Zips Supporter

Like I said these committees make a big deal about the team's record. They do so now more than ever before. That's why I think Bowdry would be on 2nd team. And Mavunga is going to get more recognition than Ballard because he has had bigger games against better teams I think. And McClanahan and Marshall's points are right there with each other but the fact that Brett's been playing more minutes might give him some leeway. And if the MAC gave Brett McKnight honorable mention in 2010, then Nik would have to get the same this year. I mean I was going back and forth with the whole thing.

I agree. I was watching the Clippers-Bulls game last night & I was impressed at how Blake Griffin was always setting screens for his guards. It just reinforced the fact that I don't ever see any of our players set a simple pick for anyone else. Isn't that just basketball 101? Instead, we run an offense (which, to my limited basketball knowledge doesn't even appear to be an offensive set) where we simply pass-pass-pass-pass-pass the ball around the perimiter and finally launch up a 3. Not gripping. KD and his staff know what they're doing. But everytime we play a slightly athletic team our offense doesn't work because we have to rush our 3's more than normal, and usually end up hitting for a low percentage. We live by the 3, and die by the 3. What happens is everyone gets caught up with trying to do their own thing instead of getting a pattern going to whatever makes you feel comfortable. The whole point you just made was clearly demonstrated in the NIU game. Goodness, we were rushing every shot and jacking up 3's the entire 2nd half, just because we were down. NIU played against our man to man very well and knew where to take the ball based on the situation. Whenever Akron faces a smothering zone defense, like they did against NIU and the Buffalo game, they get too anxious, get out of sync, and have trouble getting the shot they want. Whenever McNees and McClanahan are in the game together, you know half the shots will be 3's because KD hasn't shown many offensive sets to where it can be mixed up. And you have to have several offensive sets especially when you have a team loaded with wing players.

The only way Zeke would be honorable mention is if Cvetinovic gets 2nd team or if Zeke gets honorable mention instead of McClanahan. Because I don't see them giving Akron 3 honorable mentions because their record isn't helping. Again, this is just all my opinion.

I know it might be a little bit early but I just felt like posting my predictions for the All-MAC 1st and 2nd teams, honorable mention, and freshmen teams. I could be wrong, who knows, but I wanted to see others' input on this. 1st team- Justin Greene (Can't State) Xavier Silas (NIU) Byron Mulkey (BUF) DJ Cooper (OU) Jarrod Jones (BSU) 2nd team- Julian Mavunga (MIA) Brandon Bowdry (EMU) Rod Sherman (Can't State) Jauwan Scaife (BSU) Zach Filzen (BUF) Honorable mention- Nik Cvetinovic (UA) Brett McClanahan (UA) Carlton Guyton (Can't State) Antonio Ballard (MIA) Nick Winbush (MIA) Malcolm Griffin (UT) Scott Thomas (BGSU) Auston Calhoun (BGSU) DeVaughn Washington (OU) Jalin Thomas (CMU) Demetrius Ward (WMU) Freshmen- Trey Zeigler (CMU) Nick Kellogg (OU) Javon McCrea (BUF) Delino Dear (UT) Juwan Howard Jr. (WMU) Nate Rucker (NIU) Cameron Black (BGSU) Alex Abreu (UA)

I actually disagree, I think McNees is one of the few guys on the team that actually knows how to make the offense work around Zeke. Not too many people like Zeke because of his development so far but he excels off guard play. Any coach should be able to see that. And the past 2 or 3 years McNees was always one of those guys who if he missed 2 shots, especially 3's, he would lose confidence and not take as many shots for the rest of the game. It took him until this year to finally get off that kick. I think he's shown good enough leadership to earn more minutes. And I beg the differ just a little with McKnight. He has been consistent enough this year. He is just one of those guys who plays better in home games than on the road. His offensive skills havent been lacking. i just think his shot is not where it was in 2009, the year they made the tournament. McKnight also plays better when the lineup on the floor is smaller.

Yep I agree. That's how Ohio beat us earlier this year. They made their open shots, they took the right shots, and they took advantage of turnovers. We didn't in that game and the NIU game. That's how you win in this gritty conference. It all comes down to turnovers/how well you take care of the basketball and who shoots the ball better. Just ask Geno Ford.

