Watcher's View:: Dayton Postgame

[Zip Watcher]

Great early season basketball game tonight by our Zips and the Flyers. Not a win, but an entertaining look into what the team looks like and what we might expect against good D1 competition. Great to have it on TV. From what I saw in the in-game thread, I'm glad I muted the FSN guys and put on Frenchy.

So we're off! Another season of dreams is underway.

First off, the box score, as presented by StatSheet.Com

And with sincere apologies to Sergio Leone, my notes from the game ...

The Good:

1. Resiliency: It was a nice recovery to get back into the game (2x) when things appeared to be getting out of hand. I take this as a very good sign of the toughness of the club. They didn't finish the Flyers out, but the also fought to stay in it. For game 1 of the D1 slate, I think this was my key takeaway.
   
2. Nitro: 21 points on 15 shots in 28 minutes. Can we please stop calling the guy a bust? He's got a ways to go in demonstrate some consistency, but the guy played a nice game on the offensive end. For much of the first half, he was the only offense. Excellent game by Brett tonight.
   
3. Newcomers: I was very surprised to see Euton drop the redshirt, but not disappointed. You can see the guy knows the game, and gets himself in position to make plays, instead of counting on athleticism. This guy is a basketball player, and will help us this year. 2 for 2 on pop out threes. That's HUGE when you have a big going to work inside at the same time. Abreu was clutch also. Took good care of the ball for the most part against the press. Lost it a few times down the lane, but he seemed comfortable out there overall .. and enabled Steve to move over to the 2 spot, where he found his shot a bit.
   
4. Nik: Did not shoot well from the field tonight, but 11pts, 10 rebs & 7 assts is a stat stuffing night. He kept his composure and led the team in a lot of ways. He's not going to shoot 20% .. he just isn't. When he starts hitting a more normal rate, this guy will be a load .. especially opposite some other capable bigs. Nice game by Nik tonight.
   
5. Zeke changes everything: I'm really dying to see the +/- numbers from tonight, because my perception right now is that Zeke must have a pretty good + number. The feel I had was that it really altered things on both ends of the floor. His stats weren't overpowering, but he changed what Dayton did .. drew a double & triple team every time he had the ball, and did a pretty darn good job of passing out of those situations to an open shooter. If he masters that skill of sensing the double and waiting to the right moment to kick out .. our shooters will have open shots, and the number of threes the Zips hit tonight will be the norm. The Zips could very well become a "pick your poison" kind of problem for opposing coaches.
   
6. Team play on offense: The Zips assisted on 18 of 22 FG's and had only 7 Turnovers against a longer, more athletic team. Read that again. That's a great sign of the state of the offensive execution. The ball is being moved around to the open shooter. There weren't too many forced shots, and they did an adequate job of protecting the possessions.
   

The Bad:

1. They lost: There are no good losses. The Zips got close to a good D1 team on the road. Let them get out to a double digit halftime lead, fought back to lead by a possession or 2, and then gave it back at the end. This is an early season game, but I'm sure KD joins us in wanting to see the team grow to the point where they can sustain that run in the middle of the 2nd half and put Dayton away.
   
2. Scoring Droughts: CK warned about it today. Some may say jinxed the Zips .. but the droughts reared their ugly head again @ UD Arena. Frankly, with the 10 minutes or so they went without a FG in the first half, it should have been walkon time in the 2nd half. Nik's aggressiveness with the ball got him to the line, and that kept the Zips in it. If the Zips are to be successful in March, they have to find a way to get good looks when Zeke isn't in the game. They can't continue to have these stretches of no offense.
   
3. Rebounding: The rebound totals were 39-25. You don't need to look at the box score to see that UD had more. The Zips were manhandled on the boards at critical times in the game. Frenchy described a few of the offensive boards as weird spin outs or odd bounces, but for the most part they were due to bad positioning, and/or the Zips guy just not putting a body on the Flyer who eventually snared the board. Exception: in 10 minutes on the floor, Dakotah had 4 boards. That's as much as our 2 centers had in 33 minutes. The Zips can not get beat on the glass by 50% and expect to beat good D1 teams.
   

