Holiday Cupcakes

[Quickzips]

Well, it is the middle of the basketball season now and we have gone about 3 full days without a post on here. I suppose it is time to move on from the rollercoaster ride that was the Holiday Hoops Classic in Vegas. Unfortunatly that means discussing a SERIOUS cupcake of an OOC opponent. Pine Bluff sits at 0-11 right now and hasn't played a home game all season. Most of their games aren't all that close (though they did surprisingly well in a 4 point loss to Auburn a few weeks ago). Anybody who can figure out their roster and rotations for me should get a Noble Prize as they have 12 players averaging double digit minutes, but only 4 players have seen action in all 11 games while one other has seen action in 10 of 11 games. They are lead by a pair of guards who score 11 points per game each in Salavance Townsend and Allen Smith. Smith is their long range gunner ala Steve McNees having taken 75 of his 108 shot attempts on the season from behind the arch. He hits them at a decent 37% clip. The Zips will have to make sure he doesn't heat up too much. Their only size to speak of comes in senior forward Dominic Moore who is listed at 6'10" and plays 23 minutes per night. Moore is neither a scorer (4 points per game) a rebounder (4 boards per game) or a shot blocker (.5 blocks per game). Their other "big guy" is 6'6", 250lb junior Terrell Kennedy who manages better than 8 points and 4 boards per game. This is a matchup where the Zips ought to be able to hammer the Golden Lions in the paint. Pine Bluff is particularly horrible on the boards where they are 341st in the nation at 28 rebounds per game. They also have a bad tendency to turn the ball over (18 per game). Other areas where the Golden Lions are particularly bad include FG% (36% as a team), FT% (60%) and blocks (18 through 11 games). This is a game the Zips should win quite handily if they show up at all motivated.

[skip-zip]

When I first saw "Holiday Cupcakes" I thought it was going to be another thread about the majority of the teams on OSWho's football schedule.

I would not have been worried about this game at all if it wasn't for what I personally witnessed about a week ago against Bethune-Cookman. The scary thing is that we just have no idea how this team is going to play from game to game, and I had hoped that these two games WOULD have been practice games. And this UAPB team is going to be athletic, which can create problems for us Fortunately for us, we just added a guy to the rotation that this team has relied upon many times in the past to pick up the load offensively. And if the Miami-Fla. game is any indication, maybe we'll have to worry a lot less now about scoring droughts.

With that said, I'll say the same thing I said before the Bethune game....if we don't win by 30, I'll be disappointed.

[GoZips]

With that said, I'll say the same thing I said before the Bethune game....if we don't win by 30, I'll be disappointed.

I am not concerned about winning by 30 or even ten. Win is a must. That said, the more important

aspects are minutes for Alex at the point, working the rotation so that Diggs, Egner and McKnight

get double digit time each.

Depth and a solid point guard are primo.

Decent officiating that allows our "bigs" to play would also be a blessing.

[The Hip Zip]

Pine Bluff also came in here last year winless and we were very fortunate to escape with a two or three point victory. That was the game when Humpty lost control and came very close to starting a major brawl. They have played a decent schedule and, after last years troubled visit, I am sure that they will come in highly motivated. To overlook UAPB would be a major mistake.

I predict a much closer game than some of you might expect.

[you am i]

Based on their performance so far, this team cannot afford to take any D1 team on the schedule lightly. We are not that good.

[Dave in Green]

I am not concerned about winning by 30 or even ten. Win is a must. That said, the more important

aspects are minutes for Alex at the point, working the rotation so that Diggs, Egner and McKnight

get double digit time each.

Depth and a solid point guard are primo.

Decent officiating that allows our "bigs" to play would also be a blessing.

Absolutely agree about working the rotation for depth and continuing to adjust to having a real PG.

On the officiating, there's nothing that can be done about it. There's good, fair and poor officiating. It's luck of the draw. What I would really like to see is the Zips adjust to the level of officiating rather than trying to fight it. If the refs are calling tiny touch fouls, back off and don't make tiny touches.

