How to approach BG?

[Quickzips]

At this point the Zips have a first round bye wrapped up. They will either be the third seed or the first seed in the tournament depending on the outcome of the March 5 game against Can't. Nothing that happens on Saturday will have any impact on that. So now comes the important question. Do you take the Indianapolis Colts approach and rest some of your guys in an arguably meaningless game, or do you go for broke and try to sweep your way through the 2nd go around in the MAC East and build some more momentum heading into the tournament? Personally, I see positives and negatives from both ends. Resting guys like Zeke, Roberts and Brett McKnight who have had to deal with nagging injuries throughout the year heading into tournament time would probably be a good thing, but there is something to be said about continued chemistry and, as Herm Edwards so famously said, "you play to win the game." Your thoughts?

[The Hip Zip]

I don't think that keith has it in him to not play to win and I prefer to keep the guys sharp. There are a lot of off days to rest ahead while the lower seeds play the opening round. I do not see it as a viable option at all to rest the guys now.

[GP1]

The Zips put up a solid win last night. They need to keep that momentum going for not just the Tournament, but they badly need to beat Can't for more than just pride. Losing twice to them create a recruiting advantage for Can't that I don't want to give up.The best thing they can do now is go on a winning streak going into the Tournament. KD will play to win.

[GJGood]

It will help for seeding too if we end up in any of the following: The NCAA, NIT, or CBI. The only way I'd rest a lot of the guys is if there is an injury that needs nursing or you really want to take part in the CIT.

[akronzips71]

It will help for seeding too if we end up in any of the following: The NCAA, NIT, or CBI. The only way I'd rest a lot of the guys is if there is an injury that needs nursing or you really want to take part in the CIT.

Actually, what we want to do is run the table (BG and Can't). That will guarantee us the MAC championship and at the very least an NIT bid, although I suspect that if we do win the league and lose the title game in the tourney we "could" get an at large to the NCAA. I know what the other people are saying, but the best path to the post season is to run the table. That's two games, one at home. OTOH, the tourney is I think three straight wins (someone correct me if I am wrong) and sudden death. So the BEST result for us is the win the MAC, THEN try to win the tourney. But at least we would have the NIT in the bag, which is way better than nothing.And frankly, there is nothing at all wrong with a trip to the NIT and just maybe win a game or two.

[Quickzips]

It will help for seeding too if we end up in any of the following: The NCAA, NIT, or CBI. The only way I'd rest a lot of the guys is if there is an injury that needs nursing or you really want to take part in the CIT.

Actually, what we want to do is run the table (BG and Can't). That will guarantee us the MAC championship and at the very least an NIT bid, although I suspect that if we do win the league and lose the title game in the tourney we "could" get an at large to the NCAA. I know what the other people are saying, but the best path to the post season is to run the table. That's two games, one at home. OTOH, the tourney is I think three straight wins (someone correct me if I am wrong) and sudden death. So the BEST result for us is the win the MAC, THEN try to win the tourney. But at least we would have the NIT in the bag, which is way better than nothing.And frankly, there is nothing at all wrong with a trip to the NIT and just maybe win a game or two.

The point is that the BG game doesn't matter for winning the MAC regular season and the automatic NIT bid. The scenario simply comes down to next Friday against Can't. Even if Can't wins their next game and the Zips lose it still comes down to the winner of Can't/Akron on March 5. If BG beats Akron, and Can't wins this weekend, but Akron beats Can't on the 5th then the two teams are tied to end the season, they split in head to head matchups and the tiebreaker goes to record against Miami where we have the advantage, we win, we go to the NIT at the very worst. I'm not so sure I don't sit Roberts, his ankle has been a problem most of the second half of the season and a night off of it would probably do him good. If Zeke's knees are starting to become a problem as people seemed to think last night I would probably also limit his minutes.

[ZachTheZip]

We approach it as a must-win game. If EMU wins the west and we lose to BG, we can't get the #1 seed even if we do beat Can't.

[zippy_ua_00]

It will help for seeding too if we end up in any of the following: The NCAA, NIT, or CBI. The only way I'd rest a lot of the guys is if there is an injury that needs nursing or you really want to take part in the CIT.

Actually, what we want to do is run the table (BG and Can't). That will guarantee us the MAC championship and at the very least an NIT bid, although I suspect that if we do win the league and lose the title game in the tourney we "could" get an at large to the NCAA.

there is no way we get an at large to the NCAA, especially with losses to APSU, EMU, and beat downs by texas a&m, NC state, and VCU. the MAC very rarely gets more than one bid on up years, let alone on bad years like this one

[Dr Z]

Play to win.

[Hilltopper]

Play to win.

+1I would hope that now there is no pressure to have to win in order to get a bye, we should be loose as goose. Just go out and have fun. Its a lot more fun to win than to lose.

[Jalapeño Zippy]

It will help for seeding too if we end up in any of the following: The NCAA, NIT, or CBI. The only way I'd rest a lot of the guys is if there is an injury that needs nursing or you really want to take part in the CIT.

Actually, what we want to do is run the table (BG and Can't). That will guarantee us the MAC championship and at the very least an NIT bid, although I suspect that if we do win the league and lose the title game in the tourney we "could" get an at large to the NCAA.

there is no way we get an at large to the NCAA, especially with losses to APSU, EMU, and beat downs by texas a&m, NC state, and VCU. the MAC very rarely gets more than one bid on up years, let alone on bad years like this one

100% correct. We need to play hard and win out the regular season & MAC Tourney to go to the NCAA's! NIT will rely on us winning out the regular season. Anything less and we may not go post season at all.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Here's how you approach it:

[xu9697]

They have 1 week off AFTER this game, do they not?If anything, this is a game to feed, feed, feed Zeke for his growth and development.

