Zip Watcher

Well, my observation from the MAC was that once he showed he could put the ball down and go by the guy guarding him at the top of the key .. converting either a layup, a pass off or drawing a foul .. that guy defending him was toast. Thinking about Fletcher in particular. Nik showed an increasing variety of moves throughout the weekend. Not sure he's ready to have a green light from 3 range yet .. but if he were to add that to his arsenal .. look out. Good baseline moves, able to post up .. go by bigger guys, and shoot the rock a little bit? There's some upside in this guy.

Anyone else have visions of a slightly trimmed up / quicker Nik taking over Nate's spot at the 3?The BG guys sitting behind us at the Q all weekend left VERY concerned about having to contend with Nik for 3 more years.

There is that ...

Fair enough on your Singletary comments there .. though the press is in the rafters at the MACC, and if he posted a story without seeing the video, he's guilty of bad reporting. From what I've read elsewhere, it was difficult to see the play live from up there. So assuming he wrote that before seeing the video .. I'll go along with you there ..But negative about the Zips? I think that has waned. For pretty much the last month of the season, his stories referred to the Zips as a team building to a championship, playing like legit contenders, or in the case of the BG home game .. performing well beneath their championship potential. They guy called his shot early this year about the Zips .. and stayed on the bandwagon where others were gone.Agree to disagree I guess on this.The amusing thing to me is if you peruse a certain other forum about this same writer, you'll find equal or even greater accusations that Elton is a Zip Lover .. a shill for UA .. etc. So perhaps if he's disliked on both sides, he must be writing with some equal treatment.Go Zips!!

Since becoming the PD's "beat" writer for the Zips early this season, I think it's fair to say the Elton has moved on. He was the most optimistic and bullish writer on the Zips this season, from nearly the beginning. I think it's been a couple season since Elton removed the ", once fired for using a ...." insert in every article after the word "Dambrot"Livingston's article last weekend was pretty lazy .. but he did follow it up with respect for the Zips .. so he's 1-1.There was an interesting tidbit in the back end of one of Livingston's articles in the print edition that I can't locate online.Something to the effect that "The Zips were a better basketball team long before the flushes .. and now they're back where they should be." ... I'll have to dig it up to get it right. No recycling this week .. so we should still have it.Go Zips!! B)

Unfortunately .. and this REALLY sucks .. I'm unable to make this trip work.Too many variables conspiring against me here at home / work. Probably without any one of them, I'd likely be there .. and probably with the family in tow .. but it just isn't going to happen this week.Now, NEXT week, after wins over Gonzaga and WKU .. I WILL see all of you in Memphis. B) B) Have a great time everyone. We did when traveling to Alaska and UMass last season .. and this will be more of the same, with even greater stakes.Go Zips!! B) :champs:

I think Philly and Greensboro would have been the same. :( But when you're the 13 .. you don't get that type of treatment I guess.Go Zips! B) B)

My problem really has more to do with home logistics than anything else. The in-laws are leaving this week for a vacation in the desert .. and they're the ones that help us out when my wife or I is away on business.With 2 kids under 5 and the infant sick right now .. I can't justify leaving her to juggle it all .. if her folks were in town .. different story.So I'm trying like heck to find a way to bring the boy with me .. but thus far, not so much luck. I'm going to try again a lunchtime to find a route that makes some sense.FYI, anyone going out there .. if you can swing it, I'd stay at the team hotel. I've had a few chances to do that both recently and when I was a student @ other institutions .. it's a requirement for the best fan experience. Spend the extra few $$ and stay by the team .. you won't regret it.Go Zips! B)

CK,I think there's light rail from the Airport to the downtown area .. you shouldn't need a car, unless you're driving down from SEATAC .. Might want to look into the Doubletree downtown .. I hear it's nice and there's some great folks staying there. ;)I'm still trying to make this work .. but it isn't looking good for me.Go Zips! B)

Where'd you find 575?

Dave,You got any idea how to get there for less than 800?ZW

Third time's the charm, as the Zips dominate the Bulls of the University at Buffalo en route to their 2nd D1 NCAA Tournament Appearance & first since 1986.Courtesy ZZZips .. below are some links to news articles chronicling the Zips triumph!Congrats to KD, Staff & Team on a job WELL DONE!Go Zips!!!! :champs: News Articles:Akron Beacon Journal - Tom Gaffney Akron Beacon Journal - Patrick McMannon ESPN Recap Cleveland Plain Dealer - Elton Alexander Game Story Plain Dealer - Elton Alexander MAC Tournament Insider Plain Dealer - Bill Livingston Plain Dealer - Elton's 4 Things MAC Report Online Buffalo News Story Record Courier - Tom Withers (AP) Canton Repository - Mike Popovich game story

