UAZipster0305 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Good win on the road with timely three-point shooting. Overall a mediocre effort and terrible FT shooting. This team has a long way to go before winning the MACC or an NCAAT game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Our best free throw shooter (Q) goes 2-7, and the team goes 12-25 (48%). The Zips win by 12 because they do enough other things right, like shooting 52.6% from the field. Not pretty, but good enough to keep them alone atop the MAC East and tied with Toledo at 5-1. EDIT: Oops, Toledo hasn't won #5 yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDZip Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Good win on the road with timely three-point shooting. Overall a mediocre effort and terrible FT shooting. This team has a long way to go before winning the MACC or an NCAAT game. While it probably wouldn't matter with the free throw situation, the Zips do deserve some credit for starting out 5-1 with four of those being on the road (and 3 of the next 5 also on the road). Only good thing is that means 5 of the final 7 are at home. CMU isn't that bad, surprised they haven't won a game. Tree with his 4th straight double-double tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad1990 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Our best free throw shooter (Q) goes 2-7, and the team goes 12-25 (48%). The Zips win by 12 because they do enough other things right, like shooting 52.6% from the field. Not pretty, but good enough to keep them alone atop the MAC East and tied with Toledo at 5-1. EDIT: Oops, Toledo hasn't won #5 yet. Toledo plays Can't tomorrow, so as much as it pains me to do it - Go Golden Flashers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips88 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Toledo plays Can't tomorrow, so as much as it pains me to do it - Go Golden Flashers! Nope. DiG showing off his clairvoyance - Rockets over the Flushes tomorrow. We're going to have to deal with the Rockets down the road anyway so I have no problem rooting for another Can't beat-down. Go Rockets! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Hey Guys, Keith just said he wants to see the toilet paper flying at Rhodes Arena. He says he'll take the Technical. Any students want to volunteer to make it happen? Back in the mid-80s we had started doing this at Rhodes. It was actually a tradition at CMU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Hey Guys, Keith just said he wants to see the toilet paper flying at Rhodes Arena. He says he'll take the Technical. Any students want to volunteer to make it happen? Back in the mid-80s we had started doing this at Rhodes. It was actually a tradition at CMU. I vaguely remember doing that. Was it on the first made basket? When they banned it, wasn't that when the standing started? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Jake and Reggie delivered on their 3s tonight with a combined 7-15 performance (47%). Would have been a much tougher game if they'd been off. Tree appears to be back to his normal self with yet another double-double (15 points and 14 rebounds). Aside from his miserable free throw shooting, Q had a good all-around game. Minutes played continues to be intriguing: 36 = Tree 34 = Q 34 = Jake 22 = Melo 21 = Reggie 20 = Pat 18 = Nick 7 = Big Dog 5 = Nyles 2 = Deji The top 4 are the same as the EMU game, with a little shuffling around for the others. It appears as if the top 3 may be playing 30+ minutes per game on a regular basis for the rest of the season. It seems there's no longer any question that Q's motor is up to full rpm after working himself back into shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomzip Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 I vaguely remember doing that. Was it on the first made basket? When they banned it, wasn't that when the standing started? I can recall the 86 season with the entire upper deck (where upper reserved is now) was full of students. At the announcement of the starting 5 for the opponent, the entire upper deck held up newspapers or turned their back. That was an amazing year, especially with the OVC championship and the ticket to the dance at home. The atmosphere was great back then. I really hope the next arena will be a "pit" design to intimidate other teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 I vaguely remember doing that. Was it on the first made basket? When they banned it, wasn't that when the standing started? That's right. After the first basket. If I recall, it was just a warning back then. No penalty. Huggins would applaud us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Jake and Reggie delivered on their 3s tonight with a combined 7-15 performance (47%). Would have been a much tougher game if they'd been off. Tree appears to be back to his normal self with yet another double-double (15 points and 14 rebounds). Aside from his miserable free throw shooting, Q had a good all-around game. Minutes played continues to be intriguing: 36 = Tree 34 = Q 34 = Jake 22 = Melo 21 = Reggie 20 = Pat 18 = Nick 7 = Big Dog 5 = Nyles 2 = Deji The top 4 are the same as the EMU game, with a little shuffling around for the others. It appears as if the top 3 may be playing 30+ minutes per game on a regular basis for the rest of the season. It seems there's no longer any question that Q's motor is up to full rpm after working himself back into shape. Dave, I think this was the first times I have ever heard Keith talk specifically in his postgame interview about leaving certain guys in a game longer because they were playing well. Could he be softening his perceived policy of running regular rotations? Is he just finding that this particular team plays better this way, and it's only a change