Middle Tennessee Game

[Captain Kangaroo]

The teams that are prepared for Akron..St. Mary's, Oral Roberts, MTSU, Creighton.. beat us almost everytime, these are the games we have to start winning.

While your sentiment is correct, your examples are a bit off.

We've beaten Creighton and MTSU. Relatively recently. The win vs. Creighton was in a really down year for the Blue Jays. Much like beating Penn State last season...we whipped them by 20...they're a Big 10 team...but Penn State would have struggled competing in the MAC West last year. They sucked.

Nevada, VCU (0 for 5?), Dayton, etc. I think are better examples of the Zips opportunities to ascend OOC, but faltering.

While I loved the Bracket Buster event, over the last decade it really exposed the Zips as being a notch below the true upper-mid-majors.

[skip-zip]

@skip-zip, I didn't see this when you posted it. How can you say in one post that you appreciate the Zips upsetting Mississippi State two years ago and then say here that the Zips squander every opportunity to record a big OOC win? You can't have it both ways.

Dave, Dave, Dave.

I love every Zips victory. Mississippi State was especially high on my list.

I think it's fair to say "EVERY" when we're talking about possibly a few notable victories out of dozens of opportunities to score big OOC wins.

[Dave in Green]

... I think it's fair to say "EVERY" when we're talking about possibly a few notable victories out of dozens of opportunities to score big OOC wins.

@skip-zip, thank you for finally getting to the root of why there's so much disagreement on ZN.o -- we speak different versions of the English language. Seriously now, the reason the English language has the words "most" and "every" is because they have different meanings and are appropriate for different situations -- you know, like apples and oranges. If someone uses "every" as a synonym for "most," others who converse in true English are going to push back. Please allow me to offer a 100% accurate use of the two words in one sentence:

EVERY college basketball team in the country loses MOST of the games they play against teams that are ranked higher due to being stronger and better teams.

The debate should be over how the Zips' winning percentage against higher-ranked teams compares with the winning percentage of other teams in the same situation.

[Dr Z]

I think it's fair to say "EVERY" when we're talking about possibly a few notable victories out of dozens of opportunities to score big OOC wins.

I'm pretty sure thats why they invented the saying "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile"?

[skip-zip]

@skip-zip, thank you for finally getting to the root of why there's so much disagreement on ZN.o -- we speak different versions of the English language. Seriously now, the reason the English language has the words "most" and "every" is because they have different meanings

You would be correct. My "Zips Emotion" sometimes tends to make me look for a higher word on the scale, to emphasize a point.

Would "almost every" be OK with you? That would technically be somewhere between "most" and "every"

[Dave in Green]

@skip-zip, now you're talking my language. "Almost" is an imprecise enough word that people can look at "almost every" and have different interpretations. And I do understand that frustration with not seeing the Zips pull off more upsets makes it seem even worse than it is. I'd try to do a stat study to see how the Zips rank among all college basketball teams in terms of upsetting higher-ranked opponents, but the magnitude of crunching all those numbers is more than I care to take on.

[Dr Z]

@skip-zip, now you're talking my language. "Almost" is an imprecise enough word that people can look at "almost every" and have different interpretations. And I do understand that frustration with not seeing the Zips pull off more upsets makes it seem even worse than it is. I'd try to do a stat study to see how the Zips rank among all college basketball teams in terms of upsetting higher-ranked opponents, but the magnitude of crunching all those numbers is more than I care to take on.

If you bet a taco through KDs career at Akron OOC ATS you would not be hungry.

[Dave in Green]

... My thoughts on Zeke, his development was hurt when he lost our low post coach to OSU. ...

After Jeff Boals left UA just prior to Zeke's arrival, this theory was floated on ZN.o when fans were disappointed at Zeke's rate of development. I don't recall ever seeing any evidence presented to support the theory. On the other hand, there's a direct correlation between when Zeke said he went from lukewarm interest in basketball to developing a passion for the game and when he made a major leap in his development. That came between his junior and senior seasons, and it was pretty easy to see that improvement on the court and also looking at his greatly improved senior stats. While I don't believe that Jeff Boals or any other coach could have forced Zeke to develop faster as long as Zeke wasn't willing to put his heart into it, I think it's possible that it might have had a minor effect.

[Valpo Zip]

I have 3 questions for you DIG, or anyone who watches practice:

Who is our big guys coach? Do they practice post moves and footwork? who leads that?

Does the team practice free throws?

When someone travels during practice, does KD blow the whistle and call it a travel?

[RACER]

where were all the post last year bashing kd when we were winning 19 in a row.this happens every year as soon as we lose the first game of the year.

the comments are always the same. can't win the big games. doesn't know how to draw up plays. doesn't adjust in the second half. does not know how to coach big guys.does not play the right players.if all these things are true how did we win 19 in a row and were in the top 25.if he is such a bad coach how was he coach of the year in the mac.name one mac school that would not trade for kd, and get rid of the current coach. buffalo fired here coach last year. ou fans hated the coach last year after thier flop.

the nineteen games in a row were not all at home, and against mac schools .ou did win three ncaa games lately.how did that help them last year? we beat them three times ,and they fell flat on thier face in the first nit game.i agree with gp on the fact that players could care less that miami, Can't, and ou have won ncaa games.no player cares about what happened 15 years ago.

[Dave in Green]

@Ada Zip, from what I've seen former Zips forward Rick McFadden is the primary coach for the bigs. He works with them on post moves and footwork all the time. Coach Dambrot also works with the bigs on certain techniques at times.

The players work on free throws all the time, mostly before and after practice. If they're having a problem, they get individual coaching attention as needed.

Coach Dambrot doesn't call every single travel he sees, especially when the players are working on a play where the focus needs to be more on learning the play. When they're playing 5 on 5 he calls out the obvious travels, and the players also call out their teammates when they see obvious travels.

[skip-zip]

@skip-zip, now you're talking my language. "Almost" is an imprecise enough word that people can look at "almost every" and have different interpretations. And I do understand that frustration with not seeing the Zips pull off more upsets makes it seem even worse than it is. I'd try to do a stat study to see how the Zips rank among all college basketball teams in terms of upsetting higher-ranked opponents, but the magnitude of crunching all those numbers is more than I care to take on.

Nooo. Even you? Come on. You're the only one we can really count on here to do those kinds of things.

I've spent a good part of my career writing sales copy, so I know "just a little bit" about this stuff. And I've decided to officially go with "Nearly Every".

[Hilltopper]

I have 3 questions for you DIG, or anyone who watches practice:

Who is our big guys coach? Do they practice post moves and footwork? who leads that?

Does the team practice free throws?

When someone travels during practice, does KD blow the whistle and call it a travel?

They have a couple of practice shooting machines like this one the players can use before and after workouts. The nets make you have to get some arc on the shot.