Wood Out

[GoZips]

What disheartening news, losing Jeremiah Wood for the next four weeks or so.We all knew that both he and Cedric Middleton and to an extent Nick dials have been ailing. Maybe it is time to heal them all. That would cut the rotation to eight.The real issue being how does KD shore up the post play? Obviously we could survive, probably easily, with Ced and Nick out. But, down in the post, who do weturn to?Both Mike Bardo and Brett McKnight have to grow up fast. Bardo can give the defense, but his offense is, well offensive. Mike just needs to go to the basketforcefully. And keep that ball high over his head. I hope that Mike grows into the position quickly.Brett gives the Zips a lot of firepower on offense. Can he play defense sufficiently well to stay on the floor?Jimmy Conyers, the forgotten man. Jimmy has hung tough when playing the four spot. But, he still has not gotten confident with his offense. Will Jimmy get it done?Actually, the four spot has been a bigger concern all along. With Wood out the weakness of the four spot will become glaring. Chris McKnight is more of a three man.Still C-Mac has shown the ability to play down low. Can he pick it up?His brother Brett may have to take on the mantle of the four spot. We will soon find out if he can.Does KD need to play Steve Swiech? Two thirds through the season and no floor time would be an awful time to put the kid in. This has to be a last resort.Once in a while Quade Milum demonstrates his capabilities. Now is the time for a long series of games where Quade steps up and plays his butt off instead ofhanging out on the wing hoping for alley-oops.Defense will be the key to winning for the next month. Wait, defense has been the key to winning all along.If ever the Zips needed a floor general this is it.

[Let'sGoZips94]

What disheartening news, losing Jeremiah Wood for the next four weeks or so.We all knew that both he and Cedric Middleton and to an extent Nick dials have been ailing. Maybe it is time to heal them all. That would cut the rotation to eight.The real issue being how does KD shore up the post play? Obviously we could survive, probably easily, with Ced and Nick out. But, down in the post, who do weturn to?Both Mike Bardo and Brett McKnight have to grow up fast. Bardo can give the defense, but his offense is, well offensive. Mike just needs to go to the basketforcefully. And keep that ball high over his head. I hope that Mike grows into the position quickly.Brett gives the Zips a lot of firepower on offense. Can he play defense sufficiently well to stay on the floor?Jimmy Conyers, the forgotten man. Jimmy has hung tough when playing the four spot. But, he still has not gotten confident with his offense. Will Jimmy get it done?Actually, the four spot has been a bigger concern all along. With Wood out the weakness of the four spot will become glaring. Chris McKnight is more of a three man.Still C-Mac has shown the ability to play down low. Can he pick it up?His brother Brett may have to take on the mantle of the four spot. We will soon find out if he can.Does KD need to play Steve Swiech? Two thirds through the season and no floor time would be an awful time to put the kid in. This has to be a last resort.Once in a while Quade Milum demonstrates his capabilities. Now is the time for a long series of games where Quade steps up and plays his butt off instead ofhanging out on the wing hoping for alley-oops.Defense will be the key to winning for the next month. Wait, defense has been the key to winning all along.If ever the Zips needed a floor general this is it.

Great post. Steve best not play. We need him for longer than just 1/3 of a season and 3 more hopefully full ones. Quade has at least one game where I think he'll really play her heart out, and that is the Can't game. I hope everybody plays there heart out for the Can't game. There's no more huge surprises for the MAC anymore so it will be hard to win some games, but I think we can.

[Quickzips]

I doubt KD completely holds Dials and Ced out of any games. They are banged up and it is obvious that they need some rest, but losing all 3 of those guys (Nick, Jeremiah and Cedrick) puts us in a HUGE hole. I suspect for the immediate future we will just try to limit minutes for Nick and Ced. More McNees and Roberts on the floor. As far as the front line goes. It's anyones guess. I don't think you will see KD stick to just one lineup. I'd expect for the immediate future you will see us playing a little smaller to start out with. A lineup like Nate at 3, Conyers at 4, Quade at 5. Expect to see a lot of Bardo. He's been improving by leaps and bounds over the last few games and I wouldn't be surprised to see him getting 20+ minutes a game with Jeremiah out. I would also like to see a lineup that includes Conyers, one of the McKnights and Bardo. Use Conyers and Bardo to make up for the defensive problems the McKnights have and the McKnights to make up for the offensive problems of Jimmy and Mike. I also wouldn't be surprised to see more of that 3 guard rotation. It's certainly going to get interesting. I don't think our season is ruined at this point, but it certainly got harder. The best we can hope for is that these guys (especially Jeremiah) can get healthy by tournament time and that we can hold on to a first round bye until then.

