Quickzips

It's tough to compare the Rubber Bowl/Infocision with the JAR/Potential new Arena. The Rubber Bowl was old and falling apart, was too far off campus and was pretty much a joke. Our hand was forced by either having to build a new expensive stadium or make equally expensive renovations to a stadium that has long since past it's prime. The JAR on the other hand, though nowhere near ideal is at least in good physical shape, is not that old and is on campus. I don't think attendance numbers had as much to do with the building of Infocision as sheer physical necessity did. That physical necessity doesn't exist to such a degree with the JAR and I think at this point we should probably wait until attendance dictates a change of venue.

I hope it gives us at least a somewhat larger fanbase. I don't think this was a performance that is going to draw another 2,500+ people into the JAR on average next year but if we can draw a couple hundred more people in next year it will be a good start. How things go at the beginning of next season is going to make a big difference. We have to come out and build on what we did to end this year. If we come out of the gate flat any interest we might have gained will quickly go by the wayside. Scheduling will also be a big issue. If there was ever a year where we will need to add some quality opponents next year seems to be the year. This team has shown that they aren't afraid of the big stage.

GP1, you and I do disagree. Giving him the starting spot from the first practice and making someone else outplay him is the exact opposite of what I am talking about. Nik earned his starting spot this year and has played well down the stretch. Zeke will have to do the same this year.

Zeke is one of the most talented players in the country. He should be placed in the starting lineup the second he walks into the first practice. It is his job to lose.I absolutely disagree. Look, noone is talking about redshirting Zeke or anything like that. But this team is built on 5 guys on the floor playing as one. No one player on this team is bigger than the rest of the team and that attitude shouldn't change just for Zeke. Now if Zeke comes in in Fall practice and earns the starting spot more power too him. But for now our starting lineup is Humpty, Roberts, Conyers/B.McKnight, C.McKnight and Cvetinovic. From what I understand of Zeke and his mindset and work ethic he shouldn't have any problem with this.

I hate to be Debbie downer on this one, but we need to fill the JAR more consistently before we get serious about expanding. I also don't buy that we need to build a huge arena. Gonzaga (remember, the program we want to model ourselves after) just built a new arena a few years ago. It seats about 6,000. If we are going to build a new arena at some point it needs to be as much or moreso about quality than it is about quantity. I would rather see us build a 6,000-8,000 seat arena with all the fixings than a 10,000-12,000 seat bare bones cavern.

Thought I would post a few more thoughts from the morning after the game.Daryl Roberts was HUGE for us. Yeah he scored 5 points in pretty much garbage time, but he did a lot of things through the course of the game to help us stay even w/ the Bulldogs. He's one of the more underrated guys on this team. People really only pay attention to him when he is shooting free throws, but he's a crafty player. Twice last night he pump faked a Gonzaga player in the air and drew the foul. Great moves. He's also developing a nice mid-range game. I look forward to seeing him back on the floor next year.I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I have to call out Mike Bardo again. Again last night there were 2 or 3 times where he drifted out to the 3 point line to try to trap a guard and left a Gonzaga big under the hoop wide open for an easy bucket. I mean their guy could have caught the ball, laid his head down on it, took a nap, woke up and still slammed it home Bardo was so far out of position. It has been this way all year with Mike and Zaga took advantage of it as well as anyone. I don't know if this is something KD is telling him to do or if it is Mike improvising, but it either has to stop or Bardo has to get his butt planted firmly on the bench. I will give him credit for going up strong and dunking the ball once, but just a minute before that he had to be bailed out with a foul call when he got good post position, but brought the ball down and gave the defenders time to rotate over. I hate to say it, but Bardo is a waste of a scholarship IMO.I am going to miss Nate Linhart. A lot. I haven't always liked him in his career. He plays about as ugly a brand of basketball as you will ever see. But he lays it all out on the floor. You can't look back and say, well if Nate would have given a little more effort here, or done a little better there we could have won. Last night was no different as he was a big part in giving us a chance to win that game. He's not really big, really strong, really fast or a really good jumper, but I will take 10 Nate Linhart's on my team any day of the week.Humpty's injury really hurt us. McNees wasn't on last night and with Humpty only able to play a few minutes I felt like our backcourt just got worn down in the end. If nothing else you need him out there for depth and it just wasn't there last night.I think the turning point in the game was when the McKnights both picked up their third fouls early in the 2nd half. Gonzaga didn't take advantage right away, but when those two got in foul trouble it killed our inside game. We actually outscored a much bigger Gonzaga team in the paint through the first half. But with KD having to be careful with Chris and Brett in the 2nd half our inside game went away and Gonzaga shut us down at the 3 point arc. For us to take that next step the brothers need to learn to avoid fouls more often.Overall, a great effort for the Zips. No shame in taking a top 10 team in the nation toe to toe for thirty minutes. There are still some things to work on, but we've got some time to work on them. This team should make some noise in the big dance over the next couple years.

