zipboy

Good to hear. Focusing more on basketball for TV is good. Not many people are going to stay home Sat afternoon to watch MAC football. But a basketball game on a Wed night in February, that I could see.

Low expectations are for losers. I want to win. We have one of the top QB's in the MAC, and the MAC is a QB-driven league. I don't know what to expect from the Zips in 2010, but I certainly expect a team with 16 returning starters to compete well. Ianello didn't take over a team bereft of talent, like Lee Owens did after Faust. Ianello is taking over a pretty decent group of players. The Zips should at least be 6-6 this season. New coach, new offensive and defensive schemes...3 BCS OOC's. I don't expect 10 - 2. But another 3 - 9 or 4 - 8 season is out of the question. Don't let any low-aimer fool you... we have more talent than that on-hand. +1 Last year Zips were picked fairly high in the East if I remember. Didn't Elton pick them 1? What is different from last year personnel wise - Nicely vs Jacqumein at QB, a healthy Alex Allen, everyone back on D, and more thin at WR. So personnel wise I don't see much difference. Schemes can't be worse than last year. I will disappointed if we don't go 6-6 as well. No reason not to go 1-3 OOC and 5-3 in the MAC worst case unless Nicely misses some games.

From the PD when Rob was hired on Dec 10th Yet the core question is can Ianello win here immediately, with seven starters coming back on offense and nine coming back on defense off a team that was initially projected to be a contender in the Mid-American Conference before suspensions and injuries effectively chop-blocked any chance at success. "That's the expectation, that we go out and do some special things early on," Ianello said. "I told our players, 'I am not standing in front of you talking about five years from now,' I'm here talking to you about the here and now.'" I will be disappointed if we don't go at least 6-6. 1-3 OOC and 5-3 in the MAC puts at 6-6.

I agree, good luck to Humpty. I will miss watching him play and wish him the best.

My mistake, my mind must still be in 1999. I would have sworn it was Wright State until I saw your note and looked it up. Thanks for claryifing.

and I was looking to fill the schedule out keeping KDs philosophy of home and home and also trying to make Zipboy excited to go to the JAR, who is comparable to Akron? So I looked up teams with an RPI 125 or better (approx top 35%) for each of the last 3 years. My thought being we either sign 2 or 4 year deals and what is the probability a team will actually be decent for that amount of time? I was a little surprised by what I found. Taking out BCS teams who I doubt that we would get a home and home with, 58 non BCS teams were in the top 125 for each of the last 3 years. Of those 58, 24 were top 125 all 3 years including Akron and Can't, the only 2 from the MAC. From an economic standpoint, I figure that we would have to play teams with similar attendance. I know that we might get lucky if Jakkar Simpson ends up at Xavier or Dayton to get a home and home once ala Marcus Johnson but otherwise, we probably are not getting a team that averages 10K to do a home and home at the JAR. So of the 24 teams that made the cut, teams with attendance under 8K include Akron, Can't ( roughly 3K) Houston (4K) Rhode Island, Wright St, West Can't, UAB (5K) Butler, Gonzaga, Old Dom, Temple, Tulsa, VCU (6K) Illinois St, San Diego St, Siena (7K) A few thoughts 1. I was surprised how little is really out there of quality competition that we might actually get a home and home with 2. Our attendance really does lag our success compared to other teams. I saw a comment from Lou Reed who is leaving CSU for Georgetown and he talked how disappointed he was to never have the fan support at CSU and how hard it is to get that support in NE Ohio. Between Akron, Can't, and CSU, it should not be unreasonable to expect 5K per game. CSU especially with a nice arena, have had good OOC opponents in Cleveland, still draws like flies. If we played teams with attendance like ours, they would all be RIs in the 175 and up range. 3. An Houston vs Akron series would be nice, we still have direct flights to Houston at least for now. WKU or ODU would also get me very excited. 4. Too bad RI and Akron did not renew. That is a perfect type of team for us. 5. I always thought Temple drew more than they do. Just some random thoughts on a slow Sunday afternoon.

Agreed, a rotation every 3 years is the way to go. Hold it in a stadium that seats 25k-30K so it seems like people are there. Wrestling has been held at Wright State for how many years now? Softball is in Akron. It is ok to hold titles in places other than the middle of the state. My guess is that Columbus will get it. The OHSAA wants to maximize revenue and holding it in Columbus will probably generate the most attendance.

