Dave in Green

So you're defining "choke" as ECU having a first down on the UCF 15-yard-line with a 4-point lead and 1:47 left in the game, losing 20 yards on 4 running plays to the UCF 35-yard-line, turning the ball over to UCF with 10 seconds left and giving up a 14-yard first down pass followed by a game-winning 51-yard TD pass as the game clock ran out? Good call.

We wanted Zeke to be a 3-point shooter?

Sorry for not posting the score from the JAR. The Zips scored the first 10 points in the game, ran out to a 34-point lead and coasted to a 24-point win, 73-49. Kwan was on fire and hit 5 of his first 6 treys. The game was never in doubt. Caught Captain Kangaroo in the middle of a big yawn, which pretty much summed up the game. Some have been asking for a Zips blowout, and this was it.

Western Illinois is really good at drawing fouls. That's about it.

Western Illinois is about #300 out of about 360 D-I teams. William & Mary is just outside the top 100, not too far behind the Zips. On paper this should be one of the easier games on the Zips schedule. This would be a game where you'd expect to see some of the younger Zips players get a chance to show what they've got.

If you know something you can't tell, then I understand your reluctance to provide supporting evidence. If you're just speculating, welcome to the club. In either case, telling other Zips fans to just forget it and "move on" accomplishes nothing other than to antagonize other Zips fans who care about both Tree and the Zips team.

Deji!

Miami is currently ranked #15. We'll start seeing how strong they really are on Jan. 3 against #7 Virginia and Jan. 13 against #4 Duke.

Skip, I was referencing the fact that it's public information that Tree has been charged with a violation of the student code of conduct. The level of severity of the violation is not public knowledge. We know from past experience with violations of the student code of conduct that punishment can range from missing a few games to missing a whole season. If Tree were to be reinstated on the team in the near future, it would indicate that the violation was not as severe as some have speculated.

I'll just speculate that if Tree should return to the team this season, the best news is that it would mean he was not guilty of an offense as serious as some have imagined. Tree would need to understand that he would be coming back to a team that has compensated for his absence by relying less on one star and more on many players taking on added responsibilities. The tricky part would be working Tree back into the rotation in a way that takes more advantage of what other players have shown they can contribute and not simply going back to the old way of relying on Tree to carry the team on his big shoulders. It's no longer Tree's team. But it's a good team that could use Tree's contributions to become an even better team.

Your whole post was really good. The statement above really boils it down to the fundamental. UA needs to consider tailgaters as a separate group from all other customers with special wants and needs. They need to understand those wants and needs and come up with a well-thought-out plan for tailgaters. The sensible thing is to have all tailgaters in one lot that is good for tailgating. Part of the season ticketing process should be to identify tailgaters so that their special parking needs can be considered. I think the concept of having all tailgaters in a highly visible lot not far from the stadium makes a lot of sense because it helps create more of a game day atmosphere. Lot #9 is perfect for that because everyone passing by on Exchange gets to see all the interest in Zips football building up hours before kickoff. There may be other lots that would work. But they shouldn't be too far out of the way and out of sight. Charge a reasonable premium for tailgate parking and never, ever allow visiting fans to move in and bump tailgaters out of their regular spots.

Great point, Z.I.P. When things aren't going well this team doesn't get down. They don't show bad body language and there's no sulking. It's a very even-tempered team with no prima donnas. The players all seem to get along really well and appear to want to help each other by sharing the ball and making extra passes. The 5 players scoring in double figures tonight is a good sign of that. Even at this early stage of the season, the balance and chemistry of this team is as good as any Zips team I can recall.

If anyone wondered how the Zips would perform when Noah was having an off night, they adjusted pretty well. Noah was an uncharacteristic 2-7 from the field and 2-5 from the free throw line. But he still distributed the ball well with 6 assists to 2 turnovers. Thanks to good ball movement, especially in the 2nd half, scoring was really balanced with 5 players in double figures. Kwan is looking better and better in all phases of the game, adding 4 assists and 2 blocks to his double-double. Noah (34 minutes) and Kwan (32 minutes) were the only players on the floor for more than 21 minutes, so it appears they are the most indispensable players on the team. There's more depth at the other positions for more frequent rotation. But we'll probably be seeing Noah and Kwan playing long minutes in most games. As expected, it was a fast-moving, physical game with some sloppy play. If nothing else, the Zips put UAPB away a lot sooner and with more emphasis than the Bobkitties did. As mentioned earlier, those 2 teams were tied with 5 minutes left and OU only won by 8.

No lineup experimenting in the 2nd half.

Just like the OU game. UAPB led early in the 2nd half and were tied with 4 minutes to go.

Keep in mind that when in HS Zeke was a defensive specialist who didn't like to shoot and didn't even average double-digit scoring while Noah was the leading scorer on his HS team even though he was the PG.

He may be trolling for an assistant position at UB.

