Dave in Green

Agree. That team was built from an atypical (at UA) mix of 4-year players, transfers and non-qualifiers to peak in Zeke's senior season. Q, Walsh and Gilliam would also have been seniors at the peaks of their games. Abreu had reached the level of a solid, seasoned PG near the end of his junior season. They were backed by a solid array of underclassmen. At full strength the team could have accomplished so much more than the already impressive 19-game winning streak. Captain Kangaroo did a really nice job in this post of touching on everything Coach Dambrot did to try to put together the best supporting cast he could for Zeke's senior season. This season's Zips may have also been better if Q had graduated last season and Abreu was back as a senior. I don't mean to say that Abreu is a better player than Q, but that as a senior PG Abreu would have made all of his teammates perform better this season and the team would likely have been much more cohesive and produced more consistent and better results.

Wrong again.

To be fair to GoZips, he attends every Zips basketball practice and knows more about what Coach Dambrot teaches the players than any of us. If he says they're a defense first oriented team, he's just trying to tell us what's being taught to the players. Based on that, allowing WMU to score 18 points in 8 minutes is probably considered a worse failure than going scoreless for 8 minutes. But most basketball games consist of a series of runs by each team. Games are won and lost over 40 minutes, not 8. Over 40 minutes, the Zips offense against WMU was worse than their season average while the defense was better than average.

I don't think it would have mattered to anyone here which of the two the Zips might have achieved against WMU in regulation to produce a win, one more bucket or one more stop. Judging the WMU game by their season averages, the Zips had an above average defensive game and a below average offensive performance. Based on that, it was the offense that came up shorter of the two for the game. But the bottom line is that winning is a result of combined offense and defense. You can't win with just one and not the other. When one's not working up to average, you just have to try your best to compensate with the other.

Since Zipmeister is obviously boycotting this thread, I'll ask the burning question: Does anyone have a photo of the new Zips jock strap so we can see if it's going to be chrome or gold?

You almost got Michigan there with your jinx. They went cold at the end and almost gave it away. If you live by the 3 you'll eventually die by the 3. Ask Creighton, the best 3-point shooting team in college basketball this season. They averaged 41.4% as a team. They annihilated some teams when they were on. In the NCAA tournament, they went dead cold against Baylor and were blown out by 30 points. Even the best 3-point shooters tend to be streaky, and you can start shooting blanks at the worst possible times. The lesson is not to rely too heavily on the 3 or any other single offensive weapon. The best offensive strategy is to have both outside and inside games, and switch over to whatever's working best in any given game. Back that up with a tough defense that can shut down another team's offense when your offense is having trouble scoring, and you have the best of all worlds. I'd like to see the Zips have a diversified offense next season along with a lock-down defense when needed.

LZip, DJ Wingfield was the other star player on Big Dog's HS team, and the only other player from that team to get a D-I offer. DJ is the son of former Cincinnati Bearcats standout Dontonio Wingfield, who played a season under Bob Huggins and was drafted in 1994 after his freshman season by the Seattle Supersonics. Dontonio also played for the Portland Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers over a brief NBA career. It's a shame that DJ won't get a chance to follow in his father's footsteps and perhaps get a shot at the NBA.

There's a difference between fear and prudent caution. Jumping off a bridge and then considering on the way down whether it's possible to make a safe landing is not generally considered to be a wise course of action. Think before you leap has always been considered good advice. There are still many aspects that haven't been fully thought through and still many things that could happen to alter the initial ruling.

LZip, the Northwestern case acknowledges that the players get some health care benefits while at school. They argue that after graduation some have continuing medical costs from sports injuries that aren't covered. Covering that would require an adjustment in current insurance. Players also want a voice in safety issues, such as protection from concussions. This is all pretty reasonable stuff. Where it starts getting a little questionable is giving players a voice in how many hours they have to practice. The NCAA already has pretty reasonable limits on team practice time. Would unionized players go on strike and cancel games to protest having to practice too much?

Mid-major is a fuzzy term that's not clearly defined. Some classify Dayton as a mid-major and some don't. The Mid-Major Madness Power 15 poll includes Dayton and the CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25 doesn't.

We have a mid-major in the Elite 8 as Dayton holds its halftime advantage to beat Stanford by 10, 82-72. Wisconsin increases its halftime advantage to eliminate Baylor, 69-52.

