mrelegazna

Dammit, I spent 30 bucks on FloHoops for this. My fault for not waiting until the last minute, which is appropriate during these times.

I'm also team Riak and I actually think he showed more offensive potential than most of the pure fives we've had over the years. Besides the things already said: Negatives: -Shot selection. I've never seen a Zip team pass up so many good looks. LCJ is especially guilty of this. They overthink things. -General quality of play consistency. I'd say this is a continual problem for the Zips. but probably everybody feels their team is inconsistent. Inconsistencies are magnified when you watch all of a team's games. Positives: -Sticking with elite teams like Nevada and (today excepted obviously) Buffalo. Dambrot's teams could never really manage this. Yeah, we didn't finish them off, but keeping it close counts for something. -A couple of wonderfully complete games. Against local and conference foes, whenever Dambrot's teams pulled out to a big lead, you just NEWWWWWWW they would give up a big run and make it close again. But that didn't happen against Youngstown State or the first round game against Miami. We seem to have scratched the surface at least on the kind of mentality that can put teams away.

I don't know what to tell you if you think $4.99 a month for Zips games and hundreds of other sporting events (including Zips soccer, volleyball, women's BB, and who knows what else) is an outrage worth boycotting over.

If you're in the camp that believes that Akron can force high majors or elite mid-majors to schedule Akron, and if they don't they're just not trying hard enough, OR you're sick of creampuff HBCs, you might want to look away for this one (December 16th): http://mvsusports.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball Also on the @D1Docket's spreadsheet.

Does anyone know what that "Love + Honor" map is on the Miami floor? It doesn't appear to be Oxford or Butler County.

Shooting pretty well so far...

Great replay just showing Woodson.

Ugh. There are blown assignments, and then there was that.

He was down by like, a lot. I don't see how the announcers could even claim it was a close call. So therefore, it wasn't a "break" as the announcers also just said. Gawd, these announcers.

Link works for me: http://zunox.hk/zxtv93.html

Akron @ IPFW Wednesday. http://gozips.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/releases/201403161wvkq1

Would anyone here, if they had their druthers, turn down a CIT/CBI bid? I'm wondering if, if what TSPjugglerdude says is true, it would be better if they fostered an all-or-nothing, NCAA-or-bust attitude in regards to postseason tournaments.

Put me in the camp of, "I want the best for Alex, hope he turns his life around (if he hasn't already), the people bashing him from their high horse in this thread are loathesome, and I do not want him back on this team." Framing this as "Does he or does he not deserve a second chance at Akron?" misses a third option: Abreu getting a chance at another school. Just looking at struggling low-majors in the Midwest, I'm sure he could be a big upgrade (disclaimer: I don't know these teams' point guard situations) at IUPUI, UIC, or Western Illinois, for example. It would give him a fresh start and the school would not have a baggage-laden past with him. That's what I hope happens, and if it does I will be rooting for him and his team.

That tweet was from 2010 when we played them. Not sure akronzips71 is pranking or didn't notice. As regular season conference champ, UWGB is automatically in the NIT.

Very funny. (Look at the date if you don't get it)

Where's Steve French?

Hey guys, So, I'm writing the UA football profile for this series that Reddit is doing... http://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1930f...ys_mega_thread/ ...and I need help on a couple of areas. I've been a Zip fan all of my life and I grew up in Akron. I can go on at length about the city, the team, and its history. However, there are two subsections that I am a neophyte about. One is "traditions." These include things like Ole Miss's grove and the "Walk" that players/fans take together to games in what seems like half the campuses on the country. I went elsewhere for college and haven't lived in Akron since, so the only games I went to were as a kid. Can someone clue me in on the Zips football culture when it comes to gameday rituals, ephemera, fan or player traditions, etc? Something more concrete than "The AK-rowdies are great." The other is "local dining/bars." Here, I know a bit more, but I haven't lived in Akron in forever so my knowledge is out-of-date and unimpressive. When I go back, I do go to the campus area, but it's been awhile and all I can contribute is this: Aroma. I've gone here a ton for coffee, but it's not impressive or unique, just an average cafe. Joe's Sun Bar and Grill. I've gone here a ton for drinks, but it's not impressive or unique, just an average bar. Euro(pe) Gyro. Again, decent, but average. Other profile writers brag about their bars/campus-area food, and their unique or award-winning elements, and I want to be able to, too. What say you?

