clarkwgriswold Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 No one should be too surprised. We all saw the weaknesses in this team but it was easy to look the other way when they kept pulling games out. Those weaknesses are now getting magnified. I heard two or three weeks ago that the team had a "morale problem" and I dismissed it. I'm beginning to wonder now if there's an issue as I see no fire in these guys. Also, again, could someone tell me who the leader(s) is/are on this team? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 3 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said: No one should be too surprised. We all saw the weaknesses in this team but it was easy to look the other way when they kept pulling games out. Those weaknesses are now getting magnified. I heard two or three weeks ago that the team had a "morale problem" and I dismissed it. I'm beginning to wonder now if there's an issue as I see no fire in these guys. Also, again, could someone tell me who the leader(s) is/are on this team? I agree. We're missing Jake this year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 If I missed an earlier post apologize, was Josh in last night? What I saw at the end was Kwan yelling at everyone and a lot of indifference from Big Dog and "too cool for school" Noah. I would like to see a Hoosiers move and the coach bench all of them at Buffalo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 What is so puzzling is what was a strength earlier in the season is now a weakness and what was a weakness earlier in the season is now a strength. I felt we did a great job with our half-court defense as BG pretty much relied on turnovers and long rebounds to get out and run to score their points. Big Dog has definitely been playing with more effort on the defensive end and it has shown. Robotham seemed to take a lot of gambles going for loose balls and offensive rebounds instead of getting back on D. This led to a lot of 2 on 1 fast breaks at the other end. Our offense is a mess right now. Our shooters need to start hitting their shots otherwise Big Dog will continue to get double and even triple teamed. We are settling for poor shots and we are not moving the ball side to side. I felt one of Kwan's best looks was a 3 pointer he didn't take on the play where he put the ball on the floor and the defender drew a charge. That's a shot I feel Kwan would have taken (and made) 2 weeks ago. I wonder how much of the poor shooting can be attributed to mental frustration and players thinking too much about missing instead of just letting the game flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 51 minutes ago, NWAkron said: If I missed an earlier post apologize, was Josh in last night? What I saw at the end was Kwan yelling at everyone and a lot of indifference from Big Dog and "too cool for school" Noah. I would like to see a Hoosiers move and the coach bench all of them at Buffalo. Josh didn't play last night d/t his sprained ankle. But it's funny you should mention Josh and Noah. I've used that same "too cool for school" saying earlier in the year about these two guys. In high school I loved how Josh was always "cool as a cucumber." The same goes for Noah's freshman year. But when things are swirling around the drain, you want to see passion and fight, pee-n-vinegar. I've noted on a couple occasions when Josh is on the floor it looks like he just woke up from a nap. Same goes with Noah. A Hoosiers-esque move might be great. Play TDM. At least he's got spunk & fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K92 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 I just posted about leadership on the other thread. There is nobody filling that role right now and if BD or Kwan isn't going to, who is? There's no Demetrius Treadwell on this team. Perhaps, if Aaron Jackson was a better performer, he could lead. Noah? Nah. The freshmen? Don't think so. So who's that leave? Antino or Ivey need to take the reins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZIPSMOM2 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 I know everyone is frustrated and concerned... trust me I'm feeling the same way I wish I had an answer but I'm even lost for words. This is a team that has so much upside and they are just struggling for whatever reason. I truly believe they will figure this out and win and win BIG! We just got to Trust the Process and believe in these young men! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 2 minutes ago, ZIPSMOM2 said: This is a team that has so much upside and they are just struggling for whatever reason. I would give the veteran players some practice time off. Rest and refocus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 3 minutes ago, Dr Z said: I would give the veteran players some practice time off. Rest and refocus. I'd give them some game time off at this juncture. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 35 minutes ago, Dr Z said: I would give the veteran players some practice time off. Rest and refocus. I know from experience that exerting effort on defense requires a lot more energy than playing offense. Maybe the added effort on the defensive end is causing some lazy play and tired legs on the other end of the court. We either need to play more guys or get in better shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 1 minute ago, Zipgrad01 said: I know from experience that exerting effort on defense requires a lot more energy than playing offense. Maybe the added effort on the defensive end is causing some lazy play and tired legs on the other end of the court. We either need to play more guys or get in better shape. If last night was "added effort" I don't want to see lazy defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 6 minutes ago, zippy5 said: If last night was "added effort" I don't want to see lazy defense. I agree about last night, but I think the effort has been there the several previous games. At least it was against Toledo and Kent. I didn't see the emu game. Bad conditioning catches up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 1 hour ago, K92 said: There's no Demetrius Treadwell on this team. Thank God! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 20 minutes ago, Zipgrad01 said: I know from experience that exerting effort on defense requires a lot more energy than playing offense. Maybe the added effort on the defensive end is causing some lazy play and tired legs on the other end of the court. We either need to play more guys or get in better shape. That absolutely can happen. You aren't likely to gain any conditioning when you are at the end of February, but you surely can adjust rotations of players like I have suggested. I think the dilemma for Keith is always whether to sacrifice ability/trust for more energy. It's a balancing act. