Coach Dambrot

[Valpo Zip]

Before i start, let's make it clear that I am as big of a KD fan as it gets, and that i support him all the way especially with his Akron roots and attitude of staying in akron for a long time. I am however starting to worry about some issues. While i do not question his coaching skills and his game planning, i am concerned that almost every team we play has bigger size than us. I know that you would tell me that it is hard to get a big guy to commit to a mid-major school. Well how did they have 2 guys @ 6'11 in UIC ?How did Buffalo get Idbihi @6'11 ? Northern Illiniois, Can't with their seven footer etc...More over, do you guys like his recruiting classes ? how would you rate his first recruiting class ? Linhart, Rybak amd conyers ? and the second ? I agree with you that it might be too early to judge the freshmen but how about the sophomores? In 2 recruiting classes, McKnight seems to be the only one who can play. Is there a way we can mix JD's recruiting skills with KD's coaching skills and make them one coach ?

[zipsbandman]

He's a much better x's and o's guy than a recruiter. There are some major liabilities on our roster. Jd seems to have the opposite problem....good recruiter but average on the gameday coaching. These are just critiques. Both guys have shown that they are capable of getting the job done and probably will improve in these areas.

[Balki Bartokomous]

The lack of a big man question is a good one. Like how the hell does UNCA (who plays in the powerhouse Big South Conference) get a guy like this? http://uncabulldogs.cstv.com/sports/m-bask...ge_kenny00.htmlHe averaged nearly a triple double a game ... with 9 freaking blocked shots a game. Hell their other center is 7-1.

[Zip Watcher]

Don't have a lot of time, but I'll offer the following:- This is the best & deepest roster I've seen since at least 1990, maybe further back.- I don't feel we have a size disadvantage. 7" sticks (see: Vandermeer, Weinkein, etc) are not more desireable to me than thick 6-7 6-8 types, of which we now have 3, with a 4th one redshirting. You add in Sweich next season, and at least in conference, teams will struggle to matchup with the Zips inside. I don't understand the hullabaloo regarding size.- KD's got 8 to 9 guys he can count on with little drop off. The season is still early & the SF situation will work itself out.- Can't imagine why people think last year's freshman class is such a bust. You've got 2 guys who are already trading minutes at the 3, and a spot shooter. They're freaking sophomores contributing on a 6-2 Zips team, coming off a year that was 23-10. Yeah .. those guys suck. - Looking at this year's freshman .. McKnight looks great .. maybe the best big guy upon arrival that I can remember. Every other time we brought in a big guy, they either had the walksies, couldn't catch the ball (stone hands), or were terribly foul prone due to slow feet. Not so w/ Chris. Impossible to say anything about Bardo & McNees.To illustrate a point, I want you to think about which guys on this roster you don't think belong on a Zips team when compared to those of the past. Think hard about who you'd trade for former players, let's keep it in the past 10 years .. too hard for some folks to remember the Huggins teams. After that, think about how deep a team this is and compare it to others .. even last seasons (most successful UA D1 team in history) roster.Now take a look at the following box score:From BGSUFalcons.Com since GoZips.Com blows goats!That's the box score for the first game UA ever played in the Gund @ the MAC tourney, 2002. Great game, down to the wire, sunk by McLeod's clutch jumper.How many guys on the 2002 Zips roster would you take and REPLACE a current guy with? I mean a current scholarship player .. walkons don't count. I count 2 or 3 total. Outside shot at 4.Now consider today's roster & think about how many of these guys could replace scholarship players on the 2002 roster. Again, no walkons.I count a whole lot more.Even look at BG's roster .. who would you take? Certainly McLeod, Matela & maybe Almanson .. but was Netter better than Rome, Wood or McKnight? I don't think so.I think KD's doing a great job recruiting this team to be bigger (at all positions), stronger & faster .. one of these days, the switch will get flipped back to strictly man-to-man defense. Jimmy's a big part of that required athleticism. Steward, Swiech & McKnight will add to it. Recruiting has been great as far as I'm concerned. Our expectations are rising with the level of the talent we have now, but there's no question in my mind that the talent level is up dramatically.As for X's & O's .. I think that's where the jury might be out. The Zips haven't shown a lot of diversity in what gets called late in games .. they may be getting predictable.Whining and negativity suck ass in my book.Go Zips!

[skip-zip]

I do have a concern about our inability to recruit some size. Weinkein had the size, but was simply unproductive. I think Dambrot was looked at as being a good recruiter because he nabbed Joyce and Travis. But they played for him when they were younger, and probably could not have gone to big programs anyway. I'd say that he has some work ahead of him looking at who is on the roster right now, and who might have to play bigger roles come next year. I don't think Rybak, Linhart, and Conyers are going to be as productive as Dambrot had hoped, but I hope I am wrong. I do remember the Huggins era well since I was still in school when he came here. Huggins never had many big stars, but got a lot out of the people he had. I will remind everyone of one thing though....the MAC has a history of being controlled by good guard play. So, you can win the MAC without a big man, but I'd sure like to think that we are a good enough program to be able to recruit one.

[a-zip]

Uhhhhhhhhhh, how bout this dude!!!!http://www.stephenswiech.com/Lets try and support the teams and coaches - get people to the games! Akron has a bad rep JD and KD are trying to overcome. Lets face it, if you are a top big man, UA has not historically been first on your list.

[RACER]

if you listen to kd after the two losses he even admits, and is aware we need more big guys upfront. if you look at the past years of some of the zips teams how many big guys were total bust.im not going to name names,but alott of them.i would rather have 6'7 guy that can at least see the floor than a seven footer that is horrible.we have woods,and milmum back next year.mc knight looks at least to give us some help plus the 6'9 kid from pa. im not worried at all about our talent level in the next few years.

[mcperp]

Like a lot of mid-majors, Dambrot needs guys who can play multiple roles at maximum speed for 15-25 minutes a game. Pressure D has been a consistent theme in Dambrot's coaching resume. As Skip Zip noted, guard play is paramount in the MAC, but those teams that luck out and have a big guy develop (Kaman at CMU, and Edwards at K ent) add a huge new dimension that accelerates success. Hope Sweich turns out to be that guy for us.