Dave in Green

Remember, it's all about the noble concept of giving troubled youths a chance to straighten out their lives. The fact that they are outstanding athletes who help maintain the Can't basketball team's winning record is secondary.

At 6-5, Akbar is already as tall as Jimmy Conyers, and will probably continue to grow taller. Even at 6-5, Conyers did a pretty fair job of leading the Zips in rebounding and shutting down taller frontcourt opponents.Undersized players have bit of a handicap. But they can more than overcome that with hard work, heart and skill. Remember how the experts were saying that Pitt's DeJuan Blair was way too short (6-7) to be an NBA center? That was before he produced a couple of 20-20 (20+ points and 20+ rebounds) games in his rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs.I trust that KD has seen major upside potential in Akbar, and we'll just have to wait and see how much of that potential is realized.

Infrastructure is a major, fundamental issue for me that is critical to keeping America great. I think there are many issues on which liberals, moderates and conservatives have common ground. But many of today's politicians are too busy pushing emotional, divisive issues to energize their most rabid voting bases.So my vote is not locked into any political party. My vote goes to the candidates who convince me they have the most positive and productive solutions to the country's issues and not to the ones who shout the loudest, most outrageous insults at their opponents.Trying to get elected by calling your political opponents "anti-American" is a sure way to lose my vote.

GP1, I know you appreciate libertarianism, which I also happen to think has some good ideas. The Tea Party is pretty closely linked with libertarianism, and Michelle Bachman has been referred to as the "darling of the Tea Party." So where is the disconnect with you? What is it about Bachman and/or the Tea Party that you think doesn't fit the true libertarian philosophy?By the way, I first became aware of Bachman a couple of years ago when I saw the video of her interview with Chris Matthews where she said that she hoped the media would investigate and expose all of the "anti-American" representatives and senators. I still recall as a young child back in the 1950s watching the Joseph McCarthy hearings on TV, and was dumbfounded that Bachman was channeling McCarthy. The day after seeing the Bachman video, I asked one of my good conservative friends what he thought of Bachman, and he said he'd never heard of her.I just went back and watched video of Bachman's "anti-American" statement, and am finding it hard to believe that this is the state of conservatism in America today. There are many conservative concepts that are good for America. But labeling liberals who respectfully disagree with some of your concepts as "anti-American" does nothing to advance the conservative cause with moderate independents like me.

According to Bradley's MySpace account, he only just became friends with Alyssa Krasovec on February 20. That sure didn't last long. Wonder what it was he "just got dne beatn some up" on March 28?MySpace

Channel 5 must not allow links to individual stories. I've tried posting a link to the story using several different formats, and nothing works. You just have to go to the Channel 5 website and navigate to the story from their front page:http://www.newsnet5.com/

Most of the information on Green to date has been speculative. The previous line on Green was that he was a good outside shooter who wasn't so great mixing it up inside. If true, he would seem more suited for the 3 position than the 4. Perhaps the original thinking was not so accurate, or perhaps Green has worked more on his inside game and gotten to the point that he could be a viable 4. What we need is more factual information.

