Dave in Green

Some of the problems mentioned about the JAR would not require huge expenditures to fix.Optimizing the concessions, for example, would take a minimal cash investment and a generous application of Customer Service 101 training. Chick-fil-a is a world leader in fast food customer satisfaction. Why not draw on their expertise as part of the package of selling their products at games?And if Zeke is coming to UA for the computer department, surely there is resident expertise to correct the error-prone computerized stat system.A new facility is not going to automatically correct fundamental problems that are not directly related to the infrastructure, but to the facility management folks whose job it is to see that all aspects of the operation are optimally run for maximum customer satisfaction.Optimizing the old facility should be on a parallel path with planning for a new facility, because many of the same things would apply at both facilities. If correcting the obvious shortcomings of the current facility doesn't result in getting closer to capacity crowds of 5,500, then it's probably optimistic to think that a new facility by itself would double attendance.

No one outside of the coaching staff is ever going to be able to give a definitive response to that issue. Having said that, I think you've gotten some pretty educated answers to your questions, but you just refuse to believe they are convincing.What is not convincing about the fact that, by his own words, KD values defense over offense?What is not convincing about the point that game time is earned by practice performance as judged by the coaching staff?What is not convincing about the assumption that Swiech has not up until now convinced the coaching staff in practice that he can play better overall defense than Bardo?The problem with bringing up this question over and over and over when it's not possible to get a definitive answer on this forum is that it's embarassing for everyone. It's embarassing for Swiech to have his inability to earn playing time continually called out. It's embarassing for Bardo when his weaknesses are continually called out as a reason for playing someone the coaching staff believes has greater weaknesses. And it's embarassing for the coaching staff to continually have its competency questioned about the fundamental decision over which players give the team the best chance of winning.If something positive could be achieved by constantly rehashing this discussion, I'd be all for it. But the longer it goes on, the closer it gets to being all negative all the time.What's the point?

I agree it doesn't make good economic sense to raze the JAR. It's a good, sound building capable of serving UA for many years in the future in various capacities. I also don't think a structural upgrade to add seating to the JAR makes good economic sense. It makes more sense to me to limit any JAR upgrades to better sight lines from the current 5,500 seats and minor cosmetics to make it at least somewhat more inviting to fans. Any substantial financial investment should be reserved for a new facility, either alongside the JAR, nearby on campus or downtown.Going back to the Google satellite view of the JAR area, there's enough real estate between the JAR and the parking deck to build a facility roughly twice the size of the JAR by eliminating a couple of small buildings and surface parking lots. It should be possible to build a new facility alongside the JAR without disrupting scheduled events, and then have a seamless transition to events in the new facility.Personally, it doesn't matter that much to me what plan ultimately wins out, as I enjoy Zips basketball wherever it's played.

My guess is that buying out The Chapel for $1.5M is unrealistic. Besides, a church makes a good neighbor for a university. If you're going to expand the university footprint, go after the less desireable neighbor property.It would be great if funding could be found to build a quality multipurpose facility, whether downtown or on campus. But that's pretty speculative, especially in a down economy. Upgrading the JAR is certainly the most realistic option for the near future. As already discussed, there are things that could be done to make the JAR a more desireable place to visit and watch basketball and other activities. I am really in favor of having continuous rows of seating at a steeper angle from the edge of the court all the way to the ceiling, if possible.There are pros and cons to the location of a new, larger facility should adequate funding be found. It appears as if there is room for a larger facility right on or next to the current location of the JAR. Keeping it together with all the other campus athletic facilities makes a lot of sense. A key point will be adding one or two new parking decks in that area to handle larger crowds for the new stadium, a larger basketball arena and all the other athletic events that might be taking place, some simultaneously.Having the new arena downtown might be more economically feasible if UA gains a partner to share the costs. But having the basketball facility off campus and away from the other athletic activities is a negative.All options should be pursued in the initial planning stages, with a final decision made after weighing all the pros and cons of each.

I think everyone will agree that Zeke will be starting before next season is over. We're just guessing here about how deep into the season we'll be before Zeke gets his first start. It could well be the first game of the season based on what KD told EA:He may not be there yet. But for the growth of the program, we have to play him, if he's close. If we're going to take the next step, you have to have that extra size.It all depends on how quickly Zeke develops from a high school player into a D1 collegiate player. We know he'll make freshman mistakes, and we know it's unlikely he will be a dominant force from his first game. But it's almost certain that such a highly rated high school big will be able to contribute starting with the first game of the season, and that he will be a starter early in his freshman season.

