Zips Win!

Any way you slice it, this sucks for UA.And you buckeye honks on the board wonder why I despise them so much...We lose out to deeper pockets, again.Good Luck to Jeff. He is a fantastic coach, great person and it was a pleasure to get to know him.

Waters at Rutgers in the Big East is quite different than Waters at XU in the Atlantic 10. You can make exactly zero fair comparisons between the two. I believe he would excel at XU.That said, I don't want him back in the MAC and he (Waters) is afraid to play the Zips. Now, I know he has Elton convinced that it is Keith who won't play, but that is bull. GW told me in person one year ago that his program wasn't ready to play the Zips. Now that he has a win in the NCAA tournament and we made the tournament, let's hope he will change his mind. It will probably now come down to who would get the first home game in a series and since we both want it, I would be surprised if a contract is signed in the near future.

Gary Waters would be an ideal fit..

I'll digress from the band...But you gotta have the band!My new and very old tradition will be to tailgate early and often.......No time limits on when to show up, no rules on where to toss a football. Anything that is allowed at Penn State should be allowed an encouraged at UA. Gameday on Saturday should be the event to be at. The place that anyone driving by on route 8 or I-77 will want to stop by and be a part of. This cannot be accomplished in a few hours before kickoff... I better be able to show up whenever I want and be able to park in my assigned lot...Have the time to set-up shop, vist the bookstore, walk the stadiuma area, tour the student union, walk the campus, stop by and visit the hundreds of Zips fans hanging out discussing the upcoming game. Anything less and I will be a one-year season ticket holder while joining the ranks of those looking for a free ticket...

Yes, I am the first call us out for losing when we seem to find a way to come from ahead and find a way to lose. And yes I pointed out that it took several miracles to beat Toledo and therefore we could have lost. The point I was attempting to make (and did a poor job) was that I am just not a firm believer in the 2004-2009 "trend" that was posted earlier.Sure, steps have been taken to win the MAC championship in 2009. But when the 2007 and 2009 titles basically come down to one or two plays, I'm not buying in on a trend. If we win in 2007 and lose in 2009, where is the trend? As for the significance of the Toledo game? It was huge. Freshman and sophmores, making big plays and hitting big shots while getting invaluable experience. We finally proved that we can break through and win a big game. How will this impact 2009-10? Not real sure, but with everyone except Nate returning, I hope it pays dividends. As others have posted, the schedule needs to be upgraded and the team needs to come back with the understanding that the MACC will have to be earned again. Winning a championship in 2009 doesn't guarantee one in 2010.

There is zero benefit to the Zips if UNC wins and zero benefit to the Zips if Gonzaga wins. Let me know how UA benefits from a Gonzaga win..And yes, the Gonzaga fans were complimentary. But they were favored to win and they won...Hence the before and after thing,,,....The problem was that there were so many in the building on Thursday evening in Portland that the underdog Zips never got the benefit of having all the "other" fans pulling for the underdog. Case in point, Villanova played a first round game in Philadelphia versus American. I heard that the arena, in Philly no less was pulling for American. Yet in an arena 4 hours from Spokane the building was full of loud fans pulling for Gonzaga. Great for them. The reality is is that they are not a Mid-major program and there is no real benefit to UA if they win...Sorry....

Agree. But it's easy to be complimentary when you win...

Are you serious? Why the heck would you cheer for NC over Gonzaga?Why not? I know Gonzaga was the mid-major blueprint for success. I hope we can emulate it.That said, I saw the Gonzaga faithful in person in Portland. Today, they are about as "mid-major" as I am a buckeye fan...Besides, I hope someone knocks the heck out of Heytfelt (sp?)

