What Now?

[sgm405]

Sat, Feb 16 Bowling Green * at Bowling Green, Ohio Tue, Feb 19 Miami (Ohio) * at Oxford, Ohio Sat, Feb 23 VCU Akron, Ohio Sat, Mar 01 Buffalo * Akron, Ohio Tue, Mar 04 Ohio * at Athens, Ohio Sun, Mar 09 Can't State * Akron, Ohio Six games remaining...most likely out of the MAC East race, but still alive for a first round bye. Here's what I think:- Sit Ced...love the guy, but he's not helping the team right now. Let him rest up a bit, and maybe he'll be refreshed for the MAC Tourney.- Put a cap on Dials' minutes. He is walking wounded...they simply can't afford to lose him too. He has to play, but he shouldn't be out there the entire game either. - Play the McKnights. Chris will have to step up, whether Wood comes back or not. And Brett has a ton a raw talent...he could be a big contributor off the bench in a MAC Tourney run. - Let Roberts run the point. Ced is hurt, Dials is better at the two, and McNees can't yet handle pressure from opposing guards pressing the ball. Roberts is quick enough to penetrate, can hit an outside shot, and should be able to play some good defense. - Keep believing. Even myself, an extreme optimist, felt the season slipping away tonight. But in the MAC, it's never over. Keep pushing, keep getting the younger guys experience, get the vets rested and healthy, and try to get hot at the Q. At this point, it's our only hope of salvaging a once promising season.

[ZachTheZip]

What now? I'll tell you what now: FREEDOM! The only thing left weighing he Zips down was the "obligation" in the back of their heads to keep the home win streak alive. They don't have to worry about that now. They don't have to worry about winning the MAC East, they don't have to worry about winning the whole MAC, They should only have one thing on their minds, and that is to get a bye in the tourney. That is now their sole focus.

[Marty McFly]

- Play the McKnights. Chris will have to step up, whether Wood comes back or not. And Brett has a ton a raw talent...he could be a big contributor off the bench in a MAC Tourney run. - Let Roberts run the point. Ced is hurt, Dials is better at the two, and McNees can't yet handle pressure from opposing guards pressing the ball. Roberts is quick enough to penetrate, can hit an outside shot, and should be able to play some good defense.

I agree with you on both fronts. Can someone tell me why Brett McKnight scores 2 or 3 baskets...in a row...around the 13-14 min mark, sits down with 12:30 to go (which I thought was to give him an extended break with the media TO) and doesn't return?!?!?!McNees is not a PG. Seemed to me like every time he brought it up the court, as soon as he crossed half court, he was retreating back to the half court line, forcing another Zips player to come and get it.Another thing...KD just seemed lost trying to find a combo tonight that worked, and missing J Wood was really evident, and part of the reason that NIU shot flippin' 65 % from the field.

[Jamison32]

I revoke any statement I've made about Goddard and his needing to play more. He got his chance but didn't make anything. Lets hope we can do something against VCU

[rowdy52]

- Keep believing. Even myself, an extreme optimist, felt the season slipping away tonight. But in the MAC, it's never over. Keep pushing, keep getting the younger guys experience, get the vets rested and healthy, and try to get hot at the Q. At this point, it's our only hope of salvaging a once promising season.

It's hard tonight to keep believing, but the season will go on. That was tough to watch especially in our house. It just looked like they were confused at times on what to do and where to be. I think we need to get back to basics or something. You could see how much we miss Wood during that game. I agree with your other points about Cedrick and Dials. I saw Dials go down once in the second half I believe and it was like he was struggling to get back up on his feet. When you mention our once promising season you think back on how we really had it going and had such high hopes. Then it's like we lost to Cant and CMU and we sort of hit a brick wall. We werent used to losing much like this. Things dont look so good at this moment tonight but hopefully we can get back on track here with some tough games coming up. I'm gonna keep the faith, it's not over.

[hoopla]

wow is all i have to say. that was the most pathetic effort that i have ever seen from the zips. dials is the only one that showed any fight. linhart did at times. mcknight did early but faded. the offense has to go around dials while he is at the 2 spot. i agree with some of you there. get the ball in his hands at the 2 spot. with the hip flexor muscle injury, i believe the same as the fr. pt guard that is sitting out this year, he is playing the best and the hardest. i hope the youngsters learn from the 'suffering' he has put in this team. my knock on him tonight is that he was trying to help everyone else on D tonight and forgot about his man a couple of times. if people cant gurad their man then it is better to give a 2 than a 3. with the potential of a blocked shot or something. ps. went to scorchers tonight, what a nice atmosphere.