The Ugly:

1. Foul trouble for Zeke: Gotta keep the big guy on the floor. I can't help but hope the MAC officials call fewer of the bogus freshman ticky tack stuff. His 3rd foul was a joke. It's plain to see that he alters the game. Now the Zips need to find away to keep him on the floor for more than 19 minutes. He plays more in the first half, the deficit is probably half of what it was.
   
2. Nik survives first season ending injury of the 2010-11 campaign: I remember a practice 2 seasons ago where Nik stopped play rolling around on the floor, only to get back up and be on the court in 2 or 3 minutes. KD was furious at him. Good to see Nik bounce back from his first season ending injury of the year.
   
3. Bardo on a poster: Let's face it, The Old Spice Guy or George Clooney wouldn't look much better on the Chris Wright poster that's getting readied for sale in the UD bookstore in the morning, let alone Mike Bardo. Mike, you've got to put him on the floor in that situation. Does 2 things: keeps you off the marketing materials for UD sports, and maybe makes the guy a little slower to drive in on you.
   
4. Live & die by the 3 ball: I have no issue whatsoever with the Zips taking 36 3-balls last night. They made a bunch of them. My struggle with it is only when it starts to happen without any inside action whatsoever. Be it a dribble drive by Abreu (happened a few times) or a dump to a big guy .. the threes fall better off an inside out action. The scoring drought really took hold when there was no inside activity or success in penetrating to force the defense to address the paint. This team can shoot the rock and should shoot it .. but they need the inside out to have more open, higher percentage 3's.
   

... And a Few Comments More:

• Love the zone to man switch: French & Dunn made noise about Dayton being confused by the Zone look in the second half .. but I think they missed what KD was doing, and probably what caused UD the most trouble. The Zips have the habit of sitting in that zone for a portion of the shot clock and then quietly slipping back into man. UD never caught on. It's not something you can do all the time, but I expect to see more of it. I really like the look .. and if the Zips can pull it off without losing a man here or there, it should be pretty effective. It causes the opponent to run a different zone set offensively, but gets the Zips back into a man before the shot .. and it's always easier to rebound out of man than it is zone.
  
• Chris Wright: This guy killed the Zips. I think he might be the best player the Zips have faced under KD. I've not had a ton of time to think about it, but there's not been a guy in the MAC even close to this guy in the last 6 or 7 years. Maynor for VCU was pretty tough. Lots of athletes on URI last year .. but at the moment, Wright stands apart in my mind. I can see clearly how and why he's on the Wooden and Naismith watch lists.
  
• Team unity:In the ZTVsports post game video, a comment by KD stood out: "we get along." That was nice to see today. There didn't seem to be any conflict internally that was visible on the court. The guys seem to be on the same page. There weren't a bunch of TO's due to complete mis-communication, as we've seen in the past. I think this bodes well for the season.
  
• Can't wait to see more. My appetite for Zips hoops is officially whetted. This was a good competitive game. The offense is turned up from last year .. and now they need to get the D in line with KD's expectations. The potential is here for a really strong season, not just one waiting for the 4 horsemen to be able to join them.
  

That's what I got. There's probably more.

B) B)

Get 'em on Zips fans!

Go Zips!

View the full blog post here.

[johnnyzip84]

Excellent analysis, ZW! You covered the biggies but I have a few additional minor points.

Quincy Diggs – I believe he’ll be an asset this year against MAC-caliber opposition, but it was a difficult match-up for him last night. I’m not sure I want to see him taking too many 3s, but his drive and slash game doesn’t present many opportunities against a team like Dayton.

Brett McKnight – The “good” Brett might have been able to supply the inside scoring that was lacking for most of the game. But the “bad” Brett could also have disrupted the nice flow and ball distribution the Zips showed (for the most part). I might actually prefer the team as we saw it. THE TEAM CHEMISTRY issue should not be underestimated.

