Blue & Gold

We need to start Wood and C. McKnight and tell them to get out there and bully Ham-Sandwich & Mike Scott and push them around. Both those guys are athletic as get out, but very light. Q's playing better this year than last, but last year I could tell he was intimidated inside by Wood (and Rome) throwing his weight around. When the thick & muscular B. McKnight gets in the game KD's gotta tell him the same - push those guys around out there! Like last year, scare the hell out of them! Wood's gotta let those two know that if they come inside then he can put either of them into the 3rd row w/ his hip.

With this weather, I hope that Zeke is still able to make the game tomorrow night!

Him and the rowdies will at least something in common....no clapingHaha, you can bash the number of rowdies that show up all you want, but the ones that show up are as loud as can be.True! The Rowdies on the south side of the JAR are some of the best fans I've ever seen! The Rowdies sitting on the north side could use a little help, but, whatever. I think that as UA keeps building dorms and the resident student population continues to exponentially climb, The Info and the JAR will be the places to be for students on game nights and have truly crazy student sections. UA is definitely the up-and-coming U in the entire MAC. In about 3 years we'll be the MAC flagship institution!

Here's an article by Tom Gaffney in today's ABJ concerning spring football. It's a pretty vanilla article & probably doesn't have any information you don't already know. But, since you're probably snowed in today, enjoy the read!http://www.ohio.com/sports/16410221.html

Here's a really nice article on Walsh University & St.V/St.M's Corey Jones & Brandon Weems. It is by D.L.Morgan and in today's ABJ.http://www.ohio.com/sports/16410216.html

Does anyone know when the All-Ohio boys teams are going to be announced?

I believe it looks like they've bulldozed one of the old buildings along Exchange!!! Amen!Unfortunately I see that the plasma donation center is still standing. Maybe we could send the bulldozer across the street...

4 giant steps that must be taken to make both the University Park District and the Downtown District more pedestrian friendly:1) Move the Metro Bus transfer station AWAY from the downtown Superblock! Fortunately this giant step is already in the planning stages.2) Drop a bomb on the plasma donation center! NO... I repeat, NO competent and responsible parent would want their son or daughter walking the campus streets w/ people hanging around such as the plasma donation center attracts. Drop that bomb tomorrow! 3) Clear out the Mayflower! It's colorful cast of characters have the very same effect as the plasma donation center loiters. Move them faaaaar away from the city center. 4) The safety of UA students should be the APD's #1 priority! UA is the single most important entitiy to the future identity of this city. For the future of this city, Summit County, and the surrounding areas - from Hudson to Canton, from Can't to Medina - The U and U-Park must have stellar images!If anyone thinks that moving the vagrants far, far away is less-than-politically-correct, well, they're probably right. These steps, however, are "Hello McFly," real world moves. This isn't a communist nation. These are common sense, very real-world steps that absolutely must be taken if we want the University Park District and Downtown District to flourish.

I remembering hearing on the radio that the Irwin kid actually ended up committing to St. Joe's. But the coach that Joe Dunn was interviewing could have simply mis-spoken. Does anyone know whether the Irwin kid has put up numbers comparable to Nic? From all the articles I've read (just the articles that have been posted here on ZipsNation) Nik really seems like the best player, leader & heart-n-soul of that team.

The article states that Nik's team plays in the Virginia Independent School Division II. Um... I'm not sure what that means exactly, but just from the sound of it, that doesn't sound like he would be facing very stiff competition, does it? What's an "independent" school anyway? They are obviously not associated with the Virginia public schools system, and apparently not in the same state tournament as the public schools - unlike Ohio parochial schools who participate in the state tourney. Would an "Independent" be a member of a small Christian schools coalition?Then again, I suppose that Oak Hill Academy could very well be a member of the Virginia Independent Schools division as well. So maybe the competition is decent after all.

I thought the Patriot Bowl was axed? And anyway, we get Army, and Can't gets BC?! No fair!

Yikes... anywhere closer to Akron?That's not far at all. I live south of town and can get there in 10 minutes. It's near Belden Village mall. I've got a friend that works in the mall and he says he sees the Zips basketball players walking around there once in a while. It's a drive if you live out on the west side, but for central & south Akron it's no problem. Nice place, too!

In my spare time as I surf the net looking at new college arenas under construction, I am beginning to favor basketball-specific arenas. The arenas that are larger - like The Q, or Value City Arena, or even the Canton Convention Center, with enough floor space to host hockey and arena football games - IMO seem to have poorer sight lines for basketball. Basketball-specific arenas, though smaller in size, are still quite flexible - more than adequate space to hold major concerts - and offer perfect sightlines for basketball. I've listed some very interesting links below. The largest basketball-specific facility listed below is the U. of Virginia's, holding around 14,000. The smallest is the U. of Rhode Island's facility, holding around 7,500. Maybe I'm thinking too small, but I think a 10 - 12,000 seat basketball-specific arena would be ideal for downtown Akron. Many of you will probably disagree, and I may change my mind tomorrow!Some beautiful basketball-specific arenas that are very nice include:USC Trojans - The Galen Centerhttp://usctrojans.cstv.com/facilities/usc-galen-center.htmlMissouri State University - The JQH Arena (just came across this one last night; looks fantastic!)http://www.missouristate.edu/arena/?KEY=&a...CRIBER_CONTENT=St. Louis University - The Chaifetz Arenahttp://www.thechaifetzarena.com/University of Rhode Island - The Ryan Centerhttp://gorhody.cstv.com/facilities/uri-ryan-center.htmlUniversity of Virginia - The John Paul Jones Arenahttp://www.johnpauljonesarena.com/index.aspUniversity of Pittsburgh - Peterson Events Centerhttp://www.peterseneventscenter.com/index.asp

IMO, heck no! The selection committee would be peeing their pants with joy as they could then include a .500 Big East, ACC or Big 10 team.

