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Some final, random thoughts on the game... There will never be a bigger opportunity lost for the Zips to beat Ohio State in basketball. The Ohio State team I saw on Tuesday night was essentially Ohio U masquerading in Ohio State uniforms. In the MAC, that team would be 10-6. Maybe worse. I do believe the dead-legs excuse. I never saw 3-point shots careen off the backboard like I saw towards the end of that game. From guys like Antino and Josh, who are typically solid. The 4-games in 6 days...with all being do-or-die tourney games, and 4th going to OT was just too much. In hindsight I'm sure Dambrot wishes he'd have played Jimmond a little more, and rested McAdams. Buy I admire that he went with his seniors to win or lose the game. He didn't do that at the end of the Buffalo game (sitting McAdams for the final possession), and I bet it's a regret. And before anyone writes a sappy "please get of KD's back" post - if you ever were a successful head coach at any level, then you've coached in Championship games against good coaches and great talent. Those games are always dogfights. And you make calls that you, in hindsight, regret...but you make them and live with them. And if people question them...so what...it's part of the deal when you're a coach. The Zips had at least 12 opportunities to put pressure on OSU with a back-breaking 3-pointer, and came up empty every time. The Zips team I saw the bulk of 2015-16 should have won this game by 15+ points...but it didn't happen. The OSU fans were nice. I wanted to hate them, but they were all very respectful. The cheerleaders from both programs performed together at one point, and the arena even played the Akron fight song over the PA system during a break. That's unheard of in any road game, let alone a tightly-contested tournament game. Referees did a nice job. Absolutely no homer element. If those guys ref'd the MAC finals, we'd have won the game. No way Buffalo would have only 1 foul whistled in the first 17 minutes of the 2nd half. Big Dog has developed into a Big 10 talent. OSU really had no answer for him. I think he fouled 2 guys out? His free throw misses were brutal. But you can't knock a guy when he puts forth an effort like we've seen from him over the entire season. Zeke came to UA with the accolades, and had a very nice career. But a dominant senior season puts Big Dog as UA's #1 all-time best center. Who'da thunk that last season? Kwan had some big blocks. He's a good at-the-rim defender, but he's not a good on-ball defender. Especially so the further away he gets from the hoop. It will be interesting to see how he works on his game over the off season. We really need the redshirted kids to step up and contribute in 2016-17. There are plenty of game-minutes to be had for the kids that put in the most work this off-season. The coaches need to re-evaluate themselves, and the program too. What can be done differently to better prepare the Zips for post-season success? The scheduling mindset of the past decade appears to be in obvious need of re-evaluation. Is it better to play a freshman with upside than upper-classmen who may have maxed-out? Who redshirts? Who leaves? I don't have much more to offer that already hasn't been said. It was a fun ride, but an all-too abrupt stop. See you at InfoCision.

John Glenn looked to have a lot of really good players but they s3emed like a balanced team without any one or two players that stood out above the rest. I thought Lima Central Catholic looked to have some really good individual talent. They were a senior oriented team though so probably not any way the Zips could in on any of those guys. The same is true for Westerville South, they starts four seniors and their 280 pound junior in the middle is already an OSU commit. Lima Senior had some good players too. The one guy (other than SVSM guys discussed in other threads) that stood out to me as far as a potential Zips recruiting target was a guard for tiny Willoughby Cornerstone Christian. His last name is McQueen and I think I heard the announcers mention that he is just a junior. Would the Zips look to Division IV for a player? He plays for a northeast Ohio school so that would probably increase the chances of landing him if he was offered. I assume looking at the current makeup of the Akron roster that we will need a good ball handling guard as we get closer to Antino and Noah reaching their senior seasons.

• Woodson dropped 10 pounds to check in at 223 • Woodson is working with receivers three days a week on their own time to get on the same page Two great signs for the team and their fans.