Captain Kangaroo

Mitch Hedberg once observed: "Wearing a turtleneck is like being strangled by a really weak guy, all day. Wearing a backpack and a turtleneck is like a weak midget trying to bring you down." Last night I saw a really weak midget bring the Zips down. Miami was the weakest team to beat the Zips at home since Bryan Hipsher missed those 2 FT's against EMU about 12 years ago. Shot selection was horrific. Poise down the stretch was horrific. 20 turnovers? Against a really soft press. We had 8.5 seconds left to get a shot off, and couldn't even make an inbound pass? What's with Robotham scrapping with the trainer? We take the ball inside and we score all day. Instead, we hoist 3 after 3 after 3. What was Ibitayo thinking when he turned down the drive to the hoop and kicked it out to Kwan for the 3 at the end of regulation? We needed 1 point to win, and he's kicking it out to a 30% 3-point shooter? Miami wanted the win more than the Zips. They were more poised. And they made their free throws. So despite having comparatively worse talent and depth, and playing on the road, they won. Maybe the Zips learn more from this loss than they would have if Kwan's 3 would have fallen? That's the only possible silver lining in this one.

Toledo can have this last-second shot. But it doesn't beat Humpty's against them.

Is it football's fault? Or is it the perpetually bungled handing of our D1 football program the problem? If InfoCision is the problem, do you just throw your hands up and quit? Or do you figure it out? I could go on and on here, but I'll stop. Not worth it.

They need to sell beer at the women's game. Or allow you to bring in your own food and beer. Then I'd skip the bar to watch the women's game.

There's a lot of truth to that. VCU was a mid-major like us when we began playing them. Now they've ascended to being a Top 25 team. We aspired to be "The Gonzaga of the East." Gonzaga is no longer a mid-major...they are a Top 10 team. Northern Iowa isTop 25, and stomping their in-state P5 competition (Iowa and Iowa State). Butler is Top 25 even after losing Brad Stevens. Wichita State is Top 25. Creighton used to be like the Zips...now they're in the Big East (which is still a really good basketball conference). When we play OOC, against someone you'd think we should wax, like Valparaiso, Oral Roberts, North Dakota State, IUPFW, etc...if we're lucky, we split. We've shown no ability to separate from the mid-major pack. Some would say we're spoiled. But that's untrue. We're in a rut. Our schedule and recruiting will allow us to maintain the 20-win streak for the next decade. That's great. But it equates to 3,800 fans watching MAC opponents, Arkansas Cream-Puff and Coppin State. We're not doing much to catch the casual fan's imagination. I enjoy the Zips bb games, and love this year's team. Unlike the last couple seasons, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. But if they play in Round #1 in Oregon this year, I'll save the $2,000 and watch it on TV. Been there, done that.

I think he's trying to win. I doubt "stabilizing the roster" in high on his priority list.

They could have funded a big chunk of the promotion with hot dog sales from the K.e.n.t. game. Seriously. I buy $50 worth of clothes at Kohl's, I get $10 in Kohl's Cash to be used at the store. It works...I go back. Give a student $20 on his/her Zip card. It works. They come back. Skip seems to pine for the old days of the JAR. I remember in '84 they held a "free pizza and t-shirt night." The shirt said "Zips Lightning - Watch it Strike." Our entire dorm floor went to the game and got the pizza and t-shirts. Most of them never returned, but I did. Kids are the same today as they were years ago. They can be bought with free pizza and t-shirts. And hopefully a few of them have a good time and return. And the t-shirt no longer fits.

I think the scholarship issue is one reason greyshirting has been important to Bowden. If you can get a Freshman to agree to delay entry for his fall, Freshman semester, you can bring in an upper-classman transfer to use the available scholarship. The transfer leaves after 1 year. But you get a kid that's ready to play at the D-1 level, so you are quickly competitive. And you get a year's growth for the incoming Freshman. It's a bit of a shell game, but if you need to build a base, and at the same time want to be competitive, it's the way to go. Assuming the greyshirts stick with the program. And the transfers pan-out. And so far that's been the case with the Zips.

I need to check.

I am guessing he refers to the kids who quit, or were kicked-off the Ianello teams. If you lose 30 scholarship players, you can only sign 25 in a given year. So you are 5 in-the-hole. If in the next year, you graduate 20 players, you can sign 25, and you are back to even. But if you graduate 20, and 10 either quit or get kicked off the team, you are in a bigger hole because you can still only replace 25. When you have the horrific attrition Ianello had, it puts the next coach behind the 8-ball, scholarship-wise. Graduation and retention rates can cost a program scholarships if they drop below NCAA standards. Ianello wasn't the best at player retention (understatement of the year).

I'd like to know the last time he traveled to Michigan to see the Zips. Or K.e.n.t. for that matter.

He's not. No one visited his site, and that's why it is defunct. Several years ago the creator came on our site trying to siphon our members to it. It pissed a few of us off. If someone can do a better job with a Zips message board than those at ZN.o, that's great. People will gravitate towards it organically. But to come on our site, and tell people "Hey, come see my message board!" was pretty weak.

The PD actually sent Elton Alexander to the game. I was impressed.

It is amazing....my son wanted a hot dog at the beginning of the game...and was told they were sold out. UA Athletics laments the fact they are so underfunded... yet people at the JAR can't figure out: A.) That 5,000 people are coming to a Tuesday night game, they they should plan their food supply accordingly B.) At the F-ing Akron/K.e.n.t. game, you can sell hot dogs for $3.00, and sell a TON The idiot will look at these comments and say "Gee...it's only hot dogs...it has nothing to do with basketball." Wrong. It shows there's no attention to detail. If you lose $1500 in hot dog sales, that's equivalent to 25 season tickets for football. Ask anyone selling Akron season tickets how difficult it is to sell 25 of them.

How long ago did ZipGrad01 turn this one off?

You know those people on the food channels that talk normal, until they use the word mozzarella...and, all of the sudden they're from Naples. "I was buying bread in the store when I saw some MOOTZ-A-RELL on the countertop." Frenchy's like that with Big Dog except he adopts a Marshall fan persona.

20 - 71 from the floor. 5 of their last 14 from the line.

If you aren't happy with Frenchy... I tried to find the Zips game on the MAC site. Instead I got the Zips women's game where I caught this gem: "The Zips, up 13-5, are on a 13 to 5 run to begin the game." Go Scott Morgan.

Anyone else want to punch the Budweiswer Designated Driver guy in the face?

Tough one to listen to today...

it was a desperate attempt to be a remora on Ohio State's belly.

I'll say he hates us! He gave us a #7 seed in Omaha! #TeamOhio

#TeamOhio

Yeah, that's a minor one. He really should get a mulligan there.

Gonzaga and Saint Marys seem to struggle with this situation.