Dave in Green

Antino had the true offensive play of the game. He drove the ball into the lane but as he jumped for the short floater a BG big jumped high between Antino and the basket with his arms high over his head. Antino didn't have a clear shot and his feet were about to come back to earth and earn him a traveling call. At the last second he bounces the ball off the defender's chest, the ball bounces right back into his hands and he scores an easy layup -- his only 2-pointer of the game. That's a play that takes quick reactions and smarts plus a big dose of luck that the ball bounces right back to you. Antino has come a long way from how he played in early season games.

Winning at WMU with Pat and Jake on the bench helped prepare the Zips for this. In crunch time 3 freshmen, 1 sophomore and 1 senior came from behind and closed it out with great D and clutch shooting on the road.

Since I was just 10 feet away when Jake hit the chair with his head and could clearly see his face the whole time they were working on him, I can report this. He never appeared to lose consciousness but was in pain. Later he appeared to be fine on the bench. Scary moment, but from my closeup view, no obvious major harm.

So far you don't want to see what we're seeing here.

Looks to me as if a word was inadvertently omitted from GT's snapshot. It should have read first conference win away from the JAR of the season. That road win in Kalamazoo with Pat and Jake sitting had to be a huge confidence builder for the younger players. Tonight's game is also big because it would tie the Zips with Can't for the MAC lead, and I like the way Coach Dambrot prepares his teams for big conference games. I wouldn't bother to make my first trip to Bowling Green today if I didn't think the Zips were going to win.

UB exposes Can't. The winner of tonight's Zips-BGSU game will be tied for MAC East leader and best overall record in the MAC. UB 80, Can't 55 EAST Can't 6-2 Zips 5-2 BGSU 5-2 UB 5-3 OU 2-5 MU 2-5 WEST WMU 4-3 CMU 4-3 UT 4-3 BSU 2-5 NIU 2-5 EMU 2-5 Saturday's matchups include: 5-2 Zips @ 5-2 BGSU 4-3 UT @ 2-5 NIU 2-5 OU @ 4-3 CMU 4-3 WMU @ 2-5 EMU 2-5 BSU @ 2-5 MU

Looks as if Zeke is staying with Sagesse for Lebanese league play after last week's Dubai International Tournament:

That's exactly what BSU fans thought -- that their team played a fabulous defensive first half but suffered from an inability to make shots.

It was down for everyone I know.

Pat and Big Dog having career nights in back-to-back games certainly reinforces how fortunate the Zips are to have two big and talented true centers. That's an advantage over every other team in the MAC that the Zips need to leverage to the max. Come March it could be the difference that helps punch the Zips' ticket back to the Big Dance.

Thanks, Ada Zip. That's exactly the kind of analysis I was hoping to see. Having 4 players line up behind the 3-point line and the center either taking the shot or feeding one of them is pretty 1-dimensional. That's why I've been pushing the concept of some new thinking. The only sense I can make of having Pat and Big Dog on the floor together is if Big Dog is the center in the low post, 3 players line up behind the 3-point line and Pat is out of the paint but inside the 3-point line, i.e. high post. If he can knock down mid-range 2s, it adds a dimension to the Zips offense. I'm open to other ideas if anyone can give me a reasonable explanation as to why this is not worth pursuing.

I can only speak for myself. I've met thousands of people in my life, and Coach Peters made a bigger impression on me than almost all of them. The ceremony honoring his memory only made me miss being able to look over and see him on the bench encouraging everyone in his 100% positive every moment of the day manner in which I'll always remember him. I was definitely feeling melancholy after the ceremony and hoping the game would raise my spirits. The way it started off with all the missed shots and low scoring didn't help at all. It wasn't until the second half when the world seemed almost right again.

Kwan's defense and rebounding have clearly improved over last season. He's the team's leading defensive rebounder (3.5 per game), his 4.8 total rebounds per game is second only to Pat's 5.5 and his 28 blocked shots are second only to Pat's 31. I wouldn't worry about some offensive fluctuation from game to game. Reggie's 31-point explosion is just one example of how different players have offensive ups and downs. Kwan remains a big part of the offense even if his shooting has struggled a bit recently (9-29 or 31% from the field over the last 4 games). He's still averaging 7.8 field goal attempts per game, second only to Noah's 8.2.

