Zips Win!

I wouldnt say Western was a "snub". Yeah they were the 2 seed, but they did play in the west, and ended up almost 40 spots lower than Ohio (50 more than Miami) in RPI. Not that RPI is the end all be all, but I just didnt see Western with a strong profile.Are we better off playing on the road in the NIT or at home in the CBI?

I'm with him. Disappointing loss to be sure, but I refuse to criticize the program, the coach, or the players and still firmly believe that our basketball program is moving forward. This team will lose four quality athletes and individuals, and next year will be a rebuilding year, but I think the foundations are solid and I can't wait to see the fresh faces next year. Ced, Nick, Jeremiah, and Quade... you will be missed!!!Completely disagree. The game can be summed up in three words. Our seniors sucked. Correction SUCKED.For once I cannot pin this on Dambrot. By my count we missed 9 point-blank one-footers, In addition Wood was awful from the line. Middleton and Dials missed countless WIDE-OPEN threes. Dials couldn't even in- bound the damn ball. We have another golden oppourtunity to go dancing and we lay an egg. It all started back in February of 1998 when Can't beat us at home in the JAR. Eleven seasons later we still cannot beat them when it counts.So when the JAR is empty come next November we can once again look back and see that when it really matters, we don't win....and our worthless alumni won't be back.Twenty-two seasons and counting for me. I won't be disappointed if the NIT doesn't come calling....

There are two teams I am rooting for tomorrow.....Akron and Miami.I'll take an Akron win and a quadruple OT game with Can't and MU.....

I thought Scorchers in the Valley was supposed to be the "new" home for UA athletics events!!They should buy the damn package.....

Look what a win combined with a Can't loss will do for you!! Page 3 of the USA Today today has an article "Filling in the fields".In the Moving Up column, the Zips top the list- (printed in alpha order):Akron- The Zips are 20-8 overall, 10-4 MAC, pulled within a game of East Division leading Can't State by throttling Buffalo 76-56 behind 20 points from Cedric Middleton. Akron has a rematch with Can't State next Sunday.Two of my favorite schools also make the Moving Down list. What a great read!!!

Wanted to get some feedback on what everyone is doing for MAC Tournament tickets. Individual game tickets through the Zips ticket office are $30 per session. Unfortunately, the seating changes with each session (assuming the Zips win on Thursday) and there is no guarantee you will get to sit in the lower section.There are several lower bowl -endzone seat- packages through the Q. : one is priced around $55 and one is priced around $75 --for the entire tournament.Last year, scalpers were outside with fistfulls of tickets. Yet, many seemed to want a premium for their tickets. I stopped over to see what they were going for on the Wednesday all day session and most wanted as much as you could go inside and purchase one for.Any creative ideas or combinations of options are welcome. Also, I received a flier that the Zips pregame parties are $20 per person. Where does everyone want to meet? The Winking Lizard and Panini's are two options for those of us with families.

Enough with the complaining about the refs! Yes, I thought the last 5 minutes or so was terrible......but I also thought they did a solid job the first 35 minutes. They let both teams play.....Our inept offense and horrible shooting cost us the game. Nate was 1-8 and JWood was 4-13. We missed numerous point blank looks and even threw up several air balls. I do like the hop in Ced's step. Two weeks ago I called him out for his terrible play. He's been his old self the last three games. Unfortunately we cannot say the same for Nate. He took a bunch of ill-advised shots.

And that 1 min that Conyers played with around 5-6 min mark left in the game, which I thought was just give the backcourt a breather before the 4:00 min media TO.Brett played terrible. I believe that most of his shots were within 10 ft or so, and they were not even close. I have backed B McKnight for playing more minutes, but KD was justified in sitting him on Sat. Gotta earn the minutes, and set up when you get your chance, and for the first time this year, he didn't set up.This isn't what I saw sitting in the stands at BG. The stat line said Brett was 0-5, however I only remember 4. All were good looks, they just didn't go in. Four years later I have still have no idea why Dambrot subs when he does. To me, there is so much better spacing on the court when Brett is in the game. He can preach defense all he wants. At some time you need to put scorers on the court.

