Dave in Green

She knows pre-season stuff is worthless, and it's what you do during the season that counts.You mean like last night?

Another good stat: Zips' win over MSU boosted them up to #82 in the Pomeroy Ratings.

Checking the record books, last night's win over MSU was more impressive than the Zips' previous win over MSU.When the Zips beat MSU in December 2005, it was on a neutral court (Puerto Rico), not on MSU's home court.MSU was in a down year where they finished the season 15-15 with an RPI of #112.Zips were in an up year where they finished the season 23-10 with an RPI of #74.

Nitro didn't have his greatest game on offense last night. But he did a lot of good things to go along with the few questionable moves that have been mentioned. How do I know this? Because KD played Nitro 35 minutes, more than any other player. KD does not keep players on the floor who aren't contributing, especially with the number of talented players he has available to come off the bench right now. Nitro did play good defense on the MSU guards without committing a single foul.Nitro is probably the least flashy player on the Zips team this season. Except when his shooting is on and he's draining treys, the good things he brings to the team won't stand out as much unless you're looking closely.

I heard an interesting comment from a talking head on TV tonight, who noted in a passing remark that Paterno is of an age (84 years old) that really doesn't know how to deal with things like this. That's not an excuse. But it's a good observation that one of the reasons so many situations like this in the past went so far is because older generations honestly did not know how to deal with it. The fact that the oldest, most experienced people are often in the highest positions of power only contributes to the problem.The world has changed, and there are now laws in place to assist those who do not fully understand the gravity of not following through on reporting such incidents. As more details came out in this case, it became clearer that some fell short on their legal obligations and others in their moral obligations.

Take a little time to know Districtballer better. Read some of his posts from previous years. Of all the fans of other teams who post on ZN.o, he is the most educated and best contributor of interesting and useful commentary.Civility is not as common as it used to be, and some no longer recognize it when they see it, especially on sports forums. Don't confuse civility with passive-aggressive behavior.

Interesting points, jupitertoo. You can't make comments like that on this forum without getting ripped to shreds, as I'm sure you knew before posting it. So kudos to you for having the courage to post an unpopular opinion. Forums are especially boring when there's a pack mentality that discourages dissenting opinions.

I would like to submit that if my esteemed colleague from Green had a chance to design a form that would allow a University employee to report child rape, along with a six month procedure that would explore every possible avenue of wrong doing before acting, this would have never happened. Not funny.

I know we're all euphoric right now. But let's be realistic for a second. MSU's Renardo Sidney is rated as the best NBA prospect who was on that floor tonight. But the guy's a head case. He obviously did not do any training in the off-season. He was so out of shape and out of breath at times that the commentators noted that he was only able to be on the floor every third play or so.With a serious, in-shape Renardo Sidney, MSU would be a totally different team. A couple of the spin moves he made on Zeke were breathtaking for a 6-10, 280-pound player. If Sidney was serious about his game, this would have been a much different game.This in no way diminishes the importance of the Zips' win. The Zips knew their opponent's weaknesses and took advantage of them.

Walsh may not be a "true" PG, but he's enough of a PG to keep the Zips going when Rico is resting. Actually, it was a little PG by committee when Rico wasn't in. Zips have a lot of good ball handlers, which makes it a little less critical when the starting PG rests. As GoZips mentioned a few days back, even the Serb can bring the ball up court, which he did when MSU was pressing near the end of the game. And they can all dribble, pass and catch.But the most important thing beyond the individual talent is that these guys play well together. That was some amazing team chemistry for the first real (non-exhibition) game of the season.It was a combination of individual talent and team play that kept the Zips playing tough, aggressive basketball when Rico and Zeke were on the bench.Zeke was a man tonight. He played tough, smart basketball against a bigger MSU front line, and almost made it the whole game without fouling out. He's edging closer and closer to greatness.This is a special Zips team. There's just a great mix of varied talent. They all seem to respect each other's play and enjoy playing together. There were none of those scenes of Zips chewing out other Zips that we've seen in previous seasons.Having said that, they're far from perfect. Some of their weaknesses will cost them wins during the season. On the other hand, Walsh, Gilliam, Harney and Tree are only going to get better.My earlier fearless prediction for this season was, win or lose, this is going to be one entertaining team to watch. Was that ever true tonight!

To quote the announcer:What A Win For Akron!

Anyone doubting GoZips' early season predictions up to this point in the game?

