Dave in Green

There's no debating the fact that Zeke is about to become the dominant shot-blocker in MAC history and one of the best in college basketball, just as Coach Dambrot predicted four years ago. That was his reputation in HS, and he's absolutely lived up to it at the next level. Zeke was never a dominant scorer or rebounder in HS, where he had a huge size advantage over every player he went up against. Everyone hoped that he would improve in both areas at UA. He has, but not enough to satisfy everyone. The same questions will follow him to the next level, and no matter what he might accomplish in the NBA, it won't be enough to satisfy everyone. Zeke is the classic late bloomer -- the polar opposite of the precocious young one-and-dones who want to play a year for John Calipari before becoming NBA draft lottery picks. However, there is at least one key area where Zeke developed earlier than many of his contemporaries. He learned back in HS to ignore his critics.

Tonight, Texas Southern beat Grambling, 95-50. If Texas Southern is a cupcake, what does that make Grambling?

@Kep, have you read this thread?

The current starting frontcourt lineup is Zeke, Tree and Nick. All of those guys have shown that they can score inside at least fairly consistently against single coverage. There aren't enough defenders on court at any one time to double cover all three of them at once! Those three have to work together more consistently to be in the right position when the defense collapses on one of the others. They also have to work more on anticipating the double coverage and getting it to whoever's open before they're swarmed under. Some of the best plays of the season from the frontcourt have come when one of those three players shoots the ball without hesitation when they get the ball close to the bucket before defensive help can arrive, or when the player who's not covered breaks to the bucket and gets a pass from the one who's being double-teamed before the second defender gets close enough to block the passing lanes. Right now the Zips' starting front line players perform pretty well as individuals but have more work to do on their coordinated teamwork.

A team's RPI not only goes up or down based on what that team does, but also on the performances of other teams it has already played against. So the Zips' RPI can go up or down on days when they're not even playing.

For the benefit of those who may have missed Zeke's Mom's medical report:

BracketBusters just isn't what it used to be, which is probably why it's going away in its present form after this year. The departure of previous big names such as VCU and Butler reduces the odds of drawing a name opponent, and it's hard for Zips fans to get excited about any team they're likely to draw. Hosting a lower-ranked team, there's not much to be gained by the Zips in BracketBusters this time around. They just have to take care of business and avoid an upset. But it will still be a nice break from the steady diet of MAC teams at that time of the season.

If you made it legal and put up enough money, there are people out there who would go on live TV and duel with real guns and live ammunition, knowing they might be shot but believing they'd win and walk away with a lot of money.

You'd get a D- at best for a line like that in Debate 101.

First and foremost, I am so pleased and relieved to see a 15-point Zips win in DeKalb, IL. Despite the fact that NIU has never been a basketball powerhouse, the Zips have historically had a hard time posting big wins in DeKalb. They did it today despite some shaky moments. The most important point is that they stepped up and put it out of reach just when it really mattered. This is the mark of a good team. As far as balanced scoring versus the elusive guaranteed go-to scorer, an undeniable truth about the human condition is that we always imagine that we want what we don't have. If we have balanced scoring, we think there's something better about having a go-to scorer. But the reality is that guaranteed go-to scorers are a rarity. Pick a player who you think is guaranteed to score when absolutely needed, then go look at the records. The truth is that go-to scorers have off games. And you can bet your booty that fans of the guaranteed go-to scorer wish they had balanced scoring when their hero fails to deliver. What I didn't like about today's game is that the refs called two quick fouls on Zeke. I wasn't watching the video, so I can't comment on how valid the calls were. But following the online stats, I was aware that the refs also called two quick fouls on Zeke's replacement, Pat Forsythe. Again, they may or may not have been valid. But I have a sour feeling in my gut that MAC refs are really quick to call fouls on 7-foot centers in MAC play. Now maybe it's only a coincidence that the Zips have the only two functioning 7-foot centers in the MAC. But if this happens in every game, I'm going to start believing that the MAC refs are flown into Zips conference games on black helicopters. EDIT: OK, I misremembered. After reviewing the play-by-play, Zeke got 1 early foul. When he was replaced by Forsythe, Pat picked up 2 fouls. Zeke then came back into the game and got his second foul late in the first half. Black helicopters fading.

A new Zips star is born every game. Early in the season, Kretzer was performing more the way I expected McAdams to perform. Reggie went off big-time today.

If we thought McDermott had a great game against the Zips, check out his numbers against Missouri State: 39 points on 15-19 from the field (12-15 2-pointers and 3-4 3-pointers) and 6-7 free throws plus 10 rebounds.

Good discussion. There are counters to every type of offense and defense, and there are also tradeoffs. If the positives outweigh the negatives, it will show up as a net plus on the bottom line, which in basketball is the final score. In the early part of the season, the numbers show that the Zips' offense was much more effective than the defense. Holding WMU 25 points under their season scoring average not only gave the Zips a big win but also gave their season average defensive numbers a big boost. If the Zips continue to improve on their execution of the pressure defense without excessive fouling, their defensive numbers will continue to improve to the point that they are as big a threat to beat other teams with their defense as they have been with their offense.

