Dave in Green

After watching the replays a few more times, one last rant on the phantom Zeke foul which was really a clean block: I've seen Zeke get angry before, mostly at himself for making a mistake. But I have never seen him as angry as he was at getting whistled for a foul he knew he didn't commit. Walsh was trying to calm him down, and Zeke tossed Walsh aside like a rag doll. Meanwhile, the ORU player who was allegedly fouled was smiling and laughing so hard at his undeserved good fortune that he almost fell over. That's a pretty big confidence builder when you can drive on the 10th best shot blocker in the country, get the ball cleanly stuffed down your gullet, and be rewarded with a pair of free throws by a ref who called something he didn't really see. Also, consider the circumstances. The Zips were trailing 28-13 with 4:43 left in the first half. The Zips went on a 9-point run to narrow the gap to 28-22. Zeke's block would have kept the Zips momentum going and they would have had a chance to narrow the gap even more in the final 1:14 of the first half. Instead, the refs took the Zips' momentum away and ORU got their momentum back and scored the last 3 points of the half to take a 9-point lead into halftime. Sure, there are missed calls on both teams in every game. Some are just more egregious than others and have bigger effects on game momentum. The refs should have more respect for the fact that the 10th best shot blocker in the country is capable of cleanly blocking shots. They should give Zeke the benefit of the doubt unless they clearly see physical contact. Even if the Zips had won, that call would have stuck in my craw because it's so typical of the way the refs disrespect his ability to cleanly block shots.

@skip-zip, you can see for yourself where RPIForecast projected the Zips' final RPI to be based on various projected final records. These are all speculative approximations, and I really doubt the Zips could ever have risen as high as the 20s. But if the Zips had won today and every other regular season and MAC tournament game, I think they could have been awfully close to 30. Zips on RPIForecast.com

One last 3-point coulda-woulda-shoulda from me: The Zips are shooting 37.2% on 3-pointers for the season. If they shoot a slightly below average 36.4% today (8-22 instead of 5-22), they score 9 more points and win by 3 instead of losing by 6. When you miss a lot of open 3s, it's just plain poor shooting, not the other team's great defense. But that's the way it is with averages. Half of the time you're above average and half of the time you're below average.

On second thought, RPI will still be important when it comes to NCAA tournament seeding, so winning out from here is still an important goal. Live RPI shows the Zips loss only dropped them from 61 to 63 (ORU's win moved them up from 46 to 40). Lots of other games going on that will also affect RPI. But it appears that the Zips can still finish this season with their best RPI ever. Previous best was 67 in 2006-07.

@wadszip, I'll bet you get (or got) really good grades in school because it's obvious that you are serious about doing your homework. Our impressions about things are often colored by our beliefs. If we never challenge our beliefs by measuring them against factual data, we may never learn how our impressions differ from reality.

Let's give credit where credit is due. The Zips trailed by 11 at halftime against a team that was undefeated at home going into their final home game of the season. They fought back in the second half as they have so many times this season, and with 11:53 left in the game, they pulled within 2 points -- a single basket. Doesn't matter how they did it, they just did it. For the next 10 minutes the Zips kept it close and appeared poised to make one of their patented spurts to take over the game. They couldn't quite get over the hump, but were still within 4 points with 1:53 left. Then they missed their next 4 shots -- all 3-pointers -- in a row. As poorly as they played at times, the Zips could have won this game by playing their best in the last 2 minutes. They didn't and ORU did. The Zips were outrebounded 6 to 1 over the last 4 minutes

Consistently slow starts are definitely a characteristic of this team. But I'm not sure that changing the starting lineup would make much of a difference. The guys who came off the bench didn't give the Zips much of a lift in the first half, so I doubt they would have done much better starting. I'd rather see KD change offensive and defensive schemes at the beginning of games as opposed to changing the starting lineup. Start off the game with less deliberate sets and play a little more helter-skelter. There are some high energy guys in the starting lineup and some high energy guys coming off the bench. But their energy is not unleashed when the coach instructs them to play slow-moving, deliberate sets. The biggest single change I'd like to see is for the Zips to have a less predictable game plan. Make each opponent wonder if they are going to be facing a slow and deliberate offense or a helter-skelter offense to open the game, and at unpredictable times throughout the game.

Zips are 40th in the country in 3-point shooting percentage. ORU is 292nd in the country in 3-point shooting defense. The Zips should have won this game on 3-point shooting. The Zips got the open looks that ORU's poor 3-point shooting defense record suggested they would. They all went cold when it counted. They couldn't make up for it with 2-point shooting, and they got outrebounded again -- badly this time. Now they know their second half magic is hocus pocus against a talented team with good execution. Time for the Zips to admit that their athleticism alone is not going to get the job done. They need to work their butts off in practice on fundamentals. They can't rely on any one or two aspects of the game. They have to get better at everything. If this wakes them up and gets them doing more of the right things for the rest of the season and into the post-season, then the loss was worth it.