Tough to argue with any of that. I still don't like going down the JUCO road, it's too tempting to start relying on JUCO's and transfers. You get yourself going down that road and sometimes it is tough to come back from that. As far as the lineup goes. I don't think Zeke will start, at least right away. KD isn't exactly known for just handing guys things on a silver plater. Zeke is going to have to earn his minutes. I said in another thread a week ago or so that I think we will continue to start Nik at C early in the season, then as Zeke earns more playing time move Nik over to a PF coming off the bench and groom him to be the frontcourt running mate for Zeke down the road.I will also say that I am excited to see what our redshirts will bring to this team. I don't know where we will find playing time for them, but Sullivan is a guy who had a big reputation in this part of the country and Parrish looks like a guy who could give us a more athletic presence in the frontcourt. The other thing that interests me is what happens with Nate's spot in the rotation. The two guys we've had behind him this year are Conyers in B.McKnight. Now Brett has outplayed Jimmy most of the year, but I really wonder if Brett wouldn't be best served to continue coming off the bench. Jimmy isn't the player we thought we were getting when we signed him, but he has value for this team and a rotation of Jimmy starting and playing 15 minutes or so and Brett relieving him and playing the other 25 makes a lot of sense to me.I think the biggest thing for this team in the off-season is to develop some offensive consistency. We can't expect to get back to the dance, or make some noise when we are there if we continue to go through these long spans where we can't hit the broad side of a barn. If we continue to score tonight, lets just say Gonzaga fans might not have any fingernails left.

Nice effort by our guys tonight. Gonzaga finally woke up about half way through the 2nd half and that combined with another one of the Zips patented 10+ minute scoring droughts was just too much to overcome. If the Zips could find some more consistency it would have been a much more interesting game. Still, great experience for the Zips. The future looks pretty good for this team.Also, a big thanks to Nate Linhart for playing his guts out for 4 years for the Zips. You won't find many more like him. Best of luck young man.

I'll give Binghamton a little more credit than Can't. Can't would NEVER suspend a troublemaker for 3 games.

Just noticed this at the Plain Dealer. Apparently Daryl Roberts is writing a tournament blog for the PD. Pretty cool to see.Here is the first edition:http://www.cleveland.com/marchmadness/inde...m_akrons_d.html

Nik has to work a lot on his outside shooting if he wants to be a 3. I think the ideal situation for the Zips works out this way. At the start of next season Nik starts at C while Zeke learns the system and figures out how to play at this level. By the middle of the season Zeke takes over the starting C role and we start to groom Nik as the eventual replacement to C.McKnight at the 4. We have to remember, Chris is a senior next season, and we are going to need someone to fill his role after next year. I really think Nik would be a nice compliment next to Zeke as a 4/5 combonation.

I know it has been brought up a couple of times already, but those guys need their own thread. They really are a big part of what got this program where it is right now and they deserve a lot of credit as well. I know it may not be a popular opinion, but I think when this years team has the tournament ring ceremony, those guys need to be invited back and given an honorary ring for all they accomplished to help get us to this point.

