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Random ramblings.... Big winner of the day appears to be C Mich who took down Ball St and got McKay back into the lineup. on the same day. Coupled with Toledo's loss they find themselves right in the thick of things in the west. Frye played out of his mind tonight for BG. Their stock has risen sharply since the return of Turner. It's no accident that they are right there with us at the top. With arguably the MACs best trio Toledo just doesn't seem to have enough around them. They seriously lack any quality depth at all. Not at all sold on Todd being any great shakes as a coach either. Buffalo's defense is horrible. I look for a BIG statement W on Tuesday. The Bulls are an average MAC squad. No better, no worse. Last but not least, we have the most exciting player in the league by far. Just love watching LCJ play.

SVSM grad Javon Graves comes home Tuesday night to lead his 13-7 Buffalo Bulls into the JAR. Graves (#3), a 6’3” junior guard, leads Canada with 16.6 ppg while pulling down 5 rebounds a game. 6”7” sophomore Josh Mballa (#34) leads rebounding at 8.8. rpg while scoring 10 ppg. Canada is fresh off of a loss to PCCC They started the MAC season 0-2, losing at home to NIU by a point and losing at Muncie. They then won 4 in a row against Miami, OU, CMU and WMU before falling to Ravenna. Canada has dominated the Greater Buffalo area this year with wins over Canisius, St. Bonaventure and Niagara.

I agree with this more at home than on the road. On the road in the MAC, I will take a win any way it comes. High scoring, low scoring, close game, blow out, great defense, soft defense, on the road you play the game the refs give you. And too often one half is officiated different from the other. At home, in theory, the Zips should be able to dictate more of what they want to do. And breaking the opponent's spirit early and getting playing time for the bench is a good goal.

I'd like to see that when they get up big they don't have those slides, but rather keep stepping on the necks of their opponents to the point where the game is over earlier. Then they could get those bench kids some much needed court experience and give them the base to become more valuable contributors down the line. Giving up double digit leads does not promote this.

A great win in a tough road venue. We punched them in the mouth. They punched back. We won. 1-0. Next.

In the post game interview Frenchy did with Groce, they talked about the bench usage. Groce said he would look at it, but thought he would have to get the bench more minutes as he thought the starters looked a little gassed at times against Toledo and Ohio. I think he realizes that 3 games in 3 days is tough and you are going need quality bench minutes. Right now it seems that wants them out there more, but doesn't yet have the trust in them for heavier minutes. I agree that we need to work them more in games where we have large leads.

This is not a verbal commit, but I'd be excited about landing this guy 6'6", 225 dual threat QB Stephon Brown of Independence C.C. Brown is originally from Kernersville, NC. He was rated a 3-star prospect coming out of high school & signed with Appalachian State. He also has an offer from Southern Miss.

Sayles, Dawson, and Ali have combined to only shoot the ball 56 times all season. Tribble seems like the only guy looking to score and has done it well when he actually decides to shoot. He's making nearly 48% of his shots. I think part of it might just be that LCJ, Xeyrius, Cheese, and Banks are just shooting the ball so well that the goal is to get those guys to shoot the rock as much as possible. There was a lot of hype about Dawson, but he looks a long ways away from becoming a meaningful contributor this season.

The Zips depth is starting to concern me. As for average minutes per game in MAC play, LCJ is averaging 35.6; Cheese- 33.1; X- 31.2; Banks- 32.2; Riak- 22; Reece- 14.2; Tribble- 14.2; Ali- 10; Sayles- 5.6; and Dawson 3.3. Reece is productive from the bench but the rest are bringing very little offensively. Tribble shows promise and Ali plays hard, but they've not contributed much on the offensive end. Dawson is still settling in. Those bench players are only scoring a total of 9.2 ppg. They're going to need more from the bench.

I agree. The way he's been playing all year is even better than either of my two all-time favorite Zip PG's Jimmal Ball & Dru Joyce. LCJ has just been unbelievable to watch.

Liberty loses two in a row to North Florida (12-9) and Stetson (10-11, #314 Kenpom)

Also every time I hear them interview LCJ after the game I like him even better. What a great young man and who would have guessed what kind of player he was going to turn into.

Yeah I'm a little disappointed that Boles took that job because I really like him. Well he was at Akron and Groce was there so we did a pseudo swap. ?

Whew. Glad to get out of that one with a win and no injuries. Need to survive games like that. It won't take Boles long to get that team back in the mix at the top.

When we appear to be gloating about a Dukes loss it isn't because of any ill will towards KD or his staff. I for one am not going to turn on a game an enjoy watching them lose. He and his staff built a solid program and fan base here. My issue is with the fans who abandoned the Zips when he left and those on here who did nothing but gripe since he left. So I don't mind pointing out that his moving on was a good thing. Occasionally, a divorce leaves everyone better off.

Buffalo/Kent last night was quite ugly. Buffalo gets a lot of rebounds and Pippin for Kent made 6 straight free throws at the end to seal it for PCCC. Buffalo is a shadow of what they were last year. Today worries me because Kittens can get hot from 3 like Toledo did. However, Kittens don't have the athletes that Rockets have. If Zips can get a lead and keep fresh legs on the court Kittens should fold.

Those chickens are roadkill this year

According to Ole Kenpom the Zips are rated above Daniel Utomi's mighty USC Trojans.

Made me smile. I haven't rooted a bit for Shaka since the NCAA tourney game in Detroit.

Does anyone else miss Dave in Green?