No need to track RPI any longer. The only way the Zips get to the NCAA tournament is by winning the MAC tournament.

Zips just didn't have it today. They could have won this game if they had played anywhere near their potential. It was a bad game. We're officially back to having to win the MAC tournament.

It's going to be hard to overcome that last little run of missed shots, unlucky bounces and Morrison shooting clinic.

Can't argue that the Zips aren't playing well. The refs can't be blamed for the Zips poor play. Neither can the Zips poor play excuse a bad call by the refs.

Sorry, but you are just dead wrong. I've watched the play several times now on DVR slo-mo. There was no hip or leg contact.

Zeke absolutely screwed by the refs again. Cleanest block ever.

This will be a good test to see if the Zips' second-half game works against a good team as well as it's been working against weaker teams.

ORU players have good athleticism and good fundamentals. Zips look like they're playing them like a MAC West team. Zips are going to have to play a little smarter because they're not going to simply out-athlete ORU.

It's Bo!

Zips RPI taking a small hit so far in BracketBusters action. On the good side, VCU beat Northern Iowa by 9 points. On the bad side, Valparaiso lost to Loyola Marymount by 8 and Cleveland State was blown out by 20 by Drexel. Really need MAC teams to do well today.

No problem. I know the feeling. I earned a living my entire professional career as a journalist/communicator, and I get terribly frustrated when I can't write things in a way that everyone understands my intended meaning. One of the reasons some of my posts grow so long is because I'm anticipating someone not understanding what I'm trying to say, so I try to say it several different ways and end up getting too wordy. I'll try to work on that for those who prefer CliffsNotes.

Absolutely outstanding Fox Sports story on Charlie Coles centered around the game at UA with lots of quotes from KD and comments about the Zips' athleticism, Zips fans, etc. Charlie Coles is truly one of a kind

@ORU Supporter, judging by your line about Summit League officials, Zips fans and ORU fans seem to have something in common. Hope you come back here after the game and let us know how you think ORU played compared to what you've seen in the past, what you think of the Zips, how fair the officiating was, etc.

You're right. I missed the qualifier. OK, another example of Clevelanders' interest in Zips sports would be those who follow Zips players from the Cleveland area. Harney and Tree are good examples. Almost all of Elton's PD stories on Zips basketball now focus on those two. We can be certain that there is interest in Cleveland in reading about these two Zips basketball players and interest in seeing them play. We could reasonably expect even more interest from more Clevelanders if the Zips, featuring Tree and Harney, were regularly playing on TV, for example, Big East teams like Notre Dame, Cincinnati, etc. I'm just making the point that there is some level of connection even if we don't know the full size. It would be a pure leap of faith if a conference thought the Zips would automatically rack up huge viewing audiences on Cleveland TV stations if they played in a major conference like the Big East. That's why I would expect any conference to do due diligence, analyze all available data and come up with an educated estimate about what level of viewership they might reasonably expect to build. Again, I think that you and I are mostly in agreement but are just stating things a little differently. I read your posts all the time. I think you're among the most thoughtful posters on ZN.o, and I usually agree with your observations. I can't recall the last time I questioned what you meant because part of what you said didn't make sense to me. I was just looking for a clarification.

OK, we appear to be mostly in agreement, though it seems to me that you're saying two different things. First, I agree that the areas of the Cleveland-Akron TV market closer to Cleveland than Akron have not been proven yet to be a significant market for televised Zips sporting events. However, it's a fact that there is at least some connection between Zips athletics and the nation's #18 TV market. When I watch Cleveland TV, I see sports reports on Zips athletics, though not as often or in-depth as I would like. I know there are UA grads who live in closer to Cleveland and watch Cleveland TV who are interested in keeping up with Zips sports. That's the connection I'm talking about. We know there's a connection there, but we just don't know how much of a connection there is or how big it could become if the Zips were playing in a more prestigious conference and attracting more fans. In the context of this discussion, you may be defining "connection" differently from what I am.

Team Rankings analyzes all the BracketBusters TV games and has this to say about the Zips vs. ORU: Both of these teams are sizzling hot, and both are in first place in their respective conferences. Akron has won 16 of 18 and leads the MAC by two full games, while Oral Roberts has won 17 of 18 and holds a 2.5-game lead in the Summit League. The Zips probably have a better chance of earning an at-large berth should they fail to win the conference tournament, though, so this game is huge for them. But the Golden Eagles haven’t lost at home all season, and this is their final game in the Mabee Center this year. Team Rankings

Zips still a projected #13 seed in the latest CBS Sports bracketology but now matched with #4 Indiana in Nashville. Oral Roberts has moved up to a #12 seed. If the Zips beat ORU in their arena, they have a shot of moving up another notch into ORU's #12 slot.