Zeke's #1

[Dave in Green]

Zeke has led the Zips to another #1 national statistical ranking. Noted in a story titled Jeff Withey, Kansas, and How Being Big Will Never Go Out of Style is the following: The Kansas defense has only allowed opponents to make 47 percent of their dunks and layups, a percentage that ranks second only to Akron, a team blessed with rim defender Zeke Marshall.

Also, Zip2Go posted the following in another thread, and I thought it deserved to be added to this thread, which I plan to continue to update as more good data comes out on Zeke.

Here's another stat. Zeke is ranked #15 in the country in value added to the team. He ranked higher than the kids from Kentucky (Noel) and Kansas (Whithey). - Value Added Basketball

[zestycoyote]

Zeke has led the Zips to another #1 national statistical ranking. Noted in a story titled Jeff Withey, Kansas, and How Being Big Will Never Go Out of Style is the following: The Kansas defense has only allowed opponents to make 47 percent of their dunks and layups, a percentage that ranks second only to Akron, a team blessed with rim defender Zeke Marshall.

Also, Zip2Go posted the following in another thread, and I thought it deserved to be added to this thread, which I plan to continue to update as more good data comes out on Zeke.

Awesome stat, for sure, but I'm not sure it's fair to the other two players. Zeke is defending mid-major athletes (or worse). The others are facing much better teams/players, on average.

[Dave in Green]

@zestycoyote, you're right that individual and team stat comparisons are not completely reliable because different players and different teams face different levels of competition that affect the ease or difficulty of running up those stats. These variables exist to some degree in all amateur sports along with other variables, such as some coaches electing to run up scores and others putting in subs early with a big lead. I take stats with a grain of salt, but still appreciate when Zips teams and players are at or near the top in any national category.

[zestycoyote]

@zestycoyote, you're right that individual and team stat comparisons are not completely reliable because different players and different teams face different levels of competition that affect the ease or difficulty of running up those stats. These variables exist to some degree in all amateur sports along with other variables, such as some coaches electing to run up scores and others putting in subs early with a big lead. I take stats with a grain of salt, but still appreciate when Zips teams and players are at or near the top in any national category.

Agreed. I'm not saying anything bad against Zeke or the Zips. I think he'd fit on a lot of high profile teams and put up similar, if not better stats.

[ZippyforPresident]

College Insider.com video highlighting Akron's Zeke Marshall Link

[Dave in Green]

Breitbart has released a list of the best player on every college team, from #1 Michigan to #347 Grambling, and includes their national ranking for each player. The Zips are ranked #52, and Zeke is listed as UA's best player and the #16 best player in the country right behind Kansas star Ben McLemore at #15.

[dboze]

Breitbart has released a list of the best player on every college team, from #1 Michigan to #347 Grambling, and includes their national ranking for each player. The Zips are ranked #52, and Zeke is listed as UA's best player and the #16 best player in the country right behind Kansas star Ben McLemore at #15.

Where's the Ohio U. troller that said that DJ Cooper (#166 best player) is known nationally and Zeke (#16 best player) is not. Numbers don't lie. Good find!

[MDZip]

Another fun little exercise on Breitbart where they take the top 16 conferences and name a 10 man team for each one. The MAC is 16th and they use a player adjusted formula that I reallly didn't look into, but they have Zeke ranked at the top but no sign of DJ Cooper (or Tree) but did have both Brian Walsh and Nick Harney listed. I'd vote for that top five.

Rnk MAC All-Conference Team Ht Yr Off Def PG/Per Value Add

16 Zeke Marshall Akron 7' 0 Sr 5.31 -2.45 0.50 8.26

115 Javon McCrea Buffalo 6' 7" Jr 3.84 -2.01 5.85

158 Chris Evans Can't St. 6' 8" Sr 3.64 -1.66 5.30

164 Rian Pearson Toledo 6' 4" Jr 3.32 -1.42 0.50 5.24

205 Brian Walsh Akron 6' 5" Jr 3.41 -0.92 0.50 4.82

239 Jon Smith Ohio 6' 6" Jr 2.56 -1.89 4.45

352 Reggie Keely Ohio 6' 9" Sr 2.66 -0.98 3.64

356 Richaun Holmes Bowling Green 6' 8" So 1.76 -1.86 3.62

372 Nick Harney Akron 6' 7" Jr 2.66 -0.89 3.55

375 Shayne Whittington Western Michigan 6' 10" Jr 2.51 -1.03 3.54

[Big Zip]

Kind of an interesting list where Harney ends up above Treadwell. I'm not sure I see it the same way.

I will say from being at the game last Saturday -- I liked McCrea -- he is huge. Dude could really be a force next year. He certainly didn't appear to be 6'7".

[Bubba4three]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naCYtzvTTbQ&sns=tw

[GoZips]

Troll, don't you have your own board to bloviate on?

btw, get a new screen name that traitor has been selling used cars for several years now.

gawd, I hope ZipsNation posters are not infesting the OU gagpile.

[akzipper]

Troll, don't you have your own board to bloviate on?

btw, get a new screen name that traitor has been selling used cars for several years now.

gawd, I hope ZipsNation posters are not infesting the OU gagpile.

Honestly I don't care what they think or have to say. I just don't see them as a rival. Thinking Bigger is a motto meant for more than the MAC. If we spend our time worrying about MAC schools we aren't setting high enough goals. I don't care what other MAC schools have done in the past Elite8, Sweet Sixteen, BCS, CWS all that matters right now is this season. Wednesday's game means just as much as Saturday's.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Thinking Bigger is a motto meant for more than the MAC.

