Captain Kangaroo

Over Christmas break I brought my Kiwanis hoops team to a Zips game. When placing my ticket order I asked, "Any chance we can sit in the north end student section?" The guy replied "No, those seats are reserved for students." My response was - "Have you ever seen the student section when the students are on break? It's e-m-p-t-y." The predictable response was - "We need to reserve all those seats for the students. Sorry." The end result was - At the game, I spoke to a sane person within the Athletic Department who allowed my 6 kids to fill some of the 80+ empty seats, and the kids had a great time. And I am grateful to this intentionally unnamed person. The moral of the story - With the exception of one person, UA would rather follow policy and have the lower seats empty than have anyone sit in them. The opposite policy - At the Zips/WVa basketball game, after the tip-off, the WVa game announcer stated "Everyone in the upper section - if you want to move down to a vacant lower seat, feel free to do so." And all the lower seats filled up. And no one was injured, died or was maimed. The fans were simply happy, and the game environment was improved.

Great info. Thanks!

Regarding attendance - If it is low this Saturday night vs. NIU, it's because The Zips Coaches Show promoted the game about 8 times...with a noon start time. Gheez....hope to see at least a couple of you around 7:30pm.

For those who want a sneak peek at ORU, they will be televised on DirectTV Channel 363 (religious channel - Golden Eagle Broadcasting) on Thursday (IUPUI) and Saturday (Western Illinois).

I didn't change my mind. #42 may never have another chance to score a college bucket. Both Harney and Tree had wide-open chances to give the kid the ball during the final two minutes, and elected to take it themselves. Tree's dunk was great, but bucket by #42 was what the remaining crowd, and the guys on the bench wanted to see. I hope they dish it off next time...assuming there is a next time.

I like it. And at the expense of repeating myself - the kid is playing GREAT basketball. Any negatives tossed his way at this time are just plain silly.

Personally, I have a concern that Tressel's presence overshadows, or detracts from some of the excellent coaches we have on-campus. The Tressel hire could be a great thing. If the guy gets us a windfall of donations that get us a hoops arena, a new conference, a dramatically-improved national visibility...great. If it's like the Celtics, with Pierce, Allen and Garnett, great. But if it's like Melo and Stoudemire...big names...no results...I'll pass. Proenza wants UA to be a 49,000 student University in 10 years. To get there, we certainly need to think bigger than ever before on all fronts. Hopefully Proenza realized that they need some out-of-house new blood and expertise to get there. On paper, Tressel should be that combination.

My thoughts on the column - Yeah, we need to grow up a bit. But immature teams don't win as many games as we've won on the road. Maturity is low on my list of concerns. Singling-out Diggs? Diggs has been awesome the past 6 weeks. If he jaws with the opposing bench, good. Larry Bird loved to talk smack. It's part of basketball. As long as Diggs doesn't get T'd up or suspended, I'm good with just about anything he feels gives him an edge. Zeke had a nice game against Toledo. It could have been better, but he had some huge blocks, "alters" and rebounds. And I'll disagree with Elton that his fouls, especially the final couple, were mandatory whistles...they were pretty iffy. The Zips need to quit taking plays off on defense, and quit committing unforced turnovers on offense. Then they'll begin romping to their capabilities. Until then, we'll just need to be satisfied with underachieving wins.

To summarize: Some players mature fast, and some players mature slow. We simply need to put our faith in the coaching staff to help them reach their potential, and hope for the best in March. Man, I swear I've read that before? Must have been GP1.

Finger Pointed at Marshall and Diggs

I saw him in the Tommy Evan Lounge.

Hence why he needs to focus on that aspect of his game. His mortal flaw is predetermining what he's going to do offensively once he passes mid-court. He doesn't take what the defense gives him, he does what he wants to do. I like Nik, and he's a 5th year senior that's not gonna change. But if he could cut down on those 1-on-1 drives to the lane that always end up as a travel, charge or turnover, it would rule.

Not the three's he attempted last night.

I can't wait for the STO announcers to buy into it!

I ran the Harney20 calculation last night, and that's the result. The Zips will beat BG regardless of Harney's minutes. No so @ WMU. Sources say Matt "Underwear" Stainbrook, the Terry Forster of The MAC, will give Zeke fits.

But is that the standard by which the 2011-12 team should be judged....not being threatened by Toledo? Toledo is terrible. They have no size, and their guards are terrible ball-handlers. In the JAR, we should have killed them. McClanahan said it last night...this team is coasting on it's abilities. It doesn't have a killer instinct. It allows lesser teams to hang around, rather than wax them. It's like watching your kid, who's capable of "A" grades, pulling down "B-'s." The Zips need to administer some beatdowns over the next 3 weeks against the cupcakes...not simply coast to uninspired, turnover-riddled wins. ORU and WMU are the only Harney20 Games between now and February 25th.

I like this observation. It seems every game for the Zips is a struggle, followed by a good half. Sleep-walk, followed by a good half. Build a big lead over the course of 5 minutes...give it away over the course of 5 minutes. Abreu is maddening...one second he looks like the best PG in Zips history...then he commits multiple, crazy, unforced turnovers. Reducing the unforced turnovers is a big key to the Zips reaching their potential. Abreu and Cventinovic top the list of "those who have room for improvement." Conversely, Diggs has been fantastic over the past several weeks. And Gilliam is rounding into form as well. Is it wrong for Zeke to have 5 blocks...and for me to be disappointed he didn't have 10? Probably, but I'm sure he'll look at the game tape and see there were 5 big fat ones he could have swatted into the GA upper-deck. You never got the feeling we were going to lose last night's game. But you knew we'd never put the dagger in 'em either. Final note: Pearson is fun to watch. He's what I'd envision DJ Cooper would be like, if he were 6' 4".

It was targeted at two successive posts. Yours was one. You have been a solid contributor here for many years. I'd be disappointed if you walked away. But if you can't see why the post was deleted, and feel your timing of your post was really good, then it may be best that you call it a ZN.o career. It is your call. I won't delete any ID.

Today is a fun day, and a day where our site, and the Zips program gets a lot of exposure. Please try to keep your stories/links positive.

I think CB is our biggest need, by a long shot. We're ok at WR next season with Suel and Sconiers. And hopefully Bowden's staff can teach Price to catch the ball.

Thanks for the update that there are no updates.

Vegas must have learned of Egner's new found resolve?

Agree, but...isn't that his job? I'm happy the University and the ABJ has finally taken this seriously. Frees me up to do my job!

Zipmeister LB comment in 3... 2... 1...

High-majors would never agree to a home-home with a mid-major. The #9 Big East team always has at least a 50/50 shot at getting to the big dance...they'd never risk playing Murray State or the Zips and blowing it. And a Marquette player's airplane luggage will never, ever have a CAK tag stuck to it's handle. If it were a true Bracket Buster, it wouldn't have so many crappy teams participating. No one is under any illusion that the it honestly does anything for the at-large tourney re'sume' of more than one or two participants. If the Bracket Buster were instead named "Mid-major Madness," and everything else stayed identical, would you like it better?