I tried watching it. Very jerky video feed. I would love to watch this game from the TV perspective after being there live, but it's just too tough to watch on that feed.

I know a lot of people aren't really down with this matchup, particularly flying across the country to the Zags back yard. I kind of like it. Look, I hate that it is in Portland, but this is the kind of game that we can use as a benchmark for the program. I have no delusions about us making some Cinderella Elite 8/Final 4 run or anything like that, although after last night I don't know what to expect out of this team anymore. I would just like to see how we can respond to the big dance against a team that we so often say that we want to be like. If the Zips can make a game out of this one I will be feeling pretty good about the next few years. Even if they can't, this is a great stepping stone for this program.

Anyone have an idea yet as to the start time on this game. I assume b/c of it being in Portland the Eastern Time Zone start time would be later. Hoping I'll be out of work in time to watch it.

Everyone just ignore GP1. His whipping boy Keith Dambrot just proved him wrong and he's a little peeved about it. Has to find some way to rain on the parade.

We did play some pretty good D all year, but I thought it was even more impressive this weekend. Maybe it was just me, but I NEVER saw the Zips D let up. Even for a second. All 3 teams we're having to run into single digit shot clocks to get even a mediocre look and even those weren't great. We even forced a few shot clock violations last night against Buffalo.

Nope, couldn't be more bored.

There is only one postseason tournament. At least that the Zips need to be worried about. Third time is the charm. Let's get it done tonight guys. I've got a new pair of dancing shoes all laced up and ready to go.

The key to this one comes down to the Zips figuring out BG's 2-3 Zone. The Zips have struggled all year against zone defenses. We've got to make an early attempt to force the ball down into the low post. If we settle for jump shots all night it is going to be a long evening. It would also be a huge help if we can continue that good 3 point shooting from the outside. The other big thing for tonights game is rebounding. It is a proven fact. When the Zips outrebound their opponent, they win. Every time. BG has some good rebounders who really caused problems for us at the JAR. We have to continue to scrap and claw for every rebound. I've given up trying to predict these games. After seeing a Zips/Miami game go to 73-63 I am convinced there has been some kind of hole ripped in the space/time continuom and everything is out of whack. Right now, I'm just along for the ride. Go Zips!

Here's my question. The article says that Holden is currently a senior. Are we looking at him as a potential walk-on? Do we have another scholly out there I am not aware of? Is there a problem coming up with getting Conyers his year back?

The one thing I think would help us as much as anything on the offensive end of the floor is to push the tempo a little bit more. We seem so much more relaxed and comfortable when we look for early offense. When we try to run out of the half court and slow the tempo down it seems like everyone freezes up and loses confidence. We tend to end up with more bad shots and turnovers.

My take on Humpty (I don't even know why I'm getting involved in this, why can't we just enjoy the Toledo win and move on?)You can say a lot of negative things about the kid. He's short, even for a freshman PG. He's not the best decision maker ever. He isn't a pure pass first PG. His shot selection can be puzzling at times. At this point in his career he is, at best an inconsistent shooter. BUT...the kid is a competitor. I can't think of one game all year where anyone could come up to me and say that that kid didn't leave every inch of himself out on the floor. Not to mention, he's got ice water running through his viens. For a freshman to go into the situations he's been in this year and not seem at all phased by it is pretty impresssive. Is he going to provide last minute heroics every single time the Zips need it. Ofcourse not. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James don't even pull off the miracle every time they need it. But I'll take Humpty running the show at the end of regulation over a deer in the headlights, piss down your leg kid any night of the week. I can't wait to see how the rest of his career plays out.

With the connection that Hitchens and him already have I wouldn't mind taking a flyer on him, but not at the expense of another possibly more talented 4 year recruit.

I'll be there for the Zips game at the very least. Don't care that it is at 9:30 (probably will end up being more like 10) and that I've got class the next morning. Fifth year in a row for me.