zipboy

Ideas for creative scheduling to get teams in here or at the Q for basketball? Seems like we have done a good job in football.Plans for network coverage? Looks like ONN will be the TV station. Any changes for radio?Besides the football stadium, any other changes coming to facilities?

Maybe it is just the way the wind blows but 1350 is the only Akron AM station I can get. 640 and 1590 are horrendous for me. The feed Tuesday was tough but that is the only time that I have ever had trouble.

Nice summary ZP. A few other thoughts1. We were lucky that Dru was on tonight. His floor game has been stellar all year but his shot was there as well.2. Linhart continues to impress. 3. I know that Dials is hurting now but he has not shown to be a good 3 pt shooter. I wish that he would not pull the trigger so quickly.4. 2nd half defensive effort was outstanding.5. Defense and character will win it for us this year. We may have the best D, we never take a night off, and as KD said earlier, "you win big games with character." We did not have that in the past, we do now.6. Mraz looked good. If he can give us 5 minutes a night of pure energy that will help.7. Why did Travis not start? I missed pre and post games.8. Great to see JD and the football team at halftime. 8. Get Daryl healthy. If we get out of the Q, he is going to have to have 1 big game up in Cleveland.

I will be surprised if it is not at least 4500. We have been drawing 3K without student. Throw in 400 for them and another thousand for the credit union game. I look for good attendance tonight. Huggins get inducted at the Miami game, that should be over 5K. Can't and OU will be sellouts. Buffalo will draw well. If we get at least 4K for WMU, that tells me we are starting to develop a fan base.

I had to call in some favors for that one. Even more fun was getting into the halftime reception in the CSU booster room. For a minute, I thought the assistant AD was going to boot my a$$. I know UAM would have down in Akron

Good for Butchie, he turned himself into a good QB.

