clarkwgriswold

Great start, moving the ball, now gridlock. Brutal.

A real 6:00 crowd. The white flyers on the empty blue seats should make them pop on TV.

Yep, typo.

I think the reality is that if Mike Hughes had been healthy all season, we'd have seen very little of Poke, primarily only in mop up time. He's as raw as they come, but his athleticism overcomes some of that. Unfortunately, the athleticism and rawness combine to cause him to pick up bad fouls and rely on his jumping ability rather than box out. All that being said, I love the kid as many of his errors come from just trying too hard. I don't think he'll ever be much of a contributor on offense but his motor, athleticism and effort will make us very happy as we're leaving the JAR over the next three years. As for Josh, I'd like to see less of him for now. I'm not giving up on him, but his struggles are apparent. From having seeing him in high school, I never thought he'd be a dynamic penetrator, but by the same token, I never thought he'd become so one dimensional and essentially a specialist. As I've said before on here, right now he's a specialist without a specialty. I think he'll work it out, but I want to see him work it out in practice rather than in crunch time. As for Austin Jackson, he just has too many other contributors ahead of him and the returns in the limited time he's seen have been less than stellar. Contrary to GT's article, he's not a guard, and with Kwan, Ivey, Utomi and Poke, his chances to impress will be limited. With any luck, he'll focus on being a defensive madman and a spark when he gets in.

I was a little perplexed by GT's article (a regular occurrence). As I count them, we regularly play: 1) Dog; 2)Kwan; 3)Noah; 4) Antino; 5) Jimond; 6)Josh; 7)TDM; 8)Poke; 9)Utomi; 10) Aaron Jackson; and 11) Hughes (when he's healthy). GT made it sound like we're going to dig deeper, beyond 7 guys. I get what Keith was trying to say, that those 3 or 4 five to ten minute per game guys will get more minutes, but GT's article does a poor job in explaining it. Also, I was excited to see that Aaron Jackson is now a guard!

Well, technically, every game is TBA, but "normal" game time is 7.

Exactly my point. Between the folks who can't later the schedule and those who show up at 7 having not received the word, it has to hurt the gate. I know I haven't received anything from UA concerning the time change I heard Joe Dunn on the radio on my way home today. Apparently, KD wasn't aware of the time change until Joe mentioned it when they were taping their weekly show Sunday!

...says the guy with 11.5 sacks in 8 seasons...

I get the MAC wanting as much exposure as possible, but the game time changes have to make it a little difficult on the member schools and cost them some of their home crowd.

The Cardinals come into the JAR for a 6:00 tip-off Tuesday night to face off against the Zips. The Cards are 15-8, but suffered a 27 point home loss to Buffalo over the weekend, after beating them by 15 at Buffalo. The Cards are led by guard Tayler Persons 16.1 ppg.

If you watch the opposing coaches, they do a lot of whining about Big Dog. Maybe the refs are starting to listen. I'm not sure the officiating is down in all conferences, but it is abysmal in the MAC. If the MAC wants to advance into be a respected league, one of the elements to advance is decent and consistent officiating.

Don't sweat the trolls. At the end of the day, the Zips played their worst game of the season against a team that played their best game of the season and was benefited by outrageous officiating and they nearly pulled it off. While we're worried about the Zips losing their chance to be ranked, they're excited that the win may qualify them for the CIT.

Ugh. Lots of blame to go around. Awful possessions after they went up 5 completely changed the game and let the momentum swing back to OU. Let me say first that I'm not one generally to b!+ch about the refs. Keith implied in the post-game that the refereeing in the MAC contributes to the MAC never getting an at-large bid. The refs can't take the best players in the league out of games without it adversely impacting the product under review by the selection committee. A double tech on kids jawing at each other on the way to the locker room is ridiculous, as is a 38-16 free throw disparity. All of that being said, the Zips had their chances and should have capitalized. They also showed a lack of composure at times today. The realists on here recognized they lose at some point. Time for the Zips to move onto Ball State and put this one behind them.

I don't expect Big Dog to be Mark Price at the line, but he's better than he's shown. It is pretty apparent at this point that it is in his head.

I feel bad for OU having to go through the season without Antonio Campb.......naaaaaaaaaaaah.......screw 'em. I hope we beat them by 50.

Curious to see how the Kittens have adjusted to the loss of Campbell. I think they were still reeling from it at the JAR a couple of weeks ago. They're 2-2 since they saw the Zips, so the adjustment doesn't look like it is going well. Of particular note is a loss to 7-14 WMU.

So, you're saying it's better than the average GT article? I heard Franshon Bickley is also back on campus.

I remember a tight game at the JAR earlier in the year when Jimond had a transition dunk and the team came back down the floor and every kid on the Zips was pumped up, up on the balls of their feet and in the grill of the kid they were guarding. They were chomping at the bit. I remember thinking how great it would be if it didn't take a big play to bring out that intensity. Last night's second half performance gave me a similar feeling. It's kind of funny. Now that we've seen them do it, we know they can do it and it will cause even more grief when they don't. Keith knows what he has here. He's made it very well known that "we can't guard anyone." He deserves credit for recognizing what he has and doing well with it, even if it drives him a little nuts.

Maybe they're one of those teams that will always do just well enough to win.

We need to see that defense for entire games, not just when their backs are against the wall.

Whew, stole one.

Let's hope this is a preview for the rest of Antino's season.

Exactly. NIU's strategy seems to be to double him when he puts the ball on the floor, generally from the blind side. Worked well early.

I hear HGTV is a good option.

I don't need to see Josh Williams or Austin Jackson until they find their games.