Rebuilding vs. Reloading

[GoZips]

College Hoops Net not including Akron in their "TOP 144". College Hoops Net is in the midst of their annual count down of the top 144 Division one collegeteams. Ohio University checked in at number 129. OU is listed as the number five MAC team.Central Michigan holds the number 122 on CH's list. CMU is also listed as the number two team in the West division. That leaves three MAC teams rated higher than CMU. Since one is the number one West division teamonly two slots remain for the top East teams. CH lists Cant as the MAC representative at the 2009 NCAA tournament. That leaves Akron, Miami and the fast rising BGSU as the three teams vying forCHs one remaining spot. Logic dictates that Miami is the choice as Miami lost only the excellent TimPollitz.This puts both Akron and BGSU outside of the TOP 144.

[Zip Watcher]

Last year the MAC media picked CMU to win the West I think, based on multiple players (Minnoy mainly) who had yet to see the court there and a brand new coach. Here again, we have a Michigan area writer doing the MAC summaries, and he's picking the Chips based on 3 or 4 new players who have never played D1 ball .. projecting based on talent moreso than results.On the other hand, the Zips are in need of having players step up to fill ~80 minutes / game of the 200 available. While the Zips lost tons .. they have a good deal returning.I'm down with the oversight .. it's only going to serve to further motivate the McKnights & co. Pick the Zips 6th in the East, that's fine with me .. I'm content in the belief that it will be vastly different in March.For my money, I think NIU is climbing the hill way faster than CMU will. CMU lost the best PG and a 4year starter in Watson .. NIU returns most of their roster and has some talent coming in. Plus Patton has been a head coach for a long time. If I had a media vote in the pre-season MAC standings, I'd put Miami at the top .. but that's just me.KD has entered reload territory .. nobody else notices .. and that's fine. Give a false sense of security to the other conference teams and insult and motivate our guys. I don't see a downside to this. B) Go Zips! Go Trevor! Go Zeke!

[Dr Z]

I'm with you ZW, pick the Zips last EVERY year. You want respect, win the MAC and go to the dance. Then win a few there.And who cares if your 144 or 129 anyway? Both stink.

[GoZips]

...KD has entered reload territory .. nobody else notices .. and that's fine. Give a false sense of security to the other conference teams and insult and motivate our guys. I don't see a downside to this. Go Zips! Go Trevor! Go Zeke!

ZW, I am in complete agreement with you. Sort of expected that the Zips would not get due respectbecause of losing three starters. Our incoming players seem unvalued to me. Are we wrong to havesuch high expectations. I think not. We can expect outstanding play from the excellent recruits that KDand staff have brought in.Your last statement is echoed by the MAC board posters. Only few of them, the ones most knowledgeableabout basketball, are sounding the alarm that the Zips are reloading. It surely escaped the CHnet writer.Come March this young team will have long since made their fans forget that they are mostly Freshmen.If you do not object, I would like to steal your close line: Go Zips! Go Trevor! Go Zeke!I am trying to put together a program to collect aluminum cans for Trevor. The little suckers are worthtwo cents a piece when sold to scrap dealers in quantity. I have some people and businesses in the Wadsworth area collecting cans. Sure could use a lot more. Need collection points around Akron.Go Zips! Go Trevor! Go Zeke!

[RACER]

we did not have a true pg last year.i think this year we should be fine at that spot.mc neese can move over to the two spot.i still think we have enough coming back to have a solid team.how good this team will be is going to depend on how the freshman play.conyers is also another wild card.