Now the old guy has to speak his mind! I would LOVE to see Akron get national recognition. But you must remember who we are and where we are from. OK, I know I am almost 40 years behind the times. But still, when we compete for players, remember what we don't have: 1. A nationally know name, like an Ivy League school or OSU 2. A history of winning/national championship football and basketball programs 3. A huge and fulfilling on campus life for out of town students. And let me make this clear, some of the big time schools have THOUSANDS of students living on campus. When I attended UA were were DIV II and had FOUR DORMS, three small ones for women and one tower for men. OK, there is more today, but the school is still, I am certain, dominated by TOWNIES. A townie school is NOT going to attract top recruits from all over the country. Because most of the commuter students attend classes and leave to go home or to their jobs. Big time schools have their community life ON CAMPUS, not like UA, where so much of the "community" is the same High School friends. 4. FANS ATTENDING GAMES. Back in the DIV II days of Memorial Hall we packed in over 5000 for big games. Now they seem lucky to get 1/2 that in the JAR, for a team that has won 20 games+ four years in a row. Again, this is because most of the student body goes home after class. Dambrot has done a GREAT JOB. Best coach Akron has ever had. You want a better team, build a better community! This argument absolutely makes perfect sense. It's like for businesses trying to hire quality employees. They may complain about not finding the best candidates, but they have to do an above average job of creating the best business friendly atmosphere first to get people to ponder to them. If you want players to come from further away, you better have superb residence life and on campus student life. Then the larger loyal following will fall into place, programs will consistently get more money to offer, and better national recognition will happen. Compared to other MAC schools, Akron's community atmosphere and student life options aren't exactly swift. I visited several other MAC schools and I gotta tell ya, schools like Bowling Green, Ohio, and Central Michigan, blow Akron away when it comes to residence life, student life, and the fan community. I went to Akron for my undergrad, and never understood why the JAR never gets filled except for Can't games maybe. It's a shame with how well the Zips record is at home over the past 5 years and how many 20 win seasons we have had, that the attendance can't be close to selling out every game. Those Atlantic 10 schools who get 20 wins every year are small schools but their home games are packed. It doesn't take them long to get tons of fans to come to home games. So I agree, I refuse to criticize the program, I just don't think Akron is laying out as many reasons as they could out there to get more outside players to come here. As I mentioned in another post not too long ago, we always seem to have at least 8 or 9 players from Ohio. Remember Can't State in 2008? They only had 1 player on their roster from Ohio. Even Toledo diversifies their recruits, at least when Joplin ran things they did.

That's exactly the point I was trying to make in my 2:21 AM post. I know for sure on a couple drives to the basket by Bassett, Marshall and Conyers were called for fouls which gave him 3 point plays. They were hardly even "touch fouls". They just rubbed jerseys and both were backing away while he was underneath. Usually underneath the basket when players lean back away from the driver, they hardly ever call it. And that's whether you're in the NBA or NCAA. Conyers and Marshall played awesome defense the whole tournament and the refs couldn't give them any respect. Ohio had lots of bailout calls go their way compared to Akron, I'm telling you. McKnight and Conyers were being mauled by Washington and Van Kempen quite a bit with no whistles. I'm not trying to say they favored one team, but I was saying there was no standard flow of officiating whatsoever. The Cvetinovic holding call on Van Kempen and the McKnight inbounds no-call at the end of regulation really made me jump up.

Mental toughness. Steve Hawkins does very well with that. The Bronco players always seem real comfortable playing their game and stay poised even when they get down. I can already tell his freshmen this year are developing nicely mentally.

He blew his ACL junior year of HS. Everybody but Western Michigan backed off him.Also, I talked to some scouts about Kool. They didn't seem too impressed.The reason why the NBA scouts probably weren't too impressed is because those fussy scouts are going to compare his numbers in the MAC vs. what they would be in BCS conference schools. They will look at what other schools recruited him (Providence, Seton Hall, Dayton, Purdue). They probably just didn't see the talent NBA wise. He doesn't have the NBA body and NBA talent. Shooting accuracy from 3's and FT's only get so far in the NBA today. I would compare Kool to like a Dave Jamerson, all offense, always finds a way to get his shot off, deep outside shooting touch, automatic from the foul line.

I watched it on TV. Here were some calls I noticed that were bad.- The Roberts block on Van Kempen outside, he was definitely all ball and there was a late whistle. Play by play guys were surprised.- The Bassett driving layup that made it 61-57 and they called a foul on Conyers. He was backed away and they brushed jerseys, hardly enough contact for a foul. But because he fell to the ground, the refs bailed him out.- The loose ball foul on Chris McKnight where Van Kempen actually went over McKnight's back and brought him down.- The tangled up call with Cvetinovic and Van Kempen over a rebound, Van Kempen practically was pulling his right arm away.- The blocking foul on Conyers when he stepped out when Cooper was driving, should have been a no call based on the action in the game.I too noticed Ohio getting away with 3 seconds. Especially with Washington in the 2nd half, I know I saw at least 2 with him.All game long Ohio was getting away with those push offs on the dribble or away from the ball. That step back 3 by Bassett when he clearly pushed off on Roberts, can't believe that wasn't called. Cooper's 3 from the corner in the 1st half, pushed off on Steward, another no call. Dambrot kept pointing it out to the officials but was being ignored.Nothing compares to the EMU game. There was constant disruption of the flow of the game by the refs. They were calling touch fouls away from the ball, bump fouls way out front by the time line, moving screens that weren't even screens. The MAC refs need to get a clue. Officiating means keeping the game balanced and fair both ways. If you aren't going to call loose ball fouls all game long, don't start calling it on 1 team at the end and not the other. But that game tonight, Fouls- Akron 23, Ohio 15, FT's- Akron 14, Ohio 25. And Akron was in the bonus not even half way through the 2nd half. Give me a break.

