Captain Kangaroo

Glad to see Terry Pluto reading my posts!! Thanks for checking in, Ter'! Two peas in a pod.... And the guy with the Tom Gaffney-diagnosed "Persecution Complex" chimes in with --

Not eligible to participate until summer camp. Apparently monster hands are no good for picking up pencils, operating calculators, and/or turning pages? If you were not eligible for the fall of 2009, you cannot participate in spring ball. I hear his fall UA classwork was fine. He should be good to go this summer. People forget kids like Jimmy Conyers, Darryl Roberts and Andre Jones were non-qualifiers too. It doesn't preclude them being a successful student athlete.

Not eligible to participate until summer camp.

Point 1 - Mike posted his opinion on Butler's winning formula, not Butler's winning formula. His opinion has some holes (like everyone's). Point 2 - How fast did Butler push the ball up the court? They walked it up every time. And let the defense set up every time. The speed at which a team gets from inbounding the ball, to half court is a worthless number. Butler is patient, and gets a quality look on virtually every offensive possession. They dribble-penetrate. They kick the ball out for open 3's. They crash the boards. They run an offensive clinic on virtually every possession. Does the ball go in every time? No. But they give themselves the best chance to score on every possession.

The purpose of this thread is to open the discussion of how close, or far away we are to becoming a "Butler." What did Butler do in the tourney that the Zips can go to school on? What magic/advantage does Butler have that the Zips will simply never have? Joe Dunn says Steve McNees is one of the premier point guards in the mid-west. Would he start for Butler? How would Brett McKnight's shot selection work in Coach Brad Stevens offense? When Butler comes to the Wollstein Center this winter, are you thinking about taking the family up the Cleveland to check them out? I am. Which, I guess, makes me "Joe Butler?" Does that example hit home as a microcosm of what UA needs to do to to fill those remaining 2,500 empty seats @ the JAR? Do something that captures Joe Akron's imagination? Idiot alert - Please don't be stupid and take this as "The Zips need to make the NCAA Finals to get the JAR attendance up??!" If you are that stupid, please spare us the insight to your thoughts. I think there is a lot of Zips-related hope to be garnered from Butler's run. And OU's win over Georgetown. And George Mason's Final Four. And K.e.n.t.'s Elite 8. I also think that intelligent Zips basketball fans got a harsh dose of reality watching the game last night and seeing what great mid-major basketball looks like. What did you learn from watching Butler that you can relate to the Zips hoops program?

Remi Abell

Short Column, But Good Quotes and Insight

Expenditure-wise, we're probably already pretty close to Butler? On an unrelated side note - I wonder if mid-major coaches are happy that Butler has proven a mid-major can make it to the Finals...or pissed because all mid-major fans are going to hold them to a higher standard?

I don't buy the "No hard feelings towards Walt Harris" quote

ShelDon Miller - Monessen Lions Club's Student of the Month for March

I recall that too. It was a Wallaby, not a Kangaroo. I think it died. You can find it in the biology lab now.

We can't win a home CBI game against Wisconsin Green Bay. We have a long way to go.

If all it takes is shooting 31% for the game, and 24% in the second half, the Zips are well on their way to national basketball prominence. We just need to get Brett McKnight a few more touches.

Sound theory.

I hope and pray the dorms are complete. That would mean Lot #9 will remain Tailgate Central! And Nerds are welcome to join us!!

If he wanted to transfer, I'd take him. X vs. Kansas State: One of the best college basketball games I've ever watched.

I hope the 4th guard is a JUCO. I can't see a Freshman guard, who hasn't signed with anyone even though Signing Day is long since passed, coming in and making the impact we need. It can't be a transfer, because he wouldn't be eligible until 2011-12.

Or, the talent was overestimated.

Now what am I going to watch on January 8th!?

It's funny...Dave in Green complains the ZipsNation moderators let everything go. He hates that the board is so recklessly under-moderated. RFR claims the board is some extreme dictatorship where every controversial post is censored. I'm sure both are 100% certain their opinion is 100% correct. Even though they are totally opposite. A few quick notes about the moderators: I pay for this site. ZipWatcher has also paid for a portion. In addition, he dedicates a lot of time to the board's technical and aesthetic upkeep. By paying for, and constructing ZipsNation, we get the privilege of moderating it's tone. Unlike most people who've whined and groused about Zips sports coverage over the years, we actually did something about it. We constructed ZipsNation. And 100,000 posts later, and over 1,000,000 views later, we feel is has been highly successful. The moderators take pride in the Zips program, and the image of the Zips fan. That's why we created our board independently, unlike K.e.n.t., who piggy-backs off the MACbbs board. We wanted ZipsNation to be "a cut above." We feel we've been successful. If a member posts something ignorant, or which reflects poorly on the image of a Zips fan, we reserve the right to delete it. RFR yukked it up on ZipsNation when someone hit a girl in the face with an ice ball after the K.e.n.t. game. He followed that up with a rant on the May 4th shootings, which has no place on a Zips Sports forum. Both posts were deleted. They reflect poorly on ZipsNation. Deleted or modified posts are extremely rare. Issuing a "warning" happens every one or two years. D.I.G is correct...we let pretty much everything go. We typically go months without touching a post. If your post was modified or deleted, you crossed a line. To summarize - If you don't like ZipsNation, no one is forcing you to read it. Or post. Since you didn't pay a dime for it... just walk away. We'll survive.

I bet Butler is pissed that aren't a mid major anymore.

Florida's 2 National Championships would disagree with you. I love to watch the 3-3-5 blitz packages. You can literally send people from anywhere. We did not execute it. Brings to mind an old John McKay quote: Reporter: "Coach - how do you feel about your defensive execution?" McKay: "I'm in favor of it."

+1. Join the club. The Notorious D.I.G. claims another victim.

It was interesting to see Gary Pride listed as an RB. I would think the new staff has to be exciting for a guy like Pride, who probably wasn't ever going to move from his Special Teams role under the previous staff.

Anyone notice how poor a 2009-10 Darryl Roberts had...until the final two games...when he knew he was going to get the lion's share of minutes due to Humpty's injury? All the sudden he reverted to the "Florida State" Darryl Roberts? The Zips have struggled to find any player to embrace the 6th man role, except for maybe Steward. People talk about Linhart's leadership and scrappy attitude being missed. I miss the fact that he'd come off the bench and bust his ass. No one filled that role this season. BTW - What was the over-under on floor burns for the Zips this season? 5? Last year it was about 50.