Final ZipsLive show - KD's comments

[zipboy]

For those who missed it, here is the best that I can remember from Monday's show. I did not have a chance to post until now so hopefully I rememebered ok. Some interesting comments especially about a 4th player coming in. The radio feed went out when he was talking about a 4th guy coming so I hope that I heard right. Ianello's interview got caught off as the feed went out and I heard commericals for 10 minutes before they came back on the air. I hope this gets fixed for next year.

KD's comments

"We will bring a 4th player in, a guard. We have to have someone who can guard the perimeter. We have some personnel issues and decisions to make this offseason."

"I am not happy with 24 wins. We did not get where we wanted to go this year so it was disappointing. We are going to examine every area of the program this offseason. and get this fixed and get to where we want to be I have a good idea what needs to be done."

"I was most disappointed with our inability to guard the perimeter and on the ball defense. We also did not shoot consistently. Those are 2 things that went on in practice all season. We have to get better on offense and defense."

"Zeke will be a different player next year with 25 lbs. I expect him to make a big leap. By his junior year he will be an impact player. It will take a lot of hard work by him and a lot of coaching by us."

"Darryl Roberts is definitely fine for playing next year. His grades are fine, he has never been close to having a problem with that."

"We have to have the same mindset like the old Zips. The last 2 years we were so so at home. That will have to change beginning this offseason. We have to become dominant at home again. A great team needs to be unbeatable at home."

"This is not a major overhaul, just some tweaking. If we get the right guy in and change our mindset, we will be fine. We should be in the thick of it next year. We just have to do some fine tuning. We don't need to blow it up"

"The guys gave me all they had this year, we won a lot of close games more than in the past, where in a lot of close games. We just have to get better."

"We have a hole at the 3. We are going to try Brett McKnight there and really work on his conditioning this offseason. Nik will split time with Brett there and help us out on defense."

"We have to be tougher (must have said this 5 times). We need to have the right mindset. That will start now in the offseason."

"We rebuilt with 23 and 24 wins and an NCAA and CBI appearance."

"Doesn't the new guy look like Jim Carrey? I need to break him in."

My thoughts

As always, KD is a good interview. Dambrot always says what he thinks. He sounded upbeat but pretty intense even now. He made it a point of emphasis that the mindset needs to change and I felt a sense of urgency which hopefully filters down to everyone else. With a 4th guard coming in who he made it sound will get a lot of playing time, I guess that Sullivan is a transfer out. I am excited to see who this 4th guy is as he sounds like an impact guy. And it came across to me like adding one missing guy and the returning nucleus of the team changing a few things and we should be really good next year. Dambrot doesn't blow smoke and I had the impression that next year's team will be better than this year. I am more excited now than I was 2 weeks ago for next year.

I did hear about 5 minutes of Rob's interview until the feed went out. Nothing new, just more of a rah rah session and how pumped he was to get into camp.

[GoZips]

An excellent report, zipboy.

I believe that many of us are frustrated over a disappointing season. Now, 24-11 on the surface seems

like a successful year. But, was it? I think the expectations were a lot higher than a ticket to the CBI.

In another post some one was critical of being deleted for blaming KD for the "weak" season. Now, I

do not know if the person's post was deleted or not. I will say that KD must shoulder the responsibility

for the performance of his team. We all expect KD to right the ship. And, he will. Anyone who wants

to abandon ship, please feel free to do so. KD and the Zips will re-emerge stronger than ever.

All great teams struggle at points. We are no exception. Keep going in the right direction. Improve

the talent. Improve the schedule. Weed out the weak and the unproductive. For heaven's sake, and

ours, get a point guard.

No, I will NOT let go of this. I see people boasting that McNees had zero turnovers and think that is

a sign of great play. It is not. West Virginia's great point guard "Truck" Bryant averages nine

turnovers a game. Which PG do you want for the Zips?

