Zips vs. UIC

[Quickzips]

Although their outside shooting wasn't bad, it was the inside passing and points in the paint that were most important. They will need this more and more to win games as the season goes on, because the outside shot won't always be there.

Also, I think it's important to remember that in conference, the Zips should be able to dictate play inside. They're more physical and have more bodies than most any team in the league as far as post play goes. That can help make sure our shooters are open, committing like they did last night to punching it in.

A lot of the pre-season rags that I saw listed the Zips as having the MACs best frontcourt. I believe that is starting to play itself out. Now that KD has apparently settled on his rotation (starting Conyers, B.McKnight and Zeke with Cvetinovic and C.McKinght coming off the bench) the frontcourt is starting to gel. Brett looks like he has finally rounded into playing shape after a tough summer, and I have to give credit where it is due, he isn't forcing as many shots and is actually putting in more consistent effort on defense and on the boards. Conyers has been a very pleasent surprise with his efficient shooting, good FT%, aggression going to the basket and major boards while also being capable of guarding multiple positions. Zeke has made some of those freshman mistakes and is still looking for consistency, but he's still a gamechanger around the rim on defense and he has to at least be accounted for on offense. Chris gives us a veteran presence coming off the bench who can score around the basket, hit some outside jumpers and crash the boards and Nikola's energy off the bench is something few teams can match up with. He has added some nice drives to the basket to go with his nifty post moves and is a pest on the defensive end. I don't think there is another team in the MAC that can come close to matching up with us in the frontcourt. If Hitchens, McNees and Roberts can give us some more consistency at guard with a little help from Steward and McClanahan we are going to be really good.

[GP1]

Jez Cap'n, why couldn't you have thrown down the guantlet for Conyers about 3 years ago? 19 rebounds. JAR record. Not a bad performance for the Zips. Struggled a little with the 2/3 zone early on, but figured it out. Zips dominated the glass led ofcourse by Conyers. Brett McKnight's back looks to be feeling better and the shots are falling for him. Good performances from Roberts, Humpty and Nikola as well. Zeke seems to have hit a bit of a freshman wall. We're going to need him to fight through that. Anyone seen Brett McClanahan lately? Is he still even on the team?

Well, Zeke banged up his knee pretty bad tonight. Trainer thinks it could possibly be a hamstring pull...won't know until tomorrow when he goes in to see him at 7:30 AM. I think right now, Zeke's body is beat up and the 2 days he is going to be home is GREATLY needed....he just needs a few minutes away from everything. Give him a minute for his body to catch upwith all the work he is doing and then it is a wrap!

A friendly suggestion..... Information about the physical well being of a player is best not shared in such detail in public. We never know who else is watching.

[GoZips]

A friendly suggestion..... Information about the physical well being of a player is best not shared in such detail in public. We never know who else is watching.

Pretty fair advice.I think that our opponents have already discovered Zeke's primary flaws. Until he learns to shoot free throws better he will be a target of rough interior play. Much to his credit he knocked down apair against UIC. After which they backed off a bit.Zeke recently topped seven-one and is still growing. This along with his metabolism has kept himfrom putting on more muscle bulk. He works hard in the weight room and is definitely stronger.A bout with food poisoning hindered him the past two games. His great Mom will heal him upnicely over Christmas. Power lasagna, Gamechanger, you know the recipe.

[GoZips]

Some thoughts on UIC. They play a rather helter-skelter style that makes them tough to defend.That coupled with unselfishness resulted in a large number of open looks. They managed toknock down a fair portion of those looks.UIC plays pretty rough (if you know what I mean). That and not getting fouls called on them whenthey bang you hard also helped them. While the Zips maintained they did not close the deal untillate in the game.Hats off to Jimmy Conyers who now looks and plays like a solid Div-I player. Jimmy just might bethe answer to Chris "da thug" Singletary. Jimmy rewarded his coaches for their faith in him withhis spectacular rebounding and "double-double".This current starting line up in not what any of us fans dreamt up in pre-season. Most, if not all of thetop ten players are pretty much interchangeable. This will again bear fruit as the season progresses.I, for one, am pleased to see Ronnie Steward getting more minutes. He can be our best guardif he gets completely healed and the rusty barnacles knocked off. The other guards are progressingwell. Note: Steve played against UIC a bit under the weather. For all that, he still continues toimprove.I like having guards who can penetrate the lane and score. Having a six-eight bulldozer is even better.