Last night, Buffalo couldn't throw the ball into the ocean if they had both feet in the water. The best defense the Zips played last night was early in the game. With 10 minutes in remaining, the game was over and from the close up looks on their players faces on ESPN, you could see they were finished. After the Zips offense burried them, they were done. KD could have put five of us knuckleheads out on the floor to close the game out at that point.There's a reason they couldn't throw it in the ocean last night: for the most part, they couldn't SEE the ocean.Shooting percentage isn't only related to U@B struggling. The Zips had a big (group of) hand in it.Go Zips! :champs:

I'll say what I think needs to be said:This team is the best Zips team of the D-1 era .. CERTAINLY the best team of the MAC era.They're the only MAC era team dancing .. end of story.Great job KD & the ZIPS! GREAT JOB. THANK YOU.Moving onwards & upwards .. what's been building has now been built. The Zips are a championship team.Go ZIPS!!! B) B)

Akron has 10 guys averaging 13 minutes or more. Only 2 guys play 25+ and no one plays 30 MPG.U@B has 11 guys averaging 10 minutes or more. 3 guys play 25+ and Pierce is the only averaging 30 MPG.To me, the depth issue is a wash. U@B plays a bunch of guys .. so do the Zips.A bigger difference appears in scoring averages:Pierce leads the Bulls @ about 15 PPG, with 3 other guys averaging about 8-9 PPG.For Akron 5 guys average between 8 and 12 PPG with no one over 12 PPG.From a distance looking at stats, it would appear the Zips may have more ways to score .. but the Bulls are more balanced than the Zips' 2 most recent opponents.

I'll step up and compliment Alexander. He's been bullish on the Zips all season when others were not, and his coverage has rivaled Gaffney's this season. It's nice to have 2 papers following the Zips with beat writers.Go Zips!!! B)

Wasn't a guy inducted into the Zips HOF a couple of weeks ago at a hoops game that went to the NCAA's in the late 70's?Regardless .. GOOD LUCK Jenna.

He was complimentary tonight.FYI Vandelay .. Zips last trip to the D1 Dance was 1986. So they've been there.Zips are 21-10 all time in (all Division) NCAA Tournament games. Went D1 in 1981.

Zips shoot 40% or better .. Zips win.Zips shoot 35% or worse .. Zips lose.In between .. totally up in the air.

From about 2:30 PM to 5 PM .. you'll have friends .. LOTS of them.Go U@BULLS! Today.

I'd be happy to do it if I can get a copy of the original video from northside rowdy .. I think I need a little more lead in video to the lob pass to get all of Frenchy synced up. I'll send a PM to northside to see if we can get it.Off topic / but related: I was an undegrad student at UConn in the early nineties .. right when the Huskies made their rise to the top of the Big East, but before Calhoun figured out how to coach in the Big Dance. A year before I arrived was 89-90 and at the time it was known as the "Dream Season" when UConn broke through and finally competed at the top of the league, and I think won the Big East Tournament. In that NCAA tournament .. I think in the 2nd round .. Clemson came back from 19 down to take the lead over UConn w/ 1.0 seconds left at the Meadowlands. UConn had Scott Burrell throw an 80 foot pass to Tate George who caught it, gathered, turned and dropped in a 15 footer along the baseline to win.Well the whole time I was a student there .. there was this kiosk in the lobby of the library .. right when you walked in. It had all sorts of stuff on it .. parking maps, visitor info, exam schedules, the course catalog .. miscellaneous stuff. But one of the buttons on the front was a link to a video of "The Shot" .. it had the CBS feed synced up with the voice of the Huskies, Joe D'Ambrosio .. it was a tradition of sorts to watch that clip everytime you went to the library. I must have seen it at least 3 times in 4 years there (actually a lot more). I can still remember the call ... "The Huskies will have exactly 1 second remaining ...{something} .. Burrell, takes the ball, throws it down the court .. George takes it, turns .. and .. HE HIT IT! HE HIT IT! .. GEORGE HIT THE SHOT FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE LANE .. HUSKIES WIN HUSKIES WIN.I actually went looking for this on the web this morning after thinking about that driving home from the Q last night.I've watched the Rowdy YouTube video a dozen times .. and w/ Frenchy on top of it .. I think it would need to be a quick link somewhere here on the nation so that we can pull it up whenever we want. Ditto the Getsy to Hixon, though I don't know where we'd come up with French's audio call at this point.Awesome stuff.

SpecFRICKENtacular .. thanks for posting!!!

I'd rather have him go for 12 .. have 5 other guys in double digits against Miami. First one to 50 ought to win.

I could spend all day watching this video .. I think it ought to go in the ZN.O HOF.

As I was on Tuesday .. I'll be at the Q all day .. 10th year running.Go Zips .. no time like now! B)