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Herb Brooks just rolled over in his grave. We play on Friday, and don't play again until Tuesday...at the earliest !! Adding a little extra "conditioning" during this stretch won't hurt. I'd just recommend not doing it a week from now.

Fact is, 1st round bye is completely in the Zips hands right now. With a win over the Flushes, and either Miami or OU losing to the other, the Zips will get a first round bye. Personally, I'll be rooting for OU on Friday night. Much rather have them as a three seed where we wouldn't have to play them till the final. Oh dear. So, if Miami beats OU, and we beat Ken+ and get the #4, we'll have to play #5 OU in the Quarterfinals? Not good. Lets hope OU wins and gets into that #3 spot.

That's it !! I was waiting for someone who listened to the radio interview, and may have heard the same thing that I heard. I think he said that he wanted to remind "coach" to get Freeman out of there, and I took all of it as a jab about them having key players in there pretty late in a big blowout.

It's not an argument. I'm wondering if someone else heard the comments during the radio interview.

Since Kangaroo brought this up, I thought it was interesting enough to get its own thead? Did anyone else listen to the postgame radio show? If I am not mistaken, I think our coach hinted that all of the late timeout calls were because OUs coach was not taking his starters out of the game. Does anyone else have some thoughts on this? Could a little friction between the coaches add to this building rivalry?

That disgusts me. I also like how some people around here talk about the Big 10 and the SEC in the same breath. Getting a chance to play for any schools in the top half of the SEC puts you in position to win a national title, and the major recognition that accompanies it. Playing in the Big 10 (or 11 or 12) doesn't have that kind of luster. And calling themselves "Legends" and "Leaders" only changes that for those who already reside in their little bubble of false belief. Most of the schools in that league probably gives you no better chance of getting noticed than shining at a MAC school. The QBs that the MAC produces is certainly evidence of that.

Zach, let's be serious for a second. McNees wasn't the problem tonight. It's near impossible to blame just one player obviously (as most of the team played terrible) but if we had to assign blame to everyone and see who had the most, it would NO DOUBT be Brett McKnight. He really put us in a hole with some bad shots and even worse defense. Might as well throw in the 0-Assist 5-Turnover performance by the guy who some people have been ready to baptize as the next coming of Eric McLaughlin. It was nice to see him hit a few shots though. It's just too bad they happened long after the game was decided. But really, that encompasses pretty much the entire game since this one was decided not long after the opening tip.

I hate to say this, but, if we wanted OU to trade Cooper for Zeke, we'd probably need to throw in another player too.

We're 5-3 against the East also. Those EMU and NIU losses are keeping us from being in the driver's seat right now.

I just wish Akron did it. Ask the AD if it's possible, and see if you get the same response I got. What kind of response did you get?

This isn't far enough to the end of the year, Can't should be the last game of the season. Rivalry games should always be that last game...ALWAYS. This isn't Ohio State vs. Michigan. In case you haven't noticed, we're struggling to draw fans for ANY game. The further you push this game towards the end of the season, the more likely you are to have a poor crowd for a matchup that would otherwise provide our only chance for a significant draw for as long as we remain a non-contending team.

Ken+ at the end of the season is really the only thing that upsets me. Play that game no later than mid-October when both teams are still in some sort of contention, and we might get 20k or more. Playing that game in mid-November on possibly a cold and snowy day, and you might not get 10k.

The only HUGE difference being that the Buffalo game was an HOME. With the exception of maybe BG, have we played a good game all year against a team of any substance on the road? This is our chance to show that our recent improved play can sustain itself in front of a hostile crowd. Let's face it. Besides our recent hot streak, everything might be stacked against us in this one... Playing in a place that's been tough for us in the past. Playing in front of potentially a huge road crowd. Playing against a team that beat us badly at home. Playing against a team that has actually gotten better since they beat us badly at home. I said back in January that I think we're just a bad matchup against these guys. The key will be to withstand any scoring runs from OU that bring the crowd squarely into the game. We won't win this game if we get cold enough or make enough mistakes to allow any 10-0 scoring runs. If we can avoid that, and both McNees and McKnight are in double digits, we have a chance to keep the crowd out of the game, and make a few plays at the end to pull it out. If we win this game with any breathing room, I'll definitely be convinced that we've made a dramatic transformation in the last few weeks that extends beyond simply feeling comfortable at home.