I was hoping that you'd take the time to break down for me how you think Pat and Big Dog could most effectively be used when they're occasionally on the floor together.

Oops, I said it was good to see Pat and Reggie playing when I meant Pat and Jake. Nothing against Reggie, but it was Jake's health that we had the little scare about. Reggie's long ball was off early, and he apparently got discouraged and took only 3 shots in his 19 minutes. Noah's long ball was also off early, and he just kept right on shooting his way to a 1-10 on 3-pointers for the game. As a team the Zips were a terrible 7-26 on 3s and a respectable 16-29 on 2s.

The West turned into a big hot mess tonight with 3 teams tied for the lead at 4-3 and 3 teams tied for the cellar at 2-5. Meanwhile Can't still rules the East with the Zips and BGSU in hot pursuit and UB lurking. Zips 59, BSU 47 Can't 63, CMU 53 BGSU 56, NIU 46 UB 77, WMU 71 EMU 76, OU 40 UT 70, UM 65 EAST Can't 6-1 Zips 5-2 BGSU 5-2 UB 4-3 OU 2-5 MU 2-5 WEST WMU 4-3 CMU 4-3 UT 4-3 BSU 2-5 NIU 2-5 EMU 2-5 Friday's matchup is: 6-1 Can't @ 4-3 Buffalo Saturday's matchups include: 5-2 Zips @ 5-2 BGSU 4-3 UT @ 2-5 NIU 2-5 OU @ 4-3 CMU 4-3 WMU @ 2-5 EMU 2-5 BSU @ 2-5 MU

By "another stretch 4" I assume you're counting Kwan as the first. You do understand that when Big Dog and Pat are on the floor at the same time that Kwan's on the bench, right? Pat would only move to stretch 4 in the few minutes per game that he and Big Dog are both in the lineup instead of Pat and Kwan or Big Dog and Kwan. Of course Pat's primary position is center and so is Big Dog's. But Pat has the flexibility to play multiple positions and Big Dog doesn't.

Zips didn't appear to be too motivated against BSU, which led me to not be motivated to post from the JAR. Zips couldn't shoot, pass or hold on to the ball in the first half. They finally showed some energy in the second half and restored order. It was good to see Pat and Reggie playing, and Pat was especially good considering all those stitches he had, hitting 6-8 from the field and 5-6 free throws. I continue to be impressed with Aaron's progress. He plays with a lot of energy on both offense and defense and is making fewer mistakes as he gets more minutes.

RooYahoo, have you been following Pat for long? How much do you know about his game in HS, where I've heard he scored a lot of his points with a mid-range jumper as opposed to doing all of his scoring in the paint? The reason I ask is because I think Pat could make an effective stretch 4 with Big Dog playing the post in the few minutes each game that they're on the court together. Pat appears to have a nice jumper in warmups and has also scored a few in game situations. I think he may be a more multidimensional player than he has shown in the role he's been given so far with the Zips.

Could the following Twitter research also apply to angry venting on forums like ZN.o? Be safe, Zips fans. Stay positive and optimistic to keep your heart healthy.

When we first heard of Peter, it appeared he was a super rebounder without much of a shooting game. So far in his senior HS season he appears to be turning into a strong scorer as well. Makes the Zips recruiting brain trust look pretty astute.

Zeke's team lost the championship game in the Dubai International Tournament by 2 points in double overtime. Zeke was his team's 3rd leading scorer with 13 and 10 rebounds in Sagesse's loss to Riyada, which scored a record 6th championship in the tournament. So where does Zeke go from here? Riyadi defeat Sagesse 120-118 in epic final

If anyone actually believes there's a ref conspiracy to screw the Zips, please speak up and share all the sordid details. Otherwise I'll continue to believe that all Zips fans posting here acknowledge that questionable calls are generally random. Sometimes they're for you and sometimes they're against you, and it all evens out over time.

All David had to do was sink 2-9 of his 3-pointers instead of the 1-9 he actually hit.

Forget it. I do it for personal entertainment when I want to.