Dave in Green

Skip, I remember. In retrospect I think it may have been more about priorities. Egner was a high school hero who helped bring a state championship to his school, and it appeared almost effortless. The leap to the D-I college level doesn't come without lots of focus and effort, as we've seen with a number of Zips players over the years. But even those who didn't make it with the Zips have gone on to do well in D-II. Surely Egner had enough ability to succeed at Walsh with even a modest level of focus and effort. I think other things became more important to him than basketball. I'll always remember him from watching his spectacular performance in the JAR during the HS playoffs and thinking what a great Zips player he could become. I wish him well in whatever productive things he chooses to do with his life.

Dortch The Torch earned his nickname. He shot 61.5% from the field (60% on 3s), which is pretty spectacular for a guard, and averaged 20 points per game last season. Of course, the average for the season only lists one game played.

Realistically, even if UA grovelled and begged, the odds of getting picked to play at Duke, North Carolina, Kansas or Michigan State level teams would be small. The teams GP1 named are more realistic. If UA tried hard enough, they could probably schedule an added major a year on the road In 2011 the Zips got rave reviews for beating Mississippi State in Starkville. That team featured no less than three current NBA players -- Philadelphia 76er forward Arnett Moultrie and Utah Jazz guards Rodney Hood and Dee Bost. Even undrafted head case Renardo Sydney was an immensely talented player on that team. For pure individual talent, that's probably the best team the Zips ever beat. Win or lose, just give us one more of those efforts every season.

They're not mutually exclusive. The former is a key part of the latter. If the running game better complements the passing game and Pohl becomes more effective, everyone on the offense can become more effective and successful. It's the old saying about a rising tide raising all ships. It's the same thing if the offensive line gets better in opening things up for the running game. That makes everyone better. It's a team sport where any improvement in any area can improve the overall game. If they're all improving in sync, they can get really good. Good coaches make that happen, and Coach Bowden is a good coach. There's reason to be optimistic, as I think you already are.

The simple reality is that the Zips have won 21 or more games for 9 consecutive seasons. Trading one cupcake home game per season for one road game against a virtually unbeatable opponent (Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Michigan State, etc.) at worst would have changed that to winning 20 or more games for 9 consecutive seasons. There's no way that would have cost the Zips a single recruit. On the other hand, it may have better prepared them to win a close regular season game or two and maybe pull a first-round NCAA tournament game upset against a tough opponent. I have to believe that telling a recruit they're going to get a shot at playing against a Duke/North Carolina/Kansas/Michigan State is going to be more persuasive than saying you've never won fewer than 21 games vs. 20. We're not talking about a major scheduling change here. We're talking about a small tweak with more upside than downside. We're talking about trading a single home cupcake game for a single road game against a big-name opponent that every HS kid dreams about playing for or against. Think Bigger should be more than a single season marketing slogan.

LZip, you quoted my last post just before I edited it. I accidentally typed Seton Hall out of habit and then corrected it to Seton Hill. Obviously a big difference there. But I do like his support staff experience with the USA Olympic team. It's also interesting that two ex-Zips players were replaced by two former players with no prior connection to the Zips program.

More Zips basketball news: The new roster is now up on gozips.com and there are some minor items to report. First, the official roster confirms that Noah is 6-1 -- a little taller than the PGs who've been running the Zips over the past few years. Also, Tree is still listed at 6-7, 235 lb, not the 6-8, 250 that GT optimistically reported back in July. I don't see any changes in anyone's height or weight from last season, so they've all apparently stopped growing. Only two players on the roster are listed as pure forwards -- Tree and Kwan. BJ is listed as a wing/forward and Jake and Reggie are still listed as wings. Pat and Big Dog are of course the two centers and the rest are listed as guards. Jimond Ivey is the only player listed without a uniform number, adding credence to the suspicion that he may not be playing this season. With Steve McNees and Brian Walsh moving on from their graduate assistant positions, two news ones have been named: Cameron Black and Marcus Smith. Cam played center for Bowling Green the past four seasons after graduating from Kent_Roosevelt HS. At one time he was interested in playing for UA and was seen at the JAR prior to ending up at BGSU. Marcus comes to UA from Seton Hill, where he was a graduate assistant. He has a really intriguing background, including strong Ohio recruiting ties, that's outlined in detail on the Seton Hill website. Instead of trying to paraphrase it all here, I think everyone would find it worthwhile to read everything about Marcus at this link. He's not your typical graduate assistant.

Healthy skepticism is healthy.