Good teams make their own luck.Penno's shot in 2007 was a miracle shot. The CSU shot @ Syracuse was a miracle shot. The plays against UT were 2 difficult basketball plays made in the heat of the game. One was a squared up look from normal 3 point range, and another was a great pass by a player with court vision and a habit of winning.They were great plays .. not miracles.In a year, this is what fans will remember .. a little bit more than what happened on Tuesday. Indeed they will. Sucks for them that the Zips will be a better, more seasoned team than this year. B) Go Zips!Again, I'm not complaining....just discussing....And enjoying the MAC championship as much as anyone...But, you can call it what you want? I will call it a miracle in basketball terms...In fact a couple of miracles..In many ways, our win vs. Toledo was more dramatic than the Penno shot and much more than "great plays" if you see what happened to get us to the "shot" and the "pass".Did everyone forget that Brett McKnight was an inch away from being out of bounds as he flipped the ball to Humpty for the shot. Great hussle on Brett's part, but ever so close from being game over before he ever took the shot.In OT, the ball was deflected out of bounds off of JC(I believe) before we got it with 1.5 seconds. That could have very easily been called Toledo ball..even though it was ours..Then, after the pass, BM's shot kind of hung on the rim and fell in...Again, ever so close from rolling off.I'll take it and enjoy the fact that a couple of breaks came our way. Here is a situation where the Zips have to continue "building" the program (I know how much GP1 likes to build) if we want to get to be Gonzaga of the east. And speaking of Gonzaga, Joe Jakubick and I will have our Carolina lids on pulling for the Tar Heels later this week.

Thanks for introducing perspective. This has been my argument for 3 years now. It's a process .. the progression is evident. Earlier this year the belief structure among fans was shaky. KD has a plan. Witness the results. Trust the plan. I for one am thrilled with the trend, progress & results.Go Zips!! B) I like the trend, progress and results...But let's not forget it took a miracle 3- point shot and inbounds/ assist to get us here.Everyone will be gunning for us next year....

Today I wll give WKNR some credit. At 3:25 PM they had a legitimate interview with KD about the team..not the LBJ stuff.Thanks to both KD and WKNR.

After arriving home from Portland, my daughter sorted through the mail to find the March Madness issue of SI. In the upper right hand corner she located the head/shoulders of one of our own, Brett McKnight. AKR and a part of O was visible on his jersey.In case anyone wanted to pick up a copy...

That's part of my point. WKNR had a contract to air the tournament. Our "coverage" basically consisted of hearing the games and becuase we played in four of them, we had a little extra.I listened to those hacks during their shows and as I said, UA got about 5 minutes of run....And most of that talk was in comparison to CSU... I hope to miss the party as I will be in Portland.

We need all of the expose we can get and we should be thanking the perfect alignment of the planets and all of our lucky stars that the most famous athlete on the planet is a loyal Akronite and an outspoken Zips fan!How can you guys believe this? Yes, he is KD friend and supporter and I'm sure he want's us to win as long as KD is the coach...But an outspoken Zips fan? Baloney!How many times has he ever stood on our sidelines or sat near our bench in a nationally televised game? Exactly ZERO times.Thus far, any run UA basketball gets with the media is:*The CMU comment*The shot*LBJI, for one, do not need to hear another word on any of them.The team, the NCAA bid and Zeke is what should be talked about.

That was an awful interview... He should have turned that one down. When I left the Q on Saturday evening, I believe guys like Nate and Humpty and Steve and Darryl and Nik and Chris and Brett etc. won that game.Yet, LBJ gets all this credit.It's embarrassing if you ask me, LBJ gives us some shoes and you all act like he's donated millions of dollars. The LBJ angle is as bad as the ESPN announcers were on Saturday evening.Personally, I give Keith and his staff and players credit for getting me to Portland. LBJ gets none. And these idiotic interviews need to stop....

What am I writing to thank them for?For the 5 minutes of coverage we got this week? Big wup!!!All the local hacks are idiots, not to mention a bunch of buckeye losers....I tune in Cleveland sports talk to hear about the Cleveland teams, not the team for c-bus.But then again, when you haven't won a championship in Cleveland in over 120 sports seasons, I guess you need to hang your hat on someone.

