Valpo Zip

Does anyone really think that this is the year we are going after an at-large bid? If I was a coach of a team with 7-8 first-year players, my only concern would be to prepare a team that can compete in the conference. Just saying.

This class is very impressive. When was the last time we beat Toledo for 6 recruits?

My guess is Eric did not get any offer that excited him enough to sit out a year.

I love it. I, for one, prefer to play with the big boys, even if that means we may have more losses than we got used to. I think that this is how you build a program and I understand that others may disagree.

It is immigration law. When you have a foreign employee, you have to post their position and prove to the department of labor that none of the American applicants are qualified to do the job and petition them to issue your non-American employee a visa.

I did not care much about the news of Cotton and Patton leaving, but Parrish is a different story. He played a lot as a freshman and he looked like he would have a very promising future in blue and gold, why would he choose to go sit out a year? That one hurts!

I am realistically not expecting us to cut the nets at the Q. However, having the freshmen experience playing under the lights of the Q will play dividends next year.

I am really happy to see my young short-handed zips pull that win tonight. The question that's currently on my mind is the following: How can Keno Davis (in his 6th year) go back to Mount Pleasant and explain to his AD that after 6 years in the program, he still could not beat a team of 9 players (including 2 walk-ons).

I was not aware that we're playing them again this year. In my comment about BS not beating Akron for a long time, I was talking about future years.

I can. Doug Penno's at the Q.

Wow! Winning that game would have been the figurative turning of a corner for this team. Too bad it didn't happen. Ball state has been our little b*tc$ for more than a decade. And today was their chance. Moses(junior), Persons (junior), Sellers (senior) are going against a team of Ivey and a bunch of first year players. To make things even better, our starting center and our backup center are both sidelined. Even better, the game is in Muncie and the young Zips have not won a road game yet. With all these factors, it took ball state 2 OT + 3 blind mice to pull that win. Enjoy your win, cardinals! God knows how long it will be before you get to beat Akron again.

As much as I enjoy watching this team in action, the bigger joy I get is when I close my eyes and imagine what this team will look like in 2 years. At the end of previous games, I used to imagine what Parrish, Sayles, and Cotton will look like...today Kostelac earned a spot on that list too. Here's hoping that Patton will do the same soon. The future is bright, fellow Zippers

For whatever it is worth, I spoke to an NCAA insider who said that this rule change is happening one way or the other. And by that, he meant that if the change doesn't happen by an NCAA vote, it will happen by court orders. According to the same source, most NCAA members are not big fans of the change but can no longer handle the pressure from the lawyers. Very sad state of affairs.

This means that top 25 schools will no longer need to recruit HS kids. They can simply recruit elite players from midmajor programs. Way to go NCAA!!!

This was supposed to be a very good game but the officials made it a very frustrating one to watch. I am not sure how the players/coaches could retain their cool after some of the dubious foul calls. Back to basketball, I can't wait to see how this team develops. Can you imagine the team with Cotton, Parrish, Patton, and Sayles being Juniors/Seniors? While this year may be a bit painful, the future is bright! I said it before and I will say it again: Sayles is the new Zeke, maybe even better. This guy is the real deal. (I am glad he seems to be ok after that nasty landing). Finally, am I the only one who was warm and fuzzy seeing president Wilson give a bear hug to Cotton at the end of the game? I am glad we have a president who gets it!