clarkwgriswold

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.

Agreed he seemed out of sorts. My wife even said something. I'm confident it is only temporary.

He was 1 for 7, took no free throws and had 6 turnovers. To his credit, his effort was up on defense and the boards.

The Zips head int Canada Tuesday night to face the surging Bulls. The Bulls are fresh off of a 23 point win over PCCC and a 47 point win over the Bobkittens. They stand at 24-2 overall and 12-2 in the MAC. They have not lost at home. CJ Massinbrg continues to lead the Bulls in scoring at 18.5 ppg. Nick Perkins leads rebounding at 7.5 rpg.

Miami's leading scorer, Sibande, has more fouls than points.

I miss Charlie Coles. His tirades and the possibility of him having a major coronary at any moment added a little excitement to every game.

Groce good and angry.

Still surprised more teams haven't exploited that by repeatedly posting him up.

Banks shot has regressed as the season has gone on.

Sometimes it seems like the Zips have a higher shooting percentage from outside of the three point arc than they have from inside the restricted zone arc.

Nice run. Hopefully the end of Daniel's woes.

Zips getting killed on the boards.

Nice general admission crowd today. Still way too many blue seats empty.

Still digging the yellow unis.

Entire section empty up top waiting for some group that hasn't arrived.

Miami info from the Zips gameday article- Scouting the RedHawks Miami enters the contest with an 14-12 overall record and 6-7 in MAC play. The RedHawks won 6-of-9 games since they played the Zips with the three losses coming against Toledo (66-63), @Kent State (70-67) and @Western Michigan (84-79). Miami is 10-3 (4-3 MAC) at home, 3-7 (2-4 MAC) on the road and 1-2 in neutral site games. Miami has seven players that average over 6.2 points per game and eight with 10 or more made 3-point field goals. The three players scoring in double figures are Nike Sibande, Dalonte Brown and Bam Bowman. Sibande leads the way with 15.8 points per game. He is shooting 40.0 percent from the floor with 132 made field goals on 330 attempts. More than half of Sibande's attempts are from long distance (183) as he buried a team-high 62 made 3-pointers while shooting at a 33.9 percent clip. Sabande adds 30 assists and a second-best 14 steals and 12 blocked shots. Dalonte Brown follows with 12.2 points per game and averages a team-best 5.4 rebounds per game (141 rebs). Brown has made 46 long-distance buckets while shooting 44.0 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from deep. Bam Bowman rounds out the double-digit scorers with a 10.2 average and 26 made 3-pointers on 48.9 percent shooting from the floor and 38.8 percent from deep. He owns a team-best 5.4 rebounds per game (135 rebs). Jalen Adaway and Darrian Ringo contribute 7.7 and 7.6 points,respectively. Adaway has 13 made triples with a team-best 54.1 shooting percentage from the field while Ringo leads Miami with 131 assists and 60 steals with 14 made shots from beyond the 3-point arc. Isaiah Coleman-Lands and Mekhi Lairy add 6.8 and 6.2 points per game. Coleman-Lands made 10 field goals all from long range while Mekhi buried 18 3-point field goals with 34 assists. Abdoulaye Harouna has made 20 long-distance shots, averaging 5.0 points per game. Defensively, Miami limits its opponents to 69.1 points per game on 43.1 percent shooting from the floor and 32.3 percent from 3-point range, allowing 7.3 long distance strikes per night. The RedHawks caused 307 turnovers (11.8 to/g) with 143 steals (5.5 stl/g). Miami holds the edge on the glass, outrebounding the opponent by a +3.3 margin and limiting the opponent to grab 872 total boards compared to the 957 total rebounds secured.

Agreed B & G. Some highlight Groce quotes from the article: * “I can’t look [the media] in the eye and tell you we’re not doing some things really, really well,” UA coach John Groce said after Friday morning’s practice. “We are. So, we have to find a way to try to control the controllables a little bit better.” * "I’ve always told him and Manny that if we could get them to score 10 points or more collectively in that 40 minutes between the two of them and shoot 60 percent on dunks, layups and paint shots and then protect the rim and be our best defenders around the rim, then they’re doing their jobs,” Groce said. * “Obviously, we’d like it more if he could get a couple more baskets,” Groce said. “He’s never going to be a primary scorer, but he needs to catch and finish better. Him and Manny need to be able to catch and finish.” ZipsNation couldn't have said it better.

Parrish looks like he's in witness protection with no picture.