Just looking at size, MSU starts two big forwards (6-10, 270, and 6-11, 230) and three guards (6-2, 6-3 and 6-8). The 6-8 guard is a freshman who weighs only 180 pounds, so he could also be considered a wing forward.So let's say their front line is 6-11, 6-10 and 6-8, with a backcourt of 6-2 and 6-3. This makes them a little taller than the Zips starters, but not a big difference.The only two subs they used against EKU, and who each played about half the game, are a 6-9, 253-pound center and a 6-3 guard. Again, they appear to have a slight height advantage over the Zips subs, but no glaring differences.MSU starts two seniors, two juniors and the skinny freshman, and their two key subs are a junior and a sophomore.The Zips start two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore, and it's only when the Zips go deeper into the bench that they have a little less experience.Now when it comes to talent, we'll see in a few minutes how that works out!

I get all tingly when Dr Z quotes stats!

It's really painful to look at the timeline of events and see how many people had an opportunity to stop Sandusky over the years. Most people along the way saw a small part of the big picture and didn't know they were dealing with a serial offender. The exception would be those who were aware of both the 1998 and 2002 incidents on campus. The local district attorney even passed on filing charges in 1998. But there was no excuse for inaction in 2002 by anyone who also knew of the 1998 incident. That obviously established a pattern. Those are the people who are most likely to face legal charges.Key dates in the Penn State sex abuse caseIt looks as if the PSU president who was in office during all of this may also be on his way out:Report: PSU president Spanier may resign today

ESPN's Howard Bryant has written the best analysis of this case that I've yet seen. He cites other cases where powerful organizations have covered up abuses of individuals in order to protect themselves. The only solution to situations like this is for every individual to have zero tolerance. Anyone who participates in any way in any kind of cover-up must be held accountable. These cases go on for years and decades because too many people make the wrong choice of protecting institutions over individual lives.When you read about the number of innocent victims whose lives were ruined, it is absolutely heartbreaking.Penn State's failure of power

The more that comes out, the worse it looks for all who knew there was even a chance of a crime against children. I'll remain open-minded on who bears how much responsibility until the final results of the investigation are done. But the nature of the crime is so terrible that anyone with a conscience should not have been able to sleep at night until they knew that appropriate action had been taken.The big-name leaders are supposed to be role models. It's fair to hold them to high standards.

Everyone, please refrain from Can't bashing for a minute. Can anyone give me a good reason why this is the case? It makes no sense to me.It's really pretty simple:Can't had a better record last season than the Zips, Can't ended last season with an RPI of #67 to the Zips' #101, and Can't lost only one starting player while the Zips lost two starters. Both teams have added a couple of good transfers.Like it or not, Can't has another strong team that will probably be even more athletic this season than last, so the Zips will have to perform at a high level to beat them.

You're sure that I was being proactive and not overreactive to suggest that anyone take Zipmeister's advice?

MSU beat EKU, 76-66. Zips need to bring their best game.

Good topic! Had to copy and paste your link to make it work. But it appears that EKU is playing MSU close right up to the end, which is good news for the Zips if they, in fact, outperformed EKU in the closed scrimmage.But there are no guarantees in life. If EKU plays MSU tough right up the final buzzer, MSU may get a wakeup call and be more prepared for the Zips.Current score, by the way, is 67-58, MSU leading with just under 4 minutes left.

@GP1 and @Doug Snyder, please forgive me for letting my moderate view of life infringe here. But I think you are both right, and this is not really worthy of a major debate at this time.It's fair to compare average scores for different numbers of games to present the speculative viewpoint that if A doesn't happen, B will occur. But it's also fair to point out what the average scores were for the same number of games.Bottom line is we won't know for sure until the season is over.The gentleman from Green moves that we table this issue until after the last game.

@ZippyRulz, in case you procrastinate on your homework, please allow me to assist you with this direct quote from the grand jury report:Joseph V. Paterno testified to receiving the graduate assistant's report at his home on a Saturday morning. Paterno testified that the graduate assistant was very upset. Paterno called Tim Curley ("Curley"), Penn State Athletic Director and Paterno's immediate superior, to his home the very next day, a Sunday, and reported to him that the graduate assistant had seen Jerry Sandusky in the Lasch Building showers fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy.But I'd suggest you take Zipmeister's advice and read the whole grand jury report, as it will probably answer other questions you might come up with.Guys, we have a lot of fun going back and forth on all kinds of subjects on ZN.o. But this one should not be taken lightly by anyone.

He's the most credible statistician in college basketball. Valiant effort though Dave in Green... 'huge VCU advantage' made me chuckle. No one's taking it easy against your sweet 16 caliber squad. Yeah, I'm not a very good bluffer in poker, either. :)I'm a big fan of Ken Pomeroy. So I'll accept that, based on his current estimation, UA and VCU are not that far apart.

I would think it's unanimous here that we'd all consider adults preying on vulnerable youths to be an especially heinous crime.I would think it's unanimous here that we'd all want to see everyone involved in any such activity be held accountable to the full extent of their involvement and guilt.I would think it's unanimous here that we'd all want to see no one punished in any way if they are innocent of doing anything wrong.