Let'sGoZips94

Riak as well. It would be a nice little pipeline to build.

Since you're apparently deciding to be serious, 2. Sayles & X are both listed at 6'9".

Utomi played the emergency 5 because he's built like a brick wall - wasn't able to be backed down very easily. X lacks the height advantage and the strength advantage to hold that spot down.

Thank you. It's called Optimism. And no, I didn't get it from a former PG. He was selling stuff called Ceiling, named after the coach that recruited him.

I don't see Utomi as a game-changing loss. I wasn't particularly fond of him on defense, he turned the ball over a lot with offensive fouls & travels on offense, and was a key contributor to the poor shooting we witnessed all season. Aside from Ivey, you're returning every piece of your top 25 defense nationally, you're adding a healthy Toles, Williams, & Reece, and leadership pieces such as Dailey (as I mentioned in a previous post - until he's on the floor, he's an unofficial assistant coach) will help everything gel. Physically & athletically, we match-up with or over-match every team in the MAC with Buffalo's Golden Class gone. I think fundamentally, we actually outclass the MAC now. It comes down to executing and making shots, both of which are largely out of Groce's control, but I think we'll be most improved in that category. Amazing. Not only does @Illini Zip flip allegiances to our humble fan base, but he does the dirty work for us. Bravo.

Not sure that's a fair statement. The landscape of college basketball and recruiting is changing. Groce has been tasked with stopping the bleeding, and 4 year players don't exactly do that at this level, especially when some of your initial 4 year players aren't locker room fits. Get me a winning product. I don't care if that's 10 4 year players, 10 1 year players, 10 JUCOs, or a concoction of everything. Win.

No, Hester. Didn't even know Dre posted - the beauty of the Block Button. Admins should look into a "Send To Duquesne Forum" button, that takes troll posts from ZN and posts them to the Duquesne message board instead.

I'm just happy someone found him.

Agreed in most circumstances. However, I look at these one-and-done's like assistant coach/players, especially when they're coming from disciplined, top-flight programs such as Iowa. When we have as many roster openings as we're going to have in 2 seasons, we're gonna need a guy like Dailey.

Kid looks fluid.

And this is why I didn't want O-Who to hire Boals. He coached at OSUcks and knows the CBus area. No idea how he'll turn out, but not only is Columbus a hot bed for talent, it's a hot bed we have ignored for years.

Not to mention he's 4" too short by your standards. SEND HIM TO DIII WHERE HE BELONGS! In all seriousness, the kid is coming from one of the most disciplined programs in the country. At the very least, he's going to be fundamentally sound, with big game experience. I like it.

And not their first, or even their second choice, from what I understand.

That's one small victory for @ZipsVoice, one giant ass-whooping for our Zips...

Well well well...

Give me Murray State, Belmont, Middle Tennessee, Marshall, Illinois State, Indiana State, etc. all day. I didn't mind playing UT-Chattanooga once because of Lamont Paris, and it helped us secure Arth (I'm kidding), but give me the rest of those teams.

Exactly. For it to benefit us, we have to rise to the occasion and enter a similar tier that the top team (Buffalo) is in. St. Mary's rose to the occasion with Zaga, but that has done nothing for the rest of the conference. Valpo became a solid mid-major, but Butler did nothing for the Horizon as a whole. The other key is to up the OOC schedule. I thought this year's schedule was terrific, we just weren't able to capitalize. A ranked Buffalo twice during MAC play would have been great with Clemson, Nevada, and St. Bonnie in the OOC (1-2 in these games). Buffalo scheduled properly for a team looking to establish themselves as a top mid-major for years to come, and backed it up by beating everyone but Marquette.

Hopefully they shower before heading to a new school. Gotta get that Can't stench and failure crap off ya.

Can we start calling the football portion of the university Defensive or Linebacker U?

Kid's got a nice stroke based on his high school video from 2017. I can only imagine he has gotten better. I'm assuming Groce is looking to add a JUCO kid to help fill Utomi's void, then a 4 year kid. I like it.

Yeah, you can read it that way. I took it as Groce referring to Poke & Utomi, with Ivey being included in GT's sentence in error.

Maybe he didn't mean to include Ivey at all... "Big man Emmanuel Olojakpoke and guard Jimond Ivey have joined Utomi in the portal and also are moving on. Groce said he appreciates their contributions as they were two of just five returning players from when he took over two seasons ago."

The issue with that becomes defense. If your best 5 are guards/small forwards, you're going to struggle against bigger teams. Vice versa, if your best players are PF/C, you're going to struggle against guard-heavy teams.

I'm just having some fun. It can be quite depressing and unhealthy to constantly listen to Puddles Pity Party. Smile - it's good for the soul.

How can you tell if we have actual DI players with your eyes closed?