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This is pretty silly, IMHO. I've seen Mark in practice, and I can promise you he has every bit the athleticism you've determined he doesn't have. His speed up the court is top half of the team. Should we read into Sayles only getting 6 minutes that he's a project? Game 1, friends, game 1.

My god. The kid has played 2 minutes ever!

Yep, I don't get the obsession. I don't give any more of a $h!+ about Keith Dambrot at this juncture than I do about Bobby Hurley, Tubby Smith, Steve Alford or any other of the hundreds of college coaches in the USA. I'm not overly angry or sour about him leaving and appreciate his contributions, but once he moved on so did my interest in what he's doing.

I love KD. I worked with him at Prudential Securities while I was an intern in college. When I started I didn't know who he was, but he was friendly to me. When he finally told me his story one day he got teary eyed. I love what he did for the program. Having said that, I was getting kinda bored with the program's stagnation. The last handful of years was like watching Groundhog Day. KD took us as far as he could. He was as steady as they come. I'm expecting more highs and more lows with Groce. And I'm looking forward to that, even if we do have to suffer through a year of growing pains. I was always fairly certain with KD's Zips we'd be a premier MAC team and compete in Cleveland every year... but never do anything special on a national level (NCAA). And let's not forget, to give Dambrot credit where credit is due: Sayles and Parrish are both Dambrot recruits. They both look like they're going to be great players. Duquesne can have Hughes & Dunn-Martin. I'm more grateful for the open scholarships their departure provided. It allowed us to sign LePear Toles who's game, honestly, reminds me a lot of Parrish.

I think we should all be in agreement that if you lose to Kent, you suck.

At the game last night my son asked me, "Dad, why don't we have Michael Hughes any more?" I answered him by saying, " Because we don't need him."

Sayles and Duvivier or Michael Hughes and Dunn-Martin? I know what my choice would be.

I don't hate KD, but I'm not rooting for him to succeed, that's for sure.

Instead of asking, I remember Caleb demanding fans bring friends to NCAA home games!

I'm on board. Let's get this train rollin! Let's go ZIPS!!

And also since the start of the season!

Yeah i messed up

On Facebook there was an event created that says Sunday's game will be played at 1. Not sure if that could still change but I would use that for planning purposes at the moment.

I didn't see much of the game, but I'm encouraged that it sounds like our system is more than dump it inside and see what happens.

WMU gets the 10 seed

VERY happy with the 5 seed. Great finish to the season after a rough start out west.

Off the ball movement is also something that comes easier with better team chemistry. As this team grows together, they'll know who and when certain players will make cuts, etc.

Way too early assessment from watching a choppy ESPN3 broadcast via my Roku: Parrish: I like the Quincy Diggs comparisons. He seems to be more under control and level-headed than Q (of course, ONE GAME). Q's biggest downfall was emotion and temper pushing him over the top from time to time. Could potentially be a conference star. Sayles: Similar to Kwan but not afraid to bang down low. Uses his 6'9" frame well, built to be a star. I had thought he was a perimeter player based on recruiting sites. Kostelac: As mentioned, it was 2 minutes. My impression was that he is a Mike Bardo type with a higher upside. He may get pushed around a little this year, but has the potential to be a pretty decent back to the basket guy. Again, hard to tell with my sample size. Cotton: Jury is out for me. He played nearly half the game and I didn't notice anything much. Has good handles, but game one seemed to move pretty fast for him. Looking at the box, the biggest thing that stands out is 5 TOs. That'll improve. Patton: Ditto. Though I did like seeing 6 rebounds out of him and 5 out of Cotton. Duvivier: Kid looks like he's chiseled out of stone. That dunk made my wife and I stand up from our couch and yell. Seemed to come out of nowhere. Must be those increases in vertical leap that everyone was talking about. 3/12 shooting leaves much to be desired, but he had 5 of the team's 7 (yuck) assists, and just 2 TOs in 35 minutes. Sucks he's only around 1 year. Other observations: Poke disappointed me. We'll need some production from him to have success in conference this year. Every day that goes by, he reminds me more of Quade Milum. I would bet as the season goes by, we some quality connections between him and Duvivier for some "Wow" alley-oops. Utomi could potentially average a double-double this year with this team's rebounding technique/focus. Potential All-MAC guy and probably the key to this year along with Jimond. Ivey...seemed to be pressing a little and into "hero ball" for a few possessions. Guy probably is one of the most skilled on the team overall. We probably won't see another game where he shoots 3/14, and most certainly not one where we win. I'm thankful he stayed at UA. Fiery guy that loves the game. He'll develop that trust in his teammates. I have to remind myself that this team returns 3 guys that contributed at all last year. They're talented, and I hope the staff can bring them all together. I liked what I saw in the 2nd half. The conference is down this year, so 20 wins isn't out of the question.

