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Zips at Texas-Arlington — NIT Round 2 (Mon 8 pm)


Dr Z

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4 minutes ago, Valpo Zip said:

If you are wondering why we do not schedule any decent teams in the OOC schedule, you saw the answer tonight.

If you think that good teams are scared to play us because we are "poisonous", I don't know what to tell you.

 

We played Creighton and Gonzaga without looking outclassed.  Last year we played Villanova well for most of the game without looking outclassed.  Tonight we were never in the game.

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1 hour ago, 1981 grad said:

We played Creighton and Gonzaga without looking outclassed.  Last year we played Villanova well for most of the game without looking outclassed.  Tonight we were never in the game.

 

I agree with you. But my question is: Which one of these teams did we exactly "poison"? Why are they so "scared" to schedule us?

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8 hours ago, Valpo Zip said:

If you are wondering why we do not schedule any decent teams in the OOC schedule, you saw the answer tonight.

If you think that good teams are scared to play us because we are "poisonous", I don't know what to tell you.

 

Dambrot has called out specific coaches by name, like he did when he said he talked to UM coach face to face. If you don't think there was little truth in it, wouldn't those coaches refute it? It's also not like Akron is the only up and coming mid-major that has voiced those concerns. I suppose all those coaches are lying and just trying to protect themselves...

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The better team won.  As someone else mentioned reminiscent of VCU.  I don't think we are as bad as being down 30 at one point indicates, just a bad matchup for us.  Bakersfield won so we could have hosted has we won.

 

I will be interested to see how the offense changes over the summer to fit our personnel post Big Dog/Kwan.  I am assuming it will be more geared to slashing/ pick and roll with Ivey being a key player.  Also I think we may try to use Utomi as that "Big Dog"-like feed it into the post and let him go 1 on 1 unless doubled.  The problem is Utomi is maybe slightly undersized 4 height wise.

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UTA is a well coached team, they sure did a lot of things correct. Love their offense, and love their defense. Cross had a simple game plan, shut down Big Dog, and make the rest of the team beat you. They did an excellent job executing that game plan. Their kids sure looked like they were having fun playing offense and defense. Lots of hustle all around. I'll probably watch their game Wednesday against CSU Bakersfield. 

 

Since our offense will no longer run through Big Dog, I'll be intrigued to see the Zips offense next year. I would hope Ivey gets some specific attention in it. Go Zips!

 

PS As poorly as the Zips played, hats off to the announcing team, I thought they did a nice job pointing out what the Zips were doing wrong, and what UTA was doing successful without being too annoying...being a Zips fan. 

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I'm not sure what's more awesome in this picture:  Whether it's that the Men's Basketball page on Facebook created an event that the Zips are hosting CSU/Bakersfield/UTSA tomorrow or that someone has already committed to attending.

zipsbball.jpg

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Like Zippyfan and Dr.Z said we ran into a quality UTA team that based off their performance against BYU and us, appears to be peaking. We came out playing sloppy and were chasing points the entire night instead of just settling in. On offense UTA did a tremendous job of moving the ball around selflessly to make that extra pass turning what would have been good shots into great shots. On defense they had the perfect game plan and personnel needed to nuetralize Big Dog. They managed to send double and even at times triple team help while still rotating fast enough to cover whoever he dished it off to. 

 

They exposed our weaknesses. We look lost offensively when Big Dog isn't able to create others shots and our guards don't have the lateral quickness to keep their man in front of them.

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12 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

our guards don't have the lateral quickness to keep their man in front of them.

 

I know we've all seen this many times over the years, but I don't recall witnessing anything like we saw last night.  They are very aggressive offensively.  AND SO ARE WE.  But they have guys who are doing it with some raw athletic ability that we don't have to score in those one-on-one situations.  

 

I think if we would have recognized early that our only chance was to play them in a half court basketball game, and back off and get set on defense on every possession, this game would have been different.  It may have been a miscalculation that we could beat them at a more wide open pace.  

