Marshall at Akron

[Balsy]

Hey guys, look at the bright side...we got the W. And we're two games into what's going to be a 20 game winning streak

[LZIp]

anybody catch Betancourt saying he was about to quit the team until KD talked to him?

Ryan ‏@Isley23 12h Some really good stuff from Carmelo Betancourt in the postgame. Said he was ready to quit but Dambrot talked to him. Now he is good to go

[Dr Z]

Here are some images I shot last night. Enjoy.

[zippy5]

Wow awesome. Love the one of Tree snagging a board

Also looks like a surpisingly good (great?) crowd judging by the GA attendance there

[Hilltopper]

I don't agree with Elton often, but this time I think he is right on target. 9 games in 18 days plus all the travel has taken its toll on the Zips.

Players struggling for Akron and Cleveland State

At Akron, the bench rescued the Zips, particularly 6-10, 285-pound freshman Isaiah Johnson, who delivered a game-high 12 points and seven rebounds, six offensive, as Akron survived for the slim win.

"Big Dog saved us,'' head coach Keith Dambrot said of the big native of Cincinnati. "Big dog is a load, and he will only get better."

The challenge is getting Treadwell, plus other struggling Zips, back at peak efficiency.

"Our role players aren't our issue,'' Dambrot said. "Our better players have to play better."

For much of the early season Treadwell carried the Zips, culminating with a three-game stretch when he posted double-doubles, averaging 21.3 points and 11.3 rebounds. Since then he hasn't scored more than 12 points in a game and grabbed more than seven rebounds just once.

It could well be fatigue as the 6-7 product of Euclid was whistled for three fouls in four minutes of the first half against Marshall, and ultimately finished with just four points and three boards

.

[morris buttermaker]

lol, yeah right an Akron team at the line?

Good thing Akron played one of the 12 programs in all of Division 1 that is worse than them at the line. It is hard to be as bad as Akron--- but Marshall is worse. Someone...maybe a coach or the Head Coach needs to be held responsible for having a team that will not be able to win at the line?...just sayin'

[GP1]

Good thing Akron played one of the 12 programs in all of Division 1 that is worse than them at the line. It is hard to be as bad as Akron--- but Marshall is worse. Someone...maybe a coach or the Head Coach needs to be held responsible for having a team that will not be able to win at the line?...just sayin'

In my opinion, it is completely the responsibility of the player to improve his foul shooting. It is one guy standing unguarded 15 away from the hoop. It is a basic shot that players start to attempt as early as 5th grade and needs to be made at least 70% of the time regardless of position. Practice, practice, practice....

[Dave in Green]

It wasn't so long ago that we were complaining about Tree and Q not being ranked high enough in preseason MAC player of the year polls. They were expected to lead the Zips to another 22+ win season and another NCAA tournament bid. While it's true that one or two players can't carry a team in every single game, their combined performance against Marshall was downright frightening:

* 42 minutes played

* 5-17 from the field (29%)

* 0-5 free throws (0%)

* 7 rebounds

* 7 turnovers

* 2 assists

The Zips will lose a lot of games when Tree and Q combine for those kind of stats. There's no question that the 9-game stretch was especially brutal for these two players. Coach Dambrot recently said he wanted to try to play Tree less than 30+ minutes per game during the 9-game stretch so he wouldn't burn out, but in most of the games Tree played long minutes anyway. Q lost 20 pounds of muscle in his season off, and it's pretty clear that he's still shaking off the rust and trying to get back into playing shape with the added burden of having to play some PG.

The best thing about last night is that other players stepped forward to fill the void. Outrebounding Marshall 42-29 with Tree only playing 19 minutes was huge. The extra possessions from that rebounding advantage plus more steals and fewer turnovers than Marshall ultimately made the difference in the game. The Zips were lucky that Marshall was not good enough to take advantage of their miscues in the last few minutes. There will be close games in the MAC, and the Zips can't rely on the other teams choking worse than they do.

