Zips vs USC Charleston Classic

[GP1]

One request for the douche who almost got thrown out for heckling the refs non-stop. Please join the adult world. I stopped heckling refs when I turned 30...and I stopped wearing jerseys to games before I turned 20.

[skip-zip]

Amazing. USC might be young, and not very good, but I still wasn't expecting this.

1) I'm going to continue to allow my wife to yell at Pat at home games, because it appears to be working. A little bit of extra focus, and a little bit of extra effort was all he ever had to do to improve his game. Having more minutes and very little competition from USC close to the basket also helped.

2) I already feel that Kwan and Nyles are really the keys to this season. Those two are probably always going to be the unexpected contributors. And when they do contribute, we should win.

Here's the deal. Today, a team responded to a crisis. We see it all the time. A coach gets fired, and a team responds and plays their best game of a season. It often happens after a season-ending injury to a key player, etc. But, where will these guys be 5 games from now? Or, 10 games from now? Will the fire to respond to such a big change in their situation still be there?

[skip-zip]

One request for the douche who almost got thrown out for heckling the refs non-stop. Please join the adult world. I stopped heckling refs when I turned 30...and I stopped wearing jerseys to games before I turned 20.

French brought this up, and actually thought it was ridiculous that our fan was being scolded. I was wondering what the situation was all about, and if anyone who might have been closer to the situation knew more.

And for the record....I've had my moments heckling refs, even recently, and I'm pretty old.

[ZachTheZip]

McAdams and Kretzer were both ice-cold from the field.

[Dr Z]

One request for the douche who almost got thrown out for heckling the refs non-stop. Please join the adult world. I stopped heckling refs when I turned 30.

Right. Be glad you don't attend many games at the JAR, you think it's bad reading about the refs on ZN, you should hear the JAR sometimes. Embarrassing. I was convinced when they stopped the game and showed the refs going to security it was a Zips fan.

[GP1]

French brought this up, and actually thought it was ridiculous that our fan was being scolded.

The guy was making an ass of himself.

[Captain Kangaroo]

The guy was making an ass of himself.

I have a great guess who it was.

[Balsy]

How do we solve our continued offensive dry spells?

With long defensive-streaks?

[GP1]

How do we solve our continued offensive dry spells?

As the early season progresses, this should take care of itself. Lots of young guys come in and take poor shots. As these guys earn more time on the bench, there will be fewer bad shots.

[GP1]

I have a great guess who it was.

I would like to say I was writing about myself, but I'm reserving making an ass out of myself until later in the evening.

[zippy5]

Miami is spanking Drexel

[Eagle66]

Good win today Zips. Good luck tomorrow against the Hurricanes.

[ZachTheZip]

Miami should finish right around 10th (of 15) in the ACC. That still means they're a really good team.

The players just need to keep their heads on their shoulders and not let today's success make them overly confident. It's good to take some confidence from a good win, but not good to think you're a world-beater.

[1981 grad]

Tree's minutes had to go somewhere and it is great to see Kwan and Pat step up. I read that Kwan's family made the trip. How exciting for them to watch their son have a career game against a name opponent. I hope that their contributions continue and we can beat Miami tomorrow.

[Dave in Green]

The ref in question was the one I mentioned earlier. He went from questionable calls against both teams in the first half to mostly against the Zips in the second -- 6 fouls against the Zips to 1 for USC at one point. Here's just one example: A USC player started a wild drive to the bucket and clearly traveled. Both of the officials close to the play started to signal travel. The bad ref who was further away called a foul against the Zips and overrode the other two refs. Everyone could clearly see what was happening and the crowd was protesting louder and louder.

I didn't hear what the one Zips fan said so I can't say whether or not it was in bad taste. The bad ref deserved to be called out for bad calls, but there are limits. Most of the catcalls I heard from our section were telling the bad ref to call them the same at both ends. It's something you hear at every basketball arena in the country. People pay to see an evenly officiated game and register their displeasure when they see bad calls against their team. The coaches and players know when they're getting screwed, and they appreciate it when their fans voice their support. There wasn't much of a problem in the first half when questionable calls were going both ways.

[zippy5]

I didn't get to see or listen to any of it.. had a non-profit seminar. Yay. Anyway, I see Noah, Nyles and Reggie started.. Were they on the floor at the same time for a while? Just curious if Reggie moved to more of a 3 man this year, as Nyles and Noah definitely weren't the ones to move to 3 I'd presume. Looks like Deji had a pretty efficient game as well. I think him and Nyles could provide some positives if they stay around 15 minutes apiece.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Congrats to the Zips on a dominating win over a marquee-name opponent. Keep it rolling.

[zipsrule]

Great win.

[gozips19]

watched the 1st half live while at lunch and just watched the 2nd half. Here's a few thoughts.

Love the transformation of Evans. Last year he was a guy looking for his shot only. This year he's getting boards, finding opening teammates, and playing pesky D.

It was said before but Kwan is going to be a very good player sooner rather than later. Great skill set.

