Zip JD

I have to admit, I kind of miss going into a bad Napoleon Dynamite accent and yelling "Deng" when Riak came into the game. He had terrible hands, but he always hustled and called out a lot of our defensive sets. He would be very valuable to this team.

They would have stormed Polsky's

Double yikes! That is brutal. I'm having flashbacks to Harney and Tree. I'm in too good a mood to list all the others.......

Not to mention how many front ends of 1 & 1's we missed every year (Big Dog again comes to mind). It was not just the team's horrible percentage at the line, but we left a lot of scoring attempts behind as well and we were usually terrible in crunch time. KD won a lot of games by 1 or 2 that could have been 5 or 6 or more if we hit our shots. This is just another reason I enjoy watching LCJ so much. After all the years of watching our bigs hit iron, its so much fun to watch our automatic PG be the one at the line when it counts most.

I enjoyed the Dambrot era, not counting the last couple of MAC Tourney runs, but I hated seeing a hot shooter hit 2 or 3 shots and then come out of the game at the first 4 minute mark timeout regardless of the situation (defensive match ups, other team's run, etc.) We also had a lot of streak shooters that once they sat never got back in the groove. I specifically remember several games where the shooter from Nitro, W Va., Brent McClanahan, would knock down back-to-back 3's and be out for a long time due to what appeared to be pre-determined rotations. I also don't miss the extended scoring droughts that seemed so common for Zips teams that had plenty of talent. Last but not least, I still have nightmares from being at close games in the JAR where the ball went in to Big Dog every late possession and he would get intentionally fouled to go put up bricks at the line. We lost a couple close games with him going 0-3. 0-4 from the line in the last minutes. Fortunately, Groce has delivered in a big way and the future looks bright. After being sooo close so many times with KD, if Groce gets us to the big dance and wins a game or two and heads to a bigger program, I will be all good with that. I want a banner that says more than most coaching wins hanging in the rafters. Go Zips.

Nothing like a ZNO deep dive. I love it.

MACtion went 2-0 in bowls. Nice showing for this crazy season.

100%

MACtion!

Best of luck to him. I hope he does well but he is taking one tough assignment.

I believe Faust and possibly Owens had better winning percentages than Bowden (I'm not taking the time to check) and Brookhart has the only MACC of the bunch, but that doesn't mean I want any ot them back either. Williams moved on from Bowden and I wish you would as well. If the members of ZNO had voted and collectively fired Bowden for Arth I would understand the Bowden posts 2 years later, but that's not the case. Lastly, before you respond to this.....being ok with not bringing Bowden back does not mean being pro-Arth or pro-Williams so please don't attack as an Arth'er. It looks like a terrible hire and my guess is both the coach and AD will be done here when their contracts are up.

Turnovers and the blocked punt. Some of BUGS' playcalling helped too.

Very true, but I am going enjoy this one for awhile before worrying about UB.

That was about the best thing I have seen in 2020. It should not have been that much fun streaming it on my phone, but it was. The kids came to play and definitely have not quit on Arth. I am so happy that they don't have to spend the off season hearing about the L streak.

Agreed, catch you all in a few months. Be well and go Zips!

I would not be surprised if the MAC follows the lead of the Ivy League and cancels fall sports altogether. To respond to the thread, I predict a 10% chance we play football (conference games only) this season. Spring season games?

Without question a great kid who I believe is a teacher and hoops coach. Probably the most popular teacher in his school.

I guess I did sell Steve a little short. I remember the write ups when he was coming into the program; however, you have to admit he was the last big on the bench and never resembled any of the comments listed above during his time with us. Steve never advanced on the Zips depth chart and would have finished his time with the Zips as the 12th man had he stayed for his last year. Kostelac had a year at IMG under his belt when he arrived and displayed a drop step move his first year that we never saw from Steve. Unfortunately, we never saw much from him either. I will agree Steve was one of the best kids to come through the program.

I cannot recall watching any player who could pick up fouls as quickly as Kostelac. I saw him get 2 fouls in 6 seconds once which has to be an NCAA record. Added to his slow footwork and poor technique was his fondness for pushing in the back, grabbing opponents as they ran down court and setting moving picks that frequently included sticking his legs out to trip opposing players. All of this was accompanied by constant jawing at the refs as he contested every foul call. I have no ill will towards him and I am sorry he had such as horrible end to his time as a Zip, but from what I saw on the court I am not surprised he is a non-factor at Walsh. For those who have been around the program for a while, who remembers Steve Swiech? He was a 6' 9', 270 pound earth-bound 12th man who only saw the floor during extreme garbage time. He transferred out of the program his senior year (with Dambrot's blessing) as a grad transfer. He too was headed for Walsh, but instead went to California of PA to play for the Vulcans. He had much less talent and ability than Kostelac, but he never stopped hustling and working. I believe he was a team leader for the Vulcans in points and rebounds his one year there. I hope Kostelac figures it out and has a great senior season, but his issues seem to be more than level of competition.

I hope you are right as to the MAC, but the Big Ten brings in way too much money for us to compete with them (top, middle or bottom of their conference). In 2017-2018, EACH Big Ten school received $54 million from TV contracts (Maryland and Rutgers got less due to their shorter conference tenures). The have and the have-nots will only get further apart due to the pandemic and the cuts mid-majors will have to make to survive. To put it in perspective, OSU's women's basketball coach made almost $1.2 million in salary and benefits in 2016-17 (the most recent year I could find). https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2019/05/15/big-ten-revenue-hit-nearly-759-million-fiscal-2018/3686089002/

Somebody has to step into all the 3's left out there now that Riak is gone. We need bigs and it appears this kid has been on Groce's radar for a while. More than Big Dog he reminds me of Wood.

Sayles tended to get pulled quickly for missing defensive assignments and not rotating on defense. He also never seemed to box out. Most, if not all, of his minutes were due to injuries and foul trouble to our other bigs. Groce mentioned several times during the season that Sayles didn't get into games due match up issues. During the bad fall referenced earlier in the post, he hit his head and appeared to be knocked unconscious. He never seemed like same player after that and never seemed to re-adjust to D-I basketball. Sayles always appeared to be a hard, working good kid. When he announced he was leaving the program, he sent a message thanking the team, program and fans. Everyone here is rooting for him to have the best possible ending to his career. I hope Stony Brook is a good fit for him. What does your fan base think of Geno?

Agreed. Reece is the next strongest, but the better big men on the schedule gave him trouble this year.

He kind of looks like Rob Senderoff had a more socially awkward cousin.

Ouch, I hadn't seen the numbers, but it looked like a purely financial move. Thanks for the recon.