Quickzips

We've hit a buzzsaw tonight guys. It's gonna be a fight to the end. The streak is most definitely in danger.

Not too worried just yet. NIU isn't gonna shoot 60%+ the whole game. We just gotta settle down and limit the turnovers.

Everyone who wants to see more Goddard needs to watch that last play. Doesn't come back to the ball, gives up the steal, can't get back the other way quick enough to stop the bucket with the foul.

Need to slow down and run our offense here. We're getting sloppy trying to push. Chris McKnight has been looking very good. If he can keep this up and Wood gets back for tourney time this injury may just be a blessing in disguise.Nate needs to take that fast break in for the layup instead of looking for the dunk. Don't look for the flushy play just get the points.

Need another big night from McKnight, Bardo, Milum up front. I agree with skip-zip. This is a game that we need to take NIU out of the gym early. Get Dials, Middleton and anyone else who is hurting out of the game and get guys like B.McKnight, Bardo, etc. some work.

If the objective of playing a big time BCS school is just to get the paycheck and bring some money into the program then you're probably right. It probably isn't worth it. However if we are really serious about building this program into a top mid-major you have to play one of them a year IMO. After last year it is pretty obvious that the Michigan's, OSU's, Florida's, USC's, Texas' and the likes of the BCS world aren't bulletproof. They can lose games and they can lose them to teams that the rest of the country would (probably rightfully so) consider to be of a significantly lower quality. You may never win a game like that, but even if you can go toe to toe with them and put the fear of god (or the roo) into them it is of a huge benefit. Look at Appalachian State this year. How many people would have given two shits about that team without them beating Michigan? Not many. Fresno State has gained a reputation through the years by going into places like USC and making the big boys fight for their lives. Thats what I eventually want to see out of the Zips. Go into the big boys house once a year and go for the upset. If you get it, the program takes a big step forward. If not, hopefully you can give them a good enough scare that you learn something for next season and you still walk out of there with your payday.As far as playing games at CBS, you're right. Once the new stadium is built there isn't really much of a reason to go up there and play. If we could by some stretch convince a big time program to come play us there it MIGHT be worth it, but since that isn't all that realistic it's a moot point.

It's hard to disagree sometimes. He's shown flushes of what he can do, but he got here so late. He's behind the 8-ball quite a bit, especially on the defensive end. Unfortunatley he doesn't seem to be able to catch up as quick as Roberts has.

Zips get the win. Gotta hand it to Nate Linhart tonight. As bad as he was early in the season he is that good if not better now. I've been critical of him in the past, but he is truly playing like an MVP right now. Without him we do not win that game tonight. Dials with a gritty performance again tonight but you have to wonder how many more of those he has in him. From the sounds of it he is really gimping on that left leg. Cedrick barely played. McNees with a few more big 3's and a few more frustrating TO's. Roberts played quality minutes. Conyers continues to be a disappointment. Chris McKnight stepped up big but we need more from him inside. Quade had a nice night as well with some big shots, nice rebounds and good passing. Bardo is doing a nice job on defense, but his offense is a liability most of the time. He has a real difficult time handling the ball when it comes to him inside. Zips lost a couple of turnovers tonight on passes that he simply couldn't get a handle on. Brett McKnight barely played.

And as soon as the Zips get into a rythm it goes by the wayside. Ball State back w/in 5.

Zips made the halftime adjustments. Nate with a couple big 3's. McKnight with 5 points (a 3 and a nice hook inside), Quade with 5 (2 from the line and a 3). Defense is shutting Ball State down. Zips up 15. Ball State has already had to burn 2 TO's.

1 point lead at the half. I'll take it. Zips went into a zone defense around the middle of the half and it started to work as the half wore on. Still struggling to find that inside presence. Bardo is doing a decent job. C.McKinght's gotten into foul trouble. Quade has been ok but you expect that with Ball St. not having a lot in terms of physical inside guys. Zips get to regroup at the half and figure out what is working and what isn't. Need to get out of this one with a win. Doesn't matter how it happens. These next two games are paramount to the rest of our season. Can't drop 2 games to the worst 2 teams in the West even with Jeremiah out if we want to have a shot at the first round bye still.

Offense isn't doing THAT bad but we are looking horrible again on defense. At this point I'd like to see Bardo and Quade in there at the same time more. Bardo seems to be doing alright inside when he's in there and Quade can at least block a shot. It's really hurting us with Nate, Nick and C.McKnight all in foul trouble early. When those guys can't man up and play tight defense we hurt bigtime.

So far...could be better, could be a lot worse. Got C.McKnight and Bardo involved early. It's obvious that KD is fishing for a rotation that works with a lot of substitutions including bringing Goddard in early. The 3 ball isn't falling really early, but we are still ahead. Nate in a little foul trouble early which is a problem.

