C. Michigan

[Let'sGoZips94]

We lost all our games this year because of our inside game. When we can't make a basket we try to go inside and either J-Wood misses the bunny or he's the only threat so they double team him. KD needs to find an answer to our issue inside or we won't even be a threat come tourney time.

[bigzipguy]

Unless or until Chris M. takes his game inside, this storyline is going to repeat!!!!!

[Quickzips]

Don't know about the rest of you, but after that game. I am REALLY missing Dru and Rome. I can't be too mad at Dials. He's playing out of position and doing the best he can with it, but when was the last time a Dambrot coached Zips team turned the ball over 20+ times in 2 straight games? Anyone have any idea? As for Rome, well I think we have all seen well enough that Woody can't do it all himself inside. Last year guys weren't able to beat us inside like that all the time cause we had Rome and Wood in there to deal with. Now we have Wood, the timid newborn cat (Quade) and two developing guys in C.McKnight and Bardo. Wood does a nice job when matched up against big strong guys like him, but get a big athletic guy in there and he struggles something fierce. Let's get back to the JAR and get this thing turned around. I'm not ready to push the panic button yet, but we need to fix some things this week against two very beatable West opponents at home if we wanna keep the push for a bye.

[jeaglet1]

Let's get back to the JAR and get this thing turned around. I'm not ready to push the panic button yet, but we need to fix some things this week against two very beatable West opponents at home if we wanna keep the push for a bye.

I'm confident the Zips will get a bye. It seems to me like the byes are Akron's, Western Michigan's, Can't's and OU's to lose. With Miami starting 1-4 in conference play, I feel confident they will be the 5 or 6 at best.

[rowdy52]

That was tough, I thought for sure they would come out mad about Wednesday night and ready to kill. Someone else mentioned it here but I'm a little worried teams are starting to figure us out and shutting down our ability to make the 3's and getting inside to Wood. The defense was like it's been the last couple games and really need to work on getting that rebound and not turning over the ball so much. It seems like they have trouble coming up with that extra little "umph" sometimes. Also did anyone else just wanna throw something at the tv when the shot clock didnt start and Woods basket didnt count?? Why us and the clock! I know they didnt get a lot of time to practice before this one but now they have some time before the next home game and I'm confident we can turn it around at home.

[skip-zip]

After spending some time (too much time probably) thinking about this game, and the Can't game, I've come to my own conclusions...so here it is.The turnovers themselves are NOT the problem. Heck, CMU ended up with more turnovers than we did. The real root problem is that we don't have the athletes or the bulk inside to compensate for making a lot of turnovers. And our last two opponents did. We gave up 12 offensive rebounds in this game, because they had guys who were outjumping us, and out pushing us in the paint. And because we have a lack of enough of these kinds of players, we have to box out better, and we didn't get it done.We also don't have the horses to overcome shooting under 40% from the field. This team wins games because we overcome our lack of size/athleticism by playing hard defense, holding our opponents to low fg%, and working smart on offense to get high percentage shots.When these aren't working, we simply do not have the personnel to overcome it.

[zipsbandman]

I saw the second half of this game. This is not our year. We just do not have the help inside to counter Tillman/Williams or hamin cheese and Can't. This team is not athletic enough, and we cannot score when the game is on the line. Unfortunately, athleticism is something we cannot fix.Central handled us, and we had no answer for their big man. All teams have to do is shut down our perimeter game and that ruins our offense.I hate to say this, but either OU or Can't will be dancing in March. Gag me

[RACER]

the biggest difference is when mc nees and middleton dont shoot well from outside we lose.when those guys are hitting it gives all four spots that can hit the three.plus we had a hard fought game at Can't and to go right back on the road put them in a tuff spot.i just dont think the zips were ready to play.hopefully they can re-group.all we are really playing for now is to make sure we get a by in the first round.

[GP1]

The real root problem is that we don't have the athletes or the bulk inside to compensate for making a lot of turnovers.

