe bench. He proved me wrong. He worked hard at his game. He became an important part of thesuccess story this season has been. Steve did a great job.In Zeke the coaches have what they have been looking for ... a student of the game. Zeke will deliverbecause he has the personal desire.

I've been to practice too, and all I can say is that you're assertion that Bardo & Swiech don't put forth the effort is pure rubbish. Probably your least informed, worst conceived post ever.Ridiculous.

[Valpo Zip]

I will defend the coaches. I see these kids in practice. Neither of them puts in the effort necessary toexcel as a division one player. Bardo, more than Swiech works on his game. After two years of weighttraining Swiech still looks like the Pillsbury doughboy. You understand me up to this point?

Sorry gozips, I disagree. I am not after the coaches here, with the way things are going with the program, I lift my hat to KD and his staff. I never been a prouder zip and they have my 100% support.Now that this is clear, the Swiech/Bardo thing has bothered me the whole season and i brought it up on this board multiple times and i am sure some people are sick of reading it. However, no one was ever able to give me any convincing answer. So here we go, one last time.We have seen Swiech exclusively in garbage time situations, in these few minutes, he dominated... yes he dominated (rebounded, blocked shots, dunked, and got the crowds on their feet). He never looked like a Pillsbury doughboy, i know, i know he was playing garbage time, but this was the only chance he was given.On the other side, Bardo couldn't rebound, couldn't dunk, and couldn't make a basket to save his life. That includes both competitive and garabage time minutes.Now, if i was KD, seeing how the first guy, Bardo couldn't develop anything after the first 10 games (+whole year before), wouldn't you give a chance to the second guy who never ever got a minute?Gozips, can you or anyone else point one mistake that you saw from Swiech during his playtime? game after game Conyers and Bardo kept making mistake after mistake and stupid decision after another and they kept seeing playtime, while the guy who only showed good things in his rare minutes kept riding the bench as if KD wants him to fail or transfer out. Does that make any sense? no it doesn't. But i can't find any other explanation.

[meatwad]

We have seen Swiech exclusively in garbage time situations, in these few minutes, he dominated... yes he dominated (rebounded, blocked shots, dunked, and got the crowds on their feet). He never looked like a Pillsbury doughboy, i know, i know he was playing garbage time, but this was the only chance he was given.On the other side, Bardo couldn't rebound, couldn't dunk, and couldn't make a basket to save his life. Now, if i was KD, seeing how the first guy, Bardo couldn't develop anything after the first 10 games (+whole year before), wouldn't you give a chance to the second guy who never ever got a minute?Gozips, can you or anyone else point one mistake that you saw from Swiech during his playtime? game after game Conyers and Bardo kept making mistake after mistake and stupid decision after another and they kept seeing playtime, while the guy who only showed good things in his rare minutes kept riding the bench as if KD wants him to fail or transfer out. Does that make any sense? no it doesn't. But i can't find any other explanation.

Here is my thought. Not that I have any great insight but the whole Bardo/Sweich situation is an interesting one I think. I'm sure you've heard this answer before but we need to trust that the coaching staff knows what they are doing. They are at practice every day, they see what the players are doing against their peers. But my honest take on Sweich is that he is just too slow. Not only that but his defense certainly isn't where Dambrot demands it be before he can get playing time. I agree with you that Bardo probably could have been better this year, but he showed signs of life for sure. I wouldn't give up on him yet. We knew coming in that Bardo was a project, so give it a bit more time and see if he develops.This is why we need Zeke though. I would honestly be shocked if he didn't start from day 1. There is no project here. He will be ready to play and contribute defensively and offensively from the first game.

[dboze]

I agree and believe that he will start before we get into MAC Conference play. This kid has great hands, is mobile, and has a nice touch (as stated by Dambrot). Once he gets the right coaching his offense will begin catch up with his defense. After watching him play, he has the tools to be a good scorer.

