Dave in Green

I don't believe there has been an official date announced. FootballScoop.com has predicted the announcement will be made tomorrow (Monday). The South End, WSU's news site, reported yesterday that the UA athletic department is reporting that they will make a final decision on their new football coach Monday. But I believe that's based more on the FootballScoop prediction and not on an official UA report. The South End also says the Paul Winters-to-Akron move is imminent, though nothing is for sure. One clue they cite is: Falling into this timeline, Winters is said to be holding the Warriors’ end-of-season team meeting tomorrow (Sunday) at 4 p.m., according to players. Usually such a meeting takes place on the Monday after the last game. As such, some players said they are curious what’s going to happen. The South End

He only took one shot.

Wow. Ohio drives 60 yards in the last 1:45 and scores a TD with 13 seconds left to win 24-23.

More interest in Harney than in tonight's game, huh? Well, OK, the game was not one of the more competitive in UA history. The Zips took care of business even better than against UAPB. Never a doubt. This 4-game run is mainly about watching how various player combos perform on the court together. My strongest memory of the game was Q's leaping ability. Holy crap! He was almost as high above the rim as Zeke on a couple of plays. My second strongest memory is Tree's passing. He fires the ball as hard as Nicely, but with a great deal more accuracy. His feed to Q on the sky-high slam was pinpoint perfect. When the season began, I thought that Harney was ahead of Tree on the learning curve. It appears now that Tree is ahead of Harney on the learning curve. The Zips can play pretty well without Harney. But they'd be even better with him. Hopefully he's learning what it takes to be a member in good standing on a Zips team that's going to do well with or without him. Based on what I heard at the game tonight, my best guess is that Harney is back for the VCU game if he does all the things that are required of every Zips basketball player.

@Blue & Gold, you're welcome to bring back that avatar once a year for a single day each Halloween.

Mississippi State beats Detroit in Detroit, 80-75. Moultrie and Sidney combine for 33 points and 20 rebounds.

It's over.

Warriors can't stop Pitt State.

He's not just a MAC assistant. He's a MAC OC who has experience as an assistant at Michigan when the Wolverines were a power, in the SEC coaching Tim Tebow under Urban Meyer, and a year in the NFL. He's a native of Barberton. Lots of things to like about his credentials. Scot Loeffler

Right. Anyone who makes a bad prediction on ZN.o should be banned. The only ones exempted from this should be those who believe they are always right even when they're wrong.

So, is there a real coaching search underway or is Winters locked in? Akron: We have learned that the administration is very impressed with Temple offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler. Loeffler grew up minutes from the stadium. FootballScoop.com

It really depends on how you define IQ. Is it more about what one has already learned before taking an IQ test, or is it more about one's inherent ability to learn? For example, Steve McNees led the Zips over the past few years, and there's no question that he had a lot of basketball knowledge. His father was a coach, and McNees was immersed in basketball from an early age. McNees might make a good coach. On the other hand, one could argue that basketball IQ is more related to one's inherent ability to catch on to the way the game is played rather than what one has already learned about the game. Some players catch on quickly and some are slow to learn. I'd argue that the ones who catch on quickest have the highest inherent basketball IQ even if they haven't been at it long enough or had the proper training to grasp all the fine details.

Before taking credit for coining a new phrase, it always pays to run the phrase through a Google search. For example, someone could rightfully take credit for coining the following phrase because it gets no hits in a Google search: "The Graveyard of Plagiarists."

I wouldn't write the Serb off so quickly just because he's off to a slow start. He's leading the team in rebounding, which is a pretty important area where the Zips need all the help they can get. His role has changed a little in that he now has a decent outside shot and is hitting 40% of his 3-pointers. But his inside shooting percentage is off. So is his free throw percentage, which indicates his focus may be a little off. As the season goes on I think we'll see times where the Serb will look better and play a major role. But the bottom line is that the Zips have a much deeper frontcourt this season than last. With Tree and Harney playing so well, there's not as much need for the Serb to play long minutes.

Mount Union fails on 4th and 10, and will lose 13-10. Really ugly conditions. I don't recall seeing so much standing water on a synthetic turf field.

Now 13-10 with 3 minutes left.

It's 13-3 with 5 minutes left, and Mount Union is in a pretty deep hole.

Mount Union losing 10-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Zeise appears to have his own sources, as he mentions NIU's Dave Doeren who FootballScoop does not mention. Zeise and FootballScoop also disagree on what day Chryst is being interviewed.

No need to shoot so much from long range when you have bigs who can hit a high percentage of their inside shots. Check out these field goal shooting percentages: .648 - Zeke .548 - Tree .528 - Harney Even Walsh is hitting at a .553 rate, mostly on mid-range jumpers and driving layups.

Odd that Paul Zeise, the Pitt football beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, knew nothing this afternoon of a Narduzzi interview even though he seems to have details of others being interviewed for the job. Help wanted: Pitt opens coaching interviews with Fickell, Cristobal

What I noticed about Nitro is that after not starting, when he was inserted into the game, he immediately drove the lane and took an inside shot that just rolled off the rim. I took this as a sign of aggressiveness due to not starting. He only played 17 minutes, but was 2-3 on 3-pointers and had 2 rebounds and 2 assists with no turnovers. So while Nitro may not be playing inspired basketball, this was not a bad performance coming off the bench for the first game this season.

As one of the "wrong" from last January, I've revised my thinking on Zeke. He may get up for big games as he did against Can't last January and also in the MAC tournament against Can't. But I don't believe we will ever see a single breakout game where he suddenly shifts into another gear. I believe that Zeke is the type of player who comes along slowly and methodically -- continuous improvement, so to speak. I think he'll keep on slowly improving all aspects of his game right on through the end of his senior season.

Zips football problems of the last two seasons were neither entirely the fault of the players nor the coaching staff. I don't doubt that the right coaching staff could get more out of the current players. But it will take a higher level of ability from both the new coaching staff and future recruits to turn the Zips into consistent MAC championship contenders.

@lumberjack, I really appreciate your educated observations. You do a great job of pointing out that basketball is like chess, where each move on the court produces multiple offensive and defensive options, and the best coaches, players and teams are planning several moves ahead and constantly adjusting. Teams that scout the Zips understand that Zeke is a key component of both the Zips offense and defense, so it's logical that they would employ tactics designed to neutralize him. Since there are countermoves to every move, it's up to KD and the coaching staff to train Zeke and the rest of the team to recognize and counter tactics other teams use to neutralize Zeke. On defense, Zeke's presence in the lineup is so critical that they really can't afford to have him getting into foul trouble on a regular basis. Other teams understand this and do all they can to put him in a position where he's likely to be called for trivial contact. So on defense, while Zeke and the rest of the Zips must react to the offensive moves that are thrown at them, there have to be multiple options on how to react. Some of those options will be more effective than others in keeping Zeke from getting drawn into the kind of situations where he's most likely to pick up unnecessary fouls. At the very minimum, Zeke needs to understand that when he's drawn out of position and more likely to be whistled by a ref, he has to back off of his standard aggressive defensive mode, even if it gives the player he's defending a better chance to score. Ultimately, having Zeke on the floor at the end of a game is more important than giving up a few baskets in the middle of the game by playing slightly looser defense when he's drawn out of position.