Zip Watcher

I might have to make the trip for that .. it's been awhile since I've been on campus (UConn grad) .. mmm .. Willington Pizza ... Ted's grinders .. oh wait .. the stadium is 30 minutes from campus. Yes 30 minutes! I do hear it's nice though.Side note: When I was but a learner @ UConn in the early 90's football was an afterthought. Once a year we would go tailgate ourselves sick before the Yale game, but few if any students ever saw the team in uniform. In fact during a budget crunch year, the student rag did an informal poll of how to save money (memory tells me that they were considering killing Allied Health majors (OT & PT)). The predominate majority of students queried agreed that they should kill football.It was, is and ever shall be a hoops school & state. I'm amazed by the gate success they've had since going I-A.

My grade thus far is I - Incomplete.This is a process & I attribute the two losses on the road to that process. KD has to figure out who can play & where & in what combinations. UALR was the first game out .. UIC a month later & Keith is still tinkering.My observations thus far:- Best Zips roster I have seen (been watching since Jakubick), maybe ever. KD has 9 guys he can run out there without anyone muttering "oh no .. here we go with this scrub" ... team goes 9 deep with legit DI players. First time ever for that. Worked for Waters @ Can't State .. hope the same for us.- I think even the walkons don't ellicit a groan or hands over the eyes from me. We don't need them for extended minutes, but I haven't had any problems with the use of Goddard, Sallee & Carroll to date. Sowers never embarassed himself in the past either .. these are the walkons, but it reflects the overall status of the team.- Buy in by the players into KD's defense-first team approach has been good also. Only a few bumps to iron out here, but the YSU game showed that those issues are disappearing on the court. So long as the buy-in continues .. this team will continue to get better.- I think our SF position may well be the best in the conference by the time the season's over. [YSU Line: 40 min, 24pts, 8rbs, 4asts, 3PF]. I feel that opinions that last year's recruiting class was a bust are totally misinformed. Nate & Jimmy are just about using all 40 minutes between them & there's no drop off from one to the other. They do different things, but they both defend well. A real strength on this team. Jimmy's on the rise & even KD talked about finding a way to play both guys. I have a dream of seeing Jimmy @ the 2 next year .. matchup nightmare for most conference foes.- Zips appear to have turned the corner on quickness. I think the Can't State game will be a good gauge of this. Usually the past few years, we've been unable to even consider guarding them man-to-man due to the quickness difference. This year so far, I don't recall seeing any zone from KD. Even in the Nevada game, we went man against a top 25 and it was pretty effective. It was Fox of Nevada that had to go zone to protect Fazekas from J. Wood. We didn't get beat by quickness at any position other than possibly the point. Kemp (the SF) was a non factor. The bonus here is that there isn't too much thinking required on the D side .. gotta keep track of switches & help, but the guys can now get down to just shutting down their guy .. that makes the team D better.- The size factor will win some games this year just on a numbers basis. We don't have any 6-10 guys. We also don't need them. What we DO have is 4 good players that play about 6-7 / 6-8 to split 2 positions (80 minutes). You could see it in the faces of the guys from Nevada, Loyola & YSU that they were busting their asses to defend and play against Milum & Wood, only to have a fresh Travis & McKnight come off the bench (put them in any combo you like .. mix & match). It clearly wore on the opponents in the 2nd half. Add in the SF being the same way and our whole front court, from a numbers perspective is pretty deep. Foul trouble by one guy up front isn't going to cost this team any games. That's what I got for now. I think the Zips look pretty strong & will only get stronger. Continuing to play DISCLIPLINED, TEAM DEFENSE will keep this team in every game. There isn't a game on the schedule the Zips can't win if they defend and play together. These are strengths of the Zips .. I'm not sure the same can be said for the other MAC East contenders .. purely speculation on my part .. but we'll see in the next 2 weeks.I really recommend that folks get buckled in for a nice ride w/ KD. I look at the roster & the play on the court & consider the talent that is signed .. and it's hard for me not to think down the road a bit. I believe this team will be the best DI Akron team ever .. until next year's club. KD's got some work to do in order to merit a Wyatt Webb comparison as far as overall success .. but the Huggins era will be an afterthought pretty soon.Ciao. Go Zips.

