GP1

Or, A10 players play against good centers all year long and Zeke was just another good center they were comfortable playing against. The MAC has absolutely terrible big men. Most of them aren't even very big, they are just the tallest guys their team has. VCU's aggressive play permeates every aspect of what they do. In the MAC, teams get the ball around Zeke and try to pump fake 50 times before getting a shot blocked. Or worse, the pump fake three times and try to pass it to a guy two feet away with a defense that has collapsed around the ball. Inside play is horrible in the MAC. VCU took it right to us in the paint and got quick shots up before Zeke could size it up. They attack. If you give Zeke a pump fake or two, he will size it up and send the ball into the stands. If you take it right to him, you have a better shot.

I don't know if it is a basketball or football discussion. It can be both. Why couldn't we do A10 for men's basketball and MAC for everything else? UMASS does it. Why couldn't we do the same thing? The discussion I don't like is, "Butler and VCU may leave, so let's join." We should want to join because Butler and VCU are in the league, not because we want them gone and we think it would be easier to win. We already get enough easy wins in the MAC and shouldn't want to duplicate that in the A10.

The announcers made a lot of comments that were factually inaccurate. Makes me think their interns spent five minutes researching Akron.

The A10 is a highly, highly competitive league. We saw it last night. The Zips would have to play the likes of St. Louis, VCU, Butler, etc. on a regular basis. The MAC isn't close to that league in terms of quality of teams. We could compete well, but we don't have the almost guaranteed game in the conference championship like we do in the MAC and post season play wouldn't be guaranteed by winning the regular season title. If you want better competition, the A10 is the place for you. If you want an easy trip in the NCAA Tournament and watching the Zips destroy a terrible league, stay in the MAC.

I see a new arena that will be complimented by a parking deck. Only on planet Athletic Director would a basketball team need a practice facility.

Interrupted. All in all it is hard to be disappointed with this season. How well we could have done was interrupted though. We had three major interruptions. First, the Diggs issue. We had a great team going into the season and his removal from the team probably interrupted the start of the season. Second, AA. In the end, the AA issue resulted in a loss against Can't and crippled any chances the Zips had against VCU. They win the league against a horrible MAC, but still only went 2-2 without him and were a disaster last night on national TV. Third, the flu. If losing AA wasn't bad enough, losing a senior leader against a defense like VCU really hurt. The AA interruption reminds me a lot of my college days. Think back. You are in a bar talking to a hot girl. Things are going great. It's getting late. You are certain you are about to close the deal and make a short walk back to your apartment with her for some fun. Then, right out of nowhere, your drunk roommate shows up, interrupts your mojo, makes a fool of himself and you. The next thing you know you are heading back to your apartment by yourself to listen to your roommate throw-up for the rest of the night. I'm sure most of us have been both the interrupted and the drunk roommate while in college so we understand how bad an interruption can go down. We never really know what would have happened in any circumstance if matter had changed. We'll never know how good this season could have been if it had not been interrupted. Go Zips!

I'll just say this about last night. Sometimes circumstances are against you and things can quickly get out of control. We had a lot going against us last night.

If by double digit win, EA means two points...I'm all in. Zips 69 VCU 67

Good advice. It isn't as much down town as when you get closer to AHills and I-696. If you are going, do yourself a favor and go early.

Diagram the sentences. The subject of a sentence is usually what it is about. Those with the greed are the subjects. Try harder.

I used to go to Metro Detroit a lot for work. Rush hour is extremely bad heading up to Auburn Hills out of Detroit and then where I-696 meets I-75. Give yourself plenty of time.

Money was never the problem. Greed was the problem. Money is just a product of greed. Greedy athletic directors. Greedy coaches. Greedy networks. The list goes on... Greed caused the survival problem we have now. Schools now have to sell their souls in order to pay for the stadiums, athletic directors and coaches. Schools have put themselves in a position that it is impossible to take enormous amounts of dollars out of athletics or it will collapse under its own weight. Too big to fail at this point.

Why does this guy still have a job?

There are universities putting out quarter of billion dollar bonds to fund stadium renovations that will cost taxpayers far more than a quarter of a billion dollars. There are coaches being paid millions of dollars. Coaches are being paid millions in endorsement money. Universities are being paid millions in endorsement money. There are hundreds of millions being made on TV revenue from networks such as ESPN and having their own TV networks. Entire towns bank on the revenues generated by home football games. The NCAA runs almost entirely on the money generated by the NCAA Tournament. Athletic directors are unwisely using public funds to build up their resumes so they can move on to other schools and make more money and unwisely use the public funds in that state. Conferences are jockeying for position to move from one conference to the next for money reasons. Many universities use winning programs to generate money for their Foundations. Universities build stadiums that sit half empty on game day because they have ADs who tell them the only way to compete is to spend money on "facilities upgrades". Don't you think we are a little past the "slippery slope" argument?

