Zips piss down their leg

[Quickzips]

Same story, same ending. Zips build a nice little lead against a high quality opponent. Get to about the 10-12 minute mark and piss it away. Absolutely piss it away. Turnovers, missed free throws, airballed jump shots. You name it, the Zips did it. And don't tell me that the refs blew that game for us. They didn't call a very good game, I'll give you that, but the refs didn't lose that game for us. We lost it ourselves. Until this team learns just an ounce of killer instinct it is going to continue to be the same story over and over and over and over and over. Absolutely horrible.

[RowdyZip]

Same story, same ending. Zips build a nice little lead against a high quality opponent. Get to about the 10-12 minute mark and piss it away. Absolutely piss it away. Turnovers, missed free throws, airballed jump shots. You name it, the Zips did it. And don't tell me that the refs blew that game for us. They didn't call a very good game, I'll give you that, but the refs didn't lose that game for us. We lost it ourselves. Until this team learns just an ounce of killer instinct it is going to continue to be the same story over and over and over and over and over. Absolutely horrible.

We'll continue the long line of "almosts" where the Zips have the chance to open some eyes and put away a near top 25 team, a top 10 rpi team (regardless of how you feel about that ranking) and the screw it all away. URI was the better team, and really put it to the Zips in the last 8 minutes. Nonetheless, we should've won that game. That officiating crew is downright terrible, consistently. Did it decide the game? Probably not because they were HORRIBLE both ways, though more calls did go against the Zips in the critical last 5 minutes. The little hair-plugged ref is the worst offender in a poor line of MAC officials and it should be duly noted in his performance evaluation. The tall balding guy is in the ballpark of being just as consistently terrible. Number one thing, amongst many poor calls at the end of the game, that stuck out to me was the calling of timeout by the URI coach as there was a scrum for the ball near mid court. Wasn't that rule in NCAA changed that you must have possession of the ball and be in contact with the court to call timeout? Regardless of that, how was the coach granted timeout when no team clearly had possession of the ball at all? Am I bitter after another heartbreaking loss? Sure, but my blue and gold glasses aren't THAT Zips colored. Lets run the table in the MAC.

[Deeustin89]

It's hard to develop a killer instinct when you have such a deep rotation. These guys never know if they'll be in the game or on the bench at the end and the momentum switches so often with different personnel always in the game. it's a downfall of playing so many guys.

[Let'sGoZips94]

I blame the guy that put the Penno/Miami celebration image on the big board. He finally took it off before the foul shot after getting so many boos at him. The worst part about that was Cedrick Middleton was at the game tonight. My main issue with this game (besides the refs) was our lineup. We were struggling on the boards and yet Dambrot keeps Chris and Nik out there. Then Zeke gets tossed around like a salad. Where was Bardo or even Swiech?We have to start winning these games. We compete with OSUcks and CSUcks for fans and such, but how do you expect to compete when they are winning tourney games and beating ranked teams and we can't beat an almost ranked team? We're so close though. Our first hurdle when Dambrot first came here was to compete in the MAC again. Our second hurdle was to win the MAC. Now our third hurdle is to get the nation's attention with some wins. I will say this about the MAC part of the season, I think we can go undefeated and go 16-0 in the MAC.

[GoZips]