for this particular situation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 That's right. After the first basket. If I recall, it was just a warning back then. No penalty. Huggins would applaud us. My father hated it. He didn't like that it took so long to clean up and delayed the start of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Skip, I think it happens to some degree every season that Coach Dambrot uses the first half of the season to see what his players all have to give, and then starts relying more on those who deliver the most in the second half of the season. In 9 previous seasons, Coach Dambrot has had only 5 players who've averaged more than 30 minutes per game -- Alex Abreu, Steve McNees, Nick Dials, Dru Joyce and Romeo Travis. The number of question marks varies depending on circumstances. This season there was the big question mark of who took over Alex's minutes, especially with a transfer (Nyles) in the mix. Then there was the question of how quickly Q would get back in top playing form and how much he had to play the point. Another big question was how to replace Zeke's minutes. Jake's back problem presented yet another question mark. I think it was a matter of having to be prepared for how multiple variables would play out, so there were more players than usual in the mix who had to be given a fair chance to perform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Skip, I think it happens to some degree every season that Coach Dambrot uses the first half of the season to see what his players all have to give, and then starts relying more on those who deliver the most in the second half of the season. In 9 previous seasons, Coach Dambrot has had only 5 players who've averaged more than 30 minutes per game -- Alex Abreu, Steve McNees, Nick Dials, Dru Joyce and Romeo Travis. The number of question marks varies depending on circumstances. This season there was the big question mark of who took over Alex's minutes, especially with a transfer (Nyles) in the mix. Then there was the question of how quickly Q would get back in top playing form and how much he had to play the point. Another big question was how to replace Zeke's minutes. Jake's back problem presented yet another question mark. I think it was a matter of having to be prepared for how multiple variables would play out, so there were more players than usual in the mix who had to be given a fair chance to perform. I am surprised that Jerimiah Wood did not average 30 minutes. I think Keith would much rather have 10 players all contribute with nobody playing over 30 minutes. He tried it and it was not working. He just was not getting quality minutes from some of his players and it was frustrating Tree. In the Eastern game he shortened the bench and the team played much better. Evens and Ibitayo need to work harder and play better to get minutes. Kretzer is playing better, not only shooting better but rebounding better. In tonights game, Tree was triple teamed and Kretzer cut to the middle and Tree passed it to him. he missed the layup but made the follow up. This team needs players cutting to the basket when Tree gets double and triple teams. We need easy baskets and it cannot be all threes. I believe Harney, Tree and Q are the best players on the team and need to play a great deal for this team to be successful. If we get quality time from Bentacourt, Kretzer, Mcadams we stand a good chance of winning any Mac game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Will we be an underdog again in the regular season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 I think Keith would much rather have 10 players all contribute with nobody playing over 30 minutes. He tried it and it was not working. He just was not getting quality minutes from some of his players The much bigger question is "Why THIS team". He's had plenty of opportunities in the past to diminish the play of his bench, and put his best players on the floor for the majority of the game. I like that he's made such a bold move to improve performance, but my longer term concern is that that he might be seeing his #7 or #8 guy and beyond to be limited in their ability to contribute. And that has not been the case for quite a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyzip84 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Will we be an underdog again in the regular season? At WMU and at U@B would both be strong possibilities (as things stand). There are still a lot of games to play though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 This team continues to win games (and win them on the road at that) despite its flaws. Most teams if they go on the road and shoot sub-50% from the FT line and turn the ball over nearly 20 times would expect to lose by double digits. Not the Zips. They somehow find a way to win despite all of that. The biggest disappointment for me right now has to be Nick Harney. I can live with our bad FT shooting and our shaky PG situation (although Betancourt seems to be settling down and playing better of late). Those things weren't going to improve in any significant way in the middle of the season. Nick on the other hand is regressing in a big way. I honestly can't think of a player in the last 10 years who has left me more disappointed than Nick Harney. The kid has all the talent to be a high level contributor on this team, but he just doesn't seem to care. There is absolutely no passion to his game, and it actually seems to be getting worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Is he just finding that this particular team plays better this way, and it's only a change for this particular situation? My guess is he didn't like the ass kicking they took against Toledo among various other quality teams and he had enough. He saw the