GoZips Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 What is happening in men's basketball? A lot, actually. The pre-season trip to Canada is set. The team will start practice August first. On the tenth they leave for Toronto for the first of five games with Canadian teams. The first game to be played in Toronto and the remaining four will be played in Montreal. I do not have any opponent team names at this time. The two incoming freshmen are on campus and participating in "open gym" pick up games with the current Zips players. All the Zips are currently healthy which is good news. The team is "deep" and very, very athletic. Still, the entire MAC East will be "loaded" this Fall. The Zips may be ranked as the second or third best team in the early going; well, on paper. Personally, I think Akron is far and away the team to beat. Ball State and Western Michigan are expected to give the East teams a run for the roses. Met and spoke with "Tree", Demetrius Treadwell for the first time. Tree is a large wide body of the Cvetinovic mold. He certainly looks fit and ready to play. Great attitude to top off his disarming smile and gentle presence. He is immediately likeable. He came to play. Heard a lot of good and encouraging words about the incoming talent. That is, those players who sat out last year and the two non-qualifiers. Who, both made grades. For those of you who have long clamored for a "tough" schedule ... you get your wish. The Zips open the season at Mississippi State with a road game not long after in Morgantown against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Marshall comes to town along with Detroit (they are loaded) and Virginia Commonwealth. Trips to Valpo and Duquesne are scheduled. While the schedule is not complete, these games are firm. Oh, a short trip up to Cleveland State on the docket. It is going to be a banner year for the talented and deep Zips. Anything less than the Sweet Sixteen will be a couple of yards short of their goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 It is going to be a banner year for the talented and deep Zips. Anything less than the Sweet Sixteen will be a couple of yards short of their goals. I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 It is going to be a banner year for the talented and deep Zips. Anything less than the Sweet Sixteen will be a couple of yards short of their goals. I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) WHOA!! No kidding. Dissappointed if we don't make the Sweet 16? GoZips...love the optimism. But, can you show me at least one basketball expert who is willing to say that the Number 6 team in the MAC last year, that lost 4 pretty key players to graduation, is going to emerge as one of the Top 16 teams in the country? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipmeister Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 It is going to be a banner year for the talented and deep Zips. Anything less than the Sweet Sixteen will be a couple of yards short of their goals. I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) WHOA!! No kidding. Dissappointed if we don't make the Sweet 16? GoZips...love the optimism. But, can you show me at least one basketball expert who is willing to say that the Number 6 team in the MAC last year, that lost 4 pretty key players to graduation, is going to emerge as one of the Top 16 teams in the country? I don't believe there is a college basketball expert who wouldn't agree that if at least 70 of the D1 basketball teams that are better than the Zips get wiped out by bus accident, disease, or some other mayhem, that the Zips have a reasonable shot at a sweet 16 run in the tournament. Such an outcome is unlikely, but is a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 It is going to be a banner year for the talented and deep Zips. Anything less than the Sweet Sixteen will be a couple of yards short of their goals. I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) WHOA!! No kidding. Dissappointed if we don't make the Sweet 16? GoZips...love the optimism. But, can you show me at least one basketball expert who is willing to say that the Number 6 team in the MAC last year, that lost 4 pretty key players to graduation, is going to emerge as one of the Top 16 teams in the country? I don't believe there is a college basketball expert who wouldn't agree that if at least 70 of the D1 basketball teams that are better than the Zips get wiped out by bus accident, disease, or some other mayhem, that the Zips have a reasonable shot at a sweet 16 run in the tournament. Such an outcome is unlikely, but is a possibility. I knew we could count on you to set Skip straight on this topic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 For those of you who have long clamored for a "tough" schedule ... you get your wish. The Zips open the season at Mississippi State with a road game not long after in Morgantown against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Marshall comes to town along with Detroit (they are loaded) and Virginia Commonwealth. Trips to Valpo and Duquesne are scheduled. While the schedule is not complete, these games are firm. Oh, a short trip up to Cleveland State on the docket. Awesome, Awesome, AWESOME! Mississippi State, West Virginia, Marshall, Detroit, VCU, Valpo, Duquesne and Cleveland State are all quality teams and are the kinds of games we need to be playing. Just have to finish off those last six or so spots with a