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Dear Abby, Still trying to get over the trauma of my New Year's Day experience. The holidays should be a time of joy spent with family and friends but I am feeling left out. I got a chance to spend some time with my Uncle (BGSU grad), his son/my cousin (Akron grad), his wife (CMU grad) and my brother-in-law (Akron grad) which should have been a good time but I was the infidel elephant in the room not participating in their Big Ten lovefest while the MSU/Baylor game was on. I even tried to engage my cousin's wife in conversation about the Bahamas Bowl but she looked at me like I was speaking Martian. Am I the only MAC fan who feels this isolated from not only the mainstream but my own family? What should I do, Abby? Signed, Alone in Ashland

It actually makes perfect sense to me. Pat was still looking lost last year, and Big Dog was getting several starts and looked like a real strong prospect. I'm sure just about everyone is surprised at the way that situation has turned around this year.

If the Men's team lost say 10 games next year what would be the impact on attendance? I contend that there would be little to no negative impact on attendance as the shortcomings of the arena, mismanagement of supporting activities (entertainment, concessions...), and failure to leverage opportunities far outweigh the bounce in public perception generated by winning 20 mostly meaningless games and the MAC Tourney. Top all of that off with the crap schedule this year so far and you have a recipe for 1,500-2,500 core fans to show at each game. No NCAA Tourney noise means program does not "advance". No improvements to the entertainment value offered at the games means program does not draw in new potential core fans. Crappy arena and boring opponents means event the core fans have to weigh showing and have trouble selling others on the value of spending their precious time at the games. The 20 win seasons are a joke. The dreary non conference home schedule played year in and out is a drag on even the core fans. My wife just asked me today when the MAC season starts because these early season games are just crap. We are staring down the barrel of mighty Coppin State. Sad when fans are so bored by the entertainment offered that they pray for the MAC season to see some "decent" competition. I had lower reserve season tickets for the past few years and upper reserved for years before that. All I can say is we are at an all time low. The low is not due to losing for sure. It is due to stagnation with program growth and an erosion of entertainment value.

When I was a student, I saw a halftime lip sync competition that was hilarious.

You wouldn't even need a budget. There are several groups on campus that would definitely be able to do something entertaining for free if you gave them the opportunity to do so. One thing I learned working on campus is that outside groups tend to dictate what Akron can and cannot do. There could be an opportunity for student groups to be more involved with games at Infocision Stadium, but IMG (which UA has contracts with) says no.

Dear Alone in Ashland, The world can be a harsh place for minorities. My suggestion for you is to stop hanging out with elitists, even if they're from your own family. Spend all your time with like-minded people, even if it results in a small circle of friends. If none live nearby, try setting up a computer in your basement and spend most of your time on a forum with like-minded people. Shutting out the real world is a valid strategy for those who become emotionally distraught over a feeling of not fitting in. By the way, what's a "MAC?" Signed, Abby Normal

Willie does a great job polishing the turd of in game entertainment options offered. The lack of a half time show is inexcusable. There are many groups on campus that would be great free entertainment. Chuck a duck is cool but after the game is the right time for that. Seems like the marketing folks have focused on kids groups and have become lazy and less creative. Again, the erosion in entertainment value and lack of game atmosphere really hurt non core fan attendance.

Not many MAC-level teams have two 6-10+ true centers who can effectively play the low post and legitimately challenge each other for the starting position. The Zips were poised to have that this season before Big Dog's wrist fracture. The best scenario would be if Pat and Big Dog pushed each other to higher levels than they would otherwise reach if not challenged. Big Dog was moving ahead at the end of last season and Pat has clearly moved back ahead so far this season. It's now up to Big Dog to answer the challenge and prove over the course of this season that he's still a worthy challenger to Pat. With Tree gone, it's more critical to have an effective center in the low post at all times to rebound and guard the paint.

Akron rarely puts players at or near the top in very many statistical categories. It has been that way for the duration of KDs tenure. His teams have always relied on balanced scoring and team rebounding. As to who wins the conference tournament, way too early to predict. There are a lot of quality teams in the conference this year. Toledo, Akron, EMU, Buffalo, BG, Can't, CMU and WMU have all had pretty solid OOC seasons so far. I think the conference schedule this year is going to be a real slug-fest for a lot of teams. Going to be a very interesting year.

A colleague of mine who is a Dayton alum attended that game. He couldn't believe how small our gym was. Think Bigger. Imagine Bigger. Ponder Bigger. Contemplate Bigger. Lose Bigger. Bigger Excuses. More Excuses. Stagnate [at best]. (I don't think you can Stagnate Bigger, or we'd probably do that.) Found the money for Football and Soccer, but can only find excuses for Basketball. I'm just about done caring.

Skip nailed it. Coach Dambrot has said that Pat's biggest problem was lacking confidence in himself, and there was no sign that he would suddenly find it this season. Big Dog developed well over last season for a true freshman big and did a lot of work in the off-season that had many close to the program believing he would beat out Pat for the starting center position this season. We now know that Pat stepped up big time with Tree's departure and surprised a lot of people with his increase in self-confidence when the team most needed him. All we know for sure about Big Dog is that he had a serious broken wrist that caused him to miss much of training season and some early games, and that he's having a hard time catching up with his promising development curve from last season. We don't really know how much of Big Dog's problems are physical and how much are psychological. But for some combination of reasons he seems to have lost some of the self-confidence he showed last season and appears to be frustrated that he can't perform at the level he expected of himself and others expected of him. The good news is that players who look lost early in their careers can make big breakthroughs at any time. I'd hate to think how much this team would have lost this season if Deji had transferred to a D-II program as some on here were suggesting when he was struggling to get it. We just need to be patient and hope that Big Dog has his Deji moment sooner rather than later.