[Dr Z]

anyone else point one mistake that you saw from Swiech during his playtime? game after game Conyers and Bardo kept making mistake after mistake and stupid decision after another and they kept seeing playtime, while the guy who only showed good things in his rare minutes kept riding the bench as if KD wants him to fail or transfer out. Does that make any sense? no it doesn't. But i can't find any other explanation.

I have never seen much from Swiech that would indicate that he deserves more playing time. I have been hard on Bardo in many of my posts. But like a few others, I did see a hint of improvement at the end of the season. This leads me to believe that the college game is starting to slow down for him, or he is working on his game, or both. I have hope for him. I can't defend Conyers in any way. He is a senior is my only answer to his pt. People that know more about basketball than me tell me that he is in for his defense, then I watch athletic players burn him left and right, I don't get it, sorry.Zeke will get pt due to his defense, KD loves to see hustle and D and I think Zeke will bring that right out of the gate. His offense will progress as the year does.No mistake, the future is bright in Zips bball-land.

[GoZips]

I am home sick with the flu today. This you do NOT want.As to Bardo and Swiech and my dumbest ever post ... funny, I was under the impression thatmy "read" on them is right on. But, I'm dumb. What do I know?It was a genuine treat at the Gonzaga game to see the little twinkly light go on in Bardo's head.If only for a second as he took the ball hard to the rack without putting it on the floor first.Mike is learning. That sense of satisfaction coursed through his whole body. For a few minutesMike played the way we all want him to play.I think most of you are forgetting that this is a freshman and a sophomore. True, they are BIGmen. But, you know they are at Akron because they lack fundamental skills or abilities. It isup to the coaches to train the skills into them.Make no mistake. Had Jeremiah Wood been six-eight rather than six-six he would have neverbeen in a Zips uniform. Our coaches take the potential players and work to develop them.For the most part they succeed. Look at the vast improvement in Jimmy Conyers.It is bloody tough to get high quality big men to any team not in the "BCS" conferences. Thereare lots and lots of quality guards (usually six foot and under) to spread around.I concur with what KD said in the Elton Alexander article. The teams that play deep into thepost season are HUGE, high quality athletes. It is a tribute to the character of our Zips that they hung with Gonzaga for more than thirty minutes. They were out sized and out athleted all the way. Watching Western Kentucky playing Illinois made me ponder how we would havefared against either of them. Not well, would be my speculation.Let us see how Bardo and Swiech do as juniors and seniors. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The potential is present in both men. It is up to them to do the work and bring it.

[Valpo Zip]

Look at the vast improvement in Jimmy Conyers.

:blink: :blink: Where shall i look?

[GP1]

His type of potential is not developed on the bench. It is developed in games. The kid has the tools and he needs to be put in a position to use them as much and as early as possible. He may learn some tough lessons early, but tough lessons are usually the best lessons.

trial by fire baby.it's hard not to resent the process when you are going through it, but nothing makes a winner better than truely testing your meddle down to the core.Good post GP1. I agree 100.000001%There is the outside chance he could wither under pressure, but in order for him to become his ultimate destiny, he cannot be coddled. Patience is not about waiting... and patience is not about the lack of wanting. Patience is about the knowing without the fearing.

Thanks.I don't think it will happen, but wouldn't it be nice to know early if he will wither under pressure? A kid that withers his freshman year will almost always wither. I think this kid is going to be really good next year. It's not like he hasn't been put in pressure situations. AAU is very competitive and he does well at that level. The MAC is horrible. He has a lot of talent already. He is coming to the most talented team in Zips history. Put all of that together and I don't think it is unreasonable to expect big things out of him next year. The kid should have some confidence coming in to work with as well and I hope he expects big things out of himself.I expect performance next year, not building........