I stumbled across a Sporting News pre-season college basketball magazine at the store and read what it had to say about the Zips. They had several quotes from Coach Dambrot, including his concern about how bad the assist-to-turnover ratio was last season. The story mentions that Noah Robotham (who they list at 6-1) is mature beyond his age and runs the team very smoothly while Antino Jackson (5-11) is really quick but may need to add strength. Now the interesting part: Remember how GoZips has been telling us how well BJ Gladden (6-6) can play the point? The story notes that BJ is an outstanding ball handler who could well start the season running the point from the forward position until one of the true PGs proves he can handle the job at the college level. Coach Dambrot is directly quoted comparing the situation to his high school coaching days when he had LeBron running the team as a point forward. It sounds like high praise for a redshirt freshman. BJ could develop into quite a player over the next four seasons.

Good analysis, GP1. The obvious question is what steps need to be taken to develop the running game to help open up a passing game that suits Pohl's abilities. How much is related to offensive line, how much to running backs and how much to play calling? Whoever on the Zips coaching staff is the brightest mind on the running game needs to step forward with offensive tweaks to best leverage Pohl's talents.

Thinking back to before this game, how many would have agreed that the Zips would be in good shape if they could hold PSU to 21 or fewer points? Only three teams last season were able to hold PSU to 21 or fewer points, and they all resulted in PSU losses. That 21 points was 7 less than Michigan scored against the Zips defense last season, but the Zips offense scored 24 against Michigan. The same 24 would have beaten PSU. It's frustrating to see the Zips offense less effective this season against PSU than last season against Michigan. But this season's Zips defense has so far proven to be everything we've been hoping for.

Exactly what you and others have been predicting all along, so no real surprises today other than to confirm what we already feared.

PSU will just run it the rest of the way to kill the clock and wear out the Zips D.

Stein lights the fire.

Don't come away empty-handed this time!

Too bad time of possession doesn't count for points.

KP16's mobility making a difference compared to last season with the bad ankle ... or did someone already say that?

I guess I need to start reading your posts.

I had a bad feeling about Mrs. O'Leary's son when he missed the 25-yard chip shot against Howard. Mrs. O'Leary's cow was a more effective kicker, kicking over the lantern that started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

This is a genuinely profound statement, and I mean that in a sincerely positive way. This is what a lot of sports fans really want -- fans who are passionate about their teams writing about their teams. This isn't what's taught in journalism classes. Journalists have it drilled into their heads to be objective and not be passionate fans. What's news to the hardest of hardcore fans is not always considered news by professional journalists. Isn't this how ZN.o came into existence in the first place? ABJ Feature on ZipsNation

I'm shocked, shocked that someone as clever as Zipmeister is so unaware of fair use law as to flagrantly violate the Wall Street Journal's copyright on this story by reproducing it in full on ZN.o without permission.

With the experience of having spent my entire professional career working in and with the news media, I can assure everyone here that it's pure fantasy to imagine that even the best reporters uncover every good story on their beats. Even the best reporters miss way more good human interest stories than they uncover. There's no reason for GT to try to defend himself against baseless charges from anonymous critics whose own professional lives under close scrutiny would prove to have their share of imperfections and missed opportunities just like all of us.

Here's a link to a 2014-15 team preview of Zeke's new team. Head Coach Brian Lynch is an American who played college basketball at Villanova and who played professionally in Europe before getting into coaching. Trivia fact: Lynch is married to Kim Clijsters, the retired Belgian tennis star who is a former world #1 in both singles and doubles.

The internet has given newspapers a much better handle on what people want to read than they could ever get out of newsprint. Every click on ohio.com is recorded, and the metrics can be analyzed in excruciating detail. What GT is giving us is not his personal opinion on what Browns coverage vs. Zips coverage should be in the ABJ. What he's telling us is that the business side of the ABJ analyzes the metrics, and Browns stories get clicked on and read by way more people than Zips stories. Sports is an emotional subject, and most folks posting here are emotional about the Zips. Emotions can cloud logic. Business success is built on logical decisions. The ABJ is making logical decisions on the balance of Zips coverage vs. Browns coverage based on readers registering their votes by what stories they choose to read. In order to understand and appreciate this, Zips fans need to try to temporarily suspend their emotions and try to look at it from the business side. GT is doing his best to try to help us understand this.

The LeBron-tOSU marketing connection is so obvious it's smacking everyone upside the head: LeBron James Is The NBA's Leading Shoe Salesman (hint: it's all about the money) Just doing it: Ohio State, Nike extend $46 million, brand-building agreements (hint: it's all about the money) Nike Store (hint: there's no Akron Zips apparel to be found at the Nike Store, and no money being generated by UA for Nike) And finally, for anyone who may have missed all those smacks upside the head, it's all about the money.