Dave in Green

It's time for Zips fans to realize that while Can't may be UA's longtime rival in basketball, they are now just a distraction. Our deepest passion for beating another MAC team needs to be redirected against OU. Not only has OU denied the Zips the NCAA tournament bid 2 of the last 3 seasons, their players and fans are infinitely more unlikable than our closer neighbors. The road to the NCAA tournament next season for the Zips goes through Athens. If we can't regularly beat OU, we're not likely to do any damage in the NCAA tournament, either. The Zips and OU bring back a similar number of regular players next season. Our players need to improve more than their players.

The NIT means more Zips basketball now, not next season. Count me in. It hurts that the Zips lost tonight. But we have a great group of young players coming back next season. Playing a few NIT games would be good for all of them, and getting all the way to Madison Square Garden would be a great consolation prize after a tough 1-point loss to a team that some were predicting would blow out the Zips tonight.

I never realized the ride home from Cleveland was so long. It hurt that the Zips lost, but they played a good game. When you lose by 1 point, there are a hundred different plays you could point to that would have made the difference. Absolutely nothing at all for anyone to be embarassed about. This was a bounce away from being a Zips win.

I'd feel a lot more confident going into this game if only the Zips could have the MAC Coach of the Year on their bench. But I guess we'll have to limp along with the coach who's guided the Zips into their 6th straight MAC tournament championship game. OU does two things really well where the Zips have weaknesses: The Bobkitties 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. The Zips are often guilty of lazy and telegraphed passes and not holding on to the ball too well (with the exception of iron grip Tree). Zips need to focus on intelligent passing and hanging on to the ball without getting it poked away a lot. They also need to pound it inside and get OU's bigs into foul trouble Everyone is dazzled by OU's guards and their streaky 3-point shooting. In the second half against Buffalo, OU forwards Keely, Baltic and Hall scored 25 of OU's 31 points. For the game, OU's forwards outscored OU's guards, 41-36. Zips need to use their superior frontcourt to shut down OU's frontcourt, and put enough pressure on OU's guards to keep them from getting too many open looks.

When Rico hit a 3-pointer with 1:58 left to make the score 74-65, Porrini appeared to realize his promise of the Zips not beating Can't 3 times was on the line. He quickly brought the ball upcourt like a man on a mission, and never even looked for anyone to pass to. He went straight for the 3-point line to match Rico's trey. But Porrini was absolutely smothered on defense, and never had a good look. The ball barely hit the rim. I really thought the game was over at that point until the Zips started missing every shot and free throw they put up. But Porrini also had a missed free throw and a turnover after that. He had his chance to make his prediction come true and failed.

It's a good thing the Zips players and coaches don't have that kind of loser mentality of believing they're beaten before the game is played.

Surprisingly, the Zips' win over Can't on a neutral court plus other tournament action has resulted in the Zips leaping all the way up to #51 tonight on Live RPI. A win over OU should push the Zips up into the 40s, which would be by far their best ever RPI at the end of a regular season. This would all but guarantee a #14 seed, and possibly a #13. Just gotta beat the Bobkitties now.

Doesn't matter who we want. We get the Bobkitties.

Two of Sun Tzu's basic principles from The Art of War are applicable, with special attention to #2: 1. Study your enemy. 2. Never underestimate your enemy.

@GameChngr44, have you had a chance to meet George Thomas? After talking with him, I'm not at all surprised at the quality of this story. GT is a smart reporter with a fun sense of humor. I think you'd really like him. One thing this story made me consider is whether or not Zeke has ever had a chance to talk with any professional basketball players who had other professional careers open to them beyond basketball, i.e. smart, studious types whose lives didn't revolve 100% around basketball, but were talented enough to play in the NBA. I would think that Zeke could get some good words of advice from someone like a Tim Duncan, who's not only a great NBA player but is also a studious type who earned a college degree in psychology with honors. Duncan also likes to play video games, so maybe Zeke could give him some advice on that.

