Ohio U @ Zips 2-27-15

[1981 grad]

The last time I started a game thread was against Marshall and we won. So I thought I would open the topic.

Deji is the only 4 year player and I went back in the archives to look at the recruiting class his freshman year and it included, Tree, Harney, Blake Justice, CJ Oldham. I guess technically Deji is the last man standing. I think everyone would agree that Deji has improved remarkably this year and is having a great year. I thought Evans also improved greatly this year but has had a few games lately where he just not gotten a great deal of minutes. I thought he played well in Buffalo and hopefully will have a great game on senior night. Congratulations to Deji and Nyles.

Hopefully, we can make can get rid of this losing streak. I would like to see more of Gladden and Aron Jackson. If we are going to make a run in the tournament we need these freshman to step up. Finally, this is a weird season in that even though we have 7 MAC losses, we have only been blown out in the game at Toledo. Even our better teams have had nights when they got blown out. This team still has a chance to turn it around!

[Big E Zip]

What concerns me is the inability to close games out these past three games. Earlier in the season many people on this forum were commending the team for closing out games. Rightfully so. In the games against UT and MU the Zips had the lead in the final minute. And in the UB game I think the Zips had the lead in the last 90 seconds (don't quote me on that). Obviously the common denominator for all three games is that Noah wasn't on the floor. But I don't think you can say that is the entire reason for not being able to close out those games. IMO this teams needs some leadership to come forward on the court in the remaining minutes of the game, otherwise they will have an early exit from the MAC tourney.

[Dave in Green]

The Zips are in a much worse situation than we imagined four games ago. All we can do now is take it one game at a time and try to get things turned around. OU's having a worse season than the Zips, and beating the Zips in Akron for the season sweep would be a big consolation prize for the Kitties. It will take a complete effort in all aspects of the game for the Zips to get back into a winning mode. They've had some time now to adjust to Noah's absence. Twin towers will likely be getting their third straight start together. Time to make it pay off.

[zipsrule]

Time for some leadership from the upperclassmen. I would still love to see Jake and Reggie step up and hit a few big shots - even if they play limited minutes. While I agree, players need to close out games, I think hitting some big shots throughout the game can be the difference of being down by three or up by three in the last minute of the game.

[zipsrule]

The line I am seeing has Akron by 10.5.

[morris buttermaker]

I wonder how the team's APR will look down the line.... The Zips seem to have some retention issues lately

[Hilltopper]

I wonder how the team's APR will look down the line.... The Zips seem to have some retention issues lately

If Harney and Abreu finish their degrees we will be fine.

[ewbrooman1]

I just hope the Zips can contain Willie Alvarez tonight.

[skip-zip]

I just hope the Zips can contain Willie Alvarez tonight.

I'm sure the ABJ "staff reporter" will be watching his performance closely.

Gosh, I can't believe there's only 9 posts on the afternoon of an OU game, nationally televised, on Senior Night.

[Balsy]

I'm sure the ABJ "staff reporter" will be watching his performance closely.

Gosh, I can't believe there's only 9 posts on the afternoon of an OU game, nationally televised, on Senior Night.

I didn't realize it was nationally televised...cool!

Should draw a decent crowd, but still below average. This season is about 200 people below the average.

[Dr Z]

EA writes about KD in the PD "We've had trouble closing games, for whatever reason," Dambrot said after the Zips played well at Buffalo, only to lose in the final minutes. The same thing has happened with others this week alone, including the Rockets and Ken+, both with critical setbacks coming down the stretch.

[ZachTheZip]

It was a good win last night, though the Zips weren't without their issues. Glad that Deji and Nyles both got to contribute on senior night.

Antino is really coming into his own. What a game by him. Also, a great game by Big Dog.

Those LED foam sticks they handed out to the crowd looked awesome when the lights went out for the player introductions.

[skip-zip]

I'll focus on a couple of local media-related items this morning.

