Zips at Miami 3-3-15

[Dr Z]

Also, a win at Can't plus a win Monday gets them to 20 wins.

I know exactly how I'm going to celebrate this milestone.

[Balsy]

Now that I've had a chance to sleep on it, though I'm still disappointed, I'm proud of this team for what it's done this season. It's been frustrating, but we've seen some promise out of our young players.

My biggest concern is that we're going to lose Deji this year, one of our most dynamic playmakers, and we're going to have the senior reins taken over by McAdams and Kretzer. Our young players are leaders in their own right, but we're going to need McAdams and Kretzer to step up both next year, and the remainder of the season.

[Captain Kangaroo]

You guys forget - even if we lose the next 2 games, the CIT awaits. Yet another opportunity to reach the vaunted 20-win plateau, beating up on the 8th place Horizon League team. Hopefully they're a lot worse than the MAC's 8-place team.

[clarkwgriswold]

Certainly disappointing, but looking back, I think this team fooled us with how well they played early and in mid-season. Early on, with the loss of Treadwell and the youth of the team, I thought we'd be hard pressed to get to 20 wins, We then started playing really well and I got caught up a little in the enthusiasm. In hindsight, my initial guess was right, so I can't look at this team as underperforming or poorly coached.

[morris buttermaker]

I didn't see or hear the game.... apparently neither did the Beacon. A"staff report", written via a box score. Not one quote or play description, no Forsythe mention etc. So what does gozips.com offer? Not much. Why don't fans get the post game press conference from each game on the website--- either rewritten or the entire video?... This would seem pretty standard stuff for an athletic Dept... Am I just looking in the wrong place on the site?

[GJGood]

Losing in a hard fought game where the effort is there is much less disappointing than losing when it looks like they are just being outhustled and outworked in the game. Akron looked tired late in the game and I understand they aren't used to the personnel shortcomings they had last night so I won't be too critical of that.

I was frustrated, however, in the first half when it looked like Miami was outhustling the Zips to every loose ball and rebound. Given that MU still was only able to muster 17 points by halftime I'd think winning a few more 50/50 balls and hustle plays early may have given the Zips a much bigger lead going into the second half and it may have been more than the resilient Redhawks could overcome.

The one consistent trait about most young teams is their inconsistency.

[skip-zip]

You guys forget - even if we lose the next 2 games, the CIT awaits. Yet another opportunity to reach the vaunted 20-win plateau, beating up on the 8th place Horizon League team.

Or...another Indiana Purdue at Fort Wayne collapse?

I think we'll get to 20 by winning at home on Monday, and playing another low seed on Wednesday in Cleveland. After the MAC tourney ends for us, I don't see getting excited about lengthening this frustrating season beyond that point.

I'm really gonna miss what used to be the most exciting weekend of the year for me, my family, and friends. And I had already cleared my schedule for next Friday.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Diggs/Harney/Treadwell didn't care about the "lesser" tourneys. If they were still around, and I was Dambrot, I'd have declined a bid.

But a CIT/CBI bid would have been a good experience for these Zips, had Robotham's injury not occurred. I think this year's team had the moxie and team attitude needed to embrace one of the "other" tourneys and make a run.

Without Robotham we could still win a lesser-tourney game, I guess. Those tourneys are full of teams afflicted with DiggsHarneyTreadwell-itis, ripe for the picking by a young, motivated team. But 1 win is pretty-much it.

Hoist another CBI/CIT 4" x 6" banner into the JAR rafters, and move on to 2015-16...

[Sportsjunkie330]

The CBI/CIT is equivalent to one of those crappy bowl games that 6 win teams make it to.

You think attendance at the JAR is bad now? They'd struggle to get 900 people at a home CBI/CIT game.

It is embarrassing that there is a banner hanging in JAR that recognizes that "accomplishment".

[skip-zip]

The CBI/CIT is equivalent to one of those crappy bowl games that 6 win teams make it to.

No way. I'll take ANY D-1A Bowl Game over 10 CBI appearances.

[tomzip]

Diggs/Harney/Treadwell didn't care about the "lesser" tourneys. If they were still around, and I was Dambrot, I'd have declined a bid.

But a CIT/CBI bid would have been a good experience for these Zips, had Robotham's injury not occurred. I think this year's team had the moxie and team attitude needed to embrace one of the "other" tourneys and make a run.

Without Robotham we could still win a lesser-tourney game, I guess. Those tourneys are full of teams afflicted with DiggsHarneyTreadwell-itis, ripe for the picking by a young, motivated team. But 1 win is pretty-much it.

