mivid12 Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 7 minutes ago, dre22era said: Tom Withers Verified account @twithersAP Feel bad for Akron's kids. Great season (26 wins) lost to hot team and now won't make NCAAs because some power 5 team will get gift invite. yea, a p5 team with an under .500 conference record...during horizon league champ game joey brackets was talking about clemson 6-12 in acc being in the bubble mix if they wld have beat duke...they lost but still... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) 31 minutes ago, skip-zip said: 1. You can say he's not good at it. That's your opinion. But you don't know basketball if you think you were seeing everything the same all the time. 2. Playing in more close games doesn't mean you aren't having a record year offensively. 1. There were 2 offenses I saw this season. One involved going into to Big Dog with the end result being Big Dog taking it to the hole or a kick out for a 3. The other occurred when teams played more of a zone and Ivey or Poke were in, we'd dribble drive and when the defense collapsed, Ivey/Poke would back cut and we'd dish. The only problem is, regardless of which offensive strategy we wanted to execute, once shots started falling, we'd settle for 3s and the ball movement stopped. And that's on Dambrot. He is not good at drawing up plays to create ball movement, off the ball movement, and open shots. We do the same stupid inbounds play under our basket, or a failure of an inbounds play on the sideline. And on defense, from the beginning to the end of the season, our 300lbs center was caught guarding out near the perimeter. Dambrot & Co. have been so bad at adjustments, we've had our center caught out of position around the perimeter since Zeke. 2. That says something about our defense then. Edited March 12, 2017 by lilroodude 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangaroo kid Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 28 minutes ago, lilroodude said: 1. There were 2 offenses I saw this season. One involved going into to Big Dog with the end result being Big Dog taking it to the hole or a kick out for a 3. The other occurred when teams played more of a zone and Ivey or Poke were in, we'd dribble drive and when the defense collapsed, Ivey/Poke would back cut and we'd dish. The only problem is, regardless of which offensive strategy we wanted to execute, once shots started falling, we'd settle for 3s and the ball movement stopped. And that's on Dambrot. He is not good at drawing up plays to create ball movement, off the ball movement, and open shots. We do the same stupid inbounds play under our basket, or a failure of an inbounds play on the sideline. And on defense, from the beginning to the end of the season, our 300lbs center was caught guarding out near the perimeter. Dambrot & Co. have been so bad at adjustments, we've had our center caught out of position around the perimeter since Zeke. 2. That says something about our defense then. Just a quick thing about Big Dog defending so far out on the perimeter: there's typically 3 ways to defend the pick and roll. You can switch off the screen (leaving Dog on the ball handler), you can "hedge" the big man over top the screen to give the other defender a chance to recover (this is what we do when Big Dog when he ends up so far away from the hoop), or you can "ice" the big man and have him sag off to try to stop the dribble penetration. The issue with icing Big Dog is it gives the ball handler a full head of steam going to the hoop against him. When you have a 300 lb. center, there's not really any good options guarding the PnR, you have to pick your poison. I'm not trying to excuse the defensive lapses this season but there are limitations to the personnel we used this year. We were also a little spoiled with Zeke, because you could just funnel everyone down to him and he'd just block it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZippyRulz Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 4 hours ago, Spin said: For this? Yes. I mean at some point boredom sets in... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Understood. Times like this I wonder if we need a new one. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see us getting back to the MACC next year. Edited March 12, 2017 by Spin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy_ua_00 Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 3 hours ago, K92 said: The President weighs in: Except that tweet was made an hour from now. Didn't know the Donald was a time traveler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zip_ME87 Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 2 hours ago, Dr Z said: I would have went with, "Sad." at the end. I always thought one of the toughest thing to do as an athlete is to lose a tough game, and then ten minutes later talk about it to the media. Here are some thoughts from Noah, ten minutes after losing an incredible emotional game. Noah: "I mean, it's tough now, but I think overall we had a good season. Obviously not the outcome that we wanted. I feel so bad for Big Dog and Kwan, Carlitos and Mark, guys that just come in and compete every single day. I came in here as a 17-year old kid, and I'm 20 years old now, and those guys just taught me a lot on and off the court. Just tremendous, I mean I'm hurting really bad inside, but I mean, I got those guys to fall back on. I know those guys will keep me sane for at least the next couple days. I mean, it hurts right now, but I'm appreciative to be a part of this university. Being from Las Vegas, moving to Akron, I appreciate all the hospitality that I've received, and I'm glad to be a Zip. It's a tough day today, but we're a great institution, the great president, great coaching, great players and we have a great support system. But it hurts now, but I'm