Zip Watcher

At least 2 or 3 other guys pissed away chances at that title. Maybe the most bizzare finish I've seen in a major:- Monty would have won outright with a par, force a playoff with a bogey & he doubles.- Furyk would have forced a playoff with a par & he bogey's- Harrington hits all the fairways, but bogeys 16, 17 and 18 .. 2 pars put him in a playoffIncredible stuff. I can't comprehend how tough that course must have been for these guys to be playing at 2 over and giving up strokes coming home like that.

That post makes my week. I'll not be making it either of the next 2 Sundays, but early July, I'll be down for a visit .. must say I'll be watching the first time down .. but this is definitely in my future.Do the Celtic Guard have a wee ones program? How young can we start them?

Thank you for a good post & a nice read. ... in the middle of a hell week, that was a welcome distraction.Great post.P.S. I gotta love the mini-jets for the speed of unloading & loading, with the same flight time as the big boys, but you gotta be on a CO ERJ in seat A to be sure to be Toole-proof.

Thanks for your patience with the outage on Wednesday the 24th. We have moved to a completely new hosting company that will hopefully prove more reliable than previously. This message resides on the new server only, so if you see this, you're in good shape!ZW

Killing time while on hold, here's my depth chart:PG: Middleton, Joyce, RussellSG: Conyers, Dials, McNeesSF: Linhart, RybackPF: Travis, McKnightC: Wood, Milum, BardoThe backup to SF might be rolling into a 3 guard set a lot, so I'm thinking Ryback as a spot shooter is OK for SOME minutes at that spot. He is a big boy, but with the matchup 113 zone, they can handle it defensively against most 3's. Might need to go smaller if there's a quicker 3 on the other team when you spell Linhart.So the size of the team as starters:PG: 6-1SG: 6-5SF: 6-7PF: 6-7C: 6-7That's pretty good for a MAC squad. Lots of depth at the 1 and 2 should enable KD to really pressure the perimeter and take the 3's away, forcing the opponent inside, where generally, the Zips stack up pretty well against the conference.

Is this the same guy as "Scooter Taylor" from Walsh?

Just checking in to see if anyone is going to make the post-season banquet on Tuesday. I went last year & it was a nice event. Unfortunately work has me travelling Tuesday night, so I'll miss it this year.Who from the Nation is going & will report back?

The reference to the Big East thing has to do with joining the 8 football schools after the hoops vs. football split happens. Eventually, you'd have to believe the Louisville and Cincy are going to get tired of the NIT and the revenue battle will lead to the 8 football schools splitting with the rest.Then those 8 will invariably go hunting for 4 new friends so they can get championship game revenue that doesn't exist until you have 12.That's my understanding of how & why a MAC school might be posturing or hoping for interest in the BE. It has nothing to do with the 16 team monster the league is now, it has to do with these 8 teams:CincyUConnPittSyracuseWVULouisvilleSouth FloridaRutgersWhen they decide they need 4 more friends, there are only so many places they can look.I can't say it's a likely thing for any MAC school, but I do like the motivation and effort to elevate the program(s) to a level where such a conference would consider the Zips. If UA is even in the discussion 5 years from now or if / when this all goes down, then it means that Rhoades kept the momentum, the teams were successful .. and the Zips are competing at the top level.IMHO, this is long range thinking (and I like that). But the men's soccer team would have won the BE this year, and UA is the only school outside the BE that has hosted a BE championship this year. That could be worth something down the road.The teams just need to keep improving .. that should be the goal. Whatever the motivation is in the dept., I'm not sure I care.

Can't say I have a strong opinion either way on this one .. I'm with GP1 in the fact that those photos make me laugh. I especially like the last one. I will however cast my vote for being shocked at the use of that phrase around these parts!Not nearly as noteworthy as "fellating goats" .. but the poetry!!