Hoist another CBI/CIT 4" x 6" banner into the JAR rafters, and move on to 2015-16...

In the Dambrot era, I would say tourney and run aren't in the vernacular, more like 20 and done

[Sportsjunkie330]

No way. I'll take ANY D-1A Bowl Game over 10 CBI appearances.

10 years ago maybe.

The CBI is equal to the Duck Commander Independence Bowl.... Miami vs. South Carolina. Both teams were 6-6. Or the Advocare V100 Texas Bowl... Arkansas vs Texas. Both teams were 6-6.

[Dave in Green]

Don't forget the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Skip is salivating at the thought of spending Christmas week in Boise.

[Dave in Green]

If you are going to include the "loss" of Harney in your list, why not bemoan Betancourt's crippling departure?

With a cap of 13 scholarships, someone had to be left off the list. For all Nick's attitude problems, most fans here seemed to think he had more potential as a player than Melo if he ever got his head screwed on straight. But Nick was the first of many dominoes to fall, including Pat and BJ last night. Of course the main point of my post was to point out the huge accumulated loss of Zips talent on the court by the end of the game last night.

Tree, Nick, Noah, Pat, BJ and even Melo had been starters last and/or this season. All at one time were expected to play some role in the Zips having a great regular season and perhaps their first post-season run. No team could stand that much unexpected loss of talent. This is at least as great a loss of Zips player talent as when they went up against VCU in the NCAA tournament with Q suspended for the season, Alex suspended forever, Deji out with back spasms and Pat and Brian Walsh sickened by flu or food poisoning. VCU slaughtered that decimated Zips team, and the current team is just as vulnerable if Pat and BJ remain out.

[UAZip0510]

I'm disappointed but not surprised by some of the sarcasm and negativity. For one, everyone is frustrated - we've had a lot of ups and downs, but it's been a long time since we've lost like this. It's still difficult to see though - I guess you find out more about folks when things are bad than when things are good.

It's interesting to me that time and time again, we've heard recruits talk about how much the stability of the coaching staff has factored into their decisions to commit. And time and time again, we've seen how the 20 wins streak catches a recruits attention when deciding where to commit. That doesn't mean that the coaches are beyond criticism - every coach in America is - but I think sometimes we get spoiled by what we've had. I wouldn't trade our coaching staff for anyone else's in the conference.

As frustrating as this year has been (and it's been really bad at times), I have to take a step back sometimes and look at the situation. Our MAC POY candidate got suspended after 2 games, forcing a sophomore (Cheatham) who played 9 minutes per game last season into the starting five. Treadwell being out has severely limited the impact of Kretzer/McAdams, who relied on Tree down low to get good looks. All three of our point guards are true freshman - one a walk-on - and the best one tore his ACL, forcing a the backup who was used to 15 minutes per game to go 30+. Of our 12 players that play, 7 of them are freshmen or sophomores.

As someone else pointed out, everything that could go wrong has and it appears our young team has simply run out of gas.

With that said, I'm excited for next season. Noah was a steal of a recruit, and pairing him with Josh Williams should give us one of the best (and youngest) backcourts in the league. The other possible play-right-away recruit - Peter Agba - has been compared to Tree when Tree was his age. Kwan, Antino, Aaron, B.J., Malcolm, and Isaiah will get another offseason in the weight room. And, with apologies to Nyles, we're really only losing Deji's impact on the court.

This sucks, no way to change that, but it's still damn good to be an Akron Zip. Here's to a miracle this coming week and, if not, getting back to Saturday night at The Q in 2016.

Go Zips!

[Sade281]

I'm disappointed but not surprised by some of the sarcasm and negativity. For one, everyone is frustrated - we've had a lot of ups and downs, but it's been a long time since we've lost like this. It's still difficult to see though - I guess you find out more about folks when things are bad than when things are good.

It's interesting to me that time and time again, we've heard recruits talk about how much the stability of the coaching staff has factored into their decisions to commit. And time and time again, we've seen how the 20 wins streak catches a recruits attention when deciding where to commit. That doesn't mean that the coaches are beyond criticism - every coach in America is - but I think sometimes we get spoiled by what we've had. I wouldn't trade our coaching staff for anyone else's in the conference.