[Let'sGoZips94]

They have 1 week off AFTER this game, do they not?If anything, this is a game to feed, feed, feed Zeke for his growth and development.

Against Polk? Why not just send the man to his death bed right now! I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that Polk has like 400 pounds on him than Zeke does. We want Zeke alive for the MAC tourney, but ultimately I agree. When Polk isn't in there, get Zeke in there as much as possible.

[MDZip]

We approach it as a must-win game. If EMU wins the west and we lose to BG, we can't get the #1 seed even if we do beat Can't.

I don't think people are quite getting it that this game could matter a lot. It isn't quite what Zach stated but it is close. Here is the tiebreaking procedure:1. Head-to-head competition2. Winning percentage* vs. ranked conference teams (top to bottom, regardless of division; versus common opponents, regardless of the number of times played)3. Sport specific component (if applicable)4. Coin flip* Winning percentage is used instead of record because of situations where teams do not play each other the same number of times. Therefore, a team that is 1-0 (1.000) would win the tiebreaker over a team that is 1-1 (.500).So that means it doesn't matter who wins the West only what their record is. EMU is our kryptonite, if they finish ahead of Miami under any of the tiebreaker procedures and we tie Can't for the title at 12-4, Can't gets the number one seed. If Miami finishes in front of EMU, then its ours. So the best way to insure the #1 seed is to win both games. This one against BGSU absolutely matters. It only becomes meaningless if Miami wins and EMU loses, then we're in great shape, but we won't know that before the end of our game. Of course Miami is also playing Can't so that sets up some potentially bad possibilities as well. So those of you that think the BGSU game won't matter, it very well could.

[Dave in Green]

There's a fine line between being well rested and being rusty from lack of play. I trust that KD knows his players well enough to understand just how long each should play against BG.Generally speaking, I'd say give easy minutes for anyone who is physically hurting, and give more experience to the players who are typically on the floor for fewer minutes than the starters, but who are still good enough players to beat BG. For example, give Steward extra minutes at the point. And definitely focus on the type of play it's going to take to beat Can't and win the tournament.

[MDZip]

Following this game on Saturday we will have only one other game until March 11th (of course it's a big game ). I don't think rest is going to be a big factor under consideration, there is pletny of time for recuperation.

[Dr Z]

There's a fine line between being well rested and being rusty from lack of play.

A 20 year old kid gets to play the game of basketball for 28 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. Sounds fun to me. The bus ride there and back will wear them out more. Plus or minus 9 or so minutes of playing time isn't going to make a hoot of difference for being "rested"...especially with Dambrot's rotations.

[ZachTheZip]

None of our players should be the least bit tired. Nobody averages more than 30 minutes per game. Besides, they have an entire week to get ready for Can't.

[Dave in Green]

From KD's post-Buffalo game quotes:For as much depth as we have, we tire at times.

[johnnyzip84]

We approach it as a must-win game. If EMU wins the west and we lose to BG, we can't get the #1 seed even if we do beat Can't.

I don't think people are quite getting it that this game could matter a lot. It isn't quite what Zach stated but it is close. Here is the tiebreaking procedure:1. Head-to-head competition2. Winning percentage* vs. ranked conference teams (top to bottom, regardless of division; versus common opponents, regardless of the number of times played)3. Sport specific component (if applicable)4. Coin flip* Winning percentage is used instead of record because of situations where teams do not play each other the same number of times. Therefore, a team that is 1-0 (1.000) would win the tiebreaker over a team that is 1-1 (.500).So that means it doesn't matter who wins the West only what their record is. EMU is our kryptonite, if they finish ahead of Miami under any of the tiebreaker procedures and we tie Can't for the title at 12-4, Can't gets the number one seed. If Miami finishes in front of EMU, then its ours. So the best way to insure the #1 seed is to win both games. This one against BGSU absolutely matters. It only becomes meaningless if Miami wins and EMU loses, then we're in great shape, but we won't know that before the end of our game. Of course Miami is also playing Can't so that sets up some potentially bad possibilities as well. So those of you that think the BGSU game won't matter, it very well could.

Nice work, MDZip. Here is Gaffney's article on it (link).Link

[Dr Z]

From KD's post-Buffalo game quotes: For as much depth as we have, we tire at times.

Here is the rest of the quote: "For as much depth as we have, we tire at times. They (Buffalo) move us around so much. They (Buffalo) make you play through that whole clock, so it becomes difficult." I'm pretty sure KD was speaking specifically about Buffalo. It's hard to tell since I only have 3 sentences of the quote pulled from Rasor's site. My guess is that the minutes stay true to EXACTLY what KD has done the last month. Unless there is some crazy match up with BG that I am unaware of, or an injury occurs. I have never been for sitting an athlete to get them "rest". If they need rest, they aren't conditioned proper. I would think every player in the college basketball can play 28 minutes per game at this time of the season without needing "rest" to play in the next game which is SIX days away. At this point and time of the season they should be focused on playing the rotation they are going to play in the mac tournament to get more experience playing together. I think that is WAY more important than getting "rest" If someone is mentally tired, give them a day off of practice, not time off in the game. You can never simulate game time experience.

[Dave in Green]

Yeah, I'm just guessing like everyone else here. Different coaches have different philosophies on exactly how to play in this type of situation, so I guess we'll see how KD decides to play it come game time.

[Zip Watcher]

It's common to approach BG from the north on I-75 and exit at #181, which is Wooster St.Just sayin.Go Zips! B) B)

[Hilltopper]

It's common to approach BG from the north on I-75 and exit at #181, which is Wooster St.Just sayin.Go Zips! B) B)

You driving? Pick me up at I-71 and the Turnpike.