Coaching

[B4110]

I hope that Dambrot's loyalty to his upperclassmen isnt the downfall of this year's team. it seems to me like he is determined to make certain players more of a critical part to winning then they really are. everyone has a role, i know this. It is a team. But once the tournament comes u gotta put yo best on the floor , not yo favorites!!!

[Dr Z]

You bring up a good point, but I think KD has done a good job thus far. Some changes could still come. Our bench is really awesome, and the strength of our team seems to be wearing the other team down late in the game with "fresher" players. I like how KD refers to his team as "The Nine Starters." Stay tuned...

[BirdZip]

I hope that Dambrot's loyalty to his upperclassmen isnt the downfall of this year's team. it seems to me like he is determined to make certain players more of a critical part to winning then they really are. everyone has a role, i know this. It is a team. But once the tournament comes u gotta put yo best on the floor , not yo favorites!!!

Not sure what yo basing this on. KD has already shown he will do that. He is still playing Brett McClanahan, but not nearly as much as previously, and certainly not as much as yo would expect if he was favoring his seniors. And the other senior, Nikola, despite shooting ill-advised threes, leads the team in rebounds and is second in scoring. He is frustrating at times, but he is also contributing. Plus I thought his defense yesterday was pretty good.

[B4110]

Not sure what yo basing this on. KD has already shown he will do that. He is still playing Brett McClanahan, but not nearly as much as previously, and certainly not as much as yo would expect if he was favoring his seniors. And the other senior, Nikola, despite shooting ill-advised threes, leads the team in rebounds and is second in scoring. He is frustrating at times, but he is also contributing. Plus I thought his defense yesterday was pretty good.

still have a sour taste in my mouth from the VCU game. It seemed like OT, he did exactly that. And i think it cost us the game. the exact reason why i said " hope"

[Let'sGoZips94]

Not sure what yo basing this on. KD has already shown he will do that. He is still playing Brett McClanahan, but not nearly as much as previously, and certainly not as much as yo would expect if he was favoring his seniors. And the other senior, Nikola, despite shooting ill-advised threes, leads the team in rebounds and is second in scoring. He is frustrating at times, but he is also contributing. Plus I thought his defense yesterday was pretty good.

I think he might be referring to Nik more than McClanahan. Which with Nik I agree. Sit him down more. The guy seems to either be a wash or a negative from night to night. Either he scores/plays good defense, but takes WAY too many shots, fouls, and turns the ball over. Or he doesn't score, wants to score, and hurts this team by taking too many shots, fouling, and turning the ball over.

Yesterday was a wash in my opinion, maybe a better game than normal. He played solid defense on Mavunga, scored, but took way too many bad shots and was a hot head. I think he will be an asset come tourney time, but KD needs to control him. He throws others in his dog house for little stuff at times, but never throws Nik in there.

The young talent is getting great PT, but I would like to see a few of them get more like Chauncey and Tree, which is starting to happen.

[bandzip]

11-1 and in sole possession of 1st place in the MAC and we're still criticizing coaching decisions.... wow.

[akronzips71]

11-1 and in sole possession of 1st place in the MAC and we're still criticizing coaching decisions.... wow.

+1

[72 Roo]

Keith is acutely aware of the performance of the Serb and said as much in his Miami post game comments. He was right on and perhaps he has chosen to motivate him rather than destroy his confidence. KD called for the Serb to play within himself and be like Dennis Rodman. When he does he is all league. When not ... well Keith will handle it. That's good enough for me. He knows how to push the players buttons and get the best out of them. We gotta support him because he's smarter than us and he knows what he's doing. Let's drop the second guessing.

[UAZipster0305]

Keith is acutely aware of the performance of the Serb and said as much in his Miami post game comments. He was right on and perhaps he has chosen to motivate him rather than destroy his confidence. KD called for the Serb to play within himself and be like Dennis Rodman. When he does he is all league. When not ... well Keith will handle it. That's good enough for me. He knows how to push the players buttons and get the best out of them. We gotta support him because he's smarter than us and he knows what he's doing. Let's drop the second guessing.

A good coach/teacher recognizes the difference and always motivates.

[Dr Z]

Keith is acutely aware of the performance of the Serb and said as much in his Miami post game comments. He was right on and perhaps he has chosen to motivate him rather than destroy his confidence. KD called for the Serb to play within himself and be like Dennis Rodman.

Let's hope it works. I think his minutes will become critical come tourney time. Getting back to "his role" might just be the difference between the Zips being great or just good. Let's see how he responds to KD's open criticism tomorrow. I want to see a worm-like performance.

[skip-zip]

Let me make 2 comments here.

1) I trust that Keith sees more than we see, and knows more than we know. If I had his ability, I would have gotten rich in coaching, and I didn't.

2) Fans are going to question and criticize coaching decision, no matter how well things are going. Telling people to stop doing it is ridiculous.