Bump... I just read through this thread and basically came here to say this. I absolutely believe pot should be legalized. But this is not a pot issue, and highlighting how pot is becoming legal in some states is a red herring. It IS illegal right now, and he dealt with it in felonious amounts according to his plea. As other have said, there was an element of thought that went into this that is different than being caught drinking underaged at a frat party. Abreu seems smart. He KNEW that if he got caught, his time on the Zips were likely over and his team would be without a great point guard. He did it anyway. When you play for a team, join a club, enter a marriage, whatever, you're basically agreeing to adhere to the rules laid out by the partnership/organization. If you don't like the rules, don't join the group. Do NOT say, "I want to be involved in this group, but I shall try to secretly abrogate their rules. Have my cake and eat it too, if you will." So what disappoints me most about Abreu is the lack of character his actions showed, his selfishness. Pot shouldn't be illegal. It is illegal though, and what you do with that information matters. It matters to your teammates, coaches, fans, and you. I would be shocked and upset if AA was allowed back on the team. I hope that he either transfers to a school completely unconnected in any way to UA, Ohio, or the MAC, or starts his pro career. If he does either, I will root for him. I also hope that he can make a niche for himself playing overseas since it will now be a lot harder for him to enter the US workforce.

I like that there has not been a single talking point in this thread considering whether the A-10 wants to take us. I assume then that it's so obvious they would open the door to us it's not even worth talking about. I also like the reasoning that the MAC would allow us to stay in the MAC for football only, because they let UMass do it. "Guess what guys? We're leaving the MAC, BUT....our football team, our shitty, shitty football team, which has 0 conference wins in the last two years, well, we've deigned this, this so-called "league" acceptable for us, FOR NOW, and we've decided to stay. You're welcome!" The reason they let UMass do it (and for the record, I don't think they should, any more than they allowed Temple to do it) is it opens up a new market for the MAC. There is NO benefit for the MAC to allow us to stay in football because our market is already right in the heart of MAC country, and plus we don't win or draw fans. So, yeah, the MAC would absolutely kick out our football program if we joined another conference for all sports. That means we would either need to become a FBS independent (let's see how well that works for Idaho and New Mexico State now that their conference was pulled out from under them...I doubt it will go well), or, drop down to FCS. I know a lot of guys are willing to throw our football team under the bus, but I'm not. If we want to talk about leaving the MAC, we are, at very, very, VERY least, 2-3 years away from being in a realistic position to do so. The iron is not, in fact, hot. It would take dominance (not alternating between getting knocked out of the first round of the NCAA and getting knocked out of the first round of the NIT each year), but an NCAA tourney run that makes us everyone's darling. Then, our football program would need to improve enough at least enough to be called solid and flirt with winning records and bowl eligibility. Then maybe, MAYBE, Conference USA would come calling.

Sheesh. And I though *I* was hard on Melo. Maybe I missed an incident, but I don't see any swagger - unearned or otherwise - and I certainly don't know where the laziness tag is coming from. Hell, as far as being too hoist with his own petard, that to me more closely describes AA, and so I think Melo may benefit from being away from him. Hell, look how much his English has improved over the last two years. That's not the mark of a lazy ass. 2011: 2013: He's also very young, and accomplished with his leading roles in various PR junior national teams. ALLLLL of that said, I'm not convinced he will become a great or even good MAC-level point guard. I would neither bet against it or for it. His performance against VCU was just dreadful. I realize "havoc" his hard to deal with. But VCU runs it against everybody and without looking at the stats, I don't think many PG's this year handled it more poorly than Melo did. That's why Evans coming in and making a positive impact straight away is so important. Since KD is normally not big on getting JC guys, hopefully that means something in terms of Evans ability to be a better-than-average MAC player right away. But all the new guys have to step up; losing four big contributors is more than we have in a long time. For this reason, and with Ohio losing a lot too, I'm predicting a more wide-open MAC race similar to 2011. But KD seems to consistently find more gems than duds, so not only do I think we will compete for a championship in 2014, but will be dominant in the mold of this year (when we were at our best) in 2013 - without the suspensions and freak flu bugs.