[skip-zip]

Wow...so many interesting thoughts here. I'll stick with just commenting about the big men, and add the following thoughts...Without getting into a long rant about my personal feelings about the so-called rule that big men take longer to develop, please just note that Steve and Mike had some pretty decorated high school careers, so I would not necessarily afford them any special categorization ("projects") than any other MAC-level player at any position who needs some work on his game, or needs to pump a litte iron, in order to be ready to contribute. As I often say, if you are good at 16, 17 and 18 years old, you don't suddenly become bad at 19,20, and 21 years old. If it appears that way, then the player is probably playing at too high of a college level to ever excel. There's only so much coaches can do. This is why we champion the stories of the kids who stink the first couple of years of college, and suddenly emerge as a major contributor......it's because it is the exception rather than the rule. The freshman center at Ball State adjusted just fine. Here's how I think this whole situation will unfold....Mike - The diminishing playing time over the course of this season is certainly not a good sign. I think the starter-type minutes he got the first half of this year were his GOLDEN opportunity to show where he was going as a player. I think we saw what we are going to get from him, and I expect to see him do his 5-10 minutes a game over the next couple of years in reserve duty, and hopefully give us a bucket and a couple of rebounds a game, and play some good defense while he is in there. But, I still LOVED watching him dunk and scream during the Gonzaga game. Steve - I can't be very confident that he is ever going to be able to help us much. I keep hearing the words "not ready" after two years in the program. And with Mike still ahead of him in the lineup, and Zeke coming, and another post player coming off of redshirt, I'm hoping he's one of the miracles I mentioned above. I love the kid, and I'd love to see him play. But for now, I'll have to consider his version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" at the OBC party to be his big moment in the spotlight. Zeke - I think we'll see something similar to B Mc's role as a freshman. He may not start, but he'll get good minutes, and we'll get a great chance to see what he can do. C. Mc and Nik....When looking at the C/PF, or the 2 post spots...or whatever we'll call that next year.....I see Chris and Nik getting the most minutes next year, followed closely by Zeke, and then Mike as the 4th man in the rotation in that area.

[Dave in Green]

..... the Swiech/Bardo thing has bothered me the whole season and i brought it up on this board multiple times and i am sure some people are sick of reading it. However, no one was ever able to give me any convincing answer. .....

No one outside of the coaching staff is ever going to be able to give a definitive response to that issue. Having said that, I think you've gotten some pretty educated answers to your questions, but you just refuse to believe they are convincing.What is not convincing about the fact that, by his own words, KD values defense over offense?What is not convincing about the point that game time is earned by practice performance as judged by the coaching staff?What is not convincing about the assumption that Swiech has not up until now convinced the coaching staff in practice that he can play better overall defense than Bardo?The problem with bringing up this question over and over and over when it's not possible to get a definitive answer on this forum is that it's embarassing for everyone. It's embarassing for Swiech to have his inability to earn playing time continually called out. It's embarassing for Bardo when his weaknesses are continually called out as a reason for playing someone the coaching staff believes has greater weaknesses. And it's embarassing for the coaching staff to continually have its competency questioned about the fundamental decision over which players give the team the best chance of winning.If something positive could be achieved by constantly rehashing this discussion, I'd be all for it. But the longer it goes on, the closer it gets to being all negative all the time.What's the point?

[RACER]

hopefully either steve,or mike will be able to give akron 5-10 min at the backup center spot.this would add depth,and keep are other guys out of foul trouble also.i don't think it's a real issue either way though.zeke comes in and can play the center spot next year right away.that does not leave much pt at the center spot.if they deveople then so much the better.if not i don't think it will hurt the team at all.we did not get much from those guys this year anyways.i really don't think either of those guys will see much pt next year unless we have some injuries ect.

[Valpo Zip]

Dave,Can you remind me of the last time you saw Swiech playing poor deffense and costing us a basket?I can remember multiple occasions when Bardo did.That's what's not convincing.

[meatwad]

Dave,Can you remind me of the last time you saw Swiech playing poor deffense and costing us a basket?I can remember multiple occasions when Bardo did.That's what's not convincing.

Swiech was not in during a situation for you to see him give up a meaningful basket. When he is in during garbage time chances are the other team is as well. At this point I'm going to have to defer to Dave on this one. It's been rehashed a couple of times. Everyone knows the situation, but we have to trust that the coaches know what's best and leave it at that. Also, let's hope everyone gets better so there is a really good battle for the C position starting next year. Lots of schools would love to have that problem.

