Big Zip

Uh, excuse me, this is Can't's paper too. The ABJ covers both areas and if this team didn't shit down their leg in the second half at Can't -- the story would be about Akron. They have nobody to blame but themselves for the coverage in today's paper and yes I hope that fires them up.

Temple's win secured the No. 2 seed in the A-10 tournament -- does that guarantee you a ticket to the dance now?Austin Peay is dancing -- does it make you wonder if we'd be better off dominating a conference like the OVC than being in the MAC? With the amount of teams that go bowling in football in today's environment you might be better off independent. You could schedule a respectable schedule that 8 wins virtually guarantees you a bowl. I'm guessing this team would have been to the tournament three times playing in the OVC or some other tournament like that. Look at Butler -- they dominate the Horizon and get national recognition. It is possible.

Cap'n you know that feeling you have when you quote a movie from the 80s and you realize the people you're with were born in the 80s so they've got no clue? That's kind of how this thread is looking. Da Zipman never made it to this board (I don't think) he was a blue board poster and if I recall always inviting us up to the Horseshoe Bar in Put-in-Bay to watch the Zips with him. I'm guessing he was a fan from another school on here just trying to egg us on. Perhaps his second persona was actually Antonio Gates --- speaking of the Can't game, where has he been?

I always appreciate the publicity, but Gaffney could have written that article in November. What a worthless piece of journalism. They might as have just ran a picture that said the Zips are in spring practice.

Maybe they are saving the other side of the street for the new basketball arena. It could take up nearly the whole area between the parking deck and exchange street. We can only wish. If they did it -- it woudl certainly extend the Univeristy down into the city further. Finish it off by purchasing the Mayflower and knocking it down for student housing and it all looks really impressive. There is then a couple thousand people living downtown that need shopping. The ability to revitalize the downtown by filling it with student housing could be impressive.

The BG Arena actually looks like a newer version of what they currently have. I don't think there is any reason to go big with regard to the basketball arena. Would love to see Akron stay in the 7,000 seat range with every seat being a great view. If Duke is only 11,000 there is no reason to make ours any bigger than 7,000 -- heck 5,000 might be enough. Make it a must have ticket -- purchase in advance -- sell tickets for more. Scarcity drives interest.

1 Utah St. 27 18-9 421 537 78.42 IUPUI 27 21-6 398 509 78.23 Cornell 21 16-5 305 391 78.04 Florida St. 27 15-12 417 536 77.85 California 24 15-9 389 501 77.6ZipRowdy -- c'mon man -- this was a good free throw shooting game for us and you think that is why we lost. Look above those are the top 5 college free throw shooting teams in the country. We shot 70% this game. It is a valid point if they shot 50%, but 70% isn't bad. As for the offense -- when the guys hit their shots it works when they don't it doesn't. This team was picked fourth at the beginning of the season -- it is time for them to step up. I don't think Wood should have been playing in what amounted to a meaningless game yesterday --he would have had another week off before we are back in MAC season if they gave him yesterday off. Yesterday he looked like he looked at the end of the Championship game last year -- tired and low to the ground. Wood carried this team last year towards the end of the year and ran out of steam. I think the key ingredient we're missing is athletic basketball players. We've got gritty covered -- athletic not so much. Middleton is and has been the most athletic player on this team for years. We were told Conyers was athletic, but we haven't seem him lately and I know nothing, but wouldn't be surprised if his disappearing act lead to him disappearing completely at the end of the season. Top yesterday off with a Can't and OU win makes what should have been a win far worse. One win to get to 20 and then the only thing that matters is the tournament. This team gets no looks at an large -- the focus needs to be on being 100% healthy and playing like a team for the tournament. If yesterday was a step in that direction great, but I didn't see it. Two in a row the wrong way at home

Agreed.VCU was the better team today. I'm not convinced they are the better team, but today they won and they deserve credit. Prior to the game on the radio Joe Dunn said he thought this team was playing their best basketball of the year. He held up as proof the win in Miami. I can't agree with Joe -- I think there is talent on this team, but athletic ability is thin (as usual). This could be our achilles heal come tournament team.

Pretty sure they can't turn down the lights because of the kind of lights they are -- they take too long to come back up to full power.

What a great win! Very impressive. C. McKnight is turning into a force -- with Wood back next to him it can really get fun. Would love to see him play closer to the basket to open the outside up more.

The way the conference works with the top two seeds goingto conference winners -- and no reworking the seedings after each round --the number three seed might actually end up better than the number 1.

Speaking of local kids I was hoping we'd go after -- Bart Tanski from Mentor is going to Bowling Green as a walk on. Surely hope our confidence in the QB position didn't stop him from coming here or him beating us later at BG.

Randy had a place on the Zip strip years ago -- anyone remember Dr. Feelgoods? Randy owned that place after the Town House closed.Which brings me to a point on this eminent domain notion -- if anything needs eminent domain it is the plasma center that will be diagonal to the new stadium. The University needs to start the proceedings on that building and plan a new parking deck there with a bridge over Exchange.

