Game 1

[Z-P]

Didjago?

Holy Cow!..............or should I say Holy Kangaroo...........

We were stinking up the JAR so bad, with 10 minutes left several people around me were getting up to leave! And did!

Then YSU went into its "prevent defense" That worked well didn't it?

A "W" is a "W" is a "W"..............

Notes (for Ck mostly, where you been man?):

1. Dials is really a "playa".............we're going to give competiton fits with a 3-G offense. Cedric played a hell of a game too. Dru was Dru..........just rock solid.

2. Milum started, but got pulled at about 15:30 1st half. He never saw the floor again. What happened? I really couldn't tell.

3. KD is really something. He coaches (and teaches) his a$$ off from the second he reaches the locker room, until the janitor turns the lites off in the JAR. He might lay off on the Snickers and Starbucks a little for his health

4. This team does not have an identity. Maybe the loss of Woods is the reason. Now they (credit Frenchie for saying this) have to become a "speedy 3-G Team" instead of a "banger". Well, it ain't happend yet. Lucky for us KD kept swithching around until he found the formula yesterday to escape with the win.

5. I really liked this.............I saw a lot of "coaching" going on.......well.......on the floor between the guys.........trying to help each other out.........that's a good sign. No bitchin, just helping..............

6. Really shocked me to see Peterson not have a stronger game. I hope he comes back stronger going forward.

7. Bubba didn't have touch yesterday, but still made a strong contribution with his passing, ball handling (except for 1 or 2 trips) and defensive hustle. That was big.

8. The time was switched from 7 to 5, and the tickets said 7. At 6:30 about 6 people showed up near us for the game Too bad...........UAM had done everything he could to alert fans...........they weren't bent however, they came in with us doen by about 8, and left as we charged back to win.............in fact the women probably thought that was the best basketball game they had ever attended in their lives

Go Zips!

I still like UAM for AD!

[zipboy]

Good summary ZP, a few things to add

1. We still can't make FT

2. We still can't rebound to save our life

3. Travis was unstoppable at the end.

4. Without Wood and Conyers, this team is essentially last years team minus McFadden and Collins with the addition of Dials. Not as big of a step up as I had hoped.

5. Team plays hard, they seem to like each other and will win games. I don't know if I see us cracking the national rankings yet as I had hoped. That may be another year away.

6. Disappointed to not see Linhart or Rybak in the rotation. I was hoping that we would go 10 deep this year.

A win is still a win. Nice post game show with KD.

[JP Morgan]

A win is a win, but that is a team that we should beat by double digits. Souds like Akron came out flat in the first half (too much turkey Boys?). Romeo really took over in the second half of the game. He is really developing into one hell of a "total" player and to have a game like this early in the season is great sign of things to come. I believe he had his highest scoring game as a Zip. He really stepped up for us last year and will need to do the same this year.

Duquesne will be another good test but should be a W. I know its early in the season but these OOC games are critical come March with the selection committee. A loss to YSU could have been devastating. Lets go Zips!

[Captain Kangaroo]

Back from mom's house in Warren, I'll add the following:

* YSU is better than in year's past. They played hard the entire game and hit some difficult, clutch shots. Give them some props.

* We got some home-cookin' refereeing last night. Several calls that went against YSU were baffling.

* Chocolate Falknor missed from 3-point land and the free throw line. He had one point more than the St V scrimmage...so he had 1 point in the game. We have to get more than a couple points out of him per night if we're going to make any noise in the MAC this year. He did have a nice 13 rebound effort.

* Dials looks fine. Hitting that 3 at game's end shows he's got some legs underneath him, and draining those FT's was clutch.

* Joyce is a clutch FT guy too. He handled the ball well all night and had a decent game.

* Travis was unstoppable in the mid/late going. I really fear what this team will do if he ever gets into foul trouble.

* I agree with Z-P that the on-court chemistry seems really good with this group. I also like Dials trying to pump up the crowd. Unrelated note: I wish our football team played to the crowd like that a little more.

Overall...it looked like a game where one team was pretty decent and had 2 contests already under their belt, versus a team that hadn't played since March. We eventually woke up and pulled it out.

Questions for the future:

How can the Zips free up Bubba or anyone else if the opponent smothers us like YSU did? Can we ride Travis inside for 35 minutes a game? Will Travis get any help inside this season? Will Milum get some semblance of offensive game going, or will every night for him be "Senior Night" where he gets the token 2-minutes to begin the game, then sits?

We need Milum to step up if we want to make a run this season. Futch is a senior...what you see is what you'll get out of him. Milum has the ever-overused term "upside." If Milum can develop a Ryan Andrick-like inside money move, I think it would make a word of difference on our team. Freeing Bubba up on some screens would't hurt either.

Conyers...Buehler...Buehler...?

[GP1]

Didjago?

Holy Cow!..............or should I say Holy Kangaroo...........

