Captain Kangaroo

K.e.n.t should have a war with Buffalo tonight. And should Buffalo beat K.e.n.t, they'd be playing for the 3rd night in a row. So I don't think the Zips have it too bad. Neither opponent has a deep bench, will be somewhat tired. And Tree and Zeke will be fresh.

Amato will be 89 year old when this kid graduates.

But it looks so dark in the PD every morning?

Best ABJ beat writer since the days of Chris Broussard and Michael Holley. Thanks for your work, George.

Personally - I would discount what occurred earlier in the season, and focus on his performance vs. K.e.n.t. Not because it makes his numbers better, but because that was a true test of his performance in a big game, as a starter in front of a sell-out crowd. I thought he played better than expected, and with a week of running the offense in practice under his belt, I'd expect as good, or better this Friday. The cramping is a concern. Hopefully he paces himself... he was so used to going balls-out for 5 minutes he didn't consider it was impossible to keep up the pace for 20 or 25. I would look for KD to spell him more regularly this week. Have Avsec keep an eye on CB's fluid intake too. From last night's coach's show, he seems like he'd be happy to do it. Not related to CB - I hope Tree can get a breather or two Friday night. I never saw a Zips player work so hard, and be so spent after a game than Tree was last Friday. Winning this Friday is obviously most important, but Tree needs to be as rested as possible for Saturday night. I Support Betancourt Just Say No... to Ibitayo

Roughly 100%.

If Harney and Ibitayo quit shooting 3's, our team percentage will skyrocket.

Called what? Betancourt started. It was the obvious choice. And he played better than most expected.

It isn't too difficult to understand - If this thead topic is positive, and you want to discuss negative aspects of the Abreu situation...and there is already a thread on the negative situation...then use the appropriate f*cking thread. Don't do it here. Post on the ABJ site if you are so oppreessed here. Please. They need the hits. I could care less.

Winners win, and losers lose. This group of Zips are winners. Collectively they will make up for Abreu. I firmly believe adversity is fuel for guys like Tree and Zeke. The others will feed off it. The crowd will be the most intense the JAR has seen since Ozzy played there back in 1990. That energy will carry over to the Q next week.

After the Miami game, which was early in the season, those calls greatly diminished. I think it was a combination of the Zips figuring it out, and the refs also getting better at identifying the call. Bowden said he was going to need to re-teach his players how to tackle. At the time, I thought it was a jab at the referees. But I think it is true. The old technique of cleaning a guy's clock when he crosses the middle is gone like leather helmets and the flying wedge. I actually like it, if the refs can get the call right. I'd rather see solid, text book tackling than see my star WR go out for 5 weeks due to a cheap missle-shot to the head.

He scares me too, but if we're to have any chance of really rolling, and not just surviving, he's the guy that needs to give us big minutes at the point. Tonight, "Big" is defined by 15 or 20. The other 20 or 25 can be filled ad hoc. In the MAC tourney, he's going to need to give us 20+ minutes.

+ 1,000

McAdams ran the point in his state championship game, so he's done it on a big stage before. There is no way Ibitayo can handle it, so he's out of the question. I think it will be really interesting to turn the keys over to Betancourt and see how it goes. If the bigs are ready for the ball when CB cuts to the hoop, they can get a lot of easy baskets. Likewise, I think if the wing players move to the open space when he cuts...and CB will cut to the hoop, that's what he does best...he'll will find them on the kick-out for some wide-open looks. Guys that like to score should be salivating at least a little because they're playing with a true, pass-first point guard. CB just needs to make a couple short floaters here and there to keep the D honest, and we have the makings of an electric offense. I think the crowd will rally around Betancourt, and in-turn he will elevate his play. I'm working on my sign right now: I Support Betancourt!

Please keep this particular thread "positive." There is a separate active thread if you wish to discuss other aspects of the Abreu situation. Thanks, CK

I dunno... although he did mention Delta House and Faber...he certainly could have been serious?