[skip-zip]

I've made several comments on another thread. But....if we want to save this season......We need to feed C. McKnight in the post. And Bardo. I don't care if they shoot, they MUST touch the ball. I can't fault Chris. He is doing his job, but Bardo needs to get involved too, or the offense doesn't flow.Besides that...it's nearly impossible to beat a team that is shooting like that. They even made contested shots. And buried half of their 3-pointers. Not much you can do. Quote me on this...there is NO WAY this team can win 3 games in Cleveland without J. Wood. Prior to the WMU game, our entire offense ran through him, and he changed the way teams defended us. Besides the inspired effort against Ball State, you can tell that this team is lost without him.

[ZippyforPresident]

First off Chris McKnight had a good game once again tonight. With Jeremiah out he's been stepping it up a lot. But the problem is he's got some really big shoes to fill. What I noticed a few times tonight was that Jeremiah's ability to kick the ball out is missed greatly, he is a very good passer and when he would draw the double or triple teams he often was able to find one of the guards open behind the arc.Second. Akron, in my opinion, has the talent to be the best team in the MAC and rightfully should be. Unfortunately who knows exactly how much of that talent is injured or just plain really hurting right now. Middleton is probably hurting a lot more than he leads on and is evidently going to need surgery after the season, so he's probably not going to get much better which is really a bummer with this being his senior season. Dials is in a similar situation with this being his senior season and having a hip flexor limiting his play severely, yet these guys leave it all out on the court every game playing on probably nothing but adrenaline and sheer determination. Wood is out and had probably been suffering from the torn meniscus for nearly a month, and who knows if McNees's achilles is still nagging him. The bottom line is this team is banged up and guys that don't have a ton of experience at this level are being forced to step up into roles that they might not be entirely ready for. Linhart and C. McKnight have been stepping their game up, but for the rest of the younger players their inexperience is very apparent at times, even though at other times they show hints of some serious capabilities. I think we can all agree that an at large bid has been out of the question for quite some time and that after tonight, winning the east is going to be pretty difficult to achieve. What it comes down to are those games at the Q, and in order to win those games the Zips have to play as a team. Coach D has to find a lineup that can play team basketball, can execute the plays efficiently, and can feed off of one another's capabilities and tendencies. I would like to see C. McKnight get more minutes and Linhart as many minutes as he can handle and then maybe find a starting lineup that can work best with those two guys. Maybe Bardo at Center, C. McKnight and Linhart at the 2 and 3 with Roberts at the point and Dials the shooting guard? Of course Dials is basically the leader on the floor so I can see how it is tough to take him away from the point.Third. NIU shot the damn lights out tonight. It's tough to beat anyone when they can't miss. Of course it does help when you have open, uncontested shots and NIU did have a few of them tonight, but there's no point in sitting here and wallowing in defeat. Hats off to NIU, they got the job done and the Zips didn't. I was just as pissed off as anyone to see the 22 game winning streak go down the toilet to a team that now has a 6-17 record but that's why the games are played, anything can happen on any given day and there is no reason to make up pointless excuses for it or to let it get to you, its over now and hopefully this team can take the loss and use it as motivation and prove exactly how mentally tough they really are. If this team can feed off of and learn from these defeats and somehow find their rhythm my guess is that our remaining opponents are going to be in for some hard fought battles and the Can't State Golden Showers are going to be in for the game of their life. And if Jeremiah is back and really ready for that one, Ham-for-Brains Quaintance could be in for a long, long night. Keep the faith and lets start a new streak all the way to the NCAA tournament.

[FMR]

I've made several comments on another thread. But....if we want to save this season......We need to feed C. McKnight in the post. And Bardo. I don't care if they shoot, they MUST touch the ball. I can't fault Chris. He is doing his job, but Bardo needs to get involved too, or the offense doesn't flow.Besides that...it's nearly impossible to beat a team that is shooting like that. They even made contested shots. And buried half of their 3-pointers. Not much you can do. Quote me on this...there is NO WAY this team can win 3 games in Cleveland without J. Wood. Prior to the WMU game, our entire offense ran through him, and he changed the way teams defended us. Besides the inspired effort against Ball State, you can tell that this team is lost without him.