[Valpo Zip]

Some thoughts on UIC. They play a rather helter-skelter style that makes them tough to defend.That coupled with unselfishness resulted in a large number of open looks. They managed toknock down a fair portion of those looks.UIC plays pretty rough (if you know what I mean). That and not getting fouls called on them whenthey bang you hard also helped them. While the Zips maintained they did not close the deal untillate in the game.Hats off to Jimmy Conyers who now looks and plays like a solid Div-I player. Jimmy just might bethe answer to Chris "da thug" Singletary. Jimmy rewarded his coaches for their faith in him withhis spectacular rebounding and "double-double".This current starting line up in not what any of us fans dreamt up in pre-season. Most, if not all of thetop ten players are pretty much interchangeable. This will again bear fruit as the season progresses.I, for one, am pleased to see Ronnie Steward getting more minutes. He can be our best guardif he gets completely healed and the rusty barnacles knocked off. The other guards are progressingwell. Note: Steve played against UIC a bit under the weather. For all that, he still continues toimprove.I like having guards who can penetrate the lane and score. Having a six-eight bulldozer is even better.

I like the depth of our team but sometimes i feel that too much depth can hurt you as much as it helps.The positive side is of course the fact that we should be injury prone and able to replace anybody in the lineup, on the other side, it may be slowing down the development of underclassmen. I remember players like (Middleton, Linhart, Joyce, and Travis) came and started playing significant minutes in their freshman year. A year later, you could see those guys being significantly better than the day they started, they look much more confident and mature.With the depth of our teams in the last 2 years, the minutes have to be split between all the players which (in my very amateur opinion as a fan) doesn't help the development of Nik, Mclannahan, Steward, and even Humpty as the confident mature players that should take control of a game. The lack of this confidence was shown in the last minutes against Austin Peay, and also Ark PB and mainly in the way we shoot free throws.In the Mac tournament, having a deep team will be very beneficial, but until then, how would KD convince everyone that they are important and build up their confidence?I don't have an answer but when i think about it, i feel grateful that Parrish decided to transfer out and i am not sure if KD wants Sullivan or Mclannahan to follow him.

[mes102]

Whatever happened to Bardo?

[Quickzips]

Whatever happened to Bardo?

Still getting 5-10 minutes a night like normal. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The depth of our frontcourt and the addition of Zeke has limited his minutes a little more this year. He's a 10 minute a night guy at best. Not someone you want to have starting, and not someone you want to rely on for major minutes. Bottom line, he's simply not talented enough to get more minutes on this team right now.I'm honestly more concerned about the disappearance of Brett McClanahan who I expected to be a major piece for us this year. I'm a bit leery of our matchups against some of the MAC's bigger SGs if Brett doesn't get out of his funk and earn some minutes.

[ZachTheZip]

I liked seeing our guards being able to drive to the hoop for layups. That's something that was missing for a while.

[ZippyforPresident]

I liked seeing our guards being able to drive to the hoop for layups. That's something that was missing for a while.

+1. I kind of thought that last year the offense seemed stagnant in that area for much of the season. The back court has been much more aggressive about cutting to the basket lately. Humpty has always sort of had that mentality it seems (no surprise with his quicks), but seeing Daryl and especially Steve taking it to the hoop in certain situations is a good thing. If the opening is there why not go for the easy two? Compared to last year this team has recently been sharing the ball MUCH better and the guards seem to be able to either find openings to cut to the basket or have more experience at seeing the floor and have been able to make that extra pass to the wide open player, either on the wing or in the paint. Especially with Big Z and Brett McKnight drawing double teams down low it gives a lot of open shot opportunities if the spacing is good and that extra pass can be made. As long as the shots are falling, when the offense operates with that sort of mechanical precision, much as the defense has traditionally been able to do, the Zips are gonna win by double digits no matter who's guarding them. Bring on (V)alpo, I'm totally jacked up for the chance to pay those guys back for last year.

