Zip Watcher

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)

"Nice job trying to ruin an otherwise exciting day to be a Zips fan." Pot, this is Kettle.Was thinking the same thing .. Hey skip .. I know some little kids who are learning to walk at the daycare mine go to .. wanna stop by and remind them that they still fall down now and then? Wouldn't want them to be proud of their accomplishment or gain some confidence, now would we?

I was going to say .. those are some GOOD looking Zips fans!! Save for maybe that one guy. B) Go Zips!!

1986.Hmmmm.

I would phrase it this way:We control our own destiny in reaching the NCAA Tournament. No team we'll face is better than the Zips. It comes down to coaching and execution from here on out.

That makes me laugh .. very funny.

I take the boy out of school (pre-school) to go to the early games today. That gets his fix .. and I don't have to burn a half court seat on the weekend for a kid who will get tired and not get it completely. It's totally low key & easy to get a good seat. I'll enjoy today. For those of us who've been buying the MAC PAC tickets to go to the whole tournament for 10 years, today is free basketball.FYI GoZips88 .. if you don't mind sitting away from the other Zips fans, you don't need to pay more than $5 each for your tickets .. they should be readily available on the street .. last year, I was able to pickup 3 or 4 extras for $10 total when I went down.Cost shouldn't really an issue for the fans today.Now, having to explain to my boy why the "guy with a basketball for a head" (CMU "mascot") isn't there .. now that may take some effort for me today.

I haven't really seen Geno defend Singletary .. where'd you find that?

Gotta love seeing a big running the break all by himself. Nice.The near tea-bagging at the end is pretty cool too.Go Zips!

It doesn't diminish what he has & continues to do for the program. These are observations regarding taking the next step. He's on the doorstep of a MAC title EVERY YEAR. To win it .. the team, players & coaches included, may need to improve to get over the hump. That's all.No one here is doubting his impact .. but everyone wants a title, right? KD included.Go Zips!! B)

CK .. your years are shifted by 1, FYI. But I think we can add UMass to the list. Double digit lead midway through the 2nd half. Took foot off the gas, combined with failure to adjust to a different defensive tactic by Coach Ford .. late loss.I posted the other day that the Zips can beat anyone by 10 or lose to anyone by 5. Win!'s post kindof spells it out. Pretty clearly if you ask me.Here's my questions:1. Why do the Zips allow the MAC style to affect their late game strategy? Generally speaking (broad strokes here) .. most of the conference can not stick with the Zips in a higher scoring affair where the ball moves inside out quickly and there's game flow. That flow requires energy .. most teams play 7-8 guys. The Zips play 10. Coupled with the good defense, the Zips can wear teams down midway through the 2nd half .. if they keep the foot on the gas.2. Why do we dribble the ball so much at the end of halves / games? I used to think it was Joyce who did that (see WMU game CK referenced) .. and it drove me NUTS to the point of looking forward to having a different PG. I owe you an apology Dru, as it now appears to me to be a component of the Zips late game strategy to milk the clock by dribbling. I imagine that the point is to shorten the game and try to get the best free throw shooter fouled .. but generally it means the Zips don't get the ball inside the arc until late in the shot clock or never .. they don't get fouled .. or they turn it over.3. Why not have Roberts as the primary ball handler late in the game? He's money at the line .. and steady with the ball. Steve's doing his best .. but he's a 2 guard. The 30 foot post up isn't really helping us.4. The Zips NEVER take a 2 for 1 at the ends of halves or games. Why not? Down 1 with 50 seconds or whatever yesterday. Why not get the best look you can in 15-20 seconds and make Can't State run their offense against the Zips strength (Defense) to get a shot. Once you run the clock down .. they don't have to do anything but wait for you to foul. The Zips NEVER take 2 for 1 .. I don't understand why.I'm not a basketball expert .. and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night .. but I'm confused by these things.I still believe the Zips are good enough to get this done this week. I just don't have a lot of comfort in late game / late shot situations. It appears to me that they're playing / coaching not to lose (See: Shottenheimer, Marty) rather than pushing the ball to finish the game strong. Think back to the OU game last week. Up 6 or 8. The McKnights have a WIDE open 2 on 1 against a single slow OU defender. Go in for the dunk or easy layup to ice the game? NOPE. Pull it back out into a sideline trap and turnover.This team and coach can be better than this .. I'm there pulling for them. Cause when they figure it out .. it'll be a boat race for the Zips. I'm hoping that's this week.Go Zips!! B)

Did the guy steal your girl? Why the axe grinding?The guy is physically stronger and more aggressive than our other current options. He's in his 3rd year .. why is it so hard to understand that he's ahead of some other guys? If you don't want to accept the truth, I won't restate it for you.He's a defensive specialist on this team. He plays limited minutes .. you're beating the drum, you know the statistics .. the guy's playing a whole 15 MPG .. he's the 7th guy in the rotation. Today didn't happen because of Bardo.

I'm in the camp that thinks Bardo helps this team .. he can't be an offensive centerpiece .. no one is saying that. But he's an athletic banging body .. a big that we need.Cut Mike some slack.Go Zips!