The King does not read this forum. We peasants find it easier to read posts that use proper English with upper and lower case letters.

Looking at a Google Maps satellite view of the area bounded by East Buchtel Ave., Spicer Street and Carroll Street shows that the JAR takes up less than a third of that block. The rest is taken up by surface parking lots and a few small house-size structures. I'm not sure what's in these smaller structures, and if they could be sacrificed in the name of a new, larger facility. But, if so, the JAR could easily be doubled in size (5,500 capacity to 11,000) on this piece of real estate with room left over.Google Map of JAR

It just isn't logical to think the NCAA would allow football players more all-star games than basketball players. The basketball season is typically three times as many games as football, and there are many more all-star basketball games than football.

Just posted on cleveland.com is a nice EA interview with KD on how he hopes to use Zeke next year:Zips + Zeke

Thanks to everyone for all the good background information.There's also a good JAR backgrounder at gozips.com: JAR BackgrounderAnd there's a good perspective map at uakron.edu: UA MapWith a seating capacity of 5,500 for basketball and a current average attendance in the 3,500 range, there's still room for growth before sellouts become a problem at the JAR. If the team continues to improve to the point that people who want to see them play can't get tickets for even a few of the bigger games, pressure would grow quickly for a larger facility. But this only works if there is a longterm commitment to UA basketball. One need look no further than the MAC's Eastern Michigan University to see what happens when a big, new Convocation Center arrives just as interest in EMU basketball collapses.

A multi-purpose arena makes the most sense for getting broad-based community support. The main concern would be that the compromises of having many different types of events there might keep it from being optimum for basketball viewing.It would also be interesting to see what's possible for improving the JAR without breaking the bank.

The NCAA obviously doesn't have English majors writing their rules, as the wording on that is a bit ambiguous. Even though it seems logical that the same rule (more than two) is intended to apply to both football and basketball, it's good to have confirmation from a coach.

Did the NCAA change the rule on eligibility? Only reason I ask is because the all-knowing Wikipedia says that playing in more than one all-star game is what made LeBron James ineligible for NCAA competitionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeBron_James#High_school - towards the end.Wikipedia says more than two all-star games, not one:Although it was a foregone conclusion, by participating in more than two high school all-star events, James officially lost his NCAA eligibility.The NCAA rule states that a high school basketball or football player may only participate in two all-star games prior to graduation. After graduation, there is no limit on all-star games:4.6 HIGH-SCHOOL ALL-STAR GAMES, EFFECTS ON ELIGIBILITYA student-athlete shall be denied the first year of intercollegiate athletics competition if, following completion of high-school eligibility in the student-athlete's sport and prior to the student-athlete's high-school graduation, the student-athlete competes in more than two all-star football contests or two all-star basketball contests. (See Bylaw 30.2.1.1 for definition of high-school all-star contest.)It really pays to study these rules closely to avoid losing intercollegiate athletics eligibility!

Portland is definitely an industrial city with the big shipping port and the concrete plant right next to the arena. Anyone from the Cleveland or Pittsburgh areas would have seen a lot of familiar sights, along with some really eccentric-looking folks. Some of the "dirty" appearance may be from industry, but some is from the constant high humidity that promotes the growth of lots of green fuzz on everything, including the concrete barriers on the highways.One of the things that impressed me was the massive amount of construction and renovation on virtually every block downtown. If you work in the construction business, Portland is not a bad place to be. Lots of buildings are being built or renovated for condos or apartments, so it appears as if more people want to live downtown instead of commuting. Longterm, this should keep the downtown area alive and growing, unlike many other big cities.

There are two ways for Zips fans to look at the issue of how far Gonzaga goes in the NCAA tournament:For those who believe the tournament is nothing more than a single winner and 64 losers, it doesn't matter what happens to Gonzaga.For those who believe there is value in trying to leverage minor points, there are at least minor benefits to having Gonzaga make a deep run in the tournament -- ideally all the way to the National Championship. While this would have no effect on the cynics, it would have value when talking up the Zips to casual fans and recruits that the Zips played the eventual National Champion dead even for 30 minutes before being eliminated from the tourney. That just might convince a few casual fans that the Zips team is worth paying to see next year, or a top recruit that he might be the difference the Zips need to beat a potential National Champion. And it would certainly be a talking point the next time the selection committee is making its final decisions on bubble teams, and the Zips team has worked its way up into a position where it could be considered a bubble team despite not winning the MAC tournament. A large bottom line is often made up of many small increments that, taken by themselves, may seem insignificant.For those who choose to believe the former, I'm not going to argue it endlessly and try to change your minds. This is the classic optimist-pessimist debate in which the pessimists see no value in trying to make something out of a minor point and the optimists do. Minds are rarely changed. We are what we are.