As frustrating as this year has been (and it's been really bad at times), I have to take a step back sometimes and look at the situation. Our MAC POY candidate got suspended after 2 games, forcing a sophomore (Cheatham) who played 9 minutes per game last season into the starting five. Treadwell being out has severely limited the impact of Kretzer/McAdams, who relied on Tree down low to get good looks. All three of our point guards are true freshman - one a walk-on - and the best one tore his ACL, forcing a the backup who was used to 15 minutes per game to go 30+. Of our 12 players that play, 7 of them are freshmen or sophomores.

As someone else pointed out, everything that could go wrong has and it appears our young team has simply run out of gas.

With that said, I'm excited for next season. Noah was a steal of a recruit, and pairing him with Josh Williams should give us one of the best (and youngest) backcourts in the league. The other possible play-right-away recruit - Peter Agba - has been compared to Tree when Tree was his age. Kwan, Antino, Aaron, B.J., Malcolm, and Isaiah will get another offseason in the weight room. And, with apologies to Nyles, we're really only losing Deji's impact on the court.

This sucks, no way to change that, but it's still damn good to be an Akron Zip. Here's to a miracle this coming week and, if not, getting back to Saturday night at The Q in 2016.

Go Zips!

I have to disagree I really think Antino and Isaiah would be a good combo....Antino has been the only one feeding the post this season!

[clarkwgriswold]

Don't forget the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Skip is salivating at the thought of spending Christmas week in Boise.

I hope they have a blue court like Boise's blue field.

[K92]

I am pretty tired of hearing about the streak of 20 win seasons.

Search Google for: current consecutive 20 win seasons college basketball

Scroll through as many pages as you have the patience for and tell me how much it means,

It's kinda like me bragging about my fourteen tailgates in a row where I chugged 20 beers. Sounds impressive until you find out they were O'Douls.

The ultimate proof that the 20 win mark is a total paper tiger is that the Zips can still achieve it this year as they sit with a 9-8 conference record.

[Dave in Green]

Keener'92, you know I like you. But I could give a flying flip about what you or Google or Wikipedia or Twitter or Facebook or any disgruntled poster on any forum has to say on the subject. The only thing that matters, repeat, THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS, is what recruits think about the 20+ game winning streak. If any good recruit has been influenced to select UA over other schools, the streak matters. Period. End of story.

[UAZip0510]

Keener'92, you know I like you. But I could give a flying flip about what you or Google or Wikipedia or Twitter or Facebook or any disgruntled poster on any forum has to say on the subject. The only thing that matters, repeat, THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS, is what recruits think about the 20+ game winning streak. If any good recruit has been influenced to select UA over other schools, the streak matters. Period. End of story.

Bingo. Noah, Antino, Agba, Williams, etc have all been quoted as saying it meant something to them when considering schools. I get that Tourney runs are the bigger goal but I'm not sure why people can't just take pride in such a unique record.

[Zip_ME87]

@Keener'92 - I agree with you about the streak of 20+ win seasons

@DiG - I have yet to see the streak bring the "good recruits" that win an NCAA Tournament game. I'm so sick of having smoke blown up my butt, I can't stand reading most of the basketball threads this year. Whenever someone makes any kind of criticism, no matter how well founded it may be, someone craps on it with little to no thought. Excuses are as prevalent for the Zips as hope is for the Browns.

[K92]

No matter what anyone else thinks about the 20 win streak, I am pretty sure I am permitted to be tired of hearing about it. Unless the Taliban has instituted some new rules I am not privy to.

[Dave in Green]

Zip_ME87, good recruits alone will not automatically lead to an NCAA tournament game win. But what I can absolutely promise you is that the Zips will never win an NCAA tournament game without good recruits.

Keener'92, you have the right to say anything you want about the 20+ game win streak, and everyone else has the right to agree or disagree.

But I'm right.

[UAZip0510]

No matter what anyone else thinks about the 20 win streak, I am pretty sure I am permitted to be tired of hearing about it. Unless the Taliban has instituted some new rules I am not privy to.

You certainly are. With all due respect, unless you're an elite high school basketball player, I don't think the team cares (just as they don't care what I think). It matters to recruits. That's well-documented. And ANYTHING, big or small, that assists us in getting recruits is good with me.

[UAZip0510]

I have to disagree I really think Antino and Isaiah would be a good combo....Antino has been the only one feeding the post this season!

I think Antino will be a vital part of this team moving forward. I just think he'll play the 6th man/energy role. Noah is better overall and Josh Williams is projected to be better (and is more of a combo guard than Antino), which is why I mentioned those two. We should have really, really good guard play for the foreseeable future, which is very exciting.