GP1,A clarification on my post. I don't disagree entirely with your first paragraph of your first reply to this post. I agree that the passion & energy on the board was nice that weekend. What disappointed me was the movement by some posters to move into the "this coach isn't going to get it done" area .. and the "our players suck and aren't good enough for me" rants. I stand by my position that these are not productive energies here. Be angry the Zips laid an egg .. fine, that's part of being a fan. But to start the drumbeat of "I want a new coach" after seasons of 19 and 23 wins in years 1 and 2 is ridiculous.I will continue to disagree with the "slow" criticism of Linhart. From day 1 I have been in the "Middleton can really play" camp (go back to early last year), and I stand by that now. I will also stand by my opinion that Nate will become one of our best players. Not because we don't have better talent .. or because we stock up on suburban LO type players. No. It will be because he has some uncoachable attributes. It will be because he has size, hoops sense, anticipation .. and quickness. The guy is a DI talent athletically. He belongs .. and I think he'll continue to prove it. I don't think he's too far from what Andy was (pre-back injury) .. and I venture to guess that most of us would love to have that type of player be here and reach his potential in this system.My big issue in a nutshell:I don't think it's fair for us to burden these players and this coach with the failures of past regimes. I refuse to do it. - This is YEAR 2 of the KD era. That means more to me than year 17 post Huggins ... 8 years of MAC futility .. etc. The rest is irrelevant to this team here and now. They weren't here for those years .. and they're not here to undo those years. They're here to be successful NOW, and they're on the way.- The 2008-09 season will be the earliest year that I can consider the whole roster "KD's Guys." I know he was Hip's top recruiter for the 2 years before he got the top chair. But in those years, he was recruiting for an entirely different system than he's implementing here. Cedric is his first recruit. I think until he gets 2 more classes in here, I'll be slow to criticize him for the talent levels. These guys are talented .. sure, but they might just be better suited to the motion / triangle half court offense side of things, rather than the run, gun & defend system of KD.- Year 1: 19 wins, MAC Quarters, no postseason.- Year 2: 23 wins, MAC Semi's, NIT bid, 1 NIT winThat's a pretty damn good start in my mind. And that's what it is. A START of things .. this isn't a continuation of anything, good or bad. It's a new start.At least that's how I see things.Finally Now THAT is extremely well said / typed!!Go Zips!