Hilltopper and I got raped by Northwest for lots of frequent flyer miles plus a healthy amount of cash to fly direct from Detroit to Seattle.Then we got raped by Budget for a rental car deal that turned out to be no deal at all once all the added charges were included.The one thing you left off about the slower drivers camped out in the left lane is that they speeded up when you tried to pass on the right. Then I recalled this is how California drivers operated when I lived out there in the '70s, so it must be a West Coast thing. You basically have to hammer the throttle and drag race them. Once you get ahead of them and slow back down to the speed at which you came up on them from behind, they speed up and tailgate you for awhile as if to let you know that you didn't really need to pass them. Cruise control is a wonderful thing to maintain a steady speed. But apparently they aren't aware of this modern automotive feature.But those were really the only bad parts of the trip to Portland. It was great being there with the team, band, cheerleaders, etc. It was really special being with such a small group of Zips fans sending the team off from the hotel to the arena on their bus, and then being able to walk to the arena and watch the Zips play the #10 team in the country dead even for 30 minutes. If I had a chance to do it all over, I'd do exactly the same. Well, I'd probably see if there was a better rental car deal.

Assuming that we're all first and foremost Zips fans, someone is going to have to explain to me just how it benefits the Zips for North Carolina to beat the Zags. I can think of a few good reasons why it benefits the Zips if the Zags beat UNC. But, for the life of me, I can't think of one good reason why the Zips benefit from the team that beat them in the NCAA tournament not going deep into the tourney and perhaps even winning a national championship.And, by the way, the Zags fans were mostly classy and complimentary both before and after they beat the Zips.

I think the only reason this connection to Irwin Dambrot came up is because it's such big local news that Washington can now host NCAA events after doing away with the state sports lottery. In researching the effects of gambling on college basketball, any good reporter would be likely to come across this family connection to a long past notorious event. If we dig deeply enough into everyone's family tree, we'll eventually find someone who did something questionable. A few centuries ago, a distant relative of mine was said to be an evil black knight who terrorized the German countryside beheading innocent peasants. I'm not at all like that, except maybe when it comes to Can't .....

I read on the Zags forum that their tickets sold out in about 3 seconds, but that many Zags fans are going anyway and planning on trying to find tickets available on site. That will make it a little tougher for any Zips fan who shows up without a ticket. I don't know what the "scalper" laws are in Portland.

My historical data is in response to Whitlock Column and after all the title of this thread is what I was responding to. I find Zags fans are great fans and very civil until you point out flaws with their team based solely on your own opinion.I've gotten similar treatment on other threads in other sites.I hear you loud and clear. But I think all the Zags fans are totally focused on this year, and are reading between the lines and thinking they see a general putdown of the Gonzaga program from a Zips fan based on the fact that the Zips are playing them in the Big Dance. As a rabid sports fan myself, I can confirm that it doesn't take much to set us off, real or imagined.

Since no one seems to have inside info, here's my best guess:* Ankle sprain in 3/10 game* Tried to play 3/12 and lasted 4 minutes before aggravating sprain* Sat out 3/13 game* Played 14 minutes in 3/14 game and made huge contributions, apparently without aggravating sprainAnkle sprains are like snowflakes -- no two are exactly alike. To the best of my knowledge, there's no way of accurately predicting when someone can come back with minimal risk of aggravating the sprain. But I think that if he didn't aggravate the injury on 3/14, it's almost certain that he will be able to contribute on 3/19. He may not be at 100%, and he may not be able to play long minutes. But I can't imagine Humpty not taking the floor and contributing in some way.

I can't believe I'm driving 3 hours to Detroit, flying 4 hours to Seattle and driving 3 hours to Portland, and will feel like I'm back home because the UA band will be playing. What a trip!

Interesting that all the discussions about the upcoming Zips-Zags game on both this and the Zags forum are pretty civil, and this one thread gets heated over discussing the Zags historical performance. I'm a lot more interested in the first meeting between the Zips and the Zags than I am in historical debates.

Hilltopper and I will be there.

Zips fans can identify with the frustrations of Bulls fans. You don't have to dig too far back into this forum to find criticisms of Keith Dambrot's coaching, i.e. which players to play, not adjusting fast enough to changes in the game, not being able to win the Big Ones, etc., etc. For a lot of fans, criticizing coaches is right up there with criticizing refs. Being a sports fan is all about emotion, whereas measuring the quality of a coach should be totally objective.