Akron-UMASS Game Thread

[bUAkronG]

such a shame.... a hard way to lose after starting off the second half with fire! Oh well still a fantastic season for the Zips. It's a shame to see it end.

[KentZip]

Ugh....

May be the single worst 7 or 8 minutes of basketball I have ever seen from an experienced group. See y'all next year.

[Quickzips]

Bottom line is that we needed a true PG running the show down the stretch. Someone who can cut down the silly turnovers and create the big shot for himself or someone else in the last seconds. As mad as I am at Wood for hoisting up a prayer with enough time on the clock to make one more pass to a better shooter, I can't be too mad at him. He was a man's man inside tonight and was even hitting a fair amount of his FT's. Dials was taken out of the game once again today by having to play the PG. Cedrick came to play and did a nice job at both ends of the floor even when he was in foul trouble. Nate, yet again neutralizes their best player and adds a little on the offensive end. Brett McKnight hit some big shots. We just didn't quite have enough down the stretch and like I said, that lack of a true PG really came back to bite us today as it did so many other times during the year.

[ZipsGpa]

if we only had had a true point guard this year... next year we have a bunch but no Wood... Well thanks guys for a fun to watch season. Congrats on your accomplishments and good luck to where and wahatever your next endeavor may be.

[Valpo Zip]

This game was so winnable. I would say a guarranteed win if played at home. This is why teams won't come play us at home.Blowing a 10 points lead with 8 on the clock is just ridiculous. Reminds me a lot of the Winthrop games.This program is moving in the right direction. 3 years ago, we couldn't win at buffalo. We should now have a better name reputation and respect. we should be able to pull a better schedule.I would love to say a lot of A10 teams, It was def a pleasure playing Temple, Dayton, and Umass. MVC also is a good conference to play with. Add in a good tournament with Winthrop, VCU and the BB buster game, we should have a very good OOC schedule. As long as we don't screw it with cupcakes.

[ZipAlumn]

U-Mass was taller, quicker, and more athletic. And who said they don't play defense or shoot free throws. Still Zips were more than respectable. Congrats to the team and coaches for a very good season. Proud to be an Akron Alumn.

[RACER]

no reason we should have lost this game.i realize that without dials we would have not made it here.at the same time dialsplayed terrible.if we have a pg guard.i hate to blame it on one guy but he pretty much killed us this game.

[skip-zip]

Besides the point guard issue, a couple of other things got me. And they are not anything new.1) The number of times we give up offensive rebounds that lead to 2nd shot opportunities. And that won't get any better with Wood graduating.2) Other teams (like UMass) who had guards that were quick enough to penetrate and get shots off in the paint. Some quicker defenders at the guard positions will be helpful in the future. As far as the final play goes, because we had already trimmed the clock down under 10 seconds, we had to take a 3 pointer. And someone had to get a shot off, and Jeremiah was the only one to get it. If we had worked it a little sooner, an easy 2 pointer might have been a better option. But once our guards were hanging around the 3=point line all that time, everyone ended up gettting blanketed. From what I saw, it didn't even look like Jeremiah even had anyone near teh arc that he could have even passed the ball to at that point. If anything cost us there at the end, it was a couple of turnovers that Jeremiah had that put us in that position. I;ll forget about it. These guys fought hard, and it was a fun game to watch.

[ZippyTuba11]

This loss is on Dambrot in my mind. The good coaches can settle their guys down and get them to play level-headed in the face of an opponent's runs. KD is horrible at controlling the team in the face of a run. Dials gets mad and throws up prayers early in the shot clock, turn-overs like crazy, and bad defensive breakdowns in these clutch moments makes me question KD's coaching style. No way the really good coached teams lose a big game when they are up 12 coming down the stretch.

[RACER]

tubba you are about the one poster in a million who thinks jd is bad coach.you base this post on? you must be a closet Can't fan,or kd hater because probably not one person agrees with you.you can post, but if you think anyone agrees with you they don't.

[zippy5]

I agree with tuba...Our teams tend to panic when facing a big run and some adversity. This doesn't make KD a bad coach, it's ok racer, every coach has some flaws, and this is KD's flaw I believe. He can do a better job of settling the guys down, because I've seen many bad/forced shots this year when trying to stop a run. KD has very few flaws, and this is one, for the record I love KD and I hope he stays here his entire career but it's absurd to shoot down every criticism of the guy, he has problems just like every other coach on the world, just fewer problems than most

[skip-zip]

I'm a KD fan, but I certainly don't think that it's wrong for someone to argue that we've had some absolute meltdowns late in games under his tenure. The Miami MAC Championship game last year, and the road games at Can't and Winthrop this year are two more games that immediately come to mind.

[RACER]

you only bring up the ones we lost.what about the ones we win.you forget that we beat fsu on there court.kd wins 70% of his games so i guess if we lose a few tough ones then you have to give him credit for the wins but you don't.it's one things to say he has a weakness in certain areas,but to say he is a terrible coach is just laughable.

[ZippyTuba11]

tubba you are about the one poster in a million who thinks jd is bad coach.you base this post on? you must be a closet Can't fan,or kd hater because probably not one person agrees with you.you can post, but if you think anyone agrees with you they don't.

Wow, the one time I criticize the coach for making a bad call I'm a can't fan? I'm actually like Dambrot most of the time, but nobody is perfect. This year I have been paying a lot more attention to him on the floor to get an idea of his coaching styles and throughout he usually makes good calls, drawing up good plays, and does a good job usually keeping the team up or at least close throughout the thick of gameplay. However I have noticed over several games that he has not done a good job at closing. We've had several close losses over the last several years that should have never happened. We've had the talent to run teams off the floor in the closing moments but can't because the team breaks down, takes early shots, turns the ball over, and stops playing KD's basketball.For the record, I'm not criticizing his style of basketball, only his control over the team in big or close games down the stretch. Look at what happens when the team actually does settle and play his style, then look at home many games we've blown or nearly blown when they lose control.

[ZachTheZip]

Dambrot's style calls for fast athletic guards and an Point Guard that can run the Offense, and also be the first back on Defense. We didn't have either of those this year. We will have both of those next year. Dambrot had to adjust quite a bit to having no PG on the team and to not being able to do full-court pressure. We missed Dru Joyce badly.