Zip Watcher

Related question: How does the pitch look right now? Is it holding up better than last year?Go Zips!

+1No loss is a good loss. But improvement can come from things like this. Losing like this might also expose some complacency on the part of the champs. Even had they held on to the lead and coasted home for a 15 point win, the D was bad yesterday. It needs work .. and the commitment demonstrated by players will define the rotations in the weeks to come.Go Zips!

No attack .. just an observation. You on the other hand? Nice response.

This isn't last year's team and last year is now officially on the shelf. This is 2009/2010 with a team that experienced winning last year and understands how to win now. I expect more out of this team than the usualy "building process". The real BS is reverting back to losing to teams we should not lose to and excuse it away as part of a "building process".No team has run the table since the 1976 Hoosiers. So every team the last 33 years loses games now and then. No one is excusing it away, it's a bad loss .. but some folks, like the Great GP1 are making it out to be more that it is.The Great GP1 in the past few weeks has exposed himself to be nothing more than a contrarian and a prejudiced one at that (see the Amish thread and others where he's the first to drift into off-color sweeping generalizations). And lately, he's also clearly established his agenda at Zips Nation .. the contrarian pot-stirrer. Take the opposite opinion of the majority and make it suit your need with self congratulatory keyboard diarrhea .. mix in some elitist drivel implying or in your case outright stating that anyone who doesn't agree is just too dense to really understand. Congratulations, you have a web persona .. good for you.Which is it, GP1 .. do you want to root for teams that are perennial losers like your beloved Demon Deacons, or teams that (apparently unlike WF) play every game in the season .. win some, lose some & try to move forward with lessons from both that lead to growth as a team and improved performances? You probably already know that Browns Fan would never know what to do if he wasn't calling some drive time sports hack in September demanding the ouster of a coach who's been on the job for 6 months and 3 games. This is the same Browns Fan who'll be calling the hack back on Tuesday morning if a miracle occurs tonight, singing the praises of the new coach and dreaming of 8-8 seasons in the future with the guy he currently thinks is the worst coach since Bill Belicheck. Well, I'm here to tell you that in the Zips Nation, you are Browns Fan. In football, you find a way to take a single D1 FBS victory over a mediocre to bad opponent and turn it into some optimism .. nay CONFIDENCE .. about the future of the club. But in hoops, you're here to tell us that losing a game in November is reason for alarm and that you don't want to see a team improve over the course of the year or think that they can.What the Great GP1 and Browns Fan (redundant I know) lacks is the patience or interest to observe the process that a full season is. My recommendation to you is to just buy a paper or check the scores online in mid-March and save yourself from the season, because clearly you're not really interested in the team or the season. You only care about what it says at the end, and how you can spin it to make yourself feel better and smarter. You could just save the rest of us the trouble and check in when the season's over.The unfortunate part of the Great GP1 and his two-faced agenda is that he does have a way with words and his metaphors are entertaining. It's commonplace to laugh out loud at one of his posts. It used to be for his humorous observations and creative writing skill. Lately however, it's more like laughing at the poster as he struggles to keep his stories straight and disagree with everyone, painting himself in one post as a protector of minorities and exposing himself in another as a prejudiced generalizer. Truly unfortunate, but humorous. B) Go Zips!

Personally, I like hearing parallels from other teams & other fans .. plus Winston Salem is a great town.However, it sounds to me like Bill needs to hang up his headset. If you don't win early .. you'll never win late? Has there never been a Wake team that improved over the course of a season? Really?I say BS. You certainly don't want to drift into and keep reinforcing bad habits .. but last year's Zips team is a perfect example of a team that wasn't good early, improved upon its weaknesses, and put it together when it counted .. which is at the END of the season, not the beginning.Go Zips!! B) B)

My brief takeaway's from the APSU game:#1. The defense isn't there yet. The guys were working at it .. moving their feet, etc. But the communication on help and switches isn't there. There were way too many open looks inside 10 feet for the Governors. I point to this as the single most important reason the Zips lost the game. How does the D improve? More time together .. better communication .. some more intensity .. and perhaps (just for the haters) more Conyers and Bardo. For all the shortcomings that are pointed out .. those two guys are willing to get after it defensively and put people on the ground when they drive the lane. I think the Zips were soft in the paint Sunday.#2. McNees is our only point guard at the moment. When he was on the floor, with any other guards .. he ran the point Sunday. Even with Humpty out there .. Steve was the 1 and Humpty the 2. A/TO seems to say he struggled, but my feeling at the time was that the team was better w/ McNees than without him. This is where I really wish that popcornmachine.net did college games .. because I'd like to see everyone's +/- for the game. It might be telling.#3. This team will score points. My guess is that they'll average somewhere around 70-75 points per game. Over / Under on the Scorchers promotion? .. my guess is 4 home games.#4. The team defense needs to get better .. and it will. It's been one game. Things are keyed differently without Linhart, and even more importantly with Zeke. This is something that doesn't just take Zeke getting adjusted, but the whole team needs to adapt to. One thing that I noticed was that APSU got into the paint at will on Sunday. Very similar to the Portland State game in Alaska two seasons ago. This led to astronomically high percentage shots. This will be improved. The team did a pretty good job in 08-09 of denying the paint .. and they can do it again.#5. Cvetinovic plays hard.#6. The new kid can play. There's tons of time to break down his game as the season goes on .. but I walked away with a good feeling about him. Two significant things stood out to me today watching him. First, he already understands the double team and what to do with the ball when it happens. He did a very good job several times passing out of the double team to find the open shooter. 1 assist, and I counted 3 other occasions that his pass out led to a ball rotation that got the Zips a wide open look. This will make the Zips offense in 2009-10 look more like 07-08 than 08-09. Second, I offer props to the guy for looking up immediately after rebounds to see if he can get an outlet pass off to start the break. Not perfect, but a few times he got the team some fast break opportunities. No 3 Second violations. No travelling. No TO's. Solid game.An ugly game. An unfortunate loss. But there's never been a better combination of talent and potential for success for the Zips than there is this season. B) Go Zips!

