Zip Watcher

I love the identity crisis cheer used by PSU and others .. are they afraid to forget where they parked or something?Go Zips! B)

Lately it seems, half the Nation!

Because you were on the committee? A fact? B) Go Zips!

So our scheduling method doesn't even get us in the NIT? Even when 2 of 3 years prior to the NCAA year of '09, the same scheduling method did put the Zips in the NIT .. and the 3rd year something odd happened and they were omitted?I disagree with your logic.

The conference has had 4 at large bids in the last 30 years, maybe longer or ever.Scheduling for at-large consideration in the current conference is not going to guarantee anything. The schedule should prepare the team to do what it did last year: Win the MAC Tournament and move on to the NCAA. It should also help the team peak at the right time to compete at a high level once there.Last year Miami put a scare into UCLA @ Pawlie Pavilion & played 4 or 5 other top 30 teams. What did it get them exactly? I'm not sure, but I do remember seeing them get pounded in the second half of the MAC Quarters @ the Q and sent home by Your 2009 MAC Tournament Champion Akron Zips.In 2001-02 Ball State went out to Hawaii and played an incredible weekend, BEATING 2 top 10 (Kansas & UCLA) teams and playing close with a 3rd (Duke). The next week, they entered the rankings at 10 or 11 .. later on in March, were they in the NCAA tournament? By at-large? No. Automatic Birth, No. They went 7-9 in conference and ended up way under .500 for the year. They did get an NIT birth and add victories over St. Joes & LSU before getting waxed by South Carolina.My point? I think the schedule is ok. We get lots of home games, which means some $$$ for the program. We aren't going to take a complete pounding in multiple places without hope of a return game. We have some nice neutral court games against NCST & Drake, and a roadie to College Station. Projecting the RPI of these things now is a complete waste of time. A couple of years ago, Wyoming was supposed to compete in the MWC, came into the JAR, left with a 30+ point beatdown, and ended up in the cellar of the conference.KD needs to schedule to grow the program. The trend has been great so far. 5 seasons, 3 post-season births, a MAC Tourney Title, and 1 NCAA appearance. As a Zips Hoops fan above all other teams, I trust KD because I see the results. The Zips are defending MAC Champs, have all but one (albeit significant) player returning, and add a top-50 recruit & 7' center. I refuse to diminish how great March was by searching for something to complain about in July.Go Zips! B) B)

Put me down for UA signing a long term lease and operating agreement at a multipurpose downtown arena built by the city / county / port authority. The Don Dome? Plusquelic Pavilion?Continue the ongoing efforts to improve the (backend of the) JAR to make it a 1st class training facility for both men's & women's hoops. Remains the playing venue for Volleyball. Add gymnastics if needed to get to be fully title IX compliant. W/ fewer events in the JAR, the facility might be able to support that.

Saw it, but we were on our way back from the Brew Pub .. don't remember it's name at the moment, but great stout.Then there was some sort of street music fair one block east of Cherry, from 5th to 7th or so .. very cool. Had a $3 32oz PBR can & my kid got to sit in the pilots seat of a Huey.Also a big metal fest going on at a building near there .. and that brought with it loads of retro cars / 50's cars .. etc. I guess all the metal heads strive to be Jesse James these days. But nice folks .. and happy to show the cars.Spent a week at the beach .. but for me the highlight of the trip might have been Winston-Salem. I really had no idea going in.Go Zips!!

We had our beach vacation down near Myrtle last week, and happened to stop in Winston-Salem on Saturday night on the way down. What a great stop. Downtown hotel under $100/night with an indoor pool. Walkable to lots of good food and other amenities.So good, we did exactly the same thing on the way back. I'd love an excuse to visit W-S again. Maybe we can get WS State in a 3-1 and play one down there if the Demon Deacons won't sign up.Plus all you folks that hate our marketing / broadcasting situation, but perhaps don't understand the revenue it's generating, can visit ISP in person. I think it's right behind the Marriott on 5th St.Great town.

Ok .. you guys are done with this topic in Hoops. At this point, it's devolved into name calling and hair pulling .. and for that, it's off to the "Off topic / Smack Forum" for all of you. Keep it up and it'll be locked.Go Zips!!!

Without looking it up to be certain, I'd bet that the Zips have more post season appearances, more post season victories and exactly the same number of NCAA tournament wins than Drake has over the last 5 years.Go Zips!

Drake had a great mid-major season in 2007-08.I'd rather have a great mid-major program than one great mid-major season. B) Go Zips!

