Dave in Green

Reggie breaks out of his shooting slump. Zips lead 13-8 after the first 7 minutes.

Skip, let me try to take another shot at easing your concerns: On the assist issue, this was not the first game of the season. Despite being dragged down by a season low 6 assists and a season high 15 turnovers in the South Carolina game, the Zips are averaging 12.5 assists and 12.0 turnovers over their first 4 games. Averages are what to be concerned about, not single game outliers. The assist average is going to go up and the turnover average is going to go down. On the Noah issue, he's truly an all-around PG who can do it all in varying ratios depending on what each game calls for. He led his loaded HS team in both assists (7 per game) and scoring (16 ppg). He's taken a few ill-advised shots as all players do, especially freshmen. Like Noah, BJ, Antino and Aaron are also in the process of learning that shots they got off in HS don't work as well when guarded by D-I college players. It's something to keep an eye on but isn't a major concern at this early point in their college careers. Note that the MAC didn't see Noah's performance in Charleston as worrying except to other MAC teams. They just named him MAC East Player of the Week. Imagine that, just a few months out of HS and in only his second full week of D-I college competition he had the best overall performance of any MAC East player. No one should lose sleep worrying that Noah isn't textbook perfect on every play.

The publicly available University of Akron Police Dept. incident report was updated to include the status "Prosecution Declined" with no further explanation or details. My non-professional interpretation would be that whatever offense may have taken place apparently did not rise to the prosecutable level, and that any action taken would exclusively come from the Department of Student Conduct and Community Standards regarding any violation of the student code of conduct that may have taken place. Reading Tree's twitter, it's sad to see him enthusiastically following the Zips' tournament performance while posting "Living with no purpose."

I really enjoyed sitting close to Kwan's mom and dad and BJ's mom at all three tournament games. You are really passionate fans who make your presence known! I really enjoyed our discussions before and during the South Carolina game and look forward to many more. I'll be looking for all three of you at as many Zips home games as you can make. The close family atmosphere is one of the things I most appreciate about Zips basketball under Coach Dambrot and his staff.

MDZip, I didn't know you were there or I would have said hello. I was sitting next to Big Dog at the dinner with Aaron seated on the other side of the table and was as impressed with both of them as you were with Kwan. I had more of a chance to talk with Big Dog because he was sitting right next to me. He's very thoughtful and soft-spoken. When I asked him about a future pro career he said that was his goal, but that he was also putting a lot of work into his sports management degree (Dr. Scarborough would approve). He no longer has any pain in his wrist and is working hard to catch up with the rest of the team. He understands the importance of physical conditioning and finding his optimum playing weight. The players were all told to go back and get seconds or thirds as they need to consume a lot of calories due to the amount of physical work they do. I can tell you from sitting next to him that Big Dog had roughly the same amount of food as Aaron or any of the other players. For someone his size he did not overeat. Unlike Zeke, he has a very large frame that's never going to be as slim as some may imagine he could be. I have a lot of confidence now that his wrist is healed that Big Dog will work with the strength and conditioning folks to be in great shape before long. Everyone just needs to have realistic expectations for what he can and can't do.

All the questions were going to Coach Dambrot, and I thought with Dr. Scarborough there it offered a good opportunity to hear his perspective on college sports. So I asked him if he could say a few words about his personal philosophy on the balance between athletics and academics at a university. He started off by talking about his early years in Texas when he became a big sports fan who went to all the games and began realizing how much enthusiasm athletics can generate at a school. He said he agreed with the Bowden philosophy that athletics can be a publicly visible portal to a university generating more interest in the school. But ultimately the primary focus for a university and its president must be on academics. Dr. Scarborough said "balance" was a good term for keeping athletics in perspective, noting that most college athletes would not play professionally and needed to place a high priority on getting a degree that would help them succeed in other fields. He intimated that he's working on plans to improve the position of Zips athletics in the future within the financial constraints of today's economy. He emphasized that financial support from alumni was an important element in funding athletics at the university level, and thanked everyone for their support. A lot of what Dr. Scarborough said was general rather than specific, which was what I expected when I asked about his personal philosophy. What I interpreted from his remarks is that he is personally a genuine sports fan who will do all he can to help advance Zips athletics within the framework of raising UA's academic profile. When I saw Dr. Scarborough after the South Carolina game and pointed out to him that it was the Zips' second win over a high major school in the tournament, he nodded with a big smile and acknowledged it was great for UA. My overall impression so far is that Zips athletics will be treated with the same respect under Dr. Scarborough as they would have been under a Jim Tressel presidency. Since he spoke at some length at the team dinner, I'm sure I've missed some things here so I hope others who attended the dinner will add their thoughts.

SC's game is to use intense pressure after the ball crosses the midcourt line, not before. So far this season the Zips have handled backcourt pressure better than last season. Noah has great ball control, court vision and passing ability. Nyles is more in control this season and Antino is lightning quick, though his passing under pressure needs work. The rest of the Zips appear to be much more educated on where to be positioned and when to break open to receive a long pass to break the press. Any team is likely to have at least a few more turnovers when pressed, but it opens up opportunities for a team that can handle the press to find someone open for a shot. Pay close attention to the way the Zips handle the press as the season goes on.