couple more quality opponents, maybe a neutral site tournament and one or two cupcakes just so we don't over-do it and wind up with a Miami type gauntlet. Pushing that bracketbuster return game with VCU back to this season worked out splendidly for the Zips as the Rams should draw a little more attention from the local fans after their Cinderella run this March. West Virginia is a nice little road trip against a pretty quality Big-East team that I actually think we'd have a pretty fair chance against. As many have said on here over the years, Cleveland State should be on the schedule every year. If the Zips play their cards right with the remaining games this is the type of scheduling that could give us a reasonable shot at an at-large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 It is going to be a banner year for the talented and deep Zips. Anything less than the Sweet Sixteen will be a couple of yards short of their goals. I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) WHOA!! No kidding. Dissappointed if we don't make the Sweet 16? GoZips...love the optimism. But, can you show me at least one basketball expert who is willing to say that the Number 6 team in the MAC last year, that lost 4 pretty key players to graduation, is going to emerge as one of the Top 16 teams in the country? I don't believe there is a college basketball expert who wouldn't agree that if at least 70 of the D1 basketball teams that are better than the Zips get wiped out by bus accident, disease, or some other mayhem, that the Zips have a reasonable shot at a sweet 16 run in the tournament. Such an outcome is unlikely, but is a possibility. I knew we could count on you to set Skip straight on this topic! Yes, thank you. I see how that can happen now. I completely forgot about the possiblity of 70 tragic bus accidents during the course of a D-1 basketball season. I got it now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Thanks for info GZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zip Watcher Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 It is going to be a banner year for the talented and deep Zips. Anything less than the Sweet Sixteen will be a couple of yards short of their goals. I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) WHOA!! No kidding. Dissappointed if we don't make the Sweet 16? GoZips...love the optimism. But, can you show me at least one basketball expert who is willing to say that the Number 6 team in the MAC last year, that lost 4 pretty key players to graduation, is going to emerge as one of the Top 16 teams in the country? Only one MAC school played in the NCAA tournament, and they most certainly didn't finish 6th in the games that counted in Cleveland, so I'm not sure what the 6th place team has to do with anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 It is going to be a banner year for the talented and deep Zips. Anything less than the Sweet Sixteen will be a couple of yards short of their goals. I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) WHOA!! No kidding. Dissappointed if we don't make the Sweet 16? GoZips...love the optimism. But, can you show me at least one basketball expert who is willing to say that the Number 6 team in the MAC last year, that lost 4 pretty key players to graduation, is going to emerge as one of the Top 16 teams in the country? Only one MAC school played in the NCAA tournament, and they most certainly didn't finish 6th in the games that counted in Cleveland, so I'm not sure what the 6th place team has to do with anything. Sorry. Lets change that to......the 6th place team in the MAC last year, who won the conference tournament, and lost 4 key players. Do you think that would increase our chances of getting chosen by anyone to be one of the Top 16 teams in the country next year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Lots of good news here. The OOC SOS is starting to look like what a lot of us wanted to see in Zeke's junior and senior seasons. The academics of Tree and Harney are something for which many of us have had our fingers crossed for months. One key point is team confidence. It's a really good thing if the Zips believe they can grow into a Sweet 16 team by the end of the season. Outsiders may look at all the available facts and disagree with the Zips assessment of themselves as way too optimistic. But if the Zips truly believe they can be that good, and if they would be truly disappointed not to prove it, that's one heck of a motivation to go out there and seriously execute. I like the chances of a team that truly believes in themselves a lot better than a team that thinks they'd be lucky to get to 20 wins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Lots of good news here. The OOC SOS is starting to look like what a lot of us wanted to see in Zeke's junior and senior seasons. The academics of Tree and Harney are something for which many of us have had our fingers crossed for months. One key point is team confidence. It's a really good thing if the Zips believe they can grow into a Sweet 16 team by the end of the season. Outsiders may look at all the available facts and disagree with the Zips assessment of themselves as way too optimistic. But if the Zips truly believe they can be that good, and if they would be truly disappointed not to prove it, that's one heck of a motivation to go out there and seriously execute. I like the chances of a team that truly believes in themselves a lot