We should have 2-3 buy games on the schedule and I consider YSU one of those. I agree that having somone close will draw a few more fans and be inexpensive. I look at CSU as a top 100 team. It would be nice to get have 5-6 OOC top 100 teams on the schedule. As long as Waters is there and Dambrot is at Akron both teams will be in the top 100 almost every year and it seems like a no brainer to play.

I wonder whether it was an "accident" or not.

So sorry for the family

[quote name='ZachTheZip' date='Mar 30 2010, 09:10 AM' post='111861'] Is there a timeline for transferring? Like if they don't decide by April 15th then they don't get their paperwork signed? I would think that the staff has some kind of deadline set up, so they can devise a plan going forward without having to worry about any more players leaving. I checked the NCAA website. Signing period is April 14th - May 19th.

Best news is hearing that AA looks good to go. He should thrive in a pro style offense if healthy.

This is from Mike Rasor's blog dated Nov 11th. I am not concerned with the names as that was speculation but from the wording multiple players were expected to transfer at the end of the year and that is what we see happening. Whoever leaves, I hope that they do well and are successful. A side question is: Who leaves the program? Dambrot has promised three scholarships. Only two are presently available. Dambrot apparently has an understanding with some players, who intend to transfer if they cannot find a place in his rotation this season. Judging on playing time last night, it appears as if one of the big men will be the one left out — either Steve Swiech or Mike Bardo. Alex Sullivan is another possibility because of the crowded backcourt.

While we don't have the largest fan support, I am pretty confident that with more items available revenue would surpass $8,200. I hope the new assistant AD turns out to be good. It is a little refreshing to see someone with a different background than the normal college sports administrator. I have worked with my fair share of MBAs fron Ivy or near Ivy schools. Some turn out to be as good as the pedigree and others were utter disasters. I hope Dan is one for the win column and when Tom moves on in a couple of years an in house hire may actually give us some continuity.

Lots of good points, a few extra thoughts. 1. On the way home from the Green Bay game, French said that Euton is slotted to play the 5 next year. Obviously that can change. This would give us a lot more spacing ala Rob Preston. 2. I hope that Humpty doesn't transfer. While he needs to be more consistent, he is explosive and we need explosiveness. I don't know the interworkings, but he is an emotional guy, KD is emotional. Dials and KD would get it on the sideline as well, just the nature of competitive people. I don't read much into guys getting wound up on the sidelines during a game. Although one thing Humpty said in a postgame around the middle of the season stuck with me. Joe Dunn asked about the transition from high school to college ball, etc. Humpty said something to the effect - "It's weird. You love it and hate it at the same time." I just thought that was an insightful comment. 3. I agree Dr Z, adding 25 lbs for Zeke is a lot to hope for. One thing that I really like about him - he is an athletic and graceful kid. He moves like an athlete, not a clumsy guy. It is hard to teach that to a big guy, they have it or they don't. 15lbs of muscle would be great. 4. Our most productive line up a couple years ago was the 3 guards, Joyce, Dials, and Middleton. Even Dials, Middleton and McNees or Roberts was used a lot. We have not played the 3 guard line up much at all the last 2 years. It is hard to do with the smaller less physical guards that we have today. None have Cedric's kind of body. If the 4th guy is more like a Cedric type and hopefully even a little taller, minutes may shift from the bigs to the smalls. With an improved Zeke, a 3 guard line up may be more effective than this past year.

I am hopeful. Lamont has been with Dambrot from the beginning. While it is somewhat of a long shot, the guy is at least coming to games which is a good sign.