Looks like the class of 06 is doing well!!Darryl Roberts updateBoys basketball: Roberts gets 27 as Knights beat ClayDarryl Roberts scored 27 points to lead St. Francis de Sales to an 82-38 victory over Clay last night in City League boys basketball.Chris Wyse added 19 points and Nick Meinert had 12 for the visiting Knights (8-0, 3-0).Wes Taylor led Clay (5-5, 0-4) with 10 pointsMike Bardo updateHAMILTON — It was a tough, physical, let ’em play kind of game, and that wasn’t good news for Hamilton High’s boys basketball team.Visiting Oak Hills broke away from a halftime deadlock by overpowering Big Blue in the second half Wednesday night, taking advantage of its strength and aggressiveness in a 64-43 Greater Miami Conference triumph.“We knew coming into the season that one of our weaknesses was our strength, and that’s something we’re trying to work on,” HHS coach Larry Allen said. “I’ve always been a finesse coach. If the game gets physical like that, we’re in trouble.”Hamilton got outscored by a whopping 38-17 margin after intermission, certainly a rarity on its home floor, and racked up 28 turnovers.Billy Allen scored 14 points and was the lone player in double figures for Big Blue, who fell to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the GMC.“The game could’ve gone either way at halftime,” Oak Hills coach Mike Price said. “We tried to convince our kids at halftime that we were playing our game, and I thought if we continued to do that, we would wear them out.“We could’ve come out like deer in the headlights or we could’ve come out really aggressive in the second half,” he continued. “I really credit the kids for coming out strong. I think our strength and conditioning took over.”The Highlanders got 21 points from senior guard Steve Pogue, while 6-foot-9 classmate Mike Bardo dominated the middle while totaling 17 points, 13 rebounds and four steals.Oak Hills (6-2, 3-1) uses Bardo and a bunch of guards most of the time, and the Highlanders frustrated Hamilton with their inside-out offensive success.“We’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot 3s — I just try to get them the ball,” Bardo said. “We weren’t in a rhythm in the first half. Once we hit our rhythm, there’s no stopping us.”Oak Hills found its groove in the third period and simply kept going, with HHS getting no closer than seven after the visitors kicked off the second half with an 11-2 run.The Highlanders’ pressure defense led to frequent Big Blue turnovers, and with the officials not calling many fouls, Hamilton’s confidence wilted.“I’ve got to give Mike Price and his kids a lot of credit,” Larry Allen said. “He did a good job of finding some of our weaknesses. We got a little frustrated because some of our kids felt like they got bumped a little bit, but that’s how the game was called. You’ve got to be able to adjust, and Oak Hills adjusted to every situation on the floor better than we did.”HHS shot just three free throws all night, making two. The Highlanders were 10-of-13 at the line.Pogue tallied 13 points and Bardo chipped in 11 in the second half for Oak Hills, which was 6-of-15 beyond the 3-point arc in its third consecutive win.“We work hard every single day in practice, and I think that showed in the game tonight,” Bardo said.“I thought we competed hard,” Price said. “We’ve got a lot of ingredients to be a good team. The key for us is consistency.“It’s nice to see us come here and beat a really good team,” he added. “In our two losses (to Lakota West and St. Xavier), we looked like we didn’t even belong on the floor with those teams.”Justin Steigerwald collected nine points, five rebounds and three assists for the Highlanders, who punished Hamilton on the boards (38-20). Tyler McDonough had eight points and five caroms, and Pogue added six rebounds and three steals.Ryan Butler marked eight points for Big Blue. Aaron Bailey snagged a team-high six boards, Trace Fowler dished out five assists, and Billy Allen chipped in five caroms and four assists.“We’ve got to find some answers,” Larry Allen said. “But the sun’s going to come up in the morning, and I believe in these kids greatly. They need to keep their heads up. I think they’re going to do some damage down the stretch.”HHS travels to Columbus for the Ohio Play-By-Play Classic Saturday, facing Upper Sandusky at 3:30 p.m. in Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center.Oak Hills 15 26 46 64Hamilton 13 26 33 43OAK HILLS (64) — Alex Richmond 1 0 2; Justin Steigerwald 2 5 9; Steve Pogue 8 1 21; Erik Prosser 0 0 0; Mike Bardo 8 1 17; Kyle Adair 0 0 0; Mike Price 0 0 0; Ryan Craynon 0 0 0; Tyler McDonough 2 2 8; Joe Odenbach 0 0 0; Andrew Stallo 3 1 7; Kyle Dattilo 0 0 0. Totals: 24 10 64Chris McKnight updateLANCASTER - The Lancaster boys basketball team won the program's 1,000th game Friday with a convincing 60-39 victory over a scrappy Hilliard-Darby club.But senior standout Chris McKnight, who led the Gales (4-0, 2-0) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, said it was a different milestone that sparked his team to begin the game with a 17-2 run.ADVERTISEMENT "We knew this was going to be our last game until after Christmas," McKnight said. "We wanted to end this part of the season on a high note and we wanted to come out and set the tone from the start. "The way we came out tonight is the way we need to play all the time. Hopefully, it will carry over into the next 10 days of practice.""We've been starting our games pretty well so far," LHS coach John Cofman said. "This is the third in a row. Whatever they're doing that gets them ready to play, I hope they continue doing it."Lancaster did not allow the Panthers (2-2, 1-1) a field goal for the first 12-plus minutes of the contest, limiting Darby to 2-for-18 shooting from the floor in a first half that ended with the Gales in front 23-10. McKnight led the way with a combined 14 points and, with help younger brother Brett and center Brant Leitnaker, the home team dominated the boards 21-12."We got some decent shots but it just too us too long to get our first field goal," said Panthers coach Brett Norris. "I thought we did a really good job in first few minutes of defending but we couldn't get anything accomplished offensively because we couldn't hit a shot."Our kids were excited to play, but I'm not sure they believed we belonged on the court with them."Coffman said he was confident Darby would come back, even if it seemed the Panther were not."With this new rule they've got called the 3-point shot, no lead is ever safe," he said, smiling. "I knew Darby has a lot of seniors and I knew they would not quit, that they would play hard and were going to make runs."He was right. The Panthers refused to back down to the taller, physical Gales, matching them elbow-for-elbow inside. And when Darby's shooters finally found the range, the Panthers went on an 18-7 run that started midway through the third quarter.Three-pointers from Jeremy Ebert and Austin Fleming kept the run going into the final period. That's when senior guard Griffin Reed stole the ball, drove inside and drew an intentional foul.Reed's free throws cut Lancaster's lead to 36-31 with 6:51 to play, and against most other teams, that might have turned the smoldering Darby rally into a fire. Instead, it only served as a wake-up call for the Gales."It made us mad," McKnight said. "We determined we were not going to lose the game, and that just reminded us that we had to play harder.""Our leadership tonight was the best I've seen it in a long time," Cofman said. "After that play, we got the ball where it needed to go - inside the paint - and we stepped it up a notch defensively."That's what you expect from a senior-laden team. They did everything we needed to do after that.""I thought we had a good opportunity on that possession (after the intentional foul), but we wound up turning it over and got a basket out of it," Norris said."You could kind of sense that they (the Gales) knew it was time to turn it on ... and we didn't help when we missed some shots and turned it over a couple of times."Lancaster answered with a 17-0 run that featured a Chris McKnight steal and dunk that brought the home crowd to its feet. Brett McKnight added a pair of baskets, including a put-back that became a three-point play with 2:41 left in the game that pushed the lead back up to 53-31 and put the game out of reach.Brett McKnight added 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and eight rebounds and Kevin Carr chipped in 10 points and four assists for the Gales, who went 22-for-51 from the field (43.1 percent), including 4-for-9 from long range (44.4 percent) and 12-for-14 at the foul line (85.7 percent).Ebert and Reed led Darby with nine points apiece and Ryan Carter finished with eight."To overcome a lead like we did, on the road against a really good team like that, and get in a position where we were only down five was a credit to how hard our guys kept working," Norris said. "Part of it was, we came out for the second half and played with a little more aggression and then got some confidence when we saw the ball go in the hole a few times."Their size difference was a big factor," he added. "McKnight was just really good tonight and tenacious inside. We just couldn't keep him off the boards."Cofman said he was pleased with his team's scoring but even happier with some of the behind-the-scenes stats. Starting guards Carr and Jordan Lucas combined for nine of the team's 13 assists and Lancaster committed only seven turnovers.Coffman also said he was proud to be a part of the team that recorded the 1,000th win. "It's a great thing for our program, for our community, for our school, and it's an honor for my and the kids we have here to be a part of that," he said.In reserve action Friday, junior Chris Bibler scored a game-high 16 points, including three treys, and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead Lancaster (3-1, 1-1) but it wasn't enough to prevent a 43-33 Darby win. Thomas Howard, a 6-5 sophomore, paced the Panthers (4-1, 2-0) with 14 points.