[skip-zip]

I've already commented on this on another thread, but there is still an issue that has not come up.How much of this problem of being thin on talent in the post has been amplified by redshirting Bardo for a year, and Swiech for a year? Didn't anyone see that we were really going to be short on muscle and size coming into this season?I'm definitely thinking that C. McKnight will be more likely to develop into a post player than his brother.

[Quickzips]

I've already commented on this on another thread, but there is still an issue that has not come up.How much of this problem of being thin on talent in the post has been amplified by redshirting Bardo for a year, and Swiech for a year? Didn't anyone see that we were really going to be short on muscle and size coming into this season?I'm definitely thinking that C. McKnight will be more likely to develop into a post player than his brother.

I can't comment on Swiech yet, but from what I've seen from Bardo the redshirt was the right thing to do with him. It's pretty well documented by this point that a lot of extra work and attention went in to his game last season trying to get him up to speed as a D-I player. Without that extra work I'd hate to see how he'd be playing now. The fact of the matter in the MAC is that getting a D-I ready big man who can step into the rotation from the moment he sets foot on campus is a rarity. Bardo's redshirt year was a necessity from everything I've seen. You can't just throw a kid like that who is a project by all accounts to the wolves and hope it all works out. As far as Swiech, I really can't comment. From what I've heard the injuries from high school still needed some work when he first got here which was part of the reason for the redshirt. Without the injuries does he still redshirt? Who knows. As far as the McKnights go, I have to agree that Chris looks like the better true post player than Brett. Brett is an outside shooter who can get inside at times but seems to do his best work from the perimeter. Chris has more of that inside presence. Then again, Chris has a lot more time in the system and at the D-I level so who knows. With more experience maybe Brett develops his game more. I'd love to see him have that inside presence to go along with his outside shot. He'd be a nightmare to defend against.

[skip-zip]

Quickzips...I like your analysis of the McKnights. That's pretty much my thoughts.I'm certainly not suggesting that Bardo step right in as a freshman last year and play any kind of significant role. But, I am suggesting that someone should have looked ahead to this year, and our lack of post players, and gotten him onto the court last year. Being able to play last year and this year, surrounded by so many seniors, would have been a much easier 2-years for him to acclimate himself to D-1 basketball, as opposed to next year when he is really going to be alone out there. Practice sessions have to be coupled with game-speed experience in order to get someone ready to play. We really could have used a Mike Bardo, with a little bit of game experience under his belt, going into this year. And next year, when we will need to count on him even more, I just don't think he is going to be "there" yet.

[bigzipguy]

In my opinion, because Ced and Nick are banged up, go with Steve M. at the point and Nick at the 2. Then spell Nick with Ced and Steve with Roberts. That takes some strain off of Ced and Nick.I would, unlike some others have commented, go with Bardo as much as possible at the 5. In my opinion, Quade just doesn't have the body to play the 5.

[UADavid]

In my opinion, because Ced and Nick are banged up, go with Steve M. at the point and Nick at the 2. Then spell Nick with Ced and Steve with Roberts. That takes some strain off of Ced and Nick.I would, unlike some others have commented, go with Bardo as much as possible at the 5. In my opinion, Quade just doesn't have the body to play the 5.

I agree with you. Put Quade in when the team's running and Bardo when they are slowing the ball down. We've shown we can wear down short benches when we speed up the game. Nate, Jimmy, Chris and Brett fill the 3-4 to keep the team fresh. I would like to see KD not make wholesale changes when he subs. With a more staggered sustitution plan, they might keep more momentum going forward. With our big man down, up tempo might help.