[skip-zip]

Let me just point out a couple of things for all of you.First of all, I think the future looks incredibly bright for our basketball program, but I'd like the see us separate "the future" and the 2008/09 season in our discussions. If we are talking only about the 2008 season, here's my analysis...First of all, it bears mentioning that basketball is NOT football. In college football, it's much, much, MUCH easier for someone to "sneak up" on the rest of the pack and win a title when you only play a handful of divisional games. It only takes a couple of lucky bounces to get that done. Basketball is an entirely different proposition. You don't normally see teams sneak up on somebody over a full conference schedule, when you play every team twice. Other teams have plenty of time to adjust over several months, and are able to keep their eyes on who is in front of them. I would still encourage everyone to look at the nucleus of this team, and not the recruits, when looking at this upcoming season. The chances of someone who has not stepped on a college basketball court in the MAC being an impact player is rare. Sometimes it happens with transfers, but rarely for freshman. Plus, this conference has a long, long history of being decided by good guard play, and we just lost a couple of very solid and experienced guards. I really think that the realistic viewpoint here is to look at what we have right now, and compare it to what others have. Could a couple of freshman come in and help and possibly make us a little better than projected? Sure. But, it surely makes perfect sense to have the mindset at this point that the McKnight brothers, McNees, and Linhart..... our only players who we saw enough in 2007/2008 to predict their future performance......don't appear to stack up well against our competition when talking about the potential to win a MAC championship this year.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Let me just point out a couple of things for all of you.First of all, I think the future looks incredibly bright for our basketball program, but I'd like the see us separate "the future" and the 2008/09 season in our discussions. If we are talking only about the 2008 season, here's my analysis...First of all, it bears mentioning that basketball is NOT football. In college football, it's much, much, MUCH easier for someone to "sneak up" on the rest of the pack and win a title when you only play a handful of divisional games. It only takes a couple of lucky bounces to get that done. Basketball is an entirely different proposition. You don't normally see teams sneak up on somebody over a full conference schedule, when you play every team twice. Other teams have plenty of time to adjust over several months, and are able to keep their eyes on who is in front of them. I would still encourage everyone to look at the nucleus of this team, and not the recruits, when looking at this upcoming season. The chances of someone who has not stepped on a college basketball court in the MAC being an impact player is rare. Sometimes it happens with transfers, but rarely for freshman. Plus, this conference has a long, long history of being decided by good guard play, and we just lost a couple of very solid and experienced guards. I really think that the realistic viewpoint here is to look at what we have right now, and compare it to what others have. Could a couple of freshman come in and help and possibly make us a little better than projected? Sure. But, it surely makes perfect sense to have the mindset at this point that the McKnight brothers, McNees, and Linhart..... our only players who we saw enough in 2007/2008 to predict their future performance......don't appear to stack up well against our competition when talking about the potential to win a MAC championship this year.

I agree with the general theme of your post -- don't judge the Zips' basketball progress by the 2008-9 season's record. I wouldn't trade our roster for anyone's...but we're ridiculously young. Will we have eight players that are either true FR's or Redshirt Fr's next season? We a very dangerous team next season if we gel ahead-of-schedule. But my expectations for a quantum leap in performance begin with the 2009-10 team.I disagree that it is easier to sneak up on teams in football rather than basketball. One or two kick-ass recruits can turn around a hoops program pretty quickly, and unexpectedly. Beyond that, you can win a title by simply winning 3-4 consecutive games at the Q, regardless of your seasonal accomplishments (you see this all the time with 13W-17L teams getting the 16th seed in some bracket). There's no such option in football. Wait...didn't NTSU get a bowl at something like 5-7 recently? Ok, getting to the post season or winning titles in hoops or football are totally different, but the same. Bad teams can get hot, or sneak up on people, or play in a weak division either way.

[skip-zip]

True...the tournament adds an opportunity to save an otherwise mediorcre or poor season, whereas football does not provide that. Please take my post to be more of an analysis of how we stack up for the MAC season, without factoring in all of the improbables that sometimes do happen at tournament time. But....I'd surely take a MAC title any way we can get it I was a senior in school the last time we went to the big dance. It's been WAY too long.

