crazietalk.net

Everyone else has a thread on Zoubs so....

He's one of my favorite players. Been that way for the last couple years. He fills a lot of space, grabs rebound after rebound, and has really learned how to hedge up top to push the other team back towards mid-court. The one thing I've learned to do is to pretend he's not in there for the first minute of his first rotation. Seems like, and this could just be my imagination, the majority of his turnovers and missed rebounds come in that time. I say all the improvement is due to the beard. No other explanation

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If he were 7 inches shorter, he would have been an awesome point guard. He is one of the best passers on the team, and the smartest player.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If he were 7 inches shorter, he would have been an awesome point guard. He is one of the best passers on the team, and the smartest player.

And then he wouldn't be expected to dunk the ball if he got it around the basket

Jesus_hurley wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If he were 7 inches shorter, he would have been an awesome point guard. He is one of the best passers on the team, and the smartest player.

And then he wouldn't be expected to dunk the ball if he got it around the basket

Wojo was asked today what he could do to teach Z how to dunk the ball. Wojo just laughed!

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If he were 7 inches shorter, he would have been an awesome point guard. He is one of the best passers on the team, and the smartest player.

Zoub's biggest problem is his footwork from what I can see. He's just a touch slow, and his footwork isn't great. If he could REALLY improve his technique with his footwork, he MIGHT be able to make up for it.

Zoubs is my favorite player this year. Not kidding! He reminds me of my son with the long face and scraggly beard! Besides, I hugged him at a football ball game season before last and offered to adopt him

This concept might be going a bit too far...

devildeac wrote:This concept might be going a bit too far...

Shock value to draw in the viewers

Jesus_hurley wrote:

devildeac wrote:This concept might be going a bit too far...

Shock value to draw in the viewers

Sucked me right into it as I don't usually spend much time reading anything on CT...

Retire #5!

devildeac wrote:

Jesus_hurley wrote:

devildeac wrote:This concept might be going a bit too far...

Shock value to draw in the viewers

Sucked me right into it as I don't usually spend much time reading anything on CT...

pants on

Very Duke Blue wrote:

devildeac wrote:

Jesus_hurley wrote:
Shock value to draw in the viewers

Sucked me right into it as I don't usually spend much time reading anything on CT...

pants on

I don't look so crazy now do I?


All it would have taken is two out of four years putting up the kind of numbers he did against Maryland.....

bjornolf wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If he were 7 inches shorter, he would have been an awesome point guard. He is one of the best passers on the team, and the smartest player.

Zoub's biggest problem is his footwork from what I can see. He's just a touch slow, and his footwork isn't great. If he could REALLY improve his technique with his footwork, he MIGHT be able to make up for it.

paging greybeard... ;)

Nice quote from the N&O.

That a 7-foot-1 player who can barely dunk can have such a profound impact on a key ACC game (16 points, 17 rebounds against Maryland) speaks volumes about the lack of premier big guys in college basketball today. It also speaks to Zoubek's smarts, as he has learned as a senior to make the most of his skills despite his limitations.

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/st ... bek-dunked

CameronBornAndBred wrote:Nice quote from the N&O.

That a 7-foot-1 player who can barely dunk can have such a profound impact on a key ACC game (16 points, 17 rebounds against Maryland) speaks volumes about the lack of premier big guys in college basketball today. It also speaks to Zoubek's smarts, as he has learned as a senior to make the most of his skills despite his limitations.

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/st ... bek-dunked

The night before the carowhina game my second year of PA school, Coach K spoke the Crazies, as he always does, and stated that Zoubek was the most intelligent player on the team. I <3 Zoubek!

Still room on the bandwagon if anyone else wants on!

Sitting near the Old Professor in Cameron last night was a high school b-ball coach. They struck up a conversation. After having watched Z's progress and seeing the Plumlees' struggles, he commented that it has taken Zoubek four years to learn big man footwork and that he believes he finally figured it out all by himself, bless his heart. He thought the Plumlee's feet to be their biggest prob, as well. He's hoping they figure it out sooner than later themselves because there doesn't seem to be anybody on the staff who can teach it.

Don't shoot the messenger. Just thought I'd pass it on for what it's worth. I know this "big man coach" topic is beaten to death.

Love, Ima

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote: Don't shoot the messenger. Just thought I'd pass it on for what it's worth. I know this "big man coach" topic is beaten to death.

Must mean there's something to it.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote: Don't shoot the messenger. Just thought I'd pass it on for what it's worth. I know this "big man coach" topic is beaten to death.

Must mean there's something to it.

I'd attribute Zoub's slow progression to injuries and his overall ceiling than anything else. Brian is having a fine senior season, especially since the calendar first showed 2010, but in the grand scheme, he is a limited basketball player in several respects, and I think he himself will tell you that. He has admitted that injuries slowed his physical progress, but he has also said repeatedly this season that his noggin is playing a big role in his progress, too. Over and over, Brian has talked about "playing smart." An observation from Seth Greenberg last night corroborated this. Greenberg said that Zoubek always seemed to be in the right place to make a play, and that he never seemed to have to go far to do it. That's a great example of playing smart.
I don't entirely discount the comments of a coach, and I hope I don't come across as a blind defender of everything Coach K does. Lastly, Ima, I mean none of this in a personal capacity toward you. But I think this conversation is bunk. The coach knows the game, but does not know the team the way K and his staff do. Moreover, we've had enough dominant big men under K to discount the notion that he can't coach them. Shelden Williams and Carlos Boozer are but two of the most recent examples. If you really want to know why we've lacked a strong inside presence in recent years, look to the recruiting trail. K has gone after (and down to the wire with) some very good big men in recent years, Patrick Patterson and Greg Monroe for example. But scarcity is the name of the game in recruiting, and there's only so much you can do to plan for the vicissitudes of 17 year-olds. But then again, nearly every NBA team is still on the lookout for a dominant big man, too. As the level of competition rises, there just aren't that many of them.
Instead of lamenting the supposed lateness and self-taught nature (the more I think about that, the more ridiculous it becomes) of Brian Zoubek's progress as a player, I'll choose to celebrate the extremely gratifying sight of a kid working his ass off and then flourishing in his senior season as an example of everything we want Duke players to be.