The Hip Zip

I have a feeling this is going to be a tough one. EKU has played well so far this season and their lone loss was to a pretty good Texas Tech team.Looks like the game will have some pace to it as they have put up 83,91 and 84 points in their last three games. They have a guy named Rose that can throw it in the hole from anywhere and a decent supporting cast. I would not be over confident at all and view this game as a solid test for the young Zips.

Nice going tonight big guy, your play was the highlight of the night for me.

While I hate games like this, it was great to see Swiech get some minutes. This kid tries so hard to give it his all, so I was happy to see him play.Nice going tonight Steve!! On the down side, Brett went 1 for 8 after his great outing at Pitt. Go figure.Wonder how the scrimmage went for Zeke tonight??

* The Peterson Center is a beautiful facility. It is to the JAR what Macy's is to Big Lots. I really enjoyed it. But, since the court is 84' x 50' at both facilities, and the hoops are all 10ft high, it probably doesn't matter for the players."Yep, its really something. I had never been there and its just a great place to watch a college basketball game. My wife was even more impressed than I was. We didn't have time to dine before we arrived but that was not a problem with the great variety of chow in their food court. The Macy's to Big Lots analogy is spot on.

I agree with all about Nik, I liked what I saw, another young Zip that was not afraid to go inside and mix it up. He's going to be a good one.Also, in no way did I mean to imply that we could not have a good season THIS YEAR. I think this bunch is progressing well and can go toe to toe with anybody in this conference right now. What I was trying to say is that Pitt's program is a model of where we want to be. This clearly will not be the case this year but I think we can be looking at a top 25 team in the future when Zeke comes to town.

A long slow drive home due to a horrible accident in Pittsburgh that resulted in a Jeep getting hurled over a 4 foot concrete barrier across 4 lanes of traffic.My thoughts on the game. I though we played pretty well. Our composure and toughness was outstanding in the big time enviornment of Petersen.I believe we saw the evolution of Brett McKnight tonight. He was simply terrific, no other way to put it. He had a nice touch on his jumper and went hard into the paint several times. While outmatched physically the results were much better than I expected as I knew we would get killed on the glass. Pitt now is where we want to be. The difference in this one was experience at the guard and a strong presence in the paint. With Marshall in the fold it seems to me that we are well on the way to reaching a much higher level. We will be a force and not just in the MAC. Call me crazy but I very much believe that.A Big thanks to MDZip, I owe you one my friend.

Thanks MD Zip, It should be a fun little trip, see you there.

Rootforroo, I admire your enthusiasm. After seeing Pitt dismantle a very good Miami O team that took UCLA down to the wire,I am just hoping for a competitive showing. This is probably the best team Akron has ever faced. They are very strong at all positionsand their guards are killer. If we keep it under 20 I will be pleased.

Screw 'em, Any time you want to bring a Pitt fan down just utter the following two words: DAVE WANNSTEDTWorks like kryptonite.

It will be on the espn full court package. I get it and its not a bad deal. Tons of games for $99 .I'm with Dish Network and they also offer a package that picks up all of the fox sports channelsthroughout the country for 5.95 a month. Between the two, I get hundreds of games that I could not seevia any other method. As a hoops junkie, its a must for me.Another thing that is worth a try is on the web via internet broadcaststhis guy puts up a lot of games on his site. The quality is not as good as the TV but better than nothing and the price is right.Hope this helps you out.

Bingo, no Big South lines except in tourneys. If there were a line I'd think it would be very close to even, maybe the Zips -1 just based on the home floor.

BRAVO !!!

Wow, I had no idea that the rebounding was that bad until I saw the boxthis morning, I knew that Walsh got some easy boards but not that the numbers were that much in their favor.I was not the least surprised that the game was close. Remember people,Walsh is a very good NAIA program and we are basically a new team still tryingto learn our roles. As I recall, Findlay beat Michigan State last year in a similarcontest. A key word this year will be : PATIENCE !! This team will be OK in time.It's not going to happen overnight.

Just got home and was hoping to get a bit of a feel for this years team but failed to take much from this tilt.I thought our defense was pretty bad. Walsh had guys wide open on the wing all night long. Given what I saw tonightKeith will have his hands full.Positives... Hitchens can flat out fly in the open court and Bardo looks like he has developed some better low post moves.Weak points ... defense defense and defense.I'm a bit disapointed but not overly so. We play these things to work out some problems. It will get better.Uniforms : the tops are pretty vanilla but I like the new shorts

Sure would be nice if we had CSU on the schedule this year. Why did we stop playing them?Waters has done a great job there and this should be his best team yet.

The Zips looked terrific last night. The Buffalo game will be huge !Great photos, thanks for tossing them up here.

Yeah, yeah, You are correct sir. My first love is the Zips, and I could still get home for the 2nd half.I would feel guilty by walking out. Thanks for the push.

I am so excited about the upcoming season. There is something about the unknown that makes me anticipate this season like none other. The past few years we pretty much knew what to expect, and whileit was a great run I am so looking forward to seeing our highly touted youngsters hit the floor. It will be extremelyentertaining to watch this team progess through the year and to observe Keith tackle perhaps his greatest coachingchallenge ever. I expect some bumps in the road but as the pieces fall into place, I'm betting that this will be the team that nobodywill look forward to facing at the Q in march. As the season progresses I think our depth will keep us fresh and theseguys will be playing their best ball as we roll into '09.GO ZIPS !!!

I admit it, I'm torn between the Zips and the Browns tonight. I sold my Browns tickets but will still probablysplit at halftime to see Quinn's debut at home. If that wasn't enough, great matchup between Utah and TCU tonight. Oh what to do???

How Geno keeps the Flushes under control, quite fascinating really.

Pretty cool photo. Nate looks like a badass.

FUNNY STUFF Dr. Z , I suppose that should be a prerequisite as well. I can't (no pun intended) tell you how happy I am that he's gone.He's a jerk and a jerk without talent at that. Even my wife would ask where did they find that guy when I would check in on a Can't game.

Oh happy days !! His performance was abysmal. He had to be the poorest play by play guy I have ever heard. The funny thing about it was that he was real arrogant and thought he was the greatest. Can't State's biggest problem will be finding a replacement with connections that can read a stat sheet.

Could not agree more. It's a lot of fun to support this program for the very reasons that you mentioned.I could not be more pleased with direction our program has turned under Keith. I like the winning but I love the characterof the young men that I've seen on the floor at Akron. It's nice to see that success can be achieved by doing things the right way.

Just the tip of the iceberg, just wait for Evans to get settled in.