better than a team that thinks they'd be lucky to get to 20 wins. We'll see how it shakes out, but it would really be great news if it is indeed a serious upgrade. Not just Zeke's last two year, but ANY year. I'll keep repeating this...we're a good basketball program now, so its an absolute MUST that we control the only thing we can control that gives us an opportunity at an at-large bid and better seeding.....and that's to play an OOC schedule that gets people's attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 I'm ready to get on the bus with GoZips. I just hope our driver is more skilled than those who aren't steering toward the Sweet Sixteen. I'm also sorry that the fans in the JAR Arena won't have a chance to see the Bulldogs @ home. They put on a real fine show here last year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 One of the things that held back the team the past two years may have been a simple lack of confidence. Saying that their goal is to get to the Sweet 16 is great, but to actually get there they have to truly believe that they are good enough to beat every team they play. One of the things that hurt us against Notre Dame in Chicago was that Zeke was something equivalent to being "starstruck". He acknowledged that after the game and understood how it affected him, so I don't think he will let that happen to himself again. The season before that, we had some kind of mental block when playing Can't and it cost us. I do think that the team has finally figured out the mental part of the game and we'll see that reflected in our "big" games. There's no reason why we shouldn't take those BCS teams to the wire with a chance to upset or why we shouldn't beat teams like CSU or Detroit or Valpo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akzipper Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Honestly I don't think the 4 players we lost will hurt us too much. The players we have coming will probably be better, and I am not worried. Let's take a look at the four we lost. McKnight was a strong presence off the bench but had his ups and downs, with a bit of an off the court issue. Not saying he's a bad person or player I just don't feel like we'll be hurting. McNees was clutch shooting and a decent pg, but I think Abreu will be able to take his place easily. Bardo hurt us more than he helped. Roberts was a good veteran presence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Honestly I don't think the 4 players we lost will hurt us too much. The players we have coming will probably be better, and I am not worried. Let's take a look at the four we lost. McKnight was a strong presence off the bench but had his ups and downs, with a bit of an off the court issue. Not saying he's a bad person or player I just don't feel like we'll be hurting. McNees was clutch shooting and a decent pg, but I think Abreu will be able to take his place easily. Bardo hurt us more than he helped. Roberts was a good veteran presence. I know everyone wishes for these kinds of scenarios to take place. I think we do it because we have no other options. We can't wish for the veteran players to extend their eligibility any longer, and this year presented us with a number of significant losses at the same time. It's like the Cavs fans who are trying to justify that they are better off now without LeBron because some rookie with no experience must surely be coming in that will dominate the NBA. They do it because they have no other options on which to rest their hopes. I wish I could line up all the posts I've seen in the last few years that talked about how Sweich was going to come in as a freshman and become our answer to our losses in the post. Losing Dru as our all time assist leader wasn't a big deal either, because Steward was an incoming freshman. And where was our season headed last year if we had done what some of you suggested, and handed the reigns of our backcourt over to Alex, instead of returning heavily to the senior leadership of Steve and Darryl? I've said it many times. In college basketball, counting on incoming freshmen to fill the shoes of these kinds of players is VERY wishful. If you want to play the more dependable odds, you'll want to tell me how much we're going to improve this year because there will be significant further development from guys who have already seen a college basketball floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipmeister Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Honestly I don't think the 4 players we lost will hurt us too much. The players we have coming will probably be better, and I am not worried. Let's take a look at the four we lost. McKnight was a strong presence off the bench but had his ups and downs, with a bit of an off the court issue. Not saying he's a bad person or player I just don't feel like we'll be hurting. McNees was clutch shooting and a decent pg, but I think Abreu will be able to take his place easily. Bardo hurt us more than he helped. Roberts was a good veteran presence. I know everyone wishes for these kinds of scenarios to take place. I think we do it because we have no other options. We can't wish for the veteran players to extend their eligibility any longer, and this year presented us with a number of significant losses at the same time. It's like the Cavs fans who are trying to justify that they are better off now without LeBron because some rookie with no experience must surely be coming in that