Z-Pouch and Zip Watcher.....Right on the money.This was just like the #13 seed CMU coming to the JAR and pounding a #4 seed, Bosley led Zips team from several years back in the first round of the MAC tournament. Embarrassing. Looks like the program is headed back to those days...Seniors playing like crap, teams shooting the lights out, Zips making excuses and well, losing to as Bill Walton would say " A HORRIBLE TEAM".Brett M. has more offensive ability in his pinky than most of the players have in total...yet after putting up 9 points, he's on the bench. Sure he can't play D, but someone has to help him out. We needed to outscore NIU last night and we had no scorers on the court.Save the excuses....Middleton just plain stinks, Milum is lost, Dials is mostly out of position and we are in touble...If we can't beat NIU, who can we beat that is left on the schedule?When is the spring game?

Enough with more excuses about this team...I don't care if the CMU game was played on the moon, we need to find a way to win. But in typical Zips fashion, we do just enough (on the road) to lose. See Can't State, Dayton and Winthrop.....For all the bitching and moaning on this board about officiating in the MAC, the CMU game was one of the fairest officiated games I've seen and we still lose. Sure, a couple of bad calls but fair overall.I about kicked the tv in 34 times on Saturday.....one for every turnover and offensive rebound given up....How in the world do we give up 19 second chance points? Not to mentioned it seemed as if we forgot how to dive for a loose ball....I know we can't inbound the freakin thing......Where are the seniors we are supposed to be counting on? Ced looks more like a Hipsher senior than a Dambrot one. Boy has his play regressed! Stop with the injury excuses....If he's hurt, give the minutes to McKnight or Roberts...Milum looked like the player he was as a frosh....Nice jump hook off the side of the backboard....Wood and Dials are doing their best....yet 7 tunrovers by Dials and Wood's defense was terrible......If we can't find a way to beat a lousy CMU team, what are we to expect the rest of the way on the road? A dissapointing game for sure.......

Yes, the officiating was horrible in the second half, but is this really a surprise? I stopped going to Can't for a decade as I knew we had no shot.....The rough play was no different than the Buffalo game. Hard as it is, work on playing through it and with it --and we failed.Until the commish does something....it will not change. Needed someone to step up with a bucket to stop the run, and we didn't. Wood had two free throws at the time-bricked both of them.Middleton was no where to be found.....Ditto for Mylum. Dials stepped up big.....yet I think he had only one field goal in the last 10 minutes.Why was McNees in the game so much. Sure, give him a few chances to work out the bugs, but he never had it last night and he kept turning the ball over. Brett M. looks like a player ....Should have been in more....Although the bogus walk call on him when we were up 46-39 was the begining of the end. Love his aggressiveness. Thought Chris did a nice job as well....Thought the defense on Scott in the second half was lacking.....the only real perimeter threat they had....yet we could not contain him....

I heard there is a rally planned in the Student Union at noon on Thursday. KD, several players, cheerleaders and Zippy are scheduled to attend.Could this be the start of a new traditon?

If he continues to play like Saturday, we can call him McMVP.....

Amen to that brother!I have to believe that sitting pat on the hand Akron holds is a sign that the crew in charge fail to understand just how poor the team -- meaning the offensive attack (Nike once had a hiking boot called the Noatak -- it was named after JD Brookhart's offense) was in 2007. It reminds me of the Cleveland Cavaliers failing to bring in anyone to help LBJ before this season. The lack of offensive performance shows the team must bring in a leader with some imagination to call plays -- BUT that is not the only problem with the offense, and I believe the biggest problem is the underperformance of the blockers and the blocking schemes. This team has some great young players on its offensive line -- and they should be able to manhandle opposing lines, at least in the MAC. So, yes, bring in a OC with proven ability either at the BCS level, or from a lower level. But we have also got to find someone who can teach the kids on the line how to block. QB is a key position in college FB, but by itself, a quarterback cannot win games. We need to upgrade the whole team and program, and should rely on the strengths we have. The O-line is the area of the team that has the most potential for improvement, and can be what leads Akron to a bowl season in 2008. Go Zips!Blame the offensive coordinator all you want.....If he had just an average qb to work with we win 6 games...Better than average--we win 7-8.Find a quarterback now, even if it means bringing in a JUCO....(although 15 years in to our MAC affiliation, I continue to be befuddled on why a good Ohio high school quarterback wouldn't choose to play for the Zips with an opportunity to start for 4 years, but they don't.)

