Testicular Fortitude

[Quickzips]

I realize the title of this thread may get it removed, but those are the only two words I can use to describe what I witnessed from the Zips tonight. To come back from 20 down to 6 down in the first half only to go back down 15 in the second half, then go on an 18-0 run to bring home the W. That takes a heck of a lot of testicular fortitude right there. And what a night to do it on. Biggest non-Can't crowd at the JAR in the KD era. And man were they LOUD.

[RowdyZip]

Love the title. Absolutely correct. 5400 saw a fantastic game. Hopefully 5400 more next Saturday. I'm not sure I've ever heard the boo birds louder than the absolutely atrocious tech call on Zeke. There's a video out there of the play. Call was made by the ref at mid court, not even the guy 6 feet from the play.

[Zips Win!]

We'll take the win, but- All you complainers about the refs every game like DIG and company need to thank them tonight.

We got every call in the second half especially the non-foul by Zeke on McCrea in the last 30 seconds. Without those call, who knows how it ends....

[RootforRoo44]

We'll take the win, but- All you complainers about the refs every game like DIG and company need to thank them tonight.

We got every call in the second half especially the non-foul by Zeke on McCrea in the last 30 seconds. Without those call, who knows how it ends....

you're high out of your mind....those no-calls in the second half were well deserved after the screw-job that went on for the rest of the game. That tech on Zeke should go down as one of the most asinine calls in sports history. Those guys should never work a game again.

[GoZips]

Speaking of testicular ... how many realize that Coach Dambrot's switch to the 1-3-1 defense took the game away from 'Flo?

Reggie Witherspoon, dean of MAC coaches, had prepared a beautiful game plan. They were ready for everything the Zips did

right up to the change of defenses to the 1-3-1. Buffalo suddenly looked like deer in headlights. Their offense vanished.

In previous games the Zips would run the 1-3-1 defense for one or two trips down the floor. This time Buffalo got the full

monty.They had no answer. Do not let it be said that Reggie out coached Keith. That did not happen. Reggie and his staff

obviously schooled their kids on Zips inbound plays. They pulled off three or four steals off of simple inbound plays. They

attacked Zeke like most teams do. They closed down the lanes to the basket. In a word, Buffalo was prepared for Akron.

Right up to the steady and prolonged 1-3-1 defense. It was readily appearant that the Bulls had NOT worked on attacking

the 1-3-1 defense. Dambrot and crew learned their lesson well in the Northwestern NIT game from last season.

Hats off to Coach for not being out coached. Joe Dunn gave his 'defensive player of the game' award to Coach Dambrot

for that outstanding move.

[GoZips]

Love the title. Absolutely correct. 5400 saw a fantastic game. Hopefully 5400 more next Saturday. I'm not sure I've ever heard the boo birds louder than the absolutely atrocious tech call on Zeke. There's a video out there of the play. Call was made by the ref at mid court, not even the guy 6 feet from the play.

So, where is the video?

[Dr Z]

... how many realize that Coach Dambrot's switch to the 1-3-1 defense took the game away from 'Flo?

Most. For sure everybody around me...except the lady in front of me that played solitaire on her phone the entire game. I know Trimmy did.... and Quickzip.

[johnnyzip84]

I thought McCrea was fouled in the last 30 seconds, BUT I think overall the "mistakes" were about even.

The extended 1-3-1 was maybe the best tactical move I've ever seen at the JAR.

I'm still hyped from the game, the crowd and the awesome comeback. I don't care how UB has struggled early on. They were unconcious to start the game, and many decent teams would have been out of it at that point.

I'll second the notion that Melo played a pretty good game. In fact, I think those were his most important minutes as a Zip in the 1st half when Alex was struggling a bit. Melo wasn't spectacular, but he played well enough for a stretch to allow Alex to get to the bench and regroup. If Melo plays like that every night, I'm fine with him backing up the point. It would be even better if this is a turnaound moment for him. Let's hope so. Go Zips!!!

[Big Zip]

I tweeted it out last night and got no response from George Thomas. In game he called it "a wee bit questionable". Really wasn't too questionable to me but as GameChanger pointed out last night it was Zeke's words that earned the "T" not hanging on the rim as originally thought.

