CiT First Round: Akron @ IPFW Mastadons

[ZippyforPresident]

SALUTE!!!

Nice. Hope you keep up with Akron basketball a little bit even after Q's time here. Hopefully the program keeps moving forward and becomes even more nationally relevant and truly exciting to watch. No short shrift to those that came before and allowed the university and community to have those expectations. #StrongCharacterStrongFoundation

[GP1]

I'm going to be disappointed if KD doesn't do an interview.

Think he'll throw in a "When I was coaching Lebron..." story?

[Dr Z]

And the Bobkittens narrowly escape the mighty Vikings.

I wish I didn't chicken out with a parlay tonight. Could have doubled up. Thought that was a no brainer in Athens.

[GP1]

Hopefully the program keeps moving forward and becomes even more nationally relevant and truly exciting to watch.

Before becoming this, they need to become that.

[Dr Z]

Think he'll throw in a "When I was coaching Lebron..." story?

No he didn't do the interview, he let assistant coach Charles Thomas speak. I'll post more of what he said tomorrow. Entertaining game even though the team decided not to give it their all on D. Not surprising in this "tournament."

[GP1]

No he didn't do the interview, he let assistant coach Charles Thomas speak. I'll post more of what he said tomorrow. Entertaining game even though the team decided not to give it their all on D. Not surprising in this "tournament."

You shouldn't make fun of this great tournament. These last two days of practice, bus ride to Indiana and humiliating loss will do wonders for this team next season. It's a building process...remember?

[Balsy]

Watch GP1...The Bobkittens will take it all...and how would that make us look? You've got to take advantage of the hand you're dealt...and we just never seem to do it.

[Derrt]

I'll keep up for sure. Next year team will be a lot better. A BETTER "Team chemistry" will be there.

[ZippyforPresident]

Before becoming this, they need to become that.

Egg before chicken or chicken before egg?

[GP1]

Watch GP1...The Bobkittens will take it all...and how would that make us look?

Assuming they do, my guess is we will look just as irrelevant as we do right now.

[ZachTheZip]

Specifically, he needs to develop what players he has coming back better than he has in the past. Big leap forward for the returning players, not baby steps. The answer isn't finding the savior JUCO player. It's player development, player development, player development.

Even more specifically, the point guards and centers need developed in a major way.

[Dave in Green]

Zips defense ended the season without ever adjusting to not having Zeke to protect the rim. Offense never adjusted to PG by committee covering for loss of Alex. Too many flaws in too many areas. They have a lot of work ahead to find ways to cover each other's backs or next season will be no different.

[tomzip]

Absolutely disgusting. At some point folks this has to fall on Dambrot. This was absolutely, without doubt, an absolute embarrassment.

What a wonderful way to end such a wonderful season. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach watching the St. Marys game at 2am.

Bring on football ASAP.

been saying it all year about him, he needs real ass't coaches like Shaka and Boals, He has elevated the program, but damn, you are right he needs to step it up

[Dave in Green]

Lots of time to think about this game on the long drive home, which is never fun after a painful loss. As I mentioned earlier, this game was eerily similar to the game at Buffalo. In both games the Zips were suckered into an AAU-type offensive shootout in which they had to feel good about knocking down so many easy buckets. Problem is their opponent was doing the same, and their opponent was better at it. In both games the Zips were just 1 point behind with 6 minutes left, and in both games they couldn't keep up when it mattered. The final scores were almost identical -- 91-97 and 90-96. Those were the only 2 games this season in which either the Zips or their opponent scored in the 90s.

The lesson of the Buffalo game wasn't well learned. The Zips can shoot a high percentage from the field, score a whole bunch of points and have a lot of fun running up the score on the offensive end. But their biggest strength throughout the season was shutting down other teams with their defense when the game was on the line, not winning shootouts. Their offense didn't lose this game and the refs didn't decide the outcome. The Zips ended their season with lack of D. It's a lesson they can stew on all through the off-season.

