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Zips blank Bulls to begin quest for national title
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UA women start strong, then fall behind Wright State
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Hitchens carries Zips to first victory
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UA rebuilding nicely after losing key players
By Tom Gaffney
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Thursday, Dec 11, 2008
Perhaps it was a rush to judgment to assume this was going to be a full-scale rebuilding season for the University of Akron basketball team.
The 2008-09 version of the Zips has a roster breakdown featuring an unhealthy mix of 12 freshmen or sophomores and five juniors or seniors. That's young, by any imaginable standard.
Gone are Jeremiah Wood, Nick Dials and Cedrick Middleton, the three leading scorers last season and members of the school's 1,000-point club. That's a loss of talent and experience, by any imaginable standard.
The spring, summer and fall were spent more rejoicing the recruitment of heralded 7-foot center Zeke Marshall than speculating whether a Mid-American Conference championship this season was either possible or probable.
Fan discomfort reached the head-shaking and self-doubt stage Nov. 6, when the Zips struggled with NAIA member Walsh University before winning 83-81.
Now, the regular season moves past the quarter pole on Saturday night at home against North Carolina A&T, and a 6-3 record is there for the taking, not the asking.
The Zips have been competitive in every game, save for an 86-67 loss at now-No. 3 Pittsburgh. On Saturday night, UA hung with now-No. 26 Dayton until the final seconds before losing 54-50.
Evidence suggests that these Zips will not reach the 23 victories that coach Keith Dambrot's first four teams have averaged. But it also is likely that the rebuilding will not be as drastic as that of recent MAC teams such as Toledo (11-19 in 2007-08), Bowling Green (9-21
in 2005-06), Ohio University (10-20 in 2003-04) and Miami (13-18 in 2001-02).
UA fans will fret less and sleep better in accepting that this team is better than expected, but not as good as has been the custom.
In the recent past, fans could look at the schedule and have a feel for the victories and losses. This season, the inexperience factor probably will mean the Zips will win games they were expected to lose and lose games that they were expected to win.
That set of circumstances can ruin psyches — unless the faithful are forewarned. Folks, expect the unexpected.
These Zips will frustrate because there is no go-to player as in the past. When your best player is not a scorer, the possibility of offensive breakdowns is higher. In the previous three seasons, the Zips' best player was a scorer: Romeo Travis in 2005-06 and 2006-07 and Wood in 2007-08. This season, the best player is senior forward Nate Linhart, who is averaging a team-high, yet modest, 11.6 points, and is known more for his defense and floor play.
A team that has to score by committee often struggles when the pressure is the highest and there is no first offensive option. Witness last Saturday, when the Zips did not score a point in the final 3:31 in the loss to Dayton.
The unpredictability will be heightened because Dambrot is looking to emulate Miami coach Charlie Coles more than in the past. Coles wants his RedHawks to go deep into the shot clock and then play shutdown defense.
The Zips will always play defense; that hasn't changed. But the UA offense — perhaps more out of necessity than design because of the inexperience — has been toiling longer to find and take good shots.
So scores will be lower and games will be closer. When that happens, unpredictability reigns.
What to watch
For the rest of the season, Zips fan would be wise to embrace the positive and to accept the inevitable.
They should enjoy the work ethic and nuances of Linhart and the quickness and potential of freshman point guard Anthony ''Humpty'' Hitchens, whose skills are becoming more evident game by game.
They should accept both the contributions and limitations of guard Steve McNees and 6-10 center Mike Bardo. McNees is not routinely going to score 20, as he did against Miami last season. Bardo is there to defend and rebound, not score. Last season, 6-10 center Kurt Huelsman of Dayton scored 18 points against the Zips. Last Saturday, Bardo was in his face, and Huelsman scored four points.
Players develop
Zipsnation also should take the same stance with brothers Chris and Brett McKnight. They are being asked to score and rebound more than in the past, and have yet to grow into those roles. Their development will be a major factor in the Zips development because stat-sheet fillers win games.
Similarly, the development of junior guard Darryl Roberts (who was 0-for-8 from the field against Dayton) and freshman forward Nikola Cvetinovic bear watching.
Fans also should hope that the real Jimmy Conyers will stand up. Conyers has been inconsistent in his first two seasons but has played well recently when Dambrot inserted him into the starting lineup. More of the same and the Zips will be better for it.
And fans should hope that freshman guard Ronnie Steward will recover from his latest injury to provide depth in the young backcourt.
It sure helps that these pieces and parts are being handled by Dambrot and his staff of Jeff Boals (a head coach waiting to happen somewhere), Terry Weigand, Lamont Paris and Rick McFadden, who all have shown the ability to adapt to personnel rather than force personnel into one system.
Dambrot knows his players better than anyone else, so fans should listen to the assessment he gave last Saturday after the Dayton loss:
''We are not going to win 28 games with this team, but we can be competitive with anybody we play. If we win enough close ones, we can have a great year. If we lose enough close ones, we can be an average team.
''Two-and-half years from now, when these freshmen are juniors, watch out.''
Tom Gaffney can be reached at tgaffney@thebeaconjournal.com.
Perhaps it was a rush to judgment to assume this was going to be a full-scale rebuilding season for the University of Akron basketball team.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 11:02 AM, 12/11/2008
Nice, well-balanced article. Hit the nail on the head concerning patience and optimism. Humpty is going to be an All-MAC PG and Nikola is an incredibly skilled big man (6-8, 235) and can dribble, drive, post & hit mid-range J's. Look for the further development and B-Mac and cross your fingers on Jimmy C. and you've got a tough team right there!
Posted 11:43 AM, 12/11/2008
Keep up the good work Tom. Your writing about the Zips has been excellent this season. This young team has a lot of upside and Zips hoops are a great night of entertainment that is affordable.
Posted 12:27 PM, 12/11/2008
im real excited for the future of this team, and that's not even including what Zeke could and probably will be. Just wait, we are going to be dancing probably by next year and for sure by 2 years from now and most likely also beating some of the elite programs in the nation
