The Hip Zip

This is always one of my favorite home games of the year. Nobody is more surprised than me that the Redhawks have continued to play well without Ballard and pt. guard Rollins who is expected back soon. Miami has been the cardiac kids of the MAC lately by pulling out some very improbable wins after falling far behind early against K>S>U, Eastern Mich and Ball St. They also played pretty well in their bracketbuster game vs. Humpty and James Madison on the Dukes floor Saturday. Thats the same Humpty and James Madison that went into Can't and beat the flushes easily earlier this season. Everybody loves Charlie and he's done one of his best coaching jobs this season. Now he comes in with Nick Dials along side for the most important game of the year for both teams. Lots of subplots here with some still too painful to mention. All things considered, the Miami game always seems to be one of the most entertaining games on the home schedule. The Redhawks have four remaining games 2 at home and 2 on the road vs. us and Buffalo. I have to believe that Miami will win their 2 home games vs. BG and OU. but they are not a good road team at all. They are 4-9 on the road and their best road wins were at BG and CMU. That is going to be a problem for them weds night and moving forward to the Q. Miami is running into a buzz saw with very sharp teeth. The line opened at 8 and lots of people will think that its too many points for the Zips to be laying. I am not of that opinion. Miami has some defensive liabilities and the Zip offense is in very high gear, a bad combination for Charlie to deal with. This is our chance to send Miami a very loud message before we move on to the tourney. We must avoid getting beat on their offensive glass like we did in Oxford and I think we will. The Zips should win this one with relative ease. Akron 78 Miami 65

This one is going down to the wire, Western can't shake 'em.

Western 11-4 at 16:00 Can't hit with 3 quick fouls

Tough for a mid-major to lose guys to the NBA (Sanders and Maynor) and recover quickly...those players don't fall into your lap annually. Look at Butler this season after losing Haywood. All of the sudden they're mortal. Regarding K.e.n.t/Miami - I root for K.e.n.t. to lose every game. Good stuff Captain K, I thought about those guys as well but I couldn't quite remember their names. The Shaka Smart supporters always brought that up to repel the bashers and it couldn't really be debated I didn't think all that much of Sanders. He had the body for the NBA but to me he seemed lazy at times while just going through the motions. Maynor was a different story. He was nothing but smooth on the floor, just a great college player.

I agree with you, but it's also just about impossible for me to wish anything but negative vibes toward K S U. I had briefly forgot about Dials factor even though I have seen him on their bench in recent TV games. In fact, I have watched many X Zip players and coaches who are doing quite well lately. I didn't like seeing Shaka take one on the chin at VCU last night. They were beaten very soundly on their own floor by a very good George Mason team. Shaka catches a lot of flak down there. He has a tough job in following a great coach like Anthony Grant and maintaining a very solid program. He's done a great job in my book but there are still many VCU fans that clearly don't like him.

I believe that you bring up some good points but the answer is pretty simple. KD only plays to win ! IMO, Creighton is almost a perfect matchup and beating just about any MVC team would a very good win for a lot of MAC programs. I have seen Creighton play 2 or 3 times in the tough MVC and they have some talent. They have this 6'7" freshman named McDermott who is really a player. Creighton had somewhat modest expectations for him this year but he has been their best player from day one. He leads them in scoring and boards and he's on track to be a truly great player as he moves forward. The Jays also get some decent numbers from Young, a guard who is a very consistant double digit scorer. They have a couple of 6'9" centers that are less than spectacular but can clog up the middle. In a way, Creighton is much like the Zips in that they have a lot of guys that contribute to a well balanced scoring attack. This should be another good game though I suspect that KD would rather continue to build on their current momentum by staying in the conference.

My vote goes to Earnie Zeigler Year after year he has the Chippathugs in contention for a for a ten seed. I think that a coach should be measured by his consistancy. Seriously, Keith has a great shot if we continue on our recent path. It is always impressive for a coach to turn around a season like he's doing now. His persistence and belief in the guys is really starting to pay off. Charlie Coles is highly alive for this honor as well. The Redhawks have suffered through a lot of key injuries this year but he still has Miami right there in the mix. I suspect though that Miami's bubble is about to burst so why not Keith ?