[Valpo Zip]

KD is a no excuse guy. We all know that this year's team is ridiculously young but that does not mean that they cannot win. All what we need is a couple of high character kids to step up and do the job. Isn't that why KD recruits high character kids?If we break up the positions one by one:1 - We have the best/deepest SF position in the MAC in Linhart & B. Mac (assuming that Mclanahan (sp?) will redshirt)2 - At the SG position, 10/12 MAC teams would love to trade their starting SG for steve McNeese, and if Alex Sullivan can give us some quality freshman minutes, then look out.3 - At the PF, Chris showed at the end of last year that he can comfortably play in the MAC, his brother can definitely help and Nik Cventinovic may also be able to give some minutes.The youth will be more obvious at the last 2 positions:4 - at PG, didn't someone write on this board that Humpty should be Mr. Ohio basketball? and if Steward is starting ahead of him doesn't that make us deep and safe at that position? didn't Dru Joyce start as a freshman? where is the problem?5 - The biggest question mark and the only place where we need people stepping up is the C position. I know we all are excited about Zeke, but were we not all excited when Swiech signed with akron. Wasn't Steve a 27 ppg 10 rpg guy as a senior in HS? and Bardo is definitely not the most polished player but he is not a weak hole either. I mean if the guy can deffend and rebound and have a few putbacks every game, i will live with him not being a scoring threat.We will be a top 4 team in the mac. We may not win it (we never did anyways) but we will still enjoy a great basketball season and witness the growth of the dynasty. I may have my blue and gold shades on but i am really optimistic. Too bad i can't be that optimistic when it comes to football, no matther how thick the shades i put on, i still cannot see no good team and no good future.

[Blue & Gold]

Can Brett McKnight play the 2-guard spot? That would give us a huuuuge starting lineup:C - 6-10 SweichPF - 6-8 CMacSF - 6-8 Linhart2G - 6-5 BMacPG - 5-10 Steward

[Zip Watcher]

Maybe the subtitle of this topic should change to : Returning Players get No Respect.I think it's a good thing to consider, these questions of skip .. so to do so, I did a little digging into the statistics of 07-08 and looked for some trends.I broke the season up into two halves & also looked at the postseason. The halves were not even, I used the Western game on the road (where Wood went out with the injury) as the start of the second half. It was about the halfway mark of conference play.I'm not using names, because I think it'll be fun to have everyone fill them in. I'm taking the top 7 guys, since there's a big drop off after these 7 to the rest of the roster, both in minutes played and productivity.Sorting all by scoring average, here's what I found:First 21 Games (SC Upstate through EMU):Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.A - 13.9 - 8 - 2.4B - 12.6 - 2.4 - 4.5C - 9.2 - 2.3 - 1.9D - 7.6 - 4.4 - 1.4E - 4.6 - 2.2 - 0.2F - 3.8 - 0.3 - 0.4G - 2.8 - 0.8 - 0.2Final 14 Games (WMU through UMass):Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.H - 14.4 - 7.3 - 2.7I - 10.9 - 2.4 - 3.8J - 10.5 - 1.6 - 0.9K - 9.9 - 5.1 - 1.7L - 9.2 - 4.1 - 0.6M - 5.7 - 2.1 - 0.3N - 4 - 1 - 0.6Postseason Only (MAC & NIT):Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.O - 15.2 - 7.2 - 2.6P - 10 - 5.6 - 1Q - 8.8 - 3.6 - 1.4R - 8.6 - 2.8 - 4S - 8.4 - 2 - 0.8T - 7.4 - 2.8 - 0.2U - 6.8 - 1.2 - 0.2So lets see who can ace this quiz .. I'll start you off by telling you that the same guy is at the top of all three lists, and that he is the ONLY one holding the same spot in all three lists.First poster that can correctly label each spot gets a free beer from me @ a tailgating event to be named later. Honor system here .. no grinding the numbers.Go Zips! Go Zeke! Go Trevor!

[Quickzips]