We will be driving, then flying, then driving again...All four of us...

Not only a great pic of Humpty, but also of the awesome fans in the background.

While I am a believer that anything can happen in the tournament, winning a close game sure hasn't been one of them thus far. 1.) With 34 seconds left in regulation at MU, we take a two point lead. Still winning with 24 seconds left, we lose in OT.2.) We take a two-point lead with 2:51 left in regulation vs. Buffalo. Still winning with 1:27 left, we go scoreless the last 2:51 and lose by 2.3.)With 2:57 left in OT, we take a 4-point lead vs. OU and have the ball. Still winning with 1:58, we lose by 5 scoring 3 points in the last 2:57.4.)Tied at 75 with 1:42 left in regulation at NIU, we get outscored 8-4 in the last 1:42 and lose by 4.5.)With 3:44 left in regulation we take a 1-point lead vs. BG. Still winning with 1:25 left, we go scoreless the last 3:44 and lose by 4.6.)We take a 5-point lead at Can't with 5:22 left in regulation. Still winning with 1:07 left in the game, we lose by 4 scoring a grand total of 5 points in the last 5:22.Yet, in the 10 conference wins, the closest outcome was a 5 point win over Buffalo.I sure as hell hope we can get some leads, increase those leads and have a comfortable margin down the stretch or it may be "wait until next year" .....again.

Like last Sunday, the Can't games tips off at 12 noon.Please also remember that it's time change this weekend.

At this point, I will be elated if we just get a damn bye at the MAC tournament.

For once we actually watched the same game as I agree with your game analysis. However, to say it was one bad game is just not accurate. While Sunday's game was really bad, there have been several others throughout the season. Losing a 5th game in one season where you have the lead in the last couple minutes of the game is downright depressing...and a very bad omen.Calling out the McKnight's may not have been the prudent thing to do and I was surprised that KD did. But maybe, just maybe everyone who played on Sunday should have been called out. They all need to wake up and realize what's at stake. No more excuses-youth, inexperience, one senior, wait until Zeke-The MAC is available for the taking this year. Just do it.Sunday was yet another example in a long list of UA athletics meltdowns (football included) where destiny was in our control and we crapped down our leg. A nice crowd on a Sunday afternoon, a first place finish in the MAC in sight, a number 1 seed in the MAC tournament, an automatic NIT bid to fall back on, and we found a way to lose. Nothing like crying in my beer at BW's afterwards...how many times have I done that?The next coach, administrator, fan or poster that questions why our crowds are pathetic, can look no further than to Sunday's outcome. Win one of these and they may come(back).

It was moved for TV. The game is on Fox Sports Ohio.

Here we go again...Nothing like bashing Mike Waddell..Not for a second do I believe that Mike would bad-mouth UA. Was he unhappy that he didn't get a real look at the AD job? Yes. Does he exchange christmas cards with Mack? Probably not...But this doesn't make him a bad guy.While Mike has not been able to secure his own AD gig, so what. I'm sure those jobs are hard to come by in the good ol' boy network that exists.Mike will and should hold a special place in the hearts of the die hard UA fans. All 200 of us...He was the first AD-type to give a damn about what the "fan" wanted and thought. This in and of itself was huge. His vision to start the AK-Rowdies will pay dividends for years to come...When I hear the Rowdies start the "I believe that we have won" chant, I will always thank Mike for starting this group. Hell, he even drove up to Cleveland for the MAC hoops tournament last year....There were numerous other small contributions that happened with Mike....the parties and surrounding functions at the MCB were FIRST CLASS. And Mike put these together...I could go on..... I could stop by and ask him anything about the program and he always took the time to talk.Will be ever end up at UA? Who knows...As previously mentioned, I want a UA guy....But I also believe Mike could do the job if and when Mack leaves...