There were three major contributing factors to tonight's hurtful loss.1) Turnovers. Probably the number one culprit. We simply have to do a much better job of taking care of the ball. This means playing under control, not helter-skelter. For heaven's sake, let's get this right: Steve McNees is a dandy two guard (shooting guard). He is a mediocre point. Ronnie Steward simply needs more minutes.2) Free throw shooting. The statistics don't tell the story since we consistently miss the front end of one-n-ones. This has to be fixed. Certain players shoot free throws like they just don't care. They should be glad they don't play for me. Because I would have them so far down on the bench that they would never see the light of day. If you can't bother to make free throws you should NOT be on the floor.3) Officiating. These clowns were from Mars. And, sorry previous poster, they were not bad both ways. They were far more biased against Akron than they were against Rhode Island. It was not only the bad calls; it was also the inexcusable "no calls" that kept Rhode Island from getting blown out of the (sic) gym. A prime example was official stopping play to admonish two players when the Zips were in the midst of a hot streak. That sure helped Rhode Island. There were several other situations that benefited Rhode Island. How the hell do you miss a player standing on the end line with the ball and not call him out of bounds. Oh, I see, that would have meant giving Akron possession. We cannot fix the ref crap. We will have to play through it again this year, The coaching staff can fixthe free throw shooting and ball handling. Here is a tip for you fans: count how often Steve McNeesturns the ball over as the point guard when he fails to distribute the ball and goes into "mindless ribble" mode. McNees is a shooting guard; not a point guard.I am not blaming Steve. He is not the problem. He is part of the problem. There are others that approach free throw shooting like they were taught as small children that making free throws just isn'tfair to the other team. Screw the other team. Make the free throws. Its like finding twenty dollar bills.Again tonight we saw Nikola drive to the basket. Just not often enough. It the guards are afraid to penetrate give the ball to Nic. It is wonderful to see a big man able to drive to the basket. He deserves more minutes.Hey, coaches, this last comment is for you. Remember the old adage that teams that press do not like being pressed? Well, Rhode Island is no exception. When we put full court pressure on them the onlything that saved them were their friends the refs. Put pressure on the ball. Have the nads to trust your kids.

[RootforRoo44]

There were three major contributing factors to tonight's hurtful loss.1) Turnovers. Probably the number one culprit. We simply have to do a much better job of taking care of the ball. This means playing under control, not helter-skelter. For heaven's sake, let's get this right: Steve McNees is a dandy two guard (shooting guard). He is a mediocre point. Ronnie Steward simply needs more minutes.2) Free throw shooting. The statistics don't tell the story since we consistently miss the front end of one-n-ones. This has to be fixed. Certain players shoot free throws like they just don't care. They should be glad they don't play for me. Because I would have them so far down on the bench that they would never see the light of day. If you can't bother to make free throws you should NOT be on the floor.3) Officiating. These clowns were from Mars. And, sorry previous poster, they were not bad both ways. They were far more biased against Akron than they were against Rhode Island. It was not only the bad calls; it was also the inexcusable "no calls" that kept Rhode Island from getting blown out of the (sic) gym. A prime example was official stopping play to admonish two players when the Zips were in the midst of a hot streak. That sure helped Rhode Island. There were several other situations that benefited Rhode Island. How the hell do you miss a player standing on the end line with the ball and not call him out of bounds. Oh, I see, that would have meant giving Akron possession. We cannot fix the ref crap. We will have to play through it again this year, The coaching staff can fixthe free throw shooting and ball handling. Here is a tip for you fans: count how often Steve McNeesturns the ball over as the point guard when he fails to distribute the ball and goes into "mindless ribble" mode. McNees is a shooting guard; not a point guard.I am not blaming Steve. He is not the problem. He is part of the problem. There are others that approach free throw shooting like they were taught as small children that making free throws just isn'tfair to the other team. Screw the other team. Make the free throws. Its like finding twenty dollar bills.Again tonight we saw Nikola drive to the basket. Just not often enough. It the guards are afraid to penetrate give the ball to Nic. It is wonderful to see a big man able to drive to the basket. He deserves more minutes.Hey, coaches, this last comment is for you. Remember the old adage that teams that press do not like being pressed? Well, Rhode Island is no exception. When we put full court pressure on them the onlything that saved them were their friends the refs. Put pressure on the ball. Have the nads to trust your kids.

I'll agree COMPLETELY. I believe i saw ONE time the entire night where their bench was upset about a call. I could count 20+ where there were calls that were made or not made that absolutely shocked me. I think i'm going to nominate those refs as "Worst Officiating Crew In JAR History".The worst part is, after playing 5 on 8 for the entire night against a very good team all we had to do was just make a few darn free throws and we win. That's too bad. Though i have to say anyone who thinks that URI is better than us is crazy, we had them on the ropes and they got bailed out over and over again tonight. If we can get a decent officiated game and make free throws we will finish very strong this season.

