Dave in Green

As I said prior to the MAC championship game, OU does a couple of things really, really well. They cover the passing lanes and anticipate passes better than any team in the MAC, and they're better at poking the ball out of players' hands than any other MAC team. They're doing both to Michigan tonight. Right now OU has gone cold from the field. If they stay cold, Michigan wins. If they heat up at the end, OU wins.

Cooper plays big in some big games. In the NCAA tournament two years ago Cooper was dynamite in the upset of Georgetown, and mediocre in the second-round loss to Tennessee.

I try to see the big picture. This season the Zips won a championship (MAC regular season) that they'd never won before. They also lost a championship (MAC tournament) that they'd won 2 of the 3 previous seasons. It's not all good news or all bad news. It's mixed news. But it beats winning no championship.

Cooper is red hot tonight, and the other Bobkitties aren't far behind. If they keep shooting like they are for the last quarter of the game, they'll beat UM. Thing is, we know OU can't stay hot like that for more than a couple of games at most. If they win tonight, they'll get blown out in another game or two when they cool off.

@g-mann17, thanks for the factual data. It's useful when speculating where an arena might go to know where other facilities are already planned to go. There's one statement in the proposal that might be loosely interpreted as opening the door for an arena to be part of that development: The development will include residential support facilities which will be verified during the programming and planning phases of the project. Support facilities may include a community building, recreation activities or other facilities. But there really isn't enough space in that 2-block area to accomodate the housing described along with an arena, which would likely take up most of a block all by itself. If it was ever in the running, I think it's now pretty safe to write off an arena for the area described in the document: the two block areas between Vine Street, Goodkirk Avenue, East Exchange Street and Spicer Street

Instead of being the Gonzaga of the East, I'd be happy if UA was the VCU of the Midwest.

#15 seed Norfolk State 86, #2 seed Missouri 84 is a good example of what's right about the NCAA tournament. Forgot to check out the court too closely as I was totally focused on game play.

@GP1, when watching NCAA tournament games on TV, I'm pretty focused on the play. The only thing I'm looking for from court graphics is that they don't distract me from the play. Going to NCAA football for a second, I do find myself visually distracted by, for example, the blue turf Boise State uses. I find it a little harder to follow the action. I prefer plain old green turf in football. Since the plain old NCAA tournament court graphics hadn't drawn my attention away from game play until you pointed this out, I actually consider it to be a good thing rather than a bad thing. But I agree there are other things about the NCAA not to like.

@GP1, I get it. Your position on the NCAA as a flawed organization is clear, and you've made a number of good points on that subject over the years. I just get a little concerned for you when it reaches the point of the colors and shapes of lines on NCAA basketball courts triggering images of the Soviet Era.

It's hard to argue against the fact that Zeke's presence alone has not produced dramatically better team results in the 3 seasons he's been here compared to the 3 seasons prior to that. It could be argued that the Zips were at least somewhat better this season than the previous 5 seasons due to posting a similar win-loss record with a much tougher SOS than the previous 5 seasons. I believe that Zeke has contributed to making the Zips a more dangerous team, but for a variety of reasons team results have not fully lived up to the potential. His ultimate legacy with the Zips will likely be influenced by whether or not the team produces significantly better results next season. He can't do it alone, so it will take a team effort. You can compare the Zips' results over the last 6 seasons on the following page at StatSheet.com. One key number that for some reason doesn't show up in this graph is SOS for 2006-2007, when the Zips had their best win-loss record in the last 6 seasons. SOS that season was by far the weakest at #217, so the 26-7 record was not as impressive to me as going 22-12 this season with a #87 SOS. Zips 6-Season Comparison

Slow day for anyone who would start a thread over imagining that black out of bounds lines with a blue jumpball circle at center court and the blue half moons above the foul stripe translates to Soviet Era courts which translates to what is wrong with the NCAA.

Slow day.

No one plays games like GP1.

Without having the Zips to root for in the NCAA tournament, I'm returning to last year's form and cheering for Shaka Smart and VCU. #12 seed VCU just finished upsetting #5 seed Wichita State, 62-59. Hate to see one good mid-major knocking off another in the first round. But at least the right team won.

"Downtown" can be defined many different ways depending on the subject. For an arena that the Zips would play basketball in, I've been pretty consistent in saying that if for any reason it's not built on campus, it needs to be right on the border of the campus -- within a block or two. So, in terms of an off-campus arena, I'd define "downtown" to be roughly in the area bordered by the railroad tracks on the east, Main Street on the west, East Exchange on the south and E. Mill Street on the north. If not there, then immediately across Exchange from the Info in the proposed University Square District. Anything beyond that and I think it starts getting too disconnected from UA.