First of all, where was Willie Alvarez last night? Was he suspended or injured? He never played

As if you think the ABJ is bad, you have to see what this PD article had to say this morning.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2015/02/akron_ends_mac_basketball_losi.html#incart_river

1) We play at Buffalo on Tuesday and close the season at home against Miami on Friday?? Really??

2) OU and Akron played in the MAC Tournament Final every year between 2009 and 2013??

It gets funnier all the time.

[ewbrooman1]

I'll focus on a couple of local media-related items this morning.

First of all, where was Willie Alvarez last night? Was he suspended or injured? He never played

As if you think the ABJ is bad, you have to see what this PD article had to say this morning.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2015/02/akron_ends_mac_basketball_losi.html#incart_river

1) We play at Buffalo on Tuesday and close the season at home against Miami on Friday?? Really??

2) OU and Akron played in the MAC Tournament Final every year between 2009 and 2013??

It gets funnier all the time.

#1 (that's OU's remaining schedule) has been corrected on cleveland.com, but #2 is still wrong. Veteran writer (Warsinskey) for the PD should be better.

Where, oh where have you gone, Willie Alvarez?

[Hilltopper]

Between 2009 and 2013 either the Zips or OU won the title.

[ewbrooman1]

Between 2009 and 2013 either the Zips or OU won the title.

That is true, but "The two teams played for the MAC tournament championship every year from 2009 to 2013." is not. (Unless you consider every team technically "plays for the tournament championship.")

[Dave in Green]

Antino grew up last night and proved the wisdom of the Zips coaching staff in recruiting this undersized kid from an obscure HS team in Houston that didn't have that great a winning record. The level of confidence he played with against OU was years beyond what we saw earlier this season. Antino is going to push Noah for more PT over the next three seasons.

Last night also proved the wisdom of twin towers and why we've arrived at that. Plain and simple, Kwan is struggling at getting the pass from the high post to the low post. Last night Kwan had another four turnovers, mostly on imprecise passing into the low post. On the other hand, Pat and Big Dog are working together like a veteran team in the high and low post, and had zero turnovers between them.

And for anyone who thinks Big Dog is dog slow, ask the OU frontcourt players trying to guard him on the wing when he pulled quick spins and dribble drives around them for easy layups. Who ever thought at the beginning of the season that we'd see these two on the court together with Big Dog dribble driving to the basket and Pat knocking down outside jumpers?

[Hilltopper]

[zipsrule]

Still a few things to work on, but overall, a solid game last night. Nice to see Reggie and Jake hit 5 of 11 three pointers between them.

[ZachTheZip]

I still think Kwan's coming to terms with not being a guard.

[akronzips71]

Of course, this was against the worst team in the conference.

Let's see how we finish out.

[ZachTheZip]

Of course, this was against the worst team in the conference.

Let's see how we finish out.

Ohio doesn't have a good record, but they are still a talented team. They have suffered from chemistry issues and not understanding their new coach's gameplans. When they play Akron, they are able to "turn it on".

[zippy5]

Still a few things to work on, but overall, a solid game last night. Nice to see Reggie and Jake hit 5 of 11 three pointers between them.

I think we go as far as those two take us in March.

[Balsy]

Bobkitten faithful are comparing stats of they're players to ours (of course each player the cherry-picked has better stats than us).

The only Stat that matters is 70-58.

Here's to hoping we play them again in the Tourney, all-time stands at 37-37. I'd hate for this rivalry to go into the off season without one of the teams owning it.

[zippy5]

It was a good win last night, though the Zips weren't without their issues. Glad that Deji and Nyles both got to contribute on senior night.

Antino is really coming into his own. What a game by him. Also, a great game by Big Dog.

Those LED foam sticks they handed out to the crowd looked awesome when the lights went out for the player introductions.

That was cool. There are a lot of little things we mention that add up to become a lot of reasons people won't come out to games. That's a little reason in the good direction. Adds a cool atmosphere and I can picture myself as an 8 year old having a blast during the intros.