Blue & Gold

I think they're really trying to gently nudge us old timers toward e-ticketing.

Most (all?) WKU posters are for the move 👇

I don't know what this is about, but I'm going to read into it that Kato's not starting 😂

You know what - I made a mistake. I thought that was Darryl Peterson. A dominant DE at Hoban last year. My bad. I was on my phone & obviously not paying close enough attention.

Man, I love that young man. He's one of the most dominant hs defenders I've watched in a very long time. He'd look tremendous in blue & gold again.

"That lineup isn't etched in stone," Groce said. I should hope not.

"Fun."

Of course.

Agreed. I'm typically hesitant to be too critical of a Zips player on a public forum, but I've just got to say, bluntly, I don't like Tribble running the point... At all. He doesn't have the handles of a PG, so he tries to compensate for lack of handles by using his (admittedly elite) athleticism, but his handles are so poor (plus he's so completely one-dimensional offensively) that he must over-compensate & then he plays out of control. Needless to say, you don't want that in a PG. So don't over think it, Coach. Start X at PG. Backup PG is Clarke. Or vice-versa. Leave the ball handling duties in the hands of those two. Before the game began I posted my guess at the rotation being (...I didn't even list Tribble in the two-deep): X.................Clarke Walton........Dawson Trimble.......Wynn Ali................Kalle Freeman......Bandaogo Coach started: X Clarke Dawson Ali Freeman 1. Clarke can't play the off guard spot - his 3-point shooting is too suspect. 2. Tribble came in as our backup PG, which, as discussed above, was a disaster. 3. Walton and Trimble should be starters as they complement each other; Walton being a slasher and Trimble being our 3-point specialist 4. Dawson is better suited as a microwave, instant-O, energy-off-the-bench 6th Man. 5. Wynn didn't play at all (and, since I'm being blunt, I have no problem with that; he's never much impressed me) 6. Kalle didn't play either. That's fine; probably asking a bit much for a true freshman's 1st taste of college ball to be against a D like WVU. 7a. Once Freeman & Bandaogo go accustomed to WVU's intense, swarming defense (I loved it!), they both looked really good. 7b. I think I liked what I saw when Freeman & Bandaogo were on the floor together. May want to experiment with that lineup a bit. 8. Ali looked overwhelmed; the game was moving too fast for him. He couldn't handle WVU's defensive intensity. 9.I hope Groce reads my post and understands what our lineup & rotation should look like moving forward. 😉 Again, I loved WVU's defense last night. Show us how it's done, Huggy Bear! Emulate that dedication, focus, effort, and intensity on the defensive end of the floor, Zippers!

This’ll be good for us. Zips seeing what playing tough defense looks like. In comparison our D is lackadaisical. I love what WVU’s throwing at us. Sherman is unconscious.

Is NIU streaming the game free of charge?

I don't have nearly as much to add as @Let'sGoZips94 , but... Xavier Castaneda - starting PG? Suitable replacement for LCJ. Floor general? Garvin Clarke - has his game taken a step forward? Improved outside shot? Solid backup PG? Did he benefit from playing for the Bahamas national team this summer? Greg Tribble - will he be anything more than an athletic defensive specialist who gives us one spectacular play per game? Has his ball handling and outside shot improved at all? Ali Ali - IMO it all comes down to personal confidence with Ali. Is Ali more confident? Is his body language more dominant? Does he morph into an alpa? Enrique Freeman - Does he continue to be one of the better bigs in the nation, or do the addition of Kalle and Bandaogo cause him to take a step back this season? Bandaogo and Kalle - simply curious with these two. Any legit added benefit on the offensive side would be a huge plus. Mikal Dawson - Does he become a little more consistent with his 3-point shot & morph into one of the better players in the MAC? Kobe Mitchell & Nate Johnson - I think Johnson is hurt & hasn't practiced much. Curious to see if Kobe gets much PT & how he adjusts to D-1 ball coming from such a small high school. K.J. Walton - To be honest I don't remember much from him at Ball State so I'm just curious to see what we've got here. He was a 4-star prospect coming out of high school. Michael Wynn - has his offensive game improved at all? Does it flow more naturally? To me last year it looked like he thought too much on the offensive end (Ali too). Can he (and Ali) get out of their own heads and just have fun playing ball? Bryan Trimble - I think we know what we've got here. I'm going: PG - X Clarke W - Walton Dawson W - Trimble Wynn P - Ali Kalle P - Freeman Bandaogo

Your wife must be an angel.

I don't know how he does it. Joe's a true professional.

All too clearly 🤢

Coach was less than thrilled with how they played in the closed scrimmage. Who did they scrimmage?

6-2, 230 LB Rough looking hombre. Wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley. JCGridiron ranked him as the #2 JUCO ILB preseason.

I think you're spot on, LZip. As far as I can tell he's only picked up offers from Mercer and Stetson, so, no offense to him, but it doesn't look like we're missing out here. Though his tape is top notch; dude's a real football player. I'm sure he'll excel at a lower level.

They're only playing a handful of intra-squad scrimmages. So it hasn't intrigued me at all. I would have gone to a game or two if they were playing other schools.

Irons & Norrils.