Skip-Zip .... if I remember correctly our RPI at the end of last year was 64, but even the NIT didn't come calling. I honestly believe that more important that SOS or RPI is the amount of repsect (or pull) you have in the "old boy's club".I think Akron could and should schedule a tougher OOC schedule, but acting as fodder for teams like Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, etc. is just plain silly. Cincinnati, Nevada, Butler, Dayton and these type of teams on a home & away basis is a better way to go. Then when Akron can consistantly win these games go up to the next level.Generally I like how KD approaches the schedule. I believe he wants to play as many high mid-majors as possible, if he gets a home and home series. Unfortunately, not all the so called high mid-majors want to come here. There really isn't anything for the MVC to gain by going on the road and playing the MAC, so they don't. In the end, KD is left "scrambling" around trying to find anyone who will come here. Personally, I think he should schedule ONE big-time BCS game (that isn't tosu) every year (even if we don't get a return game) for the money, play as many high mid-majors as possible and then fill in with YSU, CSU and even Wright State (the other Ohio schools) to round out the schedule. What puzzles me is why the football team is required to play 2 or 3 money games every year and the basketball team doesn't .....and they pay 16-18 more games in a season.

Where do we disagree? You just reiterated my point. Dials cannot penetrate or move the offense. It was completely stagnant the last 4 minutes. He was 3-10 from the field, with one of those the desperation three. Not exactly great stats.Sure seems to me that Dials plays like he's mad on the court. And KD needs to stop worrying about the former players and start developing new ones...like McNees and McKnight.

The more things change the more they stay the same….at least as it pertains to how Dambrot coached teams close out games.For the first 36 minutes and change, I basically liked what I saw. The last 3 and ½ minutes of the game were typical of the last 3 + years. As the game got closer and closer, the noose got tighter and tighter. This time, a lucky 3-point heave with the shot-clock winding down saved the day. A nice win against a quality opponent…but the answer to the $64,000 question as to who the rotation will be in crunch time was answered tonight. Unless something drastically changes over the next 2.5 months, I won’t be making any long range plans in March.The line-up consisting of the four senior and Nate got the Zips exactly ZERO good possessions/shots from the 4 minute mark until the fouling began. What did I miss over the first 36 minutes that led KD to believe that either Dials or Ced can run this team from the point? (And don’t tell me the ally-oop to Quade) McNees and Ced or McNees and Dials or even McNees and Ced and Dials is a far better line-up than the one he used. I just read the post-game quotes and once again KD pointed out that Dru and Romeo were the go to guys in crunch time the last 2 years…..Enough already, you have plenty of quality talent to develop new go-to guys! How about start playing them!!!Random thoughts….~Dials was awful until the 3 went in….~Ditto for Milum…until the alley-oop dunk.~Best game of the year for Linhart..Can he develop some consistency?~Very good game for McNees. The quick three-point shot cold off the bench in the second half was a bad decision, however.~Wood was terrific….Watch the fouls, please.~If Brett McKnight isn’t going to play, then red-shirt him. ( if this is even possible) Sure seems that KD is catering to the seniors. In my book, Wood and Ced would play as much as possible….Quade would play little and Dials would see substantially less time…

I would agree that this is the deepest team we've had in years...decades. But how good are we or better yet how bad were some of those previous Hipsher/Crawford teams?-Linhart gets way too many minutes. Like 20 more than he should. Can sometime tell him that there is this new invention- it's called a hair brush. He looks like he just rolled out of bed at gametime.-Milum gets way too many minutes as well. He has hands of steel on some of those interior passes. And stop shooting the three. -I absolutely hate the offense when it's the Dials/Middleton combo. Play McNees with one or both.-Conyers seems to be one of the odd men out. Still seems tentative and looking over his shoulder.-Is Chris McKnight now just an interior guy? Seems to be playing down low exclusivley-which I like.-Was is beginners luck with Brett M.? Was is the number he's wearing? (DP anyone?) Or is he as good as advertised? 10 minutes into his carrer and he looks like the making of a guy who will dominate the MAC. Hit the three, take it to the hoop and hopefully he will be able to develop a mid range game.-Wood is still a beast.-Finally, why the hell was Dials in the game with a minute to go?-

Disagree. You can find several road/neutral site GAG's. At Toledo last year comes to mind.

Keith should be happy with attendance figures of 2500 after blowing that game. Expect 1,750 on Saturday.Nice end of half and game coaching/playing!

