TOLEDO

[The Hip Zip]

Probably have to go back quite awhile to find a MAC game with less interest than this one.

I was looking at the Rockets a little bit and they have been in a lot of games at home. I watched the BG game and they were right there till the end but they had to foul and the Falcons put them away. The line opened up at 9 and the Zips are getting the money as the line went to 10 today. To be frank, I don't see it, Toledo has played us super tough over that last couple of years.

We are catching them at a good time though. Since they had to stay an extra day in Buffalo before they played on Thursday we are catching them with one day off with travel.

Zips 66 Toledo 60

[ZippyforPresident]

I saw the Toledo game against BG as well and was impressed with Toledo's toughness. They played a pretty good game that night. Tod Kowalczyk looks to be a coach capable of turning that team around. Some of you might remember that he was UW-Green Bay's coach last year. So, he has beaten the Zips. I think Toledo is going to be a tough out and with Akron's unfocused, inconsistent and soft play it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the Rockets win tonight.

Hopefully the Zips can show some real toughness and realize that they can still have at least a somewhat respectable season if they can just pick up the intensity for 40 minutes and show that they are a focused and prepared team. "Team" being the operative word.

I really can't make a prediction on tonight's score so I'm just gonna pray that somehow we have more points than they do when the final buzzer sounds.

[Dave in Green]

I have no preconceptions or expectations for this game. If the Zips continue to play the way they've been playing, they will continue to be very beatable even by bottom-dwelling MAC West teams, especially on the road. Of course I'm hoping that the Zips will wake up and snap out of their funk. I'm waiting for them to show me something.

[zipboy]

I look for good things tonight, smart and toughness, 2 things that we have consistently lacked this year. If some guys don't produce early I look for some new guys to get playing time. Just over a month until the tourney, no time left to wait around. That said, I expect the veterans to step up tonight.

[Valpo Zip]

I have tickets for this game and i was planning to make the 70 miles drive up 75. But mother nature had different plans. Any video feed anywhere?

[ZippyforPresident]

The game is listed on channelsurf.eu, so hopefully that feed will work.

[bandzip]

Link is working for me and it's good quality.

[ZachTheZip]

McKnight comes in and immediately jacks up a turnaround jumper that's way off.

[zippyfan34]

So who would win between Millikin and Toledo?

[bandzip]

Does the announcer not realize his mic is still on during the little breaks? He keeps giving these exasperated sighs right into his microphone.

[bandzip]

20 point game. Why are we not seeing any Euton or Egner?

[hafner4430]

They got a solid min. of PT at the end!

[Valpo Zip]

I never thought i would be disappointed in a team when they win by 20. I didn't think it was even possible...it just happened today.

This team seems to be extremely lazy. They don't want to work the ball inside, even against a team that is as bas as Toledo all we want to do is to keep hoisting threes. At some points in the game (specifically when Serb was on the bench), It felt like we were playing Zeke/Bardo with four 3 point shooters simply waiting at the perimeter to get the ball. Do you call that an offense?

The other disappointing issue is that everybody...i mean everybody (including the Toledo commentator) knew that we're winning this game by the end of the first half. That's a whole second half for KD to help his younger players develop and help them integrate with the team. But no!!!!!! KD decides to let McNeese, Mcknight, and McClannahan practice their 3 point strokes and decides to throw Egner and Euton in the last 50 seconds to make sure they don't get to touch the ball.

[Dave in Green]

Just got home and wasn't able to follow the game. Good news is the Zips did what they were supposed to do against a really weak team. Nothing special about doing what you're supposed to do except when you haven't been doing what you're supposed to do in previous games. So this is at least a good start on the Zips getting to where they should be and need to be.

Looking at the stats, a couple of things jump out. First, the Serb has become the big rebounder the Zips have lacked. After 16 in the previous game, he snags 9 here. Second, McKnight breaks out of his shooting slump by hitting 3 of 4 from the field. He also grabs 6 boards in just 13 minutes. Can't complain about that performance off the bench, except perhaps the 4 personal fouls in just 13 minutes.

The worst stat to me is Rico's 5 turnovers in just 17 minutes on the floor. What's up here? Rico started off the season with a brilliant assist to turnover ratio, and all of a sudden the ratio is reversed. You generally expect freshmen to make lots of mistakes early and slowly improve as the season goes on. It's troubling to me that Rico seems to be in reverse. Hope it's just temporary, whatever it is that's going on there.

There are other stats I'd expect to be a little better against a team of Toledo's caliber. But the important thing now is wins, not artistic points. Realistically I'm hoping the Zips at least earn home court advantage for their first MAC tournament game, as earning a bye is something they haven't convinced me they're capable of doing from the deep hole they're in. But I love surprises, so I'm OK if they want to surprise me by running off a big win streak.