I don't understand why Brett McKnight started his move and penetrated with 15 seconds at the end of regulation. Why didn't we hold on till the end, I would have never wanted to give Ohio the ball back. Being down 66-65 with 15 seconds, you have no choice but to take it to the buzzer and get the best shot. What was the communication on that one? I would have had Marshall in there, my top shot blocker for most of overtime. Either way, we are having good seasons with good basketball players, but Akron needs to step it up with the talent again.

Amen. For the most part, very classy Zips fans! B)You don't go to 4 straight MACC games with a bad coach. Yes, I would like to see the schedule upgraded and don't want to see losses to Austin Peay or Eastern Michigan either. However, the program is as good as it ever has been and I believe the growth will continue under KD. This WILL be the case.Here's to a couple more wins this season... What we need is to stop playing low major teams and playing those same teams every other year. Like UNC-Greensboro, Gardner-Webb, St. Francis PA, Youngstown State, Eastern Kentucky, Binghamton or any of the consistent losing record teams. Upgrading the schedule is not so easy when better schools don't want to waste time coming here. So you have to go to the better schools and play like Miami always does. They usually schedule at least 2 games every year from BCS conference schools. They not only prepare players, but coaches as well. Helps out the RPI too.I think if we recruit more out of state or in areas where bigger conference schools recruit, we might have a better blend of players and might have a better chance of snagging players who get recruited by larger schools. David Kool is a worthy player. He was recruited by Providence, Seton Hall, and St. John's. Western Michigan recruits sometimes out of the Detroit Public Schools area and they have good basketball players that come out of there that go to big schools every year. D.J. Cooper was recruited by California, New Mexico, and Baylor. Ohio has 3 players who were at least nominated for McDonald's All-America. Just something to think about. I know for sure in the Hipsher days, 90% of the team would be players out of Ohio.

The moderators have always censored topics regarding Dambrot. They hate when their beloved coach gets slammed but lets be honest, he did not coach a bad game today. Though i would have personally had Zeke in a lot more in overtime, i cant say he was outcoached. It would be nice if Zipsnation was a little better at not deleting topics that the moderators didnt agree with however. This seems to happen a lot.Keep beating the conspiracy drum .. very little is ever deleted (though you have a knack yourself for off color topics) unless direct personal attacks occur .. or it's really not kid friendly.I say again, nothing's been deleted recently.If you'd like your membership dues refunded, just send me a .... oh wait, never mind.Go Zips!Yeah I agree. Even though we only won 1 out of 4 MAC Championship games, I refuse to criticize the entire basketball program. Dambrot has done well with the players he has had. They are work horses and a scrappy bunch of guys. But have we ever really had a prolific scorer or a complete player on both sides with tenacity? You may have an argument for the final game if Dambrot was outcoached. It was more of who played when. I would have had my top shot blocker in Marshall in the game in overtime. I would have had Conyers on Bassett more, especially during times where he gets in the paint. This year though, in the entire season, I have never seen so many opposing players take it to the basket as easily as they have against us.

This guy D.J. Cooper is a great talent. I even saw how well he played in their game at Miami. OU has always been an offensive oriented team and likes to turn it on in the 2nd half, just like we try to pour it on in the 1st half. In the past 5 years, I have always thought of OU as one of those teams that plays their very best A game only at home but underachieves on the road like 80% of the season. Same for Buffalo.In the past 10 years or so, OU has always been in the top half of the MAC as far as recruiting in my opinion but their records usually don't show for it. If they had more depth and played more than 8 guys a game, their conference record should be right there with us and Can't. If D.J. Cooper improves his numbers and helps his team achieve better records year after year, he will definitely get professional notice. Just like Bramos for Miami did and he certainly can play in Europe. As far as Cooper, he is probably one of the most talented guards in the MAC I have seen since probably Bonzi Wells of Ball State in the 90's. Bonzi Wells could have played for a high major school in my opinion, especially during that time in the mid to late 90's where it was easier for a mid-major school to get attention. Like Cooper scored 33 in a game and no one said anything about it on ESPN 360. Szczberiak with Miami during his time would score 30 a game randomly and he would get noticed right away, he was simply a prolific scorer. We had ours in Joe Jakubick of course.