Been on the road & away from PC for a few days & didn't have time to post earlier. Writing this on a plane early in the week after the MAC tourney. Some of this has been posted, but I'll download some thoughts anyway just to go on the record. Most of this written prior to the NIT beginnig & having only the MAC tourney on my mind:- The Zips laid an egg in the last 25 minutes of the UT game. That's clear. The first 15 minutes of the game might have been the best execution I've seen from a Zips hoop team in a LONG time. Total and utter domination. I believe the wheels started to come off in the last 5 of the first half. I recall at least 2 or 3 fast breaks that yielded silly turnovers and no good shots. Should have been up 12 or 15 at the half.- The ZipsNation laid a similar egg in the subsequent 48 hours or so. I won't comment on much of what was posted because I think a lot of it was garbage and doesn't merit further discussion. Seems like everyone calmed down mid-day on Sunday. I've always felt that this, like the Dreamwater blue boards before it, was a haven for objective, clear headed discussion of Zips sports without going off the deep end of player/coach attacks .. a la Bobcatattack.Com or MACbbs. I think we now know that ZN.O has a strong foothold in the Zips Nation .. lots of emotional posts .. lots of passion. I guess I'll take the bad with the good on that front, but I think there was a ton of crap posted around here for a few days. Nice activity level though.- Zips fans started circling the punch bowl on Friday and Saturday for the first time similar to the OU pattern whenever Tim O'Shea loses a game. TOS wins one in a row and he's the savior of Athens. TOS loses one and he's the biggest waste of a coach they've ever had & should be fired. Go back to last season at the MACbbs & you'll see the same regarding Jimmy Christian. I hope we don't degenerate into that. Coaching changes are spurred by long periods of under performing or under representing the UA community. IMHO, one bad night doesn't merit slitting one's wrists over a coach who's won 40 games in 2 years. I certainly agree that the bad night came at a HORRIBLE time .. but it was just that .. one bad night.- The MAC isn't a very good hoops conference right now. It just isn't. Most teams don't have a healthy balance of inside & outside scoring. Few have any inside punch at all. There were also some dubious coaching decisions at the Q all weekend.- I thought the attendance was nice. To have the Friday crowd outnumber the Saturday is a clear indicator to me that the Nation was out in force on Friday and ready to fill the place up on Saturday. It was a missed opportunity for the Zips to not make the final. I don't feel like this will hurt the growth of fan support for next year. A good NIT performance will erase Friday, provided it's covered in the paper and people know about it.- OU consistently brings the best Band / Cheerleader / Dance Team package to the Q. It's not even close. I thought the UA groups were solid & in the top half of the 8 we saw, but OU puts the rest of the conference to shame. Their dance team does lots more situps than any of the others .. maybe combined.- Even one of our top posters had a tough game on Friday, I think it was during the Can't game. Opportunity to display the Roo flag during the Can't State game gone awry. I guess we were all off of our game that night.- Glad they renewed with the Q for 5 more years. This is my favorite week of the year. Thursday is an annual company holiday for me and my guys and I enjoy it immensely. It's even better when the Zips are there.Team related notes from the tourney:- Zips are a good team .. pretty solid .. but not spectacular. When I consider the roster evolution that will happen this offseason, I think they're going to be a whole lot better in 2 or 3 years than even this team was. Do yourself a favor and jot down your 2 deep rotation for next year. You can consider Wood or not .. but after the season is really over & the dust settles, I think we'll have a lively discussion on next year's rotation. I'm pretty pumped for it already.- I'm thrilled to see a 2nd senior class in a row finish strong. These guys played hard and ramped it up as the season began to close. There wasn't any quit in them, and they were complete sold on the team concept. I'll miss all three. I thought that Futch especially was a factor late in the year. DP clearly brought it late season, and demonstrated once again the concept of the "Jawanza Moore Effect" (more on that next week or so).- Cedric continues to improve and impress. He needs to be on the floor with the freedom to attack the basket. He's one of our best creators and a guy that won't get out quicked very often, and probably never in conference.- My opinion here --> If you think Nate Linhart is just a slow white player that isn't worthy of minutes on a good team, then you're nuts & you're not watching the same guy I see. Nate had a tough second half after he hit the freshman wall. But NO ONE goes to the MAC tourney and pulls down 14 boards in a single game without quickness, anticipation and good basketball sense. I'm thrilled this guy is only a Freshman & that we have him. With some strength, and a little quicker release on his jumper, I think he has the potential for 2 All MAC selections in the next 3 years. He could be that good. You can't teach what he's got in court awareness & anticipation. And he's NOT slow. There's 2 guys on this team that are able to put the ball on the floor and consistently get to the rack. Cedric's the first`and Nate's the 2nd. Lay off the kid and be glad he's here.- I think if Rome improves his shooting from inside 10' by using the glass all summer, he could dominate this league inside. There's just not any guy that can check him one on one. And if he can start using the glass and get his percentage on the bunnies up (I know he shot well all year), he'll demand the double team all the time, and the mid-range shooters & outside shots will be open all game. - I do think they played a bit dumb in the second half .. and then they panicked. Not sure if that's inexperience or what, but they just weren't able to right the ship. Toledo was just good enough to take advantage of it. The small gap that still existed this year between Can't State and UA was evident in how the flushes handled a very similar situation on Saturday .. they pulled it together just enough to hold of UT and take the game. Friday night will prove valuable down the road, though it sure stings now. There was evidence of difficulty putting teams away back in January & it certainly bit the Zips on Friday.- The NIT's a nice opportunity for this team. It isn't the NCAA, but a great chance for some more court time and experience with playing in tough win or go home situations. Look at the bracket .. it's a bunch of good teams. I'd take 6 games against any of these teams as our non-conference schedule & feel like we have a nice schedule. To say the NIT is not worth going to .. or just for losers .. is missing the opportunity entirely and is a misinformed opinion, IMHO.That's it for the MAC Tourney for me. I'm turning the page & looking forward to more Zips hoops. A bitter finish, but the NIT will dull that for me. I love the direction this is headed, with these players & this coach. This is the brightest the future has looked in 20 years, and it won't take much for KD this group to far eclipse the achievments of Huggins et al. in the 80's.Go Zips!

I think the flushes got a good 1st round draw. Pitt's a solid club, but some good defense & depth should give Can't a chance in this game if they shoot a reasonable percentage. They need productive games from Youngblood and Warzinski.

The semifinal games are on FSN .. but you have to check your cable listings as they're being broadcast on alternate channels due to the Cavs game on Friday. Today's games aren't on, but Fridays are (FSN) and Saturdays is (ESPN2).With SportsTimeOhio in the mix now, perhaps it will be better next season.Best way to see the games is to get there in person.

