The Zips Defense

[GP1]

After watching the game last night, a couple of things stood out in relation to the Zips defense. I believe the Zips have a good perimeter defense. They get a lot of deflections and turnovers around the perimeter. They got a lot of offensive chances because of that last night in the first ten minutes of the game. Now if they could just turn those chances into points, we would all be much happier....remember, defense only gets you the ball, then you have to do something with it once you get it.If a team breaks through the perimeter defense and Zeke is not in the game, we are much more easy to score on. Zeke's presence changes shots, gets rebounds and blocks shots. There were some defensive mistakes from him in the second half, but he is still the best we have in the middle. I always talk about players being replaceable. Everyone on that team is replaceable with the exception of Zeke. Players like him don't come around often.I really don't see Zeke as this work in progress that should not play much like I read about on this board. Zeke has some develpment issues, but physically, he is in great shape for his age. He needs some work on his offensive post moves which should be priority #1 for him this off season. He needs to understand he is a good player and play with some confidence.We are almost 25% through the Zeke era and the kid is not playing enough. I think that is a mistake. He was a high school all American and has talent. His talent needs to be used. We only get him for four years.

[GJGood]

I'd like to Zeke play more too. I love the way he changes opponents' shots even if he doesn't block them. The problem at this point is the coaches want him around near the end of the game and he hasn't shown an ability to stay out of foul troble yet remain aggressive defensively. He's a bright guy and he'll learn, he just hasn't got it yet so he can't really be a 25 or 30+ minute player yet.Where defense is concerned, though, I'd like to see more of Steward. I think he bothers his man and makes good defensive decisions more than any of the other outside defenders for the Zips do. A game like last night's is where we really missed a guy like Linhart or a big wide athletic body like Jeremiah Wood.

[bandzip]

After watching the game last night, a couple of things stood out in relation to the Zips defense. I believe the Zips have a good perimeter defense. They get a lot of deflections and turnovers around the perimeter. They got a lot of offensive chances because of that last night in the first ten minutes of the game. Now if they could just turn those chances into points, we would all be much happier....remember, defense only gets you the ball, then you have to do something with it once you get it.If a team breaks through the perimeter defense and Zeke is not in the game, we are much more easy to score on. Zeke's presence changes shots, gets rebounds and blocks shots. There were some defensive mistakes from him in the second half, but he is still the best we have in the middle. I always talk about players being replaceable. Everyone on that team is replaceable with the exception of Zeke. Players like him don't come around often.I really don't see Zeke as this work in progress that should not play much like I read about on this board. Zeke has some develpment issues, but physically, he is in great shape for his age. He needs some work on his offensive post moves which should be priority #1 for him this off season. He needs to understand he is a good player and play with some confidence.We are almost 25% through the Zeke era and the kid is not playing enough. I think that is a mistake. He was a high school all American and has talent. His talent needs to be used. We only get him for four years.

The way Zeke was playing last night I would have put him in less than Dambrot did. He looked like a deer in the headlights. There were at least two possessions when he forced absolutely terrible shots instead of kicking it out and resetting the play. He played good defense against some of the teams we played earlier in the season with smaller players, but with Kents size and speed he got burned time and time again last night. When someone drives he lets them put up the shot and then relies on his timing to block it, then shakes his head while running back down the court because he missed again. I kept waiting to see Bardo last night, just to rough up Green and put a bigger body in the middle if nothing else, and KD never put him in. Is he hurt? I vaguely remember a thread a weak or two ago mentioning it but didn't read it. I also feel like we're really limiting Nik by playing him as a center. I'm suprised no one's mentioned how he played yesterday. He seemed to feed off the energy while everyone else was rushing shots and playing scared. He was cutting to the hoop, moving the ball, and playing lights out D as a forward.

[Dave in Green]

We all need to hope that Zeke makes the same huge leap in performance between his freshman and sophomore seasons as Justin Greene, who went from 9 minutes and 2 points per game to 28 minutes and 14 points per game. Zeke has to really want it and really work at it to make this happen. If he does, the Zips will be a much different team.