Most of all, under no circumstances ever give tiny touches to opponents driving to the rim, allowing them to score and go to the line for the and one. Either foul them hard enough to cause them to miss the shot without being so hard as to get a flagrant, or admit you got beat and give them the bucket without the plus one.

In other words, play smart.

[RootforRoo44]

Another good preview QuickZips.

Also, I think bad officiating or not, this one should be one we win EASILY. This isn't the same Pine Bluff team that also started 0-11 last year and made it to the NCAA tourney by winning 18 of 21 down the stretch. They have been clobbered in 10 of their 11 games with their lone competitive game the one against Auburn. Let's not forget that Auburn is not very good, actually they are near the bottom of the RPI rankings (#331). In that game they actually allowed the Tigers to score 11 straight points to close out the game and blow the lead.

So let's play deep, work the ball to Zeke a lot, and let's see Egner jump over some people for some big slams.

ASN Preview of APB

[skip-zip]

I am not concerned about winning by 30 or even ten. Win is a must. That said, the more important

aspects are minutes for Alex at the point, working the rotation so that Diggs, Egner and McKnight

get double digit time each.

Depth and a solid point guard are primo.

Decent officiating that allows our "bigs" to play would also be a blessing.

Absolutely agree about working the rotation for depth and continuing to adjust to having a real PG.

On the officiating, there's nothing that can be done about it. There's good, fair and poor officiating. It's luck of the draw. What I would really like to see is the Zips adjust to the level of officiating rather than trying to fight it. If the refs are calling tiny touch fouls, back off and don't make tiny touches.

Most of all, under no circumstances ever give tiny touches to opponents driving to the rim, allowing them to score and go to the line for the and one. Either foul them hard enough to cause them to miss the shot without being so hard as to get a flagrant, or admit you got beat and give them the bucket without the plus one.

In other words, play smart.

Dave, Good point about the officiating.

Coaches and players normally aren't as frustrated as fans about bad officiating, as much as they are concerned about a pattern of inconsistent officiating during the course of a game. If the officials are calling everything, you adjust. If they are calling nothing, you adjust to that too.

But when I am at a Zips game, I still complain about a lot of calls against us, even when I think it might have been a good call. I can't help it.

[Quickzips]

I am not concerned about winning by 30 or even ten. Win is a must. That said, the more important

aspects are minutes for Alex at the point, working the rotation so that Diggs, Egner and McKnight

get double digit time each.

Depth and a solid point guard are primo.

Decent officiating that allows our "bigs" to play would also be a blessing.

Absolutely agree about working the rotation for depth and continuing to adjust to having a real PG.

On the officiating, there's nothing that can be done about it. There's good, fair and poor officiating. It's luck of the draw. What I would really like to see is the Zips adjust to the level of officiating rather than trying to fight it. If the refs are calling tiny touch fouls, back off and don't make tiny touches.

Most of all, under no circumstances ever give tiny touches to opponents driving to the rim, allowing them to score and go to the line for the and one. Either foul them hard enough to cause them to miss the shot without being so hard as to get a flagrant, or admit you got beat and give them the bucket without the plus one.

In other words, play smart.

Dave, Good point about the officiating.

Coaches and players normally aren't as frustrated as fans about bad officiating, as much as they are concerned about a pattern of inconsistent officiating during the course of a game. If the officials are calling everything, you adjust. If they are calling nothing, you adjust to that too.

But when I am at a Zips game, I still complain about a lot of calls against us, even when I think it might have been a good call. I can't help it.

Agreed, the most frustrating thing to deal with is inconsistent officiating. I can live with a lot of ticky-tack touch fouls (although I admit to hating games that turn into free throw contests) and I can live with a crew that stays out of the limelight and lets the teams play even if things are getting rather physical so long as the calls are consistent both ways. The most frustrating thing to deal with is ticky-tack fouls being called/muggings not being called on one team but not the other or during certain times in the game but not others.

[GJGood]

Since I cannot attend in person, anybody know of any video tonight ?

[MDZip]

Abreu looking good early. Two threes, a steal, an assist and good defense causing a turnover. Zips up 13-6. Zeke also with a nice dunk off a good feed.

