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35 in January and February!? I wish! Oh, and Akron is eligible for post season play this year, unlike San Jose state. Not like they would have had a shot at it anyways.

The Zips hold on to beat Can't 8-7 today!

I think we should all focus on the first step, and not the second one. If his success doesn't climb here, the offers will not come, and we won't have anything to worry about. If it DOES happen, that's probably good news for him, AND for us. Nobody really can even predict, including the candidate himself, what will happen if the big offers come. But history tells us that they are hard to pass up for most coaches. For now, I will just consider us lucky to have someone of his caliber and his legacy at the moment.

Below is from the NCAA bylaws (counter means the person's scholarship counts against his team's limit). My interpretation is that the only time an injured player's scholarship does not count against the team's limit is if it's a permanent injury that ends the player's career. That results in a medical exemption where the athletic department continues to pay the student's scholarship without it counting against the team limit. But if the player returns to his team, his scholarship is retroactively counted against the team's limit for the time he was out. In other words, you can't sit a player out a season even for medical reasons (medical redshirt) in order to add another scholarship player to the team. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a licensed attorney.

Even though a new arena is desperately needed for Akron mens & womens basketball teams for recruiting purposes and by the University (better gameday revenue) if you are a believer in the "if you build it, they will come" argument, I don't see it happening for the next 7 or 8 years. Most taxpayers are at a point that any additional taxes, no matter how small, aren't acceptable. I believe taxpayers have the same response to proposed taxes: Tighten up your belt like the rest of us have. With that said, the JAR's status quo isn't acceptable either. It will always be a less than desirable facility but it's possible to change it's grade from D to at least C+. A renovation plan is necessary. The lack of a temporary "home court" dictates performing improvements over at least two years and maybe three if you'd like to tackle the obvious exterior warts as well. The type of and the configuration of seating is public enemy #1. Followed by pathetic entrances, lobby and concessions. I believe it feasible to remove all the bleachers, install steeper stairs and chairback seating with fan entrances coming from under/behind the new seating structure. Add several restrooms and concession areas under the new seating system as well. I will continue my continual request to remove the media tables from courtside so boo$ter$ can occupy prime real estate. Dedicate a section of seating for students only. I liked the idea of several players visiting dorms and student groups to speak with students and requesting they attend games as part of the Akron experience as students. I'll leave the problem of lack of student community & involvement to others. KD is keeping up his side of the equation, if you want to get to the next level this needs to happen now.