No it isn't.

[Dave in Green]

Getting back on topic here, Zeke continues to move up in various national offensive statistical rankings:

#1: Zeke remains the nation's leader in free throw rate @ 100.8.

#2: Zeke remains #2 in floor percentage @ 69.8.

#4: Zeke has moved up from #5 to #4 in field goal percentage @ 68.4.

#7: Zeke has moved up from #8 to #7 in true shooting percentage @ 69.3.

#7: Zeke has moved up from #9 to #7 in effective field goal percentage @ 68.8.

#16: Zeke has moved up from #23 to #16 in offensive rating @ 129.9.

On the defensive end, after 15 blocks in the last 2 games, Zeke is #4 in block percentage (15.4) and #5 in both total blocks (73) and blocks per game (3.8).

[MontrealExposloveZippy]

NCAA Career Block Leaders

Sorry to use Wikipedia, but they were the only site I could find with a nice encompassing list of shot blockers ...

Zeke stands with 319 career blocks. In order to be in the TOP 25 of all time he would need to reach 393; which equals 74 more blocks...

There are 12 regular season games left not including tournament games. Zeke needs to average a little over 6 blocks a game to reach the TOP 25 for Career Shot Blockers

Hey, it could happen!

[Zip Watcher]

So with roughly 20 games left in his Zips career, he needs 4 BPG to get to a smooth 400.

B) B)

[akronzips71]

NCAA Career Block Leaders

Sorry to use Wikipedia, but they were the only site I could find with a nice encompassing list of shot blockers ...

Zeke stands with 319 career blocks. In order to be in the TOP 25 of all time he would need to reach 393; which equals 74 more blocks...

There are 12 regular season games left not including tournament games. Zeke needs to average a little over 6 blocks a game to reach the TOP 25 for Career Shot Blockers

Hey, it could happen!

But we should get probably two MAC Tourney games and hopefully at least two dance games so he can have 16 more games as a Zip.

[Dave in Green]

Zeke's stock is rising on NBADraft.net. Today, in evaluating mid-major players, they note that Zeke is ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Player Efficency Rating (PER): The 7 footer is currently averaging 12.6ppg and 6.7rpg, while shooting 68% from the field. He had major Division one offers but passed to stay at home. He will get a fair look from the NBA and could end up being a Joel Anthony type player.

PER is a good overall measurement as it sums up all of a player's positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player's performance. I just checked the latest PER rankings on ESPN, and Zeke is listed at #10. I'll add PER next time I update Zeke's national rankings.

[MDZip]

Zeke's stock is rising on NBADraft.net. Today, in evaluating mid-major players, they note that Zeke is ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Player Efficency Rating (PER): The 7 footer is currently averaging 12.6ppg and 6.7rpg, while shooting 68% from the field. He had major Division one offers but passed to stay at home. He will get a fair look from the NBA and could end up being a Joel Anthony type player.

PER is a good overall measurement as it sums up all of a player's positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player's performance. I just checked the latest PER rankings on ESPN, and Zeke is listed at #10. I'll add PER next time I update Zeke's national rankings.

Interesting, there are three other MAC players listed there that play at a high level as efficiency as well. Javon McCrea is only two spots behind Zeke and Chris Evans is #91. The other player is from Ohio, but not named Cooper (he probably just isn't getting enough minutes to qualify, I'm sure ). It's Reggie Keely, I have some respect for his game (he is shooting it almost as well as Zeke), but as a point of interest all of them are frontcourt players and Zeke has already played against the other two and pretty well shut them down. I expect he could have the same effect on Keeley. Also find it funny that they say he passed on Major D-1 offers to stay home.

[akronzips71]

Zeke now shooting 70.9% from the field, which is #1 in the country pending what Marshall Bjorklund does today (and also how well Reggie Keeley shot, although I think he takes more shots than Zeke so harder to affect the % in one game.

[MDZip]

Zeke now shooting 70.9% from the field, which is #1 in the country pending what Marshall Bjorklund does today (and also how well Reggie Keeley shot, although I think he takes more shots than Zeke so harder to affect the % in one game.

Keeley went 3-7 and fouled out so Zeke has now dominated ther other three "best in the MAC".

[Dave in Green]

Midway through the MAC conference season (8 games played and 8 to go), Zeke now leads the MAC in field goal shooting at 75.9% (41 of 54). He's hitting better than 3 of every 4 shots from the field. I'm not sure if any player has ever been able to do this for an entire conference season in any conference.

[zippy5]

Midway through the MAC conference season (8 games played and 8 to go), Zeke now leads the MAC in field goal shooting at 75.9% (41 of 54). He's hitting better than 3 of every 4 shots from the field. I'm not sure if any player has ever been able to do this for an entire conference season in any conference.

I remember Chevy Troutman hitting over 70% at Pitt around 2005. I'll see if I can find stats.

[akronzips71]

Midway through the MAC conference season (8 games played and 8 to go), Zeke now leads the MAC in field goal shooting at 75.9% (41 of 54). He's hitting better than 3 of every 4 shots from the field. I'm not sure if any player has ever been able to do this for an entire conference season in any conference.

He leads the entire country at 70.9%

[Quickzips]

That 70.9% really is pretty amazing if you think about it. When Zeke came in as a freshman he was a complete enigma on offense. His shot selection was horrible (I remember many games in which he was taking multiple 3's early in the shot clock) and he couldn't catch a cold in the low post let alone an entry pass. It really is a tribute to the work that young man has put in and the job that this coaching staff has done with him.