Edited by skip-zip
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1 hour ago, zippyfan34 said:

Bakersfield won so we could have hosted has we won.

 

Man, that's a bummer.  It seems like we can never quite get a break to get over the hump to that next level as a program.  A home game with  chance to play in the Final 4 in MSG.....slips right out of our hands.  

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To quote the great philosopher and former NFL coach Dennis Green. "they are who we thought they were..."  The UTA game, like some others in the last month, exposed the Zips' weaknesses that were there all season but that we were happy to ignore as long as they were peeling Radford and squeaking by Ball State and mounting wins as the season played out.

 

The only encouraging thing that developed in the last month is the growth of Jimond Ivey.  While the rest of the team often looked like deer in the headlights, the kid showed some fire and aggression, something this squad could use in boatloads.  On to next season.

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4 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

To quote the great philosopher and former NFL coach Dennis Green. "they are who we thought they were..."  The UTA game, like some others in the last month, exposed the Zips' weaknesses that were there all season but that we were happy to ignore as long as they were peeling Radford and squeaking by Ball State and mounting wins as the season played out.

 

The only encouraging thing that developed in the last month is the growth of Jimond Ivey.  While the rest of the team often looked like deer in the headlights, the kid showed some fire and aggression, something this squad could use in boatloads.  On to next season.

I really think Ivey and Josh are going to be a handful the next two years. If our inside game doesn't completely blow, we'll be right in the thick of things again. Should be a more entertaining style to watch next year, I'd assume, with our guard heavy roster.

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14 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

I really think Ivey and Josh are going to be a handful the next two years. If our inside game doesn't completely blow, we'll be right in the thick of things again. Should be a more entertaining style to watch next year, I'd assume, with our guard heavy roster.

I hope you're right about Josh.  He reeeeeeeally underwhelmed this year.  He seems to be a step slow for this level.

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18 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

I really think Ivey and Josh are going to be a handful the next two years.

 

Towards the end of the season and in the two tournaments, Ivey has emerged as that active, athletic guy who is a difference-maker out there.  He could be a good one if he keeps his emotions in check.  Josh....wow....after so many people on here had thought he'd lost his way as a shooter at some point this year, he became "the man" from long ranger over the last few weeks.

 

Sometimes, I feel like some of Kwan's earlier offensive outputs this year lulled him into a false sense that he could carry a lot of weight for us offensively.   And his frustration showed, both on the court and his pouting spells sitting alone at the end of the bench.  I wish that his defense and rebounding had continued to be his focus.  I think we would have been a lot better off in the end.       

Edited by skip-zip
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2 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

Sometimes, I feel like some of Kwan's earlier offensive outputs this year lulled him into a false sense that he could carry a lot of weight for us offensively.   And his frustration showed, both on the court and his pouting spells sitting alone at the end of the bench.  I wish that his defense and rebounding had continued to be his focus.  I think we would have been a lot better off in the end.       

Yeah, remember when he was a double-double machine? Seems like his rebounds dropped in step with his points.. I also am saying this without looking up the numbers, so I could be wrong.

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10 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

I hope you're right about Josh.  

 

He seems to be a step slow for this level.

 

I might have agreed with you until I saw him start to score off the dribble later in the season, and put some focus and intensity into his perimeter defense.  I think he's surprisingly quicker on his feet than any of us thought he was when he was taking nothing but spot-up 3-point shots.  

 

If you need to worry about someone who's appearing "slow" out there, turn your focus to Noah.  

Edited by skip-zip
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Josh has not rounded into the all around player I had hoped for.  Having seen him in high school, I never expected him to be an athletic D1 guard, but I also did not expect him to essentially be a specialist (3 point shooter).  When the threes aren't falling, he's a specialist without a specialty.  I was encouraged to see him go to the hole more towards the end of the season, but I'm going to have to see more after the season we just saw from him.

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