kreed5120

I'd have to imagine having a relatively new stadium in a moderately sized city helps.

Those look legit.

I feel those are fair expectations and would provide a huge boost to recruiting efforts. I like the way Akron football is trending and getting from where we were to where we hope to be takes time.

I feel it's much easier to say Akron needs to get more high quality players from NEO than for them to actually do it. It is quite possibly the heaviest recruited area in the entire B1G and MAC. Not to mention you have national programs like Notre Dame and Alabama peaking their head in. Akron needs to get to the point that it becomes a more desirable destination than a Purdue or a Illinois, but playing in an empty stadium with the majority of their games being broadcasted on watchespn isn't going to cut it.

A lot of that foul shot discrepancy comes from the Zips playing from behind and being forced to foul to extend the game. Toledo shot 29 total free throws and of those 10 came in the last 3 minutes of the game.

John Chiaramonte is a verbal commit to Air Force and appears to be drawing a lot of interest from FCS and G5 schools. If the Zips are making a trip to visit him, I wonder if they are confident they can flip him.

The Zips are returning home from an 0-2 road trip that made them look very exposed. Both teams come into the game at 2-2 in conference play. Eastern Michigan is led by Junior guard Raven Lee and Freshman center James Thompson. Eastern Michigan isn't a good 3 point shooting team, but that doesn't appear to stop them from hoisting them up. It should be a winnable game, but the way Akron have played of late nothing should be taken for granted.

I don't even think that's the problem. We've been talking about Akron having these same problems for weeks now. They are just magnified because of the stiffer competition and the fact the Zips are having an uncharactically horrible night from 3.

Akron just can't get stops defensively to enable them to trim the lead.

Akron's shot selection has been horrendous.

TWC 1322

He gave his verbal to Akron way back in May of last year. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 1 of the 1st FBS offers he received. Any verbal that far in advance, unless it's that players dream destination, should be viewed as carrying not much weight.

The Zips are going to need to do a better job of boxing out and crashing the boards. CMU will convert those 2nd chance shots into open 3 looks and unlike WMU, they are good enough to capitalize.

I agree this is a huge problem. If people aren't willing to go to games as undergrads when they are literally a short walk to the stadium, why would they suddenly make the effort as alumni?

They can't hold a gun to people's head and make them show up. The Zips consistently win 20+ games each year and always contend in the MAC, but that clearly isn't enough.In reality the only way I see the attendance spiking is if they get a new arena or if they start winning some March Madness games. The Jar is very outdated with poor sight lines. I'd rather watch from home to be honest. Combine that with the fact people have gotten immune to watching the Zips win 21-25 games just to get knocked out in the 1st round of March Madness or NIT and you can see why the casual fan has no desire to attend.

I'd feel a lot better about this game if the Zips hadn't played down to their competition the past 3 games. I still believe the Zips will win, but if they don't step up their play, this game could go down to the wire.

The Hip Zip, please remember that non-D1 schools don't factor into SOS ratings. Eastern Michigan has played 4 such teams ~1/3 of their OOC schedule. Akron's SOS would appear better if they played Madonna, Marygrove College, or Rochester College instead of Bethune-Cookman, Charleston Southern, or North Carolina A&T, however, those teams EMU played would be cupcake games for Akron's opponents.

With cupcake season having come to an end, the Zips are hosting their 1st conference home game of the season. They are facing off against a WMU team that is led by its guard duo of Tucker Haymond and Thomas Wilder. Combined the 2 account for over 46% of WMU points on the season. WMU is coming off an OT loss against that team out east and currently sit at 6-8 on the season (0-1 in conference play). Useful WMU Numbers * 75.3 PPG (152nd) * 73.6 points allowed per game (226th) * 45% FG% (126th) * 20 3PA per game (201st); .352 3P% (141st) * +5.1 Rebound Differential (66th) * -2.4 Turnover Differential (309th)

Yes, it's ESPN online streaming service.

The Zips need to do a better job at finishing around the rim and need to do a better job at preventing opposing guards getting to it uncontested. If they play like they did against Lipscomb, they will likely lose.

I'm just saying I can't see Big Dog becoming as good at Zeke. Even if he was to become as good or slightly better than Zeke offensively, he is nowhere close to being the same player defensively. You must keep in mind his numbers are padded by the weak OOC schedule up to this point and the big minutes he has been getting of late from the Zips being short handed. If he keeps up the production in conference play, I'll be singing a different tune. I like the way Big Dog has played so far and you can look back in this thread and see that I said at halftime that we need to feed him the ball. I'm just asking for a larger sample size.

I like Big Dog, but comparing him to Zeke is unfair. Zeke contributed offensively, but where he truly shined was defensively and in particular shot blocking.

Akron had a lot of good looks both around the rim and from 3 that they failed to capitalize off of. They need to stay alert more defensively and not give those easy back door cuts to the hoop.

Akron started to feed Big Dog down low at the end of the 1st half. Hopefully they start the second half with the same mentality.

Finally, the Zips are creating some separation.