Bleacher Bum Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 I'm surprised no one else started this thread since we're about 35 minutes to tip off. Tonight we'll get to find out just how well the rest of the team can play without J-Wood. Their chance comes against the dismal Ball State Cardinals. However, BSU just took Can't to overtime at the MAC Center earlier this week. I do expect the Zips to roll in this one but it still makes me a bit nervous. We play crummy on the road but hopefully a good showing tonight can kickstart the rest of the season. There hasn't been much chatter here about this game. What's everyone's thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDZip Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Nervous, very nervous. Despite their dismal record, Ball St. is no pushover. With the amount of injuries we have plus the fact that even with a poor record they continue to play even the good MAC teams tough and they are at home makes me worried. This has the makings of a big upset. However, if the Zips have the heart I think they do, they gut out a tough effort and come away with the W, 72-68. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips88 Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 What took Akron so long to get Bardo and C. McKnight involved in the offense??? 4-0 Akron, 2 pts apiece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips88 Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Wow ... 4 minutes in and it's already Goddard time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 So far...could be better, could be a lot worse. Got C.McKnight and Bardo involved early. It's obvious that KD is fishing for a rotation that works with a lot of substitutions including bringing Goddard in early. The 3 ball isn't falling really early, but we are still ahead. Nate in a little foul trouble early which is a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoZips94 Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Foul trouble early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Foul trouble early. Offense isn't doing THAT bad but we are looking horrible again on defense. At this point I'd like to see Bardo and Quade in there at the same time more. Bardo seems to be doing alright inside when he's in there and Quade can at least block a shot. It's really hurting us with Nate, Nick and C.McKnight all in foul trouble early. When those guys can't man up and play tight defense we hurt bigtime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 1 point lead at the half. I'll take it. Zips went into a zone defense around the middle of the half and it started to work as the half wore on. Still struggling to find that inside presence. Bardo is doing a decent job. C.McKinght's gotten into foul trouble. Quade has been ok but you expect that with Ball St. not having a lot in terms of physical inside guys. Zips get to regroup at the half and figure out what is working and what isn't. Need to get out of this one with a win. Doesn't matter how it happens. These next two games are paramount to the rest of our season. Can't drop 2 games to the worst 2 teams in the West even with Jeremiah out if we want to have a shot at the first round bye still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Zips made the halftime adjustments. Nate with a couple big 3's. McKnight with 5 points (a 3 and a nice hook inside), Quade with 5 (2 from the line and a 3). Defense is shutting Ball State down. Zips up 15. Ball State has already had to burn 2 TO's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZippyforPresident Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 MVP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 And as soon as the Zips get into a rythm it goes by the wayside. Ball State back w/in 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips88 Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Not bad ... Akron 70-61 over BSU. We get the 'W' and a little more mileage on the legs of the underclassmen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Zips get the win. Gotta hand it to Nate Linhart tonight. As bad as he was early in the season he is that good if not better now. I've been critical of him in the past, but he is truly playing like an MVP right now. Without him we do not win that game tonight. Dials with a gritty performance again tonight but you have to wonder how many more of those he has in him. From the sounds of it he is really gimping on that left leg. Cedrick barely played. McNees with a few more big 3's and a few more frustrating TO's. Roberts played quality minutes. Conyers continues to be a disappointment. Chris McKnight stepped up big but we need more from him inside. Quade had a nice night as well with some big shots, nice rebounds and good passing. Bardo is doing a nice job on defense, but his offense is a liability most of the time. He has a real difficult time handling the ball when it comes to him inside. Zips lost a couple of turnovers tonight on passes that he simply couldn't get a handle on. Brett McKnight barely played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Excellent effort. These guys could have really folded with the news they got this week. Linhart is really growing as a player. And Nick Dials is...well.....Nick Dials. He played on pure determination tonight. What will we get out of Cedrick the rest of the year?Where is Conyers when we really need him?Great two-game run for C. McKnight. He is going to be a difference maker over the next couple of weeks, and we really need it. And lastly....I said earlier that we need to get 10-15 points and 10-15 rebounds out of C. McKnight and Bardo combined while Jeremiah is out. Well, we got 11 points and 8 rebounds out of C. McKnight, but virtually nothing from Bardo. That HAS to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 This might be crying over spilled milk (man, I sound like my grandma!), but this really seems to have been a wasted year for Brett McKnight. I wish we would have redshirted him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 This might be crying over spilled milk (man, I sound like my grandma!), but this really seems to have been a wasted year for Brett McKnight. I wish we would have redshirted him.It's hard to disagree sometimes. He's shown flushes of what he can do, but he got here so late. He's behind the 8-ball quite a bit, especially on the defensive end. Unfortunatley he doesn't seem to be able to catch up as quick as Roberts has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZippyforPresident Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Excellent job by the Zippers tonight and hats off to Nate Linhart. He's really been stepping it up as of late. Despite the MVP moniker I would say that he often gets overlooked by most of us fans. While everyone gives the recognition to the big three seniors (and they have earned it) Nate quietly keeps putting up really excellent numbers, like a double double again tonight. