Quickzips Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Four in a row in the championship game. Time to boost our record to 2-2. This is a really interesting matchup. The team that has been here before and knows what it is all about against the team that hasn't seen this level of success in a while and, like last years Akron squad is probably to young to know the difference. Needless to say, I think we were all hoping for a matchup against Miami, but the Redhawks stunk up the Q last night in one of the worst tournament semifinal "games" I think you will ever see. I don't think OU is unbeatable though. They've played two games that they pretty well had in hand from the opening tip. I want to see what happens to them when the Zips come out of the gate hitting shots and take an early lead. Needless to say, if this is a close game I think it favors the Zips. Akron has gotten used to winning close games this year while OU is 3-8 in games decided by 5 points or less. As for the individual matchups. The story of the week for OU has been Armon Bassett. The well traveled guard has put up huge numbers this week and is a virtual lock for the all tournament team regardless of tonights outcome. Bassett is a dual threat in that he can get to the rim and finish or he can step back and hit jumpers with almost unlimited range. He likes to drive to his right more than his left. Zips need to overplay him to his left. Make him drive the basketball to his weak side. DJ Cooper has been the story for OU for most of the season and was the landslide MAC freshman of the year. He has struggled this week though going 1-10 in two games at the Q with 4 points and a lot of early foul trouble. It looks like the key to beating him is to make him work early and often on the defensive end. Zips don't want to let him get into a rythm on offense. OU's only senior is Kenneth Van Kempen who apparently has decided that he is a jump shooter. He's been taking nothing but 12-15 foot jumpers all week and missing them with striking regularity. If I am KD I will give him those all day long. I'm not going to challenge those shots until he proves he can make a couple. Up front they also bring Reggie Kelly and DeVaughn Washington. Kelly is more of a traditional post up big. He didn't play much in the first matchup with the Zips, but put up 12 points and 20 rebounds including 11 offensive boards in the double overtime matchup at the JAR. Zips need to keep him from crashing the offensive glass. He isn't having a particularly good tournament either, but you can bet John Groce remembers that last matchup against the Zips and will look to him for a spark. Washington is kind of a JJ Hickson type of player. He rarely has a play called for him but gets a lot of points on runout dunks, putbacks and off of open feeds in the lane after his guards penetrate and draw the double team. He has been their second best player this week, but I think if the Zips can just keep a body on him and not let him run free in the lane they can keep him under control. The X factor for OU is probably Tommy Freeman. Freeman doesn't stand out on the court, but he is a very efficient 3 point shooter who can shoot a team out of the gym if he gets hot. This is where our defensive rotations really need to be crisp, because the penetrating ability of OU's guards can get Freeman a lot of open shots off of the drive and kick. Just like OU doesn't want to see Steve McNees heat up from 3, the Zips don't want to let Freeman get going out there. Asown Sayles is their defensive specialist and will probably see considerable playing time, but isn't much of an offensive threat. Ivo Baltic is more or less a warm body up front although he will make the occassional hustle play. He had a pretty nice offensive board against Can't that got OU another possession on Thursday night.On the other side of the ball, OU does a very nice job of mixing up their defenses. They will probably start out in a man to man, but they will switch to a 2-3 zone at times and they like to extend the defense to pressure the ball every now and then. They frustrated the hell out of Miami last night by double teaming Kenny Hayes at the top of the key. OU doesn't just show and retreat with a big guy, they look to trap out front. This will leave Akron's bigs open underneath for some easy baskets. Miami did a piss poor job of taking advantage of this last night. If the Zips are patient they can get some easy buckets out of this. Outside of Van Kempen they lack a lot of bulk up front, so they try to make up for it by not allowing the ball into the post. If we can get one of the McKnights or Cvetinovic the ball on the block I like our odds. The Zips should also try to exploit Freeman on the perimeter. They play him mostly at the 3 which would match him up against Conyers. Jimmy has posted two double doubles this year against him. He tries hard on defense, but Conyers is just a terrible matchup against him. Jimmy needs to stay aggressive and force OU to either double him or let him beat them. Prediction:Zips 66Bobkittens 59Zips Dancin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mes102 Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Freeman seems to pick up a lot of charges on players also..Nik and the rest of the team has to watch that when they penetrate to the hoop in my opinion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsfan13 Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Great analysis of the game. Does anyone know if tickets will be available in Akron at all today? I seem to remember them having tickets at the JAR early in the day last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Quickzips, excellent and accurate analysis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted March 