The Hip Zip

He's a gem, sounds like a super heady guy. Bright future for that guy.

The no hairs grabbed a couple as well

No qualms with the results but this was, bar none, the most bizarre game I've seen at the JAR. It's a beautiful thing when the shots start dropping and the D tightens up

Fearless forecast: Akron 69 BSU 61. Ball State pounds it inside to Teague in an attempt to get Deng into a little foul trouble. Enter Jayden Sayles who gets some meaningful minutes in crunch time and he helps to save the day in a low scoring battle. It came to me in a vision. One thing I do like about these Friday games is that with so few games being played we should see 3 of the better officials in the Midwest. (Fingers crossed)

As promised, a brief scouting report from the MAC Center..... Kent is a much, much better team than they were last season when Walker was hoisting 25 shots a game from all over the floor.. Lots of balanced scoring now and Whittington was nearly impossible to stop when he got the ball down low. They seem to have decent depth and are going to be a tough out for anybody in this conference. We picked up a pair of tix for the big one with us on Jan 31 which is setting up to be a can't miss battle. Toledo will go as far as the two Jacksons will carry them. Willie Jackson, in particular, is a complete player and impressed me a lot. Marreon Jackson has unlimited range and kept them in it until late. Other than that the Rockets seemed to be a bit soft inside and didn't get much from anybody else. Todd has a short bench and the Rockets will need a lot more from their big guy, Knapke, if they expect to contend with Ball State in the west. They have now dropped 5 straight. Really looking forward to our game with the Cards on Friday. Obviously, this will be our first stiff test in the MAC. Teague is a real handful and they have enough around him to be dangerous.

Going to see Toledo and PCCC Tuesday, great seats and free of charge from my golf buddy. I am justifying this by calling it a scouting trip.

The games against Virginia and Yale caught my attention. Everybody knows how good Virginia and their defense is and they hung in there pretty well. Also , losing in OT to Yale impresses me. I've seen Yale play 3-4 times this season and they are very, very good, not your average Ivy program. They play at NC tonight and have a reasonable shot of taking down the Tar Heels. Looks like UMass can play at any tempo so hope we see an entertaining up and down the floor type contest. Akron 75 UMass 70

One ranking I do take stock in at this point is the strength of schedule. This site that I frequently visit has the Green Wave sitting at # 349. Only 4 teams have a lesser rank. https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/rpi-ranking/sos-rpi-rating-by-team I expect the Zips to be favored in this one by 6-8 points or so. A good effort from our guys wins this game fairly comfortably.

If I were to have looked into my crystal ball and saw that Banks and Cheese tallied a total of 4 points I would have suspected that we would have got hosed. Monster stat line across the board from X. He's been great on the glass and plays hard. He's the complete package. As a lifelong Cleveland and Zips sports fan I should probably know better but I'm getting a little geeked up for this team.

Yes, it wasn't as bad as the box I had in front of me at the time which was -19. I deleted it as soon as I checked the ESPN box. Your take on the subject is on point

Never mind, I was reading an error filled stat sheet.

The Pengs do not seem to employ the old run and gun, up and down the floor game as some of the recent editions of YSU squads. The Zips need to start shooting it better for sure but the Pengs have been even worse from the floor in the early going. Akron has been better at the stripe and boards while YSU has taken pretty good care of the ball. This might be a tighter and lower scoring game than many would expect. Just a guess here.... Akron 69 YSU 64

We've looked good and lost and we've looked bad and won. I'll be curious to see if this is a team that is developing a tendency to play to the level of their opponents. I sure hope that is not the case. I want to see a thirty point win tonight.

If NC Central continues to turn it over at the pace that they have demonstrated so far the Zips could flirt with the century mark. Let 'em run John. Zips 94 - NC Central 78

I'm just going to deny that it all happened and store the tape on the secret server

Blount dropped 16 pts and grabbed 19 boards as NC Central got a W tonight vs SC Upstate. Noteworthy is that they also had 28 TOs. Yikes, that's 59 turnovers now in just two games. Seems just a bit excessive. I'd press the pants off of them early and often.

Hopefully they leave every last flake cover the field for the game. It may be the great equalizer.

Since we haven't tasted the end zone since Sept I'm guessing 2 FGs and 2 safeties ?

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Kevon Harris had 32 points as Stephen F. Austin rolled past North Carolina Central 94-64 on Saturday. Roti Ware had 13 points for Stephen F. Austin (2-0). Sama'Zha Hart added 12 points. The Lumberjacks were up 40-38 at the break. They dominated the second half, 54-26, to win going away. SFA scored 42 points in the paint and had 35 points off 31 NCCU's turnovers. Nicolas Fennell and Randy Miller Jr. had 12 points apiece for the Eagles (0-1). Ty Graves added 10 points. Stephen F. Austin plays Niagara at home on Wednesday. NC Central plays South Carolina Upstate at home on Monday. ---

For the most I really liked what I saw from this team. I believe that the talent level has generally increased with the new guys really playing well but what especially turned me on was the fight in this group. Similar efforts will win us a lot of MAC games. For the first time in awhile, I'm thinking that trips to the JAR are going to be fun again.

Sadly, I see one team that has improved significantly and one that hasn't. Lots of issues out there but none more glaring than our QB play. It's time to turn the page.

Has anybody ever fouled out of a game in the first half?

The officials seem to think that they are the main attraction. No flow to this game at all.

As I recall, it was maybe the return game from the, gone but not forgotten, bracket busters series.

That sequence was worth the price of admission alone. There was nobody within 15 yards of him when he was rudely rejected and knocked on his butt by the rim. I was fearful that Spencer would call the rim for a flagrant 2 but alas he swallowed his whistle. I replayed it over and over and it got funnier each time. Granted, I am easily amused but that missed slam was of the epic variety.