@ Miami (OH) Saturday 1pm

[Dave in Green]

@skip-zip, Rico could develop at least a little more speed by reducing his body fat and focusing more on proper conditioning exercises. But his body is just not built for speed. He'll always be at a coverage disadvantage to faster guards. So discussing how the team can help compensate for various individual players' deficiencies is also fair game.

As for Deji, Coach Dambrot has said that he's about a year away from becoming a really good player. He needs PT to develop, and his growing pains are going to be painful for fans to watch. Deji was a late bloomer in HS, where he was considered a shutdown defender with modest offensive skills, and that shows up in his current game. His 6-9 wingspan, spectacular leaping ability and good foot speed hint at his potential. Unlike Rico, he has no problem staying in front of guards he's defending. But his shooting and ball handling are works in progress. In retrospect, Deji could have really benefited from redshirting. But when Rico suffered his knee injury early last season, Deji was forced to play due to lack of backcourt depth. If the best qualities of Deji and Rico were combined in one player, he'd be a star.

[GP1]

In all seriousness about Rico, he is still within a year of hurting his knee. It isn't uncommon for a player to take over 365 days to fully recover from knee injuries. If I remember right, he had a flare up earlier this season so I'm sure there is at least discomfort there. It's just something he is going to have to deal with and the coaches will have to adapt to.

To me, he looks in much better shape than he did at CCU. His body can now do what his mind wants to do with the ball. It's a good step forward from the beginning of the year. I don't know that he has ever been in tip top shape, but he is in shape for himself and that makes him a pretty good player.

Speaking of good guard play, I went to the VCU vs. UNCC game last night (No Z.I.P., Cornbread Maxwell was not there, but they do like to show video of him during their 1977 run). I only bring this up because a coach near and dear to many Zips fans is the coach of VCU and we are talking about guard play. Shaka Smart has a very good team with guard play at the forefront. They really took advantage of UNCC's lack of a quality point guard. VCU makes it extremely difficult for teams to get the ball inside of the three point arch. UNCC had one turnover after another. If UofA played basketball in the A-10, you guys would love going to the games and watching the Zips compete against much better teams than the MAC has. I believe we could do well in this league.

[Dave in Green]

@GP1, it wasn't a flare up of Rico's knee earlier this season. It was a severe high ankle sprain. That threw his conditioning off as he was unable to practice with the team for awhile. He was operating at reduced speed for many games. At this point I'm not sure if there are any lingering after effects from either. Rico was never fast from the day he arrived at UA. But he's always been quick and deceptive, which I believe he developed as compensation for not being fast.

[MontrealExposloveZippy]

If this was Akron from a few years ago, we would have lost this game.

We didn't lose, we pulled it out and are still in the national spotlight with a 15 game winning streak

[johnnyzip84]

I am not of the opinion that Melo and Deji shouldn't play. In fact, until a better backup PG solution is uncovered, Melo pretty much has to put in a few mnutes here and there (although I still think Walsh and McAdams both merit some consideration in a pinch). And I haven't given up on Deji as a player, but I have as a PG. And it's got as much to do with his decision making than anything else.

If Deji is going to develop into a GOOD player, his position will probably have to be on the wing. I realize he was somewhat of a raw talent with limited hoop experience before coming to UA. But I'm really puzzled that someone hasn't taught him how to shoot a jumpshot by now. Usually when a player prefers a set shot over a jumpshot, it's because they lack the necessary upper body strength to consistently deliver an accurate shot at the top of their leap. Deji looks to be plenty strong in his upper body, so I have to believe the ability is there. Now I don't expect this to happen in the middle of the season, but there is NO reason for him to settle for shooting a set shot next season provided he works all summer on this. Dru Joyce got away with the set shot because he was a very good distributor and he was very accurate from well beyond the arc. If Deji can develop a jumper, he will also be able to use it in a pull up situation from 10-12 feet, a shot he should be able to get often because of the defense having to respect his speed. I know someone will say that he's simply more accurate using a set shot now. That may be, but we are talking about player DEVELOPMENT and I don't believe the coaches or Deji should settle for him shooting this way long term. As far as Harney's set shot, I'm not sure he has the upper body strength I see in Deji. This may inhibit getting Nick to alter his shooting style (not that I want him takiing a lot of threes anyway).