I will withhold comment on the actual Abreu situation for the time being. He's done for the year. There's not much to discuss, at least in this thread. Earlier this year the Celtics lost 1st Team All Star Rajon Rondo to a blown ACL. Further complicating matters, they lost their best rebounder Jared Sullinger, for the year due back problems. Everyone thought the Celtics were toast. The Celtics are now 13-4 since Rondo's injury. Two aging, 35+ year old guys in Pierce and Garnett + a bunch of journeymen. And they are better off than when they had their 25 year old All Star point guard? Back to Abreu ... he has not played well recently. He's has horrible shooting games, and horrible turnover games. IMO, worst of all, he had begun dominating the ball. Subsequently, the team's offensive movement noticeably slowed. "Dead legs"..."tired" ... "lackadaisical"... whatever you want to call it... our off-ball movement, sans the last 20 minutes against woeful Miami, had started reminding me of the Andre Sims/Dru Joyce era. KD saw this too, as recently began substituting Betancourt not only to give AA a breather , but because Abreu's play merited he sat on the bench for a while. And, we needed someone to pick up the offensive pace. Going back the Boston -- Kevin Garnett was asked "How can you guys possibly be a better team without Rondo?" He replied: “The only way I can really explain it is, when you have a player like Rondo who does so many great things for this team, you kind of get lackadaisical, if you will,” Garnett said. “It’s very similar to, if you’ve got someone cooking for you and you’re expecting that every day, and all of the sudden they’re not there to do that, it’s up to you to feed yourself. All the sudden, you start making these gourmet dishes, and there’s more people coming over the house. You never knew you possessed that until you lost that person that was cooking for you. It’s kind of like that.” The Zips have lost their "Rondo." The remaining Zips have their choice - Eat, or starve. There remains too much talent on this team to forfeit our championship expectations. KD needs to put the right people in the right positions starting tonight. Tonight is a major, major tune up for the MAC tournament. We don't play for another week...it is senior night...sold out venue...national TV audience...it is mandatory that the Zips send a message that rumors of their death are greatly exaggerated. I expect an insanely motivated Zips team to blow the doors off K.e.n.t. tonight. And if the remaining guys + staff are really hungry, and use the next 7 days to learn how to cook. I expect to cut down the nets next Saturday. F K.e.n.t.

Listed running a 4.33....but says he's never run better than 4.42

How can this be? I thought K.e.n.t. State was the Championship Factory? If Willie doesn't bring up the fact that "The Zips are the REAL Championship Factory" during one of his time-out appearances Friday night, he should retire his mike.

If I'm not mistaken, we have a MAC East "title" banner hanging in the JAR from when we were 3rd, in a 3-way tie? I think Buffalo Football gave out "MAC Championship" rings when they finished "#1", @ 5-3, in a 3-way tie for first in the East, but lost to the two teams ahead of them. They weren't even bowl eligible (5-7 overall). Schools will claim championships however they can get them...and hope their recruits don't do any research to verify their legitimacy.

The Zips have played 1 good half out of the last 4. That's a bit of a concern. I like that Dambrot stated the Zips need to hit the three's to have a chance in the NCAA's, and that some rotation changes would be instituted to help the situation. Ibitayo played in the first half, but sat in the 2nd. 3-point hitters McAdams, Kretzer, Gilliam and Walsh played. Minute-wise, it was negligible, (Deji doesn't play more than a handful of minutes) but having a real 3-point threat in for those few minutes was a big help. It is the difference between 3...6... 9... vs. 0 points Abreu got a spring in his step in the 2nd half...that had been missing since OU. As he goes, so do the Zips. Friday should be a blast. The Zips are a big-game team...I expect they will rise to the occasion.

It is a school night, and I had to get my son home. If you've ever sat through a net-cutting, they take forever. If we cut down the nets in Cleveland on a Saturday night, I'll stay. Winning a MAC title is nice, but the focus in 2013 is winning the MAC tourney. That's where everything is on the line. You see it on our site every day, you hear it from Dambrot himself - it all comes down to two days in Cleveland. I think most did. But the win was a foregone conclusion, and people wanted to get home on a cold March weeknight. The opponent, and the Zips lethargic 1st half play, were responsible for the lethargic crowd. I think the bar for the 1986 team was lower, so people were more excited. Now, we play for NCAA tourney appearances. They're expected. And the should be. We have a 7-foot NBA center instead of a 6' 3" football player in the middle. Yes. The JAR was new. Huggins was a rising star. No ESPN (like today). ABJ was robust in its coverage and influence. Different era. Not meaningless. But the program needs to keep elevating. Dambrot says so repeatedly. Winning the 2013 MAC is nice. Great accomplishment. But the ceiling for the program is much higher than 27 years ago. More is possible, and more is expected. That's a credit to KD. Kudos to him and all the players over the past 9 years that have made a regular season championship worthy of a polite golf clap.

Oh no... "It's going to be a process at Akron, that's just what it has to be," admitted coach Bowden It was nice to see that we challenged Pitt last year.

Wow, Harney is 6 for his last 13 FT's. That is bad. Deal with the stat. If you perform shoddy statistical analysis, knowledgeable Zips fans will call you out. They also get pissed when you derail solid thread topics with uneducated or ill-researched information. No one here can keep up with someone who posts 25 times in a single day. And they shouldn't need to. Your monopolization of the board with opinion-free vagaries, endless statistics and fractional movements of the RPI has got to cease.

It is almost comical how a thread that's strong on observations and opinions is doomed to be drug into the pablum-scented statistical abyss that is DiG. Thanks to Hip Zip for trying. I liked your observations.