Valpo Zip

Love or hate Lebron is a debatable issue and one can argue both ways so I am not going to get into it. Hating on Cleveland Pro teams because we are in Akron is just plain non-sense. I don't understand it at all...is it because the zips will ever play the Cavs? or maybe because we compete for coaches/recruits? What is the deal? Saying that this is Akron and we shouldn't root for the CAVS/indians/Browns is just like saying that the people from Green, Fairlawan, stow etc... should not support the zips because they should support their local high school teams.

The hottest discussion seems to be our chances of getting an at large bid if we win all our games but the MAC championship game. While that is a tall order (winning 6/6 games left, including @Can't, @Ohio, @ORU, and Buffalo), I have to believe that this will put us on the bubble. Depending on what happens with other bubble teams, we may or may not get in. The most likely scenario would be (I know I am biased) the zips winning the MAC tournament and getting the automatic bid. In this case, what seed do they get in the tournament? It all depends on the next 6 games. Here is my formula: S = 18 - W (where S is the seed and W is the number of wins in the last 6 games) So win our last 6 games, get the 12th seed, win 5/6 games, get the 13th seed and so on. What do you think?

We all want to go to the NCAA tournament but going to the NIT would be the second best thing that can happen to us. If we happen to end up in that situation (hopefully not), we will have a good chance to win it all and knock out some big names.

Exaaactly, now you don't want anything like that to happen at the JAR, do you?

Shall Tom Wistrcill feel nervous about this?

I just read your post again, you say that CMU and EMU are tough teams and then you say that you won't be disappointed with a 5-1 west swing. Since we alread beat CMU, I concluded that you suggested we MAY lose to EMU. That's all. Anyways, I am sorry you feel I put words in your mouth, no bad intentions here

Absolutely not. Losing to western teams will be a buzz killer and an RPI disaster. Like the EMU team that you are suggesting we may lose to has an RPI of 216. Even if we admit that we have no chance at an at large bid, if we win the MAC, our RPI makes a difference in what seed we get. 5-1 against the west is NOT a passing grade.

Seriously what are these? high schools? I never heard of them and I follow D3 sports

The announcers were as unbiased as I've seen from MAC homers this year. Since we're at it, I feel that we have no room to complain about this subject because Steve French gets even on MY nerves sometimes with how much of a homer he is. Just like ejcool, when CMU closed down to 3 points, I almost had no more hopes that we win this game. The Zips 2.0 are mentally tougher than the Zips 1.0 This weekend will be an RPI killer for us, playing a 243 rpi team cannot be good (win or loose) and also both WVU (terrible call) and Miss St lost their games so that will indirectly affect us.

So if Deji is not a point guard than what is he? Judging by the shots i saw him take and the quality of his 3 points stroke, he definitely isn't a shooting guard.

After a couple of good games in Valparaiso earlier in the season, Tree came into the Detroit game with the attitude: "every ball I throw will go in the basket" and he finished the game with 0 points on a 0-4 shooting night. This experience, together with the suspension he had turned light bulb in his head and made him realize that he had to work hard to get good shots and make baskets...next game against CSU: 15 points for tree. Fast forward a couple of months: Nick Harney is the hero after his Can't State game, he went to Muncie with the attitude: "all I need to do is show up and let the ball fly, It will go in because I am the great Nick Harney". The outcome, 2 points on a 1-7 shooting night. Tonight Nick Harney will play with a vengeance. If given enough playing time, look for a 20+ points NBA performance from the Freshman? I still can't believe that

I got the chance to see Future Zip Reggie McAdams (#21) in action today and here are some pictures I could snap from my seat. The kid is a KD dream. He does all the right things coaches want. Play defense without fouling, team first mentality, amazing inside out game, great FT shooting, and a great overall vision of the court. The most impressive stat of the game: a 6-6 guy handling and distributing the ball for long stretches of time, 0 turnovers. The only negative thing i saw is that he did not do a great job boxing out and fighting for rebounds. Reggie was playing the 5 on the defensive end guarding the paint. On offense, he was everywhere, he shot a couple of threes and made 1 iirc, he slashed and posted up but he was always doubled in the post and ended up passing the ball to the open guy. The guy can flat out play multiple positions. He's not as athletic as Q or Harney so don't expect that. His body reminds me of Romeo Travis (6-6, strong, but not that wide) and his skill set is very similar to what I've seen from Chauncey Gilliam so far (Driving, speed, and 3 point shooting). Although very impressed with what I saw, I feel that all 3 incomers will redshirt next year because of the lack of available PT. On a final note, the kid (#31) that appears in some of the pictures below is a 6-4 sophomore, his name I believe is Dakotah Matthias (sp?). And the kid can also play. One of the parents was telling me that he played sparse minutes of varsity last year as he was a 6-1 freshman. Now he starts for the varsity team at 6-4. I believe that our staff members are probably aware of him and I hope to see him in blue and gold in 2015.

Nope, I had a lab to teach 4:00-5:50. Muncie is around 2:30 hours away.

MS 2003: Electrical & Computer Engineering PhD 2007: Electrical & Computer Engineering Wife: BS 2008 Education Live 140 miles west of Akron and two sport season tickets holders (thinking about adding soccer next year)

I think this team will have to really under-perform for the zips to win by less than 10. If i was king, err.. coach, my game plan will be: Zeke doesn't have to worry about any offense tonight as long as he takes care of Jarrod Jones on D. For the rest of the guys, play full court press and push the ball as fast as possible, have fun, and don't save any energy. Other than Zeke, we can sub 4 players in stretches of 3 minutes.

