Zips/UIC Notes

[Captain Kangaroo]

As I watched the game I jotted down the following notes:* I saw on the game thread that Travis was taking a beating. I disagree. With no help from any of the other #4/5's he played an awesome game. It isn't his fault he's playing 39 minutes against a team that's got guys going 6'9" and 6' 11". Travis was a warrior Saturday. MAC POTY is his award to lose.* Who wasn't a warrior? I don't know the severity of his injury, but Jeremiah Wood sitting on the bench did us no favors. After seeing him miss 1 1/2 seasons with a knee injury, it was disappointing to not see him give it a go yesterday. If he doesn't play vs. Nevada we will lose by 15 points on our home floor. Wood needs to suck it up and play.* Dials was solid. He hit every one of his open shots, and many of thse were "clutch," keeoing the Zips in the game. He was in great defensive position all night too. The opposing guards rarely could turn the corner on him.* Joyce was always a step or two slow. Gray toasted him on numerous occasions. Dru's worst game of the season, by far. Bad, "I quit" effort at game's end too. Body language said it all. * Nate Linhart brought to mind the old John Wooden quote "Activity doesn't necessarily mean achievemant." Nate ran around a lot, but he's been making terrible decisions with the ball lately. Way to many turnovers, and if I'm drawing up a final play of the game, Linhart shooting a 23-footer with 14 seconds remaining is about #8 on my option list. * A Marketing rant-of-the-Day: F-ing stop it with the "I played sports all through high school..." commercial. Can someone get off their a$$ and find a sponsor willing to pay a couple bucks for a real commercial? Don't we have all these great corporate partners? Ketchup soup commercial days have officially returned. I turn off the radio at breaks.* McKnight played fine, from what I saw. I do rhink he got lucky with his two long-range shots dropping. With wood sitting our, we needed his 6' 5" body on the glass where we were getting mauled. Matt Futch part #2?* Nice FT shooting. Did anyone want to win a key OOC road game? You don't do it by choking at the line. Dru's missed were particularly disappointing.* Conyers continues to play with no signs of a clue. I thought he was going to be the David Harvey Story - Hoops version. Dead wrong on that one. He's looking more like his rap-artist buddy John Rybek every game.If I was an impartial observer, I would say it was a very entertaining basketball game. UIC is a very solid team, with decent big men, athletic forwards and quick, sharp-shooting guards. That Gray kid is insane with his shot selection...but he seems to make them...and he hits hit FT's. I like their team. To go one step further, when the camera panned to UIC's bench during crunch time, their players were loose, and dripping with confidence. Their coach too. You knew they weren't going to fold. I give them all the credit in the world. They played a great game. * The Comcast announcers were the best I've ever heard do a MAC game. Very fair, very well-informed. * Cedric was clutch. Great show for his family. Too bad it was a losing effort.* Travis late-game leg cramps hurt his rebounding at game's end. That's why UIC players were going over him so easily (at that time). He couldn't jump.* We can't beat anyone when we give up 80+. And that's what we did. We'll kill Sster's of the Poor St. Francis Tuesday. We LOOOOOOOOOVE the cupcakes. But who cares....the game of the year for the Zips is Nevada. It sets the tone for the remainder of the season. A win gives lifts us up another rung on KD's ladder of success. We've never beaten a ranked basketball team in the history of the program. A loss...and we're the same old Zips. No moral victories vs. Nevada. We need a win B-A-D. Don't let anyone tell you different.

[RowdyZip]

Level headed, fantastic observations. as usual. I didnt get to hear the commentary, but it did seem they were showing mostly UIC highlights. Was it an impartial crew? Oh, and thanks for locking that other thread.

[zipboy]

Thanks CK, good post. I listened to the game so just going by what the announcers were saying- Joyce had a bruised calf but decided to play on it. He is not the fastest guy to begin with and the calf probably did him no favors. The key to a good postseason run to me is still getting quality minutes from McKnight and Conyers. It seems like McKnight is coming around. When will Jimmy find himself?