I am a little surprised to read that KD thinks the perimeter defense was bad. Steve and Darryl defend

pretty darn well. Ronnie and Humpty get shuffled so darn much it is difficult to evaluate them.

At any rate, having six guards should have been a blessing. But, when three of them rarely see

the floor the talent is wasted. Perhaps a better floor rotation would help as much as fresh meat.

As for filling the three hole; it seems to me that Dakotah Euton is made to order. We will have to

live with some freshman mistakes. Overall, he reads like he is well suited for that slot.

Can Brett McKnight take the leadership? No comment. Just play solid and keep improving is all I

would ask of Brett.

Nicola is our bull in the china shop guy. I love it. Be strong. Play hard. In fact, all players should

play hard knowing that they will be getting a rest in 3-4 minutes. Deep, deep rotation. It works.

It also hides weaknesses that all players have.

Josh Egner at the power forward. A man on springs with great "hops". Will he get floor time?

KD has been extremely reluctant to turn freshmen loose. Which is odd since he built a great

team using a pack of freshmen. Names like Wood, Joyce, Dials, Middleton and Travis come to mind.

Turn them loose KD and enjoy the ride.

[Dr Z]

"Zeke will be a different player next year with 25 lbs. I expect him to make a big leap. By his junior year he will be an impact player. It will take a lot of hard work by him and a lot of coaching by us."

25 pounds. Wow, that will be a different player. I'll be happy if he adds 15. Thanks for posting all KD's comments ZB. I really like reading or listening to KD's comments because he is more honest and telling than most coaches. Probably too much, but great for us fans. I pretty much agree with both ZB & GZ. I love the fact that GZ won't let the PG thing go, saves me some typing.

[Captain Kangaroo]

At any rate, having six guards should have been a blessing. But, when three of them rarely see

the floor the talent is wasted.

Or, the talent was overestimated.

[Zippysgotagun]

A few points of contention with me:

I see people boasting that McNees had zero turnovers and think that is

a sign of great play. It is not. West Virginia's great point guard "Truck" Bryant averages nine

turnovers a game. Which PG do you want for the Zips?

I'd rather have a point guard that doesn't give the ball to the other team. Give away the ball 9 times a game, and it gives your opponent up to 27 points that they might not have had. You can't expect to win when you give away possessions.

As for filling the three hole; it seems to me that Dakotah Euton is made to order. We will have to

live with some freshman mistakes. Overall, he reads like he is well suited for that slot.

The 3 spot needs to be someone more mobile than what I've read Euton is.

all players should

play hard knowing that they will be getting a rest in 3-4 minutes. Deep, deep rotation. It works.

It also hides weaknesses that all players have.

Personally, this is my biggest beef with KD. When you're subbing your entire lineup for the entire game like he does, there is zero sense of rhythm and comfort. He puts people on such a short leash, they get so nervous to make one mistake that they know they'll be sitting down for, and the whole team plays scared. It drives me absolutely bonkers, and I don't think it does work.

Josh Egner at the power forward. A man on springs with great "hops". Will he get floor time?

If a top 50 recruit gets 16 minutes a game this year, and Egner (though he may be very good) gets more than that next year, something is seriously wrong. This is my other major beef with KD this year. Everyone in the whole conference knows that only one team is getting into the Tournament. Zeke was recruited by several top-tier BCS schools (Most notably Pitt). During the regular season, the only reason he should have been on the bench was if he was tired. How valuable would all of that experience have been in "Crunch Time" of the MAC tourney (not that I think he did poorly then...he played great, but imagine how he could have played with more PT during the regular season)? Playing him so little also will probably make it difficult to sign big names in the future. If I had the choice to get 16 minutes a game at Akron and 10 a game at a BCS school...I'd take the BCS gig.

FWIW, I don't disagree about wanting to see a lot of Egner next year, I just think we should have seen more Zeke this year.

[zip37]

Zippy gun-- Don't know about your work experience-- but when I served my 3 months probationary period, I was on a 'short leash' and errors were counted, documented and reviewed-- too many errors and I would have been out the door.

