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Don't blame Groce for Mark's lack of ability to compete at the D1 level....disingenuous to suggest it was on Coach's back, if you ever watched him play at UA. No disagreement on Mark being a great kid, etc. but just wasn't a D1 baller. Walsh and mark will compliment each other.

On the bright side, 50% of the new system will be better than 100% of Milwee's

A couple weeks ago Zips redshirt sophomore receiver Jeremiah Knight was nice enough to answer a few questions from me and Dr. Z after practice. Here's his story - Catching On As always, thanks to Dr. Z for the great supporting photography and layout!

WVU released their non-conf schedule. Zips play at WVU on 11/8. WVU will play in Youngstown at the Covelli Center against the Penguins on 12/21. Mountaineers will be at the Fieldhouse in CLE on 12/29 to face the Buckeyes. https://bluegoldnews.com/west-virginia-mountaineers/wvu-announces-non-conference-mens-basketball-schedule/

Way too early predictions have UG3 making the 53 man roster Inside Linebacker (5) Dave: Vince Williams, Mark Barron, Devin Bush, Tyler Matakevich, Ulysses Gilbert III Analysis: They carry five players with Gilbert because of special teams value. He’ll battle with Matakevich for a game-day helmet. Jeff: Analysis: If there is a shock here it would be Matakevich getting cut if Gilbert shows out. But for what Matakevich lacks in talent, he makes up for in awareness and brains. I don’t see him getting cut. ------------------------------------ Dr Z: Analysis: I've watched more of Matakevich in a Steeler uniform, and Gilbert in a Zips uniform than most. I'll be shocked if Gilbert doesn't provide more value to the Steelers from day one, than Matakevich every did. Tomlin craves, what he calls "splash" plays, this is exactly what Gilbert will bring when he steps on the field. The speed between the two is not comparable, and will favor Gilbert.

If Groce had not insisted on moving screens, he might not have fouled out.

This post is highly inflammatory. There is no way I would ever wear purple slippers. Gotta go, I need to yell at the neighbors kids to keep off my lawn.

For those who wants us to recruit Cbus more

Bob has been officially hired by Chris Sabo as part of his recruiting staff.

I've never been there for a game, but have attended a few events over the years. Perhaps the most helpful (if not obvious) thing I would say is that The University of Illinois is in Champaign, downstate and nowhere near Chicago. The population of the "metro" is only 200,000. This means that you should book hotels early because they don't have the inventory like Chicago (for which Northwestern that can host a home game and hardly make a dent on the local hotel availability). Fortunately, they have little hope for their football team, so that should keep after-market ticket prices low.

And still learning new systems.

Zips win both Men's and Women's Championship!!

Those amenities could be shared with the ball parks and soccer field. Having everything clustered on campus opens a lot of opportunities to make the events a destination, where they would be in place for track, softball, soccer, and baseball. Decent rest rooms. What about a place for food trucks? Maybe place things to do near the entrance of the Team Shop. Draw more people into there. Most minor league baseball fans don't care whether the team is AA, A, independent league. Or what those mean. They go for an affordable day outside at a decent facility with a choice of foods. And maybe one day being able to say "I saw them play back when...". Schedule several games/events at once to make it worthwhile. Charge admission to ball games. IMO that would help attendance. Make it more "something to do" than going to watch a game or event.

K Brown article https://dawindycity.com/2019/04/23/chicago-bears-nfl-draft-kyron-brown/ Zips haven't had 2 players drafted in the same draft. Let alone 3 right?!

I checked out a few short clips I could find of him. He seems to be able to move the court well and has good athleticism. Not sure if he can shoot or not as all the clips I came a crossed were short clips of him dunking. Here is a video of him taking off from the free throw line and dunking.

http://verbalcommits.com/players/jonathan-dos-anjos

Zips T & F soldiers on...out west at Mt. St. Mary's Tevin Brown breaks school record in the 10,000 meter and Mackenzie Andrews sets new school record in the steeplechase! It's been a while since we've had strength in the long distances....way to go Tev and Mack!

I feel it was done in an effort to draw more interest to the non-revenue sports. It was a good idea, but really hasn't achieved what it was set out to do. Most fans still really only get excited about the football and men's basketball match-ups (particularly when they meet in Cleveland), which is no different than before.

I wish we were playing this Illinois team in year 3 or 4 of Arth's tenure. We're facing an Illinois team while they're down, but they're also facing an Akron team that will be pretty depleted as well.

Definitely. Marcus Wattley as HC & Otis as an assistant. I just hope neither have bad feelings or resentment toward UA for not being retained by Coach Arth. Here's the tweet I saw. Idk when/where it was taken, but Otis is sporting Zips' gear.

Looks like we've got another addition to the 2019 class. DL with what should be 2 years to play. Also had offers from Kent, Kansas, and Charlotte in this recruiting cycle. https://247sports.com/Player/JaQuize-Cross-83046/high-school-143915/

Wait! The HUDL video shows him at 6'4", Big Shots says 6'0" That is a pretty big difference.