appreciative of the opportunity that I just had." "great support system" = ??? great fans? great academic advisors? ??? I remember a winning coach at Akron who used to apologize to the fans for missteps. I didn't really feel that he always needed to do that, but thinking about it, it was comforting to hear the term "fans" as opposed to support system, etc., leaving no doubt that the coach/players empathize with us as well as we with them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWAkron Posted March 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 Do we want a season or two of something wonderful (like Ohio and Kent had back in the day and with a revolving door of coaches) or do we want 15 seasons of slightly above average (and, yes, what's above average is subject to interpretation)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 20 minutes ago, NWAkron said: Do we want a season or two of something wonderful (like Ohio and Kent had back in the day and with a revolving door of coaches) or do we want 15 seasons of slightly above average (and, yes, what's above average is subject to interpretation)? Let's ask Cavs fans... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 3 hours ago, skip-zip said: Lets be clear on something about this statement. Coaching basketball is a continual series of changes and adjustments. Both between games, and during games. And to even imply that nothing is being evaluated, changed or corrected by this coaching staff endlessly throughout the course of the season and individual games is just stupid. We had the best scoring team in Dambrot's career at Akron. So, if everyone had "figured out" our offense long, long ago, they must feel pretty stupid that they weren't able to stop us this year. We played poorly, Kent defended us well. That's the end of the story. And if we keep playing seasons where our post-season hopes are rested completely on the results of one game on a Saturday in early March every year, this will not be the last time we have a Sunday in early March where we all feel like this. Stupid? That's a little strong. I'm confident that they were evaluating, changing and attempting to correct, but if you watched the Zips in the last two or three weeks, I can't see how anyone could see success in many of those corrections. Kwan's drop off is an example of that failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 39 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said: Stupid? That's a little strong. I'm confident that they were evaluating, changing and attempting to correct, but if you watched the Zips in the last two or three weeks, I can't see how anyone could see success in many of those corrections. Kwan's drop off is an example of that failure. I already talked about what I think happened with Kwan, at length. And I think we gave up some scoring at times late in the season to try to shore up our defense. But going back to the beginning of February, we still scored over 70 point 8 times, and had games in the 80's, including road games at EMU and Buffalo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 3 hours ago, kangaroo kid said: Just a quick thing about Big Dog defending so far out on the perimeter: there's typically 3 ways to defend the pick and roll. You can switch off the screen (leaving Dog on the ball handler), you can "hedge" the big man over top the screen to give the other defender a chance to recover (this is what we do when Big Dog when he ends up so far away from the hoop), or you can "ice" the big man and have him sag off to try to stop the dribble penetration. The issue with icing Big Dog is it gives the ball handler a full head of steam going to the hoop against him. When you have a 300 lb. center, there's not really any good options guarding the PnR, you have to pick your poison. I'm not trying to excuse the defensive lapses this season but there are limitations to the personnel we used this year. We were also a little spoiled with Zeke, because you could just funnel everyone down to him and he'd just block it. Welcome to the family! Thanks for posting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glib Shanley Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Bleacher Report shows Kent being a 15 seed playing Kansas... Will Kent and their coach be crucified for not adequately representing the MAC? Edited March 12, 2017 by Glib Shanley Spelling..duh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glib Shanley Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 B/R wrong. Kent gets a 14 vs UCLA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsrule Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 That is a tough matchup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Find it hard to believe we wouldn't have drawn ND or WVU in Buffalo, so getting that win would have had to wait for another time most likely. Still would have been fun to watch. Edited March 12, 2017 by LZIp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zip_ME87 Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Akron has been to the dance in 1986, 2009, 2011, 2013. This is the first NCAA Tournament appearance for Northwestern. http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-03-12/northwestern-joins-march-madness-party-heres-what-you-need Edited March 12, 2017 by Zip_ME87 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 6 hours ago, kangaroo kid said: Just a quick thing about Big Dog defending so far out on the perimeter: there's typically 3 ways to defend the pick and roll. You can switch off the screen (leaving Dog on the ball handler), you can "hedge" the big man over top the screen to give the other defender a chance to recover (this is what we do when Big Dog when he ends up so far away from the hoop), or you can "ice" the big man and have him sag off to try to stop the dribble penetration. The