We were stinking up the JAR so bad, with 10 minutes left several people around me were getting up to leave! And did!

Then YSU went into its "prevent defense" That worked well didn't it?

A "W" is a "W" is a "W"..............

Notes (for Ck mostly, where you been man?):

1. Dials is really a "playa".............we're going to give competiton fits with a 3-G offense. Cedric played a hell of a game too. Dru was Dru..........just rock solid.

2. Milum started, but got pulled at about 15:30 1st half. He never saw the floor again. What happened? I really couldn't tell.

3. KD is really something. He coaches (and teaches) his a$$ off from the second he reaches the locker room, until the janitor turns the lites off in the JAR. He might lay off on the Snickers and Starbucks a little for his health

4. This team does not have an identity. Maybe the loss of Woods is the reason. Now they (credit Frenchie for saying this) have to become a "speedy 3-G Team" instead of a "banger". Well, it ain't happend yet. Lucky for us KD kept swithching around until he found the formula yesterday to escape with the win.

5. I really liked this.............I saw a lot of "coaching" going on.......well.......on the floor between the guys.........trying to help each other out.........that's a good sign. No bitchin, just helping..............

6. Really shocked me to see Peterson not have a stronger game. I hope he comes back stronger going forward.

7. Bubba didn't have touch yesterday, but still made a strong contribution with his passing, ball handling (except for 1 or 2 trips) and defensive hustle. That was big.

8. The time was switched from 7 to 5, and the tickets said 7. At 6:30 about 6 people showed up near us for the game Too bad...........UAM had done everything he could to alert fans...........they weren't bent however, they came in with us doen by about 8, and left as we charged back to win.............in fact the women probably thought that was the best basketball game they had ever attended in their lives

Go Zips!

I still like UAM for AD!

Holy Jesus!!! I agree with this entire post. This does not bode well for this board. Just a couple things to add.

1. Romeo was the only aggressive player inside yesterday. Toughen up guys. Maybe we need to get that #2 on a steroid program.

2. Bubba, less crying and flopping around and more playing basketball. You name is Bubba, not Kareem.

3. Dru, you are a better scorer than you think you are.

[Hilltopper]

We had alot of open 8-10 footers last night that no one took. Over and over the Zips passed those up in an effort to get closer to the basket. If your open, SHOOT!

[GP1]

Where is ZipsWin!? He's a pretty clear thinking basketball observer.

[Zip Watcher]

Most of my observations have been covered above.

A few more however:

- YSU is MUCH improved. Slocum has added some discipline to an athletically gifted group of players, and that combination will yield immediate returns. They host Can't State on Wednesday night, and I look for them to give the flushes everything they can handle. Props to the Pens & I hope they win the Horizon.

- Quickness: YSU had it, UA did not. This will continue to be a factor this year. The Zips are just not generally good enough or quick enough to be effective in the man to man defense. As much as it pains this M2M fan, it just isn't getting it done. Being late on help and rotations leads to teams shooting the lights out like the Penguins did in the first half. I'm betting KD didn't want to crack open the 1-1-3 this early in the season, but it was needed to beat YSU.

- Shooting: The Zips shoot 16.7% for the game from outside. I'll go on record today (28 NOV 05) and say that they won't shoot lower than that the rest of the season. 3 for 18 is horrid. This is a much better shooting team than that.

- Futch, aka Chocolate Faulknor: I'm here to stand up for the big guy. He had a monster game on the glass in only 20 minutes of action. In the late 1st and early 2nd, he kept us in it on the glass. 13 boards in 20 minutes is HUGE. He does like the outside J a little too much .. but he got in there and banged at the glass for most of the game and had some big rebounds.

- I like having Cedric on the court as much as possible. He's showing that he can provide good defense on the perimenter, and he is one of a few Zips that consistently can break his guy down and get to the rim. This Zips team doesn't have many players that can win the 1on1 battles, and Cedric is one of them. Clearly, he's not our best option from 3pt range, but I think he is our best perimeter defender and off the dribble penetrator. He'll end up playing big 2nd half minutes this year.

- Dials looks for real. What will he be like in January after more work and practice? He's going to have to be on the floor .. not a guy that will sit much in crunch time.

Overall a good win against a solid club. I think this kind of game is much more valuable than a 40 point win against Wooster or Mount Union. A reality check early will help. This game really illustrated the need for inside outside balance, and moving the offense through RT to get better looks outside. When you do that, 1 of 2 things will happen: RT will begin to recognize the double team and find the open shooter .. or he will simply beat his man one on one and destroy the other team inside. The latter happened Saturday and it was enough to pull out the win.

Looking forward to Wednesday and Thursday.

Go Zips!

ZW

P.S. UAM: No matter what Z-P says, your ass looks fine .. it'll look good in the AD chair also.

[Buckzip]

Does anyone know what is going on with Conyers?

I thought we would know something by now.