clarkwgriswold

The Zips head off to Philly Friday to face Mississippi State in the Barstool Sports Invitational. Last year, the Bulldogs were 18-16 (8-10 SEC) and finished 10th in the SEC. Their top returning players are: Tolu Smith, Senior, Forward, 14.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.0 apg D.J. Jeffries, Senior, Forward, 8.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.9 apg Shakeel Moore, Junior, Guard, 8.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.2 apg Cameron Matthews, Junior, Guard, 2.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.2 apg Through the portal, they added point guard Dashawn Davis from Oregon State and forward Will McNair Jr. from New Mexico State. Tolu Smith is a very good interior player and led the SEC in rebounding two years ago but was sidelined quite a bit last year due to injuries. Davis led the Pac-12 in assists (5.5) last season. Chris Jans has taken over the program after 122-32 stint at New Mexico State over the last five years, winning or sharing the WAC title four times and making three NCAA Tournaments. SI predicts them to finish 9th in the SEC while the media poll had them as 10th.

Nice showing for an opener. I really liked what I saw from Hankerson and Nate Johnson. Johnson, by default, looks to be our 3rd big which is not ideal as he is 6'3".

WHAT A GAME. Win or lose this will help the Zips down the line.

Finally a shot within his range...

Uhhhhhhhh

Pleasant surprise of the night- Nate Johnson.

I see the Zips event staff has come up with some exciting new ideas for activities during the breaks. NOT.

Johnson plays bigger than 6'3" and they will need that as they get really small when Enrique or Hunter go out. Also, Hankerson> KJ Walton.

Let ESPN+ feed not working this karma for moving Joe Dunn upstairs.

Yep, right by the northeast exit.

Same here, but no digital for the game tickets.

The radio team is up on second level on northeast corner. Only one table on west side of the court and more court side seats. Court looks great.

Our last 5 home openers- Cleveland State, Chicago State, Malone, Cedarville and Point Park. South Dakota State is a welcome upgrade.

Basketball tomorrow! Basketball tomorrow! Basketball tomorrow! Basketball tomorrow!

You're just worried that the new seating will give the guy with the t-shirt cannon a better line of sight to your seat!

I can't imagine moving forward without the iconic glass rail. The downstairs seating and sightlines are okay. Upstairs, not so much. All in all, I find the place place just adequate and worse than the average D1 basketball facility. It has always struck me that we get to watch really awful football in a nice facility while we get consistently good basketball in a below average one. I am happy, however, that the JAR is superior to the Brimfield Animal Husbandry and Agriculture Center. That place has awful sightlines from the GA seats. Heck, the Canton Civic Center, which is a dump built in the early 1950s, is a superior basketball facility to the JAR and the the PCCC BAHAAC.

I'd settle for Larry Sanders if he'd average more than this team's 2.4 yards per carry.

Curious to see Amani Lyles. Given his size, he could be a nice replacement for Ali. Groce doesn't seem to use freshman a lot, at least since his first year but I think Lyles might fit in quickly.

The letter that came with the tickets says that the parking passes are digital. Chomping at the bit for next Monday night.

I started last week's thread on Wednesday. That demonstrated the Zips fans' apathy. GoZips86 started this one on Monday. This demonstrates just wanting to get it over with! The Tuesday night lights part of the season is underway.

Kato? LOL.

One week to Zips basketball and putting the abysmal Zips football program in our rear view mirror!

Everybody Hurts- REM Just a Dream- Carrie Underwood Here Comes the Rain Again- Eurythmics Loser- Beck

The stats demonstrate that it is much more difficult to pass the ball inside the twenty than it is the rest of the field. The field shrinks down deep and the pass is easier to defend because there's so much less ground to cover and an additional boundary involved. That's why it's important to be able to run the ball.

Exactly. Hold the clipboard, signal in plays if asked, stay ready and shut the **** up.