Zip Watcher

From a size of the school perspective, they're similar. UConn isn't a huge school .. it's closer in size to a MAC school than a Big 10 school (Storrs). CT's a small state too. But being one of the few DI schools in the state .. there was little or NO interested in UC football before they made the jump. They weren't beating everyone in sight, and turning fans away at the ticket window. In a lot of ways .. the athletic departments were similar. Greer Fieldhouse wasn't much different from the JAR or Fitzgerald at Pitt. There's more parallels than one might think.Catching lightning with Lew Perkins (AD), Calhoun and Auriemma had more to do with the leap forward than did the setting.

The infusion of resources (cash) gained from a better conference bowl & TV situation can be a contributor to the rise. It won't solve all problems (see Duke, Indiana), but as a component of a broad well thought out plan for improvement, the resources gained from a move up can directly impact the competition on the field.Also, recruiting will immediately see an impact. The day our coaches are knocking on doors with a schedule including Pitt, WVU .. etc .. we're immediately in a world where JD is getting mostly 3 star recruits and some 4, rather than mostly 2, some three and the rare 4 star guy.I disagree with the notion that you need to be dominant on one level before moving to the next. I think you do have to have adequate facilities and support structures in place to make a move. This means academic support, training and game facilities, and the like. Hoops arena is an area where we fall a bit short. But we're already dealing with 85 FB players .. that doesn't change with a vertical move like this.Hoops is closer than many realize to being competitive on that level. And a change in conferences will only help the situation. Recruiting a guy like Zeke would be the norm, not the exception. There would probably be a 2 year wait for the move to take place, in which KD & JD would have 2 classes of recruits that could be BCS level. They wouldn't be starting from a standstill .. the process could be followed.This isn't English Premier League Foo(u)tball .. moving up is a decision based on strategy, planning and execution. We don't need to have 5 straight MAC titles in all sports to consider a move upstream in competition. Marshall dominated the MAC in football .. and due to several factors, they're a doormat in C-USA. So this isn't a sure fire thing either way. A dominant team is not guaranteed to perform well with an upgrade, and a doormat is not guaranteed to remain so. It's all in the leadership, commitment and execution.UConn is a good example here. Now the school is a state flagship, so I'm well aware of underlying institutional differences, but just for arguments sake: They were a doormat for the first 8-9 years of the Big East. A doormat. They catch lightning and hire a good coach in 86 or 87 .. make a miracle shot in 89 or 90 .. get a couple of big recruits in Marshall and Allen, and now they're one of the elite major hoops teams. But they WERE a doormat .. for a long time. Their football team recently transitioned from I-AA to I-A .. a transition that involves more than jumping between conferences. In the early 90's, they never even smelled the I-AA playoffs. They weren't Marshall or YSU rolling over the competition in the Yankee conference .. they were a mediocre I-AA team that couldn't draw flies to it's 15K seat bleacher stadium. That was true less than 10 years ago.Programs are not locked into their current situation by anything other than small minded thinking and "doing things the way we do them around here." Sometimes we need to look beyond the current situation and see the alternatives.Things can be made to happen. It takes vision, execution, and sometimes .. some balls to dream big and make the dream a reality.Go Zips! Go Mack! Go Trevor.

In the longest coaching search I can ever remember, DHip is apparently one of the finalists for the FAU head spot. Mike Jarvis is the other, and it's widely reported that Jarvis will get the job.Here's a YouTube clip of the General's endorsement of DHip for the FAU job:

Put me squarely in Ryno's camp on this one. Our current conference situation is not ideal.I'm surprised at the amount of "we have nothing to offer" posting here. At first, I thought about ignoring it, but I think it should be addressed:1. We're in a significant population area with a large TV market. From its conception, this has been a significant factor in all Big East expansions / membership decisions.2. Our facilities are approaching the levels of some BCS schools, let alone C-USA. The baskeball arena would stand as the only big deficit in this regard, but concepts are already floating on a solution to that problem.2a. The Big East HOSTS THEIR INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS on UA's campus, in a UA facility. NOW.3. We have teams that would compete for championships in year 1. Men's soccer could probably win any of these leagues.4. Men's hoops would be competitive right out of the gate.5. UA is a good sized school with Engineering and Law Colleges among the best in the nation. I did type that. Not a typo.Let's not concentrate on how bad the troughs look at the Rubber Bowl, and instead on the reality that is the U today.Aside from speculation about C-USA, my first thought when reading the first link was:I sure hope Mack is on the horn calling every AD in the Big East to explain the above. He doesn't need to sell them on UA over Memphis .. he's got to sell them on UA over ECU. I know nothing about ECU, but isn't that a fair fight?Go Zips! Go Trevor.