I hope that Coach Dambrot isn't too tough on the team over last night's near loss. The players need a little break before the MAC season starts. They have a lot to work on in the six days before playing at Ball State. But they need to re-energize as much as they need to work on their game.

[MDZip]

Here are some images I shot last night. Enjoy.

Great shots liked them all but the one of Harney walking off tbe floor with a bloodied head. Anyone know what happened and how he is? Still stunned that the refs didn't call a foul that the Zips intentionally committed at the end of the game.

[Dr Z]

I like the introduction of Akron's own Shawn "Showtime" Porter last night, who knew? He signed autographs after the game, anybody get one?

Someone shorter than KD? Image from @ZipsDan

[morris buttermaker]

In my opinion, it is completely the responsibility of the player to improve his foul shooting. It is one guy standing unguarded 15 away from the hoop. It is a basic shot that players start to attempt as early as 5th grade and needs to be made at least 70% of the time regardless of position. Practice, practice, practice....

We blame teachers when kids can spell or add... when a coach allows his entire team to be one of the worst FT shooting teams in the country, it is his fault.

[zippy5]

It's a team thing. It's not one or two kids every few years. Besides maybe Darryl Roberts, we've been an incredibly bad FT team going back multiple years. It's on the coaches. Disclaimer: this post is not calling to fire KD.

[Dr Z]

Disclaimer: this post is not calling to fire KD.

I'm sad that you have to type that, but I understand why you do.

[GP1]

We blame teachers when kids can spell or add...

True, but when a person is learning to spell and add, that person is usually at a very young age. A child.

Akron has a bunch of adults playing basketball (at least on has already graduated from college) who have been shooting foul shots for at least 10 years. They need to stand, unguarded, on the line 15 feet from the basket straight away and put the freaking little orange ball through the orange ring. If they are having trouble doing it, they need to practice until they get better at it. It's a simple task.

[UAZipster0305]

It's a team thing. It's not one or two kids every few years. Besides maybe Darryl Roberts, we've been an incredibly bad FT team going back multiple years. It's on the coaches. Disclaimer: this post is not calling to fire KD.

Yes, I agree that it is sad that this has to be mentioned. I feel that overall, we have been pretty objective regarding KD's performance along with his strengths and weaknesses.

Find the thread last year when we were praising him for some second half adjustments that allowed us to come from behind and win a game. Does anyone else remember which game that was? I want to say it was the home game against the Canadians.

[zippy5]

Yep, I think he came out in a 3-2 after halftime of the UB game. We were down maybe 25-4 to start the game.

[Zipmeister]

We blame teachers when kids can spell or add... when a coach allows his entire team to be one of the worst FT shooting teams in the country, it is his fault.

Aha. No doubt the teachers for several of the posters on this board were never blamed.

[Dave in Green]

Of course it's fair to question how much of a role the Zips coaching plays in team free throw shooting percentage. The one thing I like to see in these types of discussions is more factual data rather than just "feelings." It's easy when the Zips are shooting free throws poorly to go all negative and "feel" that Zips teams under Coach Dambrot are chronically below average in free throw shooting. The important question to ask is what do the facts support? The first thing to do is to look at average free throw shooting for all teams. Over the last few decades the average college team free throw percentage has been consistently around 69 percent year after year. The Zips' percentage so far this season is the worst in the Coach Dambrot era at a terrible 61.3%. That has to improve by the end of this season. How have Coach Dambrot's teams performed over the years?

64.3% (2012-13)

69.2% (2011-12)

70.4% (2010-11)

65.7% (2009-10)

70.8% (2008-09)

70.4% (2007-08)

67.0% (2006-07)

72.0% (2005-06)

67.5% (2004-05)

So in the 9 full seasons prior to this one, the Zips have shot above the 69% college average 5 seasons and below average 4 seasons. In other words, over the long haul Coach Dambrot teams have been really close to the average free throw shooting of all college teams. Average is neither great nor awful. Average is right in the middle. As fans, we want to see the Zips be above average in all aspects of the game. If the Zips lose a close game this season due to below average free throw shooting, we're all going to be upset.

