Dave in Green

Valparaiso University.

I didn't think Can't had it in them to put up such a fight against Toledo. Maybe the Rockettes took the game too lightly. Whatever happened, it should be an alert to the Zips that they can't take the upcoming Can't game for granted.

@Ada Zip, great post. You bring up a lot of interesting points. I can't really put my finger on the difference in the various levels of student interest at different schools either. I remember my experience at Louisiana Tech in the 1968-71 time frame when there was huge student interest in all the basketball and football games. We just never thought not attending was an option. Obviously at some schools it's much different. I wonder if the difference is related to older students passing on the passion or indifference for their college sports teams to incoming students, and everyone just takes it for granted that it's a high or low priority?

Skip, go back and look at average minutes played per game in previous seasons. The mix varies from season to season. Probably the closest season to relying mostly on a short rotation was 2006-2007. Drue Joyce and Nick Dials both averaged 30+ minutes per game (32.0 and 30.4). Romeo Travis (28.2), Cedrick Middleton (25.7), Jeremiah Wood (24.0), Nate Linhart (21.7) and Quade Milum (19.4) made it 7 core players getting long minutes. Jimmy Conyers was a distant 8th at only 8.3 minutes per game. The 2005-2006 season was the one where Coach Dambrot's top 3 players averaged the most minutes -- Joyce (33.0), Travis (30.6) and Dials (29.0). Rob Preston (24.5) and Middleton (20.7) were well back. Even before the change for the last 2 games, Tree, Q and Jake were the leading players in minutes played. Their respective averages are now up to 31.9, 27.7 and 24.3 and likely to keep climbing. Coach Dambrot knew they were his best, most consistent and reliable players before the season began. He had other players he wasn't as sure about and gave them a fair chance to show what they've got. Even sitting a lot the last 2 games, Nyles is still 4th at 21.8 minutes. He was given a full half season to get comfortable with the Zips system and wasn't showing sufficient progress to merit long minutes. His average minutes are likely to continue to decline. We ask "why?" about different aspects of the team lineup every season. I think the short answer is that Coach Dambrot is always looking for his best, most consistent, most reliable lineup. Everyone gets a chance early, and as the season goes on the lineup gets more stable. The exact timing and nature varies depending on circumstances. Tree was a lock for long minutes from day one. Q had to play himself back into shape and Jake had to shake off his back problem. They are now the equivalent of the 2005-2006 Joyce/Travis/Dials core. The rest of the lineup going forward will be adjusted as needed for best results. For example, Pat didn't start against EMU or CMU. Against EMU he played only a few minutes whereas against CMU he was on the floor for the final 8 minutes and was a major factor at both ends of the court in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.

Skip, I think it happens to some degree every season that Coach Dambrot uses the first half of the season to see what his players all have to give, and then starts relying more on those who deliver the most in the second half of the season. In 9 previous seasons, Coach Dambrot has had only 5 players who've averaged more than 30 minutes per game -- Alex Abreu, Steve McNees, Nick Dials, Dru Joyce and Romeo Travis. The number of question marks varies depending on circumstances. This season there was the big question mark of who took over Alex's minutes, especially with a transfer (Nyles) in the mix. Then there was the question of how quickly Q would get back in top playing form and how much he had to play the point. Another big question was how to replace Zeke's minutes. Jake's back problem presented yet another question mark. I think it was a matter of having to be prepared for how multiple variables would play out, so there were more players than usual in the mix who had to be given a fair chance to perform.

Jake and Reggie delivered on their 3s tonight with a combined 7-15 performance (47%). Would have been a much tougher game if they'd been off. Tree appears to be back to his normal self with yet another double-double (15 points and 14 rebounds). Aside from his miserable free throw shooting, Q had a good all-around game. Minutes played continues to be intriguing: 36 = Tree 34 = Q 34 = Jake 22 = Melo 21 = Reggie 20 = Pat 18 = Nick 7 = Big Dog 5 = Nyles 2 = Deji The top 4 are the same as the EMU game, with a little shuffling around for the others. It appears as if the top 3 may be playing 30+ minutes per game on a regular basis for the rest of the season. It seems there's no longer any question that Q's motor is up to full rpm after working himself back into shape.

Our best free throw shooter (Q) goes 2-7, and the team goes 12-25 (48%). The Zips win by 12 because they do enough other things right, like shooting 52.6% from the field. Not pretty, but good enough to keep them alone atop the MAC East and tied with Toledo at 5-1. EDIT: Oops, Toledo hasn't won #5 yet.

Once again Nick has more than his fair share of the Zips' turnovers -- 5 of 15 so far.

You mean the way CMU has been burying 3s over the last few minutes?

If the purpose of the new starting lineup was to get faster starts, it didn't work so well tonight. The Zips didn't really catch fire until the last 3 minutes of the first half.