[Quickzips]

Can we play Toledo a couple more times just to build up some confidence? Not the greatest game in the world by the Zips, but certainly nice to see this group jump out to an early lead on a clearly inferior opponent and never let them in the game for once. Hopefully this can get a little momentum going for us, but the way this season has gone so far, I'm not holding my breath.

[The Hip Zip]

I know that KD was trying to build confidence here but I have to agree with ADA. The last 4-5 minutes should have been devoted to Josh, Dakota and even CJ. I though it was pretty sorry to see Toledo pull their starters before we did. Instead, we accomplish zero in the closing minutes and look a little bush league while doing so. I didn't like that one bit.

[hafner4430]

They should have gotten the majority of the second half.

[akronzips71]

He was right to keep the starters in for two reasons:

First of all, he had to absolutely insure the win. This season is bad enough, we need every win we can get which means NO risk taking.

Second

KD plays way too much substitution. For a team to play like a team, the starting team needs to be cohesive. This year there has been way too much Bardo is not where Zeke was going to be, AA steals and passes to where McNees should be, only it is Roberts and he is not there. He needs to keep them working as a TEAM, and that means keeping them in.

[The Hip Zip]

He was right to keep the starters in for two reasons:

First of all, he had to absolutely insure the win. This season is bad enough, we need every win we can get which means NO risk taking.

Second

KD plays way too much substitution. For a team to play like a team, the starting team needs to be cohesive. This year there has been way too much Bardo is not where Zeke was going to be, AA steals and passes to where McNees should be, only it is Roberts and he is not there. He needs to keep them working as a TEAM, and that means keeping them in.

OK, got it ! Actually not. I don't understand one freaking thing that you wrote.

[bandzip]

You don't have to sub out the whole starting lineup for the bench. Give Euton a couple of McKnight's minutes here and there. Have Egner fill in for Diggs instead of moving McClanahan to the 3. I understand keeping them in if the game is on the line but we had a double digit lead the entire second half. As it stands they've essentially had a year thrown away. Egner has played a grand total of 7 minutes since MAC play started. Euton? 2.

[GoZips]

You don't have to sub out the whole starting lineup for the bench. Give Euton a couple of McKnight's minutes here and there. Have Egner fill in for Diggs instead of moving McClanahan to the 3. I understand keeping them in if the game is on the line but we had a double digit lead the entire second half. As it stands they've essentially had a year thrown away. Egner has played a grand total of 7 minutes since MAC play started. Euton? 2.

Dambrot has contracted the Hipsher syndrome. Hipsher never trusted any player except his own sons.

Your points are spot on.

Isn't it odd that two years in a row a Freshman phenom point guard ends up unraveling. How would you

react to being continually shoved aside so a more experienced, but lesser caliber player could do your job?

[skip-zip]

I talked about this a little bit a couple of days ago. One of the biggest jobs a coach has is to decide the who/when to put players on the floor to give us the best chance to win, in his opinion. At this stage of the season, the experiments should be over. It's time to make us as sharp as possible to make a run at a conference title. It looks like we'll be relying a little more heavily on our starters (+ McKnight) than we have in the past, with more minor minutes for Diggs/Abreu/Bardo, but I'll trust that it's a result of what has transpired over the last several months of practice and games. Hopefully our best pieces are in place. We pay our coach a lot of money to put us in the best position to win.

[zipboy]

Good win yesterday. Zips came out ready to play and never let Toledo get back to single digits. Way too many blown leads this year, they stayed focused throughout. Defensively that is now 4 out of the last 5 games where the D has played well.

I don't see not playing Euton or Egner with 3-4 minutes left as a detriment. If you want to develop them, play them when it counts not with 3 minutes left of a blow out. I like both guys but I don't see Euton helping this year. Egner maybe, but I want to win now. Put the best guys out there to win, worry about development later.

[RootforRoo44]

I waited a few days to post anything but let me say i am very disappointed in how we played again. Sure we won, but that should have been a 25-30 point blowout.

We look like idiots out there heaving up bad shots and our coaching staff may be the most inept group at getting their team to work the ball inside in basketball history.

My God, we have a 7 footer that Toledo has NO answer for, yet he only takes FOUR shots?! This really is simple stuff. Watching the game, when Zeke had the ball, sure they double-teamed him, but he still scored when they did. Make them TRIPLE TEAM him, pound the ball inside 20 times a game. Marshall should score 20 points and grab 10 boards a game with his size, it's a joke that he isn't being developed correctly to do so.

And don't even get me started on his rebounding, but i'll at least say that's more of a lack of aggressiveness on his part than anything.