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I stated earlier when trying to predict how this team would do I could not find a "go to guy." But tonight I thought there were a couple of key plays that turned the game around. One was a steal and dunk by Jimond that started our run to the lead and another was a clutch 3 pointer by Kwan. Big Dog also had some key baskets down the stretch. Western Michigan double teamed Big Dog and covered Jimond under the basket leaving our 3 point shooters open and we could not hit the 3 ball. Antino missed wide open 3 balls, Noah, missed wide open 3 balls, and Josh did not score in 27 minutes of play. These guys are supposed to be our shooters, they are playing at home, they have open looks, and there is no reason for them to shoot the ball that badly. Luckily, Western Michigan shot 37% from the line. Kwan has really played smart this year and is having a great senior season. After he scored he pressured the inbounds play causing a turnover. He is also giving us some inside scoring. I think if our guards struggle away from the Jar we are going to have a hard time winning on the road. Hopefully, this will be their worst shooting game. Looking forward to Tuesday's game. Go Zips!

What's with this turning on Bowden? Let me remind everyone that we had our most successful season as a D-1 program last year. This year was, most certainly, a disappointment. But we lost a ton on D & would have still made a bowl game and (I'm going to say) won the MAC East if Woody hadn't been hurt. And this year's recruiting class is shaping up to be the likes of which we've been looking for since we moved to D-1 (can't believe it's taken so long to begin to get the local talent to buy in).

I honestly didn't see a matchup problem. We held WMU to under 60 points playing some great D that final ~10 minutes. Outside of Antino forcing a few shots, I thought we mostly got quality looks. Ivey air balled a 3 with the nearest defender 7-8 feet away. Noah couldn't have possibly been anymore open on 2-3 of the ones he missed. Some nights they just don't fall. We lost to an equally as bad Miami team last year by 13 points on a night we couldn't buy a shot. We should be thankful we had our poor shooting night against a team we could manage to overcome instead of someone that would make us pay for it. We don't normally have bad shooting nights at home, but it was bound to happen at some point.

Well, this was the example that everyone was waiting for. What happens on a night when we shoot 24% from 3-point range? First of all, I think the size of WMU's perimeter players caused some problems for our Guards shooting the basketball. But we had to "play ugly" and grind this game out in the paint, and got it done......Thanks to the 11-0 run in the 2nd half that flipped the score from Down 6 to Up 5. Without that, we probably lose this game. Down the road, I think this team is just a tough matchup for us. They have the personnel to guard us at most every position. Thankfully, we found that Dog could use his girth in the paint to muscle in some baskets against their more "lanky" big guys.

one of the top drawer writers has a strong opinion on who should be starting in the midfield for the USMNT

If WMU achieved nothing this season, the MAC should disband immediately and all member schools drop football altogether. The Broncos enjoyed arguably the best season of all time. The odds are incredibly slim that Akron will ever experience a season like the 2016 Western Michigan Broncos. That's nothing? That is how far out of whack this country is that as a fan, if a team doesn't win it all as absolute undisputed champion that it doesn't mean crap while we give everyone coming up a trophy for outstanding participation. Unbelievable. Pooh poohing a 13-1 season.

DT Uriah Gilbert was named Division 3-A 1st-Team All-Florida Uriah is UGIII's "little" brother

Yep. This is a very good team. Ivey adds a dimension we haven't seen in a while. I'm really liking his game