This game will have a direct impact upon our future. The big question I have is, who do you root for in this game ? If you look at the big picture, we have still have a shot to take down the #1 seed. We have Miami and Buffalo coming in next week and of course the finale with K S U. so the Zips really do have a shot to control their destiny if things go our way tonight. K S U destroyed the R'Hawks at Cant but Miami didn't have Mavunga for that one and they don't have Ballard tonight. Talk about being just downright lucky, the flushes sure seem to catch Miami at the right times. A Miami win tonight would help this scenario become a real possibility because tonight K S U begins a stretch of 5 games in 10 days. They still has some tough dates left. They have that rescheduled snow out game at Western. That will be a rough spot for K S U because Western is playing pretty well and fighting for a possible 1 or 2 seed themselves. The Flushes also have us and Buffalo at their dump and both teams beat K S U at their places with Buffalo really spanking them good. If you don't buy into that, I would suppose that you would have to be rooting for (gulp) K S U tonight. If K S U wins we have one hell of a shot to take down the 3 seed. With Miami and Buffalo at our place, I have to believe that we could leap over those two and finish 2nd in the East. So again the question is : Do you bite your lip and pull for the Flushes tonight ? Or do you want Miami to destroy them and maintain a slim hope that we can run the table and get to the top?? As Michael Reghi would say: Strap on the gear because this is going to be fun"

Yep, I'll miss Anderson Arena

Our last appearance at Anderson Arena. I always liked the place and have many fond memories of watching the Zips and the Falcons play there. Many of the younger guys here may be unaware of some of the great BG teams of the past but that place really rocked. They used to have great support from the students and filled it to the rafters. Those screaming kids were actually so close to the action that the front row could actually reach out and touch the players as they ran up and down. It was a really tough place for a visiting team to try to steal a win. If memory serves, I believe that BG and Anderson Arena actually graced a Sports Illustrated cover back in the late 80's or early 90s. There was a really nice piece in the mag about how tough the MAC was and it was true. Man, have times changed, Its much more subdued place now and the student support has greatly diminished. Last year, I think we were louder than the BG fans. Phil McKnight was funny as hell that day as he had an ongoing chat across the floor with some BG fans. Anyways, I just love the feel of some of the remaining old gyms from the past and I will miss Anderson Arena just as I missed Memorial Hall back in the day. Lots of great memories..............

QZ, Please just give it up. Its old and tired. Even after a pretty darn good game you find a need to take shots at McNees. It's the same negative crap all the time. It wasn't long ago that you took a shot at McNees for fouling a 3pt shooter late in the game. That's fair enough, but why not mention it when Nitro did exactly the same thing ? In fact, I recall him fouling at least three shooters beyond the arc in the last couple of weeks. I guess that's OK in your book. It's pretty clear to me that you either have a very selective memory or some type of personal bias against McNees.

He's very much on the radar of many. Thought it was cool to see Boals and Lamont Paris facing each other as asst. coaches today. Thats a real credit to KD and our program.

Where do you reside ?

A very solid piece of work tonight, but it still won't be long until the McNees bashers show up. Random thoughts Nik worked his ass off tonight, he was much, much better than a box score might imply..... Abreu gets in guys heads, he's pesky and very clearly bothers his opponents. He's also fun to watch and brings excitement to the floor........ I liked Josh tonight as well in his short time out there. He was very active.......... Sometimes Q needs to slow down just a touch on the offensive end to cut down on his TOs. He tries really hard to make things happen out there, just needs to let the game come to him a little more....... Bardo is playing the best basketball of his career. He's another guy that out plays the box score...... McKnight is getting his stroke back and just in time..... The team seems to be playing with much more confidence and emotion .......The Zips are a team that is improving and can take down any MAC team if/when we get to the Q. I think the team would enjoy the thought of us being the underdog up there and would play with even more motivation

Great find, thanks

Is toast. There is no way they come in and steal a victory. Time to dial up the emotions a bit. DEFEND OUR HOUSE !!!

Steve McNees 3/7 from the floor 5 boards 7 assists 1 TO

Can't go tonight due to a nasty bug. I see a great night coming for Zeke !

how about sto on tv

I predict a close battle. Western is coming in on a bit of a roll. The Broncs have just claimed two road wins vs. Miami and BG. so they are playing very well.

OK, got it ! Actually not. I don't understand one freaking thing that you wrote.

I know that KD was trying to build confidence here but I have to agree with ADA. The last 4-5 minutes should have been devoted to Josh, Dakota and even CJ. I though it was pretty sorry to see Toledo pull their starters before we did. Instead, we accomplish zero in the closing minutes and look a little bush league while doing so. I didn't like that one bit.

Probably have to go back quite awhile to find a MAC game with less interest than this one. I was looking at the Rockets a little bit and they have been in a lot of games at home. I watched the BG game and they were right there till the end but they had to foul and the Falcons put them away. The line opened up at 9 and the Zips are getting the money as the line went to 10 today. To be frank, I don't see it, Toledo has played us super tough over that last couple of years. We are catching them at a good time though. Since they had to stay an extra day in Buffalo before they played on Thursday we are catching them with one day off with travel. Zips 66 Toledo 60

Hell, we could get 100 of us to try to guess at this and we would have 100 different ballots. Just playing a little devil's advocate here. Overall you did a pretty good job at a task that had to consume much more than just a few minutes. We'll have to dig this thread up to compare notes when the honors are released.