I'll bite, probably get it all wrong, but I'll bite.Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.A - 13.9 - 8 - 2.4- WoodB - 12.6 - 2.4 - 4.5- DialsC - 9.2 - 2.3 - 1.9- LinhartD - 7.6 - 4.4 - 1.4- C.McKnightE - 4.6 - 2.2 - 0.2- MiddletonF - 3.8 - 0.3 - 0.4- McNeesG - 2.8 - 0.8 - 0.2- ConyersFinal 14 Games (WMU through UMass):Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.H - 14.4 - 7.3 - 2.7- WoodI - 10.9 - 2.4 - 3.8- DialsJ - 10.5 - 1.6 - 0.9- MiddletonK - 9.9 - 5.1 - 1.7- C.McKnightL - 9.2 - 4.1 - 0.6- LinhartM - 5.7 - 2.1 - 0.3- B.McKnightN - 4 - 1 - 0.6- RobertsPostseason Only (MAC & NIT):Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.O - 15.2 - 7.2 - 2.6- WoodP - 10 - 5.6 - 1- C.McKnightQ - 8.8 - 3.6 - 1.4- LinhartR - 8.6 - 2.8 - 4- DialsS - 8.4 - 2 - 0.8- MiddletonT - 7.4 - 2.8 - 0.2- B.McKnightU - 6.8 - 1.2 - 0.2- RobertsPure guesses on this one.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I'm with you on some things, but not on a couple:

2 - At the SG position, 10/12 MAC teams would love to trade their starting SG for steve McNeese, and if Alex Sullivan can give us some quality freshman minutes, then look out.

Take away the Miami game and McNees had a pretty inauspicious Freshman season. He had a lot of turnovers and struggled to get his shot off. Hopefully moving to the #2 will help. Or, maybe he continues handling the ball and simply acclimates to the speed of D1 basketball? I think he's got a ways to go before you could say he'd start on 85% of the teams in the MAC.

4 - at PG, didn't someone write on this board that Humpty should be Mr. Ohio basketball? and if Steward is starting ahead of him doesn't that make us deep and safe at that position? didn't Dru Joyce start as a freshman? where is the problem?

Emanuel Stewart WAS Mr. Basketball...and it didn't get him anywhere. And the fact that Joyce started as a freshman doesn't affect Steward or Humpty's play this year.Steward has a year of practice under his belt. Humpty can ball. But the fact remains that neither has played a single minute of college basketball in their life. They've never even tossed a pass to one of their (now) team mates in a game. Dru played his whole life with Travis, some with Wood, and his formative years were under Dambrot. That made his situation a little unique. He also played on a national stage his last couple HS seasons. He was a technically a Freshman in his first season, but easily had the experience of a Soph.

[Zip Watcher]

Take away the Miami game and McNees had a pretty inauspicious Freshman season. He had a lot of turnovers and struggled to get his shot off. Hopefully moving to the #2 will help. Or, maybe he continues handling the ball and simply acclimates to the speed of D1 basketball? I think he's got a ways to go before you could say he'd start on 85% of the teams in the MAC.

If I'm KD (and I'm NOT), McNees is likely the #2 SG on this team, and the sharp shooter off the bench, a la Cedric of 2006-07. I think he ends up behind Roberts in the 3 deep. BMcK and Conyers could eat some minutes at the 2 depending on the matchups also.

Emanuel Stewart WAS Mr. Basketball...and it didn't get him anywhere. And the fact that Joyce started as a freshman doesn't affect Steward or Humpty's play this year.... snip ...He also played on a national stage his last couple HS seasons. He was a technically a Freshman in his first season, but easily had the experience of a Soph.

Smith was a sad story. RIP.As for the Joyce comparisons, Steward is a better one to draw, IMHO. Joyce caddied for LBJ in HS and AAU. Big games against top talent. Talent probably bigger in the AAU stage, games bigger in HS. Steward caddied for OJ Mayo (& I think Bill Walker) in AAU ball. Big time team .. competition against top talent. So while the eyes of ESPN maybe weren't on him .. Ronnie balled against the best of the best in the AAU circuit .. so I don't think we can eliminate the Joyce comparison entirely.