As in every political discussion these days, this thread offers the usual mix of angry dogma and sincere thoughtfulness. Personally, I no longer pay attention to the spewers of angry dogma. I try to focus on the thoughtful discussion.For example, the point about the founding fathers having a concern about the federal government becoming too big and having too much control is a good one. I'm a big fan of the system of checks and balances they engineered into the three main branches of government to try to keep too much power and control out of the hands of one group.The other side of the coin is also important. We know that being overweight is bad for your health. But we also know that anorexia is not a healthy alternative to being overweight. What happens if the federal government becomes too weak and has too little control? Is there a risk of balkanizing the great United States into a collection of weak little fiefdoms ruled by local warlords of the extreme left or the extreme right who are more concerned about competing with the neighboring fiefdoms than in keeping the U.S. great?Those who have not surrendered their souls to a rigid set of political dogma tend to be concerned about extremes, whether of the left or the right. Moderate independents tend to believe that no political party has all the answers, and that the best way to keep checks and balances alive is to avoid any kind of permanent takeover by any special interest group.Neither the left nor the right is all good or all bad. Both have important contributions to make, which vary depending on the primary needs of the country at any given time. So over the course of one's life, a good moderate independent will find himself voting for more than one party. From the positive side, you look for the party that offers the best set of solutions for the most pressing problems of the time. From the negative side, you try to avoid the party that's dominated by crazy talkers, because crazy talk can turn into crazy action.In the often difficult decision of trying to select between the lesser of two evils, picking the party that's trying hardest to pin the "evil" label on the other party is not productive. You really have to dig through a lot of dirt to get a clean picture of what each side is really saying, and what effect their proposals will actually have on the country. When they speak in code, it's important to understand what that code means to that party's base, because that's the true message of what you're going to get from that party.America's system of checks and balances is always under threat by those who are constantly working on new ways to game the system. As the gaming gets more sophisticated, it becomes more challenging to filter out the static and focus on what's important. Thoughtful, intelligent poitical discussion is a good way to help better understand legitimate issues. Table-pounding and name-calling is not.

There's nothing different about tOSU fans that hasn't been expressed by fans of any school that has been caught by the NCAA with their hand in the cookie jar. USC fans were equally in denial about what the NCAA would do to their school relating to the Reggie Bush issue.Honestly, the ultra-rabid fans only have themselves to blame when they set themselves up for a big fall by being in a total state of denial. If your school gets caught cheating, just man up, admit it and move on. The more you deny it, the more those who weary of listening to the denials take delight in justice being served.

That's right. Everyone has the right to speak their minds, and then everyone else has the opportunity to evaluate whether or not they are out of their minds.

I wonder why my comment on political discussion was deleted by CK from the Ianello thread in the football forum while the other political comments were allowed to remain? Does the following really seem that radical compared with the political comments that were left standing in that thread?--------------------------------------------------- This is indicative of why political discussion tends to veer out of control. Depending on one's political bias, one interprets and portrays events with a different spin. Each side considers its views to be "fair" and portrays the other side's views as "unreasonable." Neither side wants to yield to the other having the last word. And so, once started with what appears to one side as an innocent remark and the other side as a political zinger, political discussions tend to drag on and spiral down into ever greater meanness.Note that anyone who has surrendered their life to a political belief system may have difficulty objectively determining where the problem lies. When a political belief system is accepted with the same faith and fervor as a religious belief system, objective analysis tends to be inhibited. When there is an assumption that one side represents all the good forces of heaven and the other side represents all the evil forces of hell, reasonable discussion can no longer be conducted between the two sides.And that's why zerio tolerance is the best solution to political and religious discussions on forums that do not primarily exist for political or religious discussion.

He also said: "as a coach you always need to be green and growing."Always green and growing is the very definition of sustainability, as there's no room for "ripe and rotting" (decline).

"You can make significant improvement [quickly] in this league if you stay the course and believe in the message and don't make change for change's sake," Ianello said recently. He was pointing to Miami of Ohio's rise from a one-win team in 2009 to Mid-American Conference East Division champion last season.True dat. You just hope that Coach Ianello stays the course on what he did right last season and corrects what went wrong. I don't expect the Zips to contend for a divisional championship this season, but I do expect a significant improvement.

Right, tOSU calculatingly undershot the penalty they think they're likely to get from the NCAA, hoping that the NCAA will decide to avoid the hassle of adding its own penalty on top of the self-imposed one.You never know exactly how the NCAA is going to act in these situations. But from the level of outrage posted in the media, I'm betting that the NCAA will not be satisfied with the self-imposed penalty.

