Captain Kangaroo

We should get credit for 75% of the Temple players drafted.

From what I was told, with Diggs returning, there are no additional scholarships available. Barring a surprise defection, what we see is what we've got.

Get out your parka and load some extra coal in the furnace...it's looking to get cool very soon. He is a redshirt Freshman. He will be a redshirt Soph. next season.

Not as well as I do.

We are.

If Hawkins coached in the MAC East, he'd have been fired years ago. And if Witherspoon had coached in the MAC West, he'd probably have received a contract extension instead of the boot.

Since he increased his cumulative 3-point attempts from 22 to 51 in 2012-13, asking him to completely eliminate that shot is not realistic. Realistic is he'll probably shoot about 80 of them in 2013-14. It doesn't take much for him to elevate from "slightly above 5-of-20" (Harney was 12-51 last season, for 23.5%) to "slightly below 7-of 20". When he takes a 3-pointer, he's typically wide open with his feet set...he never shoots a 3 on the run, or with a hand in his face. He just needs to drain those open looks. And an additional barometer for the 2013-14 season - Diggs time spent at PG*. If he's rarely at the point, we'll be in great shape. If he's logging 8+ mpg at the point, we have problems. *Preempting Zipmeister - this is assuming Diggs plays for the Zips next season.

My three keys to a successful 2013-14: 1.) Forsythe needs to prove he can step up and be "The Man." Early on he showed some flashes of awesomeness, flying through the air and throwing down some one-handed dunks. By years-end, he was giving us few serviceable minutes, with scant few points and rebounds. Not much defense either. Was he dissatisfied with being a back up? Had he simply hit the wall after a tumultuous first 1.5 years of college? The Zips relied on game-changing Zeke's interior presence to bail them out sooooo many times over the past 4 seasons, so having a similar interior force in 2013-14 will be less of a shock to their existing habits. Prediction - Pat will exceed Zeke's 2012-13 rebound average, score roughly 7 ppg, and average 2.6 blocks per game. 2.) Betancourt needs to develop an outside shot. He needs to shoot about 200 3-pointers per day from now until October. He can dribble, he can get from a-to-b as fast as any other Zips guard in history. But if he's zero threat to hit an open jumper, he's of little help to us. Prediction - He takes his 200 3-pointers per day, which both improves his scoring, and strengthens his legs...allowing him to play 25 minutes/game without cramping up. 3.) Harney needs to alter his shot. No more starting at the waist and hoisting up floaters that careen off the backboard/rim like something off Tom Candiotti's hand. Harney has the softest hands of any Zip I've seen, and he's money on the short put-back. His defense has improved to the point where he's becoming serviceable. His drives to the hoop are still pretty reckless...but I can live with them. Those 3-pointers? They gotta improve big-time. And he doesn't need to change much...hell, he can keep shooting from the waist. Some of the best college women have that same 3-point shot. But he's gotta drain it at at least a 32% clip. And that comes with hard work. And hard work has been more associated with Tree than Harney over year's #1 and #2 of their inexorably linked careers. Prediction - Only a slight improvement in his 3-point percentage. Eeeks it up to 28.1 percent. Hope I'm wrong.

Your tag line says "We'll be better next year," so why are you pessimistic? Now is your time to shine. Next year is coming.

Hope Joe has a 5 second delay instituted.

One can only hope we make this an annual award.

Why don't NFL teams, or college teams for that matter, take a 7-footer to block kicks? Especially the long ones. Could anyone get a 50-yard kick over a leaping Quade Milum? I guess it is a similar argument to "Why don't NHL teams place a 900 pound man between the pipes?"

You are correct. I missed the Memphis trade. This guy sees Zeke in LA. Possibly taking the place of former UCLA 2nd round pick, and former Cav 7-footer Ryan Hollins?

I miss the old days when guys like Michael Olawokandi, Yinka Dare and Dasagana Diop would chime-in.

I select "yes." KD's connection to LeBron places Zeke in Miami with the last pick of Round #2, replacing the ageless Jawon Howard. The presence of Norris Cole lends credence to Miami's NE Ohio draft bias.

If asking for reparations after forking over roughly $1,500 for football season tickets over the past 3 seasons is being spoiled, call me spoiled. Some fans wear their hair shirts and are compelled to accept whatever tripe UA gives them. Others call a spade a spade, and have felt like Kunta Kinte coupled with Ground Hog Day from the moment InfoCision opened it's pearly gates to hell. To each his own.

I dislike the "spoiled" moniker. It is untrue. Spoiled infers you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. That you don't have any concept of adversity. Zips fans are 100% hardscrabble. Even in their men's best basketball season they get punched in the gut by King Hippo. Their football team has won 3 combined games in 3 years. Coach Kest's WNIT appearance doesn't really scratch the surface of reparations required to forget the bulk of what we've endured over the past couple decades.

A remember back in the early 80's a representative of Devry University came to our high school. I asked him about sports at Devry, and he proudly stated "Well, our club soccer team beat Ohio State this year." Almost 30 years later, Ohio State soccer is apparently reliving that horror. May God grant them the strength to survive.

Hipsher was a head coach at Wittenburg, Stetson, and coached the Zips for 9 seasons. He was also a top assistant at Alabama and South Florida. Ianello was never so much as a coordinator in the Lingerie League or Pop Warner. Completely different.

Andrick and Tree would have been like Laimbeer and Mahorn. That would be a bad-ass front line. That said, I was referring to pre-meltdown Andrick. After the "fight," Andrick and Bosley were never the same players. The fire was gone. They gravy-trained their scholarships for the remainder of their eligibility.

In Melo's magical sophmore season he averaged 7.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. That netted him the 22nd pick in the NBA draft. On a center-starved Celtics team, and while completely healthy, he's scored 2 career NBA points. To his credit, he has had a mediocre season for the Maine Red Claws. Melo is a fatter, slower, BCS version of Zeke.

FYI - event is on the 12th, and is $30 if you didn't get your tix today.

Fab Melo is a complete stiff who hardly played college basketball, and the Celtics took him in the 1st round of the 2012 draft. Athletic 7-footers are still a valued commodity. Doc Rivers loves defense, and Kevin Garnett can't keep playing in the middle at 39 years old. Even with Melo playing on the Celtics developmental team, it wouldn't shock me if the Celtics took Zeke. I'd rather use a second rounder on Zeke than Svrunas Mvalatinonis, or whatever random worthless European is available.

I wonder if Abreau has ever been to Lambeau?