Dave in Green

Final results: Without Groce but with the same players who made it to the Sweet 16 last season, OU fizzled out and lost in the first round of the NIT. Illinois, in Groce's first season as head coach, came within a questionable officiating call of upsetting #2 seed Miami and making it to the Sweet 16 after not qualifying for post-season play a year ago.

Loyalty may be a small part of it. But the trend of outstanding young mid-major coaches such as Shaka Smart, Brad Stevens and Mark Few turning down high-major offers did not really start until their schools began providing high-major resources for the programs and high-major salaries for the coaching staffs. If a coach can recruit quality players, achieve a #1 ranking, get to the Final Four, and make a lot of money at a mid-major school, the attraction of moving to a bigger school in a crowded urban area becomes less enticing.

@HS Stripes, thanks for the nice game analysis. Not having either Abreu or Walsh was obviously disruptive for the Zips' offense against such a tough and unique defense. The fact that every shot VCU threw up was dropping exaggerated the gap between the two teams.

@Big Zip, I love underdogs and cheer for them all the time. I was a big Butler supporter during their two big runs in the NCAA tournament. How could a Zips fan not want to see FGCU upset Florida? It's just that the odds are way against it. Occasionally a team like Butler makes a run, and then another run, and then another run. Mostly, underdog teams make a single run and then fade back into obscurity. We'll see how FGCU fares in the long run.

Some little team gets hot for a couple of games in the NCAA tournament every season and captures the country's imagination. Most eventually fade back into obscurity after the magic run ends. FGCU's next game against Florida will be similar to the Zips going up against tOSU for state bragging rights. I like having a separate thread for FGSU because it will be easier to resurrect next season for an update.

Excellent observation. Brings back memories of my childhood when I first learned that the kids who liked to dish it out the most were the ones who squealed the loudest when the shoe was on the other foot.

In the original discussion, the description of "hitting" was disputed by some who described it more as "pushing away." In the absence of indisputable, proven evidence that any male was guilty of striking any female in a manner that could have caused injury, care should be taken in how one chooses to describe such incidents. I trust that neither the Zips coaching staff nor players would want to have a player back on the team who was guilty of hitting a female with intent to injure.

@HS Stripes, wish you had seen both games as there's disagreement over whether or not the officials took VCU out of their defensive game with early fouls in the Michigan game but not the Zips game. This is not reflected in the timing and frequency of fouls in the two play-by-play summaries. The freshman McGary, who had only started a couple of games all season, was not seen as much of a threat going into this game and was ignored a lot while VCU was focused on Michigan's ball handlers away from the basket. McGary did a good job of breaking for the basket and Michigan ball handlers did a good job of hitting him for wide open layup after layup.

@skip-zip, you specifically asked the question whether the Zips did anything that was much different than what they've done for the last 7 seasons. The 19-game winning streak was the longest of the season in college basketball, generated a huge amount of national publicity and helped get the Zips their top 25 ranking. The regular season championship is described by Coach Dambrot as the "little prize" with the MAC tournament championship being the "big prize." This was the first time the Zips ever won both prizes. As Zips fans, we can choose to credit the team for those accomplishments or we can choose to trivialize them according to our individual dispositions.

@pat, multi-purpose can be a bit confusing when referring to a sports arena. Really, all arenas are technically multi-purpose to some extent. But in common usage, multi-purpose is used to describe arenas with floor areas that can accomodate such things as a hockey rink, arena football field, arena soccer pitch, etc. Even though arenas with a floor size optimized for a basketball court and nothing larger can be used for multiple types of events, they are limited to events where a hockey rink-size floor space is not required. It would probably be less confusing to describe an arena with the larger floor space as all-purpose.

Being suspended by an athletic department is a different issue from being suspended from a university. Scholarship athletes sign up for a different set of rules than other students. Scholarship athletes can be suspended from college teams for being charged with a serious crime. Proof of guilt is not required. Suspending a star athlete is as much a punishment for the team as it is for the player.

