Blue & Gold

UCLA wins it by 16, 72-56. Announcers gave us another mention as time was expiring.

UCLA running away with it down the stretch.

Hawkes (sp?), UCLA’s leading scorer tonight w/ 15, just went down w/ 6:58 left in the game & UCLA up 55-47. Looks like he’s done for the night. UCLA’s been in control all 2nd half. We’ll see if they can hang on without him.

Definitely. In prior trips to The Dance I was always just crossing my fingers that we’d look respectable. This time around we definitely looked like we belonged there. Our defense was elite - not just on the MAC level, but on a national level.

Yeah. They said St. Mary’s isn’t disrupting UCLA’s passing nor keeping them from getting into the paint like we did. 😕

Yeah. If UCLA handles St. Mary’s it’ll definitely lead to some painful and lingering “what-ifs.”

I’m pulling for UCLA. Makes us look better, right?

Getting players from the Transfer Portal makes a lot of sense to me. Two examples: one HS small forward we're currently putting resources into recruiting (David Tubek) also has offers from Memphis, Arizona State, Creighton, Xavier, Kansas, Texas, UNLV, and WV. Another HS small forward we're recruiting (JaQualon Roberts) has offers from Iowa, Butler, Indiana, UMass, and Indiana State. How much easier it is to get a transfer from a P5 program who has already had a year or two to physically mature, and is probably a very good player who's just not getting the PT he dreamed of at his dream school. EDIT: As an aside, maybe we're actively recruiting this caliber of player, of course hoping they sign with us, but perhaps to build a relationship in case they end up hitting the TP in two or three years?

+1. Driving home from Cleveland I almost had to pinch myself. I couldn’t believe how good of a mood I was in!

Technically, Prather is more highly-touted as a 3-star recruit. Tavari is a 2-star. For what that's worth. Idk. But Prather is 6'5" and can shoot the ball, so yeah, he may be the 3 & D guy we could use. Ah, yeah. HAVOC. Love it! Forgot to mention them. (Maybe I've suppressed the painful memory of HAVOC?) Wouldn't it be great if we could run with two full rotations of 10? We could leave it all on the floor. Z-fence! And this is another reason why I think Tavari will be redshirted. Besides, he looks like he could use a year in the weight room. He's presently much more slight-of-build than either of our current redshirt guards.

Many of us are high on Tavari Johnson, and he had quite a mid-major offer list, and the staff was excited to land him. But I'm always skeptical of the impact a true freshman point guard will make. IIRC, I've only ever seen two true freshmen PG's come in and be game changers for the Zips, those being Jimmal Ball and Noah Robotham. I hope Tavari becomes the 3rd, but, with the post season blossoming of Clarke, the outstanding play of X, as well as our two redshirt freshmen who are waiting in the wings, I wouldn't be surprised if Tavari redshirts next season. Speaking of our two redshirt freshmen G's, I wish we had more of a scouting report on those two in order to anticipate what we can expect them to bring to the table. They've had a year practicing with the program, a year to assimilate into the culture of the program and to understand what Groce expects/demands of players to earn PT. They've seen the intensity and dedication Groce demands on the defensive end of the floor and have had a year of practice to understand the scheme, so I'm excited to see what these two bring and how they fit into the rotation. And speaking of that defense, I think we're beginning to develop an identity and reputation as an outstanding defensive ball club. Teams dread playing a team where they know they're going to be harassed all night and struggle to find easy, open looks. From UNLV's "Ameoba D," and Arkansas' "40-minutes of Hell," to Huggy Bear's "Press Virginia," I've always loved aggressive defensive teams. This postseason our guys totally bought into what Groce was selling on the defensive end and they saw what fruits that can bear. Zip-Em'-Up Zefense! We're going to be lock down next year!

Hopefully Lonisia Brewer makes a nice jump in productivity. After seeing her in HS I'm a little disappointed with what she's done thus far on the college level. I'm excited to see what our two new recruits bring to the table. Oh, and what a pleasant surprise Bass was this season. She's gonna be a good one!

😂. I don’t really follow women’s b-ball as closely, as the men so I was/am completely unfamiliar with what other teams had coming into the season. But I had seen Dawson play a bunch and I couldn’t believe we were ranked that low with a player like her. She’s an amazing women’s player.

Only deep and public shame 🤬🤬🤬

Interesting, indeed. I can post this now that the season is over. I hope I’m wrong, of course, but without Dawson I expect us to suck. We’ll see what kind of coaching chops Melissa Jackson really has.

I’d like to see Sparks transfer in. He’s legit.

No, that’s not the guy I think I saw. I forget the name of the young man I think I saw, but that’s not him. Lol. Huggy Bear seems to have a lot of players transferring out.

I like the script Akron too. It's my understanding the U is just working on a new primary logo. The Script Akron is a bit too generic for that prominent marketing position b/c it's a font anyone can grab off the Nike website. I can't imagine them completely doing away with the Script Akron - especially on basketball and baseball jerseys. it's classic and traditional. For that matter, I can't see them completely doing away with the Z either. IMO the Z is literally one of the coolest logos in college athletics. Young people seem to agree with me, and at the end of the day that is probably what is most important. I'm betting my $$$ that they're simply working on a new "A" logo. Anyway, back to basketball... Am I remembering correctly? I don't believe I saw either Dawson or Ali come off a screen for a 3-pointer all last night. Marla was live-tweeting during the game, which was nice. The ABJ needs a reporter to do that at every Zips game. We are a D-1 university, after all.

I had picked the Jackrabbits for the upset.

A veritable avalanche of Zips articles from the ABJ. There were two more articles posted today which I just saw.

Well, that’s nice, as long as they don’t molest Zippy 😭😭😭