I'm with Zips Voice on this one. This program can easily be expense neutral. With the rental we could get from the facility plus the revenue generated by attendance at key meets plus the positive impact T&F has on enrollment, this program is extremely valuable to U of A. I had lunch with a prominent head coach this winter. During the meal I commented that I couldn't figure out why we added W LAX when all programs were fighting for budget dollars. He said LAX would not hurt his or any other program. It would cover its cost by boosting enrollment thru getting athletes who wanted to play here, generate donations from supporters and enhance our reputation. Costs would not get out of control. T & F is similar in that many athletes come to Akron to be part of this program while getting little aid. Most get academic aid since the scholarship money is limited. The program helps enrollment thru the athletes it draws let alone the impact it has on our reputation. I was on campus two years ago for the spring football game, a night soccer game and the Akron Quad T & F meet, all on the same day. I enjoyed the quad most of all. It was well attended with hundreds of people in the stands. With a little bit of marketing and better fan amenities a few targeted meets could draw quite well. The Akron public appreciates good T & F. Mitchell is building something special here and all we need do is get out of his way and let him work miracles with the limited budget he has. Building and maintaining a superior T & F facility is well worth it and will not drain the athletic dept budget.

Same thing

If Kostelac was a D1 talent another D1 school would have snatched him up. He was destined to a career on the bench at any reasonable D1 school. Walsh is a good fit.

Good for Mark. That's a well-coached (by Akron Ellet's own Jeff Young) and a level of play where he can excel.

He’s only going to get better. Really looking forward to seeing what Arth and Gasser do with our WR’s this year, and next (with everyone returning).

What the hell did he just say? Do we have a board interpreter? If he is at UA I hope he pays attention to his English classes.

Ali made the Indiana All-Star team. Based off the below report he also had season ending shoulder surgery. I'm not sure if that will have an impact on his availability next fall or not. VIDEO: Much love to East Noble's @IamAlix2 for making the Indiana All-Star team - huge honor! Unfortunately, he had surgery for a shoulder injury and won't be able to whoop up on Kentucky, but best of luck to the future @ZipsMBB guard! @CoachRyanEakins @ENobleSchCorp https://t.co/mh17mDbjFS

TRibble was our last scholarship. In hindsight, I would rather Dos Anjos than Maishe. We would get a player who can play next year and then develop hopefully over 4 years. I just don't think our needs were to have someone sit for a year then play for one year. WE need to build a team, not rent a player.

Mykel is going to get an opportunity with the Oakland Raiders.

He is a player and looks like he might bulk up a bit.

What could Ulysees first NFL contract look like:

Muncie had some Testicle Tech players for their pick. Would’ve been cool if they mentioned the college team for Akron’s pick.

Looks like we are going to announce the Browns 6th round pick. Them taking a Zip would be sweet!

Making Lemonade out of lemons....that's what the coaching staff and athletic department did this past week, cobbling together the best alternative to not holding the Campbell/Wright Invitational track meet, and also Senior Day. So Friday May 3rd the jav and hammer throwers will be at Lee Jackson at 1:30 pm to start things off. Then on Saturday May 4th the crew head to Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls to compete the running events from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., then head back to Lee Jackson for a 2:30 p.m. start of the pole vault, high jump, long jump, triple jump, discus and shot....plus they'll honor the seniors on the team and their parents for Senior Day. Not ideal, but no one thoughts we'd see any track and field this season outdoors, and somehow they managed to pull off both the NEO Quad and this one....Now hold your breath to see what the University does with or for T & F.

Chris Bassitt pitched five scoreless innings against the Rangers to take the win in his first start of the season. He gave up 2 hits.

I want the entire team!

This video is pretty good also. It shows more of Jonathon Dos Anjos game. He is wearing #23 Blue/White. There looks to be a bunch of talent in blue/white, but Dos Anjos is definitely a warrior with a high motor. Me likey.

Riak as well. It would be a nice little pipeline to build.

CLE could do better...

Big thanks to our beat reporters! I get the feeling that Boogie's attitude is pervasive with this team. I'm looking forward to this fall.

Another great article with great pics. Thanks Captain and Dr. Z!

We never really had the personnel to run it and we still don't. I identified the below as why a D'Antoni system wouldn't have worked for us last year. 2) We didn't have bigs who could run the court 7) & 8) pretty much go together. The system requires playing more guys and a benefit is you wear down your opponent. We only had what 8 scholarship players? Instead of wearing down our opponents trying to be a running team, we would in turn wear ourselves down. We needed more depth 10) In order to get opposing bigs away from the basket they need to respect your teams big mid-range & 3-point shooting The last point might be the biggest. "Tough to run without good shooters". I don't think this point needs any explanation.

One of my students recently told me that they were offered by UA to play baseball. He was bummed because he said he'd much rather play D-I MAC baseball; but already made the commitment to another school (not D-I MAC). Apparently there is a significant $-fee to pay in order to decommit from a program...who would have known? Based on his home situation/background decommiting is not in the cards. At any rate, I wanted to mention this because I talked to him for awhile and it kinda blew my mind a little bit how knowledgable he was about Akron's baseball situation and it showed me that local kids do pay attention to our baseball program. Kinda got me a little excited about Akron Baseball for the first time...like ever. Just thought I'd pass that good vibe along.

Staff has been working their butt off on the recruiting trail per twitter. Wonder when we'll get the first commit of the class?