There every year .. this year with 16 total seats.Go Zips .. let's become :macc:

Hi All.Just a note to Zips fans that I may have some extra tickets for the Day session. I buy the MAC Pac tickets in December so I have my 12 center court seats. I also picked up my season tickets for the Akron session, but had some cancellations from people this afternoon. I currently have about 2 or 3 seats in the Akron section available for Zips fans that are going up to the game & want to sit amongst the Nation.If you are interested, I'm not looking to make big money off of these, but would like them to find a home with a Zips fan.If you need tickets & want to sit among the Nation, send me an email through the board or PM me through the board. I'll keep checking this evening and Thursday morning & we can connect at the Q to make the handoff.Go Zips!

That's a former basketball Zip if I remember correctly, he played on the great teams of the early 70's under Wyatt Webb.

Agreed. Though I couldn't give 2 $#its about what goes on at a MAC board.

I'm here to say you guys need to lay off msopher ... take some time to read his posts.Dude's a Rocket grad .. has legitimate reasons for UT fandom. Dude's a UA student now .. has legitimate reasons for UA fandom.msopher is NOT TrolledoRockets .. careful with the wide brush strokes fellas.Go Zips!

I'll add the following:#1: Each and every one of us in the Zips Nation owes a debt of gratitude to UAM. Under his watch, we saw what a big time Athletic Department looks like, long before it was matched on the courts and fields of UA. The production value of the events at UA are at or above those of most BCS level programs. That's important to moving forward. UA needs to think bigtime and act bigtime in order to become bigtime. Kudos to Mike for helping UA see that.#2: He's done this job .. Asst. AD for Marketing .. at UA for several years now. He's done this job smashingly for several years now. What else can we ask of him here? He's set the table for a sound and cohesive marketing plan for UA Athletics for years to come. You ever do the same job for 7 years without moving up or on? I certainly can't criticize someone for pursuing new challenges.#3: Read his letter again. He speaks of opportunities, both "professional and educational." There's a lot to that. Life is about learning and moving upward and onward with new lessons. He sees a chance to move closer to his ultimate professional goal and is going after it. I hope that I'd have the fortitude and awareness to recognize such an opportunity and follow it in the same manner.#4: Don't assume it's all about the Benjamins. That's an insult to UAM & his family. Maybe your sole motivation is the almighty dollar .. good for you if it is. I find that most people aren't that simple. Coin doesn't hurt & it has to be considered, but be careful about jumping to that conclusion. Many of you know UAM better than I am fortunate to, and I'll bet anyone who knows him would agree that coin alone doesn't drive the guy. He's a better man than that, and he deserves more than to have Zips fans posting that kind of BS around here.#5: Mike's pursuing a dream & sees an opportunity to move closer to and better prepare himself for reaching that dream. It's easy for most people to give up on a dream. Way easier than chasing one. If you aren't striving for a dream, then you can't fall short if you don't attain it. Props to Mike for getting after it. I know he'll get to it. I've been blessed to get there once & it's damn rewarding & fulfilling when you do.#6: More than one time in the remainder of UAM's long and successful career, UA will be in need of a new Boss. He'll be on the short list. Count on it. And if & when he does ride back into town on the hood of Z-P's Pinto .. he'll come back with a boatload of new experience, ideas and wisdom. And UA will be better for it.Finally ..I'll always have a healthy respect for UAM. I'll always remember that HE was the AD the night that UA won the MACC @ Ford Field. He's the only AD in UA history to claim a football title. We've been blessed to see him work his magic in helping awake the Zips Nation from a deep, deep slumber. Things evolve and times call for new people and new challenges. God speed Mike & family in your next step & hurry back now, ya hear?!Below: UAM & JD accept Motor City Bowl Invite!

