Dave in Green

Let's help Noah with some data to make his decision. Everyone feel free to add to the list: San Jose State Advantages -- Good location near San Franciso with good weather; chance to play with HS teammate Disadvantages -- Horrible team history with only one winning season in the past 17 seasons; perennial Mountain West Conference doormat; weak schedule with only one high-profile opponent (San Diego State); smaller arena than the JAR with average attendance of about 1,500; zero chance to appear in NCAA tournament Boston College Advantages -- Good location in metro Boston; lots of high-profile games in the ACC Disadvantages -- Historically below average conference record; recent slide to bottom of ACC; fan base disappointed with new coach tasked with rebuilding team having no history of rebuilding a weak team; weak fan support with average home attendance only a few hundred more than the Zips despite playing in ACC; small likelihood of playing in the NCAA tournament over the next four seasons Akron Advantages -- Need for quality PG offers best option of being a 4-year starter; perennial conference power winning 21+ games per season over the past decade; stable, proven winner coach who will be here for the next four seasons and beyond; solid returning lineup (except PG) promises more success over the next few seasons; history over the past six seasons of appearing in the NCAA tournament every other year Disadvantages -- Akron not as glamorous as San Jose or Boston; MAC not as prestigious as ACC

Zips have made it to Noah's Final Three, with Jim Christian's ACC Boston College Eagles in the mix, and the final decision coming next week at the earliest:

Hey, if they have "a Colorado group willing to spend $10 million to $12 million on stadium repairs and an additional $8 million for the dome," why not take advantage? Since pot was legalized in Colorado, group thinking in that state has expanded to include grandiose schemes beyond anything ever imagined in Akron. If nothing else, it will certainly spawn a reality TV series. I kind of like the sound of The Dome of Doom.

Still no word on Noah, but Antino Jackson tweeted 9 hours ago:

What a waste. 22-year-old to serve 6 years for robbing pipe from tobacco shop

Let's not ignore the fact that BGSU already made a good move last month on their head coach selection even before getting the windfall: Bowling Green Hires Wichita State Assistant Chris Jans As New Men's Basketball Head Coach There are no guarantees. Jans could fail as a head coach even after being so successful as associate head coach at Wichita State. BGSU could pee away the money on frivolous things and not leverage it effectively. But I wouldn't underestimate their potential with Jans now running a program $20 million richer than it was when he signed on.

Google Chromecast is a nice, new, inexpensive device for streaming wirelessly to your TV. But if your TV is close to your computer as mine is, or if you have a laptop you can place near your TV, a simple HDMI cable connection between the two will generally produce more reliable results than wireless and with fewer limitations than Google. With a fast internet connection, some internet streams are virtually indistinguishable from HDTV while some are lower quality and choppier. Even a lower-quality webcast on a big screen TV beats watching on a small computer monitor when something is only available on the internet and not on cable TV.

Bowling Green Men's Basketball Endowment Grows To $20 Million

GameChngr44, you're right. I'm getting a little slow. Let me try to make up for it by pointing out this recent story about Zeke. It's not a fluff piece, as it has a balance of credit for what Zeke has already accomplished in the D-League with a frank appraisal of where he needs to improve to make it to the NBA.

Congratulations Zeke! Here's the link.

Tyler Ptacek is a 2-star shooting guard.

GJGood, if you want to see what D-I transfers are available, the best single source I've found is this section of VerbalCommits.com. You can look down the list and see all the PGs, and then look to see if they have a Yes in the Immediately Available column. Those are mostly juniors who've already graduated academically and are free to transfer and play at another D-I school without having to sit out for a season. Most are 2-star players (average) from schools with basketball programs lower on the totem pole than UA. I see only 2 PGs on the list who are ranked above 2 stars who are eligible to play immediately at another D-I school -- 3.3-star Matt Carlino from Brigham Young and 3.0-star K.C. Ross-Miller from New Mexico State. These 2 PGs would be in heavy demand by top programs in desperate need of immediate PG help next season, and the Zips would have a tough time competing for their services. There may also be similar comprehensive lists of available juco players or HS players out there somewhere, but I haven't found them. We have to understand that all the best PGs in every category have mostly already committed to top D-I programs. There are only a few good PGs available in all the categories combined who might be expected to step in and contribute to the Zips from day one. If you look through the list of top HS seniors on VerbalCommits.com you'll see that there isn't a single uncommitted PG among the top 156 HS players listed.