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) Hard to give the bench more minutes when our 6th man is injured at the moment. I thought Aaron Jackson played one of his better games of the season. Perhaps the fact this was his 1st game in 2 weeks that he has seen the floor helped motivate him to play with more effort. I'd love to see Hughes develop and play as I feel he provides the closest skill set to fill in for Big Dog without the Zips having to completely alter their offense. Our offense looks lost when Big Dog is on the bench. Just a bunch of players standing around and forcing up a contested shot at some point in the shot clock. At this stage its late in the season and it appears Hughes back issue hindered his chances of progressing into the valuable player that he could have potentially been for us this season. Edited February 22, 2017 by kreed5120 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Our offense looked lost with Big Dog on the floor last night, too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 2 minutes ago, zippy5 said: Our offense looked lost with Big Dog on the floor last night, too Fair point, but I was referring to the season as a whole. BG did a really good job of trapping him and forcing him to pick up his dribble. A few times he got in really great position and the help defenders raked at the ball from behind as he was putting up his shot. Just in general teams will continue to give him hard double teams if Noah, Kwan, and Antino, and others can't hit their perimeter shots to keep the defense honest. In the bigger picture we need to find ways of getting Big Dog rest or else he will be completely exhausted for the final like he was last year against Buffalo and how he was down the stretch against OSU in the NIT. The problem is we kind of can't afford him not being being on the court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 1 hour ago, Hilltopper said: Thank God! Yeah, who would want another MAC POY candidate on the team? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipfan84 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 3 hours ago, kreed5120 said: What is so puzzling is what was a strength earlier in the season is now a weakness and what was a weakness earlier in the season is now a strength. I felt we did a great job with our half-court defense as BG pretty much relied on turnovers and long rebounds to get out and run to score their points. Big Dog has definitely been playing with more effort on the defensive end and it has shown. Robotham seemed to take a lot of gambles going for loose balls and offensive rebounds instead of getting back on D. This led to a lot of 2 on 1 fast breaks at the other end. Our offense is a mess right now. Our shooters need to start hitting their shots otherwise Big Dog will continue to get double and even triple teamed. We are settling for poor shots and we are not moving the ball side to side. I felt one of Kwan's best looks was a 3 pointer he didn't take on the play where he put the ball on the floor and the defender drew a charge. That's a shot I feel Kwan would have taken (and made) 2 weeks ago. I wonder how much of the poor shooting can be attributed to mental frustration and players thinking too much about missing instead of just letting the game flow. kreed5120, I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I will add a couple of more observations. We had a couple of periods where we made concerted efforts to work the ball inside to Dog, penetrate & attack the rim, or get a decent 2 point shot off. During those brief periods we were able to quickly and efficiently erase BG's 5-7 point leads. Higher shooting % and/or fouls on the opponent. However, once caught up we fell into the all too familiar habit of jacking 3s when there was no reason to. Not only did this kill our scoring but BG was often scoring at will in transition. Too easy for them........on both ends of the floor! Throw in some lazy passing (turn-overs) and very poor defensive rebounding and you end up with a 1 point loss to one of the league's doormats. I saw the same trends in the OU game at Athens. I found both of these games much more frustrating than the loss to KSU. At least Kent played hard and earned it. The other 2 losses, not so much. I cringe when Kwan takes his 1st shot as a 3 pointer and it goes in. Usually means many more to come.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 8 minutes ago, zipfan84 said: I cringe when Kwan takes his 1st shot as a 3 pointer and it goes in. Usually means many more to come.......... I hear that. And when he started missing, he kept shooting. Hard to shake his confidence, I guess. Some of his shooting streaks have really helped us at times this year. But the opposite has been true as well, like last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Who's this Noah we keep hearing about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) 19 minutes ago, zipfan84 said: kreed5120, I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I will add a couple of more observations. We had a couple of periods where we made concerted efforts to work the ball inside to Dog, penetrate & attack the rim, or get a decent 2 point shot off. During those brief periods we were able to quickly and efficiently erase BG's 5-7 point leads. Higher shooting % and/or fouls on the opponent. However, once caught up we fell into the all too familiar habit of jacking 3s when there was no reason to. Not only did this kill our scoring but BG was often scoring at will in transition. Too easy for them........on both ends of the floor! Throw in some lazy passing (turn-overs) and very poor defensive rebounding and you end up with a 1 point loss to one of the league's doormats. I saw the same trends in the OU game at Athens. I found both of these games much more frustrating than the loss to KSU. At least Kent played hard and earned it. The other 2 losses, not so much. I cringe when Kwan takes his 1st shot as a 3 pointer and it goes in. Usually means many more to come.......... The Zips were so predictable. For the longest time they kept forcing 3s when they trimmed the deficit to 3 and I knew the entire time they were dribbling the ball up court they would be shooting a 3. This led to BG building the lead back to 6 or 8 and the Zips once again having to work to trim it back down. Just because you are down 3 with 6 minutes left doesn't mean you have to try to tie it up at that exact moment. Had they just continued doing what got them back in the game, they would have been able to build themselves a soft cushion. Instead they perpetually worked themselves out of a deficit to only get back into one. Edited February 22, 2017 by kreed5120 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 3 hours ago, Zipgrad01 said: I know from experience that exerting effort on defense requires a lot more energy than playing offense. Maybe the added effort on the defensive end is causing some lazy play and tired legs on the other end of the court. We either need to play more guys or get in better shape. When I watched the KD show a couple weeks ago, KD told Joe they were going to be focusing on being number 1 in defense in the MAC from here on out. I literally said "ut-oh" to the tv thinking the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 2 hours ago, LZIp said: Yeah, who would want another MAC POY candidate on the team? A guy who quit the team on a plane ride home? A guy who was not a great team mate? A guy whose off court behaviors ultimately got him kicked off the team and expelled from school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 24 minutes ago, Hilltopper said: A guy who quit the team on a plane ride home? A guy who was not a great team mate? A guy whose off court behaviors ultimately got him kicked off the team and expelled from school? He was a bear in practice too. I swear, Keith really earned his salary in the years he was here. He wasn't a saint in High School either. But damn, he could perform. I'm sure the coaches, players, and the fans who knew more about him and his history had a love/hate relationship with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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