Dave in Green

Well, the opening few lines from my last post contain only factual statements. Perhaps you misinterpreted what I was saying. To more specifically address your last question, potential TV ratings for televised games are based on fan interest, and fan interest is generated in part by media coverage. So local media coverage of a team does have interest to a conference because the conference knows that media coverage will tend to generate more interest in a team which will, in turn, generate more interest among more people in viewing that team, leading to higher TV ratings. No one really knows what Cleveland-Akron TV market ratings would be if Zips sports teams performed well in a big-name conference against big-name competition because it's never been done. We know there would be some level of interest, but we're just speculating on what level that interest might be. No major conference is going to take a totally blind leap of faith on admitting UA. They would study the crap out of all available data and make their best projections based on experience in similar markets. The 18th largest TV market is not a bad starting point. But there simply is no foolproof formula for projecting exactly how many viewers would tune in to watch the Zips playing in a major conference. I fail to see where you and I are not in agreement on this.

@johnnyzip84, total surrender accepted. Now that we've nuked Toledo, I promise to focus only on the Cleveland-Akron market. The connection between Zips athletics and the nation's 18th largest media market is not unproven. It exists by definition and in fact. Akron is obviously part of the Cleveland-Akron TV market. Akron is smaller than Cleveland and a little further away from the Cleveland-based TV stations, so it doesn't get as much coverage in the Cleveland-Akron TV market as Cleveland. Akron will never get as much coverage in the Cleveland-Akron TV market as those who live in Akron would like. However, Akron does get some coverage, and Zips athletics does get some coverage. The question is not whether Zips athletics can get any coverage but how much the coverage could be increased. That would depend on the prestige of the conference the Zips are in and the quality of their performance against big-name schools. Any conference would be making a gamble if they brought in a team from a lesser conference without a great record against big-name schools. If Akron was a little further away from Cleveland and if Akron had its own TV stations, it would be a separate market but a much smaller one. I suspect there are people on the staff of the Big East and other BCS conferences who are pretty good at crunching numbers and weighing the pros and cons of bigger fish in smaller markets vs. smaller fish in bigger markets. With the right nurturing, smaller fish can grow into bigger fish. I'd love to be in the room if Dr. Proenza was presenting his Vision 2020 strategic plan to representatives of the Big East or other higher-level conference with Jim Tressel, Terry Bowden, Keith Dambrot and Caleb Porter sitting behind him.

For anyone who is underestimating ORU: ORU is a top-15 KenPom team in effective field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, two-point percentage and block percentage. No one else is so elite in four offensive categories. This team is no joke whatsoever. Non-BCS Power Pyramid, Week 13

I believe the different state argument is very strong, especially considering the two states are Ohio and Michigan. I lived in the Detroit area for more than 20 years, and there was way, way less mention of Toledo on the Detroit TV stations than there is of Akron on Cleveland TV. Really, it's not even close. For the Detroit market, Toledo might as well be Columbus. The University of Michigan is located within the Detroit TV market, and no college conference that Toledo might join could ever put a dent in UM's stranglehold on Detroit TV college sports coverage. On the other hand, there is an opportunity for an Ohio university to establish itself as the top sports power physically within the geography of the Cleveland-Akron TV market, and become a clear second to tOSU in Cleveland-Akron TV sports coverage. To achieve that, an area university would need to belong to a higher-profile conference than the MAC or Horizon League, bring big-name college teams into the market, and win on a consistent basis. UA might be able to accomplish that in the Big East, but likely not in any lesser conference. Would UA sports teams consistently winning in the Big East cause a huge number of people living inside the Cleveland city limits to suddenly become major Zips fans? No. Would that cause increased general interest in UA across the entire Cleveland-Akron TV market and create some new fans? Yes.

@skip-zip, I couldn't agree with you more that questioning coaching decisions is an integral part of sports forums. It's never going to stop no matter what anyone says. It goes with the territory that some observations are going to be more educated than others because there's a wide disparity in basketball experience and knowledge among different forum members. Having said that, no one is right or wrong all the time. If you think of a sports forum as an opportunity to share opinions and knowledge, i.e. learn and teach, each discussion offers the opportunity for everyone to make points and everyone to reach their own conclusions about which observations are closer to reality.