And I would say that beating Nevada on Friday would have had as big an impact on the hoops program as beating NIU did on the football. The exposure & status garnered from knocking off a 10-1 ranked team would pay HUGE dividends for KD's club.I think that our difference of opinion lies there .. I think the games had similar importance, whereas others do not.Ultimately, I probably think like KD .. the MAC championship will be nice & we need to get one done soon .. but in the long run, that will be an afterthought, and just another game on the schedule in March to tune up for tourney time. Gotta get there first though.

I understand what you're saying. I really do & I don't disagree about the market stuff & that winning will bring the bandwagon.My example was not of the MCB attendence, it was of the MACC game. Everyone & their brother, you me & CK included beat the ground to get folks to that game, at which time JD hadn't won any big games.Were we whining? Had the Zips done anything to "earn" the support?I don't think so .. and I don't think KD is whining now.He's merely trying to drum up support in any way he can .. much like you, CK, GP1, UAM and everyone one else did for the gridiron guys leading up to the MACC game last season.Ciao.

With all apologies to the Padre & CK himself, I have to say I come down squarely on the side of KD on this attendence debate. I don't see it as whining, unrealistic, or anything remotely close. He's asking for help in elevating the program. This program elevation requires many things to happen, and only so many are controlled by the coaching staff. There comes a time that the fans have to do their part .. and that time is now, was Friday night, and will be again every game this season.To best illustrate my disagreement here, I'll use football as an example. How many marquee games had the Football Zips won as of Thanksgiving, 2005?My answer: ZERO.A quick search here will find our friend UAM's posts exhorting fans to make a good showing in Detroit for the championship game. UA paid the transport for many. We posted to get people there, the AD posted to get people there .. we all took as many people as possible to that game .. and to the point, JD & the Zips hadn't won jack squat, by the measuring stick being used here w/ the hoops team.Yet, that wasn't whining or unrealistic expectations or requests from the community. We all understood the importance of a good showing attendence wise, both for pure support of our Zips and for the prospects of a bowl game in case we had lost the MACC. We brought out a big crowd to urge on a team that had won NOTHING as of yet. The rest is history.Now, since the ABJ is what it is, and I don't have the time to find another archived article, I'm going to use some recollection here, but I'm sure several posters will recall this:In the days following the Zips' win over NIU @ Ford Field, several articles appeared in both the ABJ & PD as well as the Detroit papers. One of the CLEAR things that came across in those articles was the players & JD mentioning how inspiring & uplifiting it was to come out of the tunnels @ Ford field and see a crowd dominated by the Blue & Gold clad Zips Nation. That was real .. it helped in some small way & the players & coaches noticed .. and all those Zips fans (most of us included) were there to root on a team that had "no marquee wins".If the Zips Nation can pull it together to have 8k in the blizzard on Thanksgiving & take 7 or 8k to Detroit on a weeknight .. all for a team with no marquee wins .. then I think the Zips Nation should be able to fill the JAR on a Friday night for a team with a post season victory and a 21 game home winning streak. I do see a double standard in the expectations here regarding the hoops team.I frankly believe that Keith should continue to make the pitch to everyone listening on the radio to get down and support the team. Fans won't make or break every game, but I guarantee that if the JAR were a jammed bandbox night in and night out .. we wouldn't see many lapses in intensity by the Zips themselves.The fans and community do need to bear some responsibility for the program elevation that IS underway .. and if we do our part, I think then we can take even greater joy & pleasure from the results that come... my $.02Happy Holidays

Find a bar that has a dish or gets the ESPN College Basketball game plan & watch it live on TV!

Wasn't UT undefeated & ranked in one of the polls (maybe coaches only?) when the Zips beat them at the JAR circa 98 or 99? I remember that UT came in something like 17-0. Ball got in foul trouble & Felton came off the bench to drain a few huge 3's to help the Zips stay in it. Maybe they lost that game? Anyone recall?

If there are motivated Rowdies who want to set up and administer a site, like www.ak-rowdies.org or something like that, the Nation has more than enough hosting space to accommodate them .. we could work something out.

Our local coverage is this: Everyone should get their a$$es down to the JAR.

We tend to congregate @ Rockne's on Market & Merrimen near Tangiers and then drive over. Probably be down there around 5 or 5:30.

