North Dakota State University

[johnnyzip84]

Worked late tonight, so I listened to 1350 (more on that later) until I got home, where my wife was nice enough to have left the satellite box on ESPN2 and I was able to backtrack an hour and see much of what I had heard on the radio.

Zeke wasn't protecting himself from landing on anyone because the defender wasn't under him.

That said, it still was an unnecessary call. Those of us who have officiated guys like Koufas, Frease, Mills, etc., in the Federal League learned quickly to swallow the whistle when really big guys are on a beeline for the hoop. When they're heading straight at the basket, they will hit their heads on the bottom of the backboard if they don't use the rim to stop themselves. The only time it becomes a T is if they hang there for longer than it takes their legs to swing back under them or if they "chin up."

I agree. Player safety should be paramount, Zeke's 7 foot frame was approaching a 45 degree angle with the hardwood. If he let's go of the rim when (apparently) the refs wanted him to he would have abruptly fallen and hit his head on the same hardwood. He was in no way trying to "show up" NDSU.

[akronzips71]

Agreed. It was a terrible call. In a game full of biased anti-Akron calls.

Those of you who watched the game on TV did the calls and the booing look as bad

on TV as it seemed in the JAR?

Yes, they kept calling offensive fouls that didn't even happen, and ignored some of our guys getting knocked all over the court.

[akronzips71]

Looking at the Zeke dunk in slo mo, that was a TERRIBLE call! He almost hit his head on the rim!!!!

He grabbed the rim and propelled himself backwards to prevent knocking himself out.

[Zipmeister]

Worked late tonight, so I listened to 1350 (more on that later) until I got home, where my wife was nice enough to have left the satellite box on ESPN2 and I was able to backtrack an hour and see much of what I had heard on the radio.

Zeke wasn't protecting himself from landing on anyone because the defender wasn't under him.

That said, it still was an unnecessary call. Those of us who have officiated guys like Koufas, Frease, Mills, etc., in the Federal League learned quickly to swallow the whistle when really big guys are on a beeline for the hoop. When they're heading straight at the basket, they will hit their heads on the bottom of the backboard if they don't use the rim to stop themselves. The only time it becomes a T is if they hang there for longer than it takes their legs to swing back under them or if they "chin up."

The T on Zeke was well-deserved as no one was below him when he jumped and nobody forced him to run so fast to the bucket that he couldn't control his jump. I thought AA did a good job of getting his man overconfident by letting him dribble by him possession after possession. Good crowd. Pretty entertaining game. Go Zips.

[The Hip Zip]

I just wanted to add that I thought Carmelo Bentancourt had perhaps his best game tonight. I don't know how it translated to the TV but I think that those on hand would agree. Slowly the mistakes are vanishing from his game and he did a very good job of running the offense tonight.

[The Hip Zip]

Also, good job students. probably the most I've seen there in a long, long time.

[wadszip]

4,474 for attendance? That has to be a misprint. If InfoCision was ever that full, the university would find a way to report it at 50,000.

As for the game, for about 30 minutes, that was the kind of game fans had been waiting for since the first OU game. Great defensive intensity and the offense was in a nice flow against a very good defensive team. Nick was under control in the first half and provided the spark this team needed. Hopefully, he doesn't fall in love with the three ball, but the two he hit, and the one he missed, he was wide open and can't complain about those even if they didn't go in. Hopefully, he is ok, because this team will need his ball pressure on Cooper Wednesday.

Tree was the beast we know he is and Zeke was Zeke. Kretzer and McAdams aren't freshmen anymore. They've been solid all year (even though Jake had his shooting slump, he still brought it on defense). But both look real comfortable right now and both are starting to put the ball on the floor more. Even if it's simply to make the defense move and it's a kickout, that's huge because it will keep defenses from sagging into the paint. I also thought Carmelo played some nice minutes (and he looks like Deron Williams with the beard look).

BTW, the T was obviously BS, I guess they would rather have Zeke break his neck than hang on the rim (I thought the NCAA was all about player safety?). Still, that was the most exciting 30 seconds of Zips ball I have ever seen. What I loved about the Zeke steal and throw-down (outside of Zeke showing major athleticism) is that it came off a missed FT and the team still set up a press and caused the turnover. Then Carmelo forces the turnover on the next possession, and then hooks up Tree with the no-look for the throw-down.