[zippyman23]

No, I will NOT let go of this. I see people boasting that McNees had zero turnovers and think that is

a sign of great play. It is not. West Virginia's great point guard "Truck" Bryant averages nine

turnovers a game. Which PG do you want for the Zips?

Truck only averages two turnovers a game. If he averaged nine, he wouldn't be playing.

[Quickzips]

The most interesting thing there to me is the idea of bringing in a guard as a 4th recruit. This to me says either one of two things. Either we are going to be counting on a guard to walk on and provide a major impact on the defensive end of the floor or we are going to see two guys currently with the program transfer out and will bring in a JUCO/Transfer/Late Signing. From the sounds of it, I would think it would be the latter. If we were just talking about a walk-on I wouldn't think KD would be talking about him as a 4th recruit. The two obvious choices for transfer outs would have to be Sullivan and Swiech as both are on scholarship but neither has any reasonable prospect of playing time. Part of me wonders if this isn't such an obvious situation though. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if someone surprising didn't end up leaving the program. I really wonder if it could end up being a guy like Humpty. Especially if we are talking about bringing in another guard.

As for who the mystery 4th guard comes from, looking over the list of guys we had offered who are still unsigned:

Kofi Mensa - 6'4" 170lb - SG - Native of Toronto Canada, Currently at Mountain State Academy in Bekley WV. Described as an athletically gifted guard who is new to the game. Averaged 20 points per game as a sophmore. ESPN gave him a 90 on their super-de-duper scientific grading scale.

Dominique Brooks - 6'2" 185lb - PG - Currently at God's Academy in Dallas Texas. Plenty of offers from midmajor programs including EKU, Hawaii, Houston, Buffalo and North Texas. Some reports out that he has verballed to Miami(FL) but the major recruiting services all still list him as uncommitted. Originally from Seattle. Grades were an issue out of high school and sent him to prep school in Texas.

Adrian Rodgers - 6'3" 195lb - SG - Roswell Georgia's Centenial High School. Not a whole lot of other information on him, although ESPN gave him an 85 on their super-de-duper scientific grading scale.

Out of those I think Mensa fits the profile of what we are looking for best.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I hope the 4th guard is a JUCO. I can't see a Freshman guard, who hasn't signed with anyone even though Signing Day is long since passed, coming in and making the impact we need.

It can't be a transfer, because he wouldn't be eligible until 2011-12.

[zippy5]

My favorite part, along with GP1's too, I'm sure... "we rebuilt."

I had a bad feeling about the direction of this team 2 weeks ago, but now I think KD is ready to take them to the next level.

[doublezip]

Good stuff Zipboy. I do love that KD tells it like it is and doesn't give you the typical coachspeak. A couple thoughts on this stuff:

If KD plans on giving this fourth player a lot of minutes, that really sounds like a JUCO transfer to me.

If he plans on playing Brett and Nik at the 3, then he clearly expects one or two of Egner, Green or Euton to play the 4. If we have Nik at the 3, another 6'7-6'8 guy at the 4, Zeke in the middle and Nitro or another big guard at the 2 that is a big lineup.

I love the name Kofi Mensa!

I am a little concerned about the "personnel issues" comment. Clearly, 2 guys are gonna be gone next year. Sweich and Sullivan seem like the most likely candidates, but that comment makes me concerned it could be one of the rotation guys?

It was a decent season, but we never won a game we weren't supposed to win. Hopefully, KD can retool things a little and the program takes a big step forward next year.

[Zip Watcher]

I hope the 4th guard is a JUCO. I can't see a Freshman guard, who hasn't signed with anyone even though Signing Day is long since passed, coming in and making the impact we need.

It can't be a transfer, because he wouldn't be eligible until 2011-12.

That would seem to make the most sense. However, it probably would need to happen in concert with a current contributing guard departing. KD's reluctance to take on transfers, especially JUCO has more to do with a desire to not "recruit over the top" of incoming freshman and established players than it does with JUCO's being academic or social risks.

