VCU Vs. Akron

[mes102]

You guys who are posting about Dambrot can't coach in these games, and shouldn't be our coach, WELCOME BACK.

Here's what I have to say to those of you that don't think KD has what it takes:

GET OUT OF HERE AND DON'T COME BACK

We're spoiled to be in this position. Plenty of MAC schools would have been satisfied to have been in our situation tonight. Some would have been satisfied to of been in our situation SATURDAY night.

Seven straight MAC title games, and 3 NCAA berths. NCAA tourney win will happen. People forget how young this team was this season. Tree will replace Zeke. We'll be better next season.

Anyways, this will sting for a while. However, I'm still a Zips fan and still a Dambrot supporter.

Good luck to Districtballer and the VCU Rams the rest of the tourney

[zen]

I'll be back in a few days.

[dre22era]

Zac Jackson ‏@FSOhioZJackson

Dambrot: Shaka has a job to do. His job is to get them ready for the next game. I take no offense to it.

[mes102]

k, cya

If you don't think Dambrot can do it, you need to at least give a name that can replace him. Can't just fire a guy and have no replacement?

I'm just tired of people pulling for Dambrot one day for coach of the year, and the next day those same people want him fired

[zen]

If you don't think Dambrot can do it, you need to at least give a name that can replace him. Can't just fire a guy and have no replacement?

I'm just tired of people pulling for Dambrot one day for coach of the year, and the next day those same people want him fired

Make that a few months.

Everyone is overreacting. Including me.

I never said he should go. I just said my faith was a little shaken. If we went down by 30 points but didn't turn the ball over, then at least we gameplanned against their strength. What did we have to lose by at least trying to not turn the ball over? Instead, we didn't coach for this game and played right into their hands.

[Zip Watcher]

I'm just tired of people pulling for Dambrot one day for coach of the year, and the next day those same people want him fired

Yet you'll throw a kid under the bus who had a bad night playing point for the 3rd time .. the first against a defense like VCU? Did you read what you posted?

B)

Go Zips!

[Ccmayor]

Vcu will be beat by a team that can handle the ball. I'm a ram fan and season ticket holder, but a realist. Everyone has them going to the final four. We got beat by st Louis twice, lost to Richmond, lasalle, temple... The common denominator was the guard play of these schools. They easily broke the press and we couldn't stop their drives into the lane for easy buckets. I love the rams, but they need some bigs to help out in the paint. I really wish you all would have been at full strength tonight. Outcome would have been totally different. Your big man is crazy good. Wish we had him.

[akronzips71]

If you don't think Dambrot can do it, you need to at least give a name that can replace him. Can't just fire a guy and have no replacement?

I'm just tired of people pulling for Dambrot one day for coach of the year, and the next day those same people want him fired

Fire him?

WTF???????????????????????????????

He took the team to the regular season and MAC tourney championship and the Dance.

WTF????????????????

You want to fire any coach that does not make national champion?

Guess what, there is only one national champion every year. And Akron is not getting that coach. Not ever. We must grow our own.

And this team played through the loss of the 6th man of the year, the starting point guard, and two main players who got the flu. Pretty damn good performance by everyone, especially the coach.

NOW STFU

[bUAkronG]

I think we've learned that KD is unable to make magic happen.

Two weeks ago he had less than 24 hours to prepare for the loss of a PG.

Tonight he had less than 24 hours to prepare for essentially the loss of our starting 2 guard.

but yeah, he should be fired.

night guys. Stay thirsty my friends.

[ksu sucks]

I'm genuinely surprised by the level of stupidity in this thread. I guess that's my problem.

Go zips!

[The Hip Zip]

@Keener I don't think these guys were as outmatched tonight as they were outcoached. Sad to say but Shaka is a much better coach. How else do you explain losing by 1 in OT last year to a worse Zips team and then not scoring enough points in an entire game to beat their point total at the half.

Did it occur to you at all that other than Zeke and Tree nobody else on the floor for the Zips tonight would receive any meaningful playing time for VCU? And to say that this is not true is bullshit. No offense to our guys but the difference in athleticism between our guards and wing guys to theirs was simply mind blowing. Tonight you saw the difference between a very good A10 team vs a very good MAC team rolling on 3 wheels.