We do have a 6'-4" shooting guard coming in this season.

ATM, the 2009 class is full. --> Zeke MarshallI believe the speculation about Conyers was just that .. internet board speculation with no real information behind it. People assuming he would leave given his minutes late in the preceding season. If you saw him at the "celebration" or heard KD's comments, you'd believe he's in the plans. Good defenders his size don't grow on trees.Jimmy's on track to get his 4th year back at the moment, and that leaves us with 1 scholi for 2009.Assuming Jimmy has 2 to play:2009 openings: 1 - Nate Linhart's spot2010 openings: 2 - Jimmy & C. McKnight2011 openings: X - McNees, B. McKnight, Bardo, Roberts (same scenario as Jimmy)

They may need to consider opening up the whole top portion of the structure entirely.

Right, the LAST thing we need here is a repeat of the fiasco the last time we had a MBB coach with big plans and success. A sure fire way to lose KD would be to pull the rug out from him (eliminate the chance of automatic bids) in an effort to boost a struggling football program / budget.We did that once .. didn't work out that well.

That's an interesting concept that no one would have considered until recently. But now with so many bowl games out there, all you'd have to do is go one game over .500 and you'd probably go bowling every year .. and keep the coin to yourself. Clearly, the guidelines on scheduling would need to be abided by (limiting 1-AA teams). The challenge might be finding 12 games especially once conference season starts. It could be done though .. but you'll never be on TV.I think it was NIU that tried the independent route in the late 80's early 90's and it didn't go so well. But with so many bowls that there's a risk of needing waivers to have enough teams each year .. this might not be as insane as everyone's initial reaction may be .. interesting.Of course, this approach mandates that all other sports have a safe home in a conference (A10, MVC, Horizon?) .. but it could be considered.

Nothing directly .. only that I don't think he'll play 4 seasons in the MAC.

Hadn't yet heard that about 2010 .. I have to believe that Roberts will find his way to scholi sooner or later. He's a big time player in the making as he showed at FSU .. so it's hard to imagine he wouldn't get help at some point. 3 more years of him provided he stays on top of the books.

Zeke is the recipient of the Zips' lone scholarship for 2009. This will be Nate Linehart's spot.KD has 2 to give for 2010-11. The seniors in 09-10 will be Conyers & C. McKnight. It's expected that Jimmy will regain his 4th year of eligibility due to his academic progress.So they can start looking at HS sophomores this summer. They're way ahead in the recruiting game .. while most of the conference spent this April filling their 08-09 rosters with unsigned guys .. the Zips have secured a verbal from a top 100 player, 4 star guy .. and the #11 center. Huge recruiting spring. It has to help them move forward and upwards.

The great thing here is that Zeke knows where he's going to play and can get back to his life and moving forward. There's a long summer of AAU ball in front of him where he will play top flight competition, and then a senior season. He's got a lot of time to add some strength, grow 3 more inches, and polish his game.I think of 08-09 as his redshirt year. No need to worry about the recruiting angles .. he can start working towards the UA style of play, conditioning .. etc without being pulled in multiple directions.Go Zips.

Having seen the big fella play a few games, I can not tell the Nation how pleased I am to read Gaffney's article.This is really, really a big deal. A potentially program changing event.Great job KD & staff .. great job Jeff.Congrats to Zeke on navigating the recruiting process to a place where he feels comfortable.Praise be to God, Allah, Yaweh, Jehova & Jobu that Zeke is headed to UA.I feel like it's my birthday. This is tremendous.Go Zips! Go Zeke!

The conference missed the opportunity a few years back when they could have aggressively pursued WKY & MTSU. Get them both, and you're up to 14 teams, you bring in 2 schools who already have a healthy dislike of each other, and the footprint is kept stable.I suspect that Rhoades & Proenza will solve the conference's problem before Zeke Marshall's junior year w/ the Zips. I don't know any inside info .. just a hunch.Go Zips!

It's also an NCAA quiet period until early July. So there's no direct contact w/ Zeke by ANY schools until that time .. Boals being in the gym on 30 April probably was not a coincidence.So we wait and hope. Go Zips .. Go Zeke.

You're not God, Nickerson. You're just a typing teacher.