I look back at the Can't State team that made the Elite 8 and the only guy who looked inposing was Gates. Zips Win made a good point, Linhart reminds of a young Andy too. Once he went in the starting line up, we sure have been able to rebound better and he is a good passer. Bubba and Milum were already signed before KD got the job. A third kid backed out (Allen Hanson?) and we get Cedric. Maybe not an all MAC guy, but a solid contributor. I like Linhart a lot, Conyers was supposed to be the guy, and Rybak was brought here to be a shooter. I can't say that I am disappointed with the classes. I know that I like being 9-3 and beating an SEC team though!

This years class is the first where she finally has upgraded talent. Another 2 classes like this year, and I think we can at least be 500. They actually played BG and Can't pretty well until the final 10 minutes. I agree, now is not the time to get rid of her. I jus wish it did not take 3 years to bring a decent recruiting class in. Women's hoops was so far down though, I can cut her some slack.

Don't forget Nate Schindolwolf transferred from Miami to Akron. A pretty good player on some mediocre teams.

Good pointAlso - we need to get our home attendance up if we want any sort of chance at a home NIT game. Last year, the 100th best attendance in Div 1 was just under 5K per game. I think ther are about 320 Div 1 teams.We have argubably a team as good as anywhere from 50-75 in the country. The 50th -75th best team averages in the 6-8K range. NO reason that we should not average 5K the rest of the year.

The Zippy super hero cartoon where he kicked all the other mascot's butts was awesome. First mascot was Brutus. Zippy rolled him. I start cheering wildly. Surrounded by mostly older folks, a few got a strange look of horror on their face as if to say, "Oh my gosh, Akron is picking on osu. But we love osu." Reminded of the comment here where someone said anyone over 30 is a lost cause. They have already been brainwashed. We need to concentrate on the younger generation. Glad to see UAM draw the line in the sand. Akron should be #1 in the hearts of all Zips fans and we take a back seat to no one. And the Can't chicken hawk crapping a fried egg was OUTSTANDING! Bring that back every week. Go Zips!

Great post ZP, you hit exactly everything that I was thinking. Futch really had a good game especially early on. DP must have the best points per minute average in the league this year. This will keep him fresh throughout the season. My only big concern is that we only have 3 guards to play and I worry about them getting worn down.Overall, just a great win against a top tier MAC team. Need to steal another road win next week to keep pace with Miami.

