Quickzips Posted January 5, 2011 Report Posted January 5, 2011 Well, it's Wednesday afternoon of Can't State week and there is very little discussion of the impending matchup with the boys from the Portage County Correctional Institute. Guess I will get the ball rolling. The Zips have to be out for some revenge this year after having been embarrased by Can't over the past two years. Can't comes to town with a ton of new faces. Only Rod Sherman and Justin Greene made any significant contributions to Can't's 2009-10 team. Greene is the catalyst for this team leading the flushes in points, rebounding, blocks and minutes. The 6'8" Junior is athletic and talented and everything that the Zips hate seeing in an opposing frontcourt player. He shoots 55% from the floor and 78% from the line and attacks the boards quite well. If Nikola and Zeke aren't on their game on the defensive end of the floor this guy is going to have a field day on the Zips. The good news for the Zips is that Can't is still without their second leading scorer and best three point shooter as Carlton Guyton remains suspended indefinitly pending the outcome of his felony auto theft charges. That puts the burden more on Rod Sherman to step up. The senior has been through this matchup plenty of times before, and should be looked to by the younger players to set the tempo for Can't. He is playing more off guard this year, but is still averaging 3.9 assists per night. His three point shooting has improved markedly this year, and he is still plenty capable of taking the ball to the hoop and finishing with authority. The good news for the Zips is that nobody else has really emerged as an impact player for Can't. Michael Porrini is probably their third best player and is a pretty creative passer, but he's prone to turning the ball over (3.1 per night, 15 total in his last two games) and isn't much of a shooter (37% from the field, 26% from 3, 65% from the line). Randall Holt has not stepped up the way Geno Ford envisioned in his sophmore year and he is having a terrible year shooting the ball. If I'm KD I want our guards to play off him and dare him to shoot. If he starts getting hot then we'll talk about guarding him. In the frontcourt Can't hasn't seen anyone step up to provide some assistance for Greene. 6'11" JUCO Center Justin Manns, 6'6" Freshman Forward Robert Johnson and 6'9" Freshman Forward Darius Leonard are all part of the rotation, but only put up about 10 points and 9 rebounds per night between them. 6'6" JUCO Forward DeAndre Nealy and 6'8" Freshman Forward Mark Henniger (Jackson High School teammate to the Zips Josh Egner) have seen sporadic minutes, but produced little. Without Guyton this Can't team is not very deep and will only play significant minutes for 7 or 8 players. This Can't team isn't nearly as diverse, deep or talented as in years past. If the Zips can keep the rebounding differential somewhat reasonable and force Can't's young guards into turnovers and easy runouts at the other end they should be able to get some revenge for the beatings the previous two squads have taken. Quote
RowdyZip Posted January 5, 2011 Report Posted January 5, 2011 AND Can't STATE STILL SUCKS! QZ, love your previews, you do a great job putting a little research behind an opinion. And here's my obligatory whine: It's sometimes kind of hard to read them when they show up as one big block paragraph. Don't take that as meaning I don't appreciate your work. On an added note, a quick search of the Portage County Clerk of Courts website shows a preliminary hearing of 1/14/10 for Carlton Guyton on Felony Theft charges. So to those of you who thought the typical "slap on the wrist" K-ent punishment would happen (myself included), and this guy would be right back on the court, well...he won't. I think the Zips are starting to turn themselves into a team that's very competitive with the K-ent style of play, and we'll see the beginnings of that in the home game this Saturday with a Zips win. I'll already predict a split for the series this season as I think these teams are the cream of the ever-so-weak crop in the MAC this year. Next year, we'll see the full fruits of KD's remake of the roster. If the risks in Harney and Treadwell pan out...look out next year. Quote
Dave in Green Posted January 5, 2011 Report Posted January 5, 2011 We already knew that Zeke needs to stay out of foul trouble in this game. Now we know that Rico also needs to stay out of foul trouble. I'd feel a lot better if the Zips had a frontcourt lockdown defender and rebounding animal. Maybe Egner can develop into that kind of player over time. But for now the Zips are what they are, and all we can hope for is that they play their best game of the season so far. I just want to see the Zips show up with the perfect balance of looseness and intensity, and maintain that attitude throughout the game no matter how far ahead or behind they might be at any point. Oh, and any Zips fan who isn't planning on making a lot of noise should stay home. Quote
Blue & Gold Posted January 6, 2011 Report Posted January 6, 2011 Well, it's Wednesday afternoon of Can't State week and there is very little discussion of the impending matchup with the boys from the Portage County Correctional Institute. This is one reason I don't like beginning conference play w/ the Fellons. I don't know their team yet & thus don't really know what to expect from Saturday's game. Thanks for the summary! Well done, again. Quote