The optimistic Dave in Green is here to save the day. Noah is a pass first, shoot second PG. He shot more against South Carolina out of necessity because the players he was feeding were not hitting. You can't get an assist if the player you get the ball to misses the shot. The turnovers were anticipated in the pre-game analysis because of SC's style of play. Creating turnovers is SC's game. The Zips averaged 18.5 turnovers per game against SC in their two games last season. Throughout the course of this season, the Zips will average many more assists and many fewer turnovers per game than last season. The SC game was an outlier. Rebounding is definitely an ongoing issue without Tree. I don't have an answer for that one yet, but I'm working on it.

I can recommend one other, more casual restaurant in Charleston. It's called Fuel Cantina and it's in an old gas station that still looks and feels like an old gas station. Amazingly, it's at the same intersection (Rutledge Ave. and Cannon St.) as Hominy Grill and Lana Restaurant -- three great eating establishments at one intersection in an otherwise residential neighborhood. Fuel has a limited menu specializing in upscale soft shell tacos, premium sandwiches and salads. Their braised pork tacos, jerk chicken sandwich and ho cakes were praised by Food Network's Guy Fieri on his show, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. My wife loved the pork tacos and I'm still salivating over the grilled mahi-mahi tacos washed down with a big glass of draft Sweetwater IPA. Great casual meal for the money. Their website is here.

My final comment on the tournament officiating: Sunday's game against South Carolina was a rough, grind-it-out battle as expected. The game was close down to the final buzzer. There were lots of flying bodies and some big hits missed and some small touches called. There were some boos for the refs from Zips fans as well as South Carolina fans. But as with the Miami game, nothing over the top and nothing you wouldn't hear at any college basketball game. Officiating was only a major issue for Zips fans in the Southern California game, which the Zips dominated throughout and won by 20 points.

Maybe a Zips first here: The two leading rebounders were the starting guards -- Noah (6) and Nyles (5). Great hustle. Plus SC frontcourt players were crashing the boards so hard that longer rebounds were going over their heads and getting out to the guards.

There's no maybe about it. Big Dog's coaches and teammates know that prior to his broken wrist he was in better condition than last season. But if you feel better positioned to judge that than those who work with him on a daily basis, it's certainly your right to believe otherwise.

I'm surprised at some of the uneducated comments about Big Dog. He didn't just hurt his wrist. His wrist was seriously broken. There was concern that he might be out for a long time as that kind of break doesn't always heal quickly. He hasn't been able to practice with the rest of the team. He probably wouldn't have played at all except for the fact that Tree is out and Pat had to call to be taken out of the game a couple of times because SC was running him ragged. Pat still played 35 minutes which is a lot for a 6-11 center. He has transformed into a true warrior. On the bench Big Dog was apologizing to his teammates for being out of shape and out of step with the team. They were all patting him on the back and telling him not to worry. Big Dog's teammates all want him back in the lineup because they saw what he could do in practice this year before breaking his wrist. Let's revisit the discussion about Big Dog's value to the team once he's had a chance to get back into game shape and is back in sync with the rest of the team. As a team the Zips played with a lot of heart with different players stepping up at different times. That's the way it's going to be this season. Noah will get the ball to whoever has the hot hand in any given game, and when others are struggling he will step up and be the leading scorer as he was tonight. Nyles' all-around game is just miles ahead of last season, and the Zips would have been toast without Deji's energy and major scoring contribution. Kwan's shot was a little off, but he had a couple of good blocks and hit some key free throws. Speaking of free throws, making 81.5% was the difference in the game. That's one area where Tree won't be missed, though the team sure could have used his rebounding tonight as they were slaughtered on the boards. You can talk about the fact that both USCs are not elite teams. But beating any high major team without your star player, with another frontcourt player ineffective due to injury and a true freshman running the show is not inconsequential. It's a big confidence builder for a young team that's just going to get better and better as the season goes on. The 20-win per season streak is safe with this Zips team,

PSU struggled with USC (the California USC), barely eking out a win in the last seconds. Zips should match up well, but PSU might be a little tougher on their home court. It's certainly another winnable game, and would make the Zips 3-1 against high majors this season.

Zips fans are loud. SC fans laid back and not as numerous as I expected At the first timeout, SC coach yelled at his players, "You guys taking the night off?" They're athletic, energetic and non-stop, but nowhere near as skilled as Miami. 30-25 Zips at the half.

The bus and truck may not have been traveling together. When the snow started falling it was at a 5" per hour rate. The vehicles that got stranded were the unlucky ones with bad timing.

Their equipment truck was buried in snow on a highway, stuck with other vehicles until the highways could be cleared.