Using a formal "The" in the title just shows that the institution has been around a long time. It's the way they used to name things back around the turn of the 19th century, as in The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, The University of Akron, etc. In the modern, informal world, where we go out to nice restaurants in jeans and are limited to 140 characters per tweet, the formal "The" gets lost in a big hurry except among the most pompous.

Looks like it's going to be an all-East MAC Final 4.

OU up 26-24 at the half. Rian Pearson with only 1 point and 3 rebounds.

Typical OU game. They scored 3 points in the first 8 minutes of the game to trail 8-3, then ripped off 9 points in the next 3 minutes to lead 12-8.

As much as I dislike bad ref calls, I can't get excited about a bad call against Stainbrook.

That's not the only mistake in this story. How about this one: The MAC says the new format enhances the value of the regular season and better positions its best teams for the post-season. It really is nothing but an attempt to finagle a second NCAA bid, however. The new format does absolutely nothing to increase the MAC's odds of a second NCAA bid. The only thing it does is try to make it a little easier for the teams with the best regular season records to avoid being upset by virtue of playing fewer MAC tournament games. Either the writer doesn't understand what's really going on or one of his editors doesn't. True story: I had a long conversation with an SI writer one time. He told me that after he finished writing his story, he e-mailed it to an SI editor. When that editor finished editing, he e-mailed it to a higher-up editor. When that editor finished editing it, he e-mailed it to a higher-up editor. Each succeeding editor only saw what the previous editor submitted, not the original story. Bottom line was that by the time the final editor got it, he was mostly editing edits. The SI writer told me there were times when he picked up the magazine and didn't even recognize his own story. So screwed up stories should not automatically be blamed on the writer.

Don't know if the AT&T e-mail account alone will do it or not. Here's what it says at the AT&T site about connecting to ESPN3 via AT&T DSL: AT&T Extras are FREE when accessing the Internet with an AT&T High Speed Internet Service. ESPN3 listed as an AT&T Extra

I think the site automatically detects the service you're connecting from. I get it freely without having to sign in because I'm connecting from an AT&T DSL account. It reads that and pops up a little AT&T logo on the screen.

I don't care who wins as long as Can't and WMU have a quadruple overtime game.

Senderoff is really making the media rounds. He drove into Cleveland Sunday night to appear live on a late night TV sports show.

@72 Roo, I agree with you that the area next to the JAR makes way too much sense to be eliminated as a potential site for a new arena. Because of the way it could be tied into the JAR and the existing parking deck, it has to remain at the top of the list of potential sites. It would be interesting to see the detailed list of pros and cons for each of the potential sites that UA must surely be putting together.

Stainbrook pretty much has to stay in the paint on defense, as he's not overly mobile. His body is built for boxing out. If his focus is on rebounding, his size pretty much guarantees he's going to own a fair piece of real estate and get a fair share of rebounds. Part of the success of any individual player in basketball is doing what you're built to do best. It's pretty obvious how Stainbrook is built, and it's pretty obvious that Hawkins knows how to use him. If they have to face him, the bad news for the Zips is that Stainbrook is actually a pretty good player. The good news is that Stainbrook is not as good as he thinks he is, and he gets upset when his skills are questioned. There are several strategies available for taking advantage of that.

Zeke is not only MAC defensive player of the year, he is also the leading scorer and second leading rebounder on the team with the best record in the MAC. The selection process appears to have placed a high priority on conference scoring average, with all 5 players selected to the 1st team being in the top 8 in MAC scoring average. Zeke is only 27th in the MAC in scoring average, so he just didn't fit the pattern.

Maybe Jake has better sources than some give him credit for. In any case, the Spicer/Exchange area is well within the University Park Alliance's University Square District. As discussed earlier in this thread, a new arena would make a nice anchor for the "mixed use development" envisioned for that area. As the master plan states: The new “University Square” will be a managed environment that people will feel comfortable, but also open to the greater public. While the University will drive much of the demand for University Square, the development needs to appeal to, and be supported by the wider market and will have to be self sufficient.

Since Zeke was the only MAC player to make Bleacher Report's top 15 mid-major player list, it will be interesting to see where Zeke ends up on the MAC all-conference teams when they're announced tomorrow.