Bethune-Cookman - Could be a tough game

[skip-zip]

Recheck your math. The 39-6 run went from 9:48 of the first half to 18:46 of the second half, or 11 minutes, 2 seconds. Later in the second half, the Zips also had a pair of 2- or 3-minute runs of 7-0 and 8-0, which is not characteristic of "sleepwalking." Of course there were also periods of uninspired execution, which is typical of most college games. No one's denying that. Let's get real here. It was not a great game and it was not a disaster. Anyone trying to push either of those scenarios uphill is only going to give themselves a hernia.

Dave, You can pull out all of the micro time periods you want, and try to make something of them. Fact is, they outscored us in the 2nd half. And played pretty even with us for more than half of the first half.

[Dave in Green]

@skip-zip, you are absolutely right. Bethune-Cookman outscored the Zips by 3 points in the second half thanks to their stunning 11-3 run over the final 4 minutes of the game, reducing the Zips' final margin of victory from 36 points all the way down to 28. It's completely understandable that focusing on this could make a Zips fan miserable over what turned out to be only a 28-point victory.

[Z.I.P.]

The second half was nothing more than a glorified practice. Lots of different combinations and players looking for some PT. Diggs only played 19 minutes, most of them in the first half. I don't fault the players for struggling to keep their focus when it was obvious we could have blown these guys out by 50 if we had kept the pedal to the metal. I think Melo is slowly playing himself out of the rotation. Late in the second half, KD almost inserted Ricardo Hill into the lineup before he thought better of it.

Just for the record, I bet the Oregon State fans are saying the very same things about their team's recent games versus powerhouses Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Maryland Eastern Shore, against both of whom they played about 15 minutes of basketball worthy of blowing away their opponents, then cruised to closer victories than they wished. We will find out Sunday around 1630 HST which team has the capacity to play closer to 40 minutes of sustained power basketball. Hopefully the Beavs get starstruck by their coaches' brother-in-law and fall on their faces, but I wouldn't count on it! They have two players as good as anyone in the MAC, then a bunch of junk.