P.S. MommaZeke, I'm watching it again on replay, and your reaction was shared by about 5,000 other Zips fans (and was priceless).

Now, on to some constructive criticism (and the only reason I'll criticize this team is because it's so apparent this is the most talented Akron team I've ever seen, and one that can play with anybody, but still does some maddening things).

1. Free throw shooting: This has been a year-long problem that looked like maybe was solved against EMU, but it was as bad as it has been all year tonight. Granted, most of it was Tree, but still 50 percent is unacceptable. At least Zeke stepped up and made his. Still, this team can get away with poor free throw shooting and win against inferior competition, but it will not happen in the tournament. With that said, Tree is mentally tough, so I think he can shake this off. He won't be an 70 percent shooter this year, but he needs to at least go 55-60 and then work on it in the offseason (I don't see anything in his stroke that says he can't be a 70 percent shooter from the line).

2. Turnovers: First off, I can live with some of the turnovers this team is making since some come in playmaking situations. But there still are too many lazy turnovers being made. This team is good enough to take some chances on alley-oops, trying to thread some high-risks passes, but they aren't good enough where if they commit TOs on some of the higher-risk plays, to commit another 3-4 on simply lazy passes. This is a double-edged sword, because you like the aggressiveness, but at the same time, I believe this team needs to try to balance that out with solid half-court play.

3. Scoring droughts: This isn't anything new to this program. We've seen plenty of them (despite all the success). I don't have an answer to how to fix this. The simple answer is to work the ball down low. Well, they generally try to do that. They just have to find somebody who will be a slump-buster before the last 5 minutes of a game (an area this team has been absolutely clutch).

Overall, all these criticisms are fixable since none are a matter of talent. IMO, the goal from here on out should be less on the win streak, but more on correcting the little things this team has struggled with (and still won due to inferior competition) so these problems don't show up against teams as, or more, talented.

[Dave in Green]

Having now watched the replay, you guys are right that the defender who was right on Zeke's tail slowed down and broke to the left just before Zeke jumped. So it's true that he was never under Zeke. From my perspective at the JAR, I missed that as I was focused on the ball and not the defender. You're also correct that Zeke did not hang on the rim in a way that merits a technical. I don't think refs are used to seeing 7-footers do something like that. Zeke had such a head of steam to stay ahead of the defender that his body ended up almost parallel to the floor. As his body started swinging back he looked down, saw that there was no one under him and immediately released. Looking at the timer at the bottom of the video, Zeke grabbed the rim at the 7-second mark and released at the 8-second mark. That was exactly the time it took for his body to go from vertical to horizontal and back to vertical -- 1 stinking second. Bad call.

[zippyfan34]

And Mama Zeke makes sportscenter!

Also there was a few posts about how the refs were anti-Akron which I could agree with but you go over to NDSU message board and they think the refs were totally against them. I guess all fans are homers:)

[MDZip]

Nice headline on the Zips win on the ESPN Main basketball page.

[zen]

I loved that slam by Zeke. I say, it was worth the T, specially then Tree dotted the exclamation point afterwards.

The only thing I would bring up that might have been in the ref's minds is that maybe Zeke could have pulled up and made a less forcefull and less showboat play. If he would have slowed himself down, yes defenders would have had a chance to catch up and setup, but here is a 7 footer, and should still get the shot.

Obviously, I don't personally agree. I don't believe you give up any advantage you have at the moment, but probably thought it was unnecessary.

Also MDZip, this is better. I just saw it

[Dave in Green]

On the subject of scoring droughts, the Zips are far from unique. Every basketball team has scoring droughts, and every basketball team has times when it can't seem to miss. This is the nature of averages. If a team shoots 50% from the field, it doesn't mean it hits every other shot. There will be strings of hits and misses. It's like flipping a coin. There's a 50% chance each time that it will come up heads and a 50% chance it will come up tails. But sometimes you get long strings of just heads or just tails. It's the same with temperature. If the average daily high for a certain date is 70 degrees, sometimes it will be 90 and sometimes 50. It averages out. So just enjoy the good runs when they come and think during the bad runs that this too shall pass. If you want to see how many other basketball teams have this problem, try an internet search for basketball scoring droughts and read all the laments from all the fans of all the high school, college and pro teams who've suffered through them. At the end of a game, the only thing that really matters is that your team's ups and downs average out more positive than the other team's. This edition of the Zips is much better at that than previous editions.

