Captain Kangaroo

Da’Shonte Riley is a lazy, worthless stiff. If Zeke has any motivation in him whatsoever, Riley will get eaten alive. Zips back on track. Roll by 14 tonight.

Tough to put too much stock in the "analysis" when they list Lane as a safety.

It didn't help Drexel last season. The 2011-12 Dragons had a nearly equivalent run to the one the Zips are riding...in a better conference...and got snubbed. Unless we start beating some marquee teams during the regular season, the writing is on the wall...win the MAC tourney or go to the NIT. Having two of our better players out for the Oklahoma State game doesn't help us. It only would help Oklahoma State if they'd have had the same situation, and lost to the Zips. THEN the NCAA would justify them as a bubble team selection. T Boone Pickens carries slightly more weight than Joe Akron. I really don't want to see a packed Barley House on national television with the team and fans crossing their fingers and praying for an at-large, because it will not end well for the Zips' faithful. We need to win the MAC tourney.

If you win the MAC regular season title, you are guaranteed an NIT bid.

We will not get an at-large if we lose to OU in the finals, regardless of the win streak. Look at Drexel 2011-12. They'd won something like 24 of 25 going into their final game against VCU. They lost to VCU by 3 points, and subsequently ended up in the NIT. Drexel's 2011-12 schedule was exponentially tougher than the Zips 2012-13 schedule. Eeking out games against Miami and CMU doesn't impress anyone. Nor should it. We need to beat OU in the finals to make the tourney. And we need amped-up guard play if we're going to win any NCAA tourney games.

Since you seem to have a pulse on this situation...is he going to be a Zip, or not? We have some conflicting info here.

Betancourt had a year of prep school, so I'd have figured his learning curve would have been shorter. You see increasing glimpses of his capabilities with each and every game. He's lightning quick, and a pretty sure short-range shooter off the glass. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it continues. I miss Diggs in many ways, but I was not a big fan of Diggs at the point (not like we had much of a choice last season). He dominated the ball, and just made too many bad pass/drive decisions. He's mentality is shooter/slasher, not PG.

It amazes me that no MAC program is on the conference hopping radar whatsoever. Yeah, some putz with a blog might speculate something completely unfounded. But the reality is - core MAC programs don't seem to be going anywhere (carpet-bagger programs like UCF/Temple/UMass/Marshall have never been "core" members).

Winning, and cupcakes, can mask a lot of problems. We need Chauncey for the stretch run. For NDSU, K.e.n.t. and OU. And obviously the tourney. I hope he is healthy. If he's simply in the doghouse, that's a problem. Hey George - this is definitely something you can follow up on.

Have at it. Please don't mention Wistercill or Ohio State. Keep it on-topic.

I think you might be right on your rationale that TW didn't blow the Winters hire. If I recall correctly, someone bloviated on our site a bunch of BS that caused Winters' daughter to create a ZN.o account exclusively to rebutt that BS. I'm sure she put a bug in her dad's ear to reject UA in large part to that person's post. She was pretty pissed. Caused someone to get banned, if I recall correctly? I will lock this thread and begin a new BracketBuster thread. I like talking basketball.

Abreu needs Betancourt to continue to improve. We need at least 8 solid minutes out of CB if we are going to have any success against major opponents. Abreu can play tired against CMU and still be effective. He can't do that against Michigan State. That is my biggest concern as we make our post-season push. We can cover temporary holes at any other position except point guard.

Axe-grinder.

It doesn't matter. We had fewer scholarships to offer, so our rating will be artificially low regardless of the caliber of players we signed. And - ask Brookhart what "#1 rated February classes" mean on autumn Saturday afternoons.

There's a bad-ass dude from Ball State that deserves some credit for his game against Zeke.

But thankfully not Nik's prowess from the 3-point line, or deft touch on 2-footers.

Take your lips off the AD's butt and get your facts straight.

Looking forward to the post game appearance of Jonas and the Human Victory Cigars.

I told him what to do. Dambrot told him what to do. Wistercill told both of us "no." Yet another blunder. The safety net of having the NDSU game doesn't make it look so bad, but he sold the fans and the team short. What a story it could have been to see the Zips eschew a home game to play a marquee mid-major on the road. If you can fathom it, it would have been bigger than a Twitter hash tag.

Three? The OU/Akron game is one..."The Game Within the Game: akronzips71 vs. The Live Stream" is two...I give up. What's the 3rd?

That said, I didn't like our execution of the trap in that game. Nice job Zips. Keep rolling.

All depends upon who quits...how many "Jawon Chisholm's" and "Dennis Kennedy's" drop in our lap in mid-summer...etc. And of course, if he's evaluated to be good enough to merit one. I wish him the best.

No it isn't.

Why would KD switch to the 1-3-1 if it wouldn't affect the opponent's 3-point percentage?