I'm sure it is a dream-come-true for him to play in Detroit. Hopefully it works out for him.It would be a dream-come-true for me to play football in Siberia for 5M for 2 years!!!

Good for Romeo. I guess that makes me one of the "older people?"

IMO the NCAA selection committee doesn't have any standards/criteria for selecting or denying the mid-major programs. IMO I truly believe that the NCAA selection committee actually looks for any reason to keep the mid-majors out. The NCAA tourney is a racket.

Ha. That sounds so mean, but skip-zip's right. That's an accurate statement when he says most people don't even know VCU is a school. I became a little embarrassed and aggravated when I would tell my friends who we were playing in the Bracketbuster game - trying to hype the game and get them to come out - because without fail every one of them said, "Who?" I'd tell them, "Remember, they beat Duke in the NCAA tourney last year?!" And they'd respond, "Oh. Uh.. I think I kinda remember that." Oh, well. We mid-majors definitely have it rough. At least the Zippers got Temple & Dayton this year and then Ohio, Miami & K.e.n.t. twice every year, so that's a really good schedule - definitely worth the price of season tickets. Throw in VCU and Winthrop and IMHO that's a great mid-major schedule.

Exactly. Our schedule is fine. Losing to Duke and NC does nothing for you. One has to remember that on top of losing to VCU, Winthrop, K.e.n.t. & Dayton we also have bad losses against N.Illinois and Central Michigan. Western Michigan is an understandable loss, but 1) they pounded us and 2) K.e.n.t. beat them! So right now K.e.n.t. is 1) winning games they should win / not losing games they shouldn't lose, and 2) winning the toss-up games. In our program's history we have been inconsistent w/ #1 and completely unsuccessful w/ #2. No wonder K.e.n.t. is in the Top 25. They deserve it. We don't. The schedule's not the issue. If we had accomplished what Can't has w/ both points 1 and 2 above, we'd be in the Top 25 right now too.

So did I. He must have been drafted in a late round and thought that another free year of college was worth more than what he'd make playing in the minors?

Can someone out there w/ more basketball knowledge than I help me out? What kind of offense do we run? We don't seem to do ANYTHING but look to hoist up 3-pointers. IMHO that's not a quality offense. What was with that Dials 3 at the end there? I understand letting your athletes & shooters make plays, but I just don't really see any offensive strategy going on out on the floor. Kinda like coach Brown of the CAVS just giving the ball to LeBron at the end of games and seeing what happens. I understand letting your best players do what they do best, but that doesn't seem to require much coaching, per se.

Great game. Very intense! Lots of fun. Maynor is the real deal! Very smooth. VCU look like a Sweet 16 team!

I hope the Wisky game's not back on. Though I am growing weary and bored of seeing Army on the schedule every year, I do like the idea of scheduling Cincy & Syracuse level opponents. I really think it would be wise to take additional smaller-steps like those (Cincy & 'Cuse) to build up the competitive/winning culture of our program more before taking on the upper-echelon, elite BCS schools. I say take on anyone from the ACC (excluding Miami) and anyone from the Big East (I'd be all for scheduling as many Big East opponents as possible!). IMO, stear completely away from the SEC (except for Kentucky and Vanderbilt). And as far as the Big 10 goes, I say schedule Northwestern, Michigan State, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois & Purdue, but steer clear of Wisky, Michigan, Iowa, OSU & Penn State.Additionally, to build a winning culture on the team, I'm for scheduling a I-AA opponent every year to start the season. A lot of teams do that! A lot of elite BCS schools do that! Since there are no scrimmages allowed in college ball (?!) I think it's a good idea! Get a win under your belt right off the bat. Experiment w/ the playbook. See what gametime talent you've got on the field. Do our fans a favor by taking advantage of the nice weather of early September. And bring in some nice, marketable opponents. Some great I-AA draws could be Youngstown State (why not have a rivalry w/ them - for the sake of attendance we need as many rivalry games as possible), UMass, Rhode Island, Delaware, Appalachian State, Indiana State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Missouri State. I think all those schools would make for marketable games. And most importantly - WINNABLE.

I like any defense that can get pressure on the QB. Nothing disrupts an offensive rhythm like blowing up a play in the backfield. I haven't seen the Zips doing much of that for a couple of years now. The 3-3-5 D seems like a "bend-but-don't-break" sort of D. But that really wears a D down. I think we'd all agree that over the last few years, by the end of games our D is completely exhausted. (Of course, that may just as well have to do w/ our lack of offensive production.) I guess we need to revamp both our defense and our offense!!!