will dominate the NBA. They do it because they have no other options on which to rest their hopes. I wish I could line up all the posts I've seen in the last few years that talked about how Sweich was going to come in as a freshman and become our answer to our losses in the post. Losing Dru as our all time assist leader wasn't a big deal either, because Steward was an incoming freshman. And where was our season headed last year if we had done what some of you suggested, and handed the reigns of our backcourt over to Alex, instead of returning heavily to the senior leadership of Steve and Darryl? I've said it many times. In college basketball, counting on incoming freshmen to fill the shoes of these kinds of players is VERY wishful. If you want to play the more dependable odds, you'll want to tell me how much we're going to improve this year because there will be significant further development from guys who have already seen a college basketball floor. I see Skip's point too. Let's make it a 140 bus accidents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Yeah, I was a little too optimistic last season that Dakotah Euton's 3-point shooting was going to make up for the loss of Brett McKnight's offense when it appeared he would be gone for the whole season. That didn't work out so well other than to remind me of the lesson that potential is meaningless unless realized. While I believe the incoming replacements have the potential to be better players than the departing veterans, it's not guaranteed, so I'm not counting on it until they prove it on the court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Honestly I don't think the 4 players we lost will hurt us too much. The players we have coming will probably be better, and I am not worried. Let's take a look at the four we lost. McKnight was a strong presence off the bench but had his ups and downs, with a bit of an off the court issue. Not saying he's a bad person or player I just don't feel like we'll be hurting. McNees was clutch shooting and a decent pg, but I think Abreu will be able to take his place easily. Bardo hurt us more than he helped. Roberts was a good veteran presence. I think the losses are going to hurt us, but I think the Zips do still have enough coming back for everyone to be optimistic. GoZips level optimistic? I'm not sure yet. But with a nice core of Alex, Nitro, Quincy, the Serb and Zeke coming back there is still plenty enough in terms of experience and talent to think that this team will be just fine. However, it will be another year in which the Zips will play a certain amount of the "who's going to step up" game with the incoming players. There are at least five players that I think everyone is going to be looking at as having a reasonable opportunity to step up and play a major role for us next year. Walsh, Gilliam, Harney, Tree and Egner. Realistically we are probably going to need at least two of them to step up and be significant contributors. The good news is that for the most part these aren't 18 year old kids fresh out of high school. Walsh has two years in at one of the top mid-majors in the country. Gilliam was the leading scorer for two years with his UMBC team. Egner got a little bit of playing time last season and if you believe KD's comments towards the end of the year he was ready to see some more. In the end though, the biggest reason I think the Zips will be just fine is KD. When you have a coach who has proven that he knows how to manage his team and put his guys in a position to succeed you have to have faith that he will continue to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Its college basketball guys. Every team is losing players and counting on incoming freshmen and previous bench players to fill the gaps. Every team except for a handful of the best programs are having the same questions about their rosters for next season. That is the attraction for me, the constant change and growing process for these young men. I'm looking forward to next season. Will we have a perfect team? Not likely, but it will be fun to see how things shape up as the season progresses. Some people on this board need to take a chill pill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 This forum would be no fun at all if everyone was munching on chill pills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pumped for this basketball team. I think they have a chance to not only destroy the MAC, crack the top 25, but also make it to the Sweet 16. The athleticism is through the roof compared to years past from what I know. Also, the team's basketball IQ is supposed to be high. We have the potential to be a team the MAC hasn't seen in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 This forum would be no fun at all if everyone was munching on chill pills. Thank you for your comment Mr. Gray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zip Watcher Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 This forum would be no fun at all if everyone was munching on chill pills. Thank you for your comment Mr. Gray. Not so fast my friend! Are you certain that it isn't "grey"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 This forum would be no fun at all if everyone was munching on chill pills. Thank you for your comment Mr. Gray. Not so fast my friend! Are you certain that it isn't "grey"? ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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