issue with icing Big Dog is it gives the ball handler a full head of steam going to the hoop against him. When you have a 300 lb. center, there's not really any good options guarding the PnR, you have to pick your poison. I'm not trying to excuse the defensive lapses this season but there are limitations to the personnel we used this year. We were also a little spoiled with Zeke, because you could just funnel everyone down to him and he'd just block it. You still pulled Zeke way out to the perimeter, causing him to get out position and chase the ball handler, often picking up stupid fouls due to being out of position. I have NEVER understood why Dambrot refuses to play more of a zone. The #1 hole in our defense is dribble penetration because with man-to-man our guys get beat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad1990 Posted March 12, 2017 Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 I have always hated that the tournament champion gets the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. In theory this means you could lose all your games and just win 4 at the end. In reality if you are so bad you lose all your games, you aren't going to "find" yourself and suddenly start winning. However in the MAC and probably most mid-major conferences the top teams are so close in ability that if one is hot and one is not, the hottest team at tournament time tends to win. I still wish the NCAA tournament would go to 96 teams and eliminate the NIT. That way the regular season champion gets an auto bid and the tournament champion too (assuming they are different teams). Nice job by Kent State, you played much better than Akron last night and deserve to win! A KSU team that has trouble shooting the ball most of the season, but makes up for it in great offensive rebounding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangaroo kid Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 2 hours ago, lilroodude said: You still pulled Zeke way out to the perimeter, causing him to get out position and chase the ball handler, often picking up stupid fouls due to being out of position. I have NEVER understood why Dambrot refuses to play more of a zone. The #1 hole in our defense is dribble penetration because with man-to-man our guys get beat. There's issues with zone too, mainly giving up outside shooting. With the way the modern game is played, I'm not sure giving up easier three-pointers is what we want to do. Next year our front court should be smaller but quicker. I'd be curious if Dambrot uses a more switching-style defense with that in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Akron Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 One quick observation on Kent St fans: I thought it was a nice move to put a large contingent of KSU students in the front rows of the Club seats right above the Flash bench. They were loud and engaging, It had to help with the team energy. Since those seats were assigned to Kent, someone either had to give up those seats or there weren't enough requests from alumni to fill those seats. Either way, it worked well for Kent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) 14 hours ago, Zipgrad1990 said: I have always hated that the tournament champion gets the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. In theory this means you could lose all your games and just win 4 at the end. In reality if you are so bad you lose all your games, you aren't going to "find" yourself and suddenly start winning. However in the MAC and probably most mid-major conferences the top teams are so close in ability that if one is hot and one is not, the hottest team at tournament time tends to win. I still wish the NCAA tournament would go to 96 teams and eliminate the NIT. That way the regular season champion gets an auto bid and the tournament champion too (assuming they are different teams). Nice job by Kent State, you played much better than Akron last night and deserve to win! A KSU team that has trouble shooting the ball most of the season, but makes up for it in great offensive rebounding. Miracles happen. In 1983, NC State had already lost 10 games by the time their conference tournament rolled around, including a 3-game losing streak at one time in conference play. Then they came out of nowhere to win the ACC tournament, and rode that wave all the way to the National Title. I think the war will wage on forever in regards to whether the regular season champ or tournament champ is most deserving. But I will be biased for a second as an Akron fan and say that 2 of our 4 NCAA Tournament appearances (2009 and 2011) would have never happened if the Regular Season Champ was given the NCAA bid. On the other hand, we'd be in the tournament each of the last 2 years if the decider was regular season. The other 2 NCAA bids (1986 and 2013) would have remained the same. So, it's a wash for us. Edited March 13, 2017 by skip-zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 I do love the MAC Tourney, but it only lasts one week & makes the 2+ months of the regular season essentially meaningless Wouldn't it be more fun to get butterflies before every conference game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Akron Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 6 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said: I do love the MAC Tourney, but it only lasts one week & makes the 2+ months of the regular season essentially meaningless Wouldn't it be more fun to get butterflies before every conference game? I do when I see a certain dance team member... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 4 minutes ago, Joe Akron said: I do when I see a certain dance team member... Hey, you keep your eyes off my neighbors daughter! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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