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Yes, I'm sad that we lost on Senior Night and upset my son foul out! But we should of still won even without him in the game. Basketball is a team game and when one goes down the next man needs to step up! As a mom I'm very proud of Kwan and I know he works his butt off to come out here and try to win games. He will continue on this journey on becoming a great player & and just a better man. He's still trying to figure this out. He is just a passionate young player who wants to win and make his teammates better. Trust and believe God has a plan for my son. At the end of day Kwan leaves Akron with a degree and a masters so with that being said I THANK Akron for giving my son the opportunity that most young men don't get. Thanks to all the fans that supported him through all his ups & downs and will continue to support him.

Well, if you want more, maybe move to Lexington or Durham where you get lots, lots more. The thing is though is that their fans are really cheering for the uniform and not the young men in that uniform. With the constant one, maybe two, and done kids the stars of the elite programs often leave early. Same with coaches always running to the next big paycheck. If that's your thing, you can have it. I'll take what I have here any day. My wife and I have been in contact with many past and present players and even some of their families through the years. More than a handful of Zip players have come to speak to and motivate the children who my wife teaches every day. If you could see the players interact with the kids you would be highly impressed. I love the fact that we have had four and sometimes five years to watch these players develop, both as players and, for the most, into fine young men. Maybe you think I'm full of crap and some of you may let me know it but I'm proud of what this program has accomplished over the years. This is a great mid major program. We should keep things in perspective and appreciate that.

What a tremendous, godly perspective you have! Thank you for your love and maturity. Kwan is truly blessed to have you molding and guiding his life. It will pay dividends far beyond the relatively trivial world of basketball.

As a 15 + year season ticket holder I am probably in the minority in saying that I am not as concerned with a win in the NCAA tournament as some others on this board. My wife and I look forward to each game because most of the time (last night excluded) we see good young men who play fundamentally good basketball (although the defensive fundamentals this year have not been to the typical KD Akron standard) and who legitimately compete for wins and conference titles each year. This is entertainment for us and we appreciate the effort and commitment it takes to be a D1 athlete and we truly enjoy mid-major college basketball. As an alumnus I am proud of the program not only for its success but also for its graduation rate and good reputation for growing young men. I feel this time has the potential to win next week and move forward to the dance, but if they don't we can easily argue that our money for tickets was again well spent for the entertainment value provided. Go Zips Beat Kent.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Damn that was frustrating. The Zips should beat a team like that by 20, giving our seniors a chance to get on that floor on senior night. Instead, they pi$$ away a 15 point lead with awful defense and 3rd grade level CYO passing. As they're presently playing, their MAC season will be over around 2:30 PM next Thursday. Oh, and I'd once like to not have to watch Big Dog try to play tight defense 20 feet from the damn basket and have someone for once STOP THE DRIBBLE PENETRATION. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

I'd hope the posters here will be bigger than this thread

Love UA Love the players Love the coach Hate that we are playing uninspired Hate that we're playing unintelligently Hate that we are playing soft That's not as visceral as some would like. It's not as cuddly and others would like. Oh well...can't please everyone.

I find threads like this amusing. Back at the end of the football season, there was a thread or two about Western Michigan and their historic 2016 season where they ran the table in the regular season, got a visit from College Gameday and went to the Cotton Bowl. There was a contingent of fans that would rather have a "Ohio U type program" with sustained success over a number of years with an entrenched coach than to have a fantastic run and lose your coach and basically start over. Well. . .it is my opinion that we have one of those "Ohio U Solich programs" right here at good old UA with Dambrot's basketball program with one major difference: Dambrot's program is much better than Solich's. Akron basketball is the standard bearer in this conference. Ohio football is not. I think it is hilarious that there are people wishing for something in one sport that people are weeping and gnashing their teeth about in another. Both of these groups could learn something from the other, but here's another hilarious thing: Some people belong to both groups.

Zips Nation, I have to confess, this is all my fault. At the end of my favorite NFL teams season, I took down the flag on 1/27 from my flagpole and replaced it with my Akron flag.....and the rest is history. I am sorry about this and today I plan to take down the now ripped flag - after all of the heavy winds, not the bad losses - and hope that the curse goes away in time. I am now taking suggestions/donations of any flag that you'd like flown at my house! Feeling guilty in Akron

I almost feel we let up when we build a comfortable lead. We see guys take a "heat check" 3, get a little lazy on defense, or make a careless pass. Next thing you know the other team is back in it. Where is that killer instinct? It almost seems we want to give the bare-minimal effort necessary for a win. I don't see that desire of always wanting more.

I'm leaning towards that too because you'd probably just quit posting altogether

What an embarrassment. Embarrassing that the team let a freshman light their asses up. Embarrassing that the season is nearly over and we still don't want to feed the focal point of our offense. Embarrassing that the focal point of our offense is a liability at the end of close games because he can't make his free throws. Embarrassing that a senior on his senior night acted like an underclass-man and lost his composure. Embarrassing and indefensible for Coach Dambrot to go with Aaron Jackson of Utomi after said senior fouls out. Most of all, embarrassing that we blew a 15 point lead at home to freaking Miami. This isn't the team to win that first NCAA game.