Indiana at home is a very winnable game. Maybe we can finally beat Hoeppener. MRasor is a good source, so I am disappointed that we don't get BC at home next year. I sure hope we don't play a 1-AA team. Glad to have UC on the schedule. We should draw some good crowds for that game and have a good following to Cincy. By the way, I saw MT at the WSU game last week. How about a 2 for 1 in bball with UC?ZIP, any idea who the other crossover games are with the MAC West?

Good points - to add in the past we had neither size or speed in the secondary. At least we have speed now. Our O Line is fairly big, short but big. Our D Line next year should be much bigger with Reid, Kiki, Robinson, Marshall, Pendleton and Hight. It would be great to have a 240LB LB who can run a 4.5 40. We had one guy about 10 years ago, Boyd maybe? who played middle LB. He was all everything for us. I think he quit to become a preacher and then came back. He was about 240 and ran a 4.9 40. I would take Jay Rohr any day of the week over that. Biggs was small but no one complained about him. I agree we need to add some size at WR and CB but let's not sacrifice speed. Second thought -great comment about the coaching last night. Amazing that when 2 teams are equal talentwise you see how "great" the gameday coaching is. Same crap that we used to see as well. Never mattered when we played Cal Poly just like it doesn't matter when USC outclasses 95% of the teams they play.

Wait, the Beacon had an offseason informative article?? What is the world coming to?

I hope they let him out and I fully expect them to let him out. KD has always said, if you don't want to be here, no one is stopping you. Good luck to him even at OU. Should make for a nice rivalry the next few years.

Good poll - my thoughts after knowing Wed nights results1. I can't see Buffalo staying this strong unless they develop depth. I thought they would fall off, kudos to Reggie for their early start.2. Can't won too easily vs Toledo. KD made the comment last night that he looks for Toledo to get hot at the end with their schedule. Hopefully they start out 0-3.3. I still think Miami is tough and will get a 3 or 4 seed.4. Ramsey will get it done at EMU eventually.5. Less parity at the bottom? It seems that there is some separation this year. The last 3-4 years, 11 teams were pretty strong with maybe 2 poor teams. Looks like there may be a drop off after the first 8 this year.6. Go Zips!

Good points - fortunately Dials has been kept around 25 minutes per night, substantial minutes but not the 35+ minutes that Dru had last year. No question that Dials is tough as nails, and right now we need him in there to win. A couple wins here or there may be the differenece between a top 3 seed or a 9 seed. I can't see Rybak playing the 2 spot right now.Great win all around. Those are the games that we always seemed to lose in the past. Teams are so evenly matched, coaching does matter in this league. Buckley seems to lose more of those than win over the last couple of years. I think he is gone after this year as well as Jay Smith and maybe Joplin.Nice job by Romeo stepping up bigtime!

This guy looks outstanding! Is there mutual interest?

Thanks for the info

The reason we play them is so that we beat their a$$. Sept 8, 2007 is how Akron becomes #1 in the hearts of NE Ohio.

Disappointing that our top assistant turns down what we all think is a plum job with so many kids coming back. Any idea why he picked UNLV?

As one of the Porky 7, I am glad to help in any way possible. I am not the most computer savy. I do try to follow recruiting as close that I can although I tend to get more out of this sight from others than original info I find first.Thanks for all your work in keeping this sight going.

Good discussions - my thoughtsI am not in favor of having the city or county involved. The more hands in the pocket, the more trouble there will be down the road.I generally am not in favor of a covered stadium but do see benefits to it. I remember MT and I think LP visiting Northern Iowa to check out their multi purpose dome a few years back. It seems that the decision was not to pursue.If we did a covered stadium, it would have to incorporate basketball. Is that something KD would like? Most basketball domes don't seem to give the intimate feel of a game.The stadium should be around 30K with the ability to expand. Even when you look at attendance for mediocre Big East or Big Ten schools, the draw in the 30-40K range. A 30K stadium with the ability to take it to 40K-45K down the road would give us enough flexibility for the future.One last thing, please put the TV cameras on the visitor side of the field so they face the home side.What is important is getting something done. I want to see a new stadium up by 2009. If it means waiting until say 2012 or 2013 for a larger or covered stadium, to me it is not worth the wait.