All in all, it was frustrating to lose another close one. But it’s hard for me to imagine the Zips NOT winning ONE of these higher-profile OOC games this year based on what we’ve witnessed so far.

Go Zips!!

[Quickzips]

My thoughts:

Dayton is a pretty good team. Last year that was the kind of team that the Zips were losing by double digits to. They are long, they are athletic, they drive the basketball relentlessly and they play pretty tight defense.

We are going to be watching Chris Wright in the NBA next season. Kid has a great all around game and is a joy to watch.

Zips did a nice job overall in managing Dayton's full court defense. They didn't necessarily press, but they did extend the defense to full court for most of the game. Despite this the Zips had very few turnovers and got quite a few assists. Handling that kind of defense has been a problem for the Zips in the past, but didn't hurt nearly as much tonight.

I still hate that we live and die so much by the three ball. I would kill, KILL for a guard who can break our opponents down off the dribble and finish in traffic or pass out to the open man. This team would be incredibly dangerous if we can find that kind of guard.

Individual player thoughts:

It was a tale of two halves for McNees. In the first he looked out of sync and his shot wasn't even close. In the second he got his shot going and looked a lot better. He seemed to tire a bit down the stretch, but he was out there a lot of minutes. I'm afraid that our lack of depth at the guard spots is going to wear him down some at times this year.

Daryl Roberts had a nice three early in the game, and a big three late to end the game, I have no idea what he contributed in the middle. After all this time Daryl is still an enigma to me. He's our best FT shooter, but he rarely tries to drive and draw contact to take advantage of that. He's shown a nice mid-range game at times, but rarely goes to it. I don't know if it is coaching or if it is just Daryl, but I always get the impression that we could get more out of his game than standing behind the 3 point line waiting for wide open looks.

Everyone who saw that kind of performance coming from Nitro please raise your hand. Got 'em up good and high? Good. Now all of you with your hands up have identified yourselves as either a member of the McClanahan family or a compulsive liar. Wow. Just Wow.

Nikola was up and down on the court. He had quite a few nice assists, and was single handedly responsible for keeping the game reasonably in hand in the first half by getting to the stripe (where btw, his form looked a lot better), but for some reason he has forgotten how to finish shots near the rim. I remember two years ago being so excited to have a guy who could finish shots around the rim. Now he just seems to slop the ball up there hoping to draw fouls every time. His defense was horrendous all night. I counted at least half a dozen times in the first half alone where he stubbornly refused to switch off when he got matched up with a guard on the perimeter, usually resulting in an easy bucket or a cheap foul for Dayton.

Zeke was effective when he was in there. Unfortunatly the fouls continue to be an issue for him. Our guards have to do a better job of stopping our opponents dribble penetration or this will continue to be a theme. On offense, his shot didn't look quite as good as it did against the D-III cupcakes, but it was lightyears ahead of last year. Need him to stay on the floor more.

Abreu played pretty well for a freshman. The game and the environment didn't seem to big for him. He was particularly effective on the pick and roll. I actually would have liked to see a little more of him in the second half as his ability to make the correct play off the pick and roll was a big part of getting us back in the game. Defense still needs some work.

Diggs was probably our worst man on the floor all night. Got called for one travel and could have had three or four more. Seemed tenative in taking open shots all night and his matador defense lead to an easy hoop just before the half for Dayton. He did have a couple of assists, but they were nothing special. Just handbacks to McNees who drained the long distance 3. On a night where we really could have used an athletic wing like him, he disappeared. Not a good sign.

I said it in another thread, KD will come to regret burning Egner's redshirt. He isn't ready to play at this level and it was painfully obvious last night. It must have been obvious to KD as well as I don't think Josh got on the floor at all in the second half.