Some familiar language here: Building a new University of Akron arena on campus only makes sense. Spin doctors want the university to build downtown to take credit for something that is not theirs. Ohio.com Letters to the editor - March 14

Here's my take on that: Jake stated to me in a PM that he had "tried compiling such a list with no success." Since Jake appears to be a single-issue person who is totally devoted to promoting the concept of an on-campus arena and crapping all over any consideration of an off-campus arena, I have to believe that this would be a monumentally time-consuming task that is beyond even his total dedication. Anyone have a lot of extra time to spare?

Unfinished. As I said in another post, in order to win, you first have to put yourself in a position to win. The Zips did a good job of staying in most games right up until the last minute or two. While they could make great runs from big deficits and catch up, they just couldn't finish enough of those close games against tougher opponents. Had they done it against OU, they'd be in the NCAA tournament. Had they done it against a few of the higher-ranking teams on the schedule this season -- VCU, ORU, Valpo, CSU -- they would have had a legitimate shot at an NCAA at-large bid. I want the focus next season to be on finishing out close games against tough opponents -- taking it to a higher level when the game is on the line as they did this season against some of their lesser opponents..

Sorry, I lost track of who had received PM's from Jake. The reason I asked if you had is because in his last civil PM to me, Jake questioned how many off-campus arenas are actually university owned, and when you posed the same question, it was deja vu for me. In any case, as long as you support an on-campus arena over an off-campus arena, you shouldn't have any problems with Jake even if you disagree on minor details. I remain neutral between either an on-campus arena or one that is off campus but within a block or two of the campus border. I'd have to compare full plans for both in order to make an informed decision, and the only plans out there right now are all highly speculative.

As I recall, we've had family advocates for individual players on ZN.o in the past. Two that come to mind were relatives of Nick Goddard and Steve Swiech, who campaigned relentlessly on this forum to get more PT for their kids. It was mostly laughed off here because it was generally recognized that neither player had the talent to be productive regular contributors. This season we have several family advocates actively posting on behalf of good players who are major contributors to the team. They're understandably focused on what's best for their family members, and they also believe that what's best for their family members is best for the team. If things aren't going as they like, their observations can become pretty negative. Under these circumstances, there's certainly an appearance of more friction on the team. The question is whether there is more actual friction than normal or if this is just a byproduct of social networking magnifying what has always existed behind the scenes. The information I've gotten from a couple of different inside team sources suggests that any friction among the players themselves was nothing beyond the normal. But I'm not sure there's any way any of us can know for sure without having actually been a part of the team for several years. Otherwise it's all he said, she said.

I mentioned earlier that I had no problem with the civil PMs that the "new" Jake was sending me. Unfortunately, after I disagreed with some of what he said, he reverted to "old" Jake in the last couple of PMs, and all the old insults came tumbling out. So I just gave Jake the honor of being the first person to go on my PM block list.

In order to win, a team must first put itself in a position to win. There's a lot of evidence that the Zips under KD have learned how to put themselves in a position to win. One example would be making it to the MAC tournament championship game 6 years in a row. Another example would be that the Zips put themselves in a position to win most of their games this season, and most of their losses were close ones that came in the last minute or two of play. So I think the next step to moving up to the next level is focusing on what needs to be done in the last minute or two of close games. Some teams that are successful at this rely on star players who are hard to stop even when everyone knows they're going to get the ball, and some teams do it with teamwork that creates easy shots for any of the players on the floor. The Zips will have 7 of their best players back next season, all of whom have shown the ability at various times to step up and knock down big shots. Some teams don't even go beyond a 7-player rotation. So even in the unlikely event that no other Zips players manage to work their way into the rotation, the Zips still have the potential to be a better team next season than this one. At times the Zips showed flashes of great teamwork during this season. But that was often in the middle of games and not in crunch time. Maybe it comes down to practice. Maybe regular drills could be run during scrimmages with 1 or 2 minutes on the clock and the Zips behind by several points. Focus on creating a mentality among all the players to have a sense of urgency and purpose when the game is on the line. Reward team play that results in closing out those 1- or 2-minute drills. Build up ther confidence that they own the last couple of minutes of every game. I really want to see next season's edition of the Zips close out close games against their toughest opponents.

No "word play" intended. You commented on when Q took his first shot. I merely pointed out when he went into the game. The two are related, and neither changes the meaning of the other.

@Spin, I'm noticing some similarities between some of your comments and some of the PMs I've been getting from Jake. Is it correct to assume that you're also getting PM's from Jake?

Q first subbed in 4 minutes, 47 seconds into the game with the Zips down by 2 (10-12).