[bandzip]

There were three major contributing factors to tonight's hurtful loss.1) Turnovers. Probably the number one culprit. We simply have to do a much better job of taking care of the ball. This means playing under control, not helter-skelter. For heaven's sake, let's get this right: Steve McNees is a dandy two guard (shooting guard). He is a mediocre point. Ronnie Steward simply needs more minutes.2) Free throw shooting. The statistics don't tell the story since we consistently miss the front end of one-n-ones. This has to be fixed. Certain players shoot free throws like they just don't care. They should be glad they don't play for me. Because I would have them so far down on the bench that they would never see the light of day. If you can't bother to make free throws you should NOT be on the floor.3) Officiating. These clowns were from Mars. And, sorry previous poster, they were not bad both ways. They were far more biased against Akron than they were against Rhode Island. It was not only the bad calls; it was also the inexcusable "no calls" that kept Rhode Island from getting blown out of the (sic) gym. A prime example was official stopping play to admonish two players when the Zips were in the midst of a hot streak. That sure helped Rhode Island. There were several other situations that benefited Rhode Island. How the hell do you miss a player standing on the end line with the ball and not call him out of bounds. Oh, I see, that would have meant giving Akron possession. We cannot fix the ref crap. We will have to play through it again this year, The coaching staff can fixthe free throw shooting and ball handling. Here is a tip for you fans: count how often Steve McNeesturns the ball over as the point guard when he fails to distribute the ball and goes into "mindless ribble" mode. McNees is a shooting guard; not a point guard.I am not blaming Steve. He is not the problem. He is part of the problem. There are others that approach free throw shooting like they were taught as small children that making free throws just isn'tfair to the other team. Screw the other team. Make the free throws. Its like finding twenty dollar bills.Again tonight we saw Nikola drive to the basket. Just not often enough. It the guards are afraid to penetrate give the ball to Nic. It is wonderful to see a big man able to drive to the basket. He deserves more minutes.Hey, coaches, this last comment is for you. Remember the old adage that teams that press do not like being pressed? Well, Rhode Island is no exception. When we put full court pressure on them the onlything that saved them were their friends the refs. Put pressure on the ball. Have the nads to trust your kids.

Call me crazy, but the box score has McNees down as 0 turnovers, and a team high three assists in 30 minutes.... Humpty had three turnovers in 17 minutes, and Steward 2 in 5 minutes. You sure you want someone else running the point?

[Quickzips]

There were three major contributing factors to tonight's hurtful loss.1) Turnovers. Probably the number one culprit. We simply have to do a much better job of taking care of the ball. This means playing under control, not helter-skelter. For heaven's sake, let's get this right: Steve McNees is a dandy two guard (shooting guard). He is a mediocre point. Ronnie Steward simply needs more minutes.2) Free throw shooting. The statistics don't tell the story since we consistently miss the front end of one-n-ones. This has to be fixed. Certain players shoot free throws like they just don't care. They should be glad they don't play for me. Because I would have them so far down on the bench that they would never see the light of day. If you can't bother to make free throws you should NOT be on the floor.3) Officiating. These clowns were from Mars. And, sorry previous poster, they were not bad both ways. They were far more biased against Akron than they were against Rhode Island. It was not only the bad calls; it was also the inexcusable "no calls" that kept Rhode Island from getting blown out of the (sic) gym. A prime example was official stopping play to admonish two players when the Zips were in the midst of a hot streak. That sure helped Rhode Island. There were several other situations that benefited Rhode Island. How the hell do you miss a player standing on the end line with the ball and not call him out of bounds. Oh, I see, that would have meant giving Akron possession. We cannot fix the ref crap. We will have to play through it again this year, The coaching staff can fixthe free throw shooting and ball handling. Here is a tip for you fans: count how often Steve McNeesturns the ball over as the point guard when he fails to distribute the ball and goes into "mindless ribble" mode. McNees is a shooting guard; not a point guard.I am not blaming Steve. He is not the problem. He is part of the problem. There are others that approach free throw shooting like they were taught as small children that making free throws just isn'tfair to the other team. Screw the other team. Make the free throws. Its like finding twenty dollar bills.Again tonight we saw Nikola drive to the basket. Just not often enough. It the guards are afraid to penetrate give the ball to Nic. It is wonderful to see a big man able to drive to the basket. He deserves more minutes.Hey, coaches, this last comment is for you. Remember the old adage that teams that press do not like being pressed? Well, Rhode Island is no exception. When we put full court pressure on them the onlything that saved them were their friends the refs. Put pressure on the ball. Have the nads to trust your kids.

