[UAZip0510]

LINK

A few excerpts:

He trained with his first coach at St. Vincent--St. Mary High, Keith Dambrot, who had barely worked with him since he was a rookie. "A lot of people are intimidated by LeBron, but he wants the truth," says Dambrot, now the coach at Akron. "He's not too big to take criticism. I told him, 'You have to do more things you don't want to do. You have to do more offensive and defensive rebounding, moving without the ball, all the basics that made you great going back to the beginning.'"

-----------------------------------------------------------

When the Heat has won 101--98, James finds Jay-Z's nephew in the courtside seats and slips his headband around the boy's neck. He removes his Nikes and hands those over as well. He tells the Heat's TV announcers he never thought he would hear MVP chants in an opposing arena again. Still, he will receive a text from Dambrot saying he needs to grab more rebounds.

[Dave in Green]

No one has yet been able to produce hard evidence that proves or disproves the value of LeBron's support to the Zips basketball program. In the absence of such data, no one gets to claim victory in this debate. It's a tie.

[Zips Win!]

No one has yet been able to produce hard evidence that proves or disproves the value of LeBron's support to the Zips basketball program. In the absence of such data, no one gets to claim victory in this debate. It's a tie.

+1

Best post ever by DIG. Short and sweet.

Yet another example of DIG never taking a stance, yet always riding the fence......

You know, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose..yada, yada, yada....

LBJ is KD's buddy. Great for them...

When LBJ's impact lands us a big-time player or a couple mil, please let me know...

Until then, it's much about nothing...

[Dave in Green]

.... Yet another example of DIG never taking a stance, yet always riding the fence......

You know, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose..yada, yada, yada....

Guess it went right over your head. I thought it would be pretty clear to everyone that my stance is that LeBron's association with Zips basketball is a valuable asset because it can help make the program more attractive to quality young players. Just because there's been no proof presented here yet that it hasn't already happened doesn't mean it hasn't or won't. I value assets, and I like them even better when I know for sure that the assets have been leveraged to produce results.

[GP1]

I value assets, and I like them even better when I know for sure that the assets have been leveraged to produce results.

So do I. Results have to measureable in a way that has to be statistically relevant. I see James connection to the basketball program as nothing but an interesting sideshow that has no negative impact on the program. Fans like a good sideshow, but they do little to further the cause.

I believe we get good players here because they want to be involved with a winning program primarily. Playing a pick-up game or two with James over a four year period can't possibly by their primary motivation and I don't even want that kind of player on the team. We need winners, not stargazers.

I don't know why I always have to be the one to bring these things up, but here it goes. Nobody will say these national references of James/Dambrot do more for Dambrot than the basketball program. This article will do almost nothing to bring in a top level recruit or even have enough impact on the memory of someone to cause them to buy one ticket next season. Who is sitting around and saying, "I want to go watch the guy coach who told LBJ he has to do a better job of rebounding"? I don't think this person exists. After eight years and this same article getting republished in some for or another 1,000 times, he would have bought the tickets already. It doesn't hurt the program, but it doesn't help either.

[UAZip0510]

So do I. Results have to measureable in a way that has to be statistically relevant. I see James connection to the basketball program as nothing but an interesting sideshow that has no negative impact on the program. Fans like a good sideshow, but they do little to further the cause.

I believe we get good players here because they want to be involved with a winning program primarily. Playing a pick-up game or two with James over a four year period can't possibly by their primary motivation and I don't even want that kind of player on the team. We need winners, not stargazers.

I don't know why I always have to be the one to bring these things up, but here it goes. Nobody will say these national references of James/Dambrot do more for Dambrot than the basketball program. This article will do almost nothing to bring in a top level recruit or even have enough impact on the memory of someone to cause them to buy one ticket next season. Who is sitting around and saying, "I want to go watch the guy coach who told LBJ he has to do a better job of rebounding"? I don't think this person exists. After eight years and this same article getting republished in some for or another 1,000 times, he would have bought the tickets already. It doesn't hurt the program, but it doesn't help either.

I agree that, despite no evidence of him helping our program, his loose ties can't hurt anything. I guess I just get tired of our fans/alumni/program catering to him when it serves him when he could be making a significant impact to our program (recruiting, arena, etc) and instead chooses to help Ohio State and/or Kentucky.

[skip-zip]

I agree that, despite no evidence of him helping our program, his loose ties can't hurt anything. I guess I just get tired of our fans/alumni/program catering to him when it serves him when he could be making a significant impact to our program (recruiting, arena, etc) and instead chooses to help Ohio State and/or Kentucky.

Were you at Trivia Night last night? Someone won a prize to have dinner with Keith. And French made some type of remark along the lines of "...maybe he'll bring LeBron along with him for an extra bonus".

Akron basketball has a connection with a big-time celebrity. Why would any Zips fan possibly ever get tired of that? I don't even care that he has other teams that he likes. He talks about Akron among his millions of nationwide fans. Once again, the U of A can't buy that kind of publicity.