clarkwgriswold

My ailing memory recalls that Christian was something like the Director of Basketball Operations last year, similar to what Dan Peters was with Dambrot, where he's not technically a coach but has bench access. His title as Assistant Athletic Director, Basketball Administration likely gives him that same access.

Good call. It has been a little awkward this season explaining to people that the one win Zips were an improvement over last year.

So this is what it feels like the day after an FBS win. Hmmm, I could get used to this.

Mr. Pinky faces one of his mentors, Kelvin Sampson today. I hope they've been restrained in their texting this week as they know what kind of trouble texting can bring.

I'm afraid this view is shared by many fans, especially with basketball up and running now.

The Zips head to Huntington, WV next Wednesday to face the 4-1 Thundering Herd. Marshall opened with a loss to Queens and has since beaten Tennessee Tech, Miami, Chicago State and Coppin State. The Herd was predicted to finish 6th in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll and placed 6'5" 5th year guard Taevion Kinsey on the preseason All-Conference first team. The Marshall game is always a fun one as D'Antoni always has a fast paced offense that scores and gives up a lot of points. The Zips topped them at the JAR last year, 88-86, with Kinsey scoring 30 and Trimble and Freeman combining for 47.

Hoping Tavari can develop quickly into a guy that can consistently and effectively run the point allowing X to run off of picks and look for his shot.

The good news, if there is any, is that Nevada is as good as anyone they'll see in the MAC and they played them even on a neutral floor for most of the game. The bad news is that they again failed to close the deal. I suspect they'll take a lot from this experience.

He and X also very obviously have targets on their backs now as everyone knows they're the lynchpins to the Zips offense and direct their defensive attention to stopping them first.

Nevada comes in at 5-1 with wins over Tulane, UT-Arlington, William Jessup, Grand Canyon, Utah Tech and Cal State East Bay (yikes, that's a murderers row) and yesterday's loss to K State. 6'4" senior guard Jared Lucas leads Wolfpack scoring at 17.5 ppg. FAU transfer 6'6" senior guard Keenan Blackshear kicks in 12.5 ppg while leading rebounding at at 6.8 rpg. They are coached by Steve Alford and were chosen to finish second n the Mountain West. They average 77.5 ppg while surrendering 62.7, but those numbers are a little skewed by their questionable schedule thus far.

I am afraid LSU has shown the world how to defend Enrique. Enrique has great footwork and is good to his back to the basket. To my understanding, the LSU defense was making him turn to the baseline and essentially making the baseline a second defender and it flummoxed him. The result was 1 of 6 from the field. I trust that if that defense becomes a pattern Groce and staff will figure it out, but I suspect the solution will depend on kicking it out for successful threes or Enrique making good passes to cutters.

Me too, but those two things come together about 66% of the time according to a study of NBA games over a 37 year span.

Very happy to not see that back to the basket backing down his defender and then throwing up something weak. We'd be better with him I guess, but I am not losing sleep over his absence.

I thought so too but they've outrebounded two much bigger teams in the last two days.

Adam Miller was a top recruit. He was one of the top freshman in the Big 10 two years ago before he transferred to LSU last year and blew out his knee. Encouraged that the Zips again outrebounded another substantially bigger team.

On the road today. If anyone wants to preview tomorrow's game please do so as I won't have a chance.

I'm just hear to express my pre-game apprehension as it tends to be good luck for our Zips.

T-E-A-M-I-S-M!

Now the Zips move on to LSU. LSU is 4-0 off of a coaching change brought about by a recruiting scandal. They also have an almost entirely new roster from last season. The new coach is Matt McMahon who comes in from Murray State. McMahon bought OVC POY 6'10" center K.J. Williams with im from Murray State. He currently averages 17 ppg and 7.5 rpg. 6'3" redshirt sophomore guard Adam Miller played 1 season at Illinois two season ago, scoring 8.3 ppg. They were predicted to finish 8th in the SEC.

I am going to keep saying silly $h!+ like this as long as it results in a win!

I am going to keep saying silly $h!+ like this as long as it results in a win! Their big man has 2 points and 0 boards. Our 6-1 guard had nine as I recall.

Keep worrying. It apparently helps!

Hell of a rebounding half. Tribble was not big offensively but kicked in 6 boards.

I'm having an uneasy feeling about the next three days. I think the team's depth issues will resolve over time with guys like Tavari and Lyles getting more on floor experience but they are not there yet. I think that along with the depth issues that their lack of size may bite them over the next three days as it did against Mississippi State. I don't believe you need dominant big men but you need more than two against teams like these.

Being critical of a team you support does not equate to being a bad or embarrassing fan. I'd like to think that our U of A educations taught us all to be critical thinkers as opposed to sheep.