For those who missed it, here is the best that I can remember from Monday's show. I did not have a chance to post until now so hopefully I rememebered ok. Some interesting comments especially about a 4th player coming in. The radio feed went out when he was talking about a 4th guy coming so I hope that I heard right. Ianello's interview got caught off as the feed went out and I heard commericals for 10 minutes before they came back on the air. I hope this gets fixed for next year. KD's comments "We will bring a 4th player in, a guard. We have to have someone who can guard the perimeter. We have some personnel issues and decisions to make this offseason." "I am not happy with 24 wins. We did not get where we wanted to go this year so it was disappointing. We are going to examine every area of the program this offseason. and get this fixed and get to where we want to be I have a good idea what needs to be done." "I was most disappointed with our inability to guard the perimeter and on the ball defense. We also did not shoot consistently. Those are 2 things that went on in practice all season. We have to get better on offense and defense." "Zeke will be a different player next year with 25 lbs. I expect him to make a big leap. By his junior year he will be an impact player. It will take a lot of hard work by him and a lot of coaching by us." "Darryl Roberts is definitely fine for playing next year. His grades are fine, he has never been close to having a problem with that." "We have to have the same mindset like the old Zips. The last 2 years we were so so at home. That will have to change beginning this offseason. We have to become dominant at home again. A great team needs to be unbeatable at home." "This is not a major overhaul, just some tweaking. If we get the right guy in and change our mindset, we will be fine. We should be in the thick of it next year. We just have to do some fine tuning. We don't need to blow it up" "The guys gave me all they had this year, we won a lot of close games more than in the past, where in a lot of close games. We just have to get better." "We have a hole at the 3. We are going to try Brett McKnight there and really work on his conditioning this offseason. Nik will split time with Brett there and help us out on defense." "We have to be tougher (must have said this 5 times). We need to have the right mindset. That will start now in the offseason." "We rebuilt with 23 and 24 wins and an NCAA and CBI appearance." "Doesn't the new guy look like Jim Carrey? I need to break him in." My thoughts As always, KD is a good interview. Dambrot always says what he thinks. He sounded upbeat but pretty intense even now. He made it a point of emphasis that the mindset needs to change and I felt a sense of urgency which hopefully filters down to everyone else. With a 4th guard coming in who he made it sound will get a lot of playing time, I guess that Sullivan is a transfer out. I am excited to see who this 4th guy is as he sounds like an impact guy. And it came across to me like adding one missing guy and the returning nucleus of the team changing a few things and we should be really good next year. Dambrot doesn't blow smoke and I had the impression that next year's team will be better than this year. I am more excited now than I was 2 weeks ago for next year. I did hear about 5 minutes of Rob's interview until the feed went out. Nothing new, just more of a rah rah session and how pumped he was to get into camp.

The optomist in me thinks 1. KD is a smart guy, works hard and would cut his arm off to win. He will figure it out but we may be too locked in for next year for much to change. He built the program the anti JD way and needs to tweak it a little and will. 2. French and Dunn on the final postgame mentioned, 3 new recruits coming in and that is all at the moment but things can always change over the offseason. Joe Dunn's comment "We need to get an athletic wing to play the 3." That coupled with GoZips mentioning maybe a 4th guy coming in makes me think there will be a 4th guy who may be really good. 3. One more play goes our way, and we are in the NCAA's 2 years in a row. And while seeing that a gap exists between us and a high level mid major program, would still be primed to win the MAC next year as Zeke develops. The pessimist in me thinks 1. Best case scenario we really do get a 4th guy who turns out to be great. If he is a FR and is FR of the year and plays as well as DJ Cooper, that still is not enough to make the Zips dominant without other guys stepping up. If he is a transfer, he doesn't play until 2011. To really be an impact guy he probably has to be a JUCO and be really good. 2. In the past almost every guy got better under KD. 1st year to 2nd was a huge jump, 2nd to 3rd an even better player and then 3rd to 4th about the same, maybe more consistent. Joyce, Travis, Wood, Linhart, Middleton, Dials, etc all got better. This year Jimmy and McNees showed improvement but everyone else played at the same level or regressed from last year. The guys with the big minutes, Darryl, Humpty, Nik, the 2 Bretts, no one developed. I like everyone, I know that they all try hard, but we are not going to be very good if those guys don't get better. 3. It is exciting reading how the incoming guys are doing but I saw the same things with Humpty, the McKnights, Swiech. They dominated in high school, looked like men against boys and had great tournaments. Those guys may get minutes but if one of the 3 gets 20 minutes a night and is productive I will be pleasantly surprised. I think of the all MAC FR team and Cooper is the only who seemed to make a difference game in and game out. 4. In the past the others team's best player never had good games against us. Even if we lost, we would slow down their main guy and make someone else play well. This year it was like the old Hipsher days where their best guy did whatever he wanted and just torched us over and over. A few other rambling thoughts. 1. I read alot about KD's substitution methods and pulling guys etc. 3 years ago he played 7 guys, 3 guys got over 35 minutes a night. The knock then was he is burning the guys out, let's lose a game or 2 so they are ready for the tourney. He plays 10 guys a night because no one has stepped up to give consistent good minutes. Minutes are there for the taking. Conyers showed that this year. In MAC play, he was getting low 30s for minutes. If a guy would produce he would get 35 minutes a night. 2. I like the new guys coming in but I have to think losing Boals hurt the recruiting this year and we would have had at least 1 different guy from the incoming class who would have been more highly thought of. McFadden will do a good job and will bring a good class in for 2011 with 2 years to work on it. 3. If things go our way, we will still be good next year. I had hoped by this point talentwise Akron would just be several notches better than the rest of the league and I don't see that. I am still a big fan of KD and know that he will figure it out. But the realist in me just doesn't see us much better next year until some more scholly's free up and I don't know if Zeke ends up taking as big a leap next year as KD sees. He still seemed so raw at the end of the year. 4. Joe Dunn mentioned an upgrade to the schedule. So far I like what it looks like. If we are about the same team, we are looking at 17-20 wins and a 100 RPI. Still a solid program but not the best in the MAC. If the schedule does toughen up, that will be a good sign as I see KD changing the schedule with how much he likes his team's chances.

