Zip Watcher

Dude, you're on extremely thin ice, as you post this garbage on a forum provided in part by the cash, hard work and effort of Dr. Z himself. Questioning his loyalties due to an objective opinion about the game is bush league. It belongs over with the small minded folks at some of the other boards in the conference. Take it there. FACT. Lamont Simpson made ZERO calls against the Zips in the Dayton game. He wasn't even AT the game. If you learn to read one day, you'll find that his brother Lamar reffed the UD game and NOT Lamont.My suggestion is that you settle down .. it was an emotional loss .. you're a big fan, and it boils over .. we get it. But lay off this "I'm a bigger fan than you" crap. There's lots of fans here .. some more objective than you on some days. Get over it .. others will have a different opinion than you. There's no place here for this garbage.Capice?

So all humor aside w/ the twins pictures and all. What does everyone think tonight?I took a little detour into the toolshed this afternoon to see what they're thinking about the game. Not too many concrete ideas, but a few guys have posted thoughts on how to beat UA. I don't think they've seen the Zips too much, but we're all amateurs, right?My thoughts:- The Zips must defend agressively and get after the ball. Absolutely NO reason to think that won't happen. I don't remember the last game where the Zips had significan break downs defensively. The last 4 minutes of Winthrop maybe .. but generally they have been either very good, or downright scary on the defensive side of the ball. Keep the defense going, and the game will be in play for the Zips.- Wood must touch the ball early & often. I DON'T think he needs a ton of shots. I DO think he needs touches. It will be interesting to see what Christian does w/ the defense. OU had a little success w/ Leon on Wood 1on1, but Can't State doesn't really have a body with the strength to pull that off. If Wood touches the ball 25 possessions or more, I like the ZIps' chances.- Can't State has to pick their poison. Much has been made here and elsewhere about "the Zips live and die by the three" .. I couldn't disagree more with that statment. The Zips take 3's at the right time. Usually, due to the agressive double teaming of Wood, the 3's are wide open with feet set. A team will shoot 40% when they're open from out there. We're 17 games into the season. It's reasonable to say that our percentage isn't swayed by extraordinarily hot shooting nights .. that's what we shoot. We have good shooters and they're open.- Defensively, I expect KD to let Wood guard Scott, and put Jimmy on Q. Keeps Wood from the early foul trouble inside and puts one of our best defenders on Q. Jimmy doesn't give up too much size / strength wise in that matchup, so I'd take my chances there early on.- On the other end, I think Christian HAS to put Q on Wood. Scott may be too light for that duty, and Parks and Garcia simply aren't in their rotation unless there's big foul trouble about. I would expect the double team to come early and often.This game is won or lost on how well the Zips defend, and whether or not Wood can get the pass out to the open guy, or rotated over to the open guy. Keep the turnovers down and get the ball to the open man. Can't State will have to pick its poison tonight. Let JWood abuse someone in single coverage, or leave a shooter open and hope he doesn't find them. I like our chances.Other thoughts: Top 3 producers from the last trip to the MACC are back (Wood, Dials & Middleton). Linhart is now healthy (not last year) and will play more. Also: Mincy and Scott are the only 2 Can't State players to have beaten the Zips (per Record Courier) .. an amazing stat if you ask me. Tells us alot about the roster stability at Can't.My take: flushes choose to double team Wood early and often. Q plays less than 25 minutes w/ foul trouble. Wood has 5 assists .. Zips hit 9 of 23 from outside. No UA guy has more than 15 points, but 5 guys score 8 or more.Zips 72 - 64Should be a good time .. Go Zips.P.S. Look for OU to drop a game at UB tonight.

What he said .. This topic (Thomas) has a very short leash in my mind. VERY short.Don't embarass the Nation tonight.

That's odd .. sitting out due to transfer rules doesn't usually mean "no practice" .. I understand the "no travel" .. etc, but usually a transfer sitting out is able to participate in all practices / team drills .. etc.It's the academic sit-outs that have no practice permission during their time away.Hmmm ..

I've been wondering about Brooks. He is still on the roster, but doesn't seem as visible on the sidelines. Is he still around and practicing?And won't Brooks be just a Sophomore next season? The transfer year can eat up his redshirt season. He didn't redshirt @ Niagra before playing this year did he?

At the luncheon last week (I know .. slow to get the notes out), I asked about Jimmy specifically, and was told that they expect Jimmy to get his 4th year back. I think the phrase was "barring an unforseen disaster" .. or something like that.Everyone says that Jimmy is doing really well in the classroom.

I believe you're mistaken sir. Isn't that Da'Von Moore?

Has anyone seen a BB team rankings based upon Sagarin and not RPI?

I'm not sure why everyone is talking about getting the Vikings in the BB game. Per This official ESPN page .. Cleveland State is a home team.Seems like VCU would be a decent opponent. It would be good to get Drake back in here .. but I think they don't typically give teams the same game as a past matchup (hence, I'd be surprised to see Drake, Niagra or Nevada).

I was asking myself the same thing .. after all, I've heard he once got busy in a Burger King bathroom.

Count how many possessions they used the 1-3-1 last night, and report back.I'm thinking of a very low number .. wasn't a factor.

Check out the last play for OU if you have a chance on DVR.Leon had worked himself to very good position against Wood .. they were bodying up pretty hard, and Leon had Wood sealed off to the outside. A bounce pass to the lane or a lob over top, and it's likely Leon dunks home the game winner.2 guys were well guarded up top, but Michael Allen was all alone on the opposite wing with 4.5 seconds left. Bubba had plenty of time for a skip pass across .. McNees was shading to the top of the key and Allen was "dancing without a partner" Bubba jacking that shot was entirely unneccessary. One good pass, and OU has a much higher percentage look.