One thing that would help reduce the cost of a new arena would be to use existing parking facilities. Parking decks are much more efficient uses of space than parking lots. There are plenty of parking decks downtown to support a new arena. There are also several parking decks on campus that could be used to support an on-campus arena if it was built in the right location. One of my occasionally reliable sources recently mentioned to me that a leading location candidate for a new on-campus arena would be where the baseball field is presently located, with the baseball field to be relocated. If there's any substance to this, then the new arena would be about as close to UA's Exchange Street parking deck as the JAR is to the East Campus parking deck. Another possibility that I mentioned in a previous thread would be to locate a new on-campus arena in the area between the JAR and the East Campus deck. This area is mostly parking lots plus a couple of small structures that could either be torn down or relocated to another area on campus. This has a couple of advantages, such as allowing for connection of the new arena to the JAR and continued use of the East Campus parking deck for basketball fans. You could even have an elevated, covered walkway over Spicer Street from the parking deck to the new arena, which would allow fans to get from their cars into the arena without having to walk outside. Really, there are many different scenarios that could be made to work.

@johnnyzip84, your comparison of the Toledo-Detroit market to the Cleveland-Akron market is not a good one on several different levels. First, Akron is 20 miles closer to Cleveland than Toledo is to Detroit. Second, Toledo and Detroit are in different states. Third, Toledo has its own TV stations while Akron does not. All of the above leads to Cleveland-Akron being listed as one market in the official TV ranking of major metropolitan markets while Detroit and Toledo are separate. Bottom line is that if Toledo ends up in a bigger conference with opponents who are attractive enough for local TV to provide increased coverage, it will be smaller-market Toledo TV stations that do it, not bigger-market Detroit TV stations. Two separate markets from a TV perspective. On the other hand, if Akron ends up in a similar situation, it would be bigger-market Cleveland TV stations that would provide increased coverage. That's what prospective conferences would be looking at when adding new teams.

Last season VCU couldn't win their conference tournament, got an at-large bid and ended up going to the NCAA tournament final four.

Yep, first I said that George had a good sense of humor. Then I put a smiley after the statement that he didn't read internet forums every day because "he has a life." And it still wasn't obvious to everyone that he was kidding when he said that. Is it any wonder why there are so many misunderstandings on internet forums? He did say that he checked in here every few days to see if there was anything of interest. But he doesn't rely on internet forums for story leads. He spends many hours on the UA campus talking with different people face-to-face. He also has a lot of good contacts within the community. In other words, he's a real professional journalist.

Assuming KD knows more about UA's future athletic plans than any of us, his stated preference for an arena with seating in the 6-8k range is probably an educated estimate based on multiple potential future scenarios. For example, if the Zips stay in the MAC and continue to be an exciting team to watch with potential to win NCAA tournament games every season, something closer to 6k is probably realistic. A really nice arena of that size would likely attract at least 500 more fans per game than the JAR and perhaps sell out more than just the Can't game. If the Zips end up in a better conference like the Big East with bigger name teams regularly visiting, and if the Zips can recruit even better players and be an even stronger team than they are now, I could see something closer to 8k making sense. I would question any seating capacity under 6k as a sign that Zips basketball is not expected to grow, and anything over 8k as being overly optimistic and more likely not to be economically viable.

Now here's a mid-major top 25 that not only has respect for the Zips but for the MAC in general, with UA #12, Can't #18 and OU #23: SBNation Mid-Major Top 25

Hilltopper and I were the only regular forum members there along with Zip Watcher and Mike Rasor, who also sat in on the discussion. It was nice to meet both George and Mike in person. George is a likeable guy with a good sense of humor. If there's another chance to meet with him in the future, more ZN.o posters should take advantage of the opportunity. I asked if he got any story ideas from reading posts on ZN.o, and he said he doesn't read ZN.o or any other online forum daily because he "has a life." While he likes basketball and enjoys covering Zips basketball and KD, he's actually more of a football fan. He's looking forward to covering Zips football, and has already talked with Coach Bowden. He takes his profession (journalism) seriously, and is dedicated to doing the best job he can on whatever beat he is assigned. He said he really wanted to work for the ABJ because of its great history of award-winning journalism. He pointed out that the ABJ has won four Pulitzer Prizes, which is way above average for a newspaper of its size, while the CPD has won only one. He's open to any constructive criticism. We talked about the fact that many on ZN.o were originally concerned that he wasn't the right person for his new position, but that we were all pleasantly surprised at the quality of his work to date. He mentioned that he got off to a bit of a slow start because he had two weeks of vacation scheduled during his first month on the new beat. I agree with Hilltopper that the key point of the discussion was hearing how the ABJ is becoming more focused on local news than statewide, national or global news. This will continue to result in more local sports coverage, including both UA and Can't. So get used to reading George's Zips sports stories, because we're going to be seeing more of them.