[Zip Watcher]

I'll bite, probably get it all wrong, but I'll bite.Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.A - 13.9 - 8 - 2.4- WoodB - 12.6 - 2.4 - 4.5- DialsC - 9.2 - 2.3 - 1.9- LinhartD - 7.6 - 4.4 - 1.4- C.McKnightE - 4.6 - 2.2 - 0.2- MiddletonF - 3.8 - 0.3 - 0.4- McNeesG - 2.8 - 0.8 - 0.2- ConyersFinal 14 Games (WMU through UMass):Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.H - 14.4 - 7.3 - 2.7- WoodI - 10.9 - 2.4 - 3.8- DialsJ - 10.5 - 1.6 - 0.9- MiddletonK - 9.9 - 5.1 - 1.7- C.McKnightL - 9.2 - 4.1 - 0.6- LinhartM - 5.7 - 2.1 - 0.3- B.McKnightN - 4 - 1 - 0.6- RobertsPostseason Only (MAC & NIT):Player Pts. Rebs. Assts.O - 15.2 - 7.2 - 2.6- WoodP - 10 - 5.6 - 1- C.McKnightQ - 8.8 - 3.6 - 1.4- LinhartR - 8.6 - 2.8 - 4- DialsS - 8.4 - 2 - 0.8- MiddletonT - 7.4 - 2.8 - 0.2- B.McKnightU - 6.8 - 1.2 - 0.2- RobertsPure guesses on this one.

Good initial effort. I should clarify that McNees & Conyers are not in these lists at all.In 1-21, you've got 2 right.In 22-35, you've got 5 right.In Postseason, you've got 5 right.Very nice.

[Quickzips]

One thing noone is really talking about yet is what will happen with the C rotation? Bardo has more experience at the position, but he doesn't have a really high ceiling. He's a guy who can probably give you 15 minutes a night cleaning up a few rebounds and thats about it. Swiech probably has a higher ceiling. His HS numbers would certainly indicate that, and he definitley passes the eyeball test, but he hasn't seen a minute of college action in his career. With one redshirt freshman apparently already poised to open the season as a starter (Steward), will KD really feel comfortable having two of them on the floor to start the season? The other position that I think is most interesting is the SG spot. You've got McNees who I think we all feel is better suited to play SG than he is to play PG. With some (potential) depth at PG now you have to think Steve will see more of a run at SG. The question is, is he a starter, or would he be better served as that microwave guy off the bench? I've always felt Conyers would look a lot better at SG than SF and with Nate and B.McKnight in there you would think minutes would be kind of scarce at SF. Does KD move Jimmy over to his more natural position or will he remain on the bench most of the time??? Roberts is another guy who I can't get pegged. He seems like a natural SG in a PG's body. He's got plenty of talent to get minutes for us this year, especially with such a young backcourt. I just don't see where he fits in. Do we really want to run for extended minutes with a backcourt of a 5'10" Steward or a 5'9" Humpty and a 5'11" Roberts??? Offensively I could see B.McKnight running at the 2 some, but I question whether or not he can defend opponents 2's. Ofcourse, Nate could take over defending the 2's and let Brett defend 3's while they are on the floor together. My best guess for a rotation:Starters:PG-StewardSG-RobertsSF-LinhartPF-C.McKnightC-SwiechRotation:1st man off the bench-McNees replaces Roberts2nd man off the bench-B.McKnight replaces Linhart3rd man off the bench-Bardo replaces Swiech4th man off the bench-Humpty replaces StewardTrying to find minutes for:ConyersCvetinovicRedshirts:McClanahanSullivanParrish

[GoZips]