I think you completely missed my point. The football players are deserting the sinking ship in droves. That might have happened with someone that would get other offers if we kept losing. I get you....though I am a bit worried about Marshall. And let's be real here for one second. Does anyone honestly think that the coaching staff hasn't mismanaged Zeke? Zeke could really use a coach who knows what the hell he's doing in terms of running an offense through a true center, I don't think Dambrot has a clue what he's doing in that respect. Now in terms of everything else, Dambrot is pretty good...in fact he's great with his defense. I would wager that they just don't believe Zeke is at a point where we can do that and be successful.

For now, I'll just trust that our coaching staff has gotten to know him well enough at this point, and have chosen the appropriate path to move him along in his development and get the most out of him during his last 2 years here.

That was my thought too !!!!

Skip, Abreau is a freshman. Do you really think he should be playing like a senior? Its taken Dambrot most of the season, but it now appears that we have something of a set rotation for playing time. Some nights one guy is going to have a good game, other nights it will be another players opportunity to get PT at crunch time. Yes Rico has had some turnovers, but overall his assist to turnover ratio is pretty good. I attribute a big part of our turn around to his willingness to drive the lane. How much complaining was there about Steve's lack of ability to drive the lane and finish. Suddenly Steve is driving to the hole more and getting the big guys easy shots. Personally, I'm looking forward to three more years of Abreaus' ball hawking and fearless ply around the basket. Stop taking everything KD says in the post game interview so seriously, I'm sure he loves what Alex brings to the team. What I have highlighted says it all. I think some people want it both ways...they think he's deserving of a major role and a lot of credit, but they also want us all to preface all of our criticism of his poor plays with "he's just a freshman". Or, pass off the coach's comments as meaningless. Basketball players at every experience level struggle. And he's struggling to do what we need him to do, as we saw last night, and is getting criticized. He has a lot of work ahead of him. He hasn't started now for several weeks for a reason. I'm sure he played a reduced role last night for a reason as well. And his coach quite candidly displayed his frustration with his play, and I agree completely.

Right now, I really don't care if we start trying to work the ball to Zeke and get him going. This team is winning games in relatively impressive fashion with Cvetinovic and McKnight carrying the load out of the post. Trying to force feed Zeke to get him going (as we did earlier in the season) is only going to serve to disrupt the chemistry and rythm this team has going right now. KD is taking the correct approach right now. Let our proven horses carry the load and whatever you can get out of Zeke on a given night is just gravy. This isn't the time of year to be trying to stroke the confidence of the finiky big man. We'll have the offseason to work on that. Agreed. Zeke is still a project, and next year, when we're minus 4-5 guys is a much better year for projects. Abreu started playing better when he figured out it wasn't his job to drive the lane every time he had the ball. At 5'9 that rarely works against a Buffalo. I'm still not impressed yet. Where was Dakotah? I've been in hockey land the past few months and haven't kept up with the hoops like I should. Not impressed by what? Abreu or the team? If you aren't impressed by what the team has done the past 3-4 weeks I would certainly like to know what unreasonably high standards you have for them. If it is Abreu you are un-impressed with then you need to go back to hockey land and just stay there. Abreu has played a critical role in this streak, coming in off the bench and pestering opposing PG's, hitting some pretty critical shots and bringing an energy to the floor that other teams bench guards can't bring. As far as Dakotah, he hasn't been playing at all lately. I said when we burned his redshirt at Dayton that we would come to regret it and we certainly have. At this point it has been an absolutely wasted year for him. Hopefully things work out as well for him as they have for Nitro after we wasted his redshirt year late in the season. It's possible that you are not paying enough attention to everything he's doing on the floor. During the post-game show, our coach talked about the same frustration that I have with his game right now. If everything is going well, then do you think it's just a coincidence that he was removed from the starting lineup several games ago? And I don't think his reduced time last night was solely a result of his 1 for 5 shooting performance, although many of those were just really bad decisions.

