More of those Zips please

[Quickzips]

Now that is more like the team I was expecting to see this year. The first half wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. Second half, well, if that team comes to play every night it is going to be a very good season. We finally started working the ball into the post in the 2nd half and Niagra had absolutely no answer. They threw some double teams at us, we kicked it out to McNess or...gasp...Conyers for open threes. If the double team didn't come our guys were making nice moves and getting easy buckets. On top of that, we finally hit our FT's. Very good performance for the Zips and a solid win.Conyers looked good again tonight. I'm hoping this is the breakthrough we've been waiting on for four years from Jimmy and not just another blip on the radar. If he can give us 20-25 minutes a night of that kind of hustle on both ends of the floor then we might just have our SF issues figured out.Zeke had a nice game. Fouled out, but I won't get on him too much for that. He does need to learn that we don't need 18 foot jump shots with 25 seconds on the shot clock from him. If he cleans that up it will keep a little more of KD's hair in place. 6 blocks, 6 rebounds, 12 points and I don't know how many turnovers he caused. It was like Niagra forgot he was out there, started to drive the lane, then realized he was just waiting to swat the shot and they were dumbfounded. He's still making mistakes, but he has to get minutes for us because when he's out there he's a game changer.Humpty had a rough outing. I don't doubt he'll get it turned around, but he looked like he was still a little too amped up from the other night.McNees with another one of those McNees kind of nights where he just murders a team from 3 land. The run in the second half was really triggered by him knocking down 2 or 3 triples in succession. Roberts and Cvetinovic are our most consistent players out there. Neither one is particularly flushy, but at the end of the game you look up and they've given you double digit scoring, solid defensive minutes and not very many turnovers. I think you'll continue to see KD ride those two.Paging the McKnight brothers. Paging the McKnight brothers. Anyone seen these two lately? Sadly, it doesn't look like these guys have the desire to take their game to the next level. I have a feeling you will see both of them coming off the bench for much of the year as Cvetinovic is playing much harder than both of them right now and has earned the minutes. Good to see some Ronnie Steward. Really, at this point any minutes he gives you are a bit of a miracle.Not much out of McClanahan or Bardo tonight. I don't think either one saw action in the second half as KD really trimmed down his rotation. Still waiting to see some of that vaunted Mike Bardo defense I keep hearing about. I counted about 3 to 4 minutes of action for him and saw his man get 2 easy dunks and a layup IIRC. At one point Chris McKnight had his guy bottled up on a drive but Bardo decided to leave his man to come over and help out anyways. Long story short, Bardo's man gets the pass and throws down an easy dunk. Wonderful.All in all, a good game for the Zips. Can't complain about a 12 point win over a quality opponent. Let's go down to College Station and steal one from the Aggies.

[MDZip]

Jimmy Conyers had an outstanding game, seemed like he was grabbing every rebound (he ended up with 11) plus 12 points. Best game from him in a long time. Maybe he took the Captain's post as a personal challenge.

[doublezip]

Good analysis. I agree with most of your points. Definitely Conyers' best game as a Zip. Solid win over a good team and Humpty and the McKnights had a rough day. McNees was also very good today. He doesn't force shots, really seems to do a good job running the point and when he's on watch out! Let's hope they can keep it going...

[ejcool27]

Chris seemed lost to me most of the game....Brett McKnight I heard was hurt this summer and fall?....His defense looks better than last year and he'll get his scoring touch back I think he'll be good to go by the time that MAC play starts.....I really hope the same for ChrisHumpty looked like he was trying not to get to pumped up...I think the new AD was keeping a close eye on him good to see he wasn't suspended though. McNees had a great game hit his three's and ran the point very wellRoberts carried the team in the first half he was the only reason we weren't out of the game come the second halfConyers was amazing....it seemed like every time we needed a board he got it. Deserved the start and if he keeps playing like this will start every game.I miss the McClanahan from last year....He seems like he's scared to miss so he's either not shooting or missing.Zeke had a good game for a freshman...I would like to see him grab more offense boards, but that will come...His free throws are some of the wierdest shots in the world.....2-6 not the best Nik can drive pretty well....plays hard when he's out there and supports his team when he's on the bench......26-34 From the line a great improvement....still needs to be better....Roberts 4-4 and Conyers 6-6Niagara's coach really blew it for his team down by 6 and he got two T's Roberts goes and hits all 4 making it a ten point game They could never get back in it...Good Game Zips can't wait to see how you do against Texas A&M

[Dave in Green]