Am I the only one who remembers what happened to the goose that laid golden eggs when they cut the goose open to get to the golden eggs? LZip's right. Employers are free to pay their employees whatever they want, just as schools are now free to spend as much money on athletic programs as they want in areas other than paying players. What kind of employee players do you think UA will be able to afford? When the costs and legal obligations get even crazier than they are now, some schools will just opt out of intercollegiate sports. Any Zips fan who thinks that UA will come out a winner in this should support it with all your heart. Now if you want a reasonable compromise out of this, here it is. The folks in the Northwestern case claim that their primary concern is not about making money for college players but about the health of college players. They say they want the health of the players covered by schools in the same way that school employees get health insurance plans. They want players covered so that they don't have to pay all the bills when they're injured while performing on behalf of the school. That's not unreasonable, and it doesn't break the bank. It just requires reallocating some of the billions of dollars generated by college sports. Institute a universal health coverage policy for all scholarship athletes to cover all sports-related injuries and the primary stated need for a college athlete union goes away.

Zeke's stats over the 3 games prior to last night are remarkably similar to his senior averages at UA. That's a pretty good accomplishment in the D-League, and shows how much progress he's made from his early tentative start. We ended up sitting fairly high up in the bleachers last night due to a big crowd for the Charge's final home game of the season. Hope he heard our loud ZEKE calls. We saw Brian Walsh sitting in one of the courtside seats, and when the Red Claws came out for second half warmups, Brian went out on the edge of the court, shook hands with Zeke and they had a little chat. So Zeke knows that he's still getting support from his old Zips mates. Unfortunately, Zeke only got to play about 10 minutes. Not sure of all the reasons. But one reason may have been the Charge's latest addition -- 7-1, 280-pound Ukrainian center Kyrylo Fesenko. What a beast. Fesenko was selected 38th overall in the 2007 NBA draft, and hung around for years with the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers. He averaged 8 minutes a game in 135 games over 5 seasons before giving up on the NBA and taking a good offer to play Euro ball. Funny thing, but the team he signed with was none other than Zeke's Polish team -- Śląsk Wrocław! Like Zeke, he left the team before playing in a single game. Speculation is that the Polish team has a tendency not to pay what they've promised. So Fesenko came back to the U.S. to play in the D-League. Anyway, Zeke started at center, and the first time Fesenko got the ball near the basket, he started backing in on Zeke with exaggerated herky-jerky moves. Zeke planted his feet, and at one point Fesenko's butt literally lifted both of Zeke's feet off the floor. After Fesenko totally abused Zeke, they called a foul on ..... Zeke. A few minutes later, Fesenko did the same thing, wildly flailing his arms and legs in all directions, and they called another foul on Zeke. So the coach subbed Daniel Orton in for Zeke, perhaps thinking that Orton's greater weight and NBA experience could better handle Fesenko. No such luck. Fesenko abused Orton and the refs immediately called a foul on ..... Orton. When one of the Red Claws' guards poked the ball away from Fesenko, who immediately flailed his arms and legs as if he were being electrocuted, the refs immediately called a foul on ..... I think by now you get how this story line goes. No one could get within 6 feet of Fesenko without being whistled. Hilltopper and I agreed that NBA refs wouldn't fall for his act. But this was a D-League game. Zeke started the second half and picked up a quick Fesenko foul. So the coach subbed Orton in right away and Zeke was done for the night. Orton ended up with 5 fouls and Bell-Holter and other Red Claws who tried to guard Fesenko also picked up numerous fouls. Fesenko, a career NBA 41% free throw shooter, ended up 8-13 from the free throw line. Going forward it looks like one of Zeke's challenges is going to be learning how to deal with heavyweight giants like Fesenko, who've learned over the years how to throw their weight around without getting whistled for offensive fouls -- at least in the D-League. Zeke's stats from the previous 3 games are promising, so I'm still not betting against the big guy eventually working his way into the position of getting invited to an NBA team camp and getting a good look. We've always known that Zeke was a late bloomer, and we shouldn't be surprised that he's still developing.

At halftime, Dayton up 42-32 over Stanford and Wisconsin up 29-16 over Baylor.