[Quickzips]

50-36 good guys at the half. Zips got out and started running towards the end of the half and Pine Bluff was left wondering what hit them. Zips look very good pushing the ball and looking for early offense right now. Lot of good things going on for the Zips that half from Abreu breaking down the defense, to Diggs pushing it on the break, McClanahan knocking down the long jumper and Zeke crashing the boards hard. Can the Zips make skip-zip happy and pull off the 30 point blowout tonight?

[Quickzips]

Zips up by 29 with just under 5 to play and Oldham is in the game. Can't complain at all about the Zips performance tonight. This is a team that they should have slaughtered and they have. I'd list all the guys having big nights, but it is pretty much the whole team right now. Diggs and Abreu have been particularly impressive.

[Hilltopper]

Mmmm... I love cupcakes!

[akzipper]

Mmmm... I love cupcakes!

too bad we are actually a cupcake

[RootforRoo44]

They really looked good tonight.

Abreu was particularly impressive, he played great defense and he DOMINATED the guy he guarded.

AWESOME alley oop dunk by Diggs as well.

[Dave in Green]

too bad we are actually a cupcake

Except for the few very best at the top of the food chain, everyone is someone else's cupcake.

[Dave in Green]

The Zips just took care of business against APB. They were so methodical in taking advantage of APBs weanesses that I couldn't even get motivated to yell at the refs when they made a couple of bad calls toward the end of the game when there was no doubt about the outcome. Also, I didn't want to yell at the refs after they mostly allowed the two teams to play and weren't constantly blowing their whistles on minor touch fouls. It made the game much more enjoyable to watch than some of the officiating disasters we've seen at the JAR.

I spent most of the game focusing on Abreu and Diggs, and they continue to show me more each game. Abreu has amazingly quick hands to poke the ball away. But after a steal he is almost always run down from behind by a defender before he can get to the basket. That's what KD meant when he commented earlier about Abreu not being very fast. But that's in a straight line. When he brings the ball upcourt, Abreu changes direction and speeds up and slows down so quickly that defenders have a hard time staying with him. And his passing continues to get more amazing as he and his teammates get more in synch. His ability to drive for the basket and then kick the ball out to the far corners of the court is something Zips fans haven't seen in many years.

Diggs is playing better defense game after game, which is earning him more PT. He's also more under control on offense even though he's always going at full speed. It seems the second he gets his hands on a loose ball that he's charging upcourt on the fast break. In the second half I commented that his ball handling appeared to be good enough to be a backup PG. Toward the end of the game when the deep bench was on the floor, KD kept Diggs in as the PG, and he did a nice job of bringing the ball upcourt and triggering the offense. But there's no question that Diggs' biggest single asset is his amazing ability to drive into a crowded lane, avoid all the defenders and somehow get the ball into the bucket. It's so nice to see a Zips player on the giving end of these kind of plays instead of watching athletic opponents posterize the Zips like that.

It was clear that the Zips are a much different team with Abreu and Diggs on the floor. They become much more aggressive and attacking on offense. When they are both on the bench, the Zips slowed down and APB started creeping back into the game. Especially when Abreu is not at the point, the Zips offense has more trouble breaking down the opponent's defense.

I'd say that none of the other players had a particularly great or awful game. Everyone did a good job of contributing to this expected win. I had hoped to see more of Euton and Egner. But Euton was way off on his only 3-point attempt, and Egner earned KD's wrath by missing a couple of assigments. So the learning process continues for those two, and McKnight's return continues to look better and better for the team.

[Quickzips]

Morning after thoughts here.

Loved seeing the Zips extend the defense to full court and get out and run more. With guys like Abreu and Diggs ability to get up and down the floor and the 3 point shooters we have on this team we can be a very deadly transition team. I hope KD is starting to realize it and that we see more of that is we move into conference play.

Very welcome sight to see the Zips manhandle an inferior opponent. Particularly after the Bethune debacle. With the exception of a brief period in the middle of the first half Pine Bluff was never really in the game. We need that kind of mentality every time we go against the cupcakes. Can't get lulled into playing down to the level of your competion.