[zipboy]

What I do know is guys get better during their 4 years in the program. This summer will be the key to who gets minutes next year and the look can be different from where we are today. This sure beats the days of hashing over which Brian, Wood or Hipsher should be the 1st guard off the bench.

[Dave in Green]

Dave,Can you remind me of the last time you saw Swiech playing poor deffense and costing us a basket?I can remember multiple occasions when Bardo did.That's what's not convincing.

Bardo played 535 minutes this season in prime time and Swiech played 29 minutes at the end of a few blowout games. Their combined game time pales into insignificance compared with the hundreds of hours they worked their butts off on conditioning and practicing under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff, where Bardo earned the right to 535 minutes of prime time vs. Swiech's 29 minutes of mop-up time.Basketball is all about stars, starters, super subs, subs, role players and seldom-used subs who are all instrumental in creating a team. I have the greatest admiration and respect for anyone who puts in so many hours of effort trying to earn game time, no matter how many game minutes they actually earn. If we examine them all closely under a microscope, we'll finds warts on each and every one of them, just as each and every one of us fans has warts of our own.How far do you want to carry this discussion?

[Valpo Zip]

How far do you want to carry this discussion?

That's it, I'm done. Sorry for the trouble.

[RootforRoo44]

Look at the vast improvement in Jimmy Conyers.

:blink: :blink: Where shall i look?

Anywhere...the guy fought through little playing time and i guarantee you if you looked up the stats he led the team in Offensive rebounds per minute played. He played hard late in the season on defense and on offense and i saw a HUGE improvement in his play.

[Captain Kangaroo]

He played hard late in the season on defense and on offense and i saw a HUGE improvement in his play.

Tough not to improve if you logged a bunch of "DNP - Coach's Decision" in your previous season's box score.I like Jimmy. He certainly made strides in 2008-9. But let's no go overboard. His improvement was not in ball-skills or through coaching, it was from within...he decided to quit pouting and accept his role - playing eight-or-so min/game to give the starters a breather. And to shoot 20% from the three-point line.

[BirdZip]

There is a thread in the Basketball Recruiting area about Adreian Payne strongly considering Akron as his choice. If you want to ensure he and others don't follow Zeke's lead, sit Zeke on the bench. If you want to start an influx of great talent to follow Zeke, play him and let him dominate.Even if Zeke doesn't immediately come in and be effective, his presence will make everyone else more effective. You will have to respect him on both O & D, and that relieves pressure off of everyone else.If the rules allow, start selling the coming of Zeke now. Break out the 40 foot banner. Buy some ads on local television that "he's coming" and, only later, tell them who you're talking about. Build an excitement. Build an interest. And don't worry that he won't pan out--he's 7', athletic, and has his head on straight--and he'll be playing in the MAC.Start him, play him, and win.

[Blue & Gold]

For Zeke's sake we shouldn't put next season's expectations on his incoming freshman shoulders. We should simply hope he contributes and let him come along at his own pace. Steven Sweich was ranked, if I remember correctly, as the 19th best center prospect during his senior year. Rivals has Zeke as the 7th best. Let's just hope Zeke fits in, works hard and contributes some next year.

[BirdZip]

I was being somewhat facetious about the banner, etc., but if you think there aren't expectations coming in, that's crazy. It's what fans do. Expecting the worst is too much Cleveland-mentality for me. I expect nothing less than next year, and look forward to Zeke cutting down the net without using the ladder.

[Dave in Green]

As Zips fans we should all be optimistic about Zeke's potential to make the Zips an even better team. I think we all understand that no matter what we may wish for, Zeke's playing time will be totally dependent on how the Zips coaching staff evaluates his progress. If we're overly optimistic about what Zeke can do right out of the box, we may be disappointed. On the other hand, if we're too pessimistic, we may be pleasantly surprised. Every year, some first year collegiate players outperform their high school rankings while others underperform. I don't know of any sure way to predict who will do what. Maybe the old saying about hoping for the best but preparing for the worst is a good way to look at it with any first year player.