Ok .. just got back from the noon game .. and what a difference a night's rest makes.The Storm won game 2 by 8 or so after a tightly contested game the whole way. Coach Dixon from Pitt among several coaches in the room to watch the game.Zeke had a nice game: 16 points, 8 rebounds, 10 blocks .. despite sitting a bit in the second half due to foul trouble. I don't think he missed more than 3 shots, so I'd put him at 8-11 from the field. 1 or 2 of the misses needed to be just dunked home, but he touched them up and got bad bounces. He showed the little post move from last night a few times. Cleaned up the glass a little better today, and even showed a 17 foot jumper in the first half. Did not go to the line this afternoon.Good effort by the Storm .. the game could have gone either way. They played together, the threes were falling, and the big guy was affecting lots of shots in the lane. Good game.I'm not able to make games tonight and tomorrow .. so I'm hoping other folks will update us as to what happens at 2:40 today in order that we can give correct schedule information for the rest of the tournament.Go Zips .. Go Zeke .. Go Storm .. Go see them play!!

After the banquet (more on that later), I was able to convince the wife to stop over and see Zeke play. I saw all but the last 4 minutes ... and when I had to go, the game was still in doubt. I understand from posts above that they ultimately fell to the FLA team they were playing.Seemed like about a dozen UA folks scattered around, which was good. I'll admit that the Rec courts don't lend themselves too well to the casual fans .. there's just not much room around them.Compared to the 2 games I saw in the Solon Cage Classic, the Storm struggled a bit. The FLA team was bigger & quicker than either opponent at Solon. The game was tight early .. then got a little bit out of control, but in the second half, the Storm pulled back into it. I believe that had it down to 5 with the ball at one point, but it may have been 7 with the ball.Zeke changed a bunch of shots early .. and then had some foul trouble I think, because he sat for a bit in the first half. The second half, he stepped it up offensively. I think on 3 possessions out of 5 down the court in the second half, he actually got the ball on the block on offense. This was NOT a common occurrence last night .. I'm not really sure why. Regardless, on all 3 he demonstrated a nice back to the basket post move and dropped 7' shots into the hoop. This was part of the big run the Storm put on midway through the 2nd.I think he changed a bunch of shots .. lots more than went as official blocks. Probably not his best game .. but still very much a factor in things. The FLA team had a guy who just verballed to Louisville, as well as some weakside size, so the competition was pretty good.One comment about the Storm's game planning: they generally run the offense like a HS team unaware of a size advantage of the post. They don't generally use Zeke on screens to get him into open space, and they don't have a lot of success getting the ball to him when he's on the block one-on-one. I'm not sure if they're not looking for him or what ... in fact it seemed like they had him on the weak side a lot on offense .. so it's hard to tell what was going on there. The word of the day remains upside: He's BIG .. athletic, and long. These things can't be taught. Seems to me his timing on shot blocking is pretty good, and he's shown some good touch inside. The rest are things that will continue to improve. He just turned 17 recently, and has a year of HS ball left to play. The great thing here if the Zips can land him is that he's got lots of time to develop. They're not scrambling to fill open spots for the 08-09 roster here. This is planning for the FUTURE .. 09-10. This is a good thing.I'm heading down w/ the boy for the noon game today. Hope to see some of you there again.Go Zips .. Go Zeke .. Go Storm .. Go see them PLAY!!

Indeed.And don't forget to extend your evening a bit by heading over to the rec for a little AAU ball.See why HERE.Go Zips. B)

.. snips..Agreed on the need for some extended patience here. Hipsher & Owens got 9 years. Kest should have lots of rope. This however, I think is garbage. I'll drop the BS card on you here.It has less to do with smarts, and everything to do with effort, motivation and efficient use of your time. There's required aptitude for nursing, sure .. but it's not mutually exclusive with talent on the basketball court. You sell today's students way short to have this opinion, especially as it pertains to a sport where the "next level" aka playing professionally is not a likely possibility.One of the great things about UA and the conference in which it currently resides is the recognition that it is the UNIVERSITY of Akron, and that the athletes are STUDENT athletes. To have some idea that we're going to have a varsity sport and bring in students just to do time, play the sport and walk away with a more easily obtained degree in {put your opinion here} is foolish. My experience tutoring and TA'ng classes at a BCS school with high level athletes studying engineering successfully tells me your argument / suggestion doesn't hold water.Go Zips.