I did not get a chance to add some more comments last night as I wanted to. I agree with Zip_ME87 that soccer is often underappreciated. We all remember the best and want that to happen every single year. We all remember years when Akron was signing 4 out of the top 10 US recruits in the country and some ask why Jared and his staff are not replicating that. The simple answer is that the college soccer and pro soccer worlds have changed. MLS has added home grown contracts and generation adidas offers and many of the top 25 recruits are bypassing college. Most MLS teams now have affiliated teams in the USL and many high school kids think that they will develop more in the USL than they will in a college environment. Wil Trapp was from columbus and loved his time at Akron. However, if Wil was a high school senior now, he would be offered a home grown and never would go to college. Dillon Serna never would have come to Akron in today's environment. Perry Kitchen also would have gone straight to the pros. The recruiting environment for Caleb was much different than the environment that Jared and Leo and company currently operated in The facts are that last year, only 6 of the top 25 high school players elected to attend college. Of those 6, one of those (Nick Hinds) chose to go to Akron. Also in the top 25 was a young man named Emmanuel Sabbi. He had committed to come to Akron but chose to pursue a career overseas. Jonathan Lewis did not play in traditional places in his junior and senior years of HS so he was not ranked in the top 25 but he was clearly a top 25 talent. If Sabbi had come to Akron, Jared would have been successful in bringing 3 top 25 caliber players to Akron while all other schools had 4 top 25 kids combined. Like all of us, I worry about who will replace Brad and Danilo as center backs and now I worry about who will replace Jonathan. The fact is that Akron had an outstanding recruiting class for the 2016 year and I trust that Jared and staff will scour the world to put a quality team on the field in 2017. As Zip_ME87 said, there was adversity last year. The team lost their emotional leader, who had been a starter for 3 plus years. I think everyone knows my feelings about Victor but I would like to join Zip_ME87 in thanking Victor for always giving 150% and for everything that he did for mens soccer and the Univ. of Akron. Every team deals with injuries but at season end, Danilo missed the last 6 games, Stuart could not play a full 90 minutes and Manel Cordeiro could not play a full 90 minutes. We all want to do better than winning one NCAA tournament game but ask yourself...when was the last time that that Akron U. mens basketball team won an NCAA tournament game? Don't even get me started on the money pit known as Zips football. Bottom line, Akron mens soccer is a true gem on the Akron campus and I like the group leading the mens soccer program. That being said, I worry tremendously that the gigantic financial mess caused by the board of trustees and the 2 past presidents could have a trickle down impact on the soccer program. I commented yesterday about the key loss of Oliver Slawson. We know that the coaching staff budget had to be cut. Did Jared and his staff also have their recruiting dollars budget cut? What is Jared's recruiting dollar budget now compared to the budget that Caleb had to work with(when everyone thought that Akron U. finances were solid while Proenza was building new structures everywhere)? Also, I was not happy with Larry Williams during the year. Scheduling an NCAA tournament game at 4:00 to accommodate a meaningless mens basketball non league game against cupcake U.....sends the message that mens soccer is a secondary sport compared to basketball and football. Larry also undercut Jared's authority when Larry dismissed Victor. That announcement should have come from Jared. Also, when funds are tight, the athletic department could be so much more pro-active in raising funds for mens soccer. How many season ticket holders know that there is a group called the goal club? What % of season ticket holders contribute money to the Z-fund or the goal club? If the recruiting budget was cut due to the financial mess, has the athletic department reached out to soccer alumni and season ticket holders to explain the situation and to try to raise more funds? The Athletic department should be doing so much more to help the true "gem" sports program on the campus. Larry Williams and his team need to do some stepping up. I appreciate Jared and his staff and the current high quality of the mens soccer program.

Akron shot under 25% from 3 and still escaped with the win. Finding ways to win when you're having a poor shooting night is what good teams do.

I don't think any promotions ... other than cash prizes and lots of quality big ticket giveaways is going to move the needle much. The interest in U of A and MAC athletics is "what it is". It appeals to a very small number of people, and far too many universities over value and over spend on their teams and facilities -- throwing good money after bad.

Hopefully he can sell the kids on staying or that could be a tough job On the other hand we can use some D lineman if they want to transfer to Akron

I feel this Akron team has the ability to be as good, if not better, than any of the Akron teams that I've witnessed. When they're moving the ball around, their offense looks unguardedable unless you have a guy big enough and strong enough to guard Big Dog 1 on 1. In order to reach this potential we need to improve our perimeter defense and need 1, preferably 2, guys to step up to provide us more quality minutes off the bench in the post. Not bad for a team that many deemed the "worst Dambrot team ever" after the YSU game.

Not a great picture as he put it on and then took it off saying my challenge was only to wear it and not that it had to be on for the whole party!