No Comment

[AwesomeDude]

Heres a question that has been rocking my brain since i saw it happen in the game tonite. Did anyone else notice that when the smallest guy on NIU had switched off a pick to guard bardo (NIU player easily giving up a good foot to bardo) that no one would feed it in to the big man? I mean come on thats an easy two points right there maybe more if another player comes to help the smaller guy. I mean thats like the number one thing they teach you in high school. If you get a mismatch just like that you take advantage of it, whether its a easy two with a possible foul, or a kick out for a three ball you have to do it to keep the pressure on the D. Just something that i have been scratching my head about.

[zipfan 81]

I revoke any statement I've made about Goddard and his needing to play more. He got his chance but didn't make anything. Lets hope we can do something against VCU

He did get his chance, but didn't lose the game, playing 1 minute intervals, how does anyone get a rhythm going?

[Dr Z]

I revoke any statement I've made about Goddard and his needing to play more. He got his chance but didn't make anything. Lets hope we can do something against VCU

He did get his chance, but didn't lose the game, playing 1 minute intervals, how does anyone get a rhythm going?

He is too SLOOOOOWWW for MAC basketball. He should never see the floor until the game is decided. That was obvious last night for those of you thinking otherwise. Any minutes he takes away from others is a shame.

[Let'sGoZips94]

I still don't understand why Brett McKnight sat after his driving and then scoring. He's a beast on the offensive side. He was our offense for a few possesions so why sit him? The only game that scares me is the Can't game only because it means so much. Come on Zips let's do this thing!!!!!!!!!!

[zipfan 81]

I still don't understand why Brett McKnight sat after his driving and then scoring. He's a beast on the offensive side. He was our offense for a few possesions so why sit him? The only game that scares me is the Can't game only because it means so much. Come on Zips let's do this thing!!!!!!!!!!

Coach D says he will not play anyone that does not play defense, B. McKnight does not play defense, if Coach D keeps his word, we wont see him anymore....

[blueandgold]

I still don't understand why Brett McKnight sat after his driving and then scoring. He's a beast on the offensive side. He was our offense for a few possesions so why sit him? The only game that scares me is the Can't game only because it means so much. Come on Zips let's do this thing!!!!!!!!!!

Coach D says he will not play anyone that does not play defense, B. McKnight does not play defense, if Coach D keeps his word, we wont see him anymore....

Did anyone really play any defense in last night's game? It was really a team effort of bad defense.

[zipfan 81]

I still don't understand why Brett McKnight sat after his driving and then scoring. He's a beast on the offensive side. He was our offense for a few possesions so why sit him? The only game that scares me is the Can't game only because it means so much. Come on Zips let's do this thing!!!!!!!!!!

Coach D says he will not play anyone that does not play defense, B. McKnight does not play defense, if Coach D keeps his word, we wont see him anymore....

Did anyone really play any defense in last night's game? It was really a team effort of bad defense.

OK I will probably get slammed for this, but sometimes IMHO I think offense wins games, there I said it! This defense wins games gets old to me, if you noticed last night, offensively we shot terrible, if we made half those shots, and still played terrible defense we would of won! Ok let the slamming begin.....

[blueandgold]

I still don't understand why Brett McKnight sat after his driving and then scoring. He's a beast on the offensive side. He was our offense for a few possesions so why sit him? The only game that scares me is the Can't game only because it means so much. Come on Zips let's do this thing!!!!!!!!!!

Coach D says he will not play anyone that does not play defense, B. McKnight does not play defense, if Coach D keeps his word, we wont see him anymore....

Did anyone really play any defense in last night's game? It was really a team effort of bad defense.

OK I will probably get slammed for this, but sometimes IMHO I think offense wins games, there I said it! This defense wins games gets old to me, if you noticed last night, offensively we shot terrible, if we made half those shots, and still played terrible defense we would of won! Ok let the slamming begin.....

Obviously defense is important, but when the team as a whole is struggling with it recently, why not put all of our "scorers" on the court and have at it. It would definitley be interesting to see at least once.

