johnnyzip84

My thoughts exactly, but then again akzipper is right up there with the all-time "doom and gloom" ZNo posters. I'm in no way assuming a victory tonight, but I also never put too much stock in one blow-out loss. OU is very good no doubt, but so are the Zips. Will DJ be as accurate in chucking up 30 footers tonight, if he decides to play that way? I would guess OU will be favored, but if we defend well, rebound the ball, and pound it down low to get their bigs in foul trouble (like the 1st game), we'll have a great shot. Go Zips!

I agree with this completely as my wife and I noticed many of these gestures last in the game as well. I'm hard pressed to come up with ANY K.E.N.T. player in any sport who has won my respect like that.

Dr Z pointed out that I was mistaking the lizard for Cleats (which has, indeed, closed). So you're good!

Ah yes, my mistake. Thanks!

I thought someone said a while back that the winking lizard there went belly up?

ETA for me has been moved up to 5:15

George Thomas with another quality article, this time on Zeke. Frenchy gave Thomas props for it on WNIR this morning.

I voted for WMU, but if they win tonight this could wind up being a case of "be careful what you wish for". The Broncos underachieved mightily this year, but they are NOT without talent. A couple of other "Westerns" have surprised in their conference tourneys (WKU winning Sunbelt, Western Illinois making it to the Summit Final). You just never know this time of year.

Makes me wonder if this whole change was nothing but a cost-cutting move disguised as a decision to place more emphasis on the regular season?

I voted WMU, mostly because it would be funny to see Porrini not even get a chance to avoid the 3 game sweep

Detroit takes Horizon bid over Valpo. They sure are a different team with Holman. It's nice to see them blow out the "Homers" when it matters. Who'd have thunk it? Detroit in, but Middle Tenn, ORU, Valpo, CSU all out of the NCAAs?

Would like to get there earlier, but my wife and I are aiming for a 6 o'clock arrival. It's such a great time of year

Not exactly. Western (#8) beat Ball St (#9) and Toledo (#7) beat Miami (#10). So only 50% of the lower seeded teams lost yesterday.

After seeing this, I don’t expect ANY Zip tailgaters to make collegesportsmadness’ 1st team all-MAC in 2012 The Zips depth and uniform talent distribution will always hurt them in polls like this, but this one is particularly absurd. OU didn’t exactly get much respect either, for much the same reasons.

Really? This could be one of those “feel good” stories for the 2012 season! I realize there’s usually an anti-Zip bias in these all-conference teams, but wouldn’t it be amazing if he managed to be name all-MAC a second time?!

+1 Let’s not forget Bowden’s wise move in getting Zips Win! to walk on for one more year. I believe he was an all-MAC tailgater back in ’10.

Congratulations to the coaching staff and players for breaking new ground in Zip basketball!! It's been a great ride thus far, and I look forward to the Q!! Go Zips!!

I recall looking at the scoreboard towards the end of the 1st half of the UB game and seeing Zeke with only 1 foul. This ESPN play-py-play confirms that Zeke indeed only had 1 foul at the half. Who would bench a starter with ONE FOUL for the beginning of the 2nd half to merely protect him from foul trouble????? I didn't hear KD's explanation, but I think it's far more plausible that he simply didn't feel the need to make public his dissatisfaction with Zeke's play that night and used the "potential foul trouble" as an excuse. And if so, I applaud him for that.

I've avoided the KD criticism discussion of late, mostly because I think the guy deserves some leeway considering what he's done during his tenure here. I also agree with Hilltopper's comments about coaches/players not being robots. I think it's particularly unrealistic to expect a team with so many newcomers to behave in a predictable manner. This does NOT mean I think people should NOT feel free to criticize KD if they see it another way. That's the purpose of a forum like this after all. But I think the people that criticize the most also should expect to get some "pushback" (I hate cliche business terms like this, but it seems to fit here) from those of us that think that it's either unwarranted or overblown. In other words, the people who say they're sick of the criticism have JUST as much right to state this opinion as the people who criticize. One thing I thought about during and after the game last night was KD's handling of Zeke over the last few days. I recall shaking my head a little at the beginning of the 2nd half against Buffalo when Tree started at center to open the half (with 3 fouls even). I figured this was probably KD sending a message to Zeke that he needed to step it up. After all, Zeke was not playing a very aggressive game up to that point. Sure enough, before long Tree gets his 4th foul and I'm thinking to myself "KD, you just paid a dear price for picking this as a teaching moment for Zeke". In the short term, this MAY have contributed to the U@B loss. But maybe this helped Zeke "reboot" just in time for K.E.N.T.? Or maybe Zeke just loves playing against Justin Greene and K.E.N.T.? Either way, I think KD deserves a lot of credit for guiding this team through the season ending 3 game obstacle course.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together and keep it up to date UAZip0510 This illustrates nicely what a number of people have said regarding just how key tonight's win was on several levels.

nice!

It's exactly the game this team needed to play. LOVED the heart and effort. Still lots of work to do, but hats off to the guys tonight! Go Zips!

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!! :thumb: :thumb:

Good points, Dave. You posted this just as I was getting the following ready. I sure hope the Zips pressure U@B's guards, full court much of the time. Because I think this is where the Bulls are most vulnerable. McCrea is obviously a huge talent, but Watt provides similar shot blocking capability as Zeke with a more polished offensive game (even has decent form from 3 point distance). So obviously Zeke will have to play well. If he doesn't AND the Zips don't pressure the Bulls guards, I can easily see this one (and likely the regular season championship) slipping away.

Thanks for the review! I'll need to try both of them when I get the chance.