To say we were outcoached tonight is absurd.

[Districtballer]

Sorry to end your season guys. I was really hoping you guys would make a run with the fantastic way you pulled together at the Q before we got paired up.

Zeke has had a great career and I'm sure he'll be successful in the NBA.

You guys will rebound from this and continue to build the best program in the MAC.

[GP1]

I'll just say this about last night. Sometimes circumstances are against you and things can quickly get out of control. We had a lot going against us last night.

[ZipGrad93]

Love the Zips, and I love Dambrot as coach... We just ran into the perfect storm last night.

I don't understand, however, why we didn't try to control the tempo of the game. We played right into their (red hot) hands. And, we have to learn to break the press with the pass, not the dribble.

Oh well, I still think the future's bright for Zips hoops.

[Districtballer]

Hopefully the basketball gods will just leave Shaka and Keith alone now.

Also, the black jerseys were super-slick! Good luck to the Zips, I think you have a nice heir apparent to Zeke in a certain Demetrius Treadwell. Kid can play!

[Buckzip]

Anyone blaming the coach for last nights game is wrong.

The only way you can lay any on him is if you want to say he didn't recruit enough athletic guards.

Other than that, the only way we would have won is if we had the Buford, McLaughlin backcourt last night.

Great season with a horrific ending.

[Big Zip]

Do you guys realize we lost by the widest margin in the 75 year history of the tournament? There is no way I'm putting that solely on the missing talent from this game. The talent level between these two teams was not that great that a record loss should have been set.

You can say what you want about me but I believe a Shaka coached Akron teams doesn't set that record.

KD is and has been a great coach for us but last night was not a good night for anyone on the Akron side of the ball. If you are willing to give the coach a pass on that then you might want to leave the board.

This was another great season and I enjoyed it! This is a sad way to end it. My hats go off to the seniors in this program Zeke, Brian and Chauncey -- thanks for some great memories guys and best of luck in whatever is next for you!

[Zipper10]

Do you guys realize we lost by the widest margin in the 75 year history of the tournament? There is no way I'm putting that solely on the missing talent from this game. The talent level between these two teams was not that great that a record loss should have been set.

Loyola 111, Tennessee Tech 42

(South regional first round, 1963

Kansas 110, Prairie View 52

(Midwest regional first round, 1998)

ESPN said it was the largest 5-12 match up difference but not in tournament history overall.

Still embarrassing but not the worst ever

[Big Zip]

@Zipper thanks for the correction. I must have been so distraught at that point I wasn't listening clearly.

[bigzipguy]

+1, GP1

[odhgibo]

Love the Zips, and I love Dambrot as coach... We just ran into the perfect storm last night.

I don't understand, however, why we didn't try to control the tempo of the game. We played right into their (red hot) hands. And, we have to learn to break the press with the pass, not the dribble.

The gameplan assuredly was to try to control tempo. But that's a two-way street: it also was VCU's gameplan.

What you saw from the Rams last night was a style that we used to see a lot more of in the late 1960s to mid-1980s. Pressure everywhere, with traps coming anywhere, any time. Those old enough to remember Nolan Richardson's 60 Minutes of Hell felt like they'd gone back in time. It's a style that's fun to watch (unless your team is playing against it) and very effective against teams that don't see it often. (There hasn't been a MAC team that played anything close to that style in 20+ years. Heck, that's also true of the Big Ten and, to some extent, the ACC.)

The Rams modus operandi is to impose their will on you and MAKE you play faster than you want to play. Once you speed up a little, it's hard to slow down. And each time that you play faster than you're used to, mistakes go up exponentially...not just turnovers, but missed shots, passes that aren't quite as accurate, fumbling the ball which prevents an easy drive, etc.

Do not be surprised AT ALL if Michigan also is made to look silly. The CBS talking heads were droning on about quality of guard play after last night's debacle, but it has less to do with quality than it does pace. Quality detoriates quickly when it's asked to play at a pace beyond what it's used to.