[bigzipguy]

Zippyforpresident: I agree with you from the standpoint that it would be good to have Bardo at center, and Linhart and Chris M. at the forwards. That way: Bardo is big enough to set solid screens for both of them along the side of the key. Also Dials at the 2, it will take some of the strain off of him. Now is the time of the season, especially when we consider that the Zips are banged up, to not be running long , hard practices. Whether KD is still doing this, I do not know. It would not hurt to sit Ced and Dials out of some practices, to give them some rest.

[Let'sGoZips94]

I still don't understand why Brett McKnight sat after his driving and then scoring. He's a beast on the offensive side. He was our offense for a few possesions so why sit him? The only game that scares me is the Can't game only because it means so much. Come on Zips let's do this thing!!!!!!!!!!

Coach D says he will not play anyone that does not play defense, B. McKnight does not play defense, if Coach D keeps his word, we wont see him anymore....

Did anyone really play any defense in last night's game? It was really a team effort of bad defense.

Exactly! If nobody else was playing defense, nor were they shooting well, then why not play him?

[zippy5]

I still don't understand why Brett McKnight sat after his driving and then scoring. He's a beast on the offensive side. He was our offense for a few possesions so why sit him? The only game that scares me is the Can't game only because it means so much. Come on Zips let's do this thing!!!!!!!!!!

Coach D says he will not play anyone that does not play defense, B. McKnight does not play defense, if Coach D keeps his word, we wont see him anymore....

Did anyone really play any defense in last night's game? It was really a team effort of bad defense.

OK I will probably get slammed for this, but sometimes IMHO I think offense wins games, there I said it! This defense wins games gets old to me, if you noticed last night, offensively we shot terrible, if we made half those shots, and still played terrible defense we would of won! Ok let the slamming begin.....

Exactly why defense wins games...we shot terrible, and were still in the game till 2:00 left. If we could have held them anywhere below say 60%ish instead of the 65% :blink: they shot, we still would have won with our poor offensive night...

[ZachTheZip]

I still don't understand why Brett McKnight sat after his driving and then scoring. He's a beast on the offensive side. He was our offense for a few possesions so why sit him? The only game that scares me is the Can't game only because it means so much. Come on Zips let's do this thing!!!!!!!!!!

Coach D says he will not play anyone that does not play defense, B. McKnight does not play defense, if Coach D keeps his word, we wont see him anymore....

Did anyone really play any defense in last night's game? It was really a team effort of bad defense.

OK I will probably get slammed for this, but sometimes IMHO I think offense wins games, there I said it! This defense wins games gets old to me, if you noticed last night, offensively we shot terrible, if we made half those shots, and still played terrible defense we would of won! Ok let the slamming begin.....

Not quite, but you're on to something. Defense doesn't win games, it can only put you in a position to win. Offense wins games, because as John Madden says: "You know <random guest color-commentator guy>, the team that scores the most points usually wins the game." You can play the best defense in the world, but it doesn't score you any points. You can also have an incredible offense, but it doesn't keep the other team from outscoring you.Winning takes both offense and defense. Coaches can focus on one or the other as having more importance based on the talents of the players, but you need both to win. Anybody that believes that only one of those is the key to winning is extremely short-sighted.

[skip-zip]

This NIU loss is even bigger now.Both Miami and BG lost last night. We could have had a 2-game lead on both of them, which would have really put us in the driver's seat for the #4 spot in the tournament. Now, both of those teams are playing us at their place in the next couple of weeks, and we have only a 1-game cushion.This is going to get interesting now.

[zipsbandman]

This NIU loss is even bigger now.Both Miami and BG lost last night. We could have had a 2-game lead on both of them, which would have really put us in the driver's seat for the #4 spot in the tournament. Now, both of those teams are playing us at their place in the next couple of weeks, and we have only a 1-game cushion.This is going to get interesting now.

I think NIU was just the beginning of a long rest of the season. I think we'll be way out of it once the season ends.

[Dr Z]

Out of it? Come on, this is the MAC, we just need to learn to win a different way. Have a little faith in KD.We only NEED to win three games.

[Bleacher Bum]

Out of it? Come on, this is the MAC, we just need to learn to win a different way. Have a little faith in KD.We only NEED to win three games.

Four if we don't get a bye.