This is a good and tricky question. On one hand, no, at bottom, I'm not satisfied being perennially one-and-done in the NCAAs. On the other hand...if we can't make a run in the NCAAs, I at least want to be able to call ourselves MAC Champions. We've been able to do that a LOT lately. And whatever post-season tournament we get into during non-NCAA years, I want the Zips to do well and I maintain my excitement. Will I be disappointed if we can't get past the first round of the NCAAs, very soon? Yes. If we maintain the current status quo (always 20 wins, always in the MAC Championship Game, NCAAs every other year) would I want Dambrot canned? Hell no.

That sort of scenario occurred to me too, but I don't think it qualifies as "best case scenario" because I don't think his suspension would be lifted in this case; he's still hanging out at the house of a big-time drug dealer. Obviously, this is all just wildly speculative and meaningless, moot spitballing, but hey, it's the internet. Thank you for the clarification. I hate the coverage, or lack thereof, on the Zips in what I call the Cleveland Beacon Journal. Maybe it's gotten better since I left town, but I doubt it. That said, this is a column, an opinion piece. NOT an article. Columnists, pundits, editorial writers, all these guys give their opinions, and waiting until all the facts are in does not stop them from expressing their opinion in the meantime, does not deter them any more than it deters us (as you allude to) on ZN.O. Strong opinions based on facts not (yet) in evidence is furthermore something we abhor of the political commentators we disagree with but forgive (because, come on, you know they're right) with the ones we do agree with. Both are protected by the first amendment. I HATE HATE HATE it when fans and, especially, coaches, suggest that the local media ought to be a Pravda-like mouthpiece for whatever program they fancy. Coaches have been known to ban writers from press conferences, facilities, and the like for expressing opinions they didn't like. Such behavior, and the local fan support of such behavior, makes my blood run cold. It suggests the coach or fan values the first amendment less than they value promotion of whatever institution they support.

Per Big Zips's link, AA has plead Not Guilty. His next court date is March 22nd (Day 2 of the Big Dance, not counting the play-in round). Bail is set at 5k. Someone will probably pay it, I'm guessing. Here's the one-in-a-billion best case scenario now, since he remains suspended until the matter is resolved: 1. It comes out on March 22 that not only is he not guilty, but it was somehow a huuuuuuuge misunderstanding and he's super-extra-innocent of any wrongdoing at all (like, the package was supposed to go the people next door or something), and he is quickly set free. 2. The Zips, having won the MAC Tourney, have their first game in Dayton, and it's a night game. 3. His suspension is immediately lifted and he makes it down to Dayton in time for the game, where we find he has stayed in game shape and picks up where he left off. Come to think of it, one in a billion is probably too generous.

Since no one responded to your offer directly, I will. Do you mean "He will parlay the multi-year success he's had at Akron into a more prestigious or higher-paying job?" Or do you mean, "The Akron brass will fire him, or compel him to resign in disgrace, because of one guy?" Or perhaps you are one of the ones who believe the entire team runs a drug ring on the downlow. If you mean the latter, I take that bet. Fifty bucks. If you mean the former, I do not take the bet, and I would have to ask you what the hell that has to do with this situation and thread, other than to draw attention to yourself. That business aside...I don't feel like we are doomed. This adversity will test the team like they have never been tested before (from a college basketball perspective anyway), and I think there's a non-zero chance we rise to the occasion. Whomever takes over at the point has a simple directive...get it across the court and don't make stupid passes. We still have the perimeter shooting and the dominant inside play to keep defenses honest. At times, especially the two seasons prior to this one, AA was an out-of-control turnover machine, trying to slash to the paint and make low-percentage circus shots. We were pretty damn good anyway. And without the cleared-eyed motivation I think (hope) this team will have now.

Anyone have the link to Frenchy? Are they still on WARF? I'd be inclined to listen to that and keep my eye on this thread.