The VCU debacle was a perfect storm scenario. The Abreu fiasco played right into the high pressure D of the VCU Shaka Smart squad. The illnesses of some of our players compounded it. That being said, I'm not sure we're in that game even at full strength. To this day, I'm still perplexed that Shaka kind of rubbed it in and did not let up when the game was well out of hand.

Sounds like you belong to both of those groups that you thought was so hilarious earlier. There have been plenty of trouble makers in my time as a Zips fan. Abreu, Harney, Diggs, Tree, McKnight. I might even be forgetting some. Its refreshing to see that appears to be no longer the case.

2017 Zips Football Schedule

You know, I have given a lot of thought to this over the years and even though I wish the Zips could go a couple of rounds in the NCAAs, I am proud of what KD has accomplished with the basketball program. He inherited a program that had one MAC tournament win in its 12 year history and turned them into a perennial contender. The Zips may not have been able to parlay their MAC success into post-season success, but you know what? We haven't had teams full of no-class thugs that can embarrass our institution at any given moment, either. There is a lot of value in that. Dambrot's players, by & large, have been kids that we can all be proud of instead of a bunch of low-character ballers that we hold our nose and tolerate just because they can win basketball games. I am pissed off that this version of the Zips has no killer instinct, but overall I can't bitch too much about Keith. We could regress to the Crawford years with the next hire. Then we would really have something to complain about.

Silly me, I thought the MAC had gotten smart last year after they scheduled the Akron-K.ent game earlier in the year before the weather turns sour. Play K.ent in October & play Ohio for Rivalry Week. Why can't the MAC ever get anything right?

What I don't get is how Kent got the game early last year therefore was able to attract a decent crowd, meanwhile, we get stiffed. They could have at least thrown us a bone and let us host Ohio in early October.

Do I sit at games and love every decision made by KD and his staff? Heck no. That being said, the Zips couldn't do any better than KD on the open market. Lord know, with his record, he'd have been gone long long ago if not for his CMU skeleton. Also, you can't discount the fact that his close friend, LBJ, is now a face of the school and contributing millions of dollars. KD's not going anywhere until he wants to. I'd also love to see an NCAA run, but let's look at the odds of that actually happening. Sure, there's a mid-major team every two or three years, a Kan't, OU or George Mason type team, that pulls it off. The odds of being that team are very very slim, explaining the excitement and legend when it occurs. As such, it borders on an unreasonable expectation to judge the program (or coach) by the failure to be one of those rare teams. I know many may see me as a defeatist. I think I'm a realist. I love the Zips but maybe, in reality, this is as good as it gets.

I am not sure if the starting PG would have been quite enough to make up the slim 46 point difference.

I second what mivid12 says....and Thanks Mom!

Something I didn't realize. It was of course Senior Night for six MAC schools and every one of them lost. The road team won all six games yesterday. And really as far as an NCAA tournament run goes it really depends on a few things. A little bit is the seed but more importantly is the matchup and how well you play that particular day. If you're not part of a major basketball conference it's a tough road. Some schools turn it into something (like Gonzaga and VCU), but more often than not its just a fun experience for a bit. Is George Mason dominating the A-10? (they are 8-8). Have Kent and Ohio turned into the dominant programs in the MAC after their run? Oh wait no that's us. I'd love to see an NCAA tournament run as much as anyone but in the long run its probably not going to mean that much. I just hate seeing it put out there as the Holy Grail that a coach must achieve to be considered a success. 10 straight years of making at least the MACC semifinals and 7 in a row in the final? How many other "smaller conference" schools can make that claim? So if we happen to pull off an upset (and it will always be an upset) in the NCAA tournament suddenly Dambrot will be a great coach? I think he's a great coach now.

I think you're not getting to the point here. We all want more. But, what makes you believe that we'd even sustain the kind of success we've had for the last dozen years with someone else at the helm? Tell us what he's done wrong, and how a replacement would be better?

I really respect Dambrot's comments in the post-game. You can tell he is not willing to beat around the bush anymore, its time for this team to perform.

This is what I've been feeling about our record for a long time. Great record, but winning by the skin of your teeth in a very mediocre MAC conference... we're not that good.

We should be concerned that we've played 1.5 good games over the past 3 weeks. NCAA tourney seeding is the absolute furthest thing from my mind. I'm concerned about being an 8 seed in the NIT.

Kwaful performance. lazy passes by Robotham and Ivey in crunch time sealed the deal. That, and Dog missing 80% of his crunch time free throws. Miami had lost every road game this season. They were down 15 in the 2nd half...11 when Kwan took himself out of the game...and won. Like the Kent game, our opponent was tougher than us, and wanted the win more than the Zips. League MVP's don't finish the season like this. Lucky for Dog, there's not much competition. He should still win it. I guess we now know how much Kwan means to the Zips. Hope he sees it too, and finishes his career like he played the first 2/3rds of the season.

As for Kwan...after tonight...good riddance.

First he isn't a senior and second looking at it objectively he played much better than he has recently.

Didn't know senior night meant the seniors losing the game for us. Kwan fouling himself out of the game and Big Dog missing critical free throws.

Thank goodness we have the NIT.

He's been sitting on the floor at the end of the bench with an ice bag on his right knee. Just took it off.

I have to admit that I have not been an Olojakpoke believer all year, but he is having one heck of a game today. He is really showing up on both ends of the court.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm seeing Josh gain confidence each game. I'm calling a big MAC tourney from him