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Word from Ohio is that Cooper is battling a knee injury that is accounting from some of his lack of production. Not surprising in the least with how skinny he is. I pointed out to some people last night during OU's warmup that his legs are skinny as a rail. You never want to see a talented player hurt like that, but if this is true it could certainly benefit the Zips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips88 Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Word from Ohio is that Cooper is battling a knee injury that is accounting from some of his lack of production. Not surprising in the least with how skinny he is. I pointed out to some people last night during OU's warmup that his legs are skinny as a rail. You never want to see a talented player hurt like that, but if this is true it could certainly benefit the Zips.Gives me some hope that he won't find his shot and go off on us like he did at the JAR. Rest that knee DJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootforRoo44 Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Great analysis of the game. Does anyone know if tickets will be available in Akron at all today? I seem to remember them having tickets at the JAR early in the day last year.free with a lottery ticket at the gate. If you get there early enough you can sit in a pretty good seat. (no where near the upper deck). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Not much to add to the great analysis, except to reinforce the warning not to overlook the Bobkitties' sleeper -- Tommy Freeman. How good is this skinny 6-5 forward who rarely gets noticed or mentioned?He's only the #3 D1 player in the country in effective field goal percentage (69.1%).He's only the #7 D1 player in the country in 3-point field goal percentage (46.9%).He's only the #11 D1 player in the country in clutch Roland rating.And he's only the #40 D1 player in the country in overall offensive rating.He's not an all-conference player. But he's very, very good at certain aspects of the game.Tommy Freeman on StatSheet.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 The key to this game is to eliminate the second-half scoring drought. We had a big one against WMU that let them back in, same with EMU. We had those games well in hand, and if we just hit a couple of shots instead of going through a 6 minute drought, no amount of superman-like heroics from the other team's best player would have been enough to even make us sweat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Happy this isn't Ken+. We don't have to change a thing coaching. Perfect for KD. This one will come down to hitting our threes. 5 or more we will win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyzip84 Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Heading up now and hoping the McKnights both play well, and I think they will. I have a feeling this could be a relatively high scoring game, by MAC standards. I look for a close game in the 70s. Let's Go Zips!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bUAkronG Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Heading up now and hoping the McKnights both play well, and I think they will. I have a feeling this could be a relatively high scoring game, by MAC standards. I look for a close game in the 70s. Let's Go Zips!!!here's hoping.. I took the over at 133.Heading up to the game shortly. Go Zippers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wally B Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Let's go Zips!!!!! Keep your heads and thus bodies in the game! Sweet redemption is at hand!Zips - 62Ohio - 60we never make anything easy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJGood Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 This one really scares me. This is probably the last team I wanted to face in the final, even less than those Portage County boys as they likely would have been overconfident to a degree and they don't have the outside gunner that OU does. This is the type of team (like our archrival) that gives us trouble. It is good, however, that we are playing them when it is three straight days with games. That should benefit the deeper team and the team that employs a more low tempo offense.I see it as a 50/50 game. I think Ohio has played better than us in this tournament but a lot of the intangibles (depth, experience, etc..) favor the Zips. Stay away from that dreaded scoring drought and play good defense guys! That's the key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmd9 Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Let's go Zips!!!!! Keep your heads and thus bodies in the game! Sweet redemption is at hand!Zips - 62Ohio - 60we never make anything easy can't get lucky 3 nights in a row hahaI think we might fall short after a 14pt lead, let Ohio back into the game....Zips - 57Ohio - 60another thing is I wonder what refs will show up...the ones we saw against EMU or better game called last night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bUAkronG Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Humpty came out limping in warmups and even left early to receive treatment. Hopefully he was just sore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipmeister Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 I feel a 14 point victory coming for the Zips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Happy this isn't Ken+. We don't have to change a thing coaching. Perfect for KD. This one will come down to hitting our threes. 5 or more we will win. Zips go 8 of THIRTY from three point land. I was wrong, we needed 9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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