It was great to see the real Zips today. Every player made some contributions, though some weren't as obvious as others. For example, Chris McKnight appeared to have an off game. But he had three important steals, and was at his best in the closing minutes when you would expect a senior to step forward and help lead the team.But I think we may all have a tendency to pay too much attention to individual stats, plays that stick in our minds, etc., and not enough attention to total team play. I know I did that last year. What I'm looking for more this year is how the individuals play together as a team. This is really what wins games and championships, regardless of who may be on or off in a given game.I really liked the way the Zips played together today, not all of the time, but most of the time. They seemed to have a better idea of where their teammates were and how to get the ball to the open player. And I thought they did a better job of switching off and keeping players covered on defense. That's why I wasn't as worried as I might have been with the halftime score. In the first half, the Niagra players were making contested shots and the Zips were missing open shots. The key point was not whether the ball was falling or not, but the fact that the Zips were finding the open man. I figured that in the second half the odds would even out and the Zips would hit more and Niagra less, and that's the way it worked out.The Zips have to make major adjustments depending on whether or not Zeke is on the floor, and this is not as simple as just flipping a wall switch on or off. The game is totally different with Zeke in the middle, and you could see today that the rest of the team is still learning what works best when he's on the floor. Without Zeke, they're more like last year's team minus Nate Linhart but with everyone else having another year's worth of experience to draw upon.I think the chemistry of this team is going to grow by leaps and bounds as the veterans get even more seasoned, and as Zeke gets worked more into the flow of the game. I don't ever expect to see a game where mistakes aren't made. But I do expect fewer glaring errors and more coordinated teamwork as the season goes on. I don't think this Zips team has any glaring weaknesses that show up in every game. They can all be on and off, but I think they will learn as a team to cover each other's mistakes most of the time.Right now I'm a really happy season ticket holder.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Humpty looked like he was trying not to get to pumped up...I think the new AD was keeping a close eye on him good to see he wasn't suspended though.

After the Pine Bluff game, Humpty ran over to tell the coach he was sorry when one of their players shoved him away. KD told Humpty to tell the coach he was sorry, so that's all he was doing. The AD ran into the locker room and that's when KD told him what happened. Humpty did almost get into another little altercation with one of Niagara's players. IMO, it was a great game. The only thing I didn't understand was why didn't Zeke get the ball more down low? He had at least a good 3 inches on whoever guarded him. He had pretty good position, too. Great game over all though for the entire team.

[infofan]

Fantastic 2nd half for Zips. First half not so bad either, the baskets just werent falling. Dont get too hard on Humpty- not sure how many others noticed but he threw up( in trash can by team bench and rowdies)at least once tonight. Definately under the weather but he toughed it out. Solid win but a big assist by Niagra coach . French agreed with him- ball was off C Mcknight but call went our way. Thats what home court is supposed to mean. Looking more and more like Mike Bardo is the unknown 3rd player who will be leaving after this year. Disappointing crowd once again. Where is our support.

[Dave in Green]

After the Pine Bluff game, Humpty ran over to tell the coach he was sorry when one of their players shoved him away. KD told Humpty to tell the coach he was sorry, so that's all he was doing. The AD ran into the locker room and that's when KD told him what happened. Humpty did almost get into another little altercation with one of Niagara's players.

If it's true that KD told Humpty to run over to the UAPB bench to apologize immediately after that game ended, then we should all feel good that the intent was positive. But regardless of intent, I would still question the judgment of this action, as there is simply too much potential for misunderstanding at such a volatile and emotional moment.I vividly recall watching an NBA game on TV back in the '70s when Rudy Tomjanovich ran out on the court, not to fight, but to try to help break up a fight between other players. Kermit Washington turned around, saw Tomjanovich running toward him, thought he was being attacked and leveled him with the most devastating punch to the face you can possibly imagine. Tomjanovich lay still on the court in a pool of blood. The bone structure of his face had literally been separated from his skull, and he almost died on the court from blood and spinal fluid leaking into his skull capsule.There have been many similar incidents over the years of peacemakers running up to potentially explosive situations where their actions were misinterpreted and resulted in blows being thrown, though fortunately not with the catastrophic results of the Tomjanovich incident. If it's also true that Humpty did almost get into another little altercation with one of Niagra's players, that's more proof that it is not a good thing to run up to another team's bench in a volatile situation, no matter how innocent the intent.A better approach would have been for KD and Humpty to visit the UAPB locker room after everyone had a chance to settle down and there was less likelihood of misunderstanding. In any case, I hope that everyone learned a valuable lesson from this potentially explosive situation.The biggest positive from this whole incident is that Humpty channeled his emotions into playing basketball, calmly sinking two free throws and then stealing the inbounds pass to seal the UAPB game. Likewise, Cvetinovic has been much better this year at channeling his emotional energy into elevating his level of play, and Conyers also seems to be less affected by emotional swings. This kind of focus will go a long way toward making the Zips a consistently stronger team.

[Z.I.P.]

Humpty looked like he was trying not to get to pumped up...I think the new AD was keeping a close eye on him good to see he wasn't suspended though.

After the Pine Bluff game, Humpty ran over to tell the coach he was sorry when one of their players shoved him away. KD told Humpty to tell the coach he was sorry, so that's all he was doing. The AD ran into the locker room and that's when KD told him what happened. Humpty did almost get into another little altercation with one of Niagara's players.

So what was Humpty apologizing to the coach FOR?