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Your post struck a good chord with me in that you are one of the few on here to ackowledge that one can be critical of Arth and Bowden at the same time. Since Bowden's departure people want to characterize everyone on here as Pro-Bowden/Anti-Arth or Pro-Arth/Anti-Bowden. I for one was anti-Bowden and my jury is still out on Arth, and I am critical of some of the things I have seen. At one win in two years, the jury is definitely leaning towards convicting Arth but it is still out.

The one nice takeaway is that it seems we left off where we did last season from the charity stripe. We've made 20/21 today.

50 of their 68 points have come in the paint. I'm sure we've been out rebounded by a large margin as well. Freeman might be a feel good story, but he isn't the answer this year and needs to put on 20 lbs of muscle to be any sort of force in the paint. We need Currie or Aziz to be able to contribute meaningful minutes this season to spell Reece and his inevitable foul trouble he'll run into.

Needs to put Sayles in.

This is an Akron Zip board....and we obviously all deservedly want to pay credit to former zip great Darlington Nagbe and legendary former zip coach Caleb Porter. However, I also want to pay credit to the "architect". The architect also has some Akron connections. The architect is 39 year old general manager Tim Bezbatchenko. Bezbatchenko was heavily involved in building the great Toronto teams (won an MLS cup in 2017). This was Bezbatchenko's 2nd year as Crew general manager. He has obviously made brilliant decisions....Nagbe, Zelarayan, etal and this 39 year old leader deserve a ton of credit. The Akron connection for Mr. Bezbatchenko. His grandmother and one of his uncles are both Akron zip mens soccer season ticket holders. Another one of Tim's uncles was the starting QB on some of Jim Dennison's finest gridiron teams in the mid to late 70's. Tremendous credit to Tim Bezbatchenko and Caleb Porter for building a MLS championship team in Columbus.

Congrats to Akron and the three players for making all MAC. They are setting the basis for the future of Akron football and several wins next season. There will be 6-8 all MAC players next year. I do think it was a slap in the face for Bubba. With his stats and play, he should have been a first team performer.

This guy should have at least been given a chance to take the program into D1. Would he have been better than Faust? Who knows. But he ran the last consistently winning program at Akron.

Yeah!!!

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/12/13/mls-cup-player-ratings-perfect-night-lucas-zelarayan-caleb-porter-greg-seltzer These 3 stood out to me: ... Aidan Morris (7) — I won't lie. I figured Columbus would not be able to cover for the loss of Darlington Nagbe. Morris proved me wrong by doing many of the things Nagbe does. He scooped up loose balls, worked out of trouble and made the simple pass to get the team away. Nothing fancy, just good work. Kudos to the youngest player to ever start an MLS Cup. Lucas Zelarayan (10) — I'm just going to say it: This performance has to be on a very short list for the greatest individual whistle-to-whistle display in MLS Cup history. Zelarayan kept possession alive with some insane touches, he won a small bushel of free kicks and he even checked back to offer defensive help to Morris. And when it came to to make the big plays, Zelarayan did it with style, as if the game was moving much slower for him than it was for everyone else. Each of his finishes was a proper peach, and his assist was just as good. Take a bow, champion. ... Coach Caleb Porter (10) — I was thinking, hey man, don't be so generous with the perfect grades. But really, what could I ding Porter for? He played this game like chess, starting with the lineup calls to replace Nagbe and Pedro Santos. He pushed his lines of confrontation so high in the first half that Seattle couldn't build with their usual precision until they were down two goals. And just when it looked like the Sounders might gain rally momentum, he urged the team to get on the ball, which led to the coffin nail of the third goal. Sounds flawless to me. ...

The Zips head to the Portage County Agricultural Demonstration and Animal Husbandry Center Saturday to face the 3-1 Flushes. The Flushes have bested Northern Kentucky, Purdue Fort Wayne and Detroit Mercy while falling in OT to Virginia. Portland State transfer Michael Nuga leads Mr. PInky's squad at 17.8 ppg with 7th year senior Danny Pippen at 17.1 ppg and 7.3 rpg. Temple transfer Justyn Hamilton leads the team at 9.5 rpg while scoring 13 ppg. PCCC with the new talent and four solid games under their belt will be quite a challenge for the Zips. An empty PCADAHC will certainly be an odd setting for such a high intensity rivalry game.

Sounds like they've upped their academic game, if not basketball..

I only got to watch 6 or 7 minutes. From what I saw, they are definitely still in early season mode, where they usually are in mid-November when playing the Carolina directionals and Tennessee regionals. Figuring things out, ironing out lineup and defensive rotations, feeling each other out. Lots of new faces that will take time to gel. St. Bonaventure is a really good team and will be one of the top teams in the A10. They are better than any MAC team the Zips will see. Pleasantly surprised by Freeman. Marshall is much more of a player, and a different type of player, than I anticipated. I could see him as the starting 4 when things settle out. Sure wish we knew what was up with Currie. Oh, and we're all wrong. The Zips website currently has them beating St. B 81-74 and the Zips at 2-0. I think Groce walked into the post-game presser and told everyone the Zips had won and that anything to the contrary was fake news and fraud.

Athleticism wise, we're there. Shooting wise, we'll be there. Effort wise and defensively, lots of room for growth. One of those teams I could see Groce having ready for March, but it's going to be a turbulent regular season.

I had low expectations coming into this game, and leave it feeling pretty good. Dailey will need to get on track quickly, but he has a nice stroke, so I think he will. That will take some of the scoring burden off LCJ. Dawson looks much more confident, and with a much-improved 3-point shot. Same with Ali. Freeman is a revelation. What a blessing to have a walk-on big (height, not width) that's impactful. Especially when we're missing a couple bigs. Trimble looked out-of-sorts. I'll hope he's just shaking off some rust. Lots of new faces, and a tough opponent. Groce will figure it out. His teams always get better as the year progresses.

Lack of hustle on loose balls is troubling.

A lot of self inflicted wounds so far. Game isn't over yet, but I think they're fixable things. Add that we can't buy a bucket outside the paint, that'll turn around this year. Guys just need some time to gel, but there's some talent

Needed this intensity like at the beginning of the game

Got a lot of complaints about the first half. All of which can be fixed as the season plays out, but maybe not today. If we can hit some shots in the second half, we have a chance. Law of averages, right?

Freeman is the most capable walk-on I've seen for the Zips. Fearless Forecast ® - He'll be on scholarship next year.

Let's go Zips!

Apologies to Ben Lundt, but Evan Bush is still the best Zips GK in my reference (since 1976). He should add quality depth to Crew, if not pressing to start. Great teammate by all accounts.

I know we are down to about 37 hours prior to the start of the signings. I am still hoping greatly for Ian Kipp of Mentor as the QB. He would start from day 1 and the Zips would be winning big in 2 years.

I have to set my alarm to remember to throw this on. Last year I'd have to stream this at the office on a 20" monitor. This year we're streaming this in the home office on the big screen. One of the perks of 2020!

He was a class act. Great player and earned his degree! Forever a Zip! Good luck, Nate!

One senior contributor in the portal. Best of luck to Nate. Always came across as a class act.

miss me yet?

Not a Zip, but this former Hoosier deserves kudos and respect for his performance stepping in so well for Darlington...