Darn, been some really excellent posts on this subject. I am quite favorably impressed. Also it is nice to see such a strong interest in mid-Summer. I presume that, you the reader, have read Interview with Dambrot that Gozips.com posted.There are several excellent nuggets about what is going on with the Zips. Since KD mentioned the nameI will take this opportunity to reveal that Oklahoma State was one of the high majors willing to go home-n-homewhen UIC backed out of their contract. You can expect to see Oklahoma State perhaps as early as nextyear. Xavier is another possible future opponent, home and home.I take the dog on long daily walks. This gives me time to ponder. Aside from personal prejudices thereis a way to help us determine what is likely to happen. Each poster made some excellent observations.There is a method to help determine a player's on the court performance that no one has mentioned.Divide a player's statistic for the year in each category by the minutes he played rather than averagingby game played. This is an eye opening review.Take a look at these stats:## Player................. GP-GS... Min--Avg ... Tot ... Avg Reb/min A Ast/min TO TO/min Stl Stl/min Pts Pt/min -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------33 LINHART, Nate ..... 35-28 ..1014 29.0 164 4.7 0.1617 53 0.0522 37 0.0365 57 0.0562 298 0.293930 McKNIGHT, Chris .. 35-19 .. 597 17.1 105 3.0 0.1759 14 0.0234 41 0.0687 20 0.0335 225 0.376904 McNEES, Steve ..... 34-2 ...630 18.5 36 1.1 0.0571 65 0.1032 49 0.0778 14 0.0222 173 0.274623 McKNIGHT, Brett .... 26-4 ...204 7.8 39 1.5 0.1912 38 0.1823 14 0.0686 4 0.0196 105 0.514712 ROBERTS, Darryl .... 26-2 ...327 12.6 18 0.7 0.0550 19 0.0581 18 0.0550 5 0.0153 102 0.319332 CONYERS, Jimmy ... 26-12 ..262 10.1 44 1.7 0.1679 43 0.1641 24 0.0916 12 0.0458 75 0.286354 BARDO, Mike ......... 35-3 ....310 8.9 61 1.7 0.1968 55 0.1774 11 0.0355 5 0.0161 54 0.1742## Player................. Reb ... Avg Reb/min ------------------------------------------------------33 LINHART, Nate ..... 164 4.7 0.1617 30 McKNIGHT, Chris .. 105 3.0 0.1759 04 McNEES, Steve ..... 36 1.1 0.0571 23 McKNIGHT, Brett .... 39 1.5 0.1912 12 ROBERTS, Darryl .... 18 0.7 0.0550 32 CONYERS, Jimmy ... 44 1.7 0.1679 54 BARDO, Mike ......... 61 1.7 0.1968 ## Player................. Pts Pt/min ---------------------------------------------33 LINHART, Nate ..... 298 0.293930 McKNIGHT, Chris .. 225 0.376904 McNEES, Steve ..... 173 0.274623 McKNIGHT, Brett .... 105 0.514712 ROBERTS, Darryl .... 102 0.319332 CONYERS, Jimmy ... 75 0.286354 BARDO, Mike ......... 54 0.1742## Player................. A Ast/min------------------------------------------ 30 McKNIGHT, Chris .. 14 0.0234 04 McNEES, Steve ..... 65 0.1032 23 McKNIGHT, Brett .... 38 0.1823 12 ROBERTS, Darryl ....19 0.0581 32 CONYERS, Jimmy ... 43 0.1641 54 BARDO, Mike ......... 55 0.1774 When you study the averages by minutes played you get several surprises. First and foremost, Brett McKnight is farand away the best player on the floor. Nate Linhart is rock solid. Mike Bardo fairs very well except in scoring. SteveMcNees also did well.The McKnights are scoring machines. KD's comment last Spring that Brett would lead the team in scoring was no idleremark. I like the idea of having Brett, Chris and Nate on the floor together most of the time. Swiech, Bardo and NikCvetinovic are capable second line front court players.On poster remarked that he would like to see Brett McKnight at the two guard. That is an interesting idea. Both Brettand Nate played the two at times last season.My best guess for the starting rotation:Starters:PG-StewardSG-RobertsLF-LinhartCF-C.McKnightRF-B.McKnightLF - the left side forward taking advantage of Nate Linhart's left handednessCF - post or middle forward, the man in the paintRF - the right side forward to take advantage of Brett McKnight's right handed shootingQuickzips wrote:Redshirts:McClanahanSullivanParrishI completely agree. There is one caveat. Think about this: suppose you wanted to extend having a great point guardout to five years. Red shirting Hitchens would accomplish that. Naw, he is just too darn good to sit down. Having bothSteward and Hitchens in the game gives the Zips a double whammy in the back court. Bob Huggins used dual pointguards the last six or seven games of the season and it gave West Virginia a huge advantage.