Euton was a pleasent surprise. He played the pick and pop game to perfection, knocked down the open looks he got, was aggressive on the boards and even drew a nice foul on Dayton on a good strong post move. This is the freshman forward I'm looking forward to seeing this year.

After five years you would think KD would know by now that he can't play Mike Bardo that many minutes. I understand the foul trouble with Zeke, but we should have gone smaller in that situation. Playing Bardo anything more than 5-7 minute a game is a recipe for a Zips loss.

Everyone has to be thinking it by now, but I'll go ahead and say it. I've got a sneaking suspicion that those Zips fans who made the trip to the JAR for the Milliken game witnessed the last game of Brett McKnight's Zips career. Not playing last night, and KD burning Euton's redshirt tells me that something more is going on here than is being reported. I hope I'm wrong, and Brett can get whatever his issues are straightened out, but I don't feel good about this one.

Finally, I think KD got outcoached a little last night. The decision to go zone in the first half and stick to it for extended time was a poor one. The decision not to foul at the end of the game with Dayton struggling from the line was questionable. In the end, I don't think he did anything to cost us the game, but there are a lot of little things we could have done differently to put us in a better position to win.

I'm looking forward to seeing this team live for the first time Saturday night against YSU. See y'all at the JAR.

[Dr Z]

It was a tale of two halves for McNees. In the first he looked out of sync and his shot wasn't even close. In the second he got his shot going and looked a lot better. He seemed to tire a bit down the stretch, but he was out there a lot of minutes. I'm afraid that our lack of depth at the guard spots is going to wear him down some at times this year.

It's a shame Steve is a senior. The kind of team that he fits on will be next years Zips team more than likely. That turnover and foul of his in the back court with 4:32 left was the beginning of the end.

[GoZips]

It was a tale of two halves for McNees. In the first he looked out of sync and his shot wasn't even close. In the second he got his shot going and looked a lot better. He seemed to tire a bit down the stretch, but he was out there a lot of minutes. I'm afraid that our lack of depth at the guard spots is going to wear him down some at times this year.

It's a shame Steve is a senior. The kind of team that he fits on will be next years Zips team more than likely. That turnover and foul of his in the back court with 4:32 left was the beginning of the end.

I'm here to defend Steve. In the first half Steve launched a deep three ball that caught all air. Our

basket was the end full of Dayton students and band. They mercilessly chanted "airball" every time

Steve touched the ball. That has to be unnerving. That tended to intimidate Steve as it would nearly

any player.

I think a mistake was made late in the first half where Steve got a 30 second "blow". KD then put

Steve back in the game and yanked Abreu. I saw no reason to not rest Steve the rest of the half.

In the second half Steve had the composure to drill a nice three pointer; followed by a second one

in short order. It was not long before the chants of "airball" dried up. Good job Steve.

Late in the game I think Steve was out of gas. This is where KD has to trust Abreu and rest Steve

for a minute or two. Brian Gregory was far more effective rotating his players. Not good.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Everyone who saw that kind of performance coming from Nitro please raise your hand. Got 'em up good and high? Good. Now all of you with your hands up have identified yourselves as either a member of the McClanahan family or a compulsive liar. Wow. Just Wow.

Thank heavens for the ZN "Search" function. Hand is raised.

Big Year for Nitro

Can only hit 3's against the competition on the court

[GoZips]

Overall, Watcher's report is what we saw in Dayton. The Zips are a pretty darn good team.

I believe that had the Zips opened at home with a Mount Saint Mary's type team as Dayton had the

outcome of the Akron-Dayton game might have been reversed. Mt. Saint Mary's revealed tuning

problems for the Dayton coaching staff that playing Millipede never uncovered.

Reminds me how frantically Tressel bought a game against YSU when Akron was coming in with a

first game win under belt. Yes, yes, I know, the bought game was last minute and bought before

the Zips played Army. The point is that Tressel was concerned that his opponent was coming in with

actual game experience. Akron really, really needed a decent Div-1 home game before going to Dayton.