Eventually, the Rams will hit a team that doesn't mind playing at that speed. That team will still have 15+ turnovers, but they'll also get 20-25 easy points because they'll make good decisions with the ball. My money is on Kansas, but that might not be the case, particularly if VCU shoots the way it did last night.

[bigzipguy]

VCU is very good and played a great game. But with the best PG in the country, in Burke, Mich will be able to get the ball into their post people and win.

[Dr Z]

My money is on Kansas, but that might not be the case, particularly if VCU shoots the way it did last night.

I would like to see that game. I could not appreciate the great game that VCU played last night since they were doing it to my school. I want to see them do it to someone else. I'll be rooting for them against Michigan. Man, that game is going to sting us diehards for awhile. I haven't read a good rationalization here yet. The Dr needs a doctor.

[Blue & Gold]

Did it occur to you at all that other than Zeke and Tree nobody else on the floor for the Zips tonight would receive any meaningful playing time for VCU? And to say that this is not true is bullshit. No offense to our guys but the difference in athleticism between our guards and wing guys to theirs was simply mind blowing. Tonight you saw the difference between a very good A10 team vs a very good MAC team rolling on 3 wheels.

To say we were outcoached tonight is absurd.

This.

Their wings could all handle the rock and drive to the basket. Chauncey is our only wing able to do that.

This game really showed how (perhaps even more than losing Abreu) the loss of Q hurt us.

We only had three healthy wing players last night - Chauncey, Reggie & Jake; Reggie & Jake are really just perimeter jump shooters.

VCU out-athleted us. (But still, the degree to which the out-athleted us was simply stunning.)

[UAZipster0305]

I would like to see that game. I could not appreciate the great game that VCU played last night since they were doing it to my school. I want to see them do it to someone else. I'll be rooting for them against Michigan. Man, that game is going to sting us diehards for awhile. I haven't read a good rationalization here yet. The Dr needs a doctor.

I'll give it a try...

I said on this board in the first half of the away Ohio game that when a team is red hot with their shooting we just have to wait for them to cool off and hope that we are close enough to close the score. If that doesn't happen, we accept the defeat and shake the opponents hand and get them next time. Unfortunately, in the NCAA Tournament, there is no next time. This was the main factor in last night's game. VCU was red hot with the shooting all night. In turn, the shooting opened up the floor for drives to the basket by VCU's fast and athletic perimeter players. Even with Akron at full strength and any perceived coaching discrepancy evened out, VCU wins that game by 15+ simply based on shooting. We saw how Ohio completely collapsed when their shooting went cold. If that had happened to VCU last night, they still would have won due to us not being at full strength. We were essentially down 4 players (Diggs, Abreu, Walsh, and Forsythe) and didn't have an experienced ball handler on the roster. I think VCU fans would admit that with even rosters and a normal shooting night, this game likely would have been competitive into the closing minutes.

Last night was a perfect storm for embarassment due to circumstance and none of it has anything to do with KD or the players. This was one of the strongest overall seasons in program history that was defined at both the beginning and end by unfortunate circumstances and poor judgement (Abreu).

Some of you have mentioned how badly this loss hurts in terms of the negative national exposure and your pride among colleagues and peers. I'd venture to say that where it will hurt the most is with selection committees in the future. It will take a much stronger resume to get an at-large or the same seeding. In that circle, ours will be viewed as a temporarily tarnished brand whether that is warranted or not.

We still won 26 games (tied for most in program history), had a 19 game win streak (among the best in the country), got votes in both polls for consecutive weeks, were #24 in the coaches' poll for a week, won the MACC and were MAC regular season champions, had the MAC Coach of the Year and MAC Defensive Player of the Year, and were competitive for an NCAA at-large bid with a week remaining in the regular season. After starting the season 1-3 with a loss to Coastal Carolina, I didn't expect any of these things.

Thanks to the seniors (Zeke, Walsh, and Chauncey) for extending the excellence of this program and being exemplary student-athletes. Good luck with all you do in the future.

Onward and upward! Go Zips!