I'll reserve my estimate of Shaka's smarts until I see where he winds up after he's accomplished the goals he's set for himself at VCU.

Congratulations to Alli Ball, Missouri Basketball Coaches Association 2014 Class 3 Player of the Year. Another great recruit for Coach Kest.

If the NCAA had previously allowed players to receive compensation beyond their full scholarships, it wouldn't have made a bit of difference in terms of trying to start a union. Some players would have been making less than others, and those making less would have come up with the idea of a union to try to better equalize compensation.

Here's one of many little details that haven't been thought through yet: The Northwestern decision only applies to private universities. Attempts to form unions at state schools would fall under each state's varying laws on public employee unions such as for teachers, police, etc. So right off the bat you'd end up with inequities between private and public universities, and between public universities in different states with different public employee union laws. Public universities in states with generous public employee union laws would have a recruiting advantage over those in states with more restrictive public employee union laws. Oh yeah, this is one of the best examples of opening Pandora's Box since the original Pandora's Box.

UMass basketball has only finished the season with a better than #100 RPI in 6 of the past 15 seasons, although 3 of those have come in the past 3 seasons and this season has been their best. They've had a number of seasons where they were closer to #200. Over those 15 seasons they look a lot like one of the better MAC teams. Can't, OU and the Zips have all had as many or more top #100 RPI rankings since 1999. Their big successes came in the 1990s when John Calipari was head coach. If they were playing in the MAC, they'd have a tough time recruiting A10-level talent.

Skip, some of the 8-minute meltdown against WMU came from not getting good open looks and some came from mostly Tree and Q missing everything they threw up, including free throws, plus turnovers. The play-by-play only gives a snapshot of what happened and doesn't reflect all the details. But below is the play-by-play edited to include only Zips offensive plays during that 8-minute black hole when the Zips went from a 47-32 lead to a 47-50 deficit. The bookends are the excellent Jake to Reggie for a slam play and Q finally sinking a pair of free throws. Everything in between was ugly.

No one has yet thought through all the long-term implications of this. As Hilltopper notes, those driving it are primarily interested in short-term gain. The assumption that something like this would make things "better" for college athletics in general is built on a foundation of quicksand. No one has yet put together all the pros and cons so that they can all be measured against each other to determine if the net effect over the long-term would be positive or negative for college athletics. All we know for sure right now is that things would be "different."

Skip, I like the way you're digging a little deeper into the issues. Continual movement without the ball can be effective at times, especially when it breaks someone loose for an open shot or easy drive to the basket. But this doesn't work out every time, even with teams that run it well. Dribbling the ball into the paint can also be effective. But both of the above require having someone making the right moves to get clear for an open shot and someone else effectively getting the ball to them. I think one of the problems the Zips had on offense this season was getting a player open and then consistently getting the ball to them in scoring postion. I saw other teams do that to the Zips time after time. If the Zips practiced that type of assist-oriented offense more in practice, it would also make them better at stopping other teams defensively. The Zips seemed to be more of a one-on-one team with Tree and Q the primary options taking turns making their best moves even against double- and triple-teams. I'd like to see more chemistry between the players in first creating more open looks and then reliably getting the ball to the open man for easier shots. This would improve the Zips' overall field goal shooting percentage. Another sign it was working would be an increase in assists. Q was one of the best one-on-one wings and Tree is one of the best one-on-one posts the Zips have ever had, Yet between the two of them they couldn't always get the job done alone. I think the team relied on them too much rather than trying to get more open shots for more of their teammates. From what I've seen, one of BJ's strengths is dribbling the ball into the paint. But it would be unfair to expect him to be consistently effective at this as a freshman. He'll have his ups and downs on his freshman learning curve. Really, it's something that others on the team also need to develop, especially with Q now gone.

This pretty much confirms that Ivey will not be on scholarship as a freshman:

GameChngr44, you can count on at least three Zeke fans with loud voices being in Canton tonight to make sure Zeke knows he still has our support -- Hilltopper, his son and me.

UMass would have brought MAC football into balance at 14 teams if Temple had remained a football-only member of the MAC. With Temple gone, that left an unbalanced 13 teams. Going back to 12 teams is not a bad thing for the MAC and finding a more geographically friendly football conference is not a bad thing for UMass. Everyone wins.