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North Dakota State University


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The JAR was rocking tonight, and it was the kind of atmosphere we'd all love to see for every Zips basketball game. It was really loud, and the refs cooperated by making enough bad calls to set off a firestorm. The bad call on Zeke for hanging on the rim to protect himself from landing on a defender produced a crowd reaction that probably registered on seismic devices. With the crowd completely behind them, the Zips took off from there. Bad free throw shooting and, at times, bad ball control were offset by decent shooting from the field, good rebounding and, most of all, tough D. NDSU hit a fair percentage of their open shots. But they mostly had Zips players all over them, and their contested shots were mostly off the mark. The Zips compensated well for not having Walsh, who was with the team on the bench but noticeably limping.

I can see how Bjorklund has such a high shooting percentage. He shoots mostly from in the paint, and uses his big body well to move people out of the way. Zeke did a great job of holding his ground and kept Bjorklund from getting many shots off. The ones he did get off were well contested, as Zeke didn't have to jump because the 6-8 Bjorklund only elevates a few inches off the floor. So all Zeke had to do was stand flat-footed and extend his arms up. The NDSU coach apparently noted Bjorklund's inability to score against Zeke, as he played only 17 minutes and hit only 1-6 from the field. Some of the other NDSU players looked pretty athletic but just couldn't score against the Zips' defense, which is getting better every game.

Zeke was fantastic to watch tonight. He was as intense as I've ever seen him during play. But when play was stopped for free throws, he was relaxed, smiling and joking with his teammates. That steal, drive to the bucket and slam was a thing of beauty. He just added a new dimension to his NBA draft resume. We were really concerned when Harney left the game in great pain from what looked to be an injured arm. We were surprised when he came back in. But when he tried to shoot free throws, he couldn't get the ball to the rim. So they pulled him out of the game. Hopefully he'll be recovered for the OU game. Overall a nice win. But better performance in more areas will be required in Athens.

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The JAR was rocking tonight, and it was the kind of atmosphere we'd all love to see for every Zips basketball game. It was really loud, and the refs cooperated by making enough bad calls to set off a firestorm. The bad call on Zeke for hanging on the rim to protect himself from landing on a defender produced a crowd reaction that probably registered on seismic devices. With the crowd completely behind them, the Zips took off from there.

Worked late tonight, so I listened to 1350 (more on that later) until I got home, where my wife was nice enough to have left the satellite box on ESPN2 and I was able to backtrack an hour and see much of what I had heard on the radio.

Zeke wasn't protecting himself from landing on anyone because the defender wasn't under him.

That said, it still was an unnecessary call. Those of us who have officiated guys like Koufas, Frease, Mills, etc., in the Federal League learned quickly to swallow the whistle when really big guys are on a beeline for the hoop. When they're heading straight at the basket, they will hit their heads on the bottom of the backboard if they don't use the rim to stop themselves. The only time it becomes a T is if they hang there for longer than it takes their legs to swing back under them or if they "chin up."

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