[Dave in Green]

I didn't complain about the reffing overall because I saw the missed calls against the Zips as well as missed calls against Buffalo. I thought they balanced out and didn't change the game's outcome. I like that the total of 32 fouls was below average for a MAC game and didn't disrupt the flow of the game. I like that the home team got fewer whistles (13) than the visitors (19). The baffling call against Zeke stunned everyone and deserves special recognition.

[RowdyZip]

I didn't complain about the reffing overall because I saw the missed calls against the Zips as well as missed calls against Buffalo. I thought they balanced out and didn't change the game's outcome. I like that the total of 32 fouls was below average for a MAC game and didn't disrupt the flow of the game. I like that the home team got fewer whistles (13) than the visitors (19). The baffling call against Zeke stunned everyone and deserves special recognition.

Right on, Dave. Barring Zeke physically intimidating someone and/or staring them down, there aren't words that should've elicited that technical foul. What is more remarkable is the missed call on the PERSONAL foul prior to the tech being called.

[Dave in Green]

On the video of the Zeke slam/technical, you can advance it a few frames at a time by dragging the little round spot on the video player slightly forward a little bit at a time. This slo-mo, stop-frame viewing shows that as Zeke goes up, the defender behind him goes up at the same time. As Zeke is in the motion of slamming the ball through, the defender's right arm pops up between Zeke's arms with absolutely zero chance of stopping the shot. The defender's arm contacts Zeke in the face, causing Zeke's head to snap back. Meanwhile the defender's left arm begins wrapping around Zeke's hip. As Zeke hangs on the rim to stabilize himself after the impact, the defender's left arm remains on Zeke's hip pushing his body at an angle as Zeke hangs from the rim. When Zeke finally releases and comes down, the defender's left arm remains pushing on Zeke, and the defender's left elbow cleverly ends up briefly disappearing between Zeke's legs in the groin area. I'm sure that Zeke was just trying to apologize for hitting the defender's right arm with his face and left elbow with his groin area.

[K92]

I have to say, I didn't have the greatest feeling leaving the JAR last night. I didn't expect to witness such a dogfight with the Bulls, but after sleeping on it I feel a whole lot better.

The Zips persevered against a team that came in with a great game plan, who shot lights out & built a 20 point lead. A lesser team could have folded under that barrage for the big upset loss. Kudos to Buffalo for playing a hell of a game.

The point made earlier is a good one. The Zips are going to get everybody's A game from here on out. BG is going to come out swinging Wednesday night. Hopefully the Zips and 'Cats both win Wednesday to kick the atmosphere up a couple more notches for the battle for sole possession of first place. Can't wait.

[Zipmeister]

I realize the title of this thread may get it removed, but those are the only two words I can use to describe what I witnessed from the Zips tonight. To come back from 20 down to 6 down in the first half only to go back down 15 in the second half, then go on an 18-0 run to bring home the W. That takes a heck of a lot of testicular fortitude right there. And what a night to do it on. Biggest non-Can't crowd at the JAR in the KD era. And man were they LOUD.

Thanks for having the gonads to start this thread.

[Zips Win!]

I didn't complain about the reffing overall because I saw the missed calls against the Zips as well as missed calls against Buffalo. I thought they balanced out and didn't change the game's outcome.

Back on the fence again. We got the calls. Let's see what happens at UB..

[ZachTheZip]

Back on the fence again. We got the calls. Let's see what happens at UB..

Now that we know how to disrupt their offense, I think the road game will play out differently.

[Dave in Green]

On average visiting teams are called for several more fouls per game than home teams. So the refs will be inclined to call more fouls against the Zips when they play in Buffalo just as they called more on the Bulls at the JAR. It's just the way it is, so expect it. The biggest advantage an underdog like Buffalo has against a better team like the Zips is the element of surprise. The Bulls definitely surprised the Zips with their level of play at the JAR, which was way better than any other performance they've shown this season. The surprise element will be missing in Buffalo. The Zips will be prepared to face a better team than they expected at the JAR.

[BirdZip]

The extended 1-3-1 was maybe the best tactical move I've ever seen at the JAR.

I'm seeing this in a lot of threads. Why is using the 1-3-1 when a team is shooting the lights out from 3-land so impressive. That what it's designed for.

Comments along the lines of "Buffalo didn't know how to attack it" or "Buffalo didn't prepare for the 1-3-1" also baffle me. Perhaps their execution wasn't good, or the only thing they had going for them was their outside shooting and they're not otherwise that good, but these are D1 players and an experienced D1 coach. They knew how to attack it--they just couldn't execute.