MAC Hoops Back on the Rise?

[Captain Kangaroo]

Miami has wins vs Xavier and Purdue...Can't is 6-2, and beat Creighton soundly on the road last night. Can't beat Florida State too. Toledo beat Nevada and EMU beat some D3 school by 60 points last night...OU seems improved...Buffalo is 4-2...etc.

Our Non conf after CSU (3-0 at the moment, I believe?) is Wright State, Dayton and Oakland. Wright State has a win vs. Tulsa under their belt already...Dayton is again solid...and although Oakland lost to Kansas State the other night, they had the lead for most of the game. These are the games that help the conference's Power Ratings. Zips need to at least split the next 4. It would be really heartening to see 3-1. Other MAC schools are coming up with some big OOC wins. Do the 2004-5 Zips have what it takes to join the club?

[Big Zip]

CK -- I would take it one further -- why don't this Zips have a competitive OOC schedule. The CSU date is great for local ties, but Mount Union was terrible -- should have been preseason only. As for Drake, Duquesne, Dayton, Wright State, Oakland, Hampton -- Dayton is the only team that consistently plays well year in and year out. The other teams are hit and miss - I'm not saying the schedule is a cake walk by any means, but I'd like to see a Cincy and a North Carolina (at least two games) on the schedule every year. A win against any of the teams on our list (except maybe Dayton) doesn't make anyone go -- WOW they beat _______.

As for having the ability this year -- it depends on which Zips team shows up. All in all I think it is going to be difficult for this team to win games when they have a hard time hitting 1 of 2 free throws. I pick up a basketball couple times a year and I think I can equal some of the Zips perecentages. Travis (.412), Preston (.417), Wather (.444), Wood (.400), Millum (.429) and Meyers (.250) all shooting under .500 from the CHARITY stripe.

At some point do you have to sit down a guy because he can't hit a free throw -- it is such a tough question.

[Captain Kangaroo]

CK -- I would take it one further -- why don't this Zips have a competitive OOC schedule. A win against any of the teams on our list (except maybe Dayton) doesn't make anyone go -- WOW they beat _______.

Amen, Brother. Your preaching to the choir with that one...

[zipsbandman]

I hate to say it, but we've got a loooooooong way to go in hoops. I don't see us getting much success in MAC play. We have to play Miami, Can't, and Bufallo for a total of six games. We even play Toledo twice this year, and we are bad on the road. I just don't see the talent there for us to pull many of these out. We need more size for one thing, and that never gets adressed in recruiting. We keep picking up these little guards like Bubba Walther and Cedric Middleton. Is he even a D-I caliber player? What we need a dominant post player in the middle who can shoot. Look what Can't did with John Edwards. He wasn't a highly touted recruit, but they took a chance at him, and now the guy's in the NBA. The only guy who it week in and week out is Jeremiah Wood, who excells on both the offensive and defensive boards, but other than that, its going to be hard to compete with the rest of the MAC.

[Big Zip]

Wood competes hard, but when he gets five feet away from the basket he can't hit hardly anything. Peterson was a great freshman and sophomore and tonight against CSU he played real well. I think Middleton is a pretty decent pick up and a Div. 1 talent. Joyce was a bit of a disappointment tonight -- overall this team takes too many bad shots. f they can keep control of the ball and take good shots -- I think we'll see a significant difference as the year goes.

One thing I would like to see is more overseas recruiting -- I remember the Wyoming game at the JAR a few years ago. They had two kids from Africa that were tough. We've only had Ali Kart. The kid from CSU who led all scores tonight was tough -- the kid from Senegal didn't get much time, but he played welll against us in the past. A big man is a definite need on this team. As for taking chances we've taken them -- we've jost lost -- Meyers failed experiment, Seibert failed experiment, Weinkein failed experiment -- although I think Weinkein could have been much better with a coach like KD instead of Hip.

[Hilltopper]

C'mon Big Zip, you don't remember Klaus Zollner! Now there was a ringing endorsement for recruiting overseas.

[Captain Kangaroo]

One thing I would like to see is more overseas recruiting

"HEY BIG ZIP...THOSE OVERSEAS PLAYERS COST A LOT OF MONEY!!!!"

[GoZips]

Reading down through the posts I see several interesting and well thought out posts. Most I agree with. I have to disagree about whether Middleton is a Div.-I player. He is.

CED brings athleticism to the guard positions. He can slash to the basket and with his leaping ability is able to rebound decently for a six foot player. His main short coming is not understanding the style of play Coach Dambrot wants. He seems to be showing signs of "getting it". Look for CED to deliver more and more as the season progresses.

I agree that we lack good coaching and or talent in the post. The Zips certainly have the size. They seem to lack the fire and heart needed to play down low. Thus, Wood, Peterson and Travis end up covering the weakness of the PF and C slots. How do you get Nick Meyers who always seems to be asleep play up to his potential? More minutes, less minutes, ooops, how could he play less minutes? Preston may need to be a starter to get his juices flowing. He, like the rest of them is a spotty player. Seems he plays best when ticked off, angered or just plain pissed. Futch is the enigma. He often plays like a bull in a china shop fouling anyone near him. Of late he seems to have improved on that. But at what expense? One of these three guys needs to step up consistently.

The Zips are loaded at small forward. Thus we often see three of them on the court at the same time. Which, seems to work. Personally, I favor Travis as he plays with heart even when his head is asleep.

The guard slots need shoring up. "Rio" Collins just isn't up to long minutes. The girls sitting behind me at the game tagged Mario as "Rio". Its because he is to short for the full name of Mario. He did step up big at the end of the CSU game. He earned that.

Bubba Walther needs more floor time. Like most streaky three ball shooters you cannot just plug him in when you are desperate. Bubba needs to warm up the motor like most players do. Part of the problem in the CSU game was that Coach got away from the two deep rotation and went to an eight man that included longer floor time for the starters. This hurt the Zips big time.

One guard that seems to be NOT getting enough floor time is Nick Goddard. Okay, so he is a walk-on. So what? Nick has played with the Zips for two years. He is quick and he hustles. His presence in the game confused CSU. Apparently they had not practiced match ups including him. Nick gives the Zips five guards. If he plays ten minutes a game he gives that much rest time to the starters.

Free throws. What are we? An NBA team? We shoot free throws like we think we are in the same conference with the Cavaliers. No concentration. No awareness of the situation, of the game score, of the value, etc. It makes me sick. Half the time the Zips were not even along the foul lane for rebounding. They were so blasé. What are they thinking?

Saved the worst for last. What happened to the 40 minutes of 94 feet of pressure? CSU did far more 3/4 court and full court pressure than the Zips. Yet, in the few minutes the Zips actually did pressure CSU caved. I saw this same failure to put pressure on the ball at Duquense and NIU. This is supposed to be the Zip's bread and butter. Then, too, if Coach wants to play just eight players he cannot afford to pressure the ball.

Dropping into a 2-3 zone sure rests the kids when on defense at the expense of allowing wide open three point shots. CSU capitalized on this and made a game of it. CSU is a bottom feeder in the Horizon. They made the Zips look like a bottom feeder of the MAC. Which is borne out in the NIU loss.

Looks like Coach Dambrot has abandoned his scheme of coming after it for 40 minutes.

That is a shame as it is this team's best hope.

[zipsbandman]

I have to disagree about whether Middleton is a Div.-I player. He is.

I was referring to Bubba Walther when I posted that. Sorry I wasn't clear. Middleton is a D-1 player, but I would like to see more size on the team.