It's a slippery slope to raise your high school recruiting profile the way the staff has done, and then go out and pull in a JUCO to play right away. It may have the immediate impact of dropping the quality of the HS players considering the Zips back a notch. Not a risk to take lightly.

Go Zips!

[Quickzips]

The more I think about this mystery recruit Mensa makes a good deal of sense to me. Although he is just coming out of High School, he is originally out of Canada. Much like 2011 Zips PG recruit Dylan Ennis, that means he would be coming to the Zips a few years older than the typical freshman. His body is going to be more college ready than some 17-18 year old American kid fresh out of high school and hence KD would have an easier time justifying working him into the rotation right away.

If we are looking at JUCO's one name that keeps popping up for me is Kendall Durant, a 6'3" 185lb PG from Weatherford Community College. He has been through Prep School and now Junior College and originally committed to Virginia Tech before failing to qualify academically. Coming out of high school all the major services had him as a 3 star. He is also a cousin of Oklahoma City Thunder Superstar Kevin Durant.

[Zip Watcher]

If he plans on playing Brett and Nik at the 3, then he clearly expects one or two of Egner, Green or Euton to play the 4. If we have Nik at the 3, another 6'7-6'8 guy at the 4, Zeke in the middle and Nitro or another big guard at the 2 that is a big lineup.

If I were a coach, and I'm most certainly not .. the personnel of this team would lead me to push Nik into the 3 spot defensively, but keep him at the 4 on offense. When Nik's face up jumper is consistently 40%+ from 17' then he's a 3 in my mind, and you go big that way. Nik appears to me to be the most likely to fill Jimmy's role next year. He's shown the ability to guard well, even at the perimeter, in stretches. Last season at the Q he did a good job on Bramos, and he generally does well to keep people in front of him. Quickness is not an issue in considering Nik at the 3. Stretching the defense on offense is a consideration.

That brings me to the strategy I'd employ if Euton is ready to play, and even if he's not I guess:

You run Zeke out there at the 5, with someone backing him up (not Nik).

You play Nik and one other guy at the 3 and 4. Based only on returning players, that other guy is Brett McKnight. In this scenario, Brett is the 3 on offense and 4 on defense, and vice versa for Nik. You get Brett's slightly better stretchability on outside, but don't need him to transform into Nate Linehart on defense. He's been rebounding better, so you keep him a bit closer to the rim on defense.

This would allow you to mix in Dakotah in much the same fashion. All reports about the guy is that he's a big kid that can both stretch the D with his shooting as well as score inside pretty well. Defensively, however the stories you can find on the web indicate he's an above average *post defender* .. and at 6'-8" that makes sense. There's many stories out there about Euton holding his own in top-flight AAU against bigs, including CBus Northland's Sullinger. So with Euton, you'd have the option of sliding him back down to the 4 (or even the 5, with Zeke chasing a quicker 4), while using him to stretch the D on offense in the 3 hole.

I don't have specific thoughts on Green & Egner, I realize this smoke blowing is based entirely on Euton as the added player. 2 guys are going to be added to the rotation, and Nik isn't going to play 40 minutes.

In the frontcourt, I kindof believe that Nik is the key to the Zips making a big leap forward. He did struggle offensively late in the year, I saw that too. But it didn't seem to affect his commitment and intensity on defense much. He's got a huge upside that we've yet to see.

Zeke will improve by a big stretch next year .. I'm confident of that. But if we can get another guy going to fill Jimmy's role and at the same time use the rotations to add another shooter at the perimeter and keep the size advantage .. THEN we'll be cooking with gas.

B) B)

[Dr Z]

I hope the 4th guard is a JUCO.

That would seem to make the most sense.

Please be a JUCO point guard, please be a JUCO point guard.