Brett McKnight was on the sideline in sweats. Please do not read more into his not playing than what

we actually know. That KD turned Dakota Euton loose pleased me a great deal. I generally dislike

redshirting. Especially with four outstanding new players coming in next year. Playing Euton now

was a pleasing uplift to the team.

Not pleased that Zeke was saddled with quick first half "ticky-tacky" fouls. The officials homered

Akron by deliberately taking out Akron's inside presence while Christ Wright and his cohorts were

allowed to muscle the zips without getting the same cheap fouls.

We should be pleased with Akron's overall performance. Dayton is a near Top 25 team. Akron

came into game rated about 150th. The Zips sure did not play like a 150th ranked team on the road.

[Zipmeister]

It was a tale of two halves for McNees. In the first he looked out of sync and his shot wasn't even close. In the second he got his shot going and looked a lot better. He seemed to tire a bit down the stretch, but he was out there a lot of minutes. I'm afraid that our lack of depth at the guard spots is going to wear him down some at times this year.

It's a shame Steve is a senior. The kind of team that he fits on will be next years Zips team more than likely. That turnover and foul of his in the back court with 4:32 left was the beginning of the end.

I'm here to defend Steve. In the first half Steve launched a deep three ball that caught all air. Our

basket was the end full of Dayton students and band. They mercilessly chanted "airball" every time

Steve touched the ball. That has to be unnerving. That tended to intimidate Steve as it would nearly

any player.

I think a mistake was made late in the first half where Steve got a 30 second "blow". KD then put

Steve back in the game and yanked Abreu. I saw no reason to not rest Steve the rest of the half.

In the second half Steve had the composure to drill a nice three pointer; followed by a second one

in short order. It was not long before the chants of "airball" dried up. Good job Steve.

Late in the game I think Steve was out of gas. This is where KD has to trust Abreu and rest Steve

for a minute or two. Brian Gregory was far more effective rotating his players. Not good.

I saw the rebroadcast of the game on TV and TV can't do justice to the noise level in their arena.

The "airball" taunts would certainly have an effect on most guys who play rec league basketball. They had NO EFFECT on Steve.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Brett McKnight was on the sideline in sweats. Please do not read more into his not playing than what

we actually know.

What we actually know is McKnight was suspended for 30 days. He didn't dress for a premier OOC game @ Dayton, although he was healthy, and his suspension was over. And, we know Euton fills a similar hole on the Zips squad - an interior big body with "instant offense" capability from the 3-point line.

If I'm Brett McKnight, I see the writing on the wall. Suck it up, or get used to reduced minutes... or no minutes... in 2010-11.

[BirdZip]

Brett McKnight was on the sideline in sweats. Please do not read more into his not playing than what

we actually know.

What we actually know is McKnight was suspended for 30 days. He didn't dress for a premier OOC game @ Dayton, although he was healthy, and his suspension was over. And, we know Euton fills a similar hole on the Zips squad - an interior big body with "instant offense" capability from the 3-point line.

If I'm Brett McKnight, I see the writing on the wall. Suck it up, or get used to reduced minutes... or no minutes... in 2010-11.

And I believe after the Millikin game, KD said Euton would redshirt because we already have a pick-and-pop guy in Brett. If one half of that statement changed, did the other?

[BirdZip]

Everyone who saw that kind of performance coming from Nitro please raise your hand. Got 'em up good and high? Good. Now all of you with your hands up have identified yourselves as either a member of the McClanahan family or a compulsive liar. Wow. Just Wow.

Thank heavens for the ZN "Search" function. Hand is raised.

Big Year for Nitro

Can only hit 3's against the competition on the court

CK, please pass the ketchup. My crow is a little dry. I'm not yet ready to crown McClanahan as the next Jimmy Conyers, but if he is, I'll gladly eat crow all year with a smile on my face. So far this year, McClanasaurus Rocks.