It would be disappointing if both Walsh and Gilliam don't have an immediate impact. They may be new to the Zips, but they're both older guys with college experience who should be ready to play from game 1.Based on experience alone, Rico and Walsh are the obvious candidates to split time at the 1.Nitro, Q and Gilliam are the most experienced at the 2/3 positions.I'd expect at least one other player to get significant time at the 2/3, and that player would most likely come from the group including Green, Harney and Ibitayo. At least 1 and possibly 2 of those 3 players would not likely get much PT.It's also possible that some of the 2/3 guys might be up to playing a little at the point, as Q showed he could last season, and Walsh could probably swing from the 1 to the 2.At the 4/5 positions, Zeke and the Serb are the obvious veterans. Egner and Tree would be the most obvious backups, although it's possible that Harney might be up to playing the 4.Looking at it this way, it appears that the biggest potential logjam is at the 2/3 positions, with 6 players in the mix, or 7 if you count Walsh.I'm thinking that Ibitayo would have to be awfully good to break through that group as a true freshman. I think Justice is an almost certain redshirt, and Ibitayo a likely redshirt. But I sure won't be disappointed if Ibitayo is so good that KD can't afford to redshirt him.As always, we won't know who can really deliver under game conditions until the season gets underway.I can't wait!

What basketball fan wouldn't rather have an optimized basketball arena than a compromised combo arena if given a choice? Having said that, if economics force a combo arena that could generate more income than a dedicated basketball arena, I agree with Spin that it should be modeled on whatever is currently the state-of-the-art combo arena. Maybe someone can point to the best example of a combo arena with minimal compromises for basketball.

I refuse to worry about potential future problems such as next season's early recruiting as long as there are so many obvious current problems that have yet to be proven to be resolved.The good news is that the Zips are dead even with every college football program in the country when it comes to 2015 verbals.

Starting is overrated. Finishing is also important, and the best finishers are not necessarily the best starters. Then there's all that time in the middle of the game when points count just as much as they do at the start and finish. What really matters is that each player contribute to his greatest ability while he's on court, whenever that might be.The most powerful lineup is the one that's not diminished when the subs come in. If the other team doesn't have a strong bench, there's a great opportunity to put the game away if your subs are as good as your starters. I'm hoping that will be the case with the Zips this season. We've endured enough mid-game scoring droughts over the years that the one thing we should all hope for is that the bench is loaded with viable options.

The more I learn about KD, the more I like him as both a coach and a person. It's extremely fortunate for both KD and UA that they "found each other."

Interesting college football stat of the day -- CBS Sports is conducting a poll on "Which is the dirtiest football league in the country?"Current standings as I write this after 17,871 have voted:66% SEC14% Big Ten9% Pac 125% Big 123% ACC2% Conference USACBS Sports

What OSU was willing to do to themselves is a hint of what they think the NCAA might do to them.

If, as indicated in the original Scout profiles, Moore had offers from Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech, then it's fair to say that he at least was a stud QB. Those four schools are perennial Top 25 teams, and do not waste time rolling the dice on QBs who aren't close to sure things.The question now is how much Moore's skills have improved since his senior year in HS, when he was good enough to get offers from those four schools. He has obviously had some personal problems. But they don't appear to have been so serious that he couldn't bounce back and perform like a Top 25 QB. He could also be a bust. But it's one heck of a great gamble for a school like UA to roll the dice on him. The upside is huge.However Moore turns out, I give a lot of credit to the Zips coaching staff for signing a QB with that much potential.

I believe it's already been mentioned that Zeke is still growing, and may be up around 7-1. So is 235 pounds enough weight for a 7-1 center to survive in the rough world of the NBA?It just so happens that Tyson Chandler, the Dallas Mavericks starting center who helped shut down Miami's Big Three to win the NBA championship, is listed at 7-1, 235.So, yes, it's totally realistic for a defensive-minded 7-1 center like Zeke to play in the NBA at 235 pounds as long as he develops the strength, stamina and skills of a player like Tyson Chandler.

Lots of good stuff to be found about Betancourt in a Google search. Saw a comment that Betancourt is a lot like VCU's Joey Rodriguez but plays more under control and has a better outside shot, and we all saw how far Rodriguez took VCU.

Josh Egner is going to Brian Walsh for advice on a Zips basketball play?