Quickzips Posted January 6, 2011 Author Report Posted January 6, 2011 Well, it's Wednesday afternoon of Can't State week and there is very little discussion of the impending matchup with the boys from the Portage County Correctional Institute. This is one reason I don't like beginning conference play w/ the Fellons. I don't know their team yet & thus don't really know what to expect from Saturday's game. Thanks for the summary! Well done, again. The MAC has put all the big rivalries on opening weekend, and it really doesn't make sense to me. Students are not back in classes yet, there has been no buildup in terms of the MAC schedules and everyone is still coming off the holidays. I much prefer putting the big rivalries (Can't/Akron, Miami/Ohio in particular) at the end of each round through the conference. Provides for a lot more buildup and puts those games at a time when you will hopefully have maximum interest on campus. Another thing to add regarding Can't, they have had a lot of problems this year against zone defenses. The zone seems to frustrate Greene and without quality shooters to bust the zone their offense can go stagnant. KD mentioned in the post-game after ORU that the team would be working on some more zone looks during this little stretch off. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us go zone a lot more than we are used to in this one. Quote
Quickzips Posted January 7, 2011 Author Report Posted January 7, 2011 Are you people all in a coma or something? The flushes are coming to town TOMORROW NIGHT and we have all of 5 responses on the subject? Quote
Blue & Gold Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 Some Can't fans are talking smack in their responses to Rasor's blog. Quote
Dr Z Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 Are you people all in a coma or something?Yes. For me, it's too early for this game. I REALLY enjoy NFL playoffs, to schedule this game at the same time is a mistake IMO. Quote
RowdyZip Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 I'm plenty excited for the game tomorrow. When I put the schedule down on the desk calendar at work, this one gets circled immediately, regardless of when it's scheduled. It's the casual fan I worry about. I'm guessing this game doesn't sell out (which UA can thank the MAC for), but still draws between 4700 and 5200. This, unfortunately, combined with the egg last year, will lead to a higher percentage of K-ent contingent as opposed to the 90% UA we had last year. The U hasn't given any indication of how ticket sales are going, other than the cursory, "Tickets are going fast! Get yours now and avoid missing the rivalry game!" blurbs. Quote
RootforRoo44 Posted January 8, 2011 Report Posted January 8, 2011 ASN Previews: My extremely bias side: Zips/flushes: The View from Route 8 The Can't State Side: Zips/flushes: The View from Route 43 and btw, yes all ASN urls have flushes as "flushes" to cut down on the confusion. Quote
Quickzips Posted January 8, 2011 Author Report Posted January 8, 2011 Are you people all in a coma or something?Yes. For me, it's too early for this game. I REALLY enjoy NFL playoffs, to schedule this game at the same time is a mistake IMO. I know the schedule of it sucks, but it is still the rivalry game. I'll take the Can't State/UA rivalry game over Wild-Card weekend in the NFL any day of the week. Quote
RootforRoo44 Posted January 8, 2011 Report Posted January 8, 2011 Are you people all in a coma or something?Yes. For me, it's too early for this game. I REALLY enjoy NFL playoffs, to schedule this game at the same time is a mistake IMO. I know the schedule of it sucks, but it is still the rivalry game. I'll take the Can't State/UA rivalry game over Wild-Card weekend in the NFL any day of the week. +1billion Quote
akzipper Posted January 8, 2011 Report Posted January 8, 2011 Some Can't fans are talking smack in their responses to Rasor's blog. Hopefully Fred has some "intelligent" things to say. He's still mad because apparently the soccer Zips played 14 vs 11 all season... Quote
Zipmeister Posted January 8, 2011 Report Posted January 8, 2011 Well, it's Wednesday afternoon of Can't State week and there is very little discussion of the impending matchup with the boys from the Portage County Correctional Institute. This is one reason I don't like beginning conference play w/ the Fellons. I don't know their team yet & thus don't really know what to expect from Saturday's game. Thanks for the summary! Well done, again. The MAC has put all the big rivalries on opening weekend, and it really doesn't make sense to me. Students are not back in classes yet, there has been no buildup in terms of the MAC schedules and everyone is still coming off the holidays. I much prefer putting the big rivalries (Can't/Akron, Miami/Ohio in particular) at the end of each round through the conference. Provides for a lot more buildup and puts those games at a time when you will hopefully have maximum interest on campus. Another thing to add regarding Can't, they have had a lot of problems this year against zone defenses. The zone seems to frustrate Greene and without quality shooters to bust the zone their offense can go stagnant. KD mentioned in the post-game after ORU that the team would be working on some more zone looks during this little stretch off. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us go zone a lot more than we are used to in this one. + 100%. I can't believe the Eastern/Toledo game is scheduled for this first day of MAC play. Not only will the winner of this contest vault into the West lead, they will also be picking up their 4th win overall of the season. Quote
ksu sucks Posted January 8, 2011 Report Posted January 8, 2011 http://www.ohio.com/sports/113124819.html ''I know what we are. It doesn't matter who we play. We could play the Miami Heat, the Cavaliers or Our Lady of the Elms, and sometimes it looks the same to me,'' Dambrot said. ''It's frustrating. I don't know what I am going to get.'' Very true. It's nice having a coach who isn't afraid to be brutally honest. Quote
MDZip Posted January 16, 2011 Report Posted January 16, 2011 (edited) Can said: http://www.ohio.com/sports/113124819.html ''I know what we are. It doesn't matter who we play. We could play the Miami Heat, the Cavaliers or Our Lady of the Elms, and sometimes it looks the same to me,'' Dambrot said. ''It's frustrating. I don't know what I am going to get.'' Very true. It's nice having a coach who isn't afraid to be brutally honest. My niece actually plays for Our Lady of the Elms. They were apparently amused enough by this quote to send the following to Coach Dambrot comparing their coach to him. Dambrot_vs._Giel.doc Edited December 13, 2016 by MDZip Remove attachment Quote
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