Article Looks like this thread didn't matter because before too long, the BCS schools will have to drop down to DIII if they pay their players. Maybe if they pay coaches less, they could pay players. BTW, Jim Delany is an idiot.

I respectfully disagree. My wildcard will be how our off guards and small forwards handle the perimeter pressure of VCU. More in terms of ball security than shooting.

Steals are important to look at. Points off of turnovers are important to look at as well. Measuring the impact of good perimeter defense is a bit more difficult. I don't think there are statistics for "bad shots", "hurried shots", etc. These results are analyzed in stats like FG percentage, but there are no direct relationship stats. I saw VCU force UNCC into horrible shots that had no chance at going in the basket. It also forces a team to put their center in a position where he is a safety valve. If the Zips guards are having trouble, placing Zeke away from the blocks in order to receive a pass from a frantic guard may be needed. I'd rather have Zeke by the basket to get offensive rebounds. "Rhythm" can't be measured as well. A good defense keeps you out of your rhythm. Rhythm when dancing is important. Rhythm in the big dance is important as well. The Zips need to find a way to get into an offensive flow against this very good defense. This is going to be a great college basketball game. I'm green with envy for those of you who will be there.

Good post Skip. The part of their defense that impressed me the most was the half court perimeter defense they played against UNCC. Their pressure kept the ball far from the basket and didn't allow easy post entry passes at all. They absolutely controlled the tempo and execution of UNCC's offense. UNCC currently has better guards than what the Zips have. Our guards really need to be a the top of their game this Thursday and limit turnovers. This is absolutely a winnable game for the Zips. A 12 beating a 5 is not unusual. I would go as far as to say this is the most important game in the history of the MBB program.

Actually, they do. People west of the eastern time zone. Normally, I hate this starting time, but I have a meeting on Thursday evening that will last until 8 PM so this is perfect timing for me.

I saw VCU play UNCC this year in person. They have a great perimeter defense and the Zips guards need to be ready to play 40 minutes of intense basketball. The A10 is a very good conference. It is one I think the Zips could compete well in. We'll find out how well this Thursday. Congrats to the fans who get an easy trip to Auburn Hills. Very nice area. Go Zips!

Good observation and placing a time on it. It looked to me that KD went into the game with the strategy he wasn't going to let OUs best player beat him. Hats off to #30 for OU because he played a great game against every big man we threw at him. In fact, he took it to Zeke a couple of times and scored in a way not many people do, but at the end of the day #30 wasn't going to beat us. Cooper was always the threat and the Zips had a 40 minute strategy for him. It seemed that KD was willing to sacrafice #30 scoring in the first half in order to get to the second half where the Zips could get a lead and test Cooper et al on tired legs to hit three point shots. It worked. OU played the second game the night before and was physically and mentally tired. Bad shots, bad defense, bad passing, etc. defined OUs game last night. The Zips steady play throughout and fatigue were two key components in the game last night.

Veterans KD's most important move of the night last night had less to do with Xs and Os, and more to do with the deployment of personnel after halftime. He put his veterans in a position to make the team successful and they did. From a player and coaching perspective, it might have been the best second half of basketball I've ever seen the Zips play in a big game. It all came together.

It's a beautiful day here in Charlotte. Throw a bunch of stuff away I should have thrown away six months ago...check. Clean garage...check. Mow lawn...check. Blow down drive and sidewalk...check. I'll be watching the Zips victory from a patio at one of my favorite all time bars. Let's get a check for a Zips win.

See the confusion the MAC creates? Who would want to watch a real D-1A football game on a nice spring/summer Saturday evening when they can freeze their ass off watching it on a Tuesday night in November? Who would want to watch their MAC school play in a national championship playoff where they actually have a chance to win one when they can watch them play in a bowl game in front of tens of people in Idaho in mid December? It's funny. If the guy from Deadspin writes an article about it and I mentioned it months ago, it means something. Connect the dots. Other are talking about it. Just like I mentioned the BCS schools having their own league years ago on this board and they move ever closer to it every day, this will come around to be a topic that starts to get traction in coming years and will become a reality at some point. Will it be a reality because people want it? No, it will be a reality because the "building process" from the non-BCS schools will force them to try to get TV revenue to support their building process before it collapses under its own weight. BCS schools are in the process of doing the same thing.

Something tells me this beer thread is going to get a lot larger in the next 24 hours...