If you are a Zips basketball fan I don't see how you can NOT be excited about the teams prospects in the coming years with Abreu running the offense. He is such a natural PG out there on the floor. Humpty's name keeps coming up in comparison to him, because of their size and position, but there really is no comparison. Where Hump would drive to the basket, get himself in too deep and either throw up a wild shot that had no chance of going in or simply turn the ball over, Alex attacks the basket, but stays under control and makes the correct play 9 times out of 10. Thinking about what this team is going to look like at the end of the season when guys are fully used to the kinds of looks he can set them up with makes me salivate. If I'm KD I want him and Zeke in the gym as much as possible working on pick and roll situations. With Alex's effortless ability to get to the rim and Zeke's length and athletic ability there isn't a team out there that could stop them on the pick and roll.

Quincy Diggs just continues to get better. I love what he brings to the Zips in the open floor, and his defense has improved seemingly every game. Not only that but he is fully capable of knocking down the long range three. When you have a guy who can get to the rim and finish that can also knock down the 3 that is a guy who is a VERY difficult matchup for your opponents.

I thought Zeke had a pretty good game. He only gave up one silly foul when he got a little too aggressive going over the back to try and knock away an entry pass. By that point in time the game was already decided anyways. We didn't try to force feed him the ball like we were earlier in the year, but he was still pretty effective on offense and he was attacking the boards a lot better.

The two senior guards disappeared for the most part last night, but they really weren't needed. Not as worried about Roberts who has put together an otherwise solid season. Still concerned about McNees who is clearly struggling to adapt to the Abreu run offense.

Nitro had one of his better games in recent weeks, leading the team in scoring and playing pretty good defense as well. I would still like to see him attack the basket a little more and work some more in the mid-range game. He's shown some ability there, but like many of our guards he settles for camping out behind the 3 point line waiting for his shot too often.

Nik seemed to be on the verge of a meltdown all game long. He still had a pretty effective game, but I felt like he was right on that edge a couple times. He's had a much better year this year, but he still scares me. You just never know where the kid's head is going to be from night to night.

McKnight seems to be settling into the bench scoring role rather nicely. I hope that KD sticks with him there. I rather like our starting lineup, and brining him, Daryl and Quincy off the bench is a big advantage for us. He showed some veteran presence in the second half by patiently backing his man down and drawing the foul to get to the line. Glad to see he's come back and been able to make some decent contributions to this team.

Bardo played, to me the ideal game for his ability. 5-8 minutes, a couple rebounds, eating up space inside, heck he even got his obligatory highlight real block for the season. All we need him for is a few minutes a game to spell Zeke and Nik a little bit. With McKnight back and the emergence of Quincy and Alex we can finally put him back into that role instead of asking him to play 15-20 minutes a night.

Euton and Egner were pretty well non-factors. Josh had a few silly fouls and a dumb turnover. Dakotah bricked his only 3 point attempt badly. God I wish we had McKnight at the start of the year so we could have redshirted one of these guys.

[skip-zip]

50-36 good guys at the half. Zips got out and started running towards the end of the half and Pine Bluff was left wondering what hit them. Zips look very good pushing the ball and looking for early offense right now. Lot of good things going on for the Zips that half from Abreu breaking down the defense, to Diggs pushing it on the break, McClanahan knocking down the long jumper and Zeke crashing the boards hard. Can the Zips make skip-zip happy and pull off the 30 point blowout tonight?

I did say 30, and I said I'd be disappointed with anything less.

Nahhh. 27 is good enough. The benches cleared with around 5 minutes left.

I saw enough good stuff last night. I'm happy with Quincy. Nice to see Abreu giving us a little driving and dishing ability. And nice to see that competitive fire in Brett McKnight. I'm just happy that we played hard against a bad opponent. That's why I wanted the blowout.

On the negative side, I sure wish we could find a way to get Steve some more good looks. We also need Darryl to knock down those shots off the bench. Some nights he does, and other nights he doesn't. I'm happy as heck about the contributions of McClanahan. I really think playing on the wing has helped him a lot in many areas. But, he's taking more attempts than I would like to see. I'll never be impressed with his mechanics, and I sure hope we have no plans of relying upon him too heavily as the season progresses.