Lastly, since you guys won't (understandably) allow me to give Tree to Coach Bowden for a tryout, how about allowing TB to give Deji a look at cornerback or free safety? With his speed, length, strength, and leaping ability I would think he would make a great, physical cover guy. OK, this is just a random thought, so please don't take this last item too seriously

[Quickzips]

I'll weigh in a bit on the rotation issues.

First off, it is painfully obvious to anyone with two functioning eyeballs that Chauncey is huring out there. Him gimping up and down the floor for 5 minutes a game does nothing to help this team win or help him get healthy. With two games this week against relatively weak competition followed by a week off heading into the bracketbuster it is time to shut him down.

Regarding Melo, I really have to wonder what his long term future is with the Zips. He isn't going to start this year or next year. That job belongs to Rico (I'll address his defensive deficiencies later). So he gets to back up Rico for about 10 minutes per night this year. What happens next year with Nyles Evans in town? You don't bring in a JUCO player without expecting him to play and contribute right away. So you have to expect that Evans at least gets the backup PG minutes. So does Melo redshirt as a "sophomore"? His game has a long way to go. He's shown some ability to be a good defender from the PG spot, but he has no offensive game at all. It is almost watching Eric Snow's last couple seasons with the Cavs where he was simply not going to shoot no matter how wide open he is. That isn't going to work. Especially in Dambrot's system where balanced scoring is emphasized. If he doesn't develop some level of shooting I can't see him finishing his career with the Zips.

Deji is almost the anti-Melo right now in that he isn't afraid to shoot, but he shouldn't be shooting. Again, the kid just doesn't have a D-I shot. I remember watching recruiting video on him a couple years ago and being very concerned with his shot, and I have to say, it has only gotten worse since he got here. I can't understand why a guy who is so gifted athletically has to take set shot 3's. You can't tell me he can't get any lift on his jumper with the kind of athletic moves we've seen from him on the defensive end this year. On the flip side, he has shown that he can be a decent defender in this league. Unfortunately, I think he may just be limited to that in his career here.

On Rico's defensive game, we've all known for a while that Rico is a weak link on defense. It isn't a coincidence that opposing PGs going off on the Zips has been a regularity over the last 2 1/2 seasons. Rico is who he is. No amount of conditioning is going to have a significant impact on that. He can play the passing lanes relatively well and get some steals, but that is about all he brings on defense. On the flip side, he is one of the best offensive players the Zips have. When he's feeling it on offense he more than offsets the negatives on the defensive end. Yesterday his offensive game wasn't there as much and so he really didn't contribute a lot (and hence the Zips found themselves in a surprisingly close game). Nothing really difficult about it. Time to move on.

I do agree that the young guys, Kretzer and McAdams in particular need to see some more time. Kretzer gets pretty regular minutes, but it seems like KD is still hesitant to use Reggie at times. I'm not sure what this is about, as Reggie has shown he can handle himself pretty well at this level. I would at least get him those few minutes a game while Chauncey (should be) out resting that knee, and I wouldn't be afraid to reduce Deji's minutes either.

To summarize:

Shut down Chauncey for a couple weeks to let that knee heal up properly.

Melo keeps getting his 10 minutes per night this season. Next year???

Less minutes for Deji.

More minutes for McAdams coming from Chauncey sitting and Deji getting his minutes cut back.

Rico is who he is on defense. Get over it.

[odhgibo]

To summarize:

Shut down Chauncey for a couple weeks to let that knee heal up properly.

Melo keeps getting his 10 minutes per night this season. Next year???

Less minutes for Deji.

More minutes for McAdams coming from Chauncey sitting and Deji getting his minutes cut back.

Rico is who he is on defense. Get over it.

Anthony might end up being an old school PG type, scoring only occasionally and otherwise dishing. My concern is his frame, which just doesn't appear to be D1 ready. If he doesn't fill out over the summer, his chance to play more than 10-15 min per game don't look great.

Deji can guard an opposing PG, as long as someone else is able to dish and distribute.

Evans is not a classic PG. He's a scorer who happens to be PG size. He might be able to defend an opposing PG better than Rico, however.

I disagree about ability to defend on ball. It's more attitude and desire than ability. All the talking heads marvel about Aaron Craft's ability to defend. In large part, they're right, and he's not the most athletically gifted player in the world. If a player starts to get juiced as much by frustrating his opponent as he does by scoring, his defensive ability will miraculously improve.

Zips need better guard play down the stretch, and they will need even better guard play next year when the fuzzy blanket wearing 44 is taken away from them.