Don't have a lot of time, but I'll offer the following:- This is the best & deepest roster I've seen since at least 1990, maybe further back.- I don't feel we have a size disadvantage. 7" sticks (see: Vandermeer, Weinkein, etc) are not more desireable to me than thick 6-7 6-8 types, of which we now have 3, with a 4th one redshirting. You add in Sweich next season, and at least in conference, teams will struggle to matchup with the Zips inside. I don't understand the hullabaloo regarding size.- KD's got 8 to 9 guys he can count on with little drop off. The season is still early & the SF situation will work itself out.- Can't imagine why people think last year's freshman class is such a bust. You've got 2 guys who are already trading minutes at the 3, and a spot shooter. They're freaking sophomores contributing on a 6-2 Zips team, coming off a year that was 23-10. Yeah .. those guys suck. - Looking at this year's freshman .. McKnight looks great .. maybe the best big guy upon arrival that I can remember. Every other time we brought in a big guy, they either had the walksies, couldn't catch the ball (stone hands), or were terribly foul prone due to slow feet. Not so w/ Chris. Impossible to say anything about Bardo & McNees.To illustrate a point, I want you to think about which guys on this roster you don't think belong on a Zips team when compared to those of the past. Think hard about who you'd trade for former players, let's keep it in the past 10 years .. too hard for some folks to remember the Huggins teams. After that, think about how deep a team this is and compare it to others .. even last seasons (most successful UA D1 team in history) roster.Now take a look at the following box score:From BGSUFalcons.Com since GoZips.Com blows goats!That's the box score for the first game UA ever played in the Gund @ the MAC tourney, 2002. Great game, down to the wire, sunk by McLeod's clutch jumper.How many guys on the 2002 Zips roster would you take and REPLACE a current guy with? I mean a current scholarship player .. walkons don't count. I count 2 or 3 total. Outside shot at 4.Now consider today's roster & think about how many of these guys could replace scholarship players on the 2002 roster. Again, no walkons.I count a whole lot more.Even look at BG's roster .. who would you take? Certainly McLeod, Matela & maybe Almanson .. but was Netter better than Rome, Wood or McKnight? I don't think so.I think KD's doing a great job recruiting this team to be bigger (at all positions), stronger & faster .. one of these days, the switch will get flipped back to strictly man-to-man defense. Jimmy's a big part of that required athleticism. Steward, Swiech & McKnight will add to it. Recruiting has been great as far as I'm concerned. Our expectations are rising with the level of the talent we have now, but there's no question in my mind that the talent level is up dramatically.As for X's & O's .. I think that's where the jury might be out. The Zips haven't shown a lot of diversity in what gets called late in games .. they may be getting predictable.Whining and negativity suck ass in my book.Go Zips!

Check the Recruiting forum.

What he said. Jimmy will be fine.

This thing is building up now .. not peaking or leveling off. I'm going to be very happy to have projections next year term it a "rebuilding" year with Joyce & Travis graduated. I think folks are in for a big surprise in the next 2-4 years.I fully expect that we'll be looking at having a 6-5 off guard in a normal 2 guard set either next year or the year after. That with a couple of 6-9's and a 6-6/6-7 swing man .. and so long as they can defend the positions, there's matchup problems for the league. Western had this type of roster for a couple of years .. won a MAC with it.

I have no photos, nor do I have time to search for them, but if you're inclined, do a google on Harvard Stadium. A few weeks back when I was pissed to find the Purdue - IU game on ESPNC was blacked out, I found the Harvard - Yale game on HDNet in full HD glory. It was a good game .. but the stadium looks cool as hell & I think would make a great model for a modern adaptation.It's something like 104 years old now, but it's a simple bowl, with columns along the top. The seats are right on top of the field, there's not much empty space around the field. Fits somewhere in the neighboorhood of 30K. You could take the style & bury it halfway in the ground. Drop a pressbox on one side & then ring the thing with loges / suites either when it's built or later on. The structure could be laid to easily accommodate a second deck if it's ever needed, but it doesn't need to look like there's something missing.I know this isn't the way things will go, but it seems cool to me.Ok, found a picture .. If you find an aerial view, you'll see that the field is at ground level (outside), I think it might be cheaper to split the difference & sink it 20 feet or so. I would also make it just big enough to shoe-horn a soccer pitch in there .. just in case it's something that could be used for Porter's club down the road. No sense in not giving a bit of consideration to that on the front end. Won't cost anything. Here you go:

Rumor has it they passed out new shirts.Please tell me they're not "YELLOW" ... Aren't the colors blue and gold these days?What's with the yellow?

The same could be seen of Carlton Jackson @ Purdue last season.

Now you're making too much sense. Dr. Z will soon be suspended.For a few more weeks, still ...