You could always go into your controls and under "Board Options" choose to turn off the Personal Messenger.

Nice assessment .. good post.Go Zips!! B)

KD is also an example of someone hired with little or no search. DHip released one day, KD was hired within the next 3-4 days, if I remember correctly.

So why not quote the preceding paragraph, CK? They gave you a metric by which performance during his tenure can be measured: Not sure exactly what the "2008-2009 calendar year" is .. but I'll presume it's the recently completed academic year.

A breath of fresh air from GP1. Thanks for that.I agree in large part to the assessments above, and echo the comments regarding the academic end of things. Most of you know I'm a hoops fan first. Related to that, I think one of Mack's best contributions to the University Athletic Department is reminding it that it is a *UNIVERSITY* Athletic Department. In concert w/ KD's efforts, we no longer get the mid-season Christmas present that is having 2 of the players in the rotation disappear from the roster for a semester or worse.Perhaps the best thing Mack can be remembered for is installing a new order and priority related to things academic. We want our teams to be successful, we want our teams to win championships, and we want our teams to represent the community well. They can't do that if they aren't mindful of the academic responsibilities. Are things perfect? No .. are they better than 4 years ago? IMHO, without question.Second, I think that most of us will never know the details of some of Mack's other contributions. Namely the thawing of relations between City Hall and Buchtel Hall. It's not a blissful situation .. that can be said. But I think from the outside, it's clear that things are improving between The Don and Buchtel Hall. I have on good information that Mack and his team have worked hard to build community here .. and it's starting to pay off. These aren't items in the newspaper every day, but they're very real and they'll have a real impact in the future on the University and the City.Third, there will never be agreement on who deserves what percentage of credit for the INFO. What is certain is that under Mack's watch, the hole got dug .. the yard is nearly built. The project got done. It was a project when he arrived, we all know that. But Mack was hired to be a fund raiser .. that was his primary role coming in as AD. And he did that well. We don't know the numbers exactly .. never will .. but Mack and his team closed the deal and got the stadium underway, and it nears completion. He deserves our thanks for that.I was chatting with a fellow college hoops fan friend of mine the other day, and we spoke about this situation. He said (paraphrasing) .. "that a good AD needs to do the following to be successful: grow the money, grow the wins, grow the GPA, and build something." I think by any objective criteria, Mack did those things while @ UA.Ultimately, I firmly believe that Mack Rhoades was the right guy for UA when we got him. We needed some fund raising, political savvy and a rudder for the academic support of our student athletes. He ably provided all three. For that, I'm grateful. Do I wish he were staying longer, yes. But I can not and will not begrudge him for taking a position closer home to family, in an upstream conference, with a bigger budget and more security for his family. It's not an easy decision, but one I would make the same way as Mack every time. Finally, one thing I think I've learned from family, friends & mentors over the years: We can't do everything in life, all things we attempt aren't always successful. But we CAN make every effort to be a positive influence in any and all situations in which we find ourselves, and leave things better off than how we found them. In my opinion, Mack did that.Thank you Mack for your service and diligence to UA Athletics. Best of luck to you and your family in Houston. Hope to see you at an NCAA Hoops Regional sometime.Go Zips!!

All,I was attempting to prune some spam postings today when I inadvertantly deleted a bunch of topics. This was not intentional, none of them were offensive .. I simply clicked the wrong button.My apologies for this, as I know some of these topics were active. I think 5 or 6 had recent posts, among the 9 that were deleted accidentally.Hopefully some of it is repostable by those who posted. The "Campus News" topic was probably the biggest one lost. Unfortunately, I don't have any easy way to restore these items. Go Zips!!

The MAC will NEVER locate their tournaments in Columbus. It would be a disaster (come to think of it, the move does have MAC written all over it). The entire thing would get swallowed up in the media and with locals by Buckeye basketball or Buckeye football or Buckeye horticultural championships. There isn't a school within close enough proximity to Columbus that could anchor such an endeavor. You know what, the more I think about it, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the MAC does it.If I remember correctly, the MAC tourney has been in Columbus, at Batelle Hall, prior to its time @ the Seagate Center in Toledo.

Please get the freaking job and move on. This is a big distraction from what should be a very exciting time for those who care about UA athletics. If our AD wants to leave at this time, just go. Give me Hunter. Give me someone who wants to be here. I don't care.Why does UA have to be his steady paycheck while he shops his self around?Couldn't really disagree more.Go Zips!