Warning for those planning to watch this game: I heard someone who knows a lot more about basketball than I ever will say this is going to be an ugly game. SC doesn't have a polished offensive game and mainly relies on its defense to win games. They do a lot of subbing and have 8 players who average 18-27 minutes and 6-14 points per game. They put a lot of pressure on the ball and are very physical. There will almost certainly be more fouls and turnovers in this game than we'd like to see. It's going to be a grind-it-out game that can be painful to watch but will be OK if the Zips can grind out a win.

I like TD Arena, and so did all the other Zips fans I spoke with. The 5,100-seat capacity is a little on the small side, but a slightly larger version would be nice for UA. Didn't look too closely at the second level, but it looked like it was only 4 rows of seats, so really easy to modify the basic design and add more rows to expand capacity. For those who haven't seen TD Arena, if the JAR had the same configuration the second level would be over the track instead of behind it. The angled, wraparound seating in the corners is nice. I thought the seating pitch could be a couple of degrees steeper, but most others seemed to think it was fine.

Two USC teams in one tournament! Last year the Gamecocks feasted on the Zips' weak PG play. Noah corrects that. Their coach is smart and will focus on stopping Pat inside. Pat needs to take a shot or two early then focus on kicking out. Zips guards and wings have to hit their shots. When Pat and Big Dog play together, have Pat at the high post where he's now shown a good mid-range jumper. Mix up the looks to keep USC off balance. Good ball movement a must. Definitely winnable.

Some really good thoughts here. I agree that the Zips offensive movement for about the first 15 minutes was something I'd be happy to see all season long. But they have to be able to adjust when the defense adjusts. The Zips have always had streaky shooters because consistent shooters generally end up with the top programs. Some games this season the Zips will shoot lights out and others they'll struggle. They have to play great defense when shooting is off, and their defense couldn't handle Miami's combination of speed, pinpoint passing and teamwork. They need work on D, which will require a lot of effort, coordination and trust in each other. Pat was calling for the ball big time. I think he was really feeling it after his great results against USC. He did reasonably well in the first half but couldn't get anything to fall in the second. No other Zips player really stepped up as an option when Pat started missing. GT quoted Coach Dambrot in a story earlier this week as saying that Pat's biggest problem all along has been lack of self-confidence. The more he's used as a primary option and the more success he has, the more his confidence will grow. Another interesting quote in that story was that they had been considering redshirting Kwan this season, prior to losing Tree of course. That means the coaches don't think Kwan is 100% there yet, so we can expect Kwan to have some ups and downs this season as he continues to mature. Finally, Miami showed us what a great, seasoned PG can do for a team. When Rodriguez sat, Miami struggled. I can see Noah developing into a great PG who will make the Zips a better and better team over the next four seasons. We'll get a preview of that as the season goes on. I can't imagine how the Zips would have performed in this tournament with last season's PG rotation.

Skip, this is an excellent analysis. Miami drove and passed and drove and passed and drove and passed as long as it took to find the open man for the good shot. They're athletic, skilled and well coached. They're exactly what you would expect of an ACC team near the middle of the ACC pack but capable on any night of beating any team in the country (like breaking #7 Florida's 33-game home winning streak). The Zips without Tree are better than a lot of people think, but not as good as Miami when Miami is not sleepwalking on a no-name mid-major like UA.

The neighborhood is great. Thanks again for personally checking it out. I can highly recommend this neighborhood to any single male Zips fan who ever stays in Charleston. Between the College of Charleston and Medical University of South Carolina coeds, I've never seen so many pairs of long, slim legs walking down the streets in one place. My wife and I have walked the neighborhood the last couple of days and nights, and there are more females than males walking around at all hours. Last night we introduced 5 Zips fans to the Hominy Grill, and the unanimous opinion was that it's a big-time winner. Tonight my wife and I dined alone right across the street from the Hominy Grill at a little place called Lana which our B&B innkeeper recommended as equivalent to Hominy Grill. She was right. I had wreckfish for the first time. Never heard of wreckfish before. They hang out around shipwrecks and are mostly found in North America around the Charleston Bump off the coast of South Carolina. Tastes a lot like grouper, which is a good thing. If you ever see it on a menu, order it. The more we're around Charleston the more we're reminded of New Orleans. We spoke with a New Orleans native at our B&B breakfast this morning and she agreed. The neighborhoods are similar and so is the quality of the food. The main difference is in the spices, as New Orleans food is definitely a few degrees hotter. But Charleston should be near the top of everyone's list of cities to visit. It's a unique place with lots of history, great food and lots of long-legged young ladies (for the single men only, of course).

The Zips played a close game with Miami today before getting blown out in the second half. Zips fans never went overboard against the refs because for the most part fans saw that reasonable calls were being made both ways without a lot of obviously questionable calls. Contrast that to yesterday when the Zips dominated the game, yet Zips fans were angry that the calls being made were not reasonable. The difference was not in whether the Zips were winning or losing. The difference was in the quality of officiating. Give Zips fans more credit for knowing the difference between good and bad officiating.

Payback's a bitch.