Until he graduates in 4 years .. wouldn't he get a year back like Kiki?

Hey Bobby!Good to see you back. Folks were wondering if you were injured in a tailgating accident @ Can't a few weeks back.You wrote: Before you go, I'll restate what's been said before for clarification purposes .. not only for you, but all the Suckeyes haters out there:This site will allow ALL THE SUCKEYE HATING you want. But it simply goes in the SMACK forum. Most of us are happy to pound on Cowlumbus State, but it doesn't need to be in every thread.I for one hope you stick around .. you've helped bring students here. We don't have many rules or an AUP at this point, just looking to keep sports talk with sports talk & smack with smack.Go Zips!

My prediction of the week: If UA wins 7, they're going bowling. Just go 5-2 the rest of the way & there will be a bowl game.If past years are any indication, it's quite possible there won't be enough bowl eligible teams (7 wins in a 12 game season) to fill the 64 bowl slots. In '04 when MSU got jobbed @ Hawaii, the Zips were the only team left out of a 58 team bowl slate. Good chance this year that any and all 7 win teams are bowling.

Given that the Northwestern reference applies to last years Big 11 Frosh of the year .. rotting on the bench seems a bit of a reach. The Wildcats went 2-3 against the teams you listed last year, with Sutton providing much of the scoring. I hear your argument & understand it. But Sutton @ NW doesn't fall even near your points. The guy's a legit Big 10 RB.

Zips win looking better and better as the season goes. Now JD & the boys need to right the ship and show they didn't peak in week 2.Go Zips!

Didn't he dig the hole?

Been meaning to post some notes on the Hoops golf outing at Raintree, but have been OTR & hadn't gotten to it. Nothing earth shattering, but here goes:- About 100 golfers attended the event. An unofficial report had the number of former players @ 26 of those 100.- Former players in attendance, that I saw & recognized included: Bosley, Andrick, Byron Thompson, Rashon Brown (I think), Andy Norman, Joe Jakubick, Carl Schwartzinger (sp?), Russel Holmes, McFadden, Jawanza Moore .. I'm sure there were many others. Sat at dinner with one from the late 70's, but never got the name. Super nice guy.- Former hoops player in attendance that wasn't a Zip: Larry Nance.- All coaches & many AD staff around and quite accessible during the event, both before and after the golfing, during dinner. Coaches visited our foursome on more than one occassion & had the change to chat briefly with KD & Hunter. Nice folks all around. Every time I see him, I'm more and more convinced that this IS KD's dream job. I don't think he goes anywhere .. barring a total withdrawal of support by the U, the community or both.- Raintree in nice condition for the event .. much nicer than I anticipated to be honest.- Meal was probably the best food I've ever gotten at a golf outing. Nice side of beef @ 1PM. I lingered awhile, but I think I was out of there around 2:15 or so.- ZW's group was -7 through 11 holes, and then the wheels fell off and we scrambled for 7 straight pars to finish the round. One member now struggling with a sore back from carrying my sorry ass. I believe that 58 (-14) won the event.- Prizes weren't why I was attracted to the event, but they appeared sufficient. The 2006/07 signed ball would have been nice for the office bookshelf, but no luck with that.- Long drive markers and closest to the pin markers were labeled "Akron U" when we arrived at them on those holes .. upon our departure, I think all were relabeled "University of Akron." A little pet peeve of mine & I never attended the U. Go figure.- Steward was in town on his official visit that day / weekend, so there was a buzz about the impending commitment. No current player contact @ the outing. Not sure if it's an NCAA rule, but probably a good idea.- KD spoke for about 5-10 minutes during the dinner. Spoke about continuing to move upstream, and establishing the program long term. Emphasized the need to be bringing in great HS players (I infer that means we won't be seeing too many JUCO's under KD's watch) to be here for some time and grow and perpetuate what the program's about. Talked about getting bigger and more athletic at every position .. not just the need for some big post players .. getting bigger @ the guard & SF positions. - It's clear this guy's target doesn't lie in winning the conference every year. That's a low point below his targets. I like the style & motivation .. and think he's right in aiming so.- Keith also hammered home GP1's constant point. A lot of the success of a program has to do with the fans .. getting support from the community .. filling the building .. supporting extra events that benefit the kids .. etc. It's not just KD / JD / CP / JK and their staffs .. the fans & community need to step it up.A nice event .. I'm looking forward to making it an annual thing. Hope you'll consider it too.Go Zips.