Jump to content

Zips vs. Malone


MDZip

Recommended Posts

Much better effort from Blake Justice tonight. Five triples and he has played some decent defense. Looks much smoother and doesn't appear to be forcing things as much as he did against Tiffin.

He was an ace in high school and a great recruit. Don't sell him short. His first appearance may have been rocky, but he is here for a reason. We actually don't have scholarships to throw around, and this team (OK, these two games were like playing a high school, I know) looks like a Top 50 program for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Justice was the big surprise in this game. He looked like a different player from the one we saw against Tiffin. He showed a lot of confidence shooting, handling the ball and on defense. He looked like someone determined to work his way into the rotation. Didn't really see anything to change my thinking about Forsythe, Kretzer, McAdams or Melo. They're all ready to play key roles as freshmen. Same with the veterans in that there's not a lot new to report about their abilities to perform.

A couple of interesting sidelights included Chauncey ditching his knee support at halftime and playing with more fluidity in the second half. Also, Tree appeared to be off in the first half and only played 5 minutes, so I'm guessing he might have some kind of bug that was slowing him down.

Finally, the highlight of the night for me was a defensive play by Harney. He's not noted for taking a charge, and is more likely to step out of the way. But tonight he planted himself and got knocked on his fanny by a Malone player. All the Zips coaches jumped out of their seats and cheered, and KD made a point of lying down flat on the floor in front of the bench to acknowledge Harney's self-sacrifice. All the Zips players were smiling and laughing for several minutes.

So now we know that this Zips team is capable of blowing D-II teams out of the arena without difficulty. How will that translate into performances against tougher opponents? I'm optimistic, but understand that there are skeptics. On to Coastal Carolina.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Trying to answer a couple of questions, the only official word I've seen on Rico is that he would miss the two exhibition games. He didn't appear to be limping too badly tonight. And the final score was 106-67.

Also, I should add that Deji showed me a lot tonight. He played more minutes than anyone but Zeke, and all aspects of his game looked good, from ball handling to shooting to defending to rebounding. Deji appears to be a flexible player who is capable of stepping in and filling many different roles. It's always good to have a qualified "uitlity player" on the roster. And, speaking of Zeke, he appeared to be more focused on rebounding tonight than we've come to expect, and ended up with 13 boards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A random thought, not really related to the game against Malone.

How many Mac teams would trade their whole teams for only our Freshmen and sophomores?

Think about it in a different way: How many Mac teams would trade their starting 5 for:

Harney, Forsythe, McAdams, Melo, and Tree?

My answer is all of them except Ohio. And those guys mostly come off the bench for us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Few more thoughts:

Very puzzled by the absence of Tree throughout this one. Let's hope it is just a minor illness and not something more serious.

First time I have ever seen Harney engaged in all facets of the game and the result (albeit against a vastly overmatched opponent) was nothing short of spectacular. If we can get that kind of effort from Harney night in and night out there isn't a team on the schedule that can beat us.

Still no sign of Josh Egner. Me thinks the lid is about shut on his Zips career. Shame. He has a lot of physical tools, but just never seemed to have the polish as a basketball player that you need to play in this league. When Harney and Tree arrived at practice the final chapter seems to have been all but written for Josh.

I don't know if Malone and Tiffin are just that bad at defending the 3 point arch, but man does it seem like we have a lot of guys who can stroke it from 3. Today it seemed like Justice, McAdams, Deji, Walsh and Kretzer at least were pretty much unconscious from the three point line. Lord I hope the days of watching wild, off-balanced 3's from guys like Brett McClanahan are over with.

If, IF we decide to play Pat F and Zeke together on the floor at the same time it is going to be next to impossible for our opponents to get a clean shot off anywhere around the rim. Two very good shot-blockers out there.

Dave already mentioned him, but I continue to be very intrigued by what Deji could bring to this team. He has enough ball skills to take on some spot duty at the point. He can make some outside shots. He can make some moves in traffic that will put a lot of pressure on an opponents defense. What I'm most intrigued by though are just the raw physical tools. Those long arms. Those big hops. I really hope we find a way to keep him on the floor for 15-20 minutes a night if for no other reason that to see what happens.

Reggie McAdams did a nice job running the point at times tonight. With him, Abreu, Melo and Deji there are 4 guys on this team that can bring the ball up the court and trigger offense. Not to mention Walsh and Gilliam can handle those duties in a pinch. Makes it very difficult for an opposing defense when you have that many good ball-handlers out there.

Don't have the stats in front of me, but it appeared that the pressure defense forced a lot more turnovers from Malone tonight. KD mentioned in his postgame of the Tiffin game that he wanted to see us force more turnovers. Felt like he should have been happier with the effort tonight.

Can this team really go 11 or 12 deep throughout the course of this season? I admit to being skeptical, but I am seriously wondering who outside of Egner isn't going to get time this year? Every one of these guys has shown through the 2 exhibition games that they can bring something to the table to help the Zips win. Pretty nice problem to have if you are KD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A random thought, not really related to the game against Malone.

How many Mac teams would trade their whole teams for only our Freshmen and sophomores?

Think about it in a different way: How many Mac teams would trade their starting 5 for:

Harney, Forsythe, McAdams, Melo, and Tree?

My answer is all of them except Ohio. And those guys mostly come off the bench for us.

I agree. And you even neglected to mention Jake Kretzer.

Add those young six to our incoming stud-four (yes, assuming all four sign) - BJ Gladden, Aaron Jackson, Isaiah Johnson and Kwan Cheatham - and wow, better get a pair of Zip Watcher's shades. B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree. And you even neglected to mention Jake Kretzer.

Add those young six to our incoming stud-four (yes, assuming all four sign) - BJ Gladden, Aaron Jackson, Isaiah Johnson and Kwan Cheatham - and wow, better get a pair of Zip Watcher's shades. B)

I didn't forget Kretzer, I just wanted to have a 5 to 5 trade :wave:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...