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Game 12—Concord Mountain Lions


clarkwgriswold

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Against a division 2 opponent I thought we would work on our interior game and score points from the paint.  I was wrong.  We shot a lot of 3 balls.  Duvivier got hot and made 7 of 11.  It is so hard to judge this team against an inferior opponent but I see some bad tendencies.  

 

Reliance on the 3 ball.  Saw it agains USC.  If we get cold from the 3 line we will struggle.

 

What happened to our offensive rebounding.  I liked it when we had 3-4 guys going for rebound.  Not seeing much scrappy play.  When we took a fould shot, Sayles immediate went to the shooter instead of trying for an offensive board.  When we shoot the ball guys are going backward instead of trying to get an offensive rebound.

 

Againt a division 2 opponent I expected more penetration and dish offs for dunks.  We had trouble penetrating.  If we cannot penetrate against a division 2 team we are hurting.  Finally, in the second half Utomi went to the basket and score and he was fouled.

 

Our centers had almost no post up moves against this team.  Sayles had one basket under the basket.  Kostelac had one at half.  Poke had a couple of dunks on rebounds but really no inside game.  At times Kostelac looks very slow on offense and defense.  Do not expect him to see much time once we start conference play.

 

This team needs to get tougher.  Tired of seeing fade aways from our big guys instead of taking it strong to the hoop.  Need stronger play from Poke and Sayles.  These guys should have been in double figures tonight.   When they played zone and we penetrated, we hesitated and did not finish.  

 

I hope I am being too critical but time will tell next week.  Go Zips! 

 

 

 

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9 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Against a division 2 opponent I thought we would work on our interior game and score points from the paint.  I was wrong.  We shot a lot of 3 balls.  Duvivier got hot and made 7 of 11.  It is so hard to judge this team against an inferior opponent but I see some bad tendencies.  

 

Reliance on the 3 ball.  Saw it agains USC.  If we get cold from the 3 line we will struggle.

 

What happened to our offensive rebounding.  I liked it when we had 3-4 guys going for rebound.  Not seeing much scrappy play.  When we took a fould shot, Sayles immediate went to the shooter instead of trying for an offensive board.  When we shoot the ball guys are going backward instead of trying to get an offensive rebound.

 

Againt a division 2 opponent I expected more penetration and dish offs for dunks.  We had trouble penetrating.  If we cannot penetrate against a division 2 team we are hurting.  Finally, in the second half Utomi went to the basket and score and he was fouled.

 

Our centers had almost no post up moves against this team.  Sayles had one basket under the basket.  Kostelac had one at half.  Poke had a couple of dunks on rebounds but really no inside game.  At times Kostelac looks very slow on offense and defense.  Do not expect him to see much time once we start conference play.

 

This team needs to get tougher.  Tired of seeing fade aways from our big guys instead of taking it strong to the hoop.  Need stronger play from Poke and Sayles.  These guys should have been in double figures tonight.   When they played zone and we penetrated, we hesitated and did not finish.  

 

I hope I am being too critical but time will tell next week.  Go Zips! 

 

 

 

 

Yep, tough to gauge much from that game.

 

I'm starting to get a little frustrated with Parrish, especially his defensive lapses.  He just got lost on defense a couple of times tonight.  I also wasn't a fan of him stopping  and trying to get backcourt called on Concord as the ball came back up the floor.

 

I'll be curious to hear what the deal is on Cotton.  I wonder if the Ivey spat wasn't an early indicator of some issues.

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1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

Yep, tough to gauge much from that game.

 

I'm starting to get a little frustrated with Parrish, especially his defensive lapses.  He just got lost on defense a couple of times tonight.  I also wasn't a fan of him stopping  and trying to get backcourt called on Concord as the ball came back up the floor.

 

I'll be curious to hear what the deal is on Cotton.  I wonder if the Ivey spat wasn't an early indicator of some issues.

You look at the back court, and we certainly don't look like a bottom-feeder team with Ivey, Utomi, and Malcolm.  However, after that there is inconsistency and just no inside game.  The team with Big Dog (at least according to Dambrot) could destroy the zone I think primarily because of Big Dog.  Tonight, Patton had a good put up, miss, rebound and basket, and I thought to myself "good luck getting that against Buffalo."    We can pick off a few MAC teams here and there when the Big Three get hot from 3 other than that it's going to be ugly I fear.

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9 hours ago, NWAkron said:

You look at the back court, and we certainly don't look like a bottom-feeder team with Ivey, Utomi

 

Other than the fact that they both shoot plenty of 3's, I wouldn't define either of them as "back court" players.  

 

I actually think you're going to find that the two of them are going to be forced to carry a heavy burden in the scoring and rebounding department in the paint this year, unfortunately.  We just simply won't get the production we need in the paint from anyone else on this team.  

 

Because of that, we're going to need an additional "shooter" to emerge.  I've been thinking all along that Parrish is our best chance.  Way too much is resting on a small number of guys to do everything for this team.  And I really think Malcolm will have his hands way too full just being a 35-minutes point guard, at both ends of the court, when conference play begins.       

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Yes, a few seasons. We lose our most experienced player and floor leader. We add depth and, hopefully quality with our redshirt guards, but only 1 big, Riak.  Even if he is an improvement, it will take time and another recruiting class , so I'm hoping for 2019 at the earliest for any meaningful MAC contention. 

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Way too early to tell what we'll have next year until those guys get on the court, but I can see your math Zipnetter.  Malcolm will be gone, and we'll likely need someone brand new to effectively run the show.  I do see Hester as a guy capable of becoming a big contributor.  But beyond that, it's "wait and see" if anyone else materializes.  If not, we'll be making a run at it with pretty much the same core we have now.  I just sure hope we see some signs of hope among those who appear to be non-factors, between now and the end of this season.  There might be some situations that look like big mistakes right now.  Maybe that will change.  I understand that we were pressed to get some bodies in here.  

 

I think I'll wait awhile to try to figure out how longs it's going to take to get where we need to be, but it may indeed be a few years.  

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I'm predicting we'll be fine next season.  We lose DuVivier, but will add Hester & Loren Jackson.  We also add Deng Riak down low & LePear Toles on the wing.

PG:  Hester, Jackson

Wing:  Ivey, Utomi, Parrish, Toles

Post:  Riak, Sayles, Poke

 

I think we might redshirt Torrey Patton (who, once the game slows a bit, I think could be a good one), Cotton & Kostelac

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15 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

I'm predicting we'll be fine next season.  We lose DuVivier, but will add Hester & Loren Jackson.  We also add Deng Riak down low & LePear Toles on the wing.

PG:  Hester, Jackson

Wing:  Ivey, Utomi, Parrish, Toles

Post:  Riak, Sayles, Poke

 

I think we might redshirt Torrey Patton (who, once the game slows a bit, I think could be a good one), Cotton & Kostelac

 

Here is an article from Just A Blog from Akron titled Why 2018 Will Belong to Zips Men's Basketball.  It spells out a future rotation similar to what I posted above... only much better written than my little post. Lol.

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Reading that blog should at least remind everyone that at the present time, we're trying to win with with some talented, leftover Dambrot recruits, and simultaneously trying to build a future with A LOT of unknown entities.  Most notably, quite a few guys who may have once had promising careers in front of them, and are just looking for a 2nd chance to play.  Or, guys who fell way under everyone's radars coming out of high school.  I don't mean to throw out a Christmas cliche, but I feel like we're becoming the Land Of Misfit Toys.  

 

I think this is exactly the reason why you're finding people who are all over the board on predicting when we might be competitive again.  

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