Zip Watcher

Just because.

Thank you for your comment Mr. Gray. Not so fast my friend! Are you certain that it isn't "grey"?

I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) WHOA!! No kidding. Dissappointed if we don't make the Sweet 16? GoZips...love the optimism. But, can you show me at least one basketball expert who is willing to say that the Number 6 team in the MAC last year, that lost 4 pretty key players to graduation, is going to emerge as one of the Top 16 teams in the country? Only one MAC school played in the NCAA tournament, and they most certainly didn't finish 6th in the games that counted in Cleveland, so I'm not sure what the 6th place team has to do with anything.

Renovate it to become a comfortable band box with seating right on top of the floor. Make it a harder place to play than it already is. Give the students straight shot sections from floor up .. when they fill them .. give additional space down low on the sides by the corners. Make it small tight .. with better bathrooms and more concessions (upstairs). Then go out and hang a banner ... the place can become one of the most feared arenas around. We need top flight facilities in the back of the house, and improvements in the front .. not a new arena. Go Zips! B) B)

Tournament MVP's may be more V? Boyce? Linhart Marshall

Fascinating that the poll omits the two guys I would have voted 1 - 2. #1 Jeremiah Wood #2 Rashon Brown Now ranking best Zips hoopers when it comes down purely to winning, I have to consider Linhart, McNees & Roberts. For now, I say Woody. It WILL change in the next couple of seasons though. Go Zips!

Something to keep in mind here .. is that this article ISN'T about rookies. It's about "new to the MLS" .. including several futbol veterans.

Remember, RPI and SOS are purely math-based and not opinion-based. Time to check out the statistical facts at statsheet.com : Miami's RPI absolutely did not drag down the MAC's overall SOS but pulled it up as Miami finished the season with the 3rd highest RPI in the MAC behind only Can't and UA, as well as the #1 SOS in the MAC. The SOS of the 9 lower-ranked MAC teams (75% of the 12-team conference) all benefitted from playing Miami with its higher RPI. And 4 of those 9 lower-ranked MAC teams had better overall won-lost records than Miami but worse RPI because they played weaker non-conference opponents than Miami did. I can't actually believe that I'm going to do this .. but ... I think you guys are missing Zach's point. He's not saying that Miami's RPI dragged down the MAC. I think what he is trying to say is that Miami's scheduling philosophy had a negative impact on their RPI, and by extension, the MAC's RPI. Had Miami scheduled a *little* lighter on the road games against high majors they weren't going to beat, and won just a few more out of conference games, their RPI would have been HIGHER than it was, and therefore, the rest of the league would have seen a corresponding bump in SOS and RPI by playing a Miami team with a higher RPI. Having said that .. Miami is not the problem with the MAC's rpi .. Zach is just grasping at the concept that a better w/l record gives you higher RPI, and Miami could have improved their RPI with more wins. Bottom line, blaming the teams at the top of the MAC, like the author of TFA and Zach are doing isn't really productive. Go Zips!

Parties involved in contracts do not set legal precedent. Judges do that when they decide cases and case law is established. +1 Also, it's all in the definitions, terms and conditions. Perhaps there were conditions on the buyout that aren't in the public eye (yet). If Can't didn't support Geno's efforts or make good on the university's commitments to Geno or the program, it may be that the buyout is not enforceable. Without any visibility of the contract and the inner workings of the athletics department there .. this is all idle speculation. With all the focus on FB going on in their budgets and spending .. this starts to sound like Huggins / Faust a little to me. What the previous coaches did or didn't do when they escaped left Portage county is 100% irrelevant to the current case. Go Zips!

To be honest, I wish we'd have received more media coverage last season. Knowing the media would question UA decision-makers would put pressure on those people to do better. With no media coverage in bad times, there's no accountability. Example: Coleman Crawford languished at UA WAY too long because the media has traditionally ignored the Zips program in dire times. Terry Pluto LOVED clamoring for terrible/marginal coaches to stay. +1

I voted for ABJ. Gaffney's work has been pretty good .. and wider reaching the past few seasons. Smaller sports have gotten deserved attention, and there's always stories between games in hoops & FB. The CPD has been better lately .. with Elton essentially on a Zips beat 2 seasons ago, and still in attendance quite frequently, as a subscriber, I'm pretty satisfied with their Zips coverage. AkronSportsNow is money. Best new thing to come along in a while. Go Zips!

Short term cash, if they win. I agree with Yoda .. there appears to be more downside than upside for this approach. Pursue it very far, I hope they do. Go Zips!

Bold move or stupid move? I vote for stupid move for all of the reasons you note. There isn't a single coach with any ambition who would take this job now. Thank you Can't for reinforcing all my beliefs about everything associated with your school. My God are they stupid people over there. I agree that it will give pause to future candidates .. but frankly, there's only so many D1 jobs .. they'll fill it when they need to. I do think this may reduce the quality of their candidate pool the next time out. Go Zips!

