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When Isaiah Johnson arrives next season, the Zips will have had post players named, in sequence, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah. Perhaps we should begin to look for HS freshmen or sophomores named Ezra or Nehemiah.

How cool! This has to be one of the most fascinating sites I've seen in a long time. I never knew there was such a marketplace (and one where e-mail addresses are posted for the picking!).

The quality of HS coaching varies wildly, from the excellent to the insane. The latter is exemplified by what a North Carolina coach with a 7-ft freshman(!) center tried to do against Gladden's team - here

Can't answer the first part, but here's a recent picture

Nyles Evans, likely to have the greatest impact of the new players in 2013-14.

What is irony? A retweet over the Diogenes quotation: "One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings"--Diogenes of Sinope

Kwan Cheatham - his Winton Woods team's season came to an unexpectedly early end last night

Aaron Jackson honorable mention in Central district, which must be stocked.

Isaiah Johnson is district POY

Apparently, free throw shooting is a weakness. Otherwise, I don't see much not to like - Season stats

Must have far more strengths than weaknesses -- District POY

This is from a 3/3/2010 post on this site: According to the media guide the official attendance for the December 9, 1986 game was 8,168. The actual attendance was in excess of 10,000.

Hmmm ... gotta respectfully disagree. The OU game changed when 44 decided to put a lid on the basket he was defending. Everyone else fed off those stops. Love Tree, and the Zips wouldn't be on a 20 game streak w/o him, but Zeke truly is the Game Changer.

I loved that play, and ran it back on DVR to check whether the play occurred as I thought or as Reghi called it. And did anyone see Jim Christian blow a gasket when no foul was called?

I don't think the O will be built for or around Pat. My suspicion is that he'll be asked to be the garbage man next year, with most of the offense coming from the 1-4 positions. He might get some pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop opportunities, but much of his time will be spent crashing the boards after setting a ball screen. Even if they do more high-low post (which I'd love to see, btw, particularly with Harney down low), I think PF will be the high post passer more the low post receiver. It's not that I don't think he is or will be a good offensive center, just that Alex, Nyles, Nick, Jake, Reggie, and hopefully Q will have the ball 90%+ of the time, with Tree getting numerous touches as well. Not trying to be contrarian, just giving an opinion.

A nearby outsider's take on the MAC, OU, etc. -- Bob Hunter

What do you consider to be his "style of center play"?

Sagarin just updated to reflect last night's games. Zips went up ~0.5 pt., OU went down ~0.5. In his system, a 0.5 pt. jump at this stage of the season is big. Zips now over the 82 point hump, which officially puts them in bubble land. Given the remaining opponents, however, the odds of getting to an 83 rating are not good. (As a point of comparison, Akron at 82.15 is #54 while Butler at 83.18 is #47. Most self-appointed experts have Butler as a lock.) 2-3 weeks ago I said no chance for an at large berth. There's now some chance, depending on how they finish the regular season and play in the MAC tournament semis.

From Eamonn Brennan (full blurb here) - "This is a team I want to see in the Dance -- and probably one many coaches don’t. Akron can win games in mid-March."

I just read the in-game thread and got several good laughs. Had to work late. Started listening when McAdams' 3 got it to 34-22. Listened to the remainder of the first half, then was able to watch the 2nd half and OT (in between helping kids w/ homework). Best TV I've seen in months! Kretzer was insanely en fuego. What a night to have a perfect shooting night. Are the players discouraged from blocking out? OU players actually were getting open runs from the top of the key on a regular basis. Yes, Boroski appeared to miss the ball hitting the OU player's head, but wasn't that offset by the phantom ball-on-the-line call by McJunkins at the other end? Yes, Keely was able to get a weak #5 on Zeke, but Deji somehow avoided a call on the Cooper chuck-and-pray. The traveling calls that some complained about couldn't help but be called after the preceding contact was ignored, but I think the OU fans probably thought that many calls were missed during the big 2nd half run. The upshot is that complaining about calls on an ad hoc basis is pointless. I agree with one posting about Saturday being a trap game. Buffalo lost in OT and needs to win to stay in the hunt for a 3 or 4 seed and get a bye. However, if the Zips can beat UB, the final two home games should be VERY fun.

The architect's site (IDG) says that that Taco Bell Arena(!) seats 10,700 for basketball, which is essentially the same as SLU, which achieves that number w/o the additional levels. Extra levels make an arena less open, but at a significant additional cost. Still, I do like many things about the Boise State arena's layout.

Ouch! I hope that the quoted price includes all of the items bolded below, which came from the arena's website ([url="http://www.thechaifetzarena.com/about_us"]): Chaifetz Arena opened in April 2008, after years of planning for an on-campus multipurpose facility that would be home to SLU men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball, and could host a myriad of other events. Chaifetz Arena has 10,600 seats in a single concourse, and also has 14 suites and two party suites, as well as a large club for dinners and parties. The Arena complex includes the Chaifetz Arena, a two-court basketball-volleyball practice facility, where the volleyball team will play its games. And on the far western end of the complex is a new three-story office and support building for the athletic department. It includes new locker rooms for all Division I athletic teams. Chaifetz Arena also contains a new strength and conditioning area and a state-of-the art sports medicine facility.

The SLU arena is close to what I was trying to describe in my earlier posting. It looks like college basketball to me. And, if it seats 10K+, the mezzanine level that I included in my earlier design description becomes pointless.

This is what I was trying to describe in my earlier post. Thanks for doing it better.

What I was thinking of was a modified version of Williams Arena. Get rid of the elevated floor, increase the pitch of the lower bowl, move the entrances a little higher up the sides, and get rid of the 3rd level. Williams seats a little over 14,000. Getting rid of the 3rd level and losing a few seats in the corners should take that down to about 8000, no?