I live 30 minutes away from Elida (McAdams town) and had the chance to see him play multiple times. He is not a replacement for Nik. He is more of a skilled player than a big power one. Last year, his junior year, he seemed to be a clone of Nitro, just a bit bigger. He is a ball handler, a shooter and a slasher. Granted I have only seen him playing against high schoolers. This year, he seems to be posting up a bit more and is looking more like Harney. I will try to take some pics and post them here next time i see him play.

That was a great second half and a nice way to win a game. The difference between those two teams was the depth. We played a rotation of 9 while Can't played a rotation of 6/7. I saw porrini asking his coach for a break. He was subbed out and came back in in less than 2 minutes of play (maybe 4 minutes total). In the second half, the flushes were too tired to keep up with our fresher players. If I was KD, i will run and run and run in every game and play full court press to wear down the opposition because no one in the MAC can keep up with our depth. Senderoff was extremely unimpressive. He played with Geno's team and didn't seem to be capable of injecting any fresh legs to help. A rotation of 7 with 5 seniors!!!!! Wow, unless they are bringing a top 20 recruiting class, the flushes will reaaaallyyy suck next year. Can you believe Harney is only a freshman? When was the last time we had freshmen of the Harney/Treadwell caliber? Can you imagine being a MAC fan thinking about facing those guys for 3.5 more years? Man am I glad to be a Zip. People shouldn't make this sound like a competition between Harney and Q or Zeke and Tree. Those guys complement one another and it is in the best interest of everyone to think team and play team. The fact that Q scored only 8 points doesn't mean anything because he was a huge part of this win. Zeke didn't play the last 8-9 minutes because Can't went small with Green's foul trouble. Different games have different game plans and different players will step up. When we win, there will be enough thunder for everyone to share. One little thing that i didn't like: in the post game conversation KD mentions how Harney and Tree practice really bad. Really, coach? It seems that no matter how good the moment is, KD is always looking for an excuse for the next loss. I just don't get it.

The best quote of the week: KD to Joe Dunn: You know Zeke's mom, she runs the show...if she tells me to get a hair cut I'lll get a hair cut. :D

It is not adding wins against teams like that that would help, it is more removing losses against teams like that. In march, assuming we have a 23-24 wins season and a loss in the MAC tournament final, the committee's conversation will be something like that: 1: here is another mid major with 24 wins and a 48 RPI...what do you guys think? 2: But they play in the MAC, did they really beat anyone good? 3: They beat Miss. State and Marshall. 4: Any bad losses? 5: not really, VCU, CSU, MTSU, WVU are all good teams. 6: well I want to see what they can do in the tournament That is soo much better than saying 21-22 wins with a 85 RPI with two bad losses to Valpo and Duquesne.

I wish there was a way to find out what our RPI would have been with valpo & duquesne games being 2 wins. My guess is high 40's. Also come tournament time, we have the miss state and Marshall games as good wins. But those are negated by the valpo/duquesne bad losses. I know it is too late now, but if it wasn't for these 2 losses we would have been definitely on track for an at large bid, if needed of course. I hope this team starts taking the ooc schedule as seriously as the Mac schedule because, when you're that good, the whole season matters.

Savannah ?! Nah... Savannah won't say that. You must be Gloria, aren't you? No one else can write something that ridiculous

Out of a dozen 50-50 calls during this game, that buzzer beater one was the only one that went our way. I can go back and argue 12 questionable calls and so could KD. Orr's parade at the buzzer just shows what a "crybaby" he is. On a separate, but related note, did you see how close that hail mary shot was to going in? phew!!!!

He wanted to play for Ianello and decomitted when Bowden took over? go figure!

It is only fair for them to return the favor in a different sport. How about renting us some one like ... say Harrison Barnes for a year?

As someone mentionned earlier, this is the first time this season where the zips win a close game. I hope it will be a turning point. Watching the last 5 minutes, I was affraid I was seeing a Deja Vue of the Valparaiso game. Thankfully, it ended otherwise. I have to give LOTS of credit to Charlie Cole. Think about it for a second, he had to prepare his team to play against a bigger, faster, and more talented team. The only winning card he had is Mavunga(sp?) and the freshman guard who got a little hot from behind the arc. He was still able the draw plays that limited Zeke's effect in the middle and put his winning cards in good positions to keep scoring. He also succeeded to a large extent in slowing down the game to eliminate the Zips speed and athleticism advantage. This guy is simply a genius KD on the other hand seemed to be outcoached for the first 35 minutes. To his defense his players were not really helping: Zeke & Tree were not themselves. FT shooting was terrible and no body seemed interested in guarding the arc. In the last 5 minutes, it was a different story, KD put his game face on and decided it was time to finish this thing. Coming from a time out, a play was drawn for Q, taking advantage of his speed and athleticism. Perfectly executed: score. Next play, same thing, Q scores again. Third play, trying to run the same play, it breaks down, Rico saves the situation and drives it himself to score. We dodge a bullet and my wife says: Is that the only play in our book? Next play, KD calls a time out, I tell my wife: If we run the same Q drive in the middle off screen, we're leaving...even if they score . Well, sure enough, It starts looking like we're running that same play, Miami's deffense thought that way too, but the play was just a decoy, and Walsh ended up with the ball behind the arc with the closest defender being a mile away. Brian swishes the 3 and Miami is toast. KD