Zips vs Miami (The U) Charleston Classic

[zippy5]

Sucks being a Zips fan amiright?

Not at all.

[tpsjugglerdude]

Bring on South Carolina (again). I've never seen a high major with 7 more fouls than a midmajor, but somehow Charlotte pulled a close one off.

[GP1]

Bring on South Carolina (again). I've never seen a high major with 7 more fouls than a midmajor, but somehow Charlotte pulled a close one off.

Maybe they committed 7 more fouls.

[akronzips71]

Now I want Tree back.

[zippy5]

We can complete the USC sweep now.

[Dave in Green]

This one was easy to analyze. They had a lot of people who could drive to the basket, we collapsed and helped, and they were disciplined enough to have guys spread out for open shots. We don't have the horses to chase people like that for 40 min.

Skip, this is an excellent analysis. Miami drove and passed and drove and passed and drove and passed as long as it took to find the open man for the good shot. They're athletic, skilled and well coached. They're exactly what you would expect of an ACC team near the middle of the ACC pack but capable on any night of beating any team in the country (like breaking #7 Florida's 33-game home winning streak). The Zips without Tree are better than a lot of people think, but not as good as Miami when Miami is not sleepwalking on a no-name mid-major like UA.

[roopride]

I am a little surprised that the rotation has Jackson coming in for Evans. You end up with Robo and Jackson together. Seems odd. Think KD trying to get early season minutes? Pat seems to want the ball.

[GP1]

Pat seems to want the ball.

He is the only guy who played with any energy in the second half or for the full game yesterday. Pat is good player, but the other guys are going to have to step up their games this season. It takes zero talent to try hard for two hours. It all starts there and some of the guys need to look in the mirror this morning and think about whether or not they really tried as hard as they could yesterday.

[skip-zip]

It takes zero talent to try hard for two hours.

I said this on Thursday in regards to Pat. He lacks some things, but he has some tools and has size. All he's ever needed was a little more effort and a little more focus. The big question is, why has this been missing for the first several dozen games of his career here?

[Dr Z]

I really like Jim Larrañaga. ESPN played a recorded spot before both Zips games where coach Larrañaga explained how he attacks a zone defense. Well coached team. I would love it if they set this type of thing up for JJ and KD on the Zips show. I really didn't know much about coach Larrañaga, but I'm going to start to take a little more notice now.

Miami coach Jim Larranaga welcomed nine newcomers to his team this season, including seven players who are wearing orange and green uniforms for the first time ever. Considering that Davon Reed, one of his two returnees from last season, is injured, it's easy to see how daunting a challenge he faced. It would appear the hard part is over after the Hurricanes' 69-67 upset win at No. 8 Florida on Monday. Larranaga spoke with ESPN.com about how he's gotten a team of strangers to work together.

PS This is the most movement I have seen out of the Zips offense in years. Hope it continues and GROWS.

[GP1]

This one was easy to analyze. They had a lot of people who could drive to the basket, we collapsed and helped, and they were disciplined enough to have guys spread out for open shots. We don't have the horses to chase people like that for 40 min.

Good post skip.

In addition, we need to hit open shots. One of the nice things about the TD Arena is it posts FG%. Ours remained relatively the same for the two halves. We aren't going to beat anyone shooting 33%. We weren't missing difficult shots either. Guys were put in a position to hit the types of shots that player should be able to hit and they didn't execute. This is D1A basketball and we need to shoot better. Miami's FG% went up in the second half and after their run to start the second half it was up at 60%. Lots of layups helped, but they still were able to move an already high number higher...sign of a team that came out prepared in the second half.

Moving forward, some things need to change. First, if Reggie Mcadams can't hit open shots, or even come close for that matter, he needs to find more time on the bench. Three point shooting is his only attribute. God knows he isn't a very good defensive player. If he can't shoot better, don't play him, let alone start him. A starter shouldn't be limited to 12 minutes. KD must know he is coming up short, both literally and figuratively.

Second, Pat needs to get better at the following because right now he is their best hope and all of us can always get better at something. I really like what I see out of him, but like the rest of the team, his FG% was too low yesterday. One, less dribbling in the post. A couple of dribbles are OK if you need to, but not 5-6. If a center has to dribble 5-6 times, he is either missing out on a passing opportunity or indecisive. Don't press. Second, Pat gets all of the rebounds that come his direction. Really good rebounders get those and many that don't come their direction. Development in this area is important. Third, develop a turnaround finesse shot. The Miami center was no world beater, but he had a variety of shots he could take including a nice turnaround shot.

