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Had a chance to attend open gym Wednesday at the JAR and get a first look of the season at all the players but Deji, who was in class. Most of my attention was focused on the two new PGs. But I can confirm some of GoZips' observations. Pat definitely looks as if he's been hitting the weights. He looks more like a man now than a big kid. Kwan also looks a little more bulked up and seems to be more enthusiastic about banging bodies in the paint. We need that from him to compensate for the loss of Nick. BJ could also fill part of that role. In HS he was described by one recruiting service as an "undersized power forward." At 6-6 he gives away an inch or two to most D-I college 4s, but it looks as if he's added some bulk to the 215 pounds he was listed at last season. BJ plays a physical game in addition to being a good ball handler, and looks to be capable of backing up multiple positions. Looking at Noah for the first time I really didn't see any surprises. He's about what I expected from all I've read and the videos I've watched. He has a pretty mature and polished game for a true freshman in his first college open gym. He reads the floor really well and is already hitting veteran players with pinpoint passes in their favorite shooting spots. Most of the time he appears calm and deliberate in setting up plays. But he has deceptive moves that allow him to quickly change gears and blow past defenders to get to the bucket. No single aspect of his game really stood out to me in this open gym. He just struck me as having a well-rounded game for having just enrolled in college. Antino, on the other hand, was one surprise after another. I expected to see a skinny, fragile-looking little kid crying out for a redshirt. While it's true he lacks bulk, I was surprised to see lots of solid muscle definition. He looks like a flyweight powerlifter. Instead of being all skin and bones, he has a lot of visible muscle on his wiry frame. Then there's the speed and quickness factor. What I've read about Antino and seen in the videos didn't prepare me for what I saw. He's without a doubt the quickest and fastest Zips player I can recall seeing. The college game will not be too fast for him. He's also a ball of non-stop energy. His motor appears to be right up there with Aaron Jackson's. He's really hard to shake on defense because he uses his speed and quickness to constantly harass his man. After watching him break up a few plays I mentally nicknamed him The Disrupter. On offense Antino effectively uses his speed and quickness to break down defenses and create space for passing and shooting. Obviously these are very initial impressions. I'm not ready to anoit this edition of the Zips as a Sweet 16 team, though I hope they set a high goal like that for themselves. The unexpected loss of Nick along with Q will require improved games from more than one player. It's asking a lot for a true freshman PG to step in and run a D-I college team at a high level. Can Noah and/or Antino rise to the occasion? At least in this first open gym they both passed my eye test as true point guards who can handle the ball, feed their teammates and knock down shots. It will be fun to watch them develop over the summer and fall months.

Akron. The new Can't

As for a complete list of 2014-15 MAC Bowls you can view this here. This is Bowl games that the MAC currently has contracts with, perhaps more if enough teams do well to get an invitation to a higher Bowl? GoDaddy.com Bowl MAC Champion? vs Sunbelt Champion? Idaho Potato Bowl MAC vs MWC Camelllia Bowl MAC vs Sun Belt Boca Raton Bowl MAC vs C-USA Bahamas Bowl MAC vs C-USA Going by this: The Zips goal for the season should be to win seven games, and finish in the top-5 of the conference. Both of those I believe are 100% possible.

IMO The MAC needs to take care of business in lower bowls, and then shift the focus to larger ones. NIU frankly was not good enough to compete in the Orange Bowl. I know that might seem a little short sighted to some of you (by keeping the MAC irrelevant) but we've got to make the best of our niche. Having record setting years of Bowl invitations, and then losing nearly all of the games is beyond embarrassing. I have a feeling Bowden would be a remarkably good Bowl coach...hopefully we can make one of those lesser bowls this year.

QUOTE(Legend of Zippy @ Dec 2 2013, 03:09 PM) 1.) We are in competition with tosu. For dollars, respect and if we can steal even one player from tosu maybe the NIU and UM games are wins and we go bowling. It matters! They only players we can take from OSU are the ones who know they'll never play there. They're almost exclusively recruiting 4 and 5 stars. Those players aren't coming here. According to this link, OSU signed nine 3-star players making up 36% of their recruiting class. 2.) That 2-loss ASU team and that 3-loss LSU team would roll tosu. ASU probably has two losses because the schedule they played this year is the 4th hardest in the nation. LSU's stands at 27. You miss the whole point. If Akron went undefeated, they'd be sitting behind those teams too. But you'd be happy with that I guess. I would not. 3.) As for MSU, they blow. And yet, they're ahead of NIU, and would thus be ahead of an undefeated Akron. It baffles me why you're so excited about that. 4.) You can take your insightful comments along with typy-typerson and find a board that appreciates a bunch of nothing. I cannot possibly imagine you have a degree from Akron. Actually, I think he has two degrees from UA, so you might want to rethink the juvenile jab. --------------------- I don't think that people wearing OSU gear devalues my degree, but it certainly takes money away from Akron and hurts Akron recruiting both on and off the field.

They had two chances last year. FSU handled them easily and the game was worse than the score. They lost to a horrid Iowa team.