Dave in Green

My dad was a professional basketball player/coach in the 1920s and 1930s (I guess that dates me) who toured around the midwest and mountain states playing exhibition games against college teams. He got me interested in basketball at a young age, and taught me a lot of the finer details of the game. Unfortunately, I didn't have his skills and never did anything more than play backyard ball with the other kids in the neighborhood. But it turned me into a lifetime fan of basketball, and I've been following it for nearly 60 years now, especially college basketball. I've watched many thousands of games over the years and thought I'd seen it all. That's a small preface to saying that for the first time in nearly 60 years, I had real tears in my eyes at the end of a game. The tears were for the Zips players and coaching staff who overcame so much to beat the odds and win that NCAA berth they've been working so hard for all season. The obstacles have been well documented on ZipsNation. I went to the game tonight believing that if the Zips played their best game that they could squeak out a win over a team that went to the Sweet 16 last season and returned all their key players. Instead, I saw the greatest second-half defensive performance I've ever seen in my life. Others have called out the individual players for what they did tonight, and I agree with all of that. But my focus is what these individuals achieved as a team. No one predicted a blow-out, certainly not one by the Zips. How could that possibly happen without your only veteran point guard? Look what OU came so close to doing in last season's NCAA tournament against North Carolina when the Tar Heels' starting PG was out. This was the same OU team, and the Zips destroyed them. They did it as a team, with everyone contributing something. I said earlier in the season that I love this team. The longer you follow college basketball the more you appreciate how rare it is that a special group of kids can come together under a special group of coaches and accomplish something really special. We Zips basketball fans are so very fortunate to have a really special group of players and coaches who've achieved something that all the experts said was unlikely. I'm so happy for everyone -- the players, the coaches, the fans. Now, don't get me started crying again.

Isaiah leads the team to victory with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Props to all those who were calling for Harney to play the point. I really thought that McAdams' experience running the point in HS would trump Harney's quickness and athleticism. But Harney proved in practice during the week than he could handle the point while playing smart and remaining under control. That's a huge accomplishment for someone with no experience running the point. Another thing I don't think has been mentioned is shot selection. Harney focused on running the offense and not looking for his own shot. He took only four shots and made all four, so he was obviously very smart in his shot selection. Coach Dambrot needs to keep challenging Harney, as he seems to respond well to new challenges. Melo played exactly 20 minutes last night, and was able to comfortably handle that from a physical standpoint. Harney played 25 minutes, which is more than his average. I thought he looked a little tired at the end, which may have contributed to his missed free throws that were falling short. The fact that Melo and Harney played a total of 45 minutes means that Harney also played 5 minutes at forward while Melo was running the point. It has to be a big stress on Harney playing a new position. I'd like to see him not put in minutes at forward and play closer to 20 than 25 minutes tonight exclusively at the point to make sure he's fresher at the end of the game. Kretzer only played 20 minutes last night, and I think he could take on the extra 5 minutes at forward that Harney played last night.

I thought exactly the same thing when I saw that comment. It's phrased the way a fan would post on another team's forum, mildly acknowledging the other team's accomplishment. It's consistent with previous posts that only occasionally express mild acknowledgement of anything positive but almost exclusively dwell on the negative. Very odd pattern for a Zips fan.

What a game. I'm not sure who's more wiped out, the players or the fans. The players definitely raised their level of play up a notch tonight (except at the free throw line), and there was a lot of anxiety among the fans around us at the Q in those last couple of minutes. Harney was brilliant at the point. He made moves coming upcourt that left his defender stumbling, and he played under control most of the time. The big advantage he has over McAdams, who has more experience running the point, is that he's quicker and more athletic. I was mainly concerned about his ability to play under control, but he delivered big time. The Zips can't seem to put together all aspects of the game in any one game. But they do execute well enough in just enough areas to produce wins. Tonight was a good confidence builder for the Zips. But they will have to execute better in more areas of the game to beat the Kitties. I keep coming back to three words I've used to describe what this Zips team has -- talent, toughness and tenacity. They will need all three for the big game tomorrow night along with that important fourth point -- execution. I can't wait.

Ball State would be crazy not to give Reggie a call after firing Billy Taylor. Big upgrade for Ball State, and Reggie would do well recruiting in Indiana.

Thought I'd start the game thread before leaving for Cleveland so I could point out before the game starts that I've heard some pretty exciting things about how the Zips plan to handle the PG situation. Let's just say that some of the things that may happen tonight might be surprising in the sense that Can't is not likely to be prepared for all they might see. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it develops. Off to the Q.

@Zipgrad01, I don't have any exact quotes for you. But many of the media questions to the Zips after the Can't game obviously addressed how much of an effect it had on the team to have to play without your starting PG with only 24 hours to get ready. Any answer other than "it didn't make any difference," which would have been a ridiculously absurd response, could be loosely interpreted as an "excuse." Chris Evans' comment is a total joke.

Forgot to post that Nyles' season ended when this team lost by 5 points to the College of Central Florida, the #8 JuCo team in the country. Nyles was hampered the whole game by his injured ankle, and was only able to score 10 points. Next time he plays in college competition will be in a Zips uniform.

