GP1 Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 "Interesting" is the word I would select. Most Zips basketball seasons sort of progress down a very predictable. They normally clean up on a weak OOC schedule, lose some games to "BCS" level programs, clean up on weak MAC teams, win their share against MAC teams equal to them and then lose the MAC Championship. This season was completely different in some bad ways and some very good ways, which makes it an interesting season. They struggled in November losing to Dayton and CSU. I can accept Dayton, but not CSU. We should have a better program than that at this point. They almost lost to YSU in November. The start of the season did not look good. December gave us a turnaround against mid major OOC teams, but the usual loses to major programs. The MAC schedule was not the usual Zips performance as well. Losing to NIU and EMU was inexcusable and were games just a couple of years ago we would have never lost. However, the Zips went on an impressive late season run then lost their last two to OU and Can't. OU was an embarrassment giving the Zips a late season loss we are not used to watching. I though Akron was a better team than Can't and if Zeke doesn't foul out, the win that game. The Zips regular season was different than what we are used to watching so it was interesting. The Zips winning the MAC Tournament is unexpected because we lose so many times so it was fun and interesting. Interesting is not a bad word. Why? For the first time in a while, this unpredictable, interesting season has made me interested in the future. Unpredictablility makes things fun. The same old, same old was not impressing me. I'm not as impressed as I could be, but I am interested. What is your ONE word? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatwad Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 "Interesting" is the word I would select. What is your ONE word? I would say "unexpected." Unexpected because of the number of times the season went exactly how I didn't think it would go. Early in the season I had pretty high hopes. Brett got suspended, which was unexpected. We slog through the OCC schedule taking overtime to beat YSU and Bethune Cookman. We get handled by Cleveland State, Temple, Minnesota, Miami, etc. The most unexpected part came in the MAC schedule losing 2 of our first 3 to the West and sitting at 12-10 (3-5). I would say that it would have been quite unepected at that point that we would rip off 11 of our next 13 and make it to the NCAA tourney. Overall the number of turns in this season leads me to pick unexpected as the word to describe it. I'm still excited for next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Evolving I think we have a core of kids that has experience against a number two seeded team in the tourney. I think the staff and players have a better idea what they need to do next year to win one. Another off season of weight gain for the big man is going to help also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZip0510 Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Progress - Great senior leadership - McNees, McKnight, Roberts, and even Bardo played a significant role in winning the MAC Tournament - Another NCAA Tournament appearance, and a better performance in my opinion (played great, shots just weren't falling) - Zeke Marshall, Alex Abreu, Quincy Diggs, and Brett McClanahan all took great strides forward from the 1st game through yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted March 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 I would say "unexpected." I almost used unexpected, but the unexpected is what made it interesting for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 One word? Hmmmmmmm. K.e.n.t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 GP1, an excellent topic. Resilient. The team repeatedly over came adversity and continued to grow all season. Knocked flat more than once, nee against Cant in the MAC championship game early and against Notre Dame early, the kids rebounded and made game. This was typical of the season. A weak 12-10 record followed by a long win streak. The players stumbling then growing. They stayed the course and were rewarded with a trip to the Dance. I believe it all bodes well for next season. Speculation is that the Zips will be even better next season and I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akron1 Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. According to wikipedia the roots of the word have been defined as follows: super- "above", cali- "beauty", fragilistic- "delicate", expiali- "to atone", and docious- "educable", with the sum of these parts signifying roughly "Atoning for educability through delicate beauty." Started out as a joke but turned out to be a pretty good definition to describe the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zip37 Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 6-26! 6 FT us 26 FT ND Graet officiating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipmeister Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 indescribable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zip37 Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Pleasing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipboy Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Fun In January there were some ugly game. For the last month of the season, the best basketball that I have seen in the JAR against solid teams for that long of a stretch. And then the tourney, it was just an enjoyable season. And seeing who is coming back, the Zips should be even better next year. I was able to catch the post game and KD paid the highest compliment to McNees and Roberts. He talked abou them never being All MAC and over looked for post season awards but that they were just awesome the whole time they were here . Then he said after their name just write the word winner and at the end of the day that is what you are judged on. And that is as good as a compliment you can get. If they could do anything to make the JAR more enjoyable to watch a game, I could see attendance finally moving up next year. A legit pro guy in Zeke, high expectations, a more up tempo and fun style to watch, a local guy with a good following. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Exciting. I'm more excited for Akron basketball than I've ever been. Hopefully "Joe Akron" is excited over how good we are going to be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Evolving I think we have a core of kids that has experience against a number two seeded team in the tourney. I think the staff and players have a better idea what they need to do next year to win one. Another off season of weight gain for the big man is going to help also. Gotta agree with DocZ. My word is "transition". I was quite honestly not surprised by the team's start, having predicted them to finish fourth in the East in the preseason. But, I was also not surprised by their strong finish. The new players took a while to gel, but once that happened they "evolved" into a top-100 team nationally. That, hopefully, is where they will start 2011-2012, but depending on Nik's future, and the evolution of the youngsters, this "transition" could have the team playing in the 2012 tourney as something like a 13 or even 12 seed. That could put them on the bubble for an at-large berth -- not that we'll need that. Thanks Keith for another year