clarkwgriswold

The 8-3 Concord Mountain Lions come into the JAR this Friday to meet the Zips fresh off of their Hawaii trip. In their three losses is a 106-70 loss to common opponent Marshall. The team doesn't seem to have much size with their biggest players at 6-6. 6-1 Junior guard and Chillicothe native Tommy Bolte leads the Mountain Lions. Bolte is the only player in the nation with multiple 40 point games this season (3), and is averaging 34.1 points per game at the Christmas break. The team averages 81.5 ppg and gives up 77.1.

Well, I was hoping for a win or two in Hawaii, but in the end I keep hearing Dennis Green's rant "they are what we thought they were." Young, short handed and too thin at the bigs. A .500 or slightly better team. The zone troubles have been obvious all season. They were just magnified in Hawaii. Way too much dribbling and not enough movement. I trust Groce and his staff to work it out.

Very simple: 1) Don't go sideways; 2) Don't go backwards; 3) No excuses.

After the UT Martin game I concluded it was only a matter of time before Sayles and Parrish were starters this season. Looks like that may have come to fruition last night. As I've said many times, I think E-Man can best contribute off of the bench in high energy spurts that him to go 100% and not worry about racking up fouls.

Now if they could just master drainage...

Amen B & G. As I've sat and watched the Zips this year, he's the one departure I keep thinking could have flourished for and helped the Zips this year.

We've been lulled into a false sense of security by how the Zips have played at home against suspect competition. Predictably, the Zips were beaten by a P5 team ranked by many on the top 10 in the pre-season. I'm certainly not happy with the way the second half looked, but despite that ugliness, I am pleased with where the Zips are as a team given where they were when KD left and some vital pieces followed him out the door. We can't forget this is a year of transition.

Another ugly MAC loss as Central gets punked by Wyoming in the Potato Bowl.

The targeting rule is about as solid as the NFL rule on what constitutes a catch. Regardless of what the rule is, a hit that high that late should get you tossed.

Last week, I received a robo-call from Portage County Community College head basketball coach Mr. Pinky inviting me to the Oregon State game and telling me all of the wonderful things they were doing in conjunction with the game. Not sure how I am on their call list (I'm no traitor!), but that's an interesting approach by their marketing department.

Easy chief. The comment wasn't to downgrade that awful hit, it was a jab at zipper_head completely missing that the hit was clearly targeting. No way I would promote that type of a dirty hit. Sorry you missed my point.

I see it is on again Friday night at 6:00 on Sportstime Ohio. Can't find it anywhere else.

The first installment of Joe Dunn's TV show was on last night. Groce really made a nice impression. He came across as an intense hardworking guy who really cares about his players. The production of the show was not very good as they kept showing clips of the wrong players. There were some great clips of Utomi during the discussion of E-Man and great clips of E-Man during the Utomi discussion. Hopefully, those who work on the show know the difference and just had a bad night.

Do you also see the bouquet in the DB's left hand?

Those seem to be attributes any school would want in a coach.

I really wish you'd stop being so subtle and just say what you think.

I think most are willing to admit he's a vast improvement over his awful predecessor, but it has been 6 years. Not calling for his head like some, but the statute of limitations on misery he inherited is running out.

Thanks for the great updates Z.I.P. It's 82 and sunny back here in Akron.

Don't mind me skip. I still have the red @$$ over the Miami loss!

BG was 2-10 while Western was 6-6. OU was a nice win.

Which in the end leaves the AD with this primary issue> Can Bowden attract the type of athletes that will allow the Zips to compete?

News flash- Lane Kiffin is a childish jerk. The defense was woefully inconsistent all year. They were very good at stopping bad offenses but were a sieve against good offenses.

I think Bowden and the administration need to let last night sink in before making any major decisions. Let some calmer and more rational heads settle in. As much as I am not a huge fan, I think you bring him back with conditions, primarily revisions of his coaching staff. The play calling and special teams hampered the team all year and he defense had huge lapses. There could be a hitch in that however, as Bowden seems very loyal to his crew. On the other hand, he's not due much if any of a raise based upon his sub .500 overall and MAC records, and the Miami, Toledo and FAU losses do little to bolster his bargaining position.

Joe Dunn quote of the night- "After this game, I'm going to appreciate NIck Saban a lot more."

We'll see if he can pull it off. History says...........ummmmm, NO.