Zips vs. Malone Pioneers Exhibition

[Blue & Gold]

I can't make the game tonight, so for those who do go, please give us lots of details.

Who's the starting lineup?

Does Josh Williams start?

Do any of the other three freshmen play?

It's obviously going to be a bit skewed against Malone, but do any of the players look like they've made Pat-like, or Cheathum-like jumps as those two did last year?

How's Big Dog's weight look?

I'd also love a report on Jimmond Ivey.

Do any of the players seem to have a natural chemistry on the floor?

Malone's going to be going all-out & playing to win. Does Dambrot even care? Probably not. Probably just going to work on finding rotations & experimenting with some things on offense & playing the young guys. But we still want to give a good showing.

[akronzips71]

Is there any radio coverage?

[GoZips]

Is there any radio coverage?

Yes. WARF 1350 AM starting a 6:30 pre-game show.

[Dr Z]

Can someone periscope it?

[ZachTheZip]

Starters: Antino Jackson, Josh Williams, Reggie McAdams, Kwan Cheatham, Isaiah Johnson.

Williams will see a lot of playing time.

[Valpo Zip]

is the video stream working for you guys?

[ZachTheZip]

This team has the ability to put out a ridiculously tall lineup.

[Zipgrad01]

My first half impressions against a terrible team....

1. Not sure why Big Dig started over Pat. Also not sure where all these reports came that he lost weight. He looks as overweight and slow as ever.

2. Antino looks just as small and skinny as ever. Not sure where these reports came from that he turned into hulk hogan.

2. Pat looks really good. His footwork and touch leads me to believe he will be very successful.

3. Josh Williams has a lot of potential. I'm not sure if he will ever be a dominate player, but he will be very solid. I don't get the same wow that I did from Noah last year. Hard to tell from 1 game.

4. Ivey will be able to score. He is extremely quick and showed nice range hitting a 3 about 4 feet behind the line. Didn't get to see his skills taking it to the hole off the dribble.

5. Kretzer looked like he stepped back into 1996 with his haircut. I was worried about him being able to see, but his set shot looked great.

All in all....we look much better than this time last year.

[akronzips71]

Our cup runneth over.

For once we have some PLAYERS!

IF we stay healthy and out of jail, this team has real potential.

Ivey is the real deal. Dan U could be the next Jakubic.

I know we were really playing a high school level team but I watched the last 10 minutes and it was awesome.

[zippyfan34]

Utomi has tons of potential. I see him as an all MAC performer before his career is done.

[akronzips71]

Utomi has tons of potential. I see him as an all MAC performer before his career is done.

I don't see him spending this year on the bench. He is a scoring machine.

[ZachTheZip]

Who is Carlitos Anderson?

[zippyfan34]

I don't see him spending this year on the bench. He is a scoring machine.

But he plays small forward and we have Jake, Reggie, Aaron, Kwan, and Ivey who can play that position. Do they burn his redshirt for 5-10 minutes a game? If there are injuries to any of those mentioned then maybe.

[phil]

There were a fair number of students in the crowd. Malone had a contingent at the JAR so it was a good crowd for an exhibition game.

Antino has put on some weight and looks stronger. I thought he had a very strong game penetrating and dishing. He also shot the ball well. It seems like he will be tough this year.

Josh Williams also looked good. He has good size for a guard and was under control the whole game. The Zips passed the ball to Big Dog or Pat in the post. Malone triple teamed the post player and the Zips moved the ball to Kretzer who was hitting the open 3. We shot a lot of threes the first half. My only complaint was that on a couple of occasions we shot the 3 ball to quickly without any ball movement. Kretzer had an air ball 3 and Reggie and Kwan forced up a couple of 3 balls. However, we shot the 3 ball well tonight.

In the second half we made a concerted effort to score inside. They would run Big Dog or Pat off a screen and they would take the ball to the basket. Malone did not have the size to stop them. The second half we were tough inside. Not sure how that will work against better teams but it looked good tonight. KD also played Big Dog and Pat together. It created several offensive rebound opportunities. I am sure we can expect that more this season.

