Zip Watcher

GoZips has the MAC tourney dates as Mar 10 (1st RD), Mar 12 (quarters), Mar 13 (semis), and Mar 14 (final). I don't see a day off between quarters and semis, at least not there.Meant to say First Round and Quarters .. good catch .. I've corrected the original.

Well, what can you say about last night?The Zips never trailed. But they never put them away. Looking at the game flow on the ESPN boxscore illustrates this pretty well. Never tied .. out early & for the most part maintained.Brief thoughts:- I think KD is right. 5 or 6 weeks ago, this team loses this game in regulation. Tonight they stuck it out and defended when it counted.- BAD teams lose games like this at home. The Zips winning this tells me that at least they're progressing slowly away from inexperienced. They're certainly not a bad team now. - I continue to be impressed with KD & staff's commitment to using the bench. It was a question of mine if he had it in him to play more than 7 or 8. I think it will help keep guys motivated, interested & fresh. And just maybe one of the 8-10 guys will step up and help win a game like this.- I thought Conyers contributed nicely in his minutes. He's a funny player. You can almost see him relax if his first shot goes down. After he hit that three .. he was way less hesitant. Some good defense, and timely putbacks and rebounding. Not his best game .. but best in a couple of weeks.- Chris will be this team's MVP this year. He appears to want the ball when it matters, and is willing to be aggressive with it when he gets it. It would be easy for him to recognize he could stretch the D and shoot over guys from 18 feet. But this team needs him inside .. and he gets that.- I think the 4 inside guys are starting to get better at the pass out to the open shooter. Woody was a master of that, and it's what made the team good .. he recognized it .. didn't pass out too quickly .. didn't pass out too late. These guys BM, CM, NC & MB are starting to get it. If they figure it out, and we're rotating 2 passes to an open McNees, Roberts or McClanahan .. this team could be a lot better. It's one thing i'm watching.- Bardo helped. I like getting him the ball 3-5 times on the block for him to try a move. If he can hit 1 or 2 a game .. it's nice. Repetition will get him better. He's got some scoring in him. Had some nice rebounds down the stretch .. the tip out on the offensive glass was a nice one.- Roberts has to be the best walkon in the conference .. and a walkon All-American.- First time in a few weeks that the offense looked out of sync .. credit to Coach Taylor I guess for much of that. The BSU players were athletic, active and disruptive at times. We have to shoot better and execute better against a team like that.- BSU is 2 times better than CMU or WMU .. they should win the West in a walk.Finally .. there's something I like about this team that hasn't been brought up yet (I don't think). I LOVE the fact that when a guy commits a foul near the basket, on a layup or whatever .. he puts the guy on the ground and the ball doesn't get to the rim. This is new this year .. led by Nik and Bardo .. also Humpty. When they foul a guy deep in the paint .. they put the guy down or at least make sure that the ball doesn't get to the rim .. generally. I still have nightmares about a game at the MACC a few years ago where the Zips had a 7-8 point lead midway through the second half .. only to have Preston, Futch & co. give up something like 5 "and 1's" on weak fouls at the end of fast breaks. It was a back breaker. This team seems to get the concept of making the opponent work for their points, and it extends to the open court.I like that. A lot.Go Zips!! B)

With the day off between the First Round & Quarters .. it certainly has less of an impact than last year.With the overall suckitude of the conference .. the seeding probably doesn't matter a whole lot. Getting a draw loaded with western cupcakes (are those BBQ flavored?) wouldn't hurt though .. so generally the 3 might be a safer lot ..One game at a time though .. there's not a game left that the Zips can't win.

I have to echo Rasor's comments in today's entries.It's GREAT to have 2 beat writers following the Zips. And having the weekly detail (not game) story in both papers has been nice. Gaffney seems to be pumping out 2 stories per game. A lead up and then the game wrap. As we climb the mountain .. it will continue to help. When the Zips win a big game .. Elton's stuff is more likely to find it's way to the front of Sports in the PD than if he wasn't following them so closely.Great work by both writers.gO'Zips!

Maybe he can help drainage on some of the flatter portions of grass around campus?

This was a classic case of pulling defeat from the jaws of victory for NIU. They had lots of chances to nail this game down.Would have been nice. Now the Zips need to pound them by 30 in their own gym as a punishment.