[ziptrumpet87]

True, but when a person is learning to spell and add, that person is usually at a very young age. A child.

Akron has a bunch of adults playing basketball (at least one has already graduated from college) who have been shooting foul shots for at least 10 years. They need to stand, unguarded, on the line 15 feet from the basket straight away and put the freaking little orange ball through the orange ring. If they are having trouble doing it, they need to practice until they get better at it. It's a simple task.

I've seen Tree at the line during pregame warm-ups draining shot after shot. I believe his avg is much better this year than last, so this has to be part of it.

Can't say I've seen any other player putting in that much time a the line during the same pregame time, but perhaps they practice theirs some other time.

[Balsy]

We blame teachers when kids can spell or add... when a coach allows his entire team to be one of the worst FT shooting teams in the country, it is his fault.

That's already a false correlation. There are those that blame teachers for kids that can't spell or add...but more often than not it isn't the teacher at all. To use a cliché, you can lead a horse to water...but you can't make them drink.

[Zipmeister]

That's already a false correlation. There are those that blame teachers for kids that can't spell or add...but more often than not it isn't the teacher at all. To use a cliché, you can lead a horse to water...but you can't make them drink.

False correlation? A correlation is a correlation. Causation, ah there's another issue. A really good way to test this possibility would be for the coaches to coach free throw shooting to half the team and not the other half. Then at the end of the season, compare the percentage of free throws made by each group.

[Balsy]

False correlation? A correlation is a correlation. Causation, ah there's another issue. A really good way to test this possibility would be for the coaches to coach free throw shooting to half the team and not the other half. Then at the end of the season, compare the percentage of free throws made by each group.

You're right causation, instead of correlation my mistake. But I'm not talking about the "coaching" part, I'm saying it's not even the coaching at all.

[Zipmeister]

You're right causation, instead of correlation my mistake. But I'm not talking about the "coaching" part, I'm saying it's not even the coaching at all.

We won't know for sure until we run the test.

[Dave in Green]

When a team's free throw shooting percentage fluctuates from season to season, it's often due to the difference in free throw shooting abilities between graduating and incoming players. Consider that the Zips lost 3 of their best free throw shooters -- Abreu (81.0%), Walsh (76.7%) and Gilliam (73.9%). Even Zeke (64.2%) averaged better than this season's team has so far. Their replacements have mostly done worse. Q was over 80% at one point, but has dropped off to 69.8%. After starting very poorly, Nyles has slowly moved up to a still unacceptable 61.5%. Pat and Big Dog, taking over Zeke's minutes, are at 56.5% and 58.3% respectively. Now that everyone is getting used to their new roles, I'd expect the team's free throw shooting to improve over the rest of the season.

[Quickzips]

When a team's free throw shooting percentage fluctuates from season to season, it's often due to the difference in free throw shooting abilities between graduating and incoming players. Consider that the Zips lost 3 of their best free throw shooters -- Abreu (81.0%), Walsh (76.7%) and Gilliam (73.9%). Even Zeke (64.2%) averaged better than this season's team has so far. Their replacements have mostly done worse. Q was over 80% at one point, but has dropped off to 69.8%. After starting very poorly, Nyles has slowly moved up to a still unacceptable 61.5%. Pat and Big Dog, taking over Zeke's minutes, are at 56.5% and 58.3% respectively. Now that everyone is getting used to their new roles, I'd expect the team's free throw shooting to improve over the rest of the season.

The other thing you have to take into account when it comes to FT shooting is who is taking the FTs. By and large bigs struggle from the line more than guards and wings do. KDs system is designed in a manner where the guards and wings don't get as many FT attempts as the bigs. We tend to play a lot of low to mid-post dump downs to our bigs which puts them in a good position to get fouled and go to the line. On the flip side our guards and wings are primarily jump shooters who rarely look to take their man off the dribble (with the only exception to this being Quincy and maybe Abreu when he was here). Most teams don't foul jump shooters very often. Teams that get a lot of FTs for their guards and wings tend to be teams where the guards and wings are involved in a lot of pick and roll action and take their man to the rim.