NIU played Buffalo close for most of the game, but the Canadians prevailed, 75-67. So both OU and Buffalo are 4-2, and either Miami or Bowling Green will also be 4-2 after their game ends in a couple of hours.

It's time for OU and EMU to provide Saturday morning entertainment in the MAC with an 11 a.m. start. EMU has jumped out to a 16-5 lead over the Kitties 8 minutes into the first half in Athens. EDIT: EMU up 30-22 at the half. Kitties are 6-28 from the field.

@pdt1420 is the one who referred to the numbers as "bodies." I was only pointing out that the numbers don't actually represent bodies, which are also referred to as butts in seats. I didn't say the paid attendance was bad, just that it's not the same as bodies. Nothing negative intended. The Zips paid attendance was pretty good, especially considering the win-loss record from the previous three seasons.

If only that represented actual "bodies" or butts in seats. The numbers shown are tickets sold. You have to subtract no-shows to get a true body count.

Fowler is exactly the kind of PG the Zips wish they had right now. Last season he was runnerup MAC Freshman of the Year, finishing 32nd in the country in assists per game and fourth in the MAC behind DJ Cooper, Alex Abreu and Juice Brown. He's a great ball distributor and a lights out shooter. Although he's only hitting .318 of his 3s this season, his overall field goal average is an impressive .571, which means the 6-1 guard gets to the bucket a lot to average more than 17 points per game. Overall, CMU is a very young team. Their top 7 players in minutes played consist of a freshman, 5 sophomores and a junior. The Zips will have a height advantage as CMU has only 3 regulars in the 6-6/6-8 range. On paper the Zips are the better team. I wonder if Coach Dambrot will point out Ball State's upset of Buffalo to remind his players not to take this game too lightly?

Look who most of the leading schools are -- smaller schools desperate for some form of recognition. Most of the bigger schools would be on top if they gave a crap. I'd rather be with the big schools that don't give a crap than the smaller schools desperately seeking recognition.

@MDZip, great observation. Maybe the new 18-game MAC schedule is a toe-in-the-water approach to possible future elimination of the divisions for basketball. It would be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on the pros and cons of doing that.

Marla writes great feature stories! Reggie reminds me of my late father, who was an engineer. He drew up plans for every home project way in advance, from rewiring the whole house to changing the furnace filter. When we were going through his old papers, we found diagrams of how he would pack his car when he and my mother moved. The diagrams had measurements for every nook and cranny in the trunk and backseat, and dimensions of every little box and item and where each would fit in the available space. The only time I get into numbers like that is when checking Zips stats.

Mighty Buffalo falls to lowly Ball State, 71-68, in Muncie. That leaves the Zips and Toledo alone at the top of the MAC at 4-1. Meanwhile, WMU smashes Can't, 75-59, leaving Can't as the only sub-.500 MAC East team.

Offered by the Zips according to Quickzips' 2011 recruiting thread, along with some other familiar names. Since Darius went the juco route, academics may have been a problem

And Q thumbs his nose at DiG by playing a solid 34 minutes. Maybe Q has shaken off all the rust of the year off and has worked himself into shape for averaging 30+ minutes per game. We already knew that Tree and Jake were capable of doing it, especially with Jake's back finally getting back to normal. That's a pretty solid foundation of 3 players who can be counted on to play long minutes if needed. That starting lineup worked extremely well against EMU, which presented a unique challenge with the 2-3 zone defense. It especially helped Melo that EMU doesn't press, so he was free to trigger the offense without a lot of pressure. Whether that starting lineup is the most effective against other teams remains a question mark. I don't think the experimentation is over.

Jake and Reggie are similar players who play similar roles. It's not that unusual to play one more than the other depending on who has the hot hand. A lot of fans here have been asking for Coach Dambrot to leave players in the game longer when they're hot, and that's what happened last night. Jake was so hot that he took some of Reggie's minutes. I'm pretty sure in the future that we'll see Reggie get long minutes if he's shooting lights out. By the way, I personally witnessed Hilltopper giving Jake some great shooting advice Monday when we were at Zeke's D-League game in Canton. After first joking with him that he should take a couple of more steps further back before shooting his treys, Hilltopper's final words to Jake were "Just keep shooting."

Several good insights from GT: And one stat I missed last night that shows how much effort they were putting into defense: The Zips had 14 blocked shots, including 5 by Tree and 4 by Q.

Special props to Melo for going 1-1 from the field, 2-2 from the free throw line late in the game, and a spectacular assist-to-turnover ratio of 8-1.

You've got the math right. There are 13 regular season MAC games left, and the Zips can hit the magic 22 wins by going 10-3 the rest of the way. Even if they don't, the MAC tournament offers more opportunities. But I'd like to think that tonight's game really builds the team's self-confidence, and that they hit 22 wins before the regular MAC season is over and keep right on winning into the post-season.