Detroit Titans

[akronzips71]

Evans had a VERY GOOD GAME and is starting to show why KD took him.

I think he is going to be quite OK at PG.

It just took a while to get acclimated to playing against bigger, faster, more athletic players than he was used to seeing.

By the time we get to the MAC season I expect to see good things from him.

Melo can play when we are up 30 with 10 seconds on the clock.

[GoZips]

. . .

Melo can play when we are up 30 with 10 seconds on the clock.

Carmelo is a lot better player than this. He needs to regroup his head and recharge his spirits. Mel has some still in the tank.

Give him a chance.

[skip-zip]

Evans had a VERY GOOD GAME and is starting to show why KD took him.

I think he is going to be quite OK at PG.

Hopefully better than "OK". If we compare him to recent point guards after 10 games in an Akron uniform, it's very promising. If a guy uses his time at a JC wisely, they SHOULD be much more ready to contribute early than a freshman.

He has the 3rd most minutes of play. Whether that's a result of Carmelo's poor play or not, that shows that the coaches surely have confidence in the guy.

Is he really the first JC player of the Dambrot era?

[Zipmeister]

Carmelo is a lot better player than this. He needs to regroup his head and recharge his spirits. Mel has some still in the tank.

Give him a chance.

Maybe the still in his tank is not properly centered and that's why so many of his passes do not go to their intended target.

[zippy5]

I'm afraid to see what he has left

[phil]

The most important thing about Evens is that this is his first year on the team and he is still learning. If he can drive the lane and hit the 3 ball we are going to look very good this year. The point guards need to get the ball to the big men in a scoring position. I would like to see Evens dribble less and pass more. When he is dribbling nobody else is involved in the play and our offense stagnates.

I think Q is by far our best point guard and does a great job of distributing the ball. I also have seen some nice give and goes between Tree and Q. Tree is a very smart player and a good passer. We need to get him the ball. If you can't find him on the court, just look for his socks. He is not easy to miss. I would like to see Tree have a 20 point game during the tournament. He can only do that if his team gets him the ball.

The other weakness on our team is that I noticed is that Kretzer, Mcadams and Big Dog need to learn to move their feet quicker on defense. They have to keep their man in front of them. Against athletic guys these guys are getting beat off the dribble. Playing man to man this will hurt us against better teams.

[Hilltopper]

The other weakness on our team is that I noticed is that Kretzer, Mcadams and Big Dog need to learn to move their feet quicker on defense. They have to keep their man in front of them. Against athletic guys these guys are getting beat off the dribble. Playing man to man this will hurt us against better teams.

Jake Kretzer is the second best defender on the team after Q. He has been assigned to cover the other teams best forward in almost every game. He pretty much shutdown Juan Howard in the second half on Wednesday. Same thing against Cleveland State.

http://www.gozips.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/...2.xml?view=box1

[MaxZIP]

Jake is a great defender but Detroit's box stats look pretty much identical from 1st to 2nd half. Detroit had fewer rebounds in the second due to the Zips hitting more shots. 30 points were scored in both halves, assists, turnovers, shooting all pretty much the same. fewer steals in the second due to Q working the point. Bottom line the zips are a better team.

[Dave in Green]

I think @Hilltopper's point was that Juwan Howard was 4-10 in the first half and 2-7 in the second half after Jake and other Zips guarding him tightened up the D. Holding Detroit's high scorer to 6-17 from the field helped keep them from making a comeback run. This was in response to the original premise that Jake, Reggie and Big Dog need to learn to move their feet quicker on defense. I think part of what makes Jake such a great defender is that he already has fairly quick feet on defense. As for Big Dog, some of the quick spin moves he makes on offense are exceptional for a player of his size and weight. I'll have to watch a little closer on D to see if this translates to quick feet on D. We need to have realistic expectations about what constitutes "quick" when a player is 6-10, 305 pounds.

[LZIp]

I've never really noticed Kretzer on defense. That could be good and bad. I didn't really notice him on Howard much Wednesday, but I did notice Q and Tree on him. I'll be sure to pay attention to Kretzer against Oregon St on D. I think Harney has to be mentioned as one of our best defenders. Wasn't he one of the guys along with Tree who shut down Cooper last season?

[akronzips71]

I've never really noticed Kretzer on defense. That could be good and bad. I didn't really notice him on Howard much Wednesday, but I did notice Q and Tree on him. I'll be sure to pay attention to Kretzer against Oregon St on D. I think Harney has to be mentioned as one of our best defenders. Wasn't he one of the guys along with Tree who shut down Cooper last season?

I have seen Kretzer flying around the bucket ALA Brian Walsh.

[johnnyzip84]

Regarding Evans at point guard, I’m happy over the progress I’ve seen lately, but there are a couple of areas I’d like to see further improvement:

1. Less “dribbling for show” – there are times when it almost seems like he is trying to prove his abilities to play the point by going into “hyper reciprocating cross-over mode”.

2. Keep the dribble lower in traffic, especially when the defender is right in front of you.

3. More bounce passes – the whole team could benefit from this.

Regarding Harney’s defensive play, I think Nick is MILES ahead of where he was when he first got here. He’s always had a long, athletic body, but now he is much more focused on defense and he probably deflects more passes than anyone on the team. Kudos to him for buying into KD’s defensive emphasis.

[MaxZIP]

Sure. The zips started hitting 3s and stopped giving up breaks. End of story. Good D but little shift in detroit's performance.

[Dave in Green]

... Good D but little shift in detroit's performance.

What numbers are you looking at? Detroit scored a huge 30 points in the first half and a paltry 30 points in the second half.

[ZachTheZip]

What numbers are you looking at? Detroit scored a huge 30 points in the first half and a paltry 30 points in the second half.

Detroit's points per possession dropped quite a bit in the second half. Our D was better, but they had more chances to score. It balanced out.

[skip-zip]

I think @Hilltopper's point was that Juwan Howard was 4-10 in the first half and 2-7 in the second half after Jake and other Zips guarding him tightened up the D. Holding Detroit's high scorer to 6-17 from the field helped keep them from making a comeback run. This was in response to the original premise that Jake, Reggie and Big Dog need to learn to move their feet quicker on defense. I think part of what makes Jake such a great defender is that he already has fairly quick feet on defense. As for Big Dog, some of the quick spin moves he makes on offense are exceptional for a player of his size and weight. I'll have to watch a little closer on D to see if this translates to quick feet on D. We need to have realistic expectations about what constitutes "quick" when a player is 6-10, 305 pounds.

The point you mention above about Big Dog is actually pretty amazing, and very noticeable.

I also see all of these references above to players learning to move their feet quicker to become a better defender. The truth is, you can sometimes coach players to defend by moving their feet, and teach other techniques to help them defensively. But unfortunately, there's very little you can do to make their feet faster.

[Dave in Green]

@skip-zip, I wasn't previously aware of this, but it turns out that the internet is loaded with exercises and tips to develop quicker feet. I guess it's like any other physical activity. Proper training and exercises can result in improvement. Here's a link to just one of many web pages describing drills designed to produce quicker feet.

[skip-zip]

@skip-zip, I wasn't previously aware of this, but it turns out that the internet is loaded with exercises and tips to develop quicker feet. I guess it's like any other physical activity. Proper training and exercises can result in improvement. Here's a link to just one of many web pages describing drills designed to produce quicker feet.

Right.