[Dave in Green]

I had previously said that I wasn't smart enough to predict whether or not Nitro could pull a Conyers-type surprise, but that he should be given a chance to prove himself instead of automatically writing him off based on the past two seasons.

As for Egner, this was a really tough game for him as a true freshman. He was going up against extremely long and athletic DI players after having played one exhibition and one game against DIII midgets. I think it opened his eyes, and that he's the kind of player who will work hard to correct his deficiencies as the season wears on. The Zips will need the qualities Egner brings to the game later in the season, and I think come tournament time we will be glad he didn't redshirt.

I continue to marvel at Euton. When he jumps, his feet barely leave the ground. Yet he positions himself so well that he manages to get a fair share of rebounds. He's not fast on his feet, but it looks like he hustles all the time to avoid being a liability. His outside shot form is unusual, but accuracy is what counts, and there's no doubt that he has great eyes. Euton has strong fundamentals, and it remains to be seen what a good physical conditioning program can do for his athleticism. I think by the end of the season we'll also be glad he didn't redshirt.

But we have to face reality here than none of the Zips are great all-around players. They all have strengths that will contribute to the team at different times in different areas, and they all have weaknesses that can be exploited by opponents. In some games we'll rave about some players' performances, and in some games we'll wonder why KD ever signed them. When you don't have complete players, there's safety in numbers in the sense that you can call on different players with different skills in different game situations. So I think not redshirting Egner and Euton makes sense.

Most important is how this group of players gels as a team. Last season's team chemistry was not the best for a variety of reasons. It's early this season, but team chemistry already looks better to me. I like the way this team plays together, and I think they like playing together. Team chemistry will play a big role in what this team can achieve this season.

[Quickzips]

It was a tale of two halves for McNees. In the first he looked out of sync and his shot wasn't even close. In the second he got his shot going and looked a lot better. He seemed to tire a bit down the stretch, but he was out there a lot of minutes. I'm afraid that our lack of depth at the guard spots is going to wear him down some at times this year.

It's a shame Steve is a senior. The kind of team that he fits on will be next years Zips team more than likely. That turnover and foul of his in the back court with 4:32 left was the beginning of the end.

Late in the game I think Steve was out of gas. This is where KD has to trust Abreu and rest Steve

for a minute or two. Brian Gregory was far more effective rotating his players. Not good.

Steve played 35 minutes last night. Roberts got 30 and Abreu, 13. I don't think that is a recipe for us winning. Steve has shown in the past that he can play a lot of minutes and still be effective, but I think having him out there closer to 28-30 minutes per game makes a lot more sense. We can't have Steve running on fumes at the end of the game all season. I know Abreu is young and un-polished, but we need to get him up closer to 18-20 minutes per game. I think he showed last night that the game isn't too big for him at this level.

[Captain Kangaroo]

BTW - Nice write up, ZW.

[Dr Z]

We can't have Steve running on fumes at the end of the game all season. I know Abreu is young and un-polished, but we need to get him up closer to 18-20 minutes per game. I think he showed last night that the game isn't too big for him at this level.

Agreed. On top of trying to dribble behind his back on the wrong side of half court is a recipe for disaster (see last night). I understand why KD calls Abreu slow, but he seems to be a good ball handler from the little I have seen in two games. Steve works so hard to get the ball to the front court, he needs help.

[GP1]

Team chemistry will play a big role in what this team can achieve this season.

Team chemistry is important. Shooting better than 36.7% from the field will be a better indicator of outcome. If they shoot at 50% against Dayton, they win. The little orange ball goes through the little orange ring..... It's a simple game.

[Quickzips]

Team chemistry will play a big role in what this team can achieve this season.

Team chemistry is important. Shooting better than 36.7% from the field will be a better indicator of outcome. If they shoot at 50% against Dayton, they win. The little orange ball goes through the little orange ring..... It's a simple game.