The Zips scored enough points to win the game.They didn't make enough stops. The Defense was among the worst ever played in KD's tenure @ UA .. especially at home.It will get fixed. It has to get fixed. Those who fix it will play.Go Zips!

Squatting from the west coast before I go hunting for a bar with ESPN U.

Thanks... GO ZIPS!

Thanks... GO ZIPS!

Got any summary stats? Shots? Penalties? Can't see the game tracker where I am.

Pure speculation here is that perhaps Roberts is only guaranteed Parrish's scholi for this year. It doesn't impact whether or not he get's his 5th year .. that's an eligibility issue. But perhaps KD needs to fill the front court and the scholie for Daryl is on a one year basis.Go Zips!!

I would expect them all to sign tomorrow. Perhaps the only MAC school to have 2010 recruiting finalized in the early period. A real advantage, IMHO.Go Zips!Someone take good notes tonight.

One last thing:Only CMU is out drawing the Zips thus far in 2009 based on Average Attendance. OU and WMU are the next behind the Zips. CMU, the far and away favorite in the league, having a great season, is out drawing the 2-7 Zips by less than 1000 fans per game. What will the Info be like when the Zips start putting good seasons together?Go Zips!! B) B)

In an attempt to steer this thread back to Zips football, 20,802 paying customers witnessed the first Wagon Wheel game at the Info.Updating the home attendance figures for the season:The 4 game average is still nearly 21k per game ===> 20,851 per game.Total attendance through 4 games ===> 83,404.Goal of 18k average over 6 games requires that 24,596 total fans take in the next two games. Piece of cake.I figure we'll see about 17k per game the last 2 games .. especially if the Zips can beat Temple on Friday.If that happens, the total season attendance will be ====> 117,404, for an average attendance of just shy of 20k .. 19567 per game. Not too bad for a less than stellar product on the field.If we assume a $20/ticket average .. that's $2,348,080 in gate receipts before a single dog, brat, soda or beer is purchased.Great game & atmosphere last night .. it's a great facility and it will only get better.Go Zips!!

These guys are on the level with the McKnights .. Humpty .. etc. They're not at the level of Zeke, nor should we expect that to happen every year. Ennis hasn't been properly rated due to his relatively short time in the States .. I wouldn't read much into that.Good fits for our roster needs .. and our defense. B) B) Go Zips!!

Unfortunately, family events and the sesspool of financial crap that is 2009 have ended my hopes to get down to this event. I'm really bummed out, as traveling with the Zips is a great time .. and whenever you can see them play / progress / grow 3 games in 3 nights .. you really win.Anyone on the fence should really just go. You can see all 3 games with only having Friday off. Continental can get you down there in time for Friday's game and you can come back Sunday afternoon. It's probably a $500 weekend.Go Zips!!

This could end up being a GREAT get.Welcome aboard Dakotah!!!

From the little I know .. completely different players. Enger is a pretty athletic guy that can play above the rim and bang inside. Euton a shooter / scorer a little closer to the floor. We'll pretty much have the answers in about a week I'd guess.

Every time I watch the MAC tournament games vs. Miami and Buffalo, which is a lot .. I'm quite thankful that McNees was playing the point.If he's not on the team to step into that role on Thursday, the Zips are done against Miami .. not just from a shooting perspective, but distribution .. etc. Steve was CLUTCH at the Q that weekend, as a PG.Go Zips! B) B)

Rivalries are fueled when one team can deny the other something that they want.It might be a championship .. it might be a wagon wheel .. or it might be the first bowl birth in over THREE DECADES. That's what's at stake here .. and that's why the rivalry matters.The Zips are having one of their worst seasons EVAH .. we know that. But up in wanker county, the flushes are creeping ever closer to the magical 7 wins which would virtually assure them a bowl bid in the current FBS climate (too many bowls, not enough eligible BCS teams).The point of the rivalry couldn't be easier to see this week. Does a win erase the embarrassment that this season has been for the Zips? No. Does a win take a little bit of the sting out of it? Maybe .. but does a win put a damper on Can't State's postseason dreams and possible help knock them out of bowl consideration? .. absolutely .. and that's what makes this game more important that all the rest .. even when the Zips are 1-7.Go Zips!

So CK's 10-0 team gets its ONLY mention in the summary as the losing favorite in an upset special? Cancel his subscription and will someone please get the News-Herald on the phone? CK needs a new fishwrap!Go Zips!

I'm blown away by the unveiling of STZ as a casual or new Zips fan. Staggered .. blown away. There are few words.This is a topic that can't be explained .. one of those thing that is inherent .. not necessarily in-borne .. but not necessarily learned. For a Zips fan to ask this question is amazing to me.And on one of those other posts, you question many of the long standing traditional rivalries. I was born into and joined by education the Old Oaken Bucket Game. I can tell you without hesitation that the ONLY truly BAD season for a Boilers fan is the rare one which includes a loss to IU. Heck,before Tiller, a coach at Purdue that could go 2-10 with wins vs. ND & IU would likely get raises and extensions each December. Those games matter .. big time. As the Can't State game does.That's all I have to say about that.Go Zips!!!

2 good posts GP1.Go Zips! :champs:

You must be referring to my previously discussed theory: The Jawanza Moore Effect.Jawanza's last game at the JAR was one of the best single game performances by a Zips player in the last 25 years. I think it was the BG Andrick-Hipsher toe to toe MAC Tourney game.Stacey with a HUGE 2nd half & OT after RA melted down.