Speaking of transformations; welcome Pat! Played great today and it was nice to see him smiling.

All of the hype of the frosh point guards is true. Robo is rock solid and strong for his age. Antino is a great change of pace. You can tell both came from winning HS and AAU programs as they were not phased by playing a power 5 school.

Not to pile on Carmelo but the two freshmen have combined for 34 points in two games. Melo had 66 all of last season.

Jake and BJ looked lost today.

The team still had some issues with the zone but I feel better about it than in years past.

KD had his team ready and USC looked lost. Excited to see this team take another step tomorrow against the U.

[Z.I.P.]

Congratulations to the Zips, and their manic-depressive fan base! You guys are more volatile than energy stocks have been lately. Anyway...having watched the ("marquee name", but not game) Trojans in their last two times on the court on P-12Net -- losing to middle-of-the-Big Sky Portland St. and beating with difficulty a lower OVC Tenn Tech team, I would have been surprised and way past disappointed if Akron had not beaten this group. How good...okay, "bad" is SC? I think they would finish right near Bowling Green in the MAC East.

I missed the live video action today (but followed most of it on a gametracker), but from the two games SC I watched, I was expecting a game similar to the last Akron outing versus a PAC-12 team, the game in my back yard last December in the opening round of the Diamond Head Classic against Obama, er, um, excuse me, Oregon State. Like SoCal (okay -- I'm guessing), OSU allowed Akron to get off open jumpers in rhythm (by Reggie and Jake last yr) and Pat had little trouble cleaning up on the boards (very similar numbers to today's near-double-double). I fear an opponent that is less lazy defensively and comes out to defend the perimeter will give Akron fits -- just like their second round opponent in the DHC -- Iowa State did (after Akron took a 20-12 lead 12 minutes into the 1st half). When Quincy went out to lunch -- which was most of the tournament last year -- they had no one except the occasional Deji Ibitayo able or willing to drive the lane, and that fact was eaten up by the Cyclones AND Gamecocks following the solitary victory.

Also like last year, the second round opponent is a monster -- did you see the Canes beating Florida a few days ago? They're big, long and talented -- like Akron hopes our team can become with the current personnel. I happen to share the belief that this team can be as good as most of our recent 23-26 win teams. And a lot of that hope rests on the shoulders of the freshmen PGs! Tino (is that now the accepted appellation?) basically put this one away with his make-steal-make from beyond the arc after the Trojans put on their short-lived comeback mid way thru half #2. From a defensive standpoint -- which is the optimal view of the game for Zips coaches and fans -- the big part of victory was the ability to shut down McLaughlin, who was averaging 20 pts and +7 APG coming in. Either we took him off his game, or he just stunk -- either way that is a big part of the 20 pt difference. That heckler -- I hope he took some time to get on the M&M poser for the Troj's -- did you like that white guy -- Reinhart -- with the tats? Thank him for going 2 for 10 according to the stats. I know that tomorrow's game is on TV, but why can't they play an afternoon game? 9:30 in the islands is just too difficult -- in between start of work and lunch break.

Now, I have to figure out who these guys on the bottom of the score sheet are -- Walters, Hill and Noble? Welcome to the MACtion, gentlemen!

[Z.I.P.]

Now he has the second team in there, and he has to pull them back out. Antino and BJ are NOT ready for a lot of minutes yet.

I'm guessing this was BEFORE Tino exploded, and the Trojans keeled.

[akronzips71]

I'm guessing this was BEFORE Tino exploded, and the Trojans keeled.

Yup, after a few chucks he got rid of the butterflies and was quite impressive

[tpsjugglerdude]

USC had the #12 ranked recruiting class this year. I would take our frosh PGs over their's any day.

[GoZips]

. . .

Now, I have to figure out who these guys on the bottom of the score sheet are -- Walters, Hill and Noble?

Mark Noble, 6-4, soph, walk-on forward

Ricardo Hill, 5-8, walk on, red shirt freshman, guard. He attended high school with Isaiah Johnson

Malcolm Walters, 6-3, frosh, walk on point guard, was starting PG on state champion Lakewood St. Ed's

All three of these young men could earn scholarships at low Div.-1

[LZIp]

I dont think USC is very good at all, but it was great to see us beat a major program like that. It was nice to see Kwan, PGs (Robo and Jackson), AND FORSYTHE have great games. I have a weird, but good feeling about this team. I like the athleticism and character. I've ripped KD in the past for the quality of character the young gentleman he brings into the program possess, but I have a different feeling about these guys. We may have some downs the season, as expected from a young team, but I have little doubt that we will reach that 21 win mark.

A chance for a quality win against Miami tomorrow. They were picked in the lower half of the ACC, but I think they can finish in the upper 3rd with Angel Rodriguez. They also have another nice player who is slipping my mind right now out with an injury and had a great win against Florida. If we can contain Rod, I think we have a chance to win. I dont know if we have a guard defender like that, but I guess we will see!

Go Zips! Officially excited for the season again after watching this game.