[Quickzips]

KD's interview is interesting. Couple things I picked up.Worst kept secret in the program. McNees will move to playing more SG next year.The mentions of Oklahoma St. and Xavier are kind of interesting. Getting a home and home series with both of those teams over the next couple years would be HUGE.Youth, youth, youth. I totally agree with KD that this might be the most talented team we've had in a while, but it's sooooooooo...... young.It kind of sounds like we'll continue to run some small sets. With no Wood or Romeo to lean on inside and (again) a very young front court it makes some sense. We do need to develop guys like Bardo, Swiech, Cvetinovic and Parrish too though. I hope KD doesn't fall into the trap of leaning too much on a deep backcourt and not developing the young frontcourt talent.I think KD makes a good point when he says that if one of the new guys (freshman or redshirts) steps up we will be okay, if two step up we will be better, if three step up we can make some noise. My best guess in order of guys who can step up: 1) Steward 2) Swiech 3) Humpty 4) Cvetinovic. GoZips, I agree to some degree with your point that it may make sense to redshirt Humpty. We are so deep at the guard spots as it is, and getting an extra year out of him in the program would be pretty nice. But like you said, he just seems so talented. I don't know if we can keep him sitting on the bench for a whole year. Kind of a good problem to have though. Too many PG's.

[Z.I.P.]

Do we know for a fact that all the new players will be academically eligible to play this year? I thought someone expressed doubts about Parrish -- or was it McClanahan?I bow to the authority of GZ!

[Zip Watcher]

GoZips numbers would indicate that Brett is the best scorer on the roster, based on last seasons history.The numbers that sort of jump out at me on that list are the Steals. Look how big the gap between the rest of the guys listed and Conyers & Linhart is. These guys are the core of the defense. I'd like to see a way that both are on the floor extended minutes together. The Wyoming and Temple games were 2 of our best defensive performances, along with the OU home game .. and all of those were games where the 2 SF's played together and really took guys off their game.Now some more numbers .. from the breakdowns I used above (Start through EMU, WMU to end, Last 5), here's the breakdown in points / rebs / assists for between the following:Seniors: Middleton, Wood, DialsReturners: Linhart, CMcK, BMcK, RobertsAgain, I used these 7 as they had the majority of the minutes down the stretch last season. We could add Milum & Conyers in, but it would be a wash. The totals for the groups below are just for the 7 players considered, not for the team. So there's some contribution from Milum, McNees, Bardo & Conyers that is not shown. This is an effort to compare last years departing core to the returning core.First 21 Games only Pts. - Rebs. - Assts.Totals: 54.5 - 20.4 - 11Sen: 35.7 - 12.7 - 8.8% 0.66 - 0.62 - 0.80Ret: 18.8 - 7.7 - 2.2% 0.34 - 0.38 - 0.20 Final 14 Games only Pts. - Rebs. - Assts.Totals: 64.6 - 23.6 - 10.6Sen: 35.8 - 11.3 - 7.4% 0.55 - 0.49 - 0.70Ret: 28.8 - 12.3 - 3.2% 0.45 - 0.52 - 0.30Final 5 Games only Totals: 65.2 - 25.2 - 10.2Sen: 32.2 - 12 - 7.4% 0.49 - 0.48 - 0.73 Ret: 33.0 - 13.2 - 2.8% 0.51 - 0.52 - 0.27Pretty interesting trend. While Dials and Wood both had a HUGE game in the NIT, in the last 5, the other 4 guys held their own, and contributed more scoring and rebounding to the cause (I know 4 guys vs. 3). So while we're losing 3 1000 point scorers .. down the stretch, and generally as the season wore on, these other 4 guys really stepped up and contributed a lot to the team. This is a good sign. We're losing some big numbers .. but we have some big numbers coming back.The one area that we will need improvement, and it is obviously the big need area on the roster .. is assists. Between Dials @ PG & Wood with the inside out game, the majority of the assists (70%) were produced by the seniors. This is a big need to fill. The addition of 2 capable PG's should help a little, but a move away from the inside out game that Wood enabled us to run will have to be overcome also.One constant in the KD era has been that no one player has averaged over 20 ppg or even approached averaging 1/3 of the team's production. It's a team system, requires buy in by the players, and is comprised of lots of interchangeable parts. This isn't a CAVS thing where if you can slow down the main contributor the wheels will come off. We're bringing back 4 guys who scored 8-10 points per game .. that's good returning production. None of these guys are going need to drop 20 / night for the Zips to be successful in 08-09. What needs to happen is that among the newcomers, 3 guys average about 5-8 a night, and one or two of the returnees step up their game with increased minutes to be 12 point guys. Add back in about 10ppg from the combination of Conyers, McNees & Bardo. If that happens, the Zips are scoring in the 70's again. Without a 20point guy.We don't need Brett to score 25 a night to get a bye in the conference tourney. We need the team to continue to function, and guys to fill roles. The big improvement on this team needs to happen on the defensive end of the floor. The 07-08 team allowed WAY too high a shooting percentage. That can improve greatly.KD's comments about opening things up now that the roster has evolved are telling I think. He's going to get out and run more rather than force the halfcourt set. I think he has the capability to do both, but like last year where they could push it, but were a little better in the half court .. I think this year, they'll be able to do both, but be better on the break. This will help guys like Conyers, who play better in the open floor on offense. I think we can count on more perimeter pressure and better perimeter defense, with the quickness increase. B) B) Go Zips. Go Trevor. Go Zeke.