Thought I'd add this post here as it's also about Louisiana Tech and shows how quickly things can go from promising to disaster. Louisiana Tech was riding an 18-game winning streak and was starting to get similar national attention to what Akron had been receiving. After losing their last two regular season conference games in a row, they were still seeded #1 in the WAC tournament. Last night they were upset in the WAC quarterfinals 73-65 by #9 seed UT-San Antonio. So in three games they went from bubble team to no chance of an at-large bid to an early exit from the WAC tournament and the end of all hope for an NCAA tournament bid. Success can be so fragile.

I hope that anyone who imagines that Coach Dambrot favors scheduling weak OOC competition for the Zips will read this article and understand just how hard he has been and continues to try to raise OOC SOS. He can't do it by himself. It requires the full cooperation of UA. It's not easy. It takes time. It's being done.

Just a hunch. I could be wrong, but I think this team has more to give than what we've seen to date.

Can't will not be worn out by this game. They will just be warmed up. The Zips may come in a little cold. All the Zips have to do is play two halves like the second half at the JAR last week. I expect the Zips to play two halves better than last week's second half. They've had a full week now to put their best PG option together. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night's game.

Great performance by Chris Evans -- 23 points and 15 rebounds with a minute left.

@MDZip, I felt exactly like you do for about the first 48 hours. That's when I forced myself to just stop thinking about the negative and the what could have been. The longer you live, the more aware you become that stuff happens at the most inopportune times. I've tried to keep my focus on what a magical story it would be if the Zips overcome this. There is no story in sports bigger than the one about overcoming adversity. In a way, the position the Zips are now in is almost a comfort zone, as they're back in their historical position of being the underdogs that few believe have a chance. There's still a huge amount of talent and depth on this team. If they can be mentally tough and quickly adapt to the situation, they can pull some big surprises out of the bag for their opponents. Winning the MAC tournament championship would put the Zips right back into the national discussion. The experts will all say that there's little chance of the Zips winning a game in the NCAA tournament even if they get there. We've heard it all before. It's a challenge, and I think that this team is up for that challenge. The future is also bright. We have many good players returning and some quality recruits on the way. All the good things that happened earlier this season will help the Zips in the future, whether it comes to attracting more talented recruits or getting more respect from the national media from the start of the season. The actions of one player off the court do not negate what all the players accomplished this season as a team, nor does it doom them to no further accomplishments. We fans should not allow those actions to ruin our enthusiasm for this team and our optimism for what it's still capable of accomplishing. We need to always remember to Think Bigger, especially at those times when events conspire to cause us to think smaller.

@skip-zip, right, it's not the overall number of wins that impresses the selection committee. It's the top 100 wins that are given highest priority, and especially top 100 wins away from home. This is what signals to the selection committee that a team is capable of winning in the NCAA tournament, where they're only going to be playing away from home against quality opponents. It's not just one or two things but the total body of work that counts -- RPI, SOS, top 100 wins, overall record, etc. There's no real mystery here. The media likes to build up human interest stories every season about the last couple of teams out or the last couple of teams in. These teams usually have a fair number of the bases covered, but not all of them. That's what makes them bubble teams. We just need to remember all of these different parameters every season when the inevitable at-large discussion comes up so that we can have realistic expectations.

I guess it's easy to take these things for granted when they seem so obvious. While the big news about Zeke this season was the dramatic improvement in his offense, his already outstanding defense also continued to improve. The fact that his entire game continues to improve at an impressive rate has got to be intriguing to NBA teams who don't need an immediate major contributor, but are looking a year or two down the road.

I've finally given up on "wanting" one or another opponent to win for a "better" matchup with the Zips. First, I've finally realized that my wanting has no effect on the outcome of the game. Second, under the category of be careful what you wish for, sometimes the team I want turns out to be tougher than expected. Both Buffalo and Can't have proven this season that they're capable of playing the Zips tough. I'm just looking forward to seeing the Zips play a great game tomorrow night against one or the other worthy opponent, and hoping the other team's fatigue isn't offset by the Zips' rustiness from not playing for a week.

Maverick Morgan outscored Isaiah, 19-16, but Isaiah outrebounded Maverick, 12-10.

Ha, well at least the box score on the MAC website has the right team winning.

@Lee Adams, not sure what you mean by the Zips ending up "somewhere south of the NIT," but the regular season MAC champion is guaranteed a spot in the NIT. Then again, I don't think we should even be talking about that, as the Zips players are definitely not talking or even thinking about the NIT. They believe they will W2@Q. So no more mention of NIT.

For anyone who was wondering, Buffalo wins 76-61.

@Captain Kangaroo, thanks for posting the youthful Elton photo. At the JAR a few weeks ago his hair appeared even whiter than in this more recent image:

@George Thomas, may you cover Zips sports until your hair is whiter than Elton Alexander's!

Let's hear it for College Insider -- a clean sweep of all three top awards for the Zips, something the media voters in the MAC would never do because they like to spread things around.