clarkwgriswold

The 20-9 Falcons come into the JAR Tuesday night for the Zips Senior Night. Since topping the Zips on February 19th, the Falcons lost to OU and Buffalo and are coming off of a win over PCCC. Justin Turner, who killed the Zips in the second half on the 19th, continues to lead Falcon scoring at 18.7 ppg while Wiggins leads rebounding at 11.2 rpg. I think we find out a lot about our Zips Tuesday night. Will they come out with some fight in them after Saturday's abomination or will we see a team with a damaged psyche?

Very good points Let'sGo. Frustrating damn day across the board.

They fell to one game over .500 in a down season in the MAC with a huge group of pansies on the OOC schedule by losing to what may be the worst OU team I have seen in years. Having a tough time putting a positive spin on that one. I realize it is only one game and we've seen some good effort this year, but to lay that egg against a bottom dwelling team in such an important game is disheartening.

Just listened to the post-game. Groce told us the obvious- Ohio U was better physically and mentally and played with more heart. He left out that they were better coached. That was a heartless effort. Nobody seemed to much give a $h!+. Ivey and LCJ got introduced to the bench early and deservedly. Shame the didn't have enough players available to sit Utomi, Riak, Cheese, Banks and Roscoe with them. Too bad they won't dress Lucas Smith. He'll at least put up a fight. The next time I see the bench crew having a party during a loss, I will start screaming at them from the rail. I realize this loss was an ugly one and the exception to the rule, but today I am left to wonder where the progress is in this program. This sure as hell better be a wake up call. If we see the smallest modicum of this Tuesday night, we can pack it in.

Guys at the end of the bench dancing and yucking it up during the time out. Grrrrrrrr...

Finally fed up, Scott Walter coming in.

No fire.

I was in the bed with the flu two Saturdays ago and that was more fun than this. Same stomach issues from both.

Worst half in a very long time.

Ummmm... Zips... don't leave Vander Plas alone.

The real shame in having so little depth is that they can't make all of the underperformers take a seat on the bench.

Not liking our teamism.

...and 4 percent shooting.

It would also be nice to put a morale and spirit breaking @$$ whoopin' on them if we have to face them again in a couple of weeks.

We try not to trigger his PTSD.

Haven't seen anything yet. If all else fails, I may just mug NWAkron and steal his tickets. I have to find my ski mask and lead pipe just in case.

Agree on the effort but it worries me that the late game failures may start getting into their heads.

The 12-15 kittens come to the JAR Saturday. They have lost 7 of their last 8 games, somehow coming away with a win last week against BG in Athens. It would appear that OU Fans are just waiting for the end of the season to see Saul dispatched so that the rebuild can begin. To demonstrate the depths of OU's misery, the headline in today's OU sports website reads "Ohio Men's Basketball Fights Kent State to the End of the Road". 6'8" redshirt sophomore forward Jason Carter leads OU scoring and rebounding at 16.9 ppg and 7.0 rpg. In the MAC, they are scoring 68 a game while giving up 76.

We have to hope that these late game failures eventually provide a base of experience that helps the team in the long run. If it doesn't in the fairly near future (tournament time/early next season), I'll start to think it is a team character, talent or coaching issue. One thing this team sorely lacks is a go to scorer. A guy that in a pinch can take the ball and go get a bucket. That goes a long way when your opponent is starting a run and you've had a couple of tough possessions. Cheese is getting there, but isn't there yet.

I do like the effort Groce gets out of the players. That being said, I've had enough of nice efforts and poor finishes. Until the Zips can perform in the clutch, none of the top teams are going to fear them any more than they fear PCCC, CMU or EMU.

Good time for Groce to get the T. Let those inept schmucks hear it. It doesn't matter in the result, the better team won, but damn it gets more awful every time you think it can't.

I have to admit I was skeptical when they hired Melissa Jackson. I thought it was obvious that they wanted to move on from Kest so it didn't make sense to me that they were essentially promoting from her staff. Glad I was wrong!

I think the Zips's chances in this one come down to limiting Canada's 3 point success. They are a solid team all around, but if they are hitting the three they can hit a whole other level. Their athleticism, motion and slashing are top notch, but when the defense has to extend to deal with hot 3 shooters, the stuff they're best at just gets better. When they were here, the Zips limited them to 29% from three point territory and that helped keep them in the game. Without a replay of defense like that, it could be a long night for the Zips.

A large group came into the JAR yesterday shortly after the game started and took up the far north GA section for the first half. Lots of teen boys in school sweatshirts and letterman's jackets with their families. I suspect that may have been the football recruits.