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Zips @ Kent State Friday on ESPN2


1981 grad

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We need that Noah on O. He was slow on D again but he played a solid game.  

Loved the effort of Ivey and Utomi. While Josh didn't score a ton I liked his game tonight. 

 

This effort level is needed to win the tourney.  They have the bracket in their favor to make it happen. 

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22 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

I like it.  But as French pointed out, we will have to play a WMU team that's won 8 in a row in the Semis.  

While that's true do you know how many of those 8 teams finished above .500 in the conference? 1

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Noah is the difference in our offense.  He is playing like he played as a freshman.  He took the ball to the hoop repeatedly and did not hesitate.  He got knocked down several times and got right back up.  He had a great steal.  Utomi also had a solid game.  He has a very strong move to the basket and can post up down low.  We now have 3 post up players, Kwan, Big Dog and Utomi.  KD indicated that he was going to give Utomi more minutes.  We played well even when Big Dog struggled against Hall, Kwan was in foul trouble, and Antino did not have his best game.  Finally, Jimond played really tough basketball with 12 rebounds.  You have to love his athleticism and his moves on the fast break.  I would still like to see more Poke.  I think it will be tough to play Big Dog 30 minutes a game in Cleveland.  Poke is playing well and love seeing him dunk the ball. 

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Solid bounce-back game for the Zips. Some key guys had off nights, and others picked up the slack. Zips needed to hit rock bottom to wake up, and the TEAM woke up tonight. Way to respond, Zips! Now take care of business at The Q and sport those Dancin' shoes!! You're the best team in the MAC! Time to strut your stuff!!

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Just staggered in back home after a great night. Thought it was one of the most physical MAC games I have seen in a long time and the Zips really toughed it out. The refs were pretty good. They couldn't call everything in a game like this or there would have been nobody left to play the last 5 minutes.

 

Other observations...

 

Big Dog got absolutely mauled all night long.

 

Ivey, in particular, was terrific. His finest night as a Zip.

 

Outstanding, spirited crowd and the Zip fans held their own.

 

Utomi and Poke will do nothing but get better. The future is looking good.

 

Thirsty Dog Old Leghumper can sneak up on a guy fast.

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Nice finish to the season for the struggling Zips.  Nice to go to Cleveland with a little momentum.

 

Noah and Ivey, and Utomi to a lesser extent, were huge.  Noah made himself an offensive threat last night and that substantially improves the offense.  Ivey was fired up from the opening tip-off and that fire is something they've lacked all year.  He really led by example.  The availability of Utomi was huge with Kwan again in foul trouble.  No moment seems to big for that kid.

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A much better game than the previous one in Akron.  Noah's play was solid and unlike the game in Akron, we wanted it more.  The series that really stands out to me is when we missed about 3 shots in a row under the basket and kept fighting for offensive rebounds.  Finally we got the ball out an Noah drained a 3.  That is a back breaker to the defense.

The last 4:00 minutes of the game, this team really stepped up.  I hope this is what we see at the Q next week.

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During last night's ESPN2 broadcast, the color commentator mentioned the name of the person who is apparently Akron basketball's "conduit" for Houston high school basketball recruiting -- Dan Robinson.  I Googled during the game and found one blog post apparently written by someone by that name about the Houston hoops scene.  He has a relationship with Charles Thomas.  I had long wondered how the Houston pipeline was established in the first place, and the only connection I had ever found was the women's bb coach at one of the HS's that we recruit (Cypress Springs, maybe)  was a former KSU player.  Anyone out there know more about our connection?

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Loved the game  of course but also loved the comments about this being the best mid-major rivalry in the country. ESPN color guy must have said it three or four times. Not sure if that's true but I like the fact that someone on ESPN sees this rivalry's value. National exposure is national exposure. 

The wife and I were discussing the key components of rivalries, and UA Can't certainly measures up: close W-L record, geographically close schools, consistent contenders in the same league etc. 

On to Cleveland.

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