Jackson, Powell and senior Troy Mundy were not in uniform against Grove City because of a disciplinary issue, according to coach Tony Staib. Gahanna Lincoln Roundup

Sports Illustrated has noticed Zeke: Unknown Player Poised for a Breakout Zeke Marshall, Akron: The senior 7-footer is having a Jeff Withey-like season (blocking 15.6 percent of opponents' shots and scoring efficiently) without getting much attention for it. If the Zips reach the NCAA tournament -- and they've been the best team in the MAC thus far -- Marshall could have an Omar Samhan-like swan song.

AP rankings have ND #4, and the USA Today coaches poll has ND #3. But the Colley Matrix -- one of six computer formulas used by the BCS -- begs to differ. After Alabama crushed ND, 42-14, the Colley Matrix continues to rank ND #1 and Alabama #2. Seriously. Notre Dame still No. 1 in one BCS computer ranking

The hidden benefit of frequent full-court pressing and trapping is that using it every day in practice means that your offense gets accustomed to playing against it. I recall not too many years ago that the Zips offense had a hard time handling pressure defenses. It appears to me now that the Zips are more comfortable and effective moving the ball upcourt when they're being pressed since they now practice against it every day.

@MDZip, my initial impression was like yours that Deji doesn't snag that many rebounds, even for a 6-3 guard. On the other hand, I've thought that Brian Walsh at 6-5 is one of the better rebounding Zips guards I've seen. So I ran the comparison on statsheet.com to see their actual numbers. Since Deji has played only about half as many minutes as Walsh, the raw numbers need to be interpolated. What you have to look at is rebound percentage, which measures the percentage of missed shots each player rebounds while he's in the game. The big surprise is that Deji beats Walsh on both offensive rebound percentage (4.8% to 4.3%) and defensive rebound percentage (16.1% to 12.3%). I would have never guessed that without looking at the comparative numbers here.

In that case, better to be a moderator on an internet forum than a weapons instructor at a firing range.

@johnnyzip84, are you talking to yourself or did a moderator accidentally edit your post instead of replying to it? The one comment I'd make about the trapping defense is that the Zips are obviously not yet proficient at executing it. The key question is whether it's worth pursuing or not. That is, if the Zips keep working at it, can it become effective by the end of the season where it might really make a difference in how far the Zips go in the tournaments? I think the Zips have enough athletic players now that they are individually physically capable of executing an effective trapping defense. But to make it really work well requires lots of timing, coordination and teamwork that can only come through experience.

Live-RPI this morning shows the Zips at #77 after knocking off WMU last night. But that's nothing compared with Pomeroy. The Pomeroy computers have absolutely fallen in love with UA, and now have the Zips ranked #34 -- the highest ranking UA has ever held. Defense is the key. A few days ago Pomeroy ranked the Zips #47 with an adjusted offensive ranking of #28 and an adjusted defense of #97. After the WMU game, the Zips' offense fell only one position to #29, but the defense jumped up 28 positions to #69. Last night's game was WMU's second worst beatdown of the season. Only #2 Michigan beat them up worse and held them to fewer points than the Zips did. #20 NC State allowed WMU to score 25 points more than the Zips did, and had a smaller victory margin.

OK game with the usual mix of good and bad. But a 22-point conference wins against one of the best teams from the MAC West is mostly good. The main thing that came across to me during this game is that it no longer makes a big difference if Zeke gets into foul trouble and plays shorter minutes than usual. Forsythe is visibly improving from game to game, and there's really no significant fall-off in center performance. This is the second time in the last three games that Pat has played more minutes than Zeke and done a great job on both the offensive and defensive ends. It has to be a little intimidating for other MAC teams to know they're going to be facing a quality 7-foot center every minute of every game against the Zips. A little bonus from tonight is that WMU came in with an RPI of 48, and the Zips' RPI jumped from 100+ up to 80 immediately after the win.

Three of the Zips' primary 3-point shooters -- Chauncey, Rico and Walsh -- all saw their 3-point percentages drop off while playing with injuries. Rico and Walsh have already started bouncing back, and Chauncey will, too. For perspective, the Zips hit 37% of their 3s last season. After the first 6 games this season, they were hitting 40.1% of their 3s. That has fallen to the current 34.8% over the last 7 games while Rico was still recovering from his ankle sprain, Walsh was playing through his injury and Chauncey's play was adversely affected by his injured knee. Prediction: At the end of this season, the Zips' 3-point shooting percentage will be better than last season's 37%.

Everyone seems to agree that the Alabama QB's girlfriend was the highlight of the game. No question that the Tide does a great job of attracting the biggest, toughest players who leave the school NFL-ready, though not always with adequate character for even the Oakland Raiders. McClain in trouble again

I enjoy watching the Zips basketball team practicing and scrimmaging, whether against themselves or a lower-level opponent. I enjoy it more watching them play against tough competition, especially when they win. When it comes to a championship game in any sport, I want to see the two best and overall strongest teams in the country play an intense game that's close right up to the end. I never really believed that ND was one of the two best and overall strongest teams in the country, and never really believed they could hang with Alabama. I happened to catch the score when it was 14-0 early, and never bothered to turn on the TV.