Call me crazy, but the box score has McNees down as 0 turnovers, and a team high three assists in 30 minutes.... Humpty had three turnovers in 17 minutes, and Steward 2 in 5 minutes. You sure you want someone else running the point?

Thank you, any criticism against McNees for that game is completely unwarranted. Fact is, Steve played one of the most solid games I've ever seen him play. Honestly, I'm more impressed with his performance last night than some of these nights where he lights it up from three. Steve took care of the basketball very well. When he was on the floor our offense always ran more smoothly. I agree that Steve isn't a pure PG, but he did a yeoman's job last night. You can't blame that loss on Steve. On the flip side, one could look at the box score and say Brett McKnight had a pretty decent night. Truth is, he was awful. This was the Brett McKnight I thought we had gotten rid of over the last few weeks. The Brett McKnight who doesn't care where he catches the basketball or how many defenders are thrown at him, he's going post up and take a shot. I can't even count the number of times he gave Rhode Island an easy block because everyone in the arena knew what he was trying to do. He's a good scorer, but he isn't good enough to try and be a one man wrecking crew against a quality opponent. Problem is, he thinks he is. Don't even get me started about his brother, the senior who was supposed to step up and lead this team, but has played so poorly he's on the bench and right now is barely deserving of minutes.

[GP1]

Then Zeke gets tossed around like a salad.

Am I the only one that hears Beavis and Butthead laughing?

[g-mann17]

Then Zeke gets tossed around like a salad.

Am I the only one that hears Beavis and Butthead laughing?

NO. There are plenty of other metaphors that could have been used here other than salads."Pushed around like a nerd in a school yard" comes to mind.But I would also say that Zeke "getting pushed around" is part of his development. Someone is able to out muscle you, then you out speed them. If they got you on both, then you out think them. If they have you on all three? Out "effort" them.

[GP1]

Then Zeke gets tossed around like a salad.

Am I the only one that hears Beavis and Butthead laughing?

NO. There are plenty of other metaphors that could have been used here other than salads."Pushed around like a nerd in a school yard" comes to mind.But I would also say that Zeke "getting pushed around" is part of his development. Someone is able to out muscle you, then you out speed them. If they got you on both, then you out think them. If they have you on all three? Out "effort" them.

I think you missed the point. Juggle some words around and there is some humor there.

[g-mann17]

Then Zeke gets tossed around like a salad.

Am I the only one that hears Beavis and Butthead laughing?

NO. There are plenty of other metaphors that could have been used here other than salads."Pushed around like a nerd in a school yard" comes to mind.But I would also say that Zeke "getting pushed around" is part of his development. Someone is able to out muscle you, then you out speed them. If they got you on both, then you out think them. If they have you on all three? Out "effort" them.

I think you missed the point. Juggle some words around and there is some humor there.

No, I caught the humor.

[GoZips]

Odd. I never put the blame for the loss on Steve McNees. My issue with Steve is that he is not a good point guard.Steve is a solid, dependable shooting guard. Did I complain that he had a two for eleven night? No. Why, becauseoften Steve was chucking the ball up toward the basket after dribbling, dribbling, dribbling with out ever distributingthe ball. The point guard is suppose to see the floor and distribute the ball, run the plays, show leadership, notdribble, dribble, dribble. Sorry, I like Steve a lot, especially when he is in the shooting guard role. Then he doesnot cough up a fur ball and go two for eleven.This team needs a leader. Traditionally the leader is either a senior or a point guard. Last year we had a fine teamleader who was a senior. Neither of our two seniors seem to want that role. Thus, let the leadership role go tothe young man who plays like a mad bull. I nominate Nicola Cvetonvic. I am already of the opinion that he deservesmore minutes.We need to face the fact that Rhode Island has better athletes than we do. But, we have better basketball players.We need to deploy our better basketball players in a manner that negates their athleticism. A zone might have stopped the dribble drive penetration they used all night to go to the basket. With man coverage once they were by the defender it was an open drive to the hoop. We rarely stopped the dribble drive.Of course it would have helped if the wonderful officials had whistled James more than the one time they did (probablyan accident) for traveling with his three step drives. Those of us in our corner were speculating that he was auditioningfor the NBA.Speaking of James, a very athletic and tallented player, who was guarding him? I have to wonder how Rhode Island reacts to a zone defense. Unfortunately I only saw the first ten minutes of theirOklahoma State game. OkSt was in a man at the time.No negative comments on Zeke Marshall. Good. He is developing, albeit a bit slower than most of us would like.Zeke needs to keep the ball higher when he has it. He also needs to get "tough" and not get man handled. That will come as he develops. For Zeke I would have him on extra rations of food and minutes shooting free throws.Opponents are going to foul him a lot until he is a reliable threat from the free throw line.One last comment. No turnovers from Steve? Let's see, on a fast break in the second half, Steve is bringing the ball up court when James picked him clean from behind, But, I suppose that wasn't a turnover, just a steal.There were other incidents, but, I really do not want to bash McNees. I like the kid. I especially like him at thetwo guard where he gets open and shoots a sweet three ball. I do not like beyond NBA line shots (they don'tcount as a turnover, but they sure are).In the final analysis, we discovered that we really are one of the best teams in the nation. The Zips are certainlyno RPI #149 team. Ask coach Barron if he thinks Akron is a middle of the pack team. URI got what they neededfor their development last night. They got an A-10 type road game they will see from Dayton and Xavier.Akron took the final test before conference play. I give them a decent passing mark, but, no A+.

