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Zips at BGSU. Battle for first place.


RowdyZip

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This game was a big big piece of getting to 20 wins. I think we have 5 more home games. Win just 2 more on the road and it is a slam dunk. We should not have any problem winning 3 of 5 at home.

Keeping that 20 win streak alive is very important for future recruiting and scheduling. It put us into an elite group, and once we drop out, it takes years and years to get back there.

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I think the press at the end of the game was very effective. Gladden and Aron Jackson are great on the press. Would like to see that more with those guys. Great to see Gladden, a guy who was at the end of the bench at the beginning of the season sink the game winning shot. Fun game to watch.

I have noticed how much better Antino has been playing lately in the past 4-5 games. Here is his scoring line: In 11 minutes he scored 8 points, had one steal and one rebound and no turnovers. Big Dog did not have a good game and KD did not have him in at the end of the game. Was a brilliant move since we went small and quick.

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Antino had the true offensive play of the game. He drove the ball into the lane but as he jumped for the short floater a BG big jumped high between Antino and the basket with his arms high over his head. Antino didn't have a clear shot and his feet were about to come back to earth and earn him a traveling call. At the last second he bounces the ball off the defender's chest, the ball bounces right back into his hands and he scores an easy layup -- his only 2-pointer of the game. That's a play that takes quick reactions and smarts plus a big dose of luck that the ball bounces right back to you. Antino has come a long way from how he played in early season games.

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I saw him rubbing behind his ear on the bench and they were also doing a lot of shoulder strength checking. Maybe he hurt his neck more than his head?

I'm hoping you're right about that. He went headfirst into the chair with someone sitting in the chair, but his neck and shoulder area may have absorbed most of the impact.

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Inexcusable to lose a game like this to a pathetic team. And people wonder why joe akron doesn't care.

This comment is indicative of the defeatist attitude in NE Ohio and why Akron in particular is rated as having some of the worst fans in the country. Instead of staying and supporting the team when they need it in a close game, there is a quick shift to shut them out, start complaining and find excuses not to support the them. I am starting to believe that Joe Akron would prefer the teams lost. Seriously, if they won…..Joe wouldn't have anything to complain about. Oh btw, that pathetic team we just beat WAS tied for first with us and had beaten Ohio and Can't State. GREAT JOB ZIPS but until your school builds you a bright shiny new arena and schedules marquis top 20 teams at home - Joe Akron isn't coming.

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At the risk of being accused of becoming a blasphemous Zip faithful, try listening to the other play by play guys once in awhile. Sometimes Frenchy's homerism is just way too over the top for my tastes, I enjoy getting the other points of view. The BG guys are fairly good.

Great suggestion. I do this often. I like what the NFL channel does for preseason games, one half home announcers, one half visitors announcers.

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This game was a big big piece of getting to 20 wins.

I kept talking about how we needed to find some way to win at least 2 conference road games. I think there may even be a couple more out there, including Wed. at OU.

I'm pretty happy right now though. After the NIU debacle, I think we were all questioning if we could win any road conference games. And this one last night was so improbably. I don't think we played more than 5-10 min. of decent basketball offensively the entire night.

Maybe this says something about the relative strength of the MAC this year more than anything else. And this year, I'm fine with that. When Tree left, we truly had only option to getting to the NCAA tournament this year. And if nobody in this league is going to step up and take control, that's just fine with me. It gives us a chance.

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If we went small and fast, why wasn't Deji on the floor.

He has become one of our best defenders and is probably our most reliable foul shooter.

Maybe Coach Dambrot wanted to give next season's Deji a chance to show what he could do in crunch time. BJ will likely take over the designated slasher role after Deji graduates, and he's quickly evolving into a savvy defender. Time and again last night I saw both BJ and Aaron getting really nice defensive position, cutting passing lanes and generally disrupting BG's offensive flow. They're both really quick for their size, they're both full of energy and they're both relentless on D. The experience they're getting this season is not only preparing them well for the next 3 seasons but also paying dividends this season. Maybe Deji would have made the same putback play BJ did at the end to win the game, maybe not.

And speaking of defensive play, Kwan deserves a lot of credit for getting nice defensive position on a driving Richaun Holmes at the buzzer. Kwan came flying in at Holmes from an angle causing him to pull up short and take an off-balance 3 rather than take it all the way to the rim as OU's Ndour did to upset Buffalo on the game's last shot last week. Holmes appeared to be startled by Kwan's fast closing rate and actually traveled before getting the desperation heave off. Just great defensive play by the whole team in the closing minutes.

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I watched the Bowling Green feed. It was comical. Almost every time BG scored we saw a replay of the basket while live action was taking place. Missed some of the Akron offense. They never replayed an Akron basket. Never showed a replay of the game winning basket. The feed was OK but not fantastic. It was worth about 8 bucks. I wondered if the MAC feed was the same with the constant replays of the BG baskets?

The announcers were pretty good and actually commented on some bad calls by the refs against Akron. They only went ballistic once when an Akron player slid on a loose ball and called timeout. The announcers thought a travelling should be called.

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Maybe Coach Dambrot wanted to give next season's Deji a chance to show what he could do in crunch time.

Dave, I always have to comment on things like this. Coaches don't experiment for the future when they are in the last minute trying to win a key basketball game with first place in the conference on the line. Don't overanalyze it. He felt like we could win the game with the guys he had on the floor.

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Dave, I always have to comment on things like this. Coaches don't experiment for the future when they are in the last minute trying to win a key basketball game with first place in the conference on the line. Don't overanalyze it. He felt like we could win the game with the guys he had on the floor.

We're saying the same thing in different words. I agree that Coach Dambrot would not have had those 5 players on the court if he didn't believe they could win the game.

Since no one has yet commented on the Zips fan turnout, it was really good. Our busload of fans was in the first few rows opposite the Zips bench, and team family members and those who drove over on their own were in the lower section behind the Zips bench. We made enough noise to let the players know they had support, and toward the end of the game we actually had an effective ZI - PS cheer echoing back and forth across the floor. Zips fans definitely cut into the home court advantage.

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I watched the Bowling Green feed. It was comical. Almost every time BG scored we saw a replay of the basket while live action was taking place. Missed some of the Akron offense. They never replayed an Akron basket. Never showed a replay of the game winning basket. The feed was OK but not fantastic. It was worth about 8 bucks. I wondered if the MAC feed was the same with the constant replays of the BG baskets?

The announcers were pretty good and actually commented on some bad calls by the refs against Akron. They only went ballistic once when an Akron player slid on a loose ball and called timeout. The announcers thought a travelling should be called.

It was the same feed. Very frustrating.

For some reason, these feeds come through much better on my Android tablet than on a PC, even with a wired internet connection and better hardware specs. Don't know why, but if you can hook up an Android tablet to your TV you do get better video.

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