Malone - is Tree in uniform?

[akronzips71]

Have not seen him on the floor. Is he even there?

[Gcc]

Have not seen him on the floor. Is he even there?

Yes he's on the bench in warm-ups.

[akronzips71]

Yes he's on the bench in warm-ups.

They said something about an injury.

[zippy_ua_00]

Score?

[Gcc]

Score?

77-65 Final

[zippy_ua_00]

Sad. Shouldnt even have been close. Could be a long season if they continue like this

[Dave in Green]

An exhibition game gives a coach the chance to focus on specific players and specific aspects of the game. I think a good indicator of what Coach Dambrot wanted from this game is to look at minutes played. Nyles played 30 minutes, more than any other player, and Melo just 3 minutes at the point. Nyles was given plenty of time to play through his mistakes and gain confidence in his ball handling and distribution as well as shooting. Q, Reggie and Deji all played 29 minutes each. I think that Coach Dambrot played Q long minutes to help him regain his game endurance after sitting out a year. Reggie responded to long minutes by hitting 6-12 treys. And Deji looked really good, knocking down 3s, scoring 18 points and making good offensive and defensive plays. Of course, this was all against a D2 team.

Harney played 27 minutes and looked impressive at times and inconsistent at others. I expected to see more Big Dog than Pat. But it was the opposite with Pat playing 26 minutes and showing some good moves to the basket as well as some excellent passing. Kwan played 16 minutes and seemed more focused on driving to the bucket than popping 3s. He looked good at times on offense but still has a ways to go on defense. Big Dog was the only other player with double digit minutes at 11, and had a pretty quiet game.

I'd say my biggest impression from this exhibition is that the Zips' passing was really crisp and accurate. They moved the ball around a lot without losing it, even though some of the Malone players had pretty quick hands. The Zips totaled 19 assists with only 5 turnovers. They even hit 88% of their free throws. If they could play like that on offense against good D1 teams we'd all be happy. Defense was another story. Malone had good ball handlers that had no problem with the Zips' press and scored way more easy points than they gave up on turnovers. You have to wonder if the Zips' press produces results like that against a D2 team, is it really worth expending all that energy on full-court pressure that appears incapable of producing a fraction of the results of VCU's havoc defense?

[phil]

Bentacourt went from a starter to playing 3 minutes. I think Keith may be giving Ibatayo a chance for more minutes. He certainly shot the ball well. Something we have not seen from Bentacourt or Evens. Bentacourt had 2 bad passes and Keith yanked him both times. Time will tell if this is a major change or just an opportunity to see whether Ibatayo could play well and give him some confidence.

I assumed that Tree was suspended for one game and Kretzer was hurt. Does anyone know for sure? It is so tough to see if this team is making progress when they are playing a division 2 game. It was nice seeing some assist.

[akronzips71]

Kwan has a bright future. He was very active. His shots will drop. He has some nice moves for a big man.

[akronzips71]

And the two bozos at PG MUST stop heaving up threes. Evans hit a couple, but he did have the open look.

[Zipmeister]

An exhibition game gives a coach the chance to focus on specific players and specific aspects of the game. I think a good indicator of what Coach Dambrot wanted from this game is to look at minutes played. Nyles played 30 minutes, more than any other player, and Melo just 3 minutes at the point. Nyles was given plenty of time to play through his mistakes and gain confidence in his ball handling and distribution as well as shooting. Q, Reggie and Deji all played 29 minutes each. I think that Coach Dambrot played Q long minutes to help him regain his game endurance after sitting out a year. Reggie responded to long minutes by hitting 6-12 treys. And Deji looked really good, knocking down 3s, scoring 18 points and making good offensive and defensive plays. Of course, this was all against a D2 team.

Harney played 27 minutes and looked impressive at times and inconsistent at others. I expected to see more Big Dog than Pat. But it was the opposite with Pat playing 26 minutes and showing some good moves to the basket as well as some excellent passing. Kwan played 16 minutes and seemed more focused on driving to the bucket than popping 3s. He looked good at times on offense but still has a ways to go on defense. Big Dog was the only other player with double digit minutes at 11, and had a pretty quiet game.

