Blue & Gold

Only through my blue-n-gold-colored glasses.😅 But no, not really.... certainly not as a freshman. I was surprised when word on the street was he might be starting last season prior to his injury. He played PG as a senior in HS, so has handles & high IQ. But he's grown a few inches & hasn't lost a step! 🤯

I've seen some posts online that the tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ... but that is Atlantic Standard Time. Tipoff for us is 5:30 EST. Don't complicate things for me, please. 😂

I was expecting Finley to hit the ground running this season but alas, we got a carbon copy of the 2024 Finley. Took him until MAC play to really start looking comfortable. I was truly disappointed at how uncomfortable he looked in our opener vs. Wyoming. Did Murphy's light finally come on?! He's such a physical specimen that I thought he'd be dominant last year, let alone this year. Bodes well for next season. Did we ever get word on Catrell White's injury. He looked electric in the 1st Q vs. Wyoming but went down with an injury & never played another snap this season, did he?

Last night I was all about #FireUpChips

Has Matt Kaulig sunk into the woodwork since JoeMo's been here? I'm in no inner circles, but I haven't heard from him in a while. Is he not a huge JoeMo fan?

Going off what?

I'm stoked to see JoeMo's read-option finally run with a dual threat QB. That's kinda the whole point of the scheme. Finley wasn't keeping too many defenses off balance with his playmaking ability. 😂 But our Dual Threats are only going to be a redshirt freshman & a true freshman, so... yeah.

This is another reason I'm very hesitant to knock JoeMo. This year was Year 4 but... it was really more like Year 1 than Year 4. Next year will be Year 1 all over again. Every year is Year 1. I hate it.

I also went to YSU & was impressed with the arena. Looked a lot like what the JAR would look like with permanent chair back seating. Makes a tremendous difference.

Man, I love Zips football. I can't believe this is the last game for yet another year. 😩

Good idea. Plus, if they'd fill the arena with chair back seating I think that in and of itself would shrink the official capacity quite a bit. Just checked with Grok & was told chair back seating shrinks each individual row by 10-30% I know the JAR's lower bowl is already chair back, but I didn't want to spend all night on my Grok inquiry, so I asked "If a 5,000-seat bleacher arena renovated to chair back seating, what would the new capacity be?" Grok said capacity would be reduced to roughly 3,300 -to- 4,500 seats (depending on the exact type of chair back seat chosen - some are wider & cushier than others). We should put premium (wider, cushier) chair back seats in the lower bowl along with cheaper chair back seating in the upper stands.

Btw, I like how full the JAR looks since they retracted the Northside stands & made that a pregame Rowdies club, or something. Shrinking the capacity a bit has made the crowds look pretty good for our first few games. Even PSU-S was alright.

Good idea. And I'm also waiting for the Big East to throw us a bone & offer one or two games a year to our basketball Zips. Big East?.... Big East?... Hello, Big East?

Buffalo is 4-0 including wins over Southern Miss., Green Bay, and DePaul 👀

KSUcks' Gillespie has been a monster so far this year

To illustrate @Illini Zip's insights, this year (albeit only 3 games into the season) our starting backcourt duo is averaging: Tavari: 13.3 PPG, 5 APG Scott: 14.3 PPG, 4.3 APG

Thus far it doesn't look like Brisco can shoot from the outside. Right now he just looks like a limited-minutes role player. Doesn't appear to have a very high motor, which is aggravating.

Yesterday was NLI day but apparently Ben Davis HS is having their ceremony on 11/20.

Found this scouting report on Jashawn Ladd. It's from last summer. "The best player on the best team in the 3 Stripes Gold circuit is no doubt Jashawn Ladd from Ben Davis high school in Indiana. Ladd is a long wing that has a nasty crossover, good Jumpshot, and explosive first move to the hole. He often beats guys with his second move, finishing outside the frame of the backboard with great touch. His athleticism is extremely difficult to stay in front of, and his ability to play above the rim made him a fun watch. It was no surprise that Ladd already has a D1 offer from Miami (OH) and will no doubt collect more as his team finished 8-0 in the circuit, qualifying for the 3SSB finals in July. Ladd was a strong piece to an excellent team, who played the right way and coasted through Adidas Gold like it was nothing."

There were no takeaways from the game last night. PSU-S was terribly undersized. They had 3 nice, smallish, guards but that's it. Their best player, #0, was only 5'8" but could shoot the lights out. He was a chucker for sure.

Yes. It'll be on 640AM WHLO

Watched the replay last night and Halligan really stood out in his limited minutes on the floor 🧐🔥🔥

Zips X feed was on fire yesterday so instead of posting ~20 highlights, here is the link to X.