clarkwgriswold

Win with class. Lose with class.

Reminds me of how much some Zips fans whined about Zeke Marshall. "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone..."

I'll take on the role of Captain Obvious here. It's more important who's in at crunch time than who's in at the start of the game. The problem is that when the bench is unproductive, or even worse a liability, the coaches can't commit to using them much as they cost the team points. The only place where a sub doesn't cause a significant dropoff right now is Riak to Reece. Tribble shows promise and tries hard but is a work in progress for an outside game. Ali tries hard and generally makes good decisions but he's obviously still learning and has no shot yet, and as such is a huge dropoff from X. Dawson is lost and a non-factor thus far. Sayles looks like Shaquille O'Neal one possession and Tip O"Neill the next. I think with some minutes under them, at least two of them will be valuable by MAC tournament time.

Speaking of Channel, I sure wish he'd focus on letting his game do his talking. He got a warning last night for jabbering at an opponent.

Oh, I got it. Good call and a good jab!

There was no game 21. We had two 18's and no 21. LOL. I don't share your confidence on Friday. History tells us we beat the Flushes at home and lose to them at the Ravenna Rec Center. Since 2010, there's been only one year where the Zips went 2-0 against them in the regular season and have split every other year. I hope to hell the Zips kill them, but they seem to be rebounding from their slump while the Zips are struggling a little bit. In any event, I think it's another nail biter.

Last night counted as 2!

Just so that we can all take a deep breath and not be concerned that the sky will fall today after the Zips recent woes, I did a little quick count of the Zips records after 21 games since the 2010-2011 season. The records were: 2019-2020- 16-5 2018-2019- 13-8 2017-2018- 10-11 2016-2017- 18-3 2015-2016- 17-4 2014-2015- 16-5 2013-2014- 15-6 2012-2013- 17-4 2011-2012- 14-7 2010-2011- 12-9 The last seven years of Dambrot, which I think we can all agree were very good, the Zips averaged 15.6 wins and 5.4 losses over the first 21 games. They are there now. They are 3 games better than last year and last year was 3 games better than the year before. RELAX.

I hate the Zips losing games, especially ones like last night where they underperform, but let's have a little perspective. Not that long ago, we were debating whether they would be a 20 win team and be competitive in the MAC. They clearly are competitive and should make the 20 win mark. The sky is not falling. They are what we hoped for. I realize this is all easier said than immediately after the game.

Easy there big fella. The criticism was that you used Big Dog and Zeke as your measuring sticks, the two best big men in the history of the program, and the implication quality big men were so readily available, not that the team couldn't use quality bigs. Every team can use quality players. It wasn't that long ago that you stated: "Most improved player - Riak! Very pleased with the way he is playing. I did not think he would ever be a factor, I was wrong." You went on to say "Reece is a beast" as 6 of your 14 points in a post. In reality, neither is as good as you thought then nor are they as bad as you perceive them now immediately after a tough loss. Riak's shortcomings aren't a lack of effort and he does have an impact on defense. Reece is a product in development. As soon as he gets the message that he doesn't always have to leave his man to help and understands the rotations, our interior defense will improve.

What we saw tonight is something we are going to be seeing a lot more of in the future, that is teams that are willing to let their big man leave our big man to go help out on defense. That's going to happen until our big men can show some semblance of offense. An open dunk or lob on occasion does not constitute an offensive game.

The Zips head off to Ravenna Friday night to renew their rivalry with Mr. Pinky and the Golden Flushes. The Flushes come into the game at 15-6, fresh off of a nice comeback win at Toledo. 6th year junior Danny Pippen leads the Flushes with 16 ppg and nearly 7 rpg. PCCC had a little drought losing 3 in a row, but have rebounded with nice wins at Buffalo and Toledo in the last week.

Frustrating damn game. You can't get manhandled and pee away 20 minutes of the game and expect to come away with a win. Kudos to Buffalo for always answering the run. On to PCCC.

Deng fouling out may be a positive.

We were getting too raucous.

Need some stops. Can't trade baskets.

Keep it rolling Zips.

Score 5... give up 6...sigh.

Arth was here. That explains the lack of offense.

Really fortunate to be down only 8.

Zips with some dumb fouls to go with their awful shooting.

X and Cheese are going to have to be the men tonight. Tough with two early fouls on Tyler.

25% from the field, 9% on 3s.

Hope that dunk wakes them up.

Buffalo's coach gets the senior discount on coffee at Tim Hortons.