[GP1]

On the subject of scoring droughts, the Zips are far from unique. Every basketball team has scoring droughts, and every basketball team has times when it can't seem to miss.

True. Even more than numbers though, any team with a lead should expect a desperation series of punches from the other team. They are going to land some. It's all about how a team handles the punches.

NDSU had their starters in when they went on their "run" (use that term loosely as it relates to what NDSU did last night). The Zips kept their normal rotation in and rested players on schedule. When ND's starters got tired, the desperation punches were not as strong against a well rotated and rested Zips team. When the Zips had their rested starters in, the run ND went on subsided.

Squashing a desperation second half run of a losing team with rested players is a common feature of the NBA. KD did a nice job of keeping the team on schedule last night and squashing ND's second half run.

Last night was all good in just about every meaningful way.

[LZIp]

i watched sportscenter 11 this morning and did not see any mention of the Zips at all, especially in the top 10. Does anybody have a link?

Also, not sure if it has been mentioned or not, but the student re-broke the attendance record for the 3rd time this season last night. To the poster who said you havent saw that many students in a long time, well, you technically have never saw that many students at a game

[ZachTheZip]

Anybody else notice that Melo played a lot more minutes than usual last night, and that the offense was running pretty well with him in?

[johnnyzip84]

My Saturday Beacon Journal had a GREAT picture of Tree (from directly above the basket) working hard for a rebound. It is photo number 3 in this group from Ohio.com. What intensity he brings every minute he's out there! There are some other nice shots in there as well from the same angle (Zeke's breakaway dunk is 14, Tree's follow-up dunk is 6 and 7).

[akronzips71]

My Saturday Beacon Journal had a GREAT picture of Tree (from directly above the basket) working hard for a rebound. It is photo number 3 in this group from Ohio.com. What intensity he brings every minute he's out there! There are some other nice shots in there as well from the same angle (Zeke's breakaway dunk is 14, Tree's follow-up dunk is 6 and 7).

Look at picture #14. Zekes head is clearly above the rim, and he would have brained himself if he didn't grab on and push off.

[Blue & Gold]

Picture 14 is a beautiful bird's eye shot of Zeke's throw down.

I had to save that picture to my hard drive!

Go Zips!

[Blue & Gold]

Anybody else notice that Melo played a lot more minutes than usual last night, and that the offense was running pretty well with him in?

Melo played very well last night.

In the post-game presser KD said it was weird and that he actually thought the team looked better last night while Melo was running the 1 than when Alex was in the game.

And I love Melo's defense.

[Quickzips]

My postgame thoughts:

NDSU clearly did a poor job scouting the Zips. You come to play Akron you better know, Zeke is going to make life miserable for you on the inside. Yet the Bison didn't seem to have any sort of a game plan other than dumping it off inside and trying to attack Zeke. It never worked, and they never really made any adjustments. By the end of the game they threw up one wild shot after another (I'm pretty sure one even hit the shot clock) just hoping that anything would get over Zeke's outstretched arm.

Harney came out aggressive, which was nice to see, but he fell off big time in the second half. KD said in the post-game that Nick might have injured himself. I hope it is nothing too serious. First half Harney was a lot of fun to watch.

I thought McAdams more than held his own in his first start. Getting your first start on National Television all you really want from the guy is to make some contribution and you don't want to notice him for the wrong reasons (turnovers, silly fouls, missed defensive assignments). Reggie did all of that last night. The future is bright with him and Kretzer.

Betancourt is slowly developing into a serviceable backup PG, and it couldn't come at a better time. Abreu needs a few less minutes in this stretch run to get ready for the post-season. If 'Melo keeps playing at the level he has been we should be able to cut back on Abreu's minutes a little bit and keep him a little healthier for the stretch run.

What in gods name is going on with Tree's FT shooting. He's never been a good FT shooter, but last night was absolutely putrid. He was having trouble just getting the ball to the front of the rim. I have to say, right now it looks like it is more mental with Tree than anything. He just looks like he dreads going to the line.