light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 This team continues to win games (and win them on the road at that) despite its flaws. Most teams if they go on the road and shoot sub-50% from the FT line and turn the ball over nearly 20 times would expect to lose by double digits. Not the Zips. They somehow find a way to win despite all of that. The biggest disappointment for me right now has to be Nick Harney. I can live with our bad FT shooting and our shaky PG situation (although Betancourt seems to be settling down and playing better of late). Those things weren't going to improve in any significant way in the middle of the season. Nick on the other hand is regressing in a big way. I honestly can't think of a player in the last 10 years who has left me more disappointed than Nick Harney. The kid has all the talent to be a high level contributor on this team, but he just doesn't seem to care. There is absolutely no passion to his game, and it actually seems to be getting worse. I see just the opposite. Most of Nicks problems are because he tries too hard to make a play. Most of his turnovers are from trying to do too much and he ends up losing the ball off the dribble. Quit trying to read something into his facial expressions, the kid gives everything he has to try and win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Skip, go back and look at average minutes played per game in previous seasons. The mix varies from season to season. Probably the closest season to relying mostly on a short rotation was 2006-2007. Drue Joyce and Nick Dials both averaged 30+ minutes per game (32.0 and 30.4). Romeo Travis (28.2), Cedrick Middleton (25.7), Jeremiah Wood (24.0), Nate Linhart (21.7) and Quade Milum (19.4) made it 7 core players getting long minutes. Jimmy Conyers was a distant 8th at only 8.3 minutes per game. The 2005-2006 season was the one where Coach Dambrot's top 3 players averaged the most minutes -- Joyce (33.0), Travis (30.6) and Dials (29.0). Rob Preston (24.5) and Middleton (20.7) were well back. Even before the change for the last 2 games, Tree, Q and Jake were the leading players in minutes played. Their respective averages are now up to 31.9, 27.7 and 24.3 and likely to keep climbing. Coach Dambrot knew they were his best, most consistent and reliable players before the season began. He had other players he wasn't as sure about and gave them a fair chance to show what they've got. Even sitting a lot the last 2 games, Nyles is still 4th at 21.8 minutes. He was given a full half season to get comfortable with the Zips system and wasn't showing sufficient progress to merit long minutes. His average minutes are likely to continue to decline. We ask "why?" about different aspects of the team lineup every season. I think the short answer is that Coach Dambrot is always looking for his best, most consistent, most reliable lineup. Everyone gets a chance early, and as the season goes on the lineup gets more stable. The exact timing and nature varies depending on circumstances. Tree was a lock for long minutes from day one. Q had to play himself back into shape and Jake had to shake off his back problem. They are now the equivalent of the 2005-2006 Joyce/Travis/Dials core. The rest of the lineup going forward will be adjusted as needed for best results. For example, Pat didn't start against EMU or CMU. Against EMU he played only a few minutes whereas against CMU he was on the floor for the final 8 minutes and was a major factor at both ends of the court in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 I see just the opposite. Most of Nicks problems are because he tries too hard to make a play. Most of his turnovers are from trying to do too much and he ends up losing the ball off the dribble. Quit trying to read something into his facial expressions, the kid gives everything he has to try and win. I agree. I think Nick is playing well. One of the few players who has a quick first step and can get to the basket. He and Q like pushing the ball on the open floor. He had a layup last night just pushing the ball up the court and nobody stopped him The Central Mich. coach called a time out. Because Nick likes pushing the ball up the court, he often tried to creat too much and loses the ball. (Q also) He also has missed his share of layups. However, I would rather somebody take the ball to the hoop and miss a layup rather than not try at all. If Nick would learn not to dribble the ball behind his back, he might eliminate half his turnovers. He also been called for traveling for shoveling his pivot foot the last couple of games which has increased his turnovers. His block shot at OU won that game. I think Nick is a big reason we have won the last 2 games. The better he plays, the better this team will be. I am looking for him to have a breakout game of 20 points the way he has been playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Probably the closest season to relying mostly on a short rotation was 2006-2007. That's my point. As I said, it's been quite a few years. Anyone can speculate as to what he's thinking, but I fear that he might be telling us that his trust in our bench beyond a few guys might be back at 2007 levels again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipmeister Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 My father hated it. He didn't like that it took so long to clean up and delayed the start of the game. Have you figured out your Dad was right yet? It was a pretty junior high school type of thing to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 By golly, Can we please get a dog gone break from the horse crap of who plays how many minutes please! It isn't complicated. KD took my advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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