[GoZips]

... The big improvement on this team needs to happen on the defensive end of the floor. The 07-08 team allowed WAY too high a shooting percentage. That can improve greatly.KD's comments about opening things up now that the roster has evolved are telling I think. He's going to get out and run more rather than force the half court set. I think he has the capability to do both, but like last year where they could push it, but were a little better in the half court .. I think this year, they'll be able to do both, but be better on the break. This will help guys like Conyers, who play better in the open floor on offense. I think we can count on more perimeter pressure and better perimeter defense, with the quickness increase. Go Zips. Go Trevor. Go Zeke.

I agree about the defense or lack of it last year. Unfortunately there are few statistics that can be used todetermine just how good a player is on defense. To some extent we can use rebounds, blocks and steals.But, they do not show the complete picture. If a Zip pours in twenty-five and his opponent scores thirtythere is a net loss of five points. Failure to play defense will sit a Zip down quicker than anything. Thiswas quite obvious in the UMass game. Brett lit UMass up like a pinball machine and still managed tospend most of the game on the bench. Because? He played like zero bars, er, defense. The Minutemenwent through him like he was not even there. Defense is key to winning in Dambrot's system.ZW, Conyers and Linhart along with Bardo make for a strong defensive front. With those three on thecourt move Brett to the two guard. Might even consider moving McNees to the point in this scenario totake advantage of his long range shooting. If Hitchens or Steward can out score Steve, then by all meanskeep one of them on the floor.It seems that with the talent KD has at his disposal the Zips can give opponents fits with so many different looks.Overly fortunate tuna Z.I.P. stuck in Hawai'i, at this time I am not aware of which Zip, if any, has any academicproblems. The coaches seem to be inclined to red shirt just two players. Academics might play a part in their decision.

[Quickzips]

The coaches seem to be inclined to red shirt just two players. Academics might play a part in their decision.

This is kind of surprising to me. With 14 rotation worthy players on the roster and 5 of them being freshman you would think more than 2 would be redshirted. I can't imagine we would run with a 12 man rotation. If you're not going to use 1 or 2 of those guys why not redshirt them and get an extra year out of them?

[Blue & Gold]

The coaches seem to be inclined to red shirt just two players. Academics might play a part in their decision.

This is kind of surprising to me. With 14 rotation worthy players on the roster and 5 of them being freshman you would think more than 2 would be redshirted. I can't imagine we would run with a 12 man rotation. If you're not going to use 1 or 2 of those guys why not redshirt them and get an extra year out of them?

I agree. It pains me to watch a player burn a possilbe red-shirt year and yet only play 30 seconds a game. I don't think that helps the team, let alone the players' confidence & development much.

[GoZips]

I am with you guys. Red shirting three players makes more sense over the long run.

[zip37]

Prior statement "too many PG's' please refer to last season.With ball ammunition lock and load, and of course