[Zip Watcher]

There were three major contributing factors to tonight's hurtful loss.1) Turnovers. Probably the number one culprit. We simply have to do a much better job of taking care of the ball. This means playing under control, not helter-skelter. For heaven's sake, let's get this right: Steve McNees is a dandy two guard (shooting guard). He is a mediocre point. Ronnie Steward simply needs more minutes.2) Free throw shooting. The statistics don't tell the story since we consistently miss the front end of one-n-ones. This has to be fixed. Certain players shoot free throws like they just don't care. They should be glad they don't play for me. Because I would have them so far down on the bench that they would never see the light of day. If you can't bother to make free throws you should NOT be on the floor.{snip}I am not blaming Steve. He is not the problem. He is part of the problem. There are others that approach free throw shooting like they were taught as small children that making free throws just isn't fair to the other team. Screw the other team. Make the free throws. Its like finding twenty dollar bills.Again tonight we saw Nikola drive to the basket. Just not often enough. It the guards are afraid to penetrate give the ball to Nic. It is wonderful to see a big man able to drive to the basket. He deserves more minutes.Hey, coaches, this last comment is for you. Remember the old adage that teams that press do not like being pressed? Well, Rhode Island is no exception. When we put full court pressure on them the only thing that saved them were their friends the refs. Put pressure on the ball. Have the nads to trust your kids.

GoZips .. I'll never question your passion for the Zips, but I have to question whether you attended the game last night .. or perhaps, which game you attended:#1: On McNees. At some point this season, you'll realize that Steve is the best PG on the team. Humpty is a good scoring guard, but if you watch closely, when they play together, Steve is the PG, not the SG. Here's the line scores from the box score for 4 players on the Zips. Care to pick out which one was Steve last night? I've cut the shooting numbers out since that makes it obvious .. but take a look at the rest.

					REBOUNDS## Player Name	OF DE TOT PF  TP A TO BLK S MINGuy #1			2  3  5   2   6  3  0  0  0  30Guy #2			1  1  2   2   5  0  0  0  1  27Guy #3			0  1  1   1   6  0  2  0  0   5Guy #4			0  2  2   0   5  1  3  0  0  17

I thought that Steve was pretty good last night. It appeared to me that the Zips were better with him on the floor than without him. Seemed that KD was really minimizing the time which he didn't have either Steve or Roberts out there. Rarely were they both on the pine.Where I thought the offense broke down last night, leading to some limited scoring from outside was that the Inside-Out didn't really happen well. URI is long and athletic and they frustrated our bigs inside at times. But there were opportunities, especially in the 2nd half where our bigs over committed, allowed a double / triple team, and failed to get the ball back out to the perimeter for rotation to an open shooter. I think that's why the percentages were so low, and I think the Zips left some points out there in the half court.#2: The FT shooting does need to improve, but FYI .. the Zips missed only 1 last night that was the front end of a 1-1. One. FT shooting affects this team, but your comment on the front-end misses doesn't really pertain to the URI game.