Swiech tallies 4 points, 2 blocks and 2 rebounds.Zips roll 79-56.And tomorrow we can all have a discussion about whether the Harlem Globetrotters were really that good .. or were the Washington Generals just horrible?gO'Zips! B)

It's a good year already.Win 2 in Cleveland and it's a successful year, as it will likely lead to postseason play.Win Saturday night in Cleveland, and we can rightly label this the greatest Zips team of the D1 era.If this team wins the MAC this year .. the conference is the Zips b!tch for the next 3.gO'Zips

Per MAC practice .. indefinate suspension means less than a week.

I'll take the ref's any day of the week and three of them on Sunday.

Chick Filet is closed on Sundays (all stores company wide). That's why no chicken on Sunday. Otherwise it would have been there.I bet the 1000 protection is for women's games / volleyball.The guy who owns the local franchises is investing tons of $$$ into Zips sports. Great to have him at the JAR.

Gotta think "Celtic" here .. include English / Irish / Scottish / Welsh / Manx .. etc.The Irish didn't generally do the tartan / kilt thing .. and Mc is Irish .. not scottish .. so you gotta take some creative license .. that should be ok?

3 minutes on Google .. there's probably more options out there:Not very expensive either.gO'Zips!

You can add Carroll to that list.I see this an an opportunity for the North End Rowdies to find an identity. Find 14 or 15 guys .. get some blue & gold kilts made up, with T-Shirts with each name & number. For the ones that need modifying .. add an " O' " and for others a "Mc" .. and then stake a claim to the front row on the North end.Kindof like the Roddy Piper getup .. but with the right colors. You'd surely get mentioned in Rasor's blog. That alone would be worth the $10-15 to slam the thing together.This would be good for at LEAST the next 3 years .. so do it right, and it can be milked. It could be a fixture at the JAR for a few seasons.The real coup might then be convincing Willie to substitute some Dropkick Murphy's in the pregame lineup (I won't go so far as suggest it replace / alternate with Enter Sandman .. yet).Seems like a good idea to me.gO'Zips! B) B)

Also .. we've scored more points than our opponents the past 6 games, so that's a big reason for the winning streak!! B)

Is my recollection that he only took 1 such ill-advised 3 accurate? I feel like even that has gotten curtailed a bit lately.Haven't seen him swing for as many "bases empty grand slams" lately.Hard to be anything but pumped after a game like yesterday.

Is there any question WMU is way better than CMU? The difference was clear, yet the Zips took it to both teams hard.The Zips could be really good .. or the conference could be really bad .. truth lies in the middle?

WOW .. somebody still watches that?

If Civil Engineering can have a Concrete Canoe competition, can't they have a "Groundwater Drainage Improvement Contest" among the Juniors & Seniors? I'll sponsor a backhoe for the event. Give 'em 3 credits to improve the drainage on a random flat portion of grass on campus.I have just the pitch in mind ..

If playing Sunday games is what it takes to watch a quality-ref'd game, count me in for changing all our games to Sundays. It was great to watch a basketball game and not a free throw shooting contest.I second that! I couldn't believe it when I got to my seats to see Ed Hightower reffing a game at the JAR.A treat to have refs out there who didn't feel the need to be the center of attention and / or take over the game.

^^^^^The original post, unedited.Guy says folks complain too much. That's it. Says it a couple ways. But that's it.To me .. there's not "belittling" going on here. He thinks some people are complaining too much. He sees it different that some of us. I have a zero tolerance for any douche who enters ZipsNation specifically to belittle its members. If you want to be condesending...act like you're superior...your participation on the board will likely be short-lived.Yes, everyone has an opinion. But if that opinion is a smug slap in the face to ZipsNation members, it stands a good chance of generating ridicule.This is an open forum. We all want it that way, right?He states an opinion that folks are complaining too much .. perhaps one that most will disagree with .. and now he's a douche? Really!!? Are we at the point where if opinions differ from ours they're not welcome here .. and we need to threaten a ban because he's not in lock step with us? Who's descended to name calling here? Him or us?I see this as a very slippery slope. We need to have thicker skins to differing opinions.Go Zips! Cupcakes ahoy! B)

I need to hit a reload once to get it to render correctly.Firefox on ubuntu, btw.

Dr. Z's photo's illustrate the Picasso-esq rendering I'm seeing sometimes.Regardless of that .. I don't think Mr. Burgendy's post merits him getting pounded like this!?Woah folks .. guy stated an opinion .. we all got them.This isn't macBBS now is it?

I really like how it changes each time you load it.First time .. New Go Zips.Com .. a little different, but seems ok.Next time .. same, but some small formatting things amok.Third time .. it's the Picasso of Athletic Department Websites!!Fourth time .. back to the beginning.GoZips.Com is like a box of Chocolates! .. You never know what you're gonna get.I still favor the new .. once it's stabilized.