OK .. building on some confidence that the 2 seed West winner factors into the tie-breaker, I think I can phrase it again .. may be cleaner with seeding details:If Akron wins vs. Can't:The Zips will be the #1 Seed in the following situations:1. OU beats BGSU. U@B beats Miami & Ball State wins the West (UA 1-0 vs. BSU, U@B 0-1).2. OU beats BGSU. Miami beats BGSU & CMU wins the West (UA 1-0 vs. CMU, MU 0-1).The Zips will be the #3 Seed in the following situations:3. BGSU beats OU. Regardless of the outcome of MU vs. U@B.4. OU beats BG, MU beats U@B & WMU or BSU wins the West.If Akron loses @ Can't:5. An OU win vs. BGSU gives UA the #4 Seed (& bye)6. A MU win gives UA the #4 Seed7. A BG win & U@B win drops UA to the #5 Seed.The closer I look at this, I'm feeling better about things. There's really only one scenario (#7) where the Zips play on Tuesday. EVERYTHING else puts the Zips through to Thursday.Go Zips!! End the speculation and POUND the flushes .. take control of your own destiny! B) B)

My personal opinion is that it doesn't matter whom the Zips play. It matters how the Zips play.What matters is the Zips finding a way to re-discover some offensive rhythm ... er ... rhythm on offense. If they can do that, the opponent is less important. Now by "doing that" I mean against man, against 2-3 zone .. against press .. etc. In the middle of conference play, the Zips had it going .. so it's in there .. they just need to re-find it.Finding some offense, and (this is the important part) remaining committed to the stifling defense they've shown most of the season will give the Zips a very good shot at cutting the nets down.As for matchups against the East teams:- Miami: Doesn't scare me because they can't guard our bigs. Their depth is suspect, and in the 2nd half we can wear them down with the McKnights .. not an easy win .. but I think Akron can force the issue even in the half court and get good looks at the bucket. Zero chance the Redskins will come out in a 2-3 zone against the Zips.- OU: What we saw last night .. they're not very deep .. we can have a horrible shooting night and still be right there. You need to defend them the entire 35 and force them into bad shots. Also keep Tillman off balanced.- BG: Were the Zips to have aggressively pounded the ball inside on Sunday like last night .. even 5 or 6 times .. we'd be talking about having a bye already sewn up, and perhaps securing the 1 seed even with out winning at the MACC. I think the Zips match up well here. Solving the 2-3 a bit earlier in the game would put big time pressure on the Falcons.- U@B: I think defensively they give us problems .. maybe my least favorite matchup against the East because I haven't seen them much. Reggie's a good coach, and I'd think we'll see some zone.- Can't State: Sunday will tell the story. They appear to have 3 (potentially great) scorers .. and a bit of a drop off there. I don't think they have the cohesiveness defensively to successfully pull of 40 minutes of a 2-3 zone like BG did. Not crazy about playing them 3 times .. but we have beaten them 3 times in one season before.West:- EMU, CMU & UT don't really give me cause for too much concern. CMU has finished better down the stretch .. but taking the air out of the ball only got them beat by 25 @ the JAR. Not sure what they'd do differently a 2nd time around.- NIU: I have no interest in playing them. Sure, they're not good away from DeKalb, but Patton has KD's number some how some way .. if we could avoid them .. I'd be happy.- WMU: We seem to be able to play with them the past 3 or 4 years as long as it's not in Kalamazoo. - BSU: Maybe the best team in the West .. should win the West. Not sure why their record is as bad as it is .. but they seemed to be the best West team to come into the JAR by a big margin to me.Ultimately, I think the Zips have shown they're good enough to beat most any MAC team by double digits .. and also bad enough to lose to most any MAC team by 1 or 2 buckets. It's up to them how it's going to be.Go Zips!! B)

I'll restate it:The #2 seed plays the 7 seed in the quarters. The 7 seed is probably going to be an East team. So the #2 seed may very well go home Thursday night, leaving East teams only. You can't assume that the #3 seed is going to play the West winner in the semis if the West winner has to play an East team on Thursday in the Quarters.That's why I don't think there's a big difference there. Both the #3 and #4 will be playing East teams on Thursday .. and if the favorites carry through .. they'll all be playing East teams on Friday.

I think this is a big leap. Remember that the #3 will have to (likely) play the #6 on Thursday, which looks to be an East team. So I'm not so sure that the #3 will ever see the #2 seed.

Mike, I don't know the answer .. but in the dynamics of the current situation for the Zips, I don't think it matters.Here's why:The only 3 teams in play in the West are WMU, BSU & CMU. Against these teams, UA is 3-0. The Zips can't LOSE any tiebreaker involving the West champs .. no matter if it's a clear winner, a 2 way or 3 way tie. However, they CAN WIN a tiebreaker if one comes into play with Buffalo or Miami, as UB was only 2-1 against these three (lost to BSU) and Miami was 2-1 (lost to CMU). So the West thing can't hurt the Zips .. only help them. And if they're in a tie for something with BGSU and it goes to the West, both teams were 3-0 in those games .. and it goes on down the line, where we would generally lose since BG went 2-0 vs. U@B.