Zips getting a little love for recognizing Antino's potential. Future150 points out that Antino really didn't start getting much attention outside of Texas until his senior season, and Hustle Belt notes that while there aren't many players from Texas in the MAC, Antino appears to have the skills to fit right in. Antino even invokes the LeBron factor for those keeping track of such things:

@UAZip0510, we tried to learn more about the recruiting situation at the basketball banquet. But, of course, the coaching staff is not free to discuss recruits until they're formally signed up. So we'll have to continue to speculate about Jimond Ivey, Antino Jackson and Noah Robotham beyond what they've already posted on their Twitter accounts. But we shouldn't have to speculate long as the national signing dates (April 16-May 21) start this Wednesday. We can hope that redshirt freshmen BJ and Aaron contribute as much to the team as Jake and Reggie did as true freshmen. We can also hope that all the returning players show significant improvement in their games. Finally, we can hope the team has better chemistry next season. The Zips will need all of the above to not just offset the loss of Q but improve over winning "only" 21 games, get to the NCAA tournament and make some noise there.

You beat me to it. Two years in a row now I've been seated between Hilltopper and GoZips and watched them be surprised to win Fan of the Year. Hilltopper expressed my sentiments exactly when he credited Coach Dambrot for bringing a decade of winning basketball to UA and making it so much fun to be a fan of Zips basketball. Hilltopper spent the previous three decades suffering through long droughts of losing teams, which will test the patience of any fan. While Hilltopper, GoZips and a handful of other longtime loyal Zips fans hated all those losing seasons, their support for Zips basketball never wavered. Cheers.

The trip to Madison is going to be especially fun for me as my best buddy from high school is a Wisconsin grad and season ticket holder in Madison. I stayed with him in Wisconsin at a recent HS reunion and when I told him the Zips were going to play Wisconsin in 2016 he said I had to come up and stay with him and he'd take me to the game in style. He said for the Akron game he had connections to get premium seats on the 50-yard line. Our spouses are not football fans, so I guess they'll find something to do like visit a cheese factory while we're at the game.

It also says "Discussions related to Akron Men's & Women's hoops teams."

Following is part of a Q&A with BJ about his commitment to UA: It's inconclusive, as player quotes always are. Those who want to believe that LeBron has minimal effect on UA recruiting can point out that BJ doesn't directly cite LeBron as a reason why he chose UA. Those who do want to believe in the LeBron effect can point out that BJ looks up to LeBron more than any other player, and that he had to have known that being at UA would give him an opportunity to actually meet and scrimmage against the player he looks up to more than any other.

I'll take any kind of minimal impact over no impact any day when it comes to anyone or anything influencing the decision of good players to come to UA. We'll never know the exact impact because players never cite all the factors that influenced their decision.

Skip, be sure to throw in a few references to Cowlumbus and Suckeyes so the committee knows your comments are coming straight from your heart.

Most descriptions of Antino talk about him being super quick or cat quick. His academics appear to be in order as he made the academic all-district basketball team. This interview with Antino (and his father) from last summer gives some insight into his self-confidence and drive to succeed. It's noted that after his junior season he had offers from Texas State, Sam Houston State and Jacksonville -- all D-I schools. Sam Houston State is the highest ranked of the three with an RPI of #129, right around the midpoint of MAC RPI. Odds right now appear to be against Antino becoming a star at the D-I college level. But he could be a sleeper with a lot of motivation to prove he's better than others think he is.

He was 5-7 as a junior, 5-10 as a senior. Made first team all-district.

While I give credit to Phillips for his single NCAA tournament game win as a head coach, a feat that Zips fans can especially appreciate, the things I like about Groce's creds prior to OU are that he had more experience against higher-level competition and more post-season success as an assistant with winning programs in major conferences. His team won at least 1 NIT game every season at NC State, 2 NCAA tournament games in his only season at Butler, 5 NCAA tournament games at Xavier and 6 NCAA tournament games and an NIT championship at tOSU. In his first head coaching position at OU, Groce was able to quickly translate that winning assistant experience into an NCAA tournament game win in his second season and 2 more in his 4th and final season there. In any case, there's no magic formula that guarantees that a head coach with limited success at a lower level will outperform an assistant coach with more consistent success at a higher level, or vice versa.

Beyond the obvious of having head coaching experience, I'm not sure I'd agree that Phillips' creds are greater than Groce's prior to arriving at OU: 1996–1997 Wisconsin (operations) 1997–1999 Wayne State College (asst.) 1999–2001 Lake Superior State (asst.) 2001–2004 UW–Milwaukee (asst.) 2004–2007 North Dakota State (asst.) 2007–2014 North Dakota State (head) 1993–1996 Taylor (asst.) 1996–2000 NC State (asst.) 2000–2001 Butler (asst.) 2001–2004 Xavier (asst.) 2004–2008 Ohio State (asst.)

There are both negative and positive interpretations in the Crain's Business story, which is overall pretty balanced. UA's Board of Trustees would be derelict in their duty if they didn't get a reading from the NCAA before making their final decision. A quick idea of implications can be seen in Wikipedia's description of the NCAA's show-cause: It seems to me that UA could present a pretty strong cause to the NCAA for hiring Jim Tressel as president based on his performance as a vice president and executive vice president. The NCAA's own mission statement states that the "educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount." If JT's record at UA shows that his work has served to advance the educational experience of all students, the NCAA would be hypocritical to punish UA for hiring him as president.