Since you asked, Quincy Diggs. Swing guy but played a lot at both the 1 and 2 spots.

Could be many reasons, some of which have already been pointed out. I mean Coach Groce did have him inserted into the game early and has had a chance to see him all through camp and in multiple scrimmages vs other D-1 opponents. Obviously he has shown something. Calling a true freshman a "project at best" after 2 minutes of playing time in their first game ever is a huge reach. Even if he doesn't show much his freshman year, that doesn't make him a "project at best".

agree....i thgt parrish looked fluid with an encompassing skill set...this kid will be the star/go to player of this team in the coming seasons if not sooner...

Feel free to skip over any threads that don't interest you. He will always be an "Akron guy" and many of us will continue to follow his career for that reason.

So, if Team A wins a game against Team B, and Team B wins a game against Team C, then Team A (Kent) must be infinitely better than Team C (Akron). Right? We know this theory doesn't answer anything. If true, then my calculation says that Wisconsin is 55 points better than Ohio State, after Wisconsin blew out Iowa, and Iowa blew out Ohio State. WAY too many other variables.

Patience grasshopper. This years Zips are tall AND athletic, something we have not seen. Traitor Dambrot took us are far as HE could go, NOT as far as WE can go. Buckle in, this year is going to be an interesting ride.

So, the Zips had involved assistants and made free throws. Holy smokes. If they stopped dribble penetration and occasionally pressured the ball, I may not be able to contain myself!

That means that they'll probably find a way to put us at #9

The sky is not falling. In fact, we will lose some games we should not, but we have a very athletic group and will be fine.

I want Akron and Western Michigan seeded on opposite sides of the bracket. I want an all MAC NCAA Final. How cool is it that Western Michigan upped their game enough to be in at-large position as well? Loved the comment from the announcer as the game ended - "The Kings are still Kings"!

This is a tough situation. What factors is Bowden looking at? Is is 'simply' trying to beat OU and winning the division and going to the MAC Championship game(tough no matter who plays)? Is it keeping team discipline? Is there a consideration about his job at Akron might be in jeopardy depending on how the team finishes? Hard to tell what his overriding concern is. Whatever,Zips have to play the best game they have played all season. Hopefully, we haven't seen that yet.

The Athletic department has a written code of conduct. If a player violates that code there are specific penalties laid out that are not negotiable. Most likely the coaching staff has little to no input on when Woodson returns.

This should always be additional incentive for us to take advantage of a year where we can capture the attention of our newspaper on Exchange St., while the Suckeyes are out of the picture. I just got this in my e-mail (see image) from the Beacon Journal. The message with this image states that they are compiling a Photo Gallery on their website of Ohio State fan pictures, and giving away free prizes for the best pictures. So, how about an Akron fan photo gallery? Or, just including fan pictures from Akron and/or Kent, which happens to be the areas that cover their readership? Or, just ask for local college football fan pictures? Maybe we'd send a message if we all started sending them AKRON fan pictures to put in this gallery, but I'd bet they wouldn't get posted.

The Zips lost to the Redskins and Ohio beat that Toledo team. Then all of the sudden the nation stopped talking about the race to Detroit. (Say it again out loud in the Forrest voice. It’s funnier.)