RISE UP Zips Fans!The week has arrived where we'll all learn how much the Rowdies and fans really want the Zips to take the next step. We talk about it .. some act on it .. and here's your chance to support a {potential} Zips player on his {potential} future campus. Chances to show support like this don't come along all the time. It's up to us to take this one.Thanks to King James and his tournament, the best HS ballplayers in the country will descend on NE OH this weekend for the King James Shooting Stars Classic. Games begin Friday and continue through the championships on Saturday.Among the top players coming to Akron is Zeke Marshall, #61 on this list of 2009 seniors. Zeke is seriously considering joining the Zips program, and has multiple BCS level offers (Pitt, UVa, Va Tech). He was recently elevated to a 4 star prospect by Scout, and held his own against other similarly rated players last weekend at the Pitt Jam Fest.This weekend is your 2nd chance locally to support Zeke and the Pittsburgh Storm. Go catch some fine AAU hoops and cheer on the block party that is Zeke Marshall. The website of the Tournament is located HERE. The Storm are team #2 in the M Pool, competing in the OPEN division of 17U.Based on currently posted schedules, the Storm plays Friday at 8:40PM at UA Rec Court #1.They are then scheduled to play Saturday @ Noon at UA Rec Court #3.The full 17U pool play schedule and brackets are found HERE.After the first 2 games listed above, bracket play then begins, and is laid out on the schedule page. The Storm is in Pool M, and the 1st and 2nd place teams go to the Diamond Bracket #2 (page 10), the 3rd place goes to the Ruby Bracket (page 11). Please check the tournament pages for final schedules, as everything is subject to change. I'm not certain how current the homepage will be kept.Some other thoughts: The men's basketball banquet is Friday night. It's listed as from 6-8 or so. Go to both .. get your $15 and go to Quaker Square and celebrate the 2007-08 Zips. Then head over to the Rec to see the center of the defense in 2009-10. Let's make them wish the Storm's game was at the JAR or Memorial.We need to remember that KD & co. (Boals) are recruiting this player. Not us. We're simply going to support an AAU team in their biggest tournament to date.No initiating direct contact with the player or his family is permissible. Pleasantries only if you find yourself face to face with them.As always, if we conduct ourselves appropriately, it will reflect well on UA and the Program. Let's remind them all what Zips fans are all about.Here's your chance Rowdies .. it's on YOUR campus. Roll to the Rec early before heading over to give plasma and buy that new bong at the Odd Corner.If the coaches can land this player .. it's a program elevating event. Be there to see this talent for yourself, in case you really need convincing as to how far this Program has come under KD's watch. While the rest of the conference is still working to fill their scholarships for 08-09, the Zips staff is working to close the deal on a top 11 center for 09-10.Every college coach in the country ought to be in town this weekend. Funny they'll come for this, but they don't dare bring their own teams to play. Whatever.I encourage you to make it out if you're in the area. AAU hoops are HIGH quality at this level .. you won't be disappointed.Please continue to be mindful of contact guidelines regarding any potential player / family. Let's represent the Rowdies and UA well .. and support the Storm.Go Storm .. Go Zips .. Go Zeke .. GO SEE THEM PLAY B)

Ok,I did a little reconnoitering over at the Pitt boards at Scout, and here's what I found about last night's Pitt Storm game @ The Pitt Jam Fest. If you look around Pitt's board a bit, you'll find that many of their posters are skeptical as to whether or not Zeke merits a BE level scholi.- They apparently lost to National Christian Academy. According to pittfan3411 in this topic, Zeke got the better of some guy name Dante Taylor. I looked him up and he's number 27 on this list of 100 guys. So that's an interesting observation to read.- This thread also merits some monitoring as it's specifically about Zeke at the Pitt Jam Fest. Hopefully there will be more.If at least 1 guy thinks that Zeke hung tough with a guy who has offers like Taylor .. it seems to me he belongs out there with anyone in his class. Fortunately, no coaches were able to see that game. Today opens up scouting for coaches. They CAN go to the games and scout, but are still prohibited contact. My understanding is that Jamie Dixon can speak with Zeke after his last game, since he'll be on Dixon's campus .. but all others are prohibited from speaking to him (this may not be 100% accurate). I think 2 Zips coaches are headed to Pitt for today's games.Next weekend can't get here fast enough for me. Zeke will be in town again .. and after his last game, the Zips staff will have the chance to sit down and have some face time with him. It's a great thing to have one of the MONSTER AAU tourney's on campus .. kindof like an extra official visit, if I understand the rules correctly.Still would like to hear the comments of any UA fans that may have gone to the game.Go Storm!Go get 'em Boals!Go Zips! B)

Roll Call!!Anyone going to this event? B)

Brian Wood was one member of one of the best backcourts in Zips history. In 2001-02 he started the MAC quarterfinal game at the Q against Bowling Green. At the time, that was the farthest any Zips team had advanced in the MAC tournament. His backcourt mate was an unheralded local kid from Benedictine named Rashon Brown.