[RootforRoo44]

After watching the game last night, a couple of things stood out in relation to the Zips defense. I believe the Zips have a good perimeter defense. They get a lot of deflections and turnovers around the perimeter. They got a lot of offensive chances because of that last night in the first ten minutes of the game. Now if they could just turn those chances into points, we would all be much happier....remember, defense only gets you the ball, then you have to do something with it once you get it.If a team breaks through the perimeter defense and Zeke is not in the game, we are much more easy to score on. Zeke's presence changes shots, gets rebounds and blocks shots. There were some defensive mistakes from him in the second half, but he is still the best we have in the middle. I always talk about players being replaceable. Everyone on that team is replaceable with the exception of Zeke. Players like him don't come around often.I really don't see Zeke as this work in progress that should not play much like I read about on this board. Zeke has some develpment issues, but physically, he is in great shape for his age. He needs some work on his offensive post moves which should be priority #1 for him this off season. He needs to understand he is a good player and play with some confidence.We are almost 25% through the Zeke era and the kid is not playing enough. I think that is a mistake. He was a high school all American and has talent. His talent needs to be used. We only get him for four years.

The way Zeke was playing last night I would have put him in less than Dambrot did. He looked like a deer in the headlights. There were at least two possessions when he forced absolutely terrible shots instead of kicking it out and resetting the play. He played good defense against some of the teams we played earlier in the season with smaller players, but with Kents size and speed he got burned time and time again last night. When someone drives he lets them put up the shot and then relies on his timing to block it, then shakes his head while running back down the court because he missed again. I kept waiting to see Bardo last night, just to rough up Green and put a bigger body in the middle if nothing else, and KD never put him in. Is he hurt? I vaguely remember a thread a weak or two ago mentioning it but didn't read it. I also feel like we're really limiting Nik by playing him as a center. I'm suprised no one's mentioned how he played yesterday. He seemed to feed off the energy while everyone else was rushing shots and playing scared. He was cutting to the hoop, moving the ball, and playing lights out D as a forward.

You're right, there were two players on the floor last night that looked like they wanted it and played smart basketball: Ronnie Steward and Nik Cventenivic. Everyone else seemed to fold under the pressure. Nikola is going to be one hell of a player by the time he's a senior.

[Zip Watcher]

The way Zeke was playing last night I would have put him in less than Dambrot did. He looked like a deer in the headlights. There were at least two possessions when he forced absolutely terrible shots instead of kicking it out and resetting the play. He played good defense against some of the teams we played earlier in the season with smaller players, but with Kents size and speed he got burned time and time again last night. When someone drives he lets them put up the shot and then relies on his timing to block it, then shakes his head while running back down the court because he missed again.

You're right, there were two players on the floor last night that looked like they wanted it and played smart basketball: Ronnie Steward and Nik Cventenivic. Everyone else seemed to fold under the pressure. Nikola is going to be one hell of a player by the time he's a senior.

I thought Zeke was solid last night. I'd put him as better than effective. His shots were some of the only ones we got inside, and the lack of inside effectiveness killed the Zips last night.As for Ronnie and Nik, I thought they both played pretty well, but overall, I thought Jimmy flat out brought it and wanted the win more than anyone.Nice game James.Go Zips!

[Blue & Gold]

I also very much appreciated Jimmy's game last night. He, once again, was our best player. He was aggressive all night. I also love Nik's passion. He wasn't intimidated @ all & I'm sure would have loved to play the entire 40-minutes had KD allowed it.And I don't mind Zeke's occassional bad shots. I'd much rather see some bad shots due to being overly agressive, or overly confident, as oppossed to looking like a deer in headlight, afraid to even touch the ball (ironically, much how Jimmy looked his first 3 years in blue & gold.) I thought Zeke played a pretty good game, especially considering Ken+'s senior-ladden lineup.