The Hip Zip

It would be a huge mistake to overlook and discount the Redskins. Especially so considering that this fits the literal definition of the sandwich or trap game in that it is squeezed in between arguably our two biggest conference games of the season. Miami is not void of talent and I feel that they have made some progress. Their guards are not bad at all and in fact they probably have an edge in the back court. In the spirit of Charlie Coles I fully expect this game to be a tight struggle throughout.

There is no substitute for guts. I'm proud of this effort, now lets build on it.

Early but so far our defense has been at a higher level than all season. Looking good

While we don't share the kitten fans obsession with us, we probably should start up a thread and discuss the game. As some of you may know Ricardo Johnson suffered a nasty broken leg injury a couple games back and is lost for the season. It's a significant loss for them. He's a 6'5" swing player (G-F) who could score and hit the glass pretty well. He ate up a lot of minutes and his loss gets the kittens deeper into their bench. Their cupboard is not bare though. Ndour is really tough inside and was a great find for them. I have always liked their PG, Stevie Taylor who had to play behind DJ Cooper for the last three years. I'd like to have him here. I think we need to get the ball inside at every opportunity and try to exploit our size advantage. It's our best chance to win, especially now as bad as we've been stroking it from beyond the arc. We need to up our game for this one as the Kittens will look to go to 2-0 vs the east after their win at K e n t this week. IMO the keys to victory are : Take care of the ball, keep the TOs to a minimum Work it inside to Pat, Tree and Big Dog. Hit the glass hard... we made Majok look like a superstar in Muncie. Keep a body on Ndour. He's a smart player who can beat a team in multiple ways. There... sounds easy doesn't it??

the term "basketball IQ" used to describe a player or team. We lack any signs of a significant and / or positive basketball IQ. I won't name names but we make tons of really dumb mistakes. Fouling 30 ft from the hoop is just one example of this though there are many more that would make a high school coach cringe.

Lets take a positive out of this mess....... We have mastered the art of aimlessly dribbling 30 feet from the hoop and acting like we have never seen a zone before.

Wood.... This guy played much bigger than his size and was a beast on the glass with good offensive/ defensive skills as well...... Great feet for a big man.... This guy gave 100% at all times. He also had to come back from a severe season ending knee injury. J Wood went on to dominate in Europe after leaving the Zips. I understand that memories do fade but he's easily my favorite Zip over the last ten years.

No hustle, no heart, no fight, no character, no balls

So sad.... RIP Tank

We can beat this team twice as they are nothing special. Now that we appear to be much more settled at the 1 spot what we need is better shooting from the wings. Jake is either hot or cold, we need more consistency from him. He's 3/15 in the Diamond Head so far and that doesn't cut it. A little offense out of Nick would be nice as well although I did see him do some decent things on the other end of the floor. The defensive intensity also needs to be dialed up a notch or two. The Cyclones simply out worked us and out played us. S.C. is nowhere near their level and I expect us to rebound and handle them. Watching Frank Martin scowl and yell at his players will be a lot of fun as we take them down.

Great match up in Athens tonight as undefeated and 22nd ranked UMass comes in to give the Convo a try. I think that they have to play a few MAC teams as a condition of their inclusion as a conference football team. Wish we had a crack at them...... I think that the Minutemen may be in for a rude dose of reality tonight.

Ding, ding, ding... we have a winner. Spot on observation, IMO McCallum's teams have consistently under achieved.

He played for the Titans last season after sitting a year out following the transfer. He had a nice game vs. us last year but overall he was arguably their 5th or 5th best player on that roster. His role as a "go to" guy this season is evidence of how much talent Detroit lost from last years team. Ray McCallum Jr is now a member of the Sacramento Kings and Nick Minnerath opted to play in Spain after being invited to the L A Lakers camp. Frankly, I am surprised that they are playing as well as they are this season.

The Zips open up as an 8' pt fav which seems to be a pretty tight line. The Titans do not have the talent or the depth of last years team but they still present challenges.

Q gets an A+ in my book. He was flying all over the floor in the 2nd half making plays. Great work on the backside boards as well.

While Kwan was on the floor tonight I focused on just him on the floor, every move. He may have to pay his dues as a freshman but this guy will be a GREAT player for the Zips.

Uhh... back on track E Mich took down Wisc. GB fairly easily this week. GB was predicted by almost everybody to win the Horizon this year and had just come off a victory over a good Virginia team from the ACC. (Gee, I wonder how that feels??) E Mich has come a long way. They play a killer 2-3 zone and have improved greatly. They are a tough and pesky lot and by no means an easy W anymore. Don't look now but after nearly a decade the MAC West is beginning to close the gap between the two divisions.

And both were very good basketball teams. Detroit actually had some top shelf talent on that team.

Outf@$*ingstanding !!

You beat me to the punch DIG, spot on.

When it's Evans and CB jacking up the bulk of them without running anything whatsoever, we will continue to shoot about 25% from the arc.

Did anybody catch their color guy's remark after Akron brought in four from the bench? He said that he hated to see Betancourt go to the bench because he was one of MTSU's best players. Pretty bad when a guy who only sees you play once or twice can spot you out as a large liability for the Zips. Props to Q for a great game, I just think he ran out of gas the last minute, he was flying around everywhere. Some of our usually reliable pieces were MIA today. Another very winnable game goes down as a big L

Thanks for the video link Space

Toledo takes one on an ACC floor !! This just in: The rockets are loaded and I mean really loaded. They have some guys that can really score and I don't mean just a couple of dudes. They are well balanced and fun to watch. I know that a ton of people picked them to take the MAC West and that projection seems spot on. This is a very good basketball team.

It is a set play to try to space 4 and dump low post. Not complex, but a play none the less. As a HS guard we were lucky if we properly executed a called play 20% of the time. I do realize that at the div 1 level this number is higher but many would be surprised at how often a set play breaks down. There is this little thing called defense that can disrupt any set play.