I thought this exact same thing after I saw the Winthrop game. Winthrop isn't even that good, but they had better athletes at every position than we did."You don't win with X's and O's, you win with Jimmies and Joes."In general, the team seems pretty good from what I see and read. If Coach D wants them to be great and dominate the league, he is going to have to worry less about defense and get a guy (maybe we have one) that can fill the basket up night after night. As few points as the Zips scored today, they were asking to lose. Mike Fratello was a guy who obsessed about defense also. The guy coached forever and didn't win anything. Offense wins games. Don't tell me that they use defense to get the offense started either. Had that been the case, they would have won today. CMU had more turnovers than the Zips and the Zips lose...are you kidding me?....it should have been a sure win based upon the turnover margin alone. Offense, offense, offense........ Put the little orange ball through the little orange ring...a lot.Lastly, it should not be a surprise Akron lost today. It is difficult for any team in any sport to play a second road game in a row and win the game. I'd heard somewhere that NFL teams only win around 30% of the time when they play a second road game in a row. We should be happy that Nate made that prayer against OU, or the team is looking at a pretty bad MAC start. Someone mentioned on this thread that other teams figured out Akron. Probably right, but since every sport in every league has become copy cat, Akron is going to have to fix their problems....and soon. Don't play into the copycats hands.

[ZipGrad93]

The Zips play too many guys. They need to get the rotation down to 8 or 9. With all of the substituting, I think it's hard for the team to find a rhythm and a personality. That's what it looked like to me, at least on offense.Disappointing...

[PizzaBreath]

I have to somewhat agree with that statement... Don't get me wrong here I think everyone who plays comes in and gives us very quality minutes but the last post is exactly what I've been saying... Usually teams rotations get slimmer throughout the season but ours has grew... Once again don't get me wrong I think Brett McKnight and Roberts have really helped the team, I just agree think it's sometimes hard to get in a rhythm if you are substituting 3-4 guys at a time.

[Zips Win!]

Enough with more excuses about this team...I don't care if the CMU game was played on the moon, we need to find a way to win. But in typical Zips fashion, we do just enough (on the road) to lose. See Can't State, Dayton and Winthrop.....For all the bitching and moaning on this board about officiating in the MAC, the CMU game was one of the fairest officiated games I've seen and we still lose. Sure, a couple of bad calls but fair overall.I about kicked the tv in 34 times on Saturday.....one for every turnover and offensive rebound given up....How in the world do we give up 19 second chance points? Not to mentioned it seemed as if we forgot how to dive for a loose ball....I know we can't inbound the freakin thing......Where are the seniors we are supposed to be counting on? Ced looks more like a Hipsher senior than a Dambrot one. Boy has his play regressed! Stop with the injury excuses....If he's hurt, give the minutes to McKnight or Roberts...Milum looked like the player he was as a frosh....Nice jump hook off the side of the backboard....Wood and Dials are doing their best....yet 7 tunrovers by Dials and Wood's defense was terrible......If we can't find a way to beat a lousy CMU team, what are we to expect the rest of the way on the road? A dissapointing game for sure.......

[rowdy52]

It was disappointing and I know I've done my share of bitching on here and giving the excuses but I agree...we need to figure out what we need to do to win and change what we need to change now so we can move forward and get better. Here's to doing just that starting with Wednesday's game.

[Zippysgotagun]

There was a positive, and I never thought I'd say this...Our foul shooting really kept us in the game! Now all we need to do is shoot that well from the line and limit the turnovers, and we pretty much become unstoppable. When a team takes care of the ball and makes 85% of their free throws, it pretty much makes every possession for the opposition a "must score."I saw mention of a "panic button" earlier in the thread, and during the game, I was thinking about hitting it, but after some time to think about it, I've reconsidered. We're a young team, and I'm pretty confident that we'll be ready to go for the only games that really matter (the ones in Cleveland).