GP1 if I'm correct you have moved from Ohio and don't live here any longer. If this is true I'm happy to say you are one of the few people down on Ohio and NE Ohio to have moved, good for you. The people I have issue with are the negative people who live among us. I like NE Ohio -- I've lived here my whole life, but have recently started looking out of the state if for no other reason than the poor way it is run. The problem with leaving now is getting a decent price for my home, but I digress.The list below is about 1 1/2 years old, but it tells a story.States with Most NFL Players: California 206, Florida 177, Texas 175, Ohio 83, Georgia 80.Based on population estimates Ohio is No. 7 in population and No. 4 in football talent. I know your excuse of this is the top of the heap the next level down isn't as good. So are you telling me it skips a level -- because Mount Union is made up of a lot (almost all) Ohio players and they play for Division Championship almost every year. YSU is a pretty tough Div. 1-AA program with a lot of Ohio and Pa kids too. Logically speaking I don't think your thought process is to believable. I applaud Temple for getting Penn State to play them at home in what I believe is 5 for 2 deal. But the Temple fans aren't what took their attendance to new heights. After making this statement I'm hoping you aren't one of those folks lobbying for the Zips not to play any big money games.

It is interesting to think people don't come to the Zips games because they don't like the Zips. The JAR is and has been an oversized high school gym since the day it was built. The site lines are terrible, very few seats face toward the center of the court, the ceiling is too low, there is a single bathroom on the upper level, the running track is just stupid. People aren't coming because they don't like the team. People aren't coming because they don't enjoy college basketball. My guess is that a lot of people who came in the past enjoyed the game, but the game day experience (which includes the arena) was less than enjoyable. Build a stadium an arena on par with the team and the people will show up.

NEO -- um NO. Help me understand why Time Warner doesn't have this game on in NEO. Hell I'm in Northern Summit and I can't get it. In fact I'm equal distance between Akron and Cleveland.

The commuter school excuse is old and bogus -- I'm not buying it. The article in the ABJ over the weekend about the horrible police presence around the University pegged the student population in off campus housing at over 5,000 add to that the students in on campus housing (growing by the semester it seems) and there are more than enough students to fill a 300 seat section. There is no problem filling the sections for particular games which leads me to believe there is something else at hand. Students aren't into sports is bogus too. It isn't about sports at the college level when it comes to athletics -- it's about marketing the game, a party atmosphere (every college student loves a party) and just plain fun. Reading on this board about the control some students tried to exert over the student section a few years ago leads me to believe the administration needs to lend more than a helping hand to get this organized. The marketing and organization around Akron athletics needs a serious upgrade.

Not sure why the link didn't work -- here it is for thoe who'd like to read it....http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/01/m..._insider_2.html

Glad to see someone in the Media agrees with those of us who would like to see KD schedule a tougher OOC schedule. SOS on Elton's mind -- he must be reading this boardI find it interesting to note KD has regressed from what he said (according to Elton) when he was orginally hired. Also, interesting to note from the article (for those of you who advocate for this great schedule) Akron's SOS is the worst in the conference at 304, yet the conference as a whole is 5.

SGM-- I certainly won't call you sexist, but I will agree with you. Funny thing is I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and told my wife we should take her to a women's game or two. My WIFE told me NO, lets just take her to the men's games.

I'm wondering why nobody has ever commented when I point out there were weeks when CJ11 put up big numbers and lots of points and then the next would do nothing (ala the Miami game) if he was the only problem. There were times when he played well and I believe the biggest problem is the offensive coordinator -- the problem is we appear to be going into 2008 with the same offensive coordinator. I'm not giving up on CJ11 yet, but I am done with this offensive coordinator. All year long all I read was how CJ7 was the man and why wasn't he playing -- he finally got into a game and he was the worst QB I've seen here in a long time. Do you recall he single handedly lost the Miami game? On top of all of this if the new golden boy of the board Rodgers was so good how come he didn't beat out CJ11 last year. What makes you think he can do it this year.

I've mentioned it before, but I'll never expect it from the MAC office -- why aren't the MAC offices helping the conference out with this. Wouldn't it be ideal if the MAC played a conference each year. MAC for Missouri Valley or MAC versus Atlantic 10. Top to bottom all teams or the top however many play, get a sponsor, get a television contract and make some money with it. Other conferences do it and I think it works well.I would still love to see a UNC or Duke or other high caliber team on the schedule. If you could successfully schedule a 2 for 1 at the Q -- theoretically you could have one game at the Q annually against a big time oppoenent and two on the road. If you had a game at the Q against a big time opponent you could build some excitement for the program. The kids could get a game under their belt prior to the MAC Tournament. You could garner more exposure in NE Ohio and most of all you could use it as a recruiting tool. Someone mentioned earlier does losing by 25 help recruiting - it not only helps recruiting, but my guess would be motivating. You always want to test yourself against the best -- even if you lose by 25. If I'm being recruited to play at two schools and one gives me the opportunity to play against top flite competition and the other doesn't why wouldn't I want to play for the one who gives me an opportunity to play against top flite competition. Look at conferences the better conferences get the better players -- the MAC has been going the other way the last few years. Additionally, the motivation factor building up to the game would be huge. You are working for the big game -- need to be ready etc. Then if you lose it becomes motivation and learning opportunities not to lose like that again.For those that caught any of the UNC/Can't game they were down by 5 (I believe) heading into the half and two quick mental lapses and one hail mary three turned it into an 11 point half time lead. I think that drained the life out of the Can't team and they didn't recover.

Terrible out of bounds plays when it counted and Dials was definitely shooting at the end. If he wasn't shooting with .2 seconds on the clock what was he doing?

who is drawing up these plays?

go for the win -- no tie