Zips hoops: Looking ahead after being buffaloed

With both their streaks – the 19 consecutive games nationally and the 13 consecutive to open the MAC season – gone courtesy of the Buffalo Bulls, the Akron Zips began looking in the only direction they can – forward.

Facing Miami tomorrow night, the Zips are looking to get back to winning – quickly.

For anyone who has followed the team with any regularity, it’s not difficult to see why they lost.  They’ve been flirting with Ls for a few weeks now. Truthfully, wins against Ohio (both of them) and Buffalo could have just as easily been in losses. But the Zips, in my estimation, often walked on the court thinking that they can flip a switch and come back.

The best thing about that fact is when they got down, they never panicked.  That icy resolve should serve them well in the post-season.

The bad thing:  you get to be what guard Brian Walsh bluntly stated in Monday’s practice as being lackadaisical.  I would agree with something that Walsh tweeted after the loss to Buffalo and reiterated in a post-practice interview:  losing right now was the best thing for UA.

Point guard Alex Abreu agreed.

“We were playing for the wrong reasons. We want to win every game, but that's not the reason that (we should play).  Going undefeated that's all cool,” he said. “I'd rather lose now than later than go undefeated the whole time and lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  I'd rather lose now, refocus and stay hungry.”