[skip-zip]

zippysgotagun...I know what you are saying. But the truth is, we're forced to play nearly flawlessly in a lot of different areas to win. It's because we lack the athleticism/talent/strength of the top teams in the MAC this year. I know that CMU had more turnovers than us, and I believe Can't was pretty close. And we still lost. Why? Because they had the personnel to make up for having an "off night", and we do not. So, we have to play clean games, and it hasn't happened this week.

[RootforRoo44]

they def. play too many people there is no doubt about that.But im not the coach and for once i really think that a coach may know more than me. On a side note, why doesn't Dambrot just throw in Goddard for a play or two and get a few easy bombs? (apparently goddard isnt in good with the coach, from what it seems)

[zipfan 81]

they def. play too many people there is no doubt about that.But im not the coach and for once i really think that a coach may know more than me. On a side note, why doesn't Dambrot just throw in Goddard for a play or two and get a few easy bombs? (apparently goddard isnt in good with the coach, from what it seems)

Seems like an easy thing to do doesnt it? Do you know something we dont, do tell (about him not being in good standing with coach). Maybe because he is a "walk-on" and Coach D didnt recruit him, dont you always play scholarship over walk-ons?

[RootforRoo44]

they def. play too many people there is no doubt about that.But im not the coach and for once i really think that a coach may know more than me. On a side note, why doesn't Dambrot just throw in Goddard for a play or two and get a few easy bombs? (apparently goddard isnt in good with the coach, from what it seems)

Seems like an easy thing to do doesnt it? Do you know something we dont, do tell (about him not being in good standing with coach). Maybe because he is a "walk-on" and Coach D didnt recruit him, dont you always play scholarship over walk-ons?

no you play who makes you win...that's kind of the point of playing the game ya know?

[ziprowdy]

just an observation...goddard usually only gets put in the game when its a blowout...as far as ive noticed over the past 3 years, maybe he's played in a game winning situation...if he has forgive me...but yeah maybe coach doesnt trust him in an important game winning situation...as far as kd having beef him....maybe something(s) happened at practice that we are unaware of, maybe its grades...could be any number of things...not really sure what the story is there...but i did notice one thing now that this is being brought up...he did not look happy when he put goddard in during the home game against BGSU...once the rowdies started chanting our goddard chant...he paced for a lil while...and then unconvincingly and unhappily pointed at goddard to check in...i do remember that, so things could be ugly and we dont know about it

[Captain Kangaroo]

just an observation...goddard usually only gets put in the game when its a blowout...as far as ive noticed over the past 3 years, maybe he's played in a game winning situation...if he has forgive me...but yeah maybe coach doesnt trust him in an important game winning situation...as far as kd having beef him....maybe something(s) happened at practice that we are unaware of, maybe its grades...could be any number of things...not really sure what the story is there...but i did notice one thing now that this is being brought up...he did not look happy when he put goddard in during the home game against BGSU...once the rowdies started chanting our goddard chant...he paced for a lil while...and then unconvincingly and unhappily pointed at goddard to check in...i do remember that, so things could be ugly and we dont know about it

Goddard is a 3-point shooting "freak." But he isn't all that great a D-1 basketball player. You can't give a one-dimensional senior like him minutes in lieu of developing Freshman talents like Brett McKnight, Roberts or McNees.If Goddard is unhappy, he has an odd way of showing it. He's been on the team, as a walk on, for what...4 1/2 years (I believe he redshirted)? If he didn't like being part of the team, he would have quit long ago.

[BirdZip]

Goddard can hit some amazing three's from some improbable locations, and I admit I yell "money" when he nails one, but is he really money, or are we all just fooled by his range?College career 3-Point Shooting Percentages...Dials = 39.7%Goddard = 38.8%Middleton = 38.1%McNees = 37.5%Linhart = 37.1%Blame it on Goddard having to come in cold and not get enough minutes?Darrell Roberts = 62.5%B McKnight = 50%One last fun one:Jeremiah Wood = 100% (1 for 1)