Sometimes it's healthy to just take a time out from a forum. I did that for a week or two one time when ZN.o was so clogged up with negative posts that there was no joy in being here. It helped me clear my mind and learn to tune out non-productive negativism. Speaking of missing persons, has anyone else noticed that Zipmeister hasn't posted here in a month and a half? Hope he's doing well and just taking a little break.

While I had hoped that Deji would continue his great play from the last part of last season, he's exceeding my expectations. Though he's only averaging the 6th most minutes per game (18), he's tied with Kwan (26 mpg) as the team's 3rd leading scorer at 9.7 ppg behind Noah (13.3 in 32 mpg) and Pat (10.5 in 28 mpg). Here's a guy who's free throw shooting had been steadily going down each season, from 68.8% to 56.2% to an even worse than Tree 44.7% last season. Through 6 games this season Deji's hitting 88% of his free throws (22-25). He's become as reliable a free throw shooter as former Zips ace Darryl Roberts. He's gone from cringeworthy to a money guy you want on the floor at the end of close games. Not only that, Deji's 25 total free throw attempts leads the team over Pat (23 attempts) and Noah (18) who average many more minutes per game. Deji has become the guy who can take it to the rim and finish, draw fouls and reliably knock down free throws. His 3-point shooting is off so far this season, but his slashing ability is much more valuable to a team with many 3-point shooters. If Deji continues to perform at this level he will be a legitimate candidate for MAC Sixth Man of the Year.

Hilltopper, you had it nailed in an earlier post when you said: You should have stuck with that.

I guess this thread was unofficially locked for awhile because no one was posting to it for awhile. Really, why would anyone want to lock it? Why would we not want everyone commenting on the farewell post of a ZN.o fixture? Speaking personally, GP1 has always been an enigma to me. At times I found his analyses of specific team issues to be really insightful. At other times the lengthy, repetitious pontification on pet issues was downright painful. If GP1 doesn't post here for the next 10 years, there's already enough posted on spring football, the building process and death to the NCAA to get us through the next decade even if no one else addresses those subjects. Mostly I'll remember GP1 as a loyal Zips fan who always said and did what he thought was best for his alma mater. We all take on various personas for various reasons on internet forums. Some of us are just being ourselves, some of us are trying to be what we want to be and some are just role-playing. Figuring out who's doing what for which reasons is one of the intriguing parts of belonging to an internet forum community. Having said all of that, I don't believe that we've heard the last from GP1. I think where the Zips ended up after being 4-2 was a wrenching experience for us all, and we're all reacting in our own ways. I understand and empathize with what GP1's feeling right now. He just wants the pain to end, and one way to reduce the pain is to walk away from this forum. But that's being a quitter, and I don't see GP1 as a quitter. I would welcome back his insightful comments and grudgingly put up with his pontifications.

Coach Dambrot is not interested in winning non-conference games big. He's more interested in preparing the team for conference play. There will be more tinkering with the lineup and combinations of players to see which groups work together best at which times during the game. Keep your eyes on who plays with who, when they're on the floor and how many minutes each player gets. UAPB is on another early season death march -- 13 straight games on the road to earn enough money to keep the athletic programs funded at a poorly funded traditional southern black university playing in the SWAC. After UA, they'll head up to Michigan to play #20 Michigan State. They will lose most of these games, but they will play hard and they will play tough, and the Zips will get a good workout. They play a helter-skelter game and force a lot of turnovers while having a high number of turnovers themselves. It will not be a pretty game. I have a lot of respect for SWAC schools because I have a good idea of the economic challenges they face. I'm glad that UA contributes every year to the budgets of one or more SWAC schools. I love to see the heart these kids play with. I hope the Rowdies will go easy on them. They deserve our respect.

Maybe they already have. The lady Zips are currently shooting 74.1% from the free throw line and the men are shooting 73.1%. Take away Tree's 2-6 performance from the only game he played (and assuming he's not coming back), the remaining men's players are averaging 75.5% from the free throw line -- a little better than the women. Terrible free throw shooting by the men's team is last year's news.

I'm surprised at the lack of comments for this poll. I know for a fact that people at UA read ZN.o looking for feedback and good ideas. I'm sure there's more than one person at UA tracking this poll. I'm not even a tailgater but there's one thing that's pretty obvious to me: You can't have tailgating without tailgates, and you can't have tailgates without vehicles. So whatever that other area is that might have live music but no parking may be attractive to some who don't normally tailgate but it's not a viable alternative for hardcore tailgaters. People aren't going to carry their barbecue grills and coolers from a parking lot to a pseudo-tailgating area. Every tailgater I've ever spoken with wants to be in lot #9 along with all the other tailgaters they've made good friends with over the years. Anything that interferes with this, like letting Marshall fans into lot #9 to take the parking places of loyal Zips tailgating fans, is a huge slap in the face that threatens to further reduce the fan base at Zips games. I hope the real tailgaters will all make their voices heard in this poll.

You need to trademark that name for the dynamic duo. It fits Antino and Noah perfectly.