@Blue & Gold, I was present for the Zips game. The VCU players were hitting everything they threw up. Some of the shots were contested and some were open looks. It didn't seem to matter. I watched the Michigan game on TV. Michigan's players were a little quicker, so VCU wasn't getting quite as many open looks. But they still had plenty of makeable shots. They just flat were not going in. We've seen it happen to the Zips. It happens to every team. Sometimes you're hot and sometimes you're not. The shot I remember most from the Michigan game was a VCU player standing right under the bucket. A perfect pass was rifled to him. He jumped high for an uncontested bunny. His hands were literally a couple of feet from the rim. He released the shot and it went over the rim to the other side without hitting anything. He shot an airball from 2 feet away. It was a worse miss than anything I've ever seen from any Zips player. Michigan's defense may have been a little bit better than the Zips' defense, but not the difference between 30% shooting and 60% shooting.

The "dead legs" comment is demonstrably silly. Against the Zips, 11 VCU players played from 10-26 minutes each. That would not come close to giving them dead legs against Michigan. Each VCU player probably expends more energy in one of Coach Smart's practices than they did in the Zips game. The reality is that VCU made 60% of their shots against the Zips in the first half, including most of the open looks, and used every made field goal as an opportunity to turn havoc loose on the Zips. Against Michigan, VCU made only 30% of their shots in the first half, including missing most of the open looks, and therefore had only half as many opportunities to use havoc on the Wolverines.

The situations involving Abreu and Diggs are quite different. Q was found guilty of a violation of the University's Code of Student Conduct and issued a punishment by UA. Alex is accused of violating a state law, to which he has pled innocent. While some of us may believe that Q's punishment was excessive, he did have his day in UA court, so to speak. Alex has not yet had his day in court, has not yet been proven guilty of anything, and therefore should not at this time be subjected to any form of punishment.

Sorry, I have no earthly idea what your response has to do with my post.

I don't know Alex personally, so it's hard to say how team-oriented he is. What he has posted at the top of his Twitter account may or may not be a clue as to where his priorities lie when it comes to his team:

+1

I certainly believe that with an investment of this magnitude, UA has to very carefully research the local market and anticipate what types of events are likely -- not just remotely possible -- to be economically viable in the future. This will need to take into consideration other nearby facilities that would be competing for similar events. The research also needs to carefully consider how much profit each type of event is likely to generate versus construction and operating costs of a facility that can support each type of event. If a multipurpose arena makes sound economic sense for UA, then by all means make that investment if an investor will make the funding available at a reasonable interest rate. If it should turn out that an arena designed specifically around a basketball court can hold almost every type of realistically projected event at a substantial cost savings, then make the smarter investment. Right now I'm pretty optimistic about the future of Zips basketball and the need for a somewhat larger, more optimized basketball arena. I remain skeptical that some of the types of events mentioned here as possibilities would be likely to generate sufficient income in the Akron market to offset the added construction and operating costs.

In a single day, Gonzaga, Butler and VCU all fall short of the Sweet 16.

Mark Few has no more games to coach this season.

Energy Solutions Arena appears to be one of the best I've seen for basketball at a multipurpose arena that can accommodate hockey. Looks like they do it with really intelligently designed moveable seating. This can't be inexpensive.

If we're going on pure spec, then where do we draw the line? Build a 22,000-seat arena on the possibility that LeBron might get an NBA franchise in Akron after he retires? Whoever is paying for this has to read the tea leaves and count the pennies. If it's UA alone, they're not going to take a big gamble on what might happen in the next decades. This needs to be a really smart decision -- not too much and not too little.

OK, we're making progress. Hockey, indoor soccer and arena football require teams. Is there any serious interest by any hockey, indoor soccer or arena football teams in playing in Akron? If not, it would be limited to exhibitions -- maybe once a year or twice at most, so 3 to 6 events. Icecapades would work once a year or twice at most. Same with monster trucks and motocross. That's another 3-6 events per year at most. Bigger stage for a concert? While the dimensions for a basketball court are 94x50, there's a minimum of 3 feet required outside the boundary lines before seating can start, and the preferred is 10 feet. So, adding 10 feet to each side of a basketball court takes it up to 114x70. That's only 15 feet less width than the hard dimensions between the boards and glass surrounding a hockey rink -- not that significant to me. The difference in cost between an arena optimized for basketball and one that can accommodate a hockey rink is not inconsequential. Local economics have to support the difference. I'm not seeing a compelling case just yet. But I'm open to more data.

I'd like to see a comprehensive list of all the events (besides hockey) that can be held in an arena with a floor sized to accommodate a hockey rink (200x85 feet) but could not be held in an arena with a floor space optimized for a basketball court (94x50 feet).

Nice analysis in the AP game story. Here are a few quotes: