Zips vs. Northern Illinois

[Captain Kangaroo]

Look out for the Huskies

[LoyalZIP]

Dambrot's heart isn't in it

[kreed5120]

Good, good. Let them sleep on a team and coach that has made it to at least the semifinals of the MAC tournament every year for the past 10 years.

[LoyalZIP]

Big Dog picked up another East PoW http://mac-sports.com/news/2016/1/25/MBB_0125163646.aspx?path=

He has the second most in the league behind Boothe. He only played 17 minutes Saturday so the extra rest could be huge against NIU.

[The Hip Zip]

Zips open up as the 6 pt favorite, I like our chances to cover that.

[skip-zip]

I'll believe that Northern is a legit contender when I see it. And I haven't seen them. I will see them for the first time tomorrow, and I still don't believe it.

[Dr Z]

NIU is 16-3 & leads the West with a 5-1 mark.

The Huskies have won two straight games against CMU & Toledo.

NIU's only conference loss came at WMU.. More at go zips dot com.

[kreed5120]

I wouldn't have guessed Akron to be favored as much as it is vs. a NIU that has gotten off to a great start. Then again how unpredictable MAC play has gone so far, I'm not going to pretend I know how this game pans out.

[Glib Shanley]

Any ideas why the Akron Blue & Gold is having a Black Out for a team whose colors are Black & Red?

[Big E Zip]

To be honest I'm shocked that we're even favorites at all considering they beat the two teams we lost to. And their loss to Western was influenced by having 4 guys tossed out of the game 3 minutes in. I'm not trying to be negative, but this game does worry me.

[AyYo]

To be honest I'm shocked that we're even favorites at all considering they beat the two teams we lost to. And their loss to Western was influenced by having 4 guys tossed out of the game 3 minutes in. I'm not trying to be negative, but this game does worry me.

They had 4 guys tossed in one game? What happened? Is there video?

[Big E Zip]

Ya there's video. I think I saw it on Hustlebelt.com

[LoyalZIP]

They had 4 guys tossed in one game? What happened? Is there video?

http://www.hustlebelt.com/mac-basketball/2016/1/16/10780832/niu-huskies-wmu-broncos-mens-basketball-final-recap-scrum-ejections

[The Hip Zip]

I made a post about the incident here on Zip Nation about 5 topics back.... Very observant crew we have here.

[The Hip Zip]

Good student section material: Travon Baker... .Cheap shot Taker....

[LoyalZIP]

Good student section material: Travon Baker... .Cheap shot Taker....

I hope Antino gets in his head big time

[Sportsjunkie330]

Any ideas why the Akron Blue & Gold is having a Black Out for a team whose colors are Black & Red?

HA! Based on other decisions that the marketing dept makes (or doesn't make,) I'm sure that they have no clue the NIU's colors are red & black.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Sportsjunkie330

[Dr Z]

Any ideas why the Akron Blue & Gold is having a Black Out for a team whose colors are Black & Red?

Some blame the loss to Notre Dame in the 2011 NCAA tournament on the same issue. What were we thinking wearing Blue?

Edited January 26, 2016 by Dr Z

[The Hip Zip]

 

On 1/25/2016 at 4:03 PM, skip-zip said:

I'll believe that Northern is a legit contender when I see it.  And I haven't seen them.  I will see them for the first time tomorrow, and I still don't believe it. 

Curious as to what you now think after watching them. As for me, I've been a believer and maybe even a bigger believer now

[ZachTheZip]

NIU is pesky but very inexperienced. The real question is whether their coach lasts long enough to build something before he is either hired away or fired.

[Jalapeño Zippy]

I thought the NIU freshman played very well. I still can't get over that at one point there were more fouls than field goals made about 10 minutes into the contest.

Kwan looked very good. Still can't get over his post game press conference where he was blaming his struggles on not being in the gym enough...I was a little surprised by that comment.

Great win!

[ZachTheZip]

Hopefully Kwan has figured out what he needs to do to play at a higher level. Until last night, he had seriously regressed from last season. If he can get his mid-range shot going, he'll provide something that we currently completely lack on offense.

Edited January 27, 2016 by uakronkid

[zippyfan34]

Great thing about the website upgrade is Zach is now uakronkid again!

[Guest]

Really fun crowd and atmosphere last night. NIU is gonna be solid in the future, i think.

Travon Baker is a confirmed nutcase. Antino definitely got in his head and he was ineffective all night. Whistle-happy refs pretty much took Maric out too which was nice as he didn't do much. 

[Guest]

Early in that game last night, I leaned over to my wife and told her that Kwan was going to have to be "the man" tonight.  He was the only shooter we have that was not going to get hounded out at the 3 point line.  I really think they wanted to focus on Reggie, Jake, and the Guards as their game plan.  Luckily, that plan backfired as Kwan had a career night. 

I felt that Northern was very physical...maybe even dirty at times.  I was especially bothered by that punk who stood at the FT line shooting the Technicals, and gave the "quiet" sign to the students between shots.  If I were his coach, I would have yanked him.  But obviously, after their other recent issues, they are happy to wear that label.  I think that's how they have changed their fortunes.  It actually made for an exciting night.  I was more pumped up during that game than I've been in a long time, and Keith showed the way.