They return next season without their most dynamic offensive player (Q), so they aren't likely to win many shootouts next season, either. They need to refocus on what has brought them the most success throughout the KD era -- defense. Scoring lots of points is fun. But winning games is all about scoring more than the other team. If you can't do it with offense you'd better find a way to do it with defense. It's not as much fun to execute and it's not that pretty to watch. But the long ride back home is a lot more fun when you've won a lower-scoring game with tough D and advanced to the next round of a tournament.

[skip-zip]

You've got to take advantage of the hand you're dealt.

You're asking a team of college kids, that has had some character issues all season, to get up for a road game that no basketball fans outside of Akron or Ft. Wayne will care about, against a virtually irrelevant opponent, at the end of a long season, for a program they play for that has had 3 recent NCAA tournament appearances.

How can anyone really be surprised? I've been pointing to this potential embarrassment for several days.

We were suckered for sure. We could have chosen to really get after them defensively at any time, and we didn't. We could have chosen to walk the ball up the floor at any time, and we didn't. We didn't care enough about the game. We were just capable of holding an explosive WMU team to 52 points in 40 minutes just a few days ago, weren't we ?

[mivid12]

so much for that "gonzaga" of the east....disgraceful losing to that team...i've about had it with dambrot...seems he threw the team under the bus a little much for my taste...plus, i think this is it....this is as high as this team will go with kd...just my opine

[Big Zip]

I'm definitely not through with KD. I remember the Crawford and Hipsher eras at UA to vividly but something needs to change. If I'm YouTube Tom my post season performance evaluation meeting has to be straight talk no BS. KD might have to do some soul searching and determine if he has the right coaching staff. So much promise with this program and yet no real big wins to show during his tenure with basically no post season success outside of the MAC Tourney.

[g-mann17]

so much for that "gonzaga" of the east....disgraceful losing to that team...i've about had it with dambrot...seems he threw the team under the bus a little much for my taste...plus, i think this is it....this is as high as this team will go with kd...just my opine

Wow, the team threw itself under the bus this season by being horribly inconsistent. This team played as though they were vastly superior to every opponent and failed at it. Has little to do with Dambrot, has everything to do with a wake up call to the players. They did not play like an Akron team that we were used to seeing over the last 5 years. No hustle, no tempo control, strictly playing to their opponent.

I do feel Dambrot should consider looking for a coach with more offensive experience to put in a true offense that fits the team, but there is nothing else Dambrot could do when the players literally refused to put forth a consistent effort.

[Big Zip]

@g-mann these are the players who KD decided to recruit. I think that falls directly on KD. He is the one who made the decision to recruit the guys who are on the floor nobody else.

Last year should have been the year for this program with Abreu and Q. Would have loved to see how this program would have done with both of those guys all season.

These two being out also then impacts the flow of recruits into the program. Perhaps KD didn't recruit a guy because he expected to have those guys. Betancourt was going to be a back up player this year he wasn't supposed to be the starter or play significant minutes.

Unfortunately I think things don't get better next year.

[Dr Z]

As promised here are some notes from assistant coach Charles Thomas from last night post game (KD took a pass on the interview with Steve).

Per CT: Zips didn't play D, but neither did the Dons (love that nickname). It was tough to get up for this game. Old School had his most comfortable game, he had four assists. (as I mentioned earlier, he has to lead the team in picks per minutes, now if we can just get the roll, and the pass going). This is a young team, BJ and Jackson HAVE to be ready to provide quality minutes next season. Here is the part I'm sure we'll hear from the 'Practice Preachers' at the beginning of next season. If BJ shows any signs of what he did in the last month of practice, we should be excited. CT he can play the 1,2, and 3, but sees him at the 3 spot. CT says he guards Tree in practice. He is special when he has the ball. He will be special, not just in the MAC, but in the nation.

So there you have it, the silver lining...again.

Last note on the game. I couldn't help thinking at halftime last night, I'm sure we are going to come out and play some different types of defenses to throw them off their offensive game, some zone maybe, for sure we are going to press them. Nope. Same ol same ol. Doing the same thing and expecting different results....

Once again, great feed. The MAC should hire whomever is in charge of that site. Edit, now that I look, I guess it's CBS. They do a great job with the NCAA tournament.

