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Youthful Zips enter MAC play

Coach says team needs a leader to provide consistent scoring

By Tom Gaffney
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Thursday, Jan 08, 2009

The University of Akron basketball team enters the Mid-American Conference portion of its schedule this weekend with as many questions as answers.

The one consolation for the Zips is that the other 11 conference members are facing a similar dilemma.

UA, which is coming off a hard-to-swallow, 79-50 loss at Rhode Island, will take an 8-5 record to Oxford on Saturday afternoon for its MAC opener against Miami.

That record is not spectacular, but it is the second best in the East Division behind Buffalo (8-4). The other four teams are at or slightly above .500, giving the division a combined mark of 44-33.

Conversely, the West Division does not have a team over .500 — Ball State is the best at 5-7 — and its combined record is 19-57.


''Our half may be a little stronger right now . . . it is very competitive and there is a lot of parity,'' UA coach Keith Dambrot said. ''Maybe nobody is great, but we are all good. I think everybody on our half is capable of winning it.''

Dambrot said he believes every one of the East teams — his own young one included — is capable of winning at least 18 games, but that defending MAC champion Kent State (7-7) must be considered the favorite.

''I still think Kent is really good. Obviously, they have some issues, but I think that they have the best players in the league,'' Dambrot said.

The Zips' 8-5 pre-conference record was about what was expected. Four of the losses — to now-No. 1 Pittsburgh, Dayton, Virginia Commonwealth and Rhode Island — were not surprising. Perhaps the only loss not expected was to Eastern Kentucky.

Seven of the eight victories were to be anticipated, with the one over Niagara (11-3) being the exception.

So the UA record is logical to prognosticators — but the players believe that it should be better and that improvement is ahead.

''We take one step back and two steps forward. We have our bad days, but when we are good, we are really good,'' forward Jimmy Conyers said. ''We just have to keep working.''

The Zips' defense generally has been good, allowing 60.5 points per game, which is second in the MAC behind Miami (59.8) in games through Tuesday. But the offense has proved to be a concern, with the team shooting just 41.7 percent from the floor (ninth in the MAC) and 33 percent on 3-pointers (seventh).

The offense also has been hampered by the lack of a proven inside threat and the lack of a go-to player. Romeo Travis and Jeremiah Wood filled both those roles in recent years, but no successor has emerged.

''We have good shooters, we just haven't been shooting the ball well,'' Dambrot said. ''Our biggest problem now is we don't know where it [scoring] is coming from every night. We always had five guys on the floor who could get you double figures. We don't have that now.''

Part of the Zips' inconsistency is that freshmen and sophomores dominate the rotation. Nate Linhart and Conyers are the only two seniors, but Conyers is expected to regain an extra year of eligibility by NCAA rules and return in 2009-10.

The backcourt is especially young with freshmen Anthony ''Humpty'' Hitchens and Eric Coblentz (a walk-on from Lake High School), sophomore Steve McNees and junior-academically and sophomore-athletically Darryl Roberts seeing most of the time.

Ideally, redshirt freshman Ronnie Steward would be available to give the Zips' four scholarship guards. But Steward's recovery from an injured right leg has been slower than expected, and he will not be back for Miami.

No new timetable has been set for Steward's return, and Dambrot is determined that freshman Alex Sullivan and Brett McClanahan be redshirted.

That means the Zips might face a protracted period with a short bench at guard.

''It's three young players and a walk-on. We redshirted two guys with the idea we would have Ronnie. I don't want to break their redshirts,'' Dambrot said. ''You can play like this with experienced guards, but it's difficult when you have young guards.''

After the Miami game, the Zips' MAC schedule continues with a home game Tuesday night against Buffalo.

Tom Gaffney can be reached at tgaffney@thebeaconjournal.com.

The University of Akron basketball team enters the Mid-American Conference portion of its schedule this weekend with as many questions as answers.

Get the full article here.



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Rob

Posted 06:46 PM, 01/08/2009

What's wrong with Ronnie Stewards' leg? I heard it was some sort of injury called a compartmentalization, or something like that. What on earth is that?!


kentsucks

Posted 11:26 AM, 01/09/2009

i would like to know exactly what that is as well

GO ZIPS though














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