Zips Live - KD comments last night

[zipboy]

I was able to catch most of the show last night. I won't get this right verbatum, but this is what I remember from KD's comments last night

When asked how does Akron go to the next level next year?

"Zeke needs to make a strong jump. We need to play through him and our margin of error increases. His attitude and work ethic are the best that it has ever been. He is a team guy. I will be very surprised if he does not take a major leap next year. He learned a lot about the game this year. He needs to get stronger and better conditioned and that will happen. We are going to build the program around him. We will still be good if he does not develop as quickly but not great" Note, he must have said 5 times Zeke is the key to going to the next level and seemed pretty upbeat on Zeke showing huge strides next season.

"We need to be more athletic on the wing next year. Losing Jimmy will be very tough."

"I never expect anything from freshmen. We like all of them. I expect 2 to play but sometimes the guy who I don't think will contribute early becomes the biggest contributor. If they come in and play at a high level, we will be even better but I don't count on it. That is why they are freshmen."

"We need to take a step back in order to move forward. Our defense needs to get better from the inside out. It wasn't as good this year as in the past. We will go back to the basics."

When asked about the MAC getting more teams in postseason and how to accomplish that

A 5 second pause of silence . . . "I don't have an answer. In 64 years, we have had it happen 6 times so obviously the right things are not being done (I am guessing 2 bids for the MAC 6 times in 64 years?) 15 years ago the MVC, MW, Horizon, none of those leagues were better than the MAC. Now they are. Schools have under invested in their basketball programs compared to those other conferences. Now you not only have to get to that level, but play catch up."

"Our fans help us win. We would like a big crowd for Wed. Green Bay is a good team, but we have had good teams in the past that people did not come out for, Dayton, Rhode Island, Nevada. We have to win those games and we haven't and I understand that. Our fans have been very good, not great, but good. This past weekend and the Can't game the support was unbelievable, we need people to come for all the games not just the big ones. Our players love playing in front of them and they help us win, they really do."

[Dave in Green]

That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Zeke's freshman season was a learning and growing year for him. Starting next season, Zeke becomes the focal point. Let's face it, no single player can defend against a 7-footer shooting the skyhook that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar pioneered. Zeke's skyhook has been improving all season, and looked really good at the Q. He needs to practice that shot 10,000 times before next season and perfect it. When teams throw 2 or 3 defenders at him to try to stop it, there will be open Zips players who have to knock down the open shots.

I really have my fingers crossed about the incoming freshmen. They're the X factor. You can never rely on freshmen contributing right away. But everything I see and read about the Zips' incoming freshmen makes me optimistic that the odds are good that one or more will surprise us.

I'm already excited about next season, and this one isn't even over yet!