[Dave in Green]

@skip-zip, I couldn't agree with you more that questioning coaching decisions is an integral part of sports forums. It's never going to stop no matter what anyone says.

It goes with the territory that some observations are going to be more educated than others because there's a wide disparity in basketball experience and knowledge among different forum members. Having said that, no one is right or wrong all the time.

If you think of a sports forum as an opportunity to share opinions and knowledge, i.e. learn and teach, each discussion offers the opportunity for everyone to make points and everyone to reach their own conclusions about which observations are closer to reality.

[CincyZip]

I could not disagree more about sitting Nik. He is a floor leader and a guy that everyone follows and respects. He is a monster down low, and CAN hit the three. He can also get to the rim.

[jupitertoo]

I could not disagree more about sitting Nik. He is a floor leader and a guy that everyone follows and respects. He is a monster down low, and CAN hit the three. He can also get to the rim.

I would argue that this year has been Dambrot's best overall coaching job, given the changes in personnel in recent years and the wide range of talents and personalities on the team.

[B4110]

PRIME EXAMPLE TODAY.

[Dave in Green]

PRIME EXAMPLE TODAY.

Let's see now, of the two seniors, the Serb played 25 minutes and was the second leading scorer and tied for top rebounder, while Nitro played only 12 minutes.

I'm guessing that you are a big fan of Tree and Harney, and any time the Zips lose it's because the coach didn't play them enough or otherwise use them properly.

Am I close?

[B4110]

I started this post a while ago, because i saw all of this coming.

[B4110]

Let's see now, of the two seniors, the Serb played 25 minutes and was the second leading scorer and tied for top rebounder, while Nitro played only 12 minutes.

I'm guessing that you are a big fan of Tree and Harney, and any time the Zips lose it's because the coach didn't play them enough or otherwise use them properly.

Am I close?

im a bigger fan of winning games. i wonder what your opinion is now after a few more losses and airballs!!!

[B4110]

Let's see now, of the two seniors, the Serb played 25 minutes and was the second leading scorer and tied for top rebounder, while Nitro played only 12 minutes.

I'm guessing that you are a big fan of Tree and Harney, and any time the Zips lose it's because the coach didn't play them enough or otherwise use them properly.

Am I close?

just want u to pay attention to when this post was started. in midst of a 8 game winning streak. watered down competition must have u fooled.

[RACER]

B4 what is your opinion now that akron is the mac champs.im sure in your mind you saw the zips beat Can't last week to.

[Dr Z]

Good rotation second half.

[burrdie]

Nope the problem is the team has a split personality. They won because they decided to play ball the second half and worked as a team. Very proud of them coming back from the deficit. Boy do I have great hopes for next year. When they wants something so badly they do what needs to be done.

Good rotation second half.

[B4110]

B4 what is your opinion now that akron is the mac champs.im sure in your mind you saw the zips beat Can't last week to.

i've seen this team beating alot of teams. my sights have been set past the MAC. Any thing less than this would be a total collapse and make what ive been saying even more true. 20 wins, MAC champs, is cool. but whoopty doo. Hamburgers dont taste as good when other people eating Steaks... and im hungry baby!!! It's a new era in ZIPS land! LET'S GO!!!!!!

[johnnyzip84]

I've avoided the KD criticism discussion of late, mostly because I think the guy deserves some leeway considering what he's done during his tenure here. I also agree with Hilltopper's comments about coaches/players not being robots. I think it's particularly unrealistic to expect a team with so many newcomers to behave in a predictable manner. This does NOT mean I think people should NOT feel free to criticize KD if they see it another way. That's the purpose of a forum like this after all. But I think the people that criticize the most also should expect to get some "pushback" (I hate cliche business terms like this, but it seems to fit here) from those of us that think that it's either unwarranted or overblown. In other words, the people who say they're sick of the criticism have JUST as much right to state this opinion as the people who criticize.

One thing I thought about during and after the game last night was KD's handling of Zeke over the last few days. I recall shaking my head a little at the beginning of the 2nd half against Buffalo when Tree started at center to open the half (with 3 fouls even). I figured this was probably KD sending a message to Zeke that he needed to step it up. After all, Zeke was not playing a very aggressive game up to that point. Sure enough, before long Tree gets his 4th foul and I'm thinking to myself "KD, you just paid a dear price for picking this as a teaching moment for Zeke". In the short term, this MAY have contributed to the U@B loss. But maybe this helped Zeke "reboot" just in time for K.E.N.T.? Or maybe Zeke just loves playing against Justin Greene and K.E.N.T.? Either way, I think KD deserves a lot of credit for guiding this team through the season ending 3 game obstacle course.

[Dr Z]

I like the move when KD put Zeke back in with three fouls, but left Tree in and let Tree guard Justin Greene.