[hoopla]

an awsome game from rome? ha. how many times did he get scored on from inside 3'? i dont know the exact number, but i do know that it is over 10. and making an excuse on his calf about his lack of rebounding is rediculous. it isnt about jumping. it is about putting your body into someone elses and having a big enough heart to go get it. he is killing us. bottom line. i think joyce had a fine game. made very little mistakes and played hard with heart. no, it wasnt his best but i think anyone would agree that we will take the effort. same goes with ced. he played bad by forcing up shots and not too good of D again. but he has heart. bottom line is we have too many guys only worrying about looking good no the O end of the floor. that is all some of those guys care about. and that is why we have lost the 2 games. ive said it all along as well as many others, it is not about the stats!!!

[74ZIP]

the bad thing here is that there is not much upside with the ZIPS...key players are seniors and they are still shooting under 50% from the field AND how does a DI team shoot only 50% from the LINE?...not to mention they got beat on the BOARDS again...Dambrot coaches a tough style to play year in and year out not just game in and game out...lack of scoring depth and toughness underneath is killing them...

[RACER]

key players are senior's ? we only have two plus wood did not play,and he is back next year also.

[Captain Kangaroo]

an awsome game from rome? ha. how many times did he get scored on from inside 3'? i dont know the exact number, but i do know that it is over 10. and making an excuse on his calf about his lack of rebounding is rediculous. it isnt about jumping. it is about putting your body into someone elses and having a big enough heart to go get it. he is killing us. bottom line. i think joyce had a fine game. made very little mistakes and played hard with heart. no, it wasnt his best but i think anyone would agree that we will take the effort. same goes with ced. he played bad by forcing up shots and not too good of D again. but he has heart. bottom line is we have too many guys only worrying about looking good no the O end of the floor. that is all some of those guys care about. and that is why we have lost the 2 games. ive said it all along as well as many others, it is not about the stats!!!

Who cares if Travis only scored from 3' in? That's his job. He was totally spent at games end, and did a hell of a job against a much taller front line. And he did it with little help from any other big men.You and I watched different games. I'll leave it at that.

[Zips Win!]

If Saturday's performance is any indication of the type of team we have, we are in trouble. Please, remind me how we are picked to win the MAC this year? Saturday's performance was awful..where the heck do you begin.Rome- Sure he was a warrior...for the first 35 minutes. He disappeared at the end of the game. If this is because he was spent, then Dambrot needs to get him more rests throughout the game. When Quade M. is taking two crucial shots in the last two minutes, you are dead meat. Travis needs to take and make those shots.Rebounding- Disastrous...In the last eight minutes of the game, in every possession that UIC missed, they got at least one offensive rebound. When they were able to get the offensive rebound on the missed free throw at the end of the game, it was over. At that point, we did not deserve to win the game and we didn't.Joyce- All-time assist leader maybe....But when he plays versus small, cat-quick point guards, he gets eaten up, as he did Saturday. How may times were we 20 seconds into a possession and there's Dru, dribbling out at mid-court trying to get free to run the offense? What did Dambrot have to say about Dru's last second decision making at the end of the first half? You mean all this veteran can get -off is a 26 footer to end the half......And the best he can do to set us up at the end of the game is a Linhart 23 footer? Ridiculous...and when did he become such a piss-poor free-throw shooter?McKnight-Very solid....getting better every day.Linhart- Are you kidding me? Bad decison after bad decision.....and why is he always on the floor? Dials and Middleton were solid. As I have said many times, Ced would play virtually every second of every game. Dials and Joyce would be battling for the other minutes at the other guard position.In a game that we made 11 three-pointers and still lost, does not bode well for the rest of the year. (unless everyone else is just that bad) Enough with the excuses...Wood hurt, Travis spent, etc. This was not the defending national champs that we played...it's frickin' UIC, who by the way played the second half with their best player on the bench in foul trouble.. ..We were exposed on Saturday.....Any good team will defend the hell out of Dru and crash the boards, as UIC did....March is a long-way off...here's hoping that guys step it up or our trip to C-town will be short-lived.

