MDZip

Down to a 6 point deficit with 14 minutes left. Game is still well within reach. Keep fouling them.

I'm thinkin' sleepwalking won't be a problem.Anyone just catch the channelsurfing.net announcers comment that the Zips are "sleepwalking" through this one? Not ready to give up on them yet. There is still a second half to be played.

especially when the rankings improve over 100 places in one year.

Linhart through and including the Ball State Game (122 games):Points = 891Rebounds = 552Steals = 165Assists = 161Blocks = 46There are 8 guaranteed games left so even if the Zips end up with 10+ games, he won't make 200 steals or assists (he'd have to average about 4 per game) and only has an outside shot at 1000 points, but as has been said, you don't appreciate him for just numbers. I'd like to see how many defensive stops he put on or how many times his man was held below his scoring average because a lot of times over the years Nate drew their best offensive player. We will miss him more than can be shown on a stat sheet but how can you not be excited for the end of this year (plus it looks like bring back a pretty good team for next year). Look at the losses this year, the only "bad" loss is EKU, and this team definitely has a very good shot at 20 wins as well as as good of a chance as anyone to win the MAC tournament. No way do you fear meeting Buffalo in the tournament like in other years where there was always a team you really didn't want to face.

20 wins and any post-season action would be a very successful season. If the Zips can achieve that, Dambrot gets even more credit for being able to draw the talent out of this group that had not played a lot together. MAC co-coach of the year if so (assuming the 'Spoon continues to get it done at Buffalo).

With the way the West is looking, no team is likely to have more than 5 wins when we go back to each of our division's play, even with a 4-1 run that wouldn't give any of them more than nine wins. Since most East teams wil have 5 or 6 wins against the west it is even probable that 5 East teams could have ten wins. That means that the East could possibly have seeds 1,3,4,5 and 6 (and maybe even 7). This would look a lot a few years ago when the Zips got the three seed and the rest of the East was all on other side of the bracket. So in a year like this, if you are an East team, would you rather get a three seed than a 1 seed and let the rest of your division beat up on each other while you get mostly the "cupcakes"? Not that I think the Zips need fear anyone but it'd be nicer to get a little "apparently" easy path to the final - hey we're owed one.

With the play of McClanahan, Humpty and Cvetinovic today, Keith is looking pretty prophetic. I'm still excited about the remainder of this year (and getting to play the east one more time) and now looking even more forward to a loaded team next year. With 8 regular season games left, 20 wins again is a real possibility. Never would have thought that was possible at the beginning of the year.

Lost in all of this is the fact that Coach Kest dismissed her (and other good players) from the team and has Akron off to their best season in many years (not good yet but certainly improving) without them. Just maybe she's knows what she's doing.

When you're struggling on offense and you think you have a bona fide offensive weapon sitting on your bench, what would you do? I'm ready to give KD plenty of leeway based on his track record and what he's done for this program. If he thinks it's the right thing to do, I'm all for it, the results are looking fairly promising. After all, his job depends on it, mine doesn't.

I really don't think it all amounts to a hill of beams.

The tournament is sponsored by CollegeInsider.com who puts out the MidMajority site that Kyle Whelliston does. It appears that this is a way to let overlooked mid-major programs have something to reward a good regular season. Whether it is worth it financially is another matter.

This is a very good feed. Nice of the Horizon league to provide it. Seems like a fairly small crowd for $1 per ticket night.

I used to hang there in the 80's, it was new then (and one friend of mine - while drinking heavily there - filled out her taxes in crayon, wrote IRS - Somwhere in Cincinnati, 44--- and mailed it - ah the memories ) so it's hard to view the demolition of anything as too "beautiful" but this is a great shot, especially with the stadium looming in the background as though it stomped it into rubble. This is visual poetry.

One can only hope he's as top flight as this guy. ;)Thanks for the updates!Go Zips!The other interesting thing was that nowhere in any of those articles was Pitt mentioned as a possbile destinationfor him - wonder how he ended up there? And now he's declared early for the NFL draft. Now I'm really mad we didn't get him.

Is there a timetable set for Ronnie Stewards return? If so, how will he be worked back into the lineup?

But in the end - another disappointing loss. (sigh)

The team looked terrible for the whole game and are back within 2 with 1:44 left. At least there is no quit in them. There is still a chance.

Speaking of a convoy, I just happened to pull up the webcam right now and 8 vehicles (including 4 big white vans) just drove into the stadium, a whole bunch of people got out and started looking around. Is this possibly the Nicely visit or maybe him and/or a few other potential recruits?

Steve is predicted to be the first pick in the draft:http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story...mp;&cc=5901

That's great - though I was hoping for the third of the triplet to be steals. In the very few years I played, I never even to get a single double in a game. The cover of ESPN. Wow. What's the angle? Are they just highlighting good young players? Good young players who are smart and have a mind of their own and don't just automatically grab onto a basketball factory lifeline? Just curious as to what they're shooting for with this issue. Or is that a secret until it comes out? Ironically it appears that Zeke may be getting more press because he chose Akron.

And to take it a little further, what has happened to Ohio football? Losses by Cinci and tOSU and not one other Ohio team made a bowl game? (or is that what the OH-for-bowl season in the title was supposed to indicate?) The MAC is primarily Ohio schools and all of them sat home for bowl season. The only out-of-state MAC teams that didn't make a bowl were EMU and Temple. Guess we have to be happy Mt. Union is in Ohio.

The Utah win does give some credence to the "plus 1" idea that is being bandied about. I think it would be a lot of fun to have Utah play the winner of Florida/OU which is likely what the plus 1 would get you. That way it would be a little more fair to the "lesser" schools to get a shot. But as far as the bowls go, the idea is to make money. The National Championship games crowns the "champion". all others exist to make money, that's why the name schools will usually get the nod because their fans will travel and make more money for the bowl. As far as the comment about the PAC-10 being in the upper tier of football, if so, it is only by default, after USC there isn't much left. I'd put MWC third this year behind the SEC and Big 12, solely by the results on the field.

Looking at that message board, I'm pretty impressed with the depth of knowledge displayed. Seems like they know us pretty well and it seems like they have about the same opinion of their team that we do about ours. Ought to be a pretty good game.

I'm not actually worried about getting the tickets, I'm sure at some point I will be able to, there's plenty of time. My point was that a number of people do rely on the web to do their normal transactions (whether that's shopping, banking or whatever), especially those that aren't local and the Zips web site advertised availability and didn't come close to delivering. I wasn't worried about my personal experience but as the program as a whole. As I said if someone like me who actually cares about the program gets frustrated, what about the only casually interested fan. Guaranteed that problems like this can translate into real losses (read less tickets sold) so for something like this, "academia" had best get in touch with the real world. After all, those are their real customers. The impression it gives of the program is definitely "small time".

While it was nice to get a win tonight, it still doesn't inspire a lot of confidence as the "best team in the MAC", however the MAC does look to be wide open this year, but obviously in a very down year. Here's a blurb from Kyle Whelliston:Reasons to worryThe Mid-American Conference: The best and toughest perennial one-bid league in the country got a No. 9 seed out of Can't State last season. This season has been a major step backward. With a noncon winning percentage of .364 (40-70) and no wins over power-conference opponents, the MAC has melted like cheese. Miami (Ohio), after coming close at UCLA and blowing out Temple on the road, was poised to be the league's saving grace. But the RedHawks struggled mightily Saturday in an 82-46 blowout loss at West Virginia marked with poor guard play. So the MAC looks awful this year, so it might be a year to steal one. I think Buffalo might surprise a lot of people this year for being predicted to finish so low.