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Western Michigan @ Akron


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David Brown, Connor Tava and Austin Richie will all likely be as good or better than they were last season. Tucker Haymond, a 6-6 sophomore, joins those three scoring in double figures. Drake LaMont, a 6-10 freshman, is no Shayne Whittington, so unlike last season the Zips should have a clear advantage at center.

After all his medical exemptions, this is Brown's 6th season of MAC play, and he is a talented veteran. At 6-4, Brown is a tough matchup for the Zips' smaller guards. More than half of Brown's field goal attempts are 3-pointers. Deji did a great job of shutting him down at the Q last March. Tava, a 6-6, 235-pound junior, is highly skilled and a sneaky good player who leads WMU in scoring. Zips need to guard him closely or he will score lots of easy buckets inside.

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Maybe the most complete game the Zips have played all year.

If one guy from Western doesn't go video game from the 3 point line for about a minute and a half this is a 30 point drubbing.

Zips served an early notice on the MAC. We may be young, but the road to Cleveland still goes through Akron.

Bring on the Rockets.

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Best performance of the season by far, Defensive effort was spectacular. Am not a fan of playing 11 players,but must admit that it keeps them fresh on defense. Saw Big Dog signal to come out twice-hard to believe that he can't play 5-6 minutes without being gassed-did he not work out during his recovery from the broken wrist-if not-why? Imagine what he could produce if he ever dedicated himself to getting in basketball shape.

Still concerned about Reggie and Kretzer-Jake finally hit a 3, but it just seems like they are not part of the offense. Antino played much more under control and Aaron Jackson gave glimpses of what we might see over the next 3 yrs.

On the downside-poor attendance for the MAC opener against a quality opponent-once again there were no programs,no comcessions on the second floor and no band-they are really cheaping out. If they play like tonight, they can beat Toledo,so GO ZIPS

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We didn't only have an advantage in the paint without Wittington in the lineup, we DOMINATED in the paint. It says in the box score that we had 6 blocks. It felt like we had 15 of them. And if it wasn't for the horrible officiating, we would have had at least 10.

This was the story of the game. WMU insisted on attacking the paint from the perimeter without the most athletically gifted guys. It was so predictable, nearly every time, that they were going to get stuffed at the basket.

Toledo will be a much, much bigger test.

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It was the best I have seen the Zips play both offensively and defensively. Pat had another great game and was perfect from the field. He dominated the middle. Big Dog also played well from the inside. It was great seeing Kretzer make moves to the basket. He had a dunk and a layup. (first time I remember Jake ever dunking the ball) Reggie also had a nice move to the basket. These guys will be great if they realized that there is more to the game than shooting the 3 ball. Kretzer missed his first 4-5 shots. What bothered me is that there was a two on one in the first 5 minutes of the game and instead of going to the basket he went to the 3 line and missed an open 3. We had some great blocks! Aron Jackson played great. I hope we see the same team in Toledo.

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Obviously the string of OOC cupcakes prepared the Zips pretty well for the MAC. :lol: Quickzips nailed it with the complete game description. The Zips played solid offense and defense without any long lapses. They established the inside game early and then went about hitting their 3s at slightly above their season average. The final count was 28 each 2-point and 3-point attempts.

One thing that really caught my attention was the continuous subbing. The Zips started subbing players less than 3 minutes into the game, and it seemed as if there was at least 1 sub made every minute or so throughout the game. I can't recall ever seeing such rapid player rotation. Then again, Coach Dambrot is asking his players to go all out on defense, and that can be tiring. As long as you have 10 or 11 good players who can contribute, why not use them? The Zips had 10 players with double-digit minutes, and BJ would have probably been the 11th to play double-digit minutes if he hadn't been injured in the last game. WMU had 4 players who were on the court 30+ minutes, and they were having a hard time staying with wave after wave of fresh Zips.

Pat and Big Dog played a combined 39 minutes, and were a combined 8-9 from the field, scored 18 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, blocked 4 shots, and had 4 assists and 1 steal while committing only 2 turnovers and 3 personals. With no dominating center in the MAC this season, the Zips have arguably the most effective pair of centers in the conference. The more Pat and Big Dog establish themselves in the paint, the more the floor will open up for the other Zips.

It would be great if the Zips could play like this every game. But they will inevitably have ups and downs. The Toledo game just got a little more difficult after CMU upset the Rockettes tonight. But for now I'm just going to enjoy what I saw tonight with the Zips putting together a complete game and coasting to an easy victory over the defending MAC championship team.

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We didn't only have an advantage in the paint without Wittington in the lineup, we DOMINATED in the paint. It says in the box score that we had 6 blocks. It felt like we had 15 of them. And if it wasn't for the horrible officiating, we would have had at least 10.

This was the story of the game. WMU insisted on attacking the paint from the perimeter without the most athletically gifted guys. It was so predictable, nearly every time, that they were going to get stuffed at the basket.

Toledo will be a much, much bigger test.

Come on.... I watched the game. The Zips D was intense and in your face...real aggressive. They got called for fouls that they should have been called for. When you have that style of defense, they are gonna blow the whistle. They let a lot go too. Just because the Zips had more fouls doesn't mean the refs were bad. 99% of it was the way the Zips played D.

The moving screen they called on Big Dog was a good call.....he stuck his hip out and moved in to the guy.

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Another things that really sticks out at me....

We played GREAT defense tonight....AND scored 70 points. I've been feeling like that 70+ number is really good for us, when examining our offensive potential over the last month or so.

We are probably capable of winning 3/4 of our MAC games if we can follow this formula every game from there on out. Just get to 70 and play defense !!

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Come on.... I watched the game. The Zips D was intense and in your face...real aggressive. They got called for fouls that they should have been called for. When you have that style of defense, they are gonna blow the whistle. They let a lot go too. Just because the Zips had more fouls doesn't mean the refs were bad. 99% of it was the way the Zips played D.

The moving screen they called on Big Dog was a good call.....he stuck his hip out and moved in to the guy.

Agreed. I said that to a few of the more obnoxious fans that basically think everything is a foul against us and we never foul. If you want in your face aggressive defense, youre gonna get called for fouls. I was never concerned by some of the fouls bc we were winning by 20+ most of the 2nd half. It actually looked like we were toying with them most of the game. I never thought WMU had much of a chance in this game.

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