HEY ZIPS FANS!!!!If you read anything before heading to the game READ THIS!I remember a few years ago before the team quit, how Pluto and some of the other fishhacks around these parts couldn't wait to immortalize Ball, Bosley & co. with retired jerseys @ the JAR. Many of us thought it to be premature since they hadn't won anything yet .. but another reason was that the Cricket wasn't yet recognized in that manner. I never had the pleasure to see Jenkins play.I'm as excited about Saturday's game for the Halftime ceremony as I am for the game itself. For someone whose love for Zips hoops was cemented permanently in my heart during the mid-to-late 80's, I think this day has been a long time coming. I know you can't be knee-jerk on these types of things .. that's how you end up with 6 retired numbers with a history of mediocrity (see the Cavaliers).This isn't honoring World B. Free for simply putting butts in seats. This is honoring two of the best ever to wear the Zips colors. Under Eric McLaughlin's watch, the Zips 85-32 with 3 postseason appearances (all in the first 8 years in DI I might add). Perhaps no other UA player has had that distinction since the Wyatt Webb era ended. Larry Jenkins went 86-22 and tallied 3 straight NCAA trips, with a National runner-up finish in 1972 (nb: Tradition runs deeper than 7 years friends!).So let's get some stories about Jenkins and the Cricket going .. anyone have any specific thoughts?!Here's one of mine, though it doesn't have to do with him lighting things up: I have a LOT of reasons for hating the Suckeyes. Many of them more recent than others. But probably the deepest seated dislike of Columbus State stems from the 1989 NIT game. That's the game that UA was winning at St. John Arena before one of Ayer's thugs put EM into the scorers table, ending his Zips career with an injury. Bush league crap from a bush league school afraid to admit they weren't the best team in the state that year. Columbus State went on to the NIT finals @ MSG that year .. but fortunately were taken down by my soon to be school, UConn on the beginning of its rise to dominance.Nice to finally honor Eric McLaughlin and Larry Jenkins. Get out there to welcome them home to the rafters of the JAR.GO ZIPS!

Thanks for that Pouch. We appreciate it.

Update on the server move:As of mid-day on the 24th (Friday) .. everything appeared to be settled down on the server move.As of right now (1AM on Saturday the 25th) all posts & topics that seemed to have dissappeared have been recovered and synced into the board. Hopefully at this point, no one's life changing original thoughts that were posted here have been lost. If you feel like something critical is still missing, please drop me a PM or post someting in the Tech Support Forum.Thanks for your patience. It was a big inconvenience for this to happen right before a big game .. but I really had no control whatsoever on the timing. Trust me when I say that it wreaked much more havoc on my business site that is hosted on the same server. It's been a long couple of days.Thanks again for your patience & patronage.Let's Go Zips! If you're on the fence .. please get out to see the game on Saturday and give the Cricket some love. It's been a long time coming.ZW

Update.As of mid-day on the 24th (Friday) .. everything appeared to be settled down on the server move.As of right now (1AM on Saturday the 25th) all posts & topics that seemed to have dissappeared have been recovered and synced into the board. Hopefully at this point, no one's life changing original thoughts that were posted here have been lost. If you feel like something critical is still missing, please drop me a PM or post someting in the Tech Support Forum.Thanks for your patience. It was a big inconvenience for this to happen right before a big game .. but I really had no control whatsoever on the timing. Trust me when I say that it wreaked much more havoc on my business site that is hosted on the same server. It's been a long couple of days.Thanks again for your patience & patronage. Let's Go Zips! If you're on the fence .. please get out to see the game on Saturday and give the Cricket some love. It's been a long time coming.ZW

I for one really like the side boards & hope they're maintained. I understand the notion of getting status up to the center scoreboard also, but please don't drop them from the side. After about the 3rd game of having them it became second nature for me to find what I was looking for in a split second.Knowing the fact that they don't generally update during live action will save people some trouble. I think they're a huge thing to have and they provide stats that exceed any other MAC arena I've ever been in. Hell, Mackey Arena @ Purdue and Gampel Pavilion @ UConn don't have that much information available, at least they didn't the last time I was in either of those gyms.The only tweak I would make to the side boards would be to see if we could squeeze rebounds in there somehow. The scoreboard at the old Coliseum in Richfield had 3 columns for each player: Pts. RBs PF's. It's the only place I've ever seen that, and I've missed it ever since it got blown up. I think that'd be a cool stat to have real time .. but I'm sure the numbers would get small.What would be good would be if anyone could post the resolution of the side boards (pixels x pixels .. etc), and the minimum size necessary for any character & then we could all play along in the offseason to see if there's a tweak that can help.Thanks again for stopping in UAM !!! You and your staff are doing a hell of a job. Give that snappy Newhouse boy a $.01 raise and send the bill to the Nation!

All,Our hosting company is in the process of migrating the server that includes ZipsNation.Org. As a result, you may notice some flaky performance on ZipsNation.Org today (the 23rd) and maybe into tomorrow.I may shut down the board on the old server so that no one can post new topics. Once the migration is complete, I will do a sync of old to new to make sure that all topics appear here at the new board. If you're reading this topic. You are on the NEW server and don't need to worry about anything & can post away.Thanks for your patience,ZW