Something tells me he'll take over that rover spot vacated by Mackey. No inside information here, just a hunch. I wouldn't expect him on the sidelines for real long.

If you really think there is any chance of us getting Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State or other top tier BCS schools to come play us at home, or even at CBS, you need to go take your temperature. Those teams aren't going to lose the revenue that their 80,000+ seat stadiums generate for themselves and they aren't going to take any kind of risk of going on the road and losing to a MAC team. It offers no benefit to them. The best you can hope for is maybe a Wisconsin or an Iowa to take a deal like that (they have in the past although I think if they ever lost one you'd never see them do it again). No, for the time being we are best off trying to schedule the Kentucky's, Northwestern's, Illinois', Syracuse's, Indiana's, Duke's and Vanderbilt's of the BCS world on 2 for 1's. Try and get at least one home game a year against the lower level BCS schools. The ideal OOC schedule in my book would look something like this:1 Home game a year against a lower level BCS team (Kentucky, Syracuse, Northwestern, etc.)1 Home game a year against another mid-major team (someone from CUSA, the Sun Belt, the WAC, etc.)1 Road game a year against one of the big boys who won't come play us at our house (OSU, Florida, Penn State)1 Road game a year against another mid-major team (someone from CUSA, the Sun Belt, the WAC, etc.)You try and win the home games on a consistent basis. Try and win the road mid-major game at least 50% of the time and hopefully you can knock off one of the big boys on the road here or there.Just trying to be realistic here.

I can't comment on Swiech yet, but from what I've seen from Bardo the redshirt was the right thing to do with him. It's pretty well documented by this point that a lot of extra work and attention went in to his game last season trying to get him up to speed as a D-I player. Without that extra work I'd hate to see how he'd be playing now. The fact of the matter in the MAC is that getting a D-I ready big man who can step into the rotation from the moment he sets foot on campus is a rarity. Bardo's redshirt year was a necessity from everything I've seen. You can't just throw a kid like that who is a project by all accounts to the wolves and hope it all works out. As far as Swiech, I really can't comment. From what I've heard the injuries from high school still needed some work when he first got here which was part of the reason for the redshirt. Without the injuries does he still redshirt? Who knows. As far as the McKnights go, I have to agree that Chris looks like the better true post player than Brett. Brett is an outside shooter who can get inside at times but seems to do his best work from the perimeter. Chris has more of that inside presence. Then again, Chris has a lot more time in the system and at the D-I level so who knows. With more experience maybe Brett develops his game more. I'd love to see him have that inside presence to go along with his outside shot. He'd be a nightmare to defend against.

I doubt KD completely holds Dials and Ced out of any games. They are banged up and it is obvious that they need some rest, but losing all 3 of those guys (Nick, Jeremiah and Cedrick) puts us in a HUGE hole. I suspect for the immediate future we will just try to limit minutes for Nick and Ced. More McNees and Roberts on the floor. As far as the front line goes. It's anyones guess. I don't think you will see KD stick to just one lineup. I'd expect for the immediate future you will see us playing a little smaller to start out with. A lineup like Nate at 3, Conyers at 4, Quade at 5. Expect to see a lot of Bardo. He's been improving by leaps and bounds over the last few games and I wouldn't be surprised to see him getting 20+ minutes a game with Jeremiah out. I would also like to see a lineup that includes Conyers, one of the McKnights and Bardo. Use Conyers and Bardo to make up for the defensive problems the McKnights have and the McKnights to make up for the offensive problems of Jimmy and Mike. I also wouldn't be surprised to see more of that 3 guard rotation. It's certainly going to get interesting. I don't think our season is ruined at this point, but it certainly got harder. The best we can hope for is that these guys (especially Jeremiah) can get healthy by tournament time and that we can hold on to a first round bye until then.

As much as anything, the difference in this game. From the FT line. Akron: 12-19WMU: 18-22

I hate to sound pessimistic, but it's time to clear the benches and get out of here without hurting anyone else. Down 14 late in the game, we aren't going to salvage this thing and we can't afford to have more injuries.

Why are Dials and Ced still in this game? Is a comeback attempt in one game really worth potentially mortgaging the rest of the season by letting these guys get pounded the rest of the night???

At this point it may be time to sit Ced, Wood and Dials the rest of the game. They are obviously hurting and this is about to be a lost cause. No sense in hurting those guys anymore. Play Conyers, Nate, the McKnights, Bardo, McNees, Roberts and Quade the rest of the way.

Got it down to 14 at the half. Better than nothing I guess.

Down 22 in the first half. How does this happen? How?

This is just disgusting. Now I know how Miami felt a few weeks back. Absolutely horrible. What is going on out there? How can we not get up for the Western Conference leader? Are the injuries really that bad right now???

Wonderful, now Woody hurt that knee again.Talk about going from bad to worse.