Right now, I really don't care if we start trying to work the ball to Zeke and get him going. This team is winning games in relatively impressive fashion with Cvetinovic and McKnight carrying the load out of the post. Trying to force feed Zeke to get him going (as we did earlier in the season) is only going to serve to disrupt the chemistry and rythm this team has going right now. KD is taking the correct approach right now. Let our proven horses carry the load and whatever you can get out of Zeke on a given night is just gravy. This isn't the time of year to be trying to stroke the confidence of the finiky big man. We'll have the offseason to work on that. Absolutely. I said weeks ago that the experimentation needed to end. And it appeared that it did. Let guys like Zeke and Abreau try to improve their games between April and November. Now is the time to rest on your best players, and let them carry you. This will sound a little blunt, but with the one-and-done tournament scenario on the horizon, we need better opportunities than launching wild, over-the-head circus shots over guys a foot taller than you in the lane, and feeding a post player who still appears to have trouble hanging onto the ball, and has yet to be a consistent finisher. But to answer that post, I am a bit surprised that we are playing so well with Zeke virtually being a non-factor. And beyond that, I'm concerned that after two years of significant playing experience that he is not a much bigger contributor.

I would hate to see a bye in September. Optimum tailgating. Allow me to do some optimization for all of us. Mostly, this post is directed to our Athletic Director. Move the current Sept 10 game to whenever is most convenient and put Can't in that spot. I used to love when we played Can't the first home game or at least as close to the first game as possible. I hate night college football games, but play that one at 7:00. Let folks have some fun in good weather. There is so little good weather left come Sept it would be a great event. I might even buy a plane ticket to go to that game and see The Big Dialer for the first time. Season Opener vs. Can't = Guaranteed sellout + Guaranteed Hype. Don't wait until midseason when everyone realizes both teams suck. Capitalize on the rivalry early when everyones hopes are fresh on both sides. I agree all the way around. Make it Ken+, and make it a night game. Besides bringing a big-time marquis opponent in here (which isn't going to happen) it's the only opportunity we have to get a 25k+ crowd in there anytime soon.

Size and Athleticism. I can't hear those two words enough.

If I understand correctly, if we win our last two games (which would include another Ken+ loss), we would finish ahead of Ken+. That puts us at #3 and Ken+ at #4 if Miami does not stumble.

I think we are in control of our own destiny. If we run the table, we can't do worse than.... And we could be #1 Exactly...let's not over-analyze this. We just win five straight and we go dancing. That'd mean the Zips ending the season with a 12 game winning streak...and could score the MAC a decent seed in the tournament. WIN OUT FELLAS! DO IT! That's not gonna happen with 10 losses and a #211 SOS. I haven't been rooting for Ken+ to win in any way. But, this whole scenario comes down to your personal preference. Have you been wanting to keep a slim chance at #1 alive at the risk of not getting a bye at all? Or, would you have rather seen us simply lock up a bye? Hoping for two historically difficult road wins in a row to even give us a chance at #1 is risky. I think I may have rather seen us have at least the #4 spot virtually locked up at this point, and start getting the guys ready for tournament play.

And just a couple of years ago, we were better than them. How times change. I wonder if that thumping we put on them up in the Carrier Dome is still causing a little animosity towards us?

I know others are going to disagree with me, but the NIT, CBI, CBA, etc., etc., etc. just don't do it for me. We've been there, we've done that. The games are kind of interesting, and it is nice to have at least some post-season action, but the final 4 of the NIT doesn't have the excitement factor of even a play-in game in the big-dance. NCAA's or bust for me. I've had enough of the consilation prizes. While I agree I wouldn't get too excited about a bid to any of the "other" tourneys, a trip to the NIT semi-finals to watch the Zips play in MSG would actually be quite a thrill IMHO. It's at least an opportunity to play and beat some teams that are at a higher level than most of what we schedule during the OOC part of our schedule.