Third, bring the energy level of the team up early to start the game by shaking up the starting line up. With the loss of Tree, options are limited as I look at the roster, but one kind of stands out. #4 displays good energy. Bench Mcadams and play Deji. He may not be a world beater, but he tries hard from one end of the court to the other and can provide some senior stability. The other players can feed off of that. Right now, we don't need a streak shooter standing around the three point line and missing shots. We need higher percentage shots and a guy who could increase FG% with some quick points off of turnovers. Points off of turnovers are important in lots of sports. Develop some defensive traps that could do this for the team.

Lastly, this is not an opportunity for improvement, but a concern. Every game is on video. Every team we play gets to see our games. Miami uncovered a lot of deficiencies in our game yesterday and we need to get better and get better quickly. Specifically, we had better start making wide open shots or our best player, Pat, is going to have so many defenders around him he will never get the ball or when he does, he won't be able to get a shot off. We can't just sit back and wait for the opponents to get worse.

[Dave in Green]

Some really good thoughts here. I agree that the Zips offensive movement for about the first 15 minutes was something I'd be happy to see all season long. But they have to be able to adjust when the defense adjusts. The Zips have always had streaky shooters because consistent shooters generally end up with the top programs. Some games this season the Zips will shoot lights out and others they'll struggle. They have to play great defense when shooting is off, and their defense couldn't handle Miami's combination of speed, pinpoint passing and teamwork. They need work on D, which will require a lot of effort, coordination and trust in each other.

Pat was calling for the ball big time. I think he was really feeling it after his great results against USC. He did reasonably well in the first half but couldn't get anything to fall in the second. No other Zips player really stepped up as an option when Pat started missing. GT quoted Coach Dambrot in a story earlier this week as saying that Pat's biggest problem all along has been lack of self-confidence. The more he's used as a primary option and the more success he has, the more his confidence will grow. Another interesting quote in that story was that they had been considering redshirting Kwan this season, prior to losing Tree of course. That means the coaches don't think Kwan is 100% there yet, so we can expect Kwan to have some ups and downs this season as he continues to mature.

Finally, Miami showed us what a great, seasoned PG can do for a team. When Rodriguez sat, Miami struggled. I can see Noah developing into a great PG who will make the Zips a better and better team over the next four seasons. We'll get a preview of that as the season goes on. I can't imagine how the Zips would have performed in this tournament with last season's PG rotation.

[Blue & Gold]

Pat was calling for the ball big time. I think he was really feeling it after his great results against USC. He did reasonably well in the first half but couldn't get anything to fall in the second. No other Zips player really stepped up as an option when Pat started missing.

It looked like Pat's initial success was a bit of a double-edged sword. Pat was dominating in the post & the Zips offense degenerated into simply feeding Pat the ball down low; not a bad strategy as you want to feed the hot man, but there was also quite a bit of standing around & watching Pat go to work. When Pat's shots started to fall short (though most were right there & good shots), the Zips were out of rhythm & Miami pulled away (they're an extremely well-coached team).

The ball rotation has been much better without Tree in the middle. Now that it looks like Pat might step up this season, we've still got to keep moving without the ball & not get lazy, i.e., just watching Pat go to work down low.

[GP1]

Miami's....pinpoint passing

Miami hit almost 50% of their 3 point shots. I haven't been to too many college basketball games where the passing to guys positioned for 3 point shots was so good. In addition, Miami's shooters were almost always in a "ready to shoot" position with their bodies and the passes were hitting them in their torso region. Excellent fundamentals.

[GP1]

The luckiest woman in the world, Mrs. GP1, just sent me a note saying the Hurricanes just walked through her department at work on their way to the basketball court to practice. They play UNCC tomorrow. Interesting how at least two of the team who played in that tournament have games the following Tuesday after the tournament.

[MDZip]

Miami just gave #24 Illinois their first loss of the season. You know, they might be pretty good.

[Dave in Green]

Miami is currently ranked #15. We'll start seeing how strong they really are on Jan. 3 against #7 Virginia and Jan. 13 against #4 Duke.

[Dave in Green]

Tonight Miami took undefeated and #3 ranked Virginia into double overtime before losing. Miami's for real.

Also tonight, the same South Carolina the Zips beat in Charleston upset #9 Iowa State to raise their season record to 9-3.

[Dr Z]

Miami is currently ranked #15. We'll start seeing how strong they really are... against #4 Duke.

90-74