To some extent we are who we are. I've been waiting all year for the Zips to play 40 minutes at both ends of the floor the way they are capable of, but I just don't see it happening. These guys are going to continue to frustrate us at times by looking lackluster in spurts (sometimes long spurts), getting down early and/or letting big leads slip away. So long as we keep winning I guess it is all good, but I dread the day that it catches up with us.

Probably the most disappointing thing yesterday was the body language. Not good at all. Even at the start of the game. I saw a lot of guys sulking, looking un-interested and there wasn't a lot of energy. Tree, Harney, Zeke, Chauncey, Pat F., Abreu, Betancourt. They all had very poor body language yesterday. Chauncey's was the worst. I absolutely understand why he isn't playing much despite being (apparently) recovered from the injury. He barely participated in shoot around, choosing instead to wave to his family, fraternize with the refs and try a few trick shots from the bench. Not what you want from a supposed senior leader.

These next two scare the piss out of me. At OU is going to be tough, everyone knows that, but I am just as worried about at Buffalo. Regardless of the result at OU that one has the potential to be a big let-down. A win at OU and we could be in for a hangover trap game at Buffalo. A loss at OU could shake the confidence of a team that hasn't lost in nearly 3 months and could result in back to back losses.

[bUAkronG]

Just figured I'd share this excellent highlight video from ZipsAthletics on YouTube:

If the link doesn't work, go here:

[Quickzips]

Just a couple more points here:

While Betancourt looked good, he needs to work on getting the ball in-bounds on those side out plays under the basket. More than once I was very surprised that we didn't get a 5 second call.

Loved the end of the first half when we extended the defense out to about 25-30 feet and played Harney out top of it. Nick might not always be the best defender, but his length and athleticism makes him very dangerous if you put him in the right spots, and that is one of them. NDSU got VERY flustered by that.

Not at all concerned by the T on Zeke after the big dunk. Frankly, he can get a couple of those a night for all I care so long as he continues to play with this new found attitude of "I'm going to score this one and if you don't get out of my way I'm throwing you through the hoop as well". Two years ago on that steal Zeke would have pulled up, handed the ball off to a guard and we would have set up in the half court. Friday that was a game changing fast break dunk. Should it have been a T? I don't know, and I don't really care. All I want to see is that aggressiveness and attitude from Zeke.

[Dave in Green]

..... NDSU clearly did a poor job scouting the Zips. You come to play Akron you better know, Zeke is going to make life miserable for you on the inside. Yet the Bison didn't seem to have any sort of a game plan other than dumping it off inside and trying to attack Zeke. It never worked, and they never really made any adjustments. .....

They were talking about that over on the Bison boards. As it turns out, every team NDSU has played this season has double-teamed Marshall Bjorklund. That includes Minnesota, which has future NBA frontcourt player Trevor Mbakwe, and Indiana, which has future NBA frontcourt player Cody Zeller. Everyone in the state of North Dakota was shocked that Zeke could handle Bjorklund without double coverage when Mbakwe and Zeller couldn't. After all, there are still many who claim that Zeke isn't good enough to play in the NBA. The only game plan NDSU has used all season is to take advantage of Bjorklund being double-teamed to open up other players for easy shots. They had no plan B. As the Bison coach said after the game:

“Marshall (Bjorklund) has played against a lot of good centers,” Phillips said. “He played against Cody Zeller of Indiana. There hasn’t been a team that could shut him down, and Zeke did that. I knew Zeke would give us problems, but I wasn’t expecting a 1 of 6 night.”

Or, as a Bison fan had to say on their forum:

That 7 footer. Absolute BEAST. What a great player.

[ZZZips]

Elton's view of the final Bracketbuster Weekend and a few predictions on end of season MAC awards. To be published in Monday's PD.

http://bit.ly/15IclMb

[fargobison]

I just wanted to say you guys have a great team, I think NDSU might have had the toughest road game in Bracketbusters this year. Zeke reminds me a lot of Keith Benson who played for Oakland a few years ago, his presence just changes the game in so many ways and a lot of it doesn't show up on a stat sheet. He is a legit NBA talent. Of course the rest of your team is also very good, they play hard and really go at it on the defensive end. Your press was the best we've seen this season.

Anyway I just wanted to stop by one more time and say good luck the rest of the season and I'll be looking forward to your return trip to Fargo in a year or two.