[Dave in Green]

Now that the Zips are starting to gel as a team, the depth will become more and more of a plus. As all of us who follow the Zips on a regular basis know, each of the players has different strengths and weaknesses, and they mesh together in different ways. This will make each of the players more or less effective against different teams depending on the matchups. I can see the balance of minutes played changing from game to game depending on the matchups or who happens to be hot in a particular game.But the key point is that the Zips do not have any significant fall off in overall effectiveness with any of the 10 players who get the most minutes. Some combinations of Zips players will be more effective against certain teams than others. But I don't think the Zips will fall apart no matter which five are on the floor.The Zips are far from unbeatable. But I think the depth and variety of talent on the team has to create increased stomach acid for opposing coaches trying to develop a game plan to counter the Zips.

[skip-zip]

Whatever happened to Bardo?

Still getting 5-10 minutes a night like normal. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The depth of our frontcourt and the addition of Zeke has limited his minutes a little more this year. He's a 10 minute a night guy at best. Not someone you want to have starting, and not someone you want to rely on for major minutes. Bottom line, he's simply not talented enough to get more minutes on this team right now.I'm honestly more concerned about the disappearance of Brett McClanahan who I expected to be a major piece for us this year. I'm a bit leery of our matchups against some of the MAC's bigger SGs if Brett doesn't get out of his funk and earn some minutes.

It seems like a repeat of last year. As time went on, his playing time dwindled. Even when Hitchens was hurt at the end of the year, he was playing limited minutes. I have my own opinions about his abilities, and I'm not sure what our coach is basing his decisions on, but at the very least I believe that when he's not hitting shots, his value to us on the floor really diminishes. I think two other things have happened so far this year that are affecting this situation as well.1) The emergence of Jimmy C. 2) McNees is shooting the ball really well from 3-point range.

[Dave in Green]

Prior to the start of the game, Nitro was draining 3 after 3 with an effortless stroke, and I thought he might light up UIC. In the game, it looked like he tightened up. I'm beginning to wonder if he and Conyers don't have something in common.KD had been enthusiastic about Nitro's performance in practices prior to the start of the season. But he seems to be playing nervous and almost anticipating that he's going to get quickly pulled off the floor in games, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.Like Conyers, Nitro has the athletic ability to be a big contributor to the Zips. I just hope he finds himself before his senior year.

[Quickzips]

Whatever happened to Bardo?

Still getting 5-10 minutes a night like normal. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The depth of our frontcourt and the addition of Zeke has limited his minutes a little more this year. He's a 10 minute a night guy at best. Not someone you want to have starting, and not someone you want to rely on for major minutes. Bottom line, he's simply not talented enough to get more minutes on this team right now.I'm honestly more concerned about the disappearance of Brett McClanahan who I expected to be a major piece for us this year. I'm a bit leery of our matchups against some of the MAC's bigger SGs if Brett doesn't get out of his funk and earn some minutes.

It seems like a repeat of last year. As time went on, his playing time dwindled. Even when Hitchens was hurt at the end of the year, he was playing limited minutes. I have my own opinions about his abilities, and I'm not sure what our coach is basing his decisions on, but at the very least I believe that when he's not hitting shots, his value to us on the floor really diminishes. I think two other things have happened so far this year that are affecting this situation as well.1) The emergence of Jimmy C. 2) McNees is shooting the ball really well from 3-point range.

I suspect you are correct on Conyers and McNees having a big affect on Brett's playing time. Brett, for this team right now is a SG/SF. Well, the emergence of Conyers has limited the minutes he gets at SF. McNees' new found consistency is cutting into his minutes at SG. Combine that with the fact that we can play Nikola or B.McKnight at SF and Roberts at SG and the minutes just aren't there for him. Unfortunatly the only things that are going to change that are overwhelmingly bad things for the Zips (injuries or some of the players in front of him going into a big slump). Still, I'm disappointed with Brett's performance. The starting SG position was his to begin this season and he has let it slip away to the point where he's barely getting 5-10 minutes a game. Disappointing seeing that he's really the only guy that can give us any size in our backcourt.