of excitement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips88 Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S !!! Could smell liver and onions wafting in from the kitchen at times and certainly was not expecting dessert like that! Happily pushing back from the table now - thank you Zips - very much looking forward to next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootforRoo44 Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S !!! Could smell liver and onions wafting in from the kitchen at times and certainly was not expecting dessert like that! Happily pushing back from the table now - thank you Zips - very much looking forward to next year! Hey, I love liver and onions...don't know why it always gets a bad rap. lol oh and my word... ZEKE the year of Zeke is now upon us, he finally started figuring it out late in the season and his defensive presence was as important as anything on this team. The Gamechanger will be poised to dominate in '11-'12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Confusing. Maybe more so than any other year I've experienced of Zips hoops this year has been a really head scratcher. Brett McKnight's suspension kind of hung over the team through the OOC schedule. Then he came back and helped us to a big win over a good Can't team to open the MAC schedule followed by a lack-luster run through the first part of the East schedule. Then there was the couple of weeks wherein most of Zipsnation was ready to take a long walk down the Y-bridge (NIU, EMU). Then we seemed to right the ship and everyone was back on the wagon. Then came the blowout against OU and the disappointing loss to Can't. I know I wasn't the only one around here who had no idea what to expect from this group come tournament time. I for one figured there was a fair chance that we wouldn't even make it to Cleveland this year. I'm not ashamed to admit, this was the first year I did not buy my tickets to Cleveland in advance. I just didn't know what to expect from this team, and couldn't justify blowing money on games that I wasn't sure we would be in. Then we put together that magical run last week and now we are all feeling pretty good about the program again. It's been a wild ride, but at the end of the day I am proud to be a Zips fan and looking forward to next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Progress - Great senior leadership - McNees, McKnight, Roberts, and even Bardo played a significant role in winning the MAC Tournament - Another NCAA Tournament appearance, and a better performance in my opinion (played great, shots just weren't falling) - Zeke Marshall, Alex Abreu, Quincy Diggs, and Brett McClanahan all took great strides forward from the 1st game through yesterday. What? Alex went from being a starter to a bench player with a decrease in minutes. Brett went from being the team's leading scorer to almost disappearing by the end of the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UA Fan Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Redemptive. It helped to make up for the football season from Heck, as of course did the soccer natl. champ. Now we just need to see some light at the end of the football valley. Spring practice starts when? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Spring practice starts when?Wednesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDZip Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Building - just for GP1 since he started the topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Building - just for GP1 since he started the topic. Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zips Win! Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Dancing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zip Watcher Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 First, let me say .. good topic. I like reading how people responded to this .. and it forces a little different dialog. I'm just now getting caught up from all of the time away the past 2 weeks, so I haven't been able to post much of my thoughts yet, but I have been mulling this particular one over for the past week. I thought of several words: Belief, Tenacity, Resiliency (someone used that?), Resolve, Habitual, Transitional .. etc .. but in the end, because of a feeling that I got from watching the MAC tournament, and then the ND game, and having the chance to speak with some of the staff & players both before and after the game in Chicago .. I choose the following: Ascending This season was one that will be looked back upon as a critical season in the ascension of the Zips from a team that is competitive in their mid-major conference to one that is competitive on the national stage. It wasn't a perfect season, without bumps & slumps. It was however, a season which saw a team right itself before it mattered .. and pull together to win 11 of 14 down the stretch, including their 2nd tourney title & NCAA birth in 3 seasons. It took a few trips to the Q for the Zips to make a habit of winning games there. Then it has taken some trips to the championship game for the Zips to make a habit of winning on Saturday. Now they have played in 5 straight .. and won 2 of 3. Likewise, it will take a couple of trips to the big dance to make a habit of winning there. I believe firmly that what transpired in Chicago proved to the Zips themselves that they belong on the stage w/ top D1 teams. They know they had the right game plan to beat ND. They know they had the size and athleticism to punch the ball in against a #2 seed. They see that they got the shots they needed to compete with and scare the Big East runners-up. Whether or not an ND beat writer saw that , or Zips fans saw that or believe that doesn't matter. The TEAM & STAFF know they had the game plan and the players to win that game. Shots didn't fall. So they will go back again .. and habits will continue to be formed .. and the Zips will continue to rise. For me, I will remember this as an ascending season, where another corner was turned in the belief structure of our Zips. Get 'em on. You're going to need them. B) B) Go Zips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 I knew there was a reason why I waited to post in this thread. ZW just said it better than I could have. Having attended both of the Zips NCAA tournament games in the past 3 years, I think the Zips started this ascendancy by playing Gonzaga even for the first three-quarters of their game. This year I think the Zips played ND fairly even for all but the first 5 minutes of the second half. Even with that 5-minute cold streak, the Zips could have won this game if their shooting had been average. I agree with ZW that the Zips knew they were not overmatched against a #2 seed. They had every bit as much opportunity to beat ND as OU had to beat Georgetown last season. All the Zips need to do now is to start next season knowing they are a better team than they may have believed this season. They need to go into the tough OOC games knowing they can do in that game what they almost pulled off against ND. It's all going to come down to executing in all phases of the game. If they do, they have the potential to beat any team on next season's schedule, and they should believe they are going to do it. Ascending is a great, positive term that acknowledges the improvements to date and promises even better in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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