It's enabled .. I upped the max size to 50k, it was 20k .. maybe that was it ..Try it again and let me know.ZW

There was 1 NCAA Tournament team from the MAC. That was Miami. That makes Miami the defending MAC Champs.The Zips' last conference title was 1986. OVC.

Changed to 96 x 96 .. not sure if you'll need to re-upload or not, but that's the new limit.

The possibilities that lay out for the Zips if they can take care of business this week are pretty amazing. So amazing that we should dare not discuss them until Monday.

I must be on a island or something .. because I'm pumped about the 9PM start and (psuedo)national TV game. Seems like we usually break out the whooppin stick on ESPN .. remember the WMU game last year?And for me, 7pm weeknights are sometimes very difficult to get to on time. Living / working in Cuyahoga .. it's tough to round up the troops and get dinner & to the game in 1 hour. So I don't mind the change for this week. Looking forward to having some time at the bar before the game to ease into it .. and not be rushing my a$$ off to get there. I am leaving the wife & kid behind .. school night and all .. but I like the 9PM once in awhile.This is a HUGE game for us .. there's a real chance to be playing for a 2 game division lead next week @ Can't State if the Zips take care of business on Thursday night. We need a good crowd. I hope we get it.

Just in case people forgot .. check out the hall of fame for:This CLASSIC CK offering.

Was this really a "they don't make bricks the way they used to" post??!What are you, 90?

You're on target with most of this:- Hostile crowd in close quarters can make calling sets and calling out picks difficult for the visitors- The shooting backgrounds are different on the road, so depth perceptions may be harder on the road- Atmosphere is a lot of it. Stop by the JAR on March 9th to get a flavor.Bandbox is just a really tight space with lots of people in it .. I suppose it stems from old time theatre / vaudeville or something, but it's (I suppose) a slang term to describe an arena where the fans are right on top of the court and close by the action.Rent Hoosiers sometime if you don't own a copy. Most of the HS gyms in the movie would probably qualify as "bandboxes"The great thing about Anderson @ BG is that there is no media table on the sideline opposite the benches. The students occupy that entire side, and stand a few feet from the sideline the whole length of the court. When they are there in large numbers it is very different than the JAR where there's a media table @ midcourt, and high priced alumn seats next to it. Lately, however, the support level at BG is a bit down .. due mostly to fan fatigue surrounding the recently departed head coach.I'm not a tOSU fan at all .. but I do think they gave away the best home court advantage in the Big11 when they moved out of St. John arena. The students surrounded the court, the upper deck was tight in .. it was awesome when it rocked. The new pro-style arena they have robs their team of a little advantage that Jimmy Jackson & Clark Kellong once had.

When (IF) it's full, I find Anderson Arena to be one of the best environments for basketball left. It's the definition of a bandbox. What a tremendous home court advantage it would be if they jammed the place night in and night out. Definitely old school.

Ultimately, I thought the Austin Peay game was ok last year. It was nice to have smashed a team that played in the postseason, though it wasn't enough.If the Zips take care of business, and are sitting with 2 or less conference losses, I'm thinking they'll get a likely NCAA team in here. And that will help the resume when that team boards the bus with a loss.

A home win in conference is a minimum, no matter who it is against. The conference is won and lost by going on the road to get some wins.My opinion is that there is a hangover of sorts as it relates to the media and UA. They voted Romeo Travis the POY last year, and he's now gone. Joyce started pretty much for 4 seasons, and he is gone. So logically .. take a good team, subtract a POY and a 4 year point guard, and they should take a step back. I think that's the reasoning.The other factor here is the incessant brow beating about UA's OOC schedule. Admittedly it wasn't among the best in the MAC, according to the numbers. It may have been what's right for this team, but it isn't what Toledo or Miami did .. therefore "Akron is the reason the MAC's RPI is low" is the mantra you'll find in the media and on other boards.Really it was a great win .. and convincing. But they need to validate it with a win at UB and vs. OU at home. If they drop both OU and MU and pick up a (typically tough) roadie against the Bulls, you'll hear more. Do a search for "MAC Golf Standings" at macbbs or miamihawktalk.com and you'll find an interesting way of looking at the standings. Generally, the Zips held serve .. most would have expected Miami to take a loss @ Akron.The OU @ BG thing is another story .. that one is either TOS's usual underperformance, Louis Orr making an impact, the Bubba Walther factor, or a combination of those. That was the big surprise of the week I think. The margin and manner of UA's win was noteworthy, but not the fact that they won.Rifle, I think you'll figure this out for yourself, you're a smart guy: The teams that the media & other fans drool over each December & heading into the conference season almost NEVER end up at the top of the heap in March. Witness the fact that OU is perennially one of the favorites before their lack of discipline and depth do them in during January & February. It's almost an SI jinx of sorts .. you pretty much never want to be a unanimous conference pick .. that spells doom. Remember last year?The Zips are in the conversation, as they deserve. They'll show in the next 4 games how much they should or shouldn't be dominating that conversation.Personally, I think this thing has the potential to evolve into a two horse race in a really big hurry, but I'll discuss that later.

mollautt, Did you make the game?I have a question about Bramos. He didn't appear to be favoring an ankle, but I'm wondering how healthy he is. Any input into his current physical condition? I see over at MHT that (some) folks seem to think that he's too hurt to play.There were a few plays were he seemed to be the quickest guy out there (I can think of a nice recovery on D in the 1st half and block) .. but generally Nate kept him from catching the ball in a position to do anything with it. It was hard to really tell he was hurt. If I didn't know it before getting there, I wouldn't have picked up on it.Thanks,ZW

This is NOT the Fingerhut report. This is the commission of the related universities. His report & 10 year vision is due to be presented to the state some time this quarter I believe.