[Dr Z]

#1: On McNees. At some point this season, you'll realize that Steve is the best PG on the team.

We are in trouble. I watched him dribble at the top of the key for 25 seconds last night with his back to the hoop looking left, dribble off foot, recover basketball, look right, dribble dribble dribble, look left, (back still to the hoop) dribble dribble dribble, look right, dribble off knee, recover, dribble dribble dribble, pass the ball high up top with seconds on the shot clock forcing into a bad shot.Your statement might be right, but for the love of gawd we have GOT to find somebody that can run the point.

[Zip Watcher]

#1: On McNees. At some point this season, you'll realize that Steve is the best PG on the team.

We are in trouble. I watched him dribble at the top of the key for 25 seconds last night with his back to the hoop looking left, dribble off foot, recover basketball, look right, dribble dribble dribble, look left, (back still to the hoop) dribble dribble dribble, look right, dribble off knee, recover, dribble dribble dribble, pass the ball high up top with seconds on the shot clock forcing into a bad shot.Your statement might be right, but for the love of gawd we have GOT to find somebody that can run the point.

A PG emerged on this team on March 12th, and on the 14th .. the Zips won a ticket to the Dance because of it.

[zip37]

The killer instinct has NOTHING to do w/the # of players used, the K instinct comes from within the player. When you go up by 10 you do your best to get it up to 30 and do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal. Lazy passes don't help. I am SICK of losing games like last night!

[Captain Kangaroo]

#1: On McNees. At some point this season, you'll realize that Steve is the best PG on the team.

We are in trouble. I watched him dribble at the top of the key for 25 seconds last night with his back to the hoop looking left, dribble off foot, recover basketball, look right, dribble dribble dribble, look left, (back still to the hoop) dribble dribble dribble, look right, dribble off knee, recover, dribble dribble dribble, pass the ball high up top with seconds on the shot clock forcing into a bad shot.Your statement might be right, but for the love of gawd we have GOT to find somebody that can run the point.

A PG emerged on this team on March 12th, and on the 14th .. the Zips won a ticket to the Dance because of it.

McNees had a great 2009 MAC tourney. But he went 0-9 from the field against Gonzaga. And 2-11 last night. He has been overmatched against bigger, non-MAC competition.As Dr. Z stated, he was stymied whenever he tried to run the offense. Did he turn the ball over relentlessly? No. But he didn't create anything. He just dribbled a lot and ran the shot clock down.I long for a point guard that can dribble-penetrate. Beat a defender off the dribble. Maybe Steward can become that player. I hope so.

[Zipmeister]

I blame the guy that put the Penno/Miami celebration image on the big board. He finally took it off before the foul shot after getting so many boos at him. The worst part about that was Cedrick Middleton was at the game tonight. My main issue with this game (besides the refs) was our lineup. We were struggling on the boards and yet Dambrot keeps Chris and Nik out there. Then Zeke gets tossed around like a salad. Where was Bardo or even Swiech?We have to start winning these games. We compete with OSUcks and CSUcks for fans and such, but how do you expect to compete when they are winning tourney games and beating ranked teams and we can't beat an almost ranked team? We're so close though. Our first hurdle when Dambrot first came here was to compete in the MAC again. Our second hurdle was to win the MAC. Now our third hurdle is to get the nation's attention with some wins. I will say this about the MAC part of the season, I think we can go undefeated and go 16-0 in the MAC.

I think we can win the NCAA tournament.

[Quickzips]

Again, I'm going to take issue with the criticism of McNees. To point out his shooting numbers last night isn't really fair. We didn't ask him to shoot a lot until late in the game where we asked him for 3 or 4 desperation threes that had little chance of going down. If you want to measure him by his shooting last night you are missing the big picture. As far as him running the point, I will agree to a certain degree. Steve isn't a pure PG. He also isn't a pure SG. He's a combo guard. That said, he didn't do the terrible job you guys are giving him so much grief for. If you want to complain about him bringing the ball up court to slow that complaint needs to fall on the coaching staff. The plan going into this game was to try and slow the tempo down and make Rhode Island play at a pace they aren't comfortable with. It wasn't quite a Charlie Coles style slow down game, but we certainly didn't want to get into a track meet with this team. Pushing the ball up court all game would have played right into Rhode Island's hands. As for McNees not setting up the offense well, I can't fully blame that on Steve either. Fact is, our guys weren't giving him good passing lanes a lot of the time. Our floor spacing was not very good for most of the night last night, and neither was our movement away from the ball. The best PG's in the world will have a hard time running half court sets if their teamates don't do a good job of giving them an angle to receive the ball. Steve still had three assists last night and would have had more if a couple of easy baskets weren't blown. One I remember in particular was when Steve made a pretty move from the left baseline and threw and alley-oop pass to Zeke who promptly clanked the dunk off the backrim. On another occassion Brett McKnight blew a 4 foot gimmee off what I believe was a McNees feed.