When you shot such a high percentage of your shots from 3 your shooting percentage is rarely going to get close to 50%. What is puzzling to me is that we actually shot better from 3 last night than we did overall. Tells me we need guys to work more on finishing around the rim.

[GP1]

Team chemistry will play a big role in what this team can achieve this season.

Team chemistry is important. Shooting better than 36.7% from the field will be a better indicator of outcome. If they shoot at 50% against Dayton, they win. The little orange ball goes through the little orange ring..... It's a simple game.

When you shot such a high percentage of your shots from 3 your shooting percentage is rarely going to get close to 50%. What is puzzling to me is that we actually shot better from 3 last night than we did overall. Tells me we need guys to work more on finishing around the rim.

Teams like UCONN and Kentucky should be taking a lot of three point shots because they have the type of player that plays at UCONN and Kentucky. I can't ever remember a time when the Zips shot lights out on a regular basis. It just isn't their game. They are a team that has to work hard and outsmart the other team to win.

Work the ball around and take (make) better percentage shots. It's a simple game.

[Dave in Green]

All other factors being equal, good team chemistry will lead to higher shooting percentages than bad team chemistry. All aspects of team play tend to improve when teammates work together in harmony.

[you am i]

All other factors being equal, good team chemistry will lead to higher shooting percentages than bad team chemistry. All aspects of team play tend to improve when teammates work together in harmony.

Ommmmmmm.

[GP1]

All other factors being equal, good team chemistry will lead to higher shooting percentages than bad team chemistry. All aspects of team play tend to improve when teammates work together in harmony.

How about if they just make shots without the harmony??? What are the other factors???

[Captain Kangaroo]

Brett McKnight was on the sideline in sweats. Please do not read more into his not playing than what

we actually know.

What we actually know is McKnight was suspended for 30 days. He didn't dress for a premier OOC game @ Dayton, although he was healthy, and his suspension was over. And, we know Euton fills a similar hole on the Zips squad - an interior big body with "instant offense" capability from the 3-point line.

If I'm Brett McKnight, I see the writing on the wall. Suck it up, or get used to reduced minutes... or no minutes... in 2010-11.

Per the PD, Brett McKnight has violated his double secret probation, and is now indefinitely suspended.

You're supposed to do this stuff when you're a Freshman, not a Senior.

How, oh how, will this affect team harmony and chemistry?

[Dr Z]

Per the PD, Brett McKnight has violated his double secret probation, and is now indefinitely suspended.

Source

The Akron Zips announced Wednesday that senior forward Brett McKnight has been suspended indefinitely by athletic director Tom Wistrcill for violation of athletic department policy. This comes on the heels of McKnight's recently completed 30-day suspension from the team for violation of team rules.

[Dave in Green]

All other factors being equal, good team chemistry will lead to higher shooting percentages than bad team chemistry. All aspects of team play tend to improve when teammates work together in harmony.

How about if they just make shots without the harmony??? What are the other factors???

Nothing esoteric here. Team Sports 101 starts with a definition of team: A group of people organized to work together. By definition, the better they work together, the better they are going to perform as a team. Effectively passing the ball around to try to find the open player with the highest percentage available shot would be an example of good basketball teamwork that would lead to higher team shooting percentages. Eventually, someone has to make the shot. That's individual play. Team chemistry is simply the sum of all interactions between individual players that affect team performance.

[Zipmeister]

All other factors being equal, good team chemistry will lead to higher shooting percentages than bad team chemistry. All aspects of team play tend to improve when teammates work together in harmony.

How about if they just make shots without the harmony??? What are the other factors???

Nothing esoteric here. Team Sports 101 starts with a definition of team: A group of people organized to work together. By definition, the better they work together, the better they are going to perform as a team. Effectively passing the ball around to try to find the open player with the highest percentage available shot would be an example of good basketball teamwork that would lead to higher team shooting percentages. Eventually, someone has to make the shot. That's individual play. Team chemistry is simply the sum of all interactions between individual players that affect team performance.

I don't understand.