To clarify what KD said in the post-game interview, he expressed his displeasure with the Serb taking 3-point shots early on the shot clock. KD did not say that he didn't want the Serb taking any 3-point shots. Anyone who has sat in on a Zips practice this season knows that the Serb has hung around practicing 3-point shooting after most of the other players have left the court, and KD has done nothing to discourage him from that.

When you have 9 players who could all be starters, and there is continuous substitution, you eventually start wearing the other team down. This becomes more obvious in the second half as the other team's players have been challenged by one wave of fresh, quality players after another. So, yes, the Zips are definitely a second half team. One interesting stat tonight is that Gilliam played 30 minutes -- second only to Rico's 32 minutes. I believe that's the most minutes Gilliam has played in any game this season. He's been slowly building up his PT as the season has gone on by continually improving his defense. There was never any doubt about his offense. KD acknowledged in the post-game interview that Gilliam played a good game. Tree obviously had another good game. But Harney has been struggling a little. A few times tonight he flipped the ball up at the bucket and missed badly. This is in contrast to his early season performance, when he was a consistently strong finisher. Hopefully it's just a little bump in the road and he'll return to his early season form.

When the Serb was hitting about 40% of his 3-pointers earlier in the season, it was a pretty effective weapon. Over the last few weeks he's trailed off badly and his season average is now down to about 30%. If he can't consistently hit 3s at a high percentage, there are others on the team who can fill that role.

Lots of possibilities to choose from, and no signs that any decisions are going to be made quickly.

It's official now that the Zips can clinch the MAC regular season championship by winning 4 of their last 5 conference games. It wouldn't even matter which team beat them as long as there is only 1 loss.

The Zips just got their best bracketology matchup ever on CBS Sports: #13 seed playing #4 seed Murray State in Nashville. That's one heck of a winnable game for the Zips. Too bad this one couldn't be locked in right here and now. CBS Sports Bracketology

Hint: In the video he talks about playing for his dad.

I'd like to see Zeke continue to improve every aspect of his game, as he's been doing throughout his Zips career to date. He could be a better defensive rebounder if he was more focused on grabbing rebounds than on contesting any shot within 10 feet of him. But the Zips defense is built around Zeke being the stopper in the middle contesting every shot near him, not on Zeke crashing the boards every time an opponent shoots. Perhaps a better case could be made for Zeke learning to crash the offensive boards every time one of his teammates shoots. All Zeke has to do is take lessons from Tree. Comparing Zeke's rebounding to the other 9 players in the top 10 of blocks per game, only a couple of them are averaging close to 10 rebounds per game. Zeke is actually within 1 RPG of about half of the top 10 in BPG.

@AKSportsFan, I think the problem with all your "what ifs" is that longtime Zips football fans have already tried all those things and more over the years, and they've just kept getting disappointed by mostly mediocre performance on the field. Everyone wants to believe it will be different this time. But no one really knows what will happen when the irresistible force of Coach Bowden meets the immovable object of mediocre Zips football.

Probably George Van Horne, associate AD for development. EDIT: Do I hear an echo?

I don't doubt for a moment that Whitney Houston's Super Bowl singing performance would have sounded every bit as good had she been allowed to perform it live.

Sweeping the MAC West may not seem like such a big accomplishment in the big world of college basketball. But, combined with others teams losing, it was enough to move the Zips up to a projected #13 seed in the latest Lunardi bracketology.

BPI is similar to the Pomeroy or Sagarin ratings in that they have additional elements in the calculation beyond RPI. From all I've read, the NCAA selection committee looks at pure RPI, and then has a discussion about other elements rather than trying to roll all the elements into a standard equation like BPI, Pomeroy or Sagarin. I suppose the NCAA selection process is always subject to change if they think they can come up with a more logical formula.