[Zip Watcher]

McNees had a great 2009 MAC tourney. But he went 0-9 from the field against Gonzaga. And 2-11 last night. He has been overmatched against bigger, non-MAC competition.As Dr. Z stated, he was stymied whenever he tried to run the offense. Did he turn the ball over relentlessly? No. But he didn't create anything. He just dribbled a lot and ran the shot clock down.I long for a point guard that can dribble-penetrate. Beat a defender off the dribble. Maybe Steward can become that player. I hope so.

I think the comment about being overmatched may apply to the Zips entire backcourt .. at times last night. All of them struggled to get the ball to the post at times, due to the length of the defenders. The high screens helped a little, but there was difficulty with that. Off the top of my head, I'd guess that over half of our TO's were on entry passes that were bounced or misdirected due to pressure at the perimeter. It was a problem @ UMass 2 years ago, last year vs. Gonzaga .. and last night vs. URI.But I stick to my comment about McNees. He wasn't stymied whenever he tried to run the offense. He ran the offense whenever he was out there. 30 minutes. He was running the offense the whole game .. and for much of the game it was enough. This game got away from the Zips when they allowed 10-20 second chance points to URI on the offensive glass in the last 8 minutes. I don't think it got away from the Zips on the perimeter.One day (hopefully soon) .. we'll have a game flow analyzer here where we can see +/- on a stint by stint basis. Even with his struggles from the field, I'm certain Steve had a big + number last night. B) Go Zips!

[Captain Kangaroo]

The plan going into this game was to try and slow the tempo down and make Rhode Island play at a pace they aren't comfortable with. It wasn't quite a Charlie Coles style slow down game, but we certainly didn't want to get into a track meet with this team. Pushing the ball up court all game would have played right into Rhode Island's hands.

What game were you watching? It was totally the opposite?! Our plan was to beat their press...to attack, and push the ball up the court. We sliced them up when we got into a "track meet." We were HIGHLY successful. It wasn't until Rhode Island slowed the game down and turned it into a half court affair that we struggled.

[GP1]

All interesting posts. In any sport, there tends to be a noticeable difference in the speed of play at the end of the game. We see it all the time in the fourt quarter of an NBA and NFL game and in the third period of an NHL game. Here is what I think the most important question is after a loss to a team with more talent. Did the Zips give 100% the entire game? If so, then they did all they could to win. If they gave 100%, then talent may be the problem. I saw it two years ago. Winthrop was just a little more talented than the Zips and pulled away at the end. Gonzage was more talented than the Zips and pulled away at the end. I'm sure there are other examples. If giving 100% is the problem, then there is a problem that needs fixing. This is more easily fixed than talent.No worries here.

[GoZips]

The plan going into this game was to try and slow the tempo down and make Rhode Island play at a pace they aren't comfortable with. It wasn't quite a Charlie Coles style slow down game, but we certainly didn't want to get into a track meet with this team. Pushing the ball up court all game would have played right into Rhode Island's hands.

What game were you watching? It was totally the opposite?! Our plan was to beat their press...to attack, and push the ball up the court. We sliced them up when we got into a "track meet." We were HIGHLY successful. It wasn't until Rhode Island slowed the game down and turned it into a half court affair that we struggled.

dittoCoach D said the same thing during his post game radio interview. Which makes wonder howsuccessful we could have been running a zone part of the time in the second half to counter theirhalf court offense which was a simple man up one on one and beat the defender to the basket.

[zip37]

6 pts off 3 lazy passes started the URI run in 2nd half, [in addition way too many other lazy passes, and fumbling passes that got into the post].