Negative talk on this board? You make it sound like it is a crime for wanting more.......no expecting more, because that is what we should be doing. Sounds like you want us to sugar coat things. We both want success but you can't get there unless you acknowledge your weaknesses and mistakes. We wanna be big time you gotta act big time, expect big time, but at the very least you should minimize mistake, no holdings, dropped passes, redundant screens, etc. These are all easy fixes!!!!!I remember when Bill Snyder Kansas State's head coach at the time, came into our locker room after we just got our heads kicked in by his team, said that they were once where we are, and to stick to doing the right things,work hard, and not just believe but know you are better than your opponent, don't EVER settle for less.If you are used to a Faust 1-11 season a L.O. 2-10 season saying 7-5 is great is settling, it's settling for good when you should strive to be great. Saying stuff like *in a mopey voice* "Well we were 3-2 at half with OSU and barely lost to Temple, Buffalo, Miami, and Central. We could be 8-4!!Could be 8-4 don't sell tickets, get better recruits, or go to bowl games!!! The teams 8-4 or better like OSU, Indiana, UConn, Central ya know the teams we lost to?!! Go to bowl games, get better recruits, and don't have to fudge ticket sale numbers to keep D1 status. Teams like Louisville, Kansas St. Boise St., Hawaii, stop settling. Like we should too.Actually at many of the major schools, if a coach has too many 8-4 or 9-3 seasons he will be fired.I don't think anyone is asking for a NC or even a top 20 team. We are merely asking for a respectable and entertaining team to watch. We are asking for a team that consistently beats the teams they should beat. Yes, there are upsets. However, there isn't usually 4-5 the same season. Once that happens, they aren't upsets.Here at Akron most of us would be happy with 8-4 and crazy about 9-3. I don't think that being negative because we aren't even a 500 team is a bad thing unless you are used to losing and accept it.We finished 2005 at 7-6 after the bowl game. Everyone called that a great year for Akron.........Talk about being happy with mediocrity.If any national powers had consecutive 7-6 seasons, the coach would be gone in a heartbeat. Here at Akron we are happy about it.7-6 should be a down year/rebuilding year at UA. Not a good year. I couldn't believe early in the year when people called this a rebuilding year. What?????????????????????????????????? Did we go 8-4 or better last year? Did we win the MAC?How can you have a rebuilding year after a year that you were not very good? That is a losers mentality.We really need to change that. I am not calling for JD's head. He is a young coach that I think is learning on the job. Many great coaches took more than 5 years before they started winning. To call out posters and say they are being negative is absurd.If you want to see negative, go to other teams boards that are whining because they only beat a team by 21 points when they think it should have been more. Or they lose one game and are calling for a coordinators head. Not all negative talk is bad. Some of it is reality.THANK YOU BUCKZIP!! Finally some speaking with some sanity!!!!Who doesn't want to win 8 or 9 games a year at Akron on a consistent basis? All I hear nowadays is that college football is all about recruiting. Actually, college football is all about scheduling. Until the MAC and Rick Chryst gets his head out of his *** and stops playing big ten teams and we build relationships with the other non-bcs conferences and play ONE BCS school a year and 3 NON-bcs schools a year, nothing much will change for any MAC school-expect 6-8 wins a year and then 5 or 6 wins the next year.Speaking of scheduling, just check out the country's top 5 frickin programs......Going into the weekend, only Georgia, I believe, has played a top 20 schedule. tosu's wasn't in the top 50, WVA was barely inside the top 50 and at one point Kanas was outside the top 75.Yet all these teams will be rewarded and then some. Mythical NC will ring completely true for the eventual winner this year. recruitimng

The outscored BG by 17 in the second half to win. They played a 7 man rotation- 4 of them listed as guards. The two leading scorers are 6-5.They also play a 6-9 forward and 7 foot center.

some idiot on the CSU website says Brookhart has lifted Akron 'to unprecedented heights'...!!!!!????talk about no expectataions...No. The unprecendented heights was referring to our MACC in 2005 and our first bowl bid. I do not recall LO doing this!

Who cares? At least it's not tosu gear.

What are you talking about? Of course you go for two at that point in the game. Whether we had 3 yards, 8 yards or 35 yards to go to get the two points, you do it. It was the correct call!