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Toledo game


ZippyRulz

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To sum it up. Down 51-48 with 12:00 to go. Toledo goes on a 11-2 run over the next 5 minutes. We outscore them 28-16 over the final 7 minutes to send it to overtime. Then end up winning when we still can't make our free throws and 3 guys fouled out. The team better thank Linhart for bringing them back. He had 12 points over the final 7 minutes.

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Where do I start?1) Thanks to the Zips....I can't fall asleep now because my heart won't stop beating out of my chest, and I need to get up early. But for some reason, I don't care.2) No matter what happens now, it was a great accomplishment for this team to get to 20 wins, even if it took what should have been a "practice" first round tournament game to get it done. It seemed so improbable about an hour ago. 3) Thank God there is a two day gap between 1st and 2nd round games (although, French alluded to the fact that we were originally against the new format). 4) Why in the world didn't Toledo attack us this way the first time? They have the talent to penetrate on our guards at will. And it seemed as if coach Boals, in his post game interview, was well aware of the fact that Toledo had the ability to do that to us. 5) I thank God that Can't State can't laugh at us because they are playing on Thursday, and we are sitting at home.6) Before we give Nate so much credit...and I love the guy.....he almost was the goat for that silly and unnecessary late turnover. 7) This is the most important point......sometimes good programs win titles in years where they are not at their best, and most experienced. Could this be the year for us? (yes...people that I am around in basketball sometimes say that...and I just repeated it to keep this thing alive).OK....just a little more motivation. Think of the 1983 NC State team, who won a close opening round game and eventually recorded the improbably win over Houston in the final. Or, the 1985 Villanova team who I still believe was the lowest seed ever (I think a #6 or #7) to win a championship.A team of destiny...the 2009 Zips....Let's go with it!!!!!

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OK....just a little more motivation. Think of the 1983 NC State team, who won a close opening round game and eventually recorded the improbably win over Houston in the final. Or, the 1985 Villanova team who I still believe was the lowest seed ever (I think a #6 or #7) to win a championship.
Villanova was an 8 seed that year (which is indeed the lowest seed ever to win), but just a few seconds ago Cleveland St. upset Butler to win the Horizon League title. My point? They had a very difficult opening round game as well. It's still possible.
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OK...and lets just settle one other issue for future reference.........For those who think that it's "not a big deal" to have to play an extra game in this tournament.....you got your answer tonight. I'm not an "I told you so" sort of basketball guy, but ANY team, even the best team in the country, is capable of playing a bad game. And you have less of a chance of that happening if you play 3, rather than 4 games.

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I almost turned the game off with 3 minutes in regulation... wow. wow. wow. wow. wow.
Dude, I did turn the game off. We sucked and I was sure there was no way we could put it together. Only when I heard the sports guy on the TV in the other room mention Akron and OT did I realize what happened! WTF!?!
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MD Zip...thanks for the clarification. I didn't think Villanova was as low as a #8......The improbable is always possible. ;) And heck, we're talking about the MAC title here...not a national championship. Go Zips!Get these guys rested for Thursday....one game at a time...that's all we can ask. Someone has to win these games...right? It might as well be us. We've had too much bad luck in Cleveland already. It's our turn.

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It was both worse and better to witness at the Q. Worse because the Zips were as flat as they've been all season, and they've had a few ugly flats. KD gave a good explanation in the postgame about why both the Zips and Can't were flat today. They just played their big, emotional rivalry game two days ago, and neither team is used to playing the first day of the tournament after a big emotional game on two days rest.But it was surreal to sit in the Q and watch the Zips play like a high school team. I won't even get into who did what because I'd just as soon forget about it. The biggest spark through the middle of the game was Cventinovich, who made some really nice plays and tried to fire up the rest of the team.Linhart made up for so-so play early by making many big plays in crunch time.The refs were awful, as attested to by the 88 foul shots. Many calls were clearly bad. We could see from the stands when someone clearly did not even touch another player yet was whistled, and the phantom "kicked ball" near the end that almost cost the Zips the game was a travesty.With McNees and Roberts fouled out and Hitchens sitting on the bench with his shoe off, it looked like the end. But he put the shoe back on, went back in the game and literally hobbled around the court like an 80-year-old man. When he nailed the 3 from the corner to tie it, we all about fell on the floor. Then he gutted it out through overtime, hit another critical 3 and triggered a perfect inbounds pass to B. McKnight under the basket for the winning points. That was the better part about being at the Q and witnessing a miracle comeback.Throughout all the bad play and injured ankle, Hitchens had only 2 turnovers. You can talk statistics until you're blue in the face, but Hitchens is just plain and simple a big-time, big-game player. He sparked the near impossible under the worst conditions when it really mattered. For a true freshman from a small high school to accomplish what he did tonight is just plain astonishing. He won't be 100% for the rest of the tournament, so it's going to be up to the rest of the players to come together and be inspired by what was accomplished tonight. They're all going to need to play more of the remaining games with the guts and spirit and enthusiasm that they showed at the end of tonight's game.I am just totally emotionally drained, and the players have to be feeling it a lot more than I do. I don't think KD will be putting them through any hard workouts between now and Thursday night.Wow.

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Hitchens said in a post-game interview that he came down on another player's foot and twisted his ankle. It felt pretty bad, and at first he didn't think he could go back in. But when KD told him he wanted him back on the floor, Hitchens said yes sir and gave the performance of his life. He says he will play Thursday night, but that he definitely will not be at 100%

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Hitchens said in a post-game interview that he came down on another player's foot and twisted his ankle. It felt pretty bad, and at first he didn't think he could go back in. But when KD told him he wanted him back on the floor, Hitchens said yes sir and gave the performance of his life. He says he will play Thursday night, but that he definitely will not be at 100%
Hope it doesn't throw us off too much. Thanks Dave!
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