[mivid12]

They did not play like an Akron team that we were used to seeing over the last 5 years.

really? I think it mirrors the last seven years....20+ wins and fail miserably in the post season.....my reality is this is the ceiling with dambrot....teams every year come from nowhere with little history and win a NCAA game....we can't even win ONE game in the lowest of the 4 post season tourneys...

[skip-zip]

Lets be fair when evaluating our postseason flops and recognize the NIT wins against Florida State and Temple, on the road, during the KD era.

However, I've said this all season long...

I didn't like the way he handled this team. I WANT Keith as our coach. I think he's a very good basketball coach, and we're lucky to have him. But I want the old KD. I want the guy who demands a lot out of his players, and continually pushes for improvement. I don't want the "softness", I don't want the excuses, and I don't want the "well, that's just the kind of team we are" explanations.

[BirdZip]

Just the facts...

Postseason summary over the last 10 years:

2005: None

2006: NIT (W 80-73 OT vs Temple) (L 60-71 to Creighton)

2007: None

2008: NIT (W 65-60 OT vs Florida State) (L 63-68 to U Mass)

2009: NCAA (L 64-77 to Gonzaga)

2010: CBI (L 66-70 to Green Bay)

2011: NCAA (L 56-69 to Notre Dame)

2012: NIT (L 74-76 to Northwestern)

2013: NCAA (L 42-88 to VCU)

2014: CIT (L 91-97 to IPFW)

CIT: 0-1

CBI: 0-1

NIT: 2-3

NCAA: 0-3

Last win: 2008

[Dave in Green]

Facts are always a good starting point for intelligent discussions. The numbers show that Coach Dambrot has done a good job of turning the Zips into a consistent regular season winner and post-season qualifier. That's one step forward for the program. The next step is to consistently win post-season games. Everyone's waiting for that with growing impatience as the tournament losses pile up. This steers the conversation into the often-discussed subject of what it takes to make that next step.

Is UA truly committed to providing the resources necessary to take that next step? Can UA become a destination for more talented players who are being recruited by other programs with more resources and a deeper basketball tradition? Are Coach Dambrot and his assistants capable of getting the most out of the level of talent they're able to recruit? All of this has been discussed at length on this forum, and many have locked on to their favorite target(s).

I don't think it's any one thing but a combination of all the above and more to varying degrees. Coach Dambrot has tried to push UA into committing more resources because he truly wants basketball to become more relevant at his alma mater. UA has limited resources and has recently invested a lot in the more costly football program. But Coach Dambrot also has to look at himself in the mirror and ask the hard question if there aren't things within his own control he could change to produce even better results. For example, we've seen uncharacteristic character issues in recent years that we didn't see before. That may require a tougher approach on player discipline. That might cause some talented players to be less likely to come to UA while it might make the program more attractive to others.

I would hope that Coach Dambrot would spend part of the off-season self-analyzing his program more critically than ever and looking to others who've had success in similar situations for advice. Maybe there are some things that Coach Kest has done to advance the women's program that could work with the men's team. As Zips basketball fans, I think it's our duty to point out what we think is wrong and offer our best advice. Even though we can't know all the circumstances behind every issue, you never know when something someone says here might spark an idea that could contribute to the program. Keeping the discussion thoughtful and constructive would be the most likely way for us to help get the results from the program that we all so badly want.

[a-zip]

Just the facts...

Postseason summary over the last 10 years:

2005: None

2006: NIT (W 80-73 OT vs Temple) (L 60-71 to Creighton)

2007: None

2008: NIT (W 65-60 OT vs Florida State) (L 63-68 to U Mass)

2009: NCAA (L 64-77 to Gonzaga)

2010: CBI (L 66-70 to Green Bay)

2011: NCAA (L 56-69 to Notre Dame)

2012: NIT (L 74-76 to Northwestern)

2013: NCAA (L 42-88 to VCU)

2014: CIT (L 91-97 to IPFW)

CIT: 0-1

CBI: 0-1

NIT: 2-3

NCAA: 0-3

Last win: 2008

And now look at our postseason (and regular season) history before KD. Let me know what you find Be careful what you wish for people…….