News clips from the game

Men's basketball

Here's what the newspapers had to say...
Tampa Tribune -- FSU wasn't allowed to do its normal player introductions because it was an NIT game. Somehow, that contributed to throwing the 'Noles off their game.
Orlando Sentinal -- The players didn't care much about the NIT after being there the previous two years. (Gee, that's not what I remember the players saying before their loss.)
Tallahassee Democrat -- FSU coach Leonard Hamilton gave Akron some credit for its defensive scheme.
Akron Beacon Journal -- Keith Dambrot says the Zips keep surprising him.
Jacksonville Times-Union -- FSU was perfect from the free-throw line.
Palm Beach Post -- Nick Dials' hot hand won it for Akron. He scored 21.
ZipsNation.org -- The chat room was a great way to keep up with the game with fellow fans. About 10 to 15 of us were in there. Click the link to read the transcript.
GoZips.com -- Box score

More thoughts on the game...
A lot of those news stories whine about the turnovers, implying that FSU never would have lost to Akron without 23 of them. On the other hand, you could say this game wouldn't have been so close if Akron shot better than 10-for-19 at the free throw line. I'll admit, some of FSU's turnovers were unforced, but the great many were products of Akron combing the passing lanes, which I have not seen them do so much this season. The bigger reason FSU lost, in my opinion, was the inability of its talented guards to take over and get a bucket when the team needed one. The three guards went 9-for-30 from the field.
Dambrot altered his rotation last night to match up with FSU's size down low. Basically, that meant all of Brett McKnight's playing time went to Jeremiah Wood, who was on the floor for, gulp, 41 minutes. UMass has a lot of size, too. Akron must get more quality minutes from Quade Milum and Mike Bardo.
I can't understate how awful the ESPN Classic announcers were last night. Mike Jarvis referred to Dambrot as "the Akron coach" and his best player as "Woods." The play-by-play guy was no better, talking about "the Akron coach" and his best defender "Nate LYNE-HART." Their mispronunciations and inability to recall Dambrot's name prove their lack of preparation. Also, I'm glad I wasn't playing the cliche drinking game with Jarvis' commentary. I'd be dead.
I will break down UMass on Friday.