We also pushed the ball on offense. Kwan had a nice pass to Pat on a face break. Pat really ran the floor well. Unfortunately, that was about it for Kwan. I was hoping he would develop an inside game but did not see it tonight. Missed a reverse layup and a fade shot from 6 feet.

Did not get to see the frosh until the second half. I agree that Agba looks good. All the frosh are quick and athletic. The only question is whether they can learn to play defense. I think he has a shot a being a contributor but it is too early to tell.

[GoZips]

Who is Carlitos Anderson?

"Lito" is a walk-on who came up through the system. i.e. He spent a year as a manager

before getting the opportunity to be a practice player. He shot a great three ball that

had the entire bench buzzing. Lito is a player favorite; and, mine as well.

[LoyalZIP]

Who is Carlitos Anderson?

I think French said he was a manager last year

[GoZips]

The last five minutes of the game was a peek into the future. And, brother

if you did not like that show you are no Zips fan. We saw the Nigerian connection

going full tilt along with Jimond Ivey. They were too quick and way to talented

for the tired Malone players.

Unfortunately, this will probably be the only playing time these kids will see this

year. BUT, the future is rosy. Mundo (Jimond Ivey) showed he could run the point.

Mundo is NOT being red shirted. He will play a lot.

The Zips are talented, experienced and deep. So, let us trade their worst year for

a future best year.

Personally I enjoyed the Freshmen performance at the end of the game most of all.

[akronzips71]

If they can help get us to the dance the future will take care of itself.

[Dr Z]

George had this story (about the game) up at 10 pm last night with nine photos from Ed Suba Jr.

[skip-zip]

I think what I enjoyed the most was seeing how "active" and athletically-gifted some of those newcomers were. It seemed like a whole different crop of kids, compared to most of who we've seen come into the program in the past.

The interesting part will be to see how they are "molded" by a Dambrot staff. Or, might we be hitting an era where we might start to see guys like this be permitted to run wild a bit.

Edited November 6, 2015 by skip-zip

[MDZip]

George had this story (about the game) up at 10 pm last night with nine photos from Ed Suba Jr.

So people bash him at times so give him credit - nice job George.

[phil]

After the beat down we got from VCU in the tournament 2 years ago, KD changed his recruiting. He realized that he can mold athletes into basketball players. However, he cannot mold basketball players into athletes.

[skip-zip]

1981 Grad. Let me expand on that too, since I touched on it earlier.

Just a few years ago, how many players did we have who could get to the rim on their own off the dribble? Before guys like Diggs or Harney, that was nearly non-existent.

I might be jumping the conclusions after seeing us play a weak opponent, but it seems like we now might have at least a handful of guys with that ability today.

[wadszip]

While you always have to temper the excitement against an overmatched, lower division opponent. This was the game we all expected to see from this team. Not anything you can point to and say, "they really struggled in (blank) aspect". Even the FT shooting was solid, especially with guys who struggled last year (or guys being unknown) knocking some down.

We'll see how it translates against Cleveland State, but so far, so good.

And I will say this about Malone. They are a D2 GLIAC school (solid D2 conference) that won 11 games last year, who returned a lot, including the Christian Graves kid, who I believe missed all of last year. He was the GLIAC frosh of the year two years ago. They also had a senior transfer from D1 UIC. So, beating them by 40-something points is far different than what, say Miami did in their exhibition. Miami beat a school I never heard of before, Ohio Midwestern 90-24. Looking at the Ohio Midwestern roster it is all 6-5 and under freshmen and sophomores from Cincinnati (who I never heard of). I'm guessing it's the equivalent to a good D1 HS team. Malone is at least a semi-decent D2 college school.

BTW, if Akron plays this well against Hiram (which is more of a Ohio Midwest caliber school), the Zips could win that by 80-plus... Not that game is any sort of measuring stick, just wanted to add some perspective to the difference between Malone and some of these other schools MAC teams will be playing.

Edited November 6, 2015 by wadszip

[ZippyRulz]

Any comments from those who attended on how the re-painted 'arena' looked?