[hoopla]

so let me get this right.... it is romes job to get eatin up inside night in and night out? well thats just great. and then it is not his fault because other guys cant guard their man and his too? what a joke.

[Captain Kangaroo]

so let me get this right.... it is romes job to get eatin up inside night in and night out? well thats just great. and then it is not his fault because other guys cant guard their man and his too? what a joke.

Here...I'll change my analysis. Nick Dials is the best player ever. Period. The guy in un-freaking-real. Everyone else sucks. Personally,I think their game suffers because they are all in awe of Dials. Who can blame them? It has to be distracting to play in His presence.Dials

[maggiemoo]

What's up with that Captain? Am I missing some history with hoopla or something? Why the rant (sarcastic) about Dials?

[Zip90]

I think it is a result of the general attitude around these forums that you absolutely are not allowed to criticize Dru or Romeo or Ced, but if you want to criticize any of the white players, it's ok. And, if you have anything good to say about the other players, you must be a relative of said player (i.e. like their mom or something).That's generally how it goes on here.

[RACER]

it's one loss on the road,and everyone is going into panic mode. uic destroyed niu of the mac, and gave the illini all they could handle. they are a good team with two big guys who are pretty decent players.we are already thin upfront,ad with woods out it just mades things worse. if the football team were 6-2 right now everyone would be to ready to make jd mayor of akron.i think the akron fans are totally unrealistic/unfair comparing the two programs,and coaches.

[ziptrumpet87]

Some random ramblings...Looking only at the stats, they shot the ball pretty well (except at the f-t line), but just weren't able to hold on. The turnovers were about the same as the previous games (not great, but similar to what the other teams turned over). With Wood out, Dru with a bum wheel, playing on the road against a much larger team, and coming off limited practice due to exams, I think they did OK. With a few fewer turnovers and some better shooting from the line, we would have won. Quade is coming along well, McKnight is going to be a great player, only Dru and Romeo leaving, the future is still bright and I still think we will do well in conference games. Let's worry about getting things done tomorrow against St-F first. KD is still the man for UA!

[Captain Kangaroo]

March is a long-way off...here's hoping that guys step it up or our trip to C-town will be short-lived.

I agree with you. If things stand as-is, we'll win 20 games. If we get lucky, our gritty little bunch could get hot in the tourney and win it. The MAC doesn't appear to be too strong (I'm being kind here). But if we want to get into the NCAA's and actually stand a chance of winning a game, we need others to step up.Conyers needs to get a clue. Every game I watch him it seems less and less likely it'll happen in 2007. But I keep my fingers crossed.McKnight needs to play better D. Offensively, he's pretty much at Travis' level. Defensively he's struggling. He's also a freshman, so I am betting he'll be increasingly better with every passing week.Wood needs to play. This may be the biggest unknown...can he stay healthy and be the low-teens double-double machine that we need? Linhart - For every good play he's made this season, he's given two away. Freshman jitters are over. He needs to assert himself. Based upon his play thusfar, his job is Conyers' for the taking...if only Conyers wanted it.Milum - Spectacular dunker and shotblocker...but that's good for about 4 points and 3 blocks in a game. He needs to get in the 7-8 rpg area to really help us. We really need him to show up vs. Nevada.Lots of "ifs" if we are to have a breakthrough season in 2006-7. It will be interesting to see what KD does to light a spark underneath this team.

[Balki Bartokomous]

Lots of "ifs" if we are to have a breakthrough season in 2006-7. It will be interesting to see what KD does to light a spark underneath this team.

Somebody get the man a live chicken and some rum. Joe bu needs some love right about now.

[74ZIP]

i would suspect that many folks will agree that the seniors,Joyce and Travis are pretty KEY players...your other key guys are juniors...thats the kind of squad coaches should win with...don't want ALL seniors or ALL sophs etc...have these guys progressed enough to overtake Can't etc. etc etc? hope this is not J.D. redux...