clarkwgriswold

32-32 @ half. Ugh.

Another slow start against a bad team...

I just hope they get out in front enough to rest him regularly and keep him healthy. 300 pounds plus wears on a body over a long season and they guy has had ankle problems previously, so I think something is inevitable. I'm just hoping it's nicks and dings and not something then sees him have to sit out.

I like it as an alternative to always kicking it out for a three. Ivey's developed a recognition of when he's being left alone and slashing to the low post when they come to double Big Dog.

I don't have a problem with the promotions. I got a purple Peters shirt once and the kid behind me caught a TaylorMade mini-basketball once. I sit on the edge of my seat for the "hippity hop" ball race every game, and has there ever been anything more compelling than the Simon Says game at the half of the BGSU game?

The Broncos come to the JAR with a 4-9 record. Tough to tell what to expect here. They had respectable losses to Villanova (76-65), Washington (92-86) and UCLA (82-68), but got absolutely throttled by CSU (85-62) and OU (89-58). They've also had a player arrested for murder, which might be a minor distraction in the middle of a season. http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/2016/12/12/joeviair-kennedy-murder-western-michigan/95348646/

I know his original major was sports management. Any idea what the masters is in?

KD's quotes regarding the defense: "I guess we can score, but we can’t guard anyone.” “I will hold them accountable on the defensive end.”

Wow, the Zips CANNOT play that way against the better teams. BG shot 54% from the field and had only 8 turnovers. It felt like we had 8 turnovers in the first 3 minutes. Some of that was them playing over their heads, but much of it was listless and inattentive defense. We gave up ten points more than they're averaging on the season against lesser competition. Glad to see Ivey's continued development. Him slashing has become a great alternative to kicking it out for the three when Big Dog gets doubled. I sure would like to see the ball in Antino's hands more.

It's a darn shame you've let your misplaced priorities get in the way of our fun. Thanks for making the effort. I look forward to when you get it up and rolling again!

Too bad this wasn't in place in time for the stellar Adrian game. Instant classic material there.

Curious to see BGSU guard Antwon Lillard. He's the kid who was a standout at Cleveland Central Catholic who had a monster dunk in the last minute of the state championship game but got t'd up for hanging on the rim, resulting in tech free throws and the eventual loss of the game in OT. Always felt a little bad for the kid. http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/-6951888627710125408/central-catholics-antwon-lillard-says-he-hung-on-rim-after-late-dunk-against-defiance-to-protect-himself/

Ummmm, that they were one of the top two teams in the Mahoning Valley.

One of the talking heads on ESPN today, while speaking of the various weaknesses of assorted top teams, said that Gonzaga and Creighton could be the best two teams in the country! Hmmmm.

I think we run the table at home and drop 2 or 3 on the road. I think we also see the rotation start to tighten up a little. I'm starting to worry about Noah's ankle. Hopefully, this break will bring some healing and get him healthy for the rest of the way.

We're only nine days out from the Bowling Green Falcons coming into the JAR to open up the MAC season. Every MAC team, with the exception of BG (5-7), Buffalo (5-7) and WMU (3-8) come into the MAC season with .500 or better records. At this point, for what it's worth, the Zips are second in the MAC in point per game (to EMU) and are giving up the fewest points per game. Chime in on what you expect to see/hope to see in the MAC regular season.

I'd have preferred it to be UT.

The reality is that rotations generally get tighter as the season goes on, especially once you get to the league schedule, they don't get deeper. As such, we may well see those borderline rotation guys like Poke and Utomi get fewer minutes as the season goes on.

I like it when GT criticizes the team's effort from his couch. I remember Frenchy going off on that a couple of years ago after a loss at Miami.

So the good people of El Paso get a basketball game with 3 sub-.500 teams and a Sun Bowl without McCaffrey!

I thought there were more general admission butts in the seats than any other game this year, but the season ticket seats had some major gaps.

The Zips head out for Christmas week at the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational in El Paso. In the opener on Wednesday the 21st, they play 5-7 UC Irvine. If they beat the Anteaters, they play the winner of the UTEP (2-7)- Maryland Eastern Shore (1-10) game in the championship on Thursday the 22nd.

The Zips did seem to get lost in a lot of switches. We lost a couple of guys for easy baskets off of in-bounds plays. It always makes me nuts to see an opponent score off of a good out of bounds play as it reminds me of the Zips lack of them. There were plenty of turnovers but I'm hoping it was a symptom of the frantic nature of the game.

I think Ivey got a little mad with a call and was jawing at the ref. As for the dance team, most of them were probably on break.

Wow, that was an entertaining game. Marshall sure runs the floor and moves the ball. If they have one or two even average big men, they could be really dangerous. They will win a lot of games. Zips did a nice job on Elmore. Antino didn't do a lot offensively, but really worked hard on Elmore. I really liked the surprise 2-3 zone the Zips threw in there unexpectedly. It seemed to catch Marshall a little by surprise too. We also handled the 1-2-2 press pretty well. Nice rebound after the tough ones against Creighton and Gonzaga.