[zippy5]

We dont need a PG as much as we need a straight up baller. We need that guy that wants to be a ball hog and take it to the rack. Pardon me for saying it, but a Can't type player. PG is really the least of my worries. If they bring in a slasher that can take it to the hoop, we're in a great spot. To me, thats what we've been missing, and what we need.

[Zip Watcher]

Anyone see Crawford last night for Xavier? Slasher / scorer from the off guard spot would be a big add to this roster.

[Blue & Gold]

In the frontcourt, I kindof believe that Nik is the key to the Zips making a big leap forward. He did struggle offensively late in the year, I saw that too. But it didn't seem to affect his commitment and intensity on defense much. He's got a huge upside that we've yet to see.

I like Nik's attitude. Even when he was struggling on offense it didn't seem to effect his confidence level at all. He's a warrior. He never shied away from the ball & always kept bringing looking for his shot & making moves to the rim.

[Blue & Gold]

I hope the 4th guard is a JUCO.

That would seem to make the most sense.

Please be a JUCO point guard, please be a JUCO point guard.

I can't analyze ball as well as some on the board, but I'm really hoping for a JUCO shooting guard rather than a PG. I really like Humpty's potential. Humpty's best when he's allowed to play fast. Seeing him in high school, he's lightning quick & is best when he's running the fast break & pushing tempo. He also used to have an absolutely killer stop & pop from 15'. He's gotta find that shot again. It was impossible to stop. He'd be coming down the floor @ 100 mph and stop on a dime @ the free throw line & bury the J.

Idk, I guess I wanna see KD turn Humpty & Ronnie (also a very fast player) loose next year. I think both are used better on the breakout rather than walking the ball up for a half-court set; they're so fast & their lack of height was a hinderance when they tried to get the ball down low in the half court set. If we're just gonna walk the ball up the court, let's just let Nik bring the ball up the court (only half-joking). I think both Humpty & Ronnie also have the ability to break the defense down with dribble-drives into the lane. I just didn't see much of that this year.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Anyone see Crawford last night for Xavier? Slasher / scorer from the off guard spot would be a big add to this roster.

If he wanted to transfer, I'd take him.

X vs. Kansas State: One of the best college basketball games I've ever watched.

[Blue & Gold]

Anyone see Crawford last night for Xavier? Slasher / scorer from the off guard spot would be a big add to this roster.

If he wanted to transfer, I'd take him.

X vs. Kansas State: One of the best college basketball games I've ever watched.

+1. Both teams nailing clutch shot, after clutch shot, after clutch shot...

[meatwad]

Anyone see Crawford last night for Xavier? Slasher / scorer from the off guard spot would be a big add to this roster.

If he wanted to transfer, I'd take him.

X vs. Kansas State: One of the best college basketball games I've ever watched.

+1

Even though it might have killed my chances at a couple hundred bucks

[Zip Watcher]

Anyone see Crawford last night for Xavier? Slasher / scorer from the off guard spot would be a big add to this roster.

If he wanted to transfer, I'd take him.

X vs. Kansas State: One of the best college basketball games I've ever watched.

+1

I've never seen as many clutch bombs from way outside go down as last night. It looked for a moment that I might have a midmajor playing to go to the Final 4 for me on Friday wearing the home whites.

I thought X kindof let it get away late. There was a possession with more than 30 seconds left I think where they were down only 2 and they jacked up some off balanced stuff that didn't go, while the easy bucket was available in the paint.

Great game.

[tpsjugglerdude]

Steve Swiech is NOT leaving. He is not the type of person who would transfer out just for playing time.

I would say Alex Sullivan is a good guess. The other I am going to say is Humpty. Both players got suspended this year. Humpty doesn't always get along with KD and throws fits. It will be one of these two.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Steve Swiech is NOT leaving. He is not the type of person who would transfer out just for playing time.

I would say Alex Sullivan is a good guess. The other I am going to say is Humpty. Both players got suspended this year. Humpty doesn't always get along with KD and throws fits. It will be one of these two.

Sound theory.