I'd say my biggest impression from this exhibition is that the Zips' passing was really crisp and accurate. They moved the ball around a lot without losing it, even though some of the Malone players had pretty quick hands. The Zips totaled 19 assists with only 5 turnovers. They even hit 88% of their free throws. If they could play like that on offense against good D1 teams we'd all be happy. Defense was another story. Malone had good ball handlers that had no problem with the Zips' press and scored way more easy points than they gave up on turnovers. You have to wonder if the Zips' press produces results like that against a D2 team, is it really worth expending all that energy on full-court pressure that appears incapable of producing a fraction of the results of VCU's havoc defense?

It may not have worked against a D2 team, but it should be effective against half the teams in the MAC west.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY.

[Dave in Green]

It may not have worked against a D2 team, but it should be effective against half the teams in the MAC west. ...

Can't argue with that. If beating MAC West teams was the Zips' highest aspiration, we'd be just fine. An interesting point about Malone is that this is their second season in the GLIAC, and they're projected to be in the mix for the GLIAC South divisional championship. Malone's star player is 6-2 senior point guard Isiah Elliott (#11, Canton McKinley), who was GLIAC South Division Player of the Year as a junior. Last season he averaged 19.2 points per game, and so far this season he's averaging 5 assists and 1 turnover per game. He was almost single-handedly able to break the Zips' press possession after possession. His coach says that after this season Elliott will probably be ranked as Malone's best PG of all time. If the Zips only had a 6-2 PG who could perform at the D1 level like Elliott is doing in D2 ...

[skip-zip]

Nyles played 30 minutes, more than any other player

As I've stated since very early in the season, he seems to be the guy they trust to run the show. So, his 30 min. of play would seem to indicate that they are moving full steam ahead with this "investment". I hope it pays off. He's certainly not the first point guard in recent years to cast doubt in the minds of the fans early in his Akron tenure.

[RootforRoo44]

Amazing how the Zips can play like garbage and there are people immediately defending Dambrot...before anything negative can be said.

There is no excuse for not winning this game by 25+ points. NONE.

[RowdyZip]

Amazing how the Zips can play like garbage and there are people immediately defending Dambrot...before anything negative can be said.

There is no excuse for not winning this game by 25+ points. NONE.

There's no need to defend anything. It was an exhibition. Besides, the Zips played well.

19:4 assist/TO

14/32 (.458) 3pt

7/8 (.875) FT

Opponent 11:12 assist/TO.

A decent 44% from the field overall. Malone shot 38%.

If I had to nitpick a stat, it would be that we only outrebounded them 36-33. But still, that's not bad playing an 8 man rotation (Betancourt's 3 min don't count) and with out Tree or Kretzer.

I love how some folks are hitting the panic button after a couple of losses in games we were near double digit underdogs. They'll get adjusted. We lost two of arguably the toughest positions to lose, and they were star players and leaders (Abreu/Zeke). We'll be fine.

[Balsy]

I love how some folks are hitting the panic button after a couple of losses in games we were near double digit underdogs. They'll get adjusted. We lost two of arguably the toughest positions to lose, and they were star players and leaders (Abreu/Zeke). We'll be fine.

I completely agree. Though I had hopes of the Zips winning one of those "Big" games vs. MTSU or SMC...I'm not in a panic. It makes me wonder if anyone ever actually watched this team last year. Yes were 26-7, but did you guys actually watch the games...not read box scores.

When we were on the 19 game winning streak I distinctly remember growing grey hairs watching the team look horrible. They looked horrible for the first half of a lot of games last season, going into half time with (at many times) a deficit, if not a small margin over a terrible team. I guess what I'm saying here is; nothing else matters but the W or the L. All else is secondary.

[breezy123]

Any truth that Treadwell sat out game against Malone because of a fight he got into with dIGGS?

[Hilltopper]

Any truth that Treadwell sat out game against Malone because of a fight he got into with dIGGS?

None

[akronzips71]

Any truth that Treadwell sat out game against Malone because of a fight he got into with dIGGS?

No, because Q is still breathing.

[taxpayer]

Last year our defense was very good with the exceptions of AA and NH. This year is beginning to look like a different story; the Malone exhibition was just that; an exhibition that this year's Zips aren't playing good defense. The CSU game will better inform us as to whether the Zips want to defend and if they can.