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he might be the most versatile and complete player on the team. By that I mean that he has so many aspects to his game. The guy is definitely one of the best defensive players on the team, he's a scrapper and is constantly high energy, he can hit the three ball pretty consistently, he has great presence around the basket (numerous tip ins, including the winner vs. OU) and is a good rebounder, and a pretty good ball handler for a big guy who can play the three or four. That's my opinion and I was just wondering what other members of 'The Nation' think. Go Zips! NIU who? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Districtballer Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Excellent job by the Zippers tonight and hats off to Nate Linhart. He's really been stepping it up as of late. Despite the MVP moniker I would say that he often gets overlooked by most of us fans. While everyone gives the recognition to the big three seniors (and they have earned it) Nate quietly keeps putting up really excellent numbers, like a double double again tonight. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he might be the most versatile and complete player on the team. By that I mean that he has so many aspects to his game. The guy is definitely one of the best defensive players on the team, he's a scrapper and is constantly high energy, he can hit the three ball pretty consistently, he has great presence around the basket (numerous tip ins, including the winner vs. OU) and is a good rebounder, and a pretty good ball handler for a big guy who can play the three or four. That's my opinion and I was just wondering what other members of 'The Nation' think. Go Zips! NIU who?Congrats guys! Keep up the good work!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Continuing on what someone else said about wasting a year of eligibility for Brett McKnight...How much better off might we be right now if we had played Swiech this year, instead of B Mc. ??Even with J. Wood in the lineup, we still lack the depth in the post positions than what we have available to play the 3-guard/small forward assignment. I'm still thinking that the coaches felt that Bardo would be much further along than what he is at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Excellent job by the Zippers tonight and hats off to Nate Linhart. He's really been stepping it up as of late. Despite the MVP moniker I would say that he often gets overlooked by most of us fans. While everyone gives the recognition to the big three seniors (and they have earned it) Nate quietly keeps putting up really excellent numbers, like a double double again tonight. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he might be the most versatile and complete player on the team. By that I mean that he has so many aspects to his game. The guy is definitely one of the best defensive players on the team, he's a scrapper and is constantly high energy, he can hit the three ball pretty consistently, he has great presence around the basket (numerous tip ins, including the winner vs. OU) and is a good rebounder, and a pretty good ball handler for a big guy who can play the three or four. That's my opinion and I was just wondering what other members of 'The Nation' think. Go Zips! NIU who?I agree. http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?showtopic=8672Hilltopper Earlier in the season ZW said he thought Nate Linhart was our MVP. I Agree. I would hate to see where this team would be at without Linhart. He has been our most consistant player in all aspects of the game this year. I would dare to say if his shot was more consistant he would be NBA material at the 2 guard. He has the ability to cover smaller faster guards as well as bigger forwards. For a 6-7 guy he has above average ball handling skills. He is my MVP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RACER Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 good win by the zips.any win on the road is a goos win.zips need to take care of business the next home game.the vcu game without wood is going to be a real test of this team.the zips will have to be shooting the three ball lights out to win.at this point without woods zips need to win enough to get a buy for the first round.maybe he comes back but i just dont see how in that short period of time j.w. will be effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipfan 81 Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 This might be crying over spilled milk (man, I sound like my grandma!), but this really seems to have been a wasted year for Brett McKnight. I wish we would have redshirted him.It's hard to disagree sometimes. He's shown flushes of what he can do, but he got here so late. He's behind the 8-ball quite a bit, especially on the defensive end. Unfortunatley he doesn't seem to be able to catch up as quick as Roberts has.Remember he's a freshman, he should be seeing limited time, and when he does get his chance, he does not prove himself yet, give him time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipfan 81 Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Wow ... 4 minutes in and it's already Goddard time!Goddard gets 3 minutes, shoots once and misses and is taken out, never to be seen again. Didn't really give him a chance.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Zipfan81...I'm not faulting anything B. Mc has done. I do believe he is going to be a good player. But I am only questioning whether it is worth a year of eligibility if you are only going to play him a couple of minutes each game? And, would it have been more advantageous for us to have played Swiech and redshirted B. Mc since we were thin on post players, even before Jeremiah's injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 We are forgetting something here. According to the coaches, Swiech is behind Bardo at this point in his development. Additionally, the Zips get a five year span of thesetwo large players with the red shirt year. I think Akron covets seven foot Zeke Marshall. However, nearly every large school east of the Mississippi also covets him.The thinking was that Brett could handle is position as a true freshman. Honestly, has he been given the floor minutes to prove this? I sense that KD has a strongreluctance to take risks with the second line players. I think that Brett and Mike should have been given more minutes, not less. Every minute they play a firstteam player rests. And since neither Brett or Mike has been damaging the Zips, play them.Finally McNees is less of a turnover artist. He is now earning his minutes and doing passably well. It just takes time and experience. Steve is a good example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.