1. Fix the radio feeds. I don't know whose fault it is but to have that much trouble for broadcasts is disappointing. 2. Expand items at the team shop. Maybe this is not feasible but I have to think there is somewhat of a market out there to have more variety. 3. Routine communication with the fans. Tom seems good at this with the Youtube clips. MT would have a quarterly letter to fans posted online and have a "State of Akron Athletics" discussion once a year at the spring game. All of 200-300 people showed up for the townhall meeting so maybe that doesn't make sense. But a quarterly update on what is being worked on, things to look forward to would be great. I heard Tom on the 5 hour pregame show before the Can't game. He was a good interview. I would like to hear more from him. 4. Reconfigure the JAR. If a new arena is not going to work, do something with the JAR. This one takes a lot of money and is probably a pipe dream, but the others all seem realistic. 5. Can the MAC do what the Horizon does and get all league games on line? Even if you charge (which Horizon doesn't) but have a feed that works, it should at least break even and gets more people to see your games.

I was able to catch most of the show last night. I won't get this right verbatum, but this is what I remember from KD's comments last night When asked how does Akron go to the next level next year? "Zeke needs to make a strong jump. We need to play through him and our margin of error increases. His attitude and work ethic are the best that it has ever been. He is a team guy. I will be very surprised if he does not take a major leap next year. He learned a lot about the game this year. He needs to get stronger and better conditioned and that will happen. We are going to build the program around him. We will still be good if he does not develop as quickly but not great" Note, he must have said 5 times Zeke is the key to going to the next level and seemed pretty upbeat on Zeke showing huge strides next season. "We need to be more athletic on the wing next year. Losing Jimmy will be very tough." "I never expect anything from freshmen. We like all of them. I expect 2 to play but sometimes the guy who I don't think will contribute early becomes the biggest contributor. If they come in and play at a high level, we will be even better but I don't count on it. That is why they are freshmen." "We need to take a step back in order to move forward. Our defense needs to get better from the inside out. It wasn't as good this year as in the past. We will go back to the basics." When asked about the MAC getting more teams in postseason and how to accomplish that A 5 second pause of silence . . . "I don't have an answer. In 64 years, we have had it happen 6 times so obviously the right things are not being done (I am guessing 2 bids for the MAC 6 times in 64 years?) 15 years ago the MVC, MW, Horizon, none of those leagues were better than the MAC. Now they are. Schools have under invested in their basketball programs compared to those other conferences. Now you not only have to get to that level, but play catch up." "Our fans help us win. We would like a big crowd for Wed. Green Bay is a good team, but we have had good teams in the past that people did not come out for, Dayton, Rhode Island, Nevada. We have to win those games and we haven't and I understand that. Our fans have been very good, not great, but good. This past weekend and the Can't game the support was unbelievable, we need people to come for all the games not just the big ones. Our players love playing in front of them and they help us win, they really do."

We get another night of Zips basketball against a quality opponent. I am glad the unversity ponied up for the game. 2300 vocal fans at the JAR. It will be fun. Per KD on Zips Live - Humpty is doubtful. He hurt his foot on Friday.

Agreed - I did not feel good last year going into the tourney and felt really bad with a minute left vs Toledo. Not many expect Akron to win it this weekend so the pressure is off. I hope the team defense that I saw all year long shows back up on Thursday.

On a completely different subject (relating to me ), I did finally get back onto the court for the first time this week and played (and won) my first match since I had shoulder surgery last year. I am pretty excited about that so I thought I would share Good to hear that you are playing again. I remember in your playing days coming out here once in a while and posting. I am curious, how was Akron able to attract this guy? From what I remember, he is a Yale grad and was coaching at Fairfield. So I doesn't sound like he had ties to the Midwest and obviously the program wasn't in great shape when he took over.

Thanks Zach, I imagine that if guys leave it will be after spring ball? Frankly I am a little surprised that turnover is this light even now.

Kest has done an amazing job, but this guy has been equally as good or better.