At the end of the evening's festivities, my son circulated collecting signatures of all the team members on the team photo. He found everyone but a few, and even had Harney & Treadwell sign. This is one strength of KD's teams. These guys are really attentive to the kids, and speak to them directly and are VERY encouraging. Not sure if this is coached up, or just their own instincts .. but it's cool. My son warmed up enough to speak to many of them and got a big kick out of talking with Abreu & McNees. On Saturday morning, he had his final scrum ... er .. pee wee basketball game of the season. He's in kindergarten as are all kids in the league, and they do the normal "don't keep score .. practice for 20 minutes, play for 40" type of thing. Well he's been playing defense all season, working hard to stay between his guy and the ball at all times .. he is a big Conyers fan after all .. on BOTH ends of the floor. I've been encouraging him that he doesn't need to guard his guy when his team has the ball. Saturday he snaps out of it, and actually goes for the ball .. has fun, hits about a half dozen of his 10 attempts .. and really seems to like it. I think his line was something like 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 8 fouls and 4 or 5 Turnovers. Stat stuffer! Late in the game, he pulls the ball away from his man at the top of the key, and heads up court dribbling in a full sprint. No one anywhere near him, the layup attempt appears to be wide open. What does the kid do? He pulls up from about 15 feet, and heaves a prayer at the 7 or 8' hoop, banging it off the back iron. I think a trailing teammate got the ball and put it in .. but I started laughing regardless. Driving home after the game, I ask him .. "Hey, why didn't you go for the close in layup on that fast break after you stole the ball?" .. a little pause. I ask again. He finally replies: "Oh .. THAT shot? Well, last night I told Steve McNees I had a game today, and he said he hoped I hit a big three to help my team win. So I was trying to hit a big three." True story. I laughed for about the rest of the weekend. He had a great time Friday AND Saturday .. and the Zips were on his mind during both. Great Weekend of "Zips" hoops. B) B) Go Zips!

No it isn't. Not even close. If you are a "hater," you simply hate someone. If you disparage someone, you are "hating on them." It has absolutely nothing to do with race. I have "hated" on Bryan Hipsher in the past. It wasn't because he was white. One of your posts related to that topic will for me forever be one of the funniest posts in Zips Nation history .. Zip shall not "hate on" Zip. B) B) Go Zips!!

It is my understanding that one of the transfers paid his own way this academic year. Go Zips!! B) B)

I just heard someone say the scoreboard collapsed and killed two unicorns... Is that true?? Absolutely FALSE! They were endzone lawn gnomes. Get your facts straight!

I believe the military is still running on an all volunteer basis and, therefore, none of these young men are in danger of being drafted. Meister earning his keep! :lol:

Great post, CK. I expect the writers will push the Zips down the pre-season on the loss of 4 seniors who won a TON of games & two titles. On the other hand, I don't remember the Zips ever having a core group of guys coming back like Marshall, Abreu & Diggs .. who all have shown high upsides & have multiple years left in the program. We're not in need of any of these guys to go Conyers in their last year .. they need to just progress and improve over the summer for the Zips to have really advanced athletically in a way that IMHO the league isn't prepared for. That's before I think about Gilliam, Walsh & the others. B) B) Go Zips!

Fewer players on the roster means you need fewer players. A program still has to create a culture of winning. Just having 3 or 4 new guys who are more athletic or taller than the guys from last year's club doesn't turn a hoops program. You bring 3 or 4 new guys into a situation where the team isn't mentally tough .. doesn't know how to finish games .. doesn't know how to win .. then you'll have 3 or 4 new guys in the same old situation. Getting the 3 or 4 new guys might be the easiest part of a new coach's job. Coach Murphy has his work cut out for himself. This isn't a quick fix. Go Zips!

As someone who spent 4 years in NE (in the beauty of Storrs, which I might add is a much better place than that sesspool they've labeled "Amherst") .. I have to echo CK on this. Even though it's not a big football area .. the conditions there are generally really good for some fall tailgating. Our trip to the Mullins Center for Woody's finale in 2008 was a nice time. UMass in the conference for FB is a good thing.

Temple played our home opener in 07. Son of a b!tch...you're right. I missed that game. Once @ the JAR since 2005 is still not too much to get excited about. If memory serves correctly, that was a game where Linhart & Conyers exerted their will defensively. I think that Temple had 2 guys coming in averaging over 20 points / game each .. and they left the JAR having scored something like 18 between the two of them. Nate & Jimmy pretty much took them completely out of the game.

Really wouldn't change much from what I can tell. East - Akron, Buffalo, Can't, Miami, Ohio, Temple, UMass West - Ball State, BGSU, CMU, EMU, NIU, Toledo, WMU In a North South allignment it would likely be: North - NIU, WMU, CMU, EMU, Toledo, BGSU, Buffalo South - Akron, Can't, Miami, Ball State, Ohio, Temple, UMass So We would have Ball State and they would get Buffalo, Akron would then have its three rivals (Can't, Miami, and Ohio). If you look at the map, there isn't any other way to do a North South division. My understanding is that FB division reconfiguration would be done such that Temple and UMass are NOT in the same division. Having them in the same division would double the excess travel burden for the other teams in the division. Look for Temple & UMass to be in opposite divisions when it's all played out. Go Zips!

Do you think you'll go to Canada, eh?

In Zips basketball related news, I continue to raise a glass containing my favorite Irish spirits several times a week to celebrate the Zips supremacy of MAC hoops. I am well into my off-season conditioning program in celebration of yet another conference championship! B) B)