Quickzips

SOS isn't the main focus of the selection committee. RPI is a much bigger part of it. Had Miami won more of their OOC games and had a better conference season than they did I assure you they would have been in contention for an at-large birth. Your conference schedule is something that you can't really control. You can control your OOC schedule. Who you schedule and how well you play against your OOC schedule can go a long way in March when selection time rolls around.

That right there is the key. The problem right now is that the way we are scheduling we leave ourselves with one chance to get to the NCAA every year. It's win the MACC or hope for an NIT bid. If we boost our scheduling up to the point where we can get ourselves in the conversation for an at-large bid we don't have to leave everything up to the tournament. We've all seen how fickle the MAC tournament can be. Heck, this years team that won the tournament was on it's death bed against lowly Toledo until a miraculous series of events in the last minutes of the game. I don't think we have to schedule a murderers row of teams like Miami does, but our current scheduling doesn't impress anyone and we really are left with only one shot at the NCAA.

Some action back by the scoreboard right now.

So the great GP1 would be impressed with a 20 win season even if we only played against NAIA teams???

The problem with teams like UIC, Valpo., Niagra and Austin Peay isn't that they are bad teams for their conference. It's just that they won't impress anyone on a selection committee. When you get to selection time start looking at what the pundits consider to be a bubble teams "good wins" and "bad losses" I will guarantee you you will never see any of those teams listed as a "good win" but you may see them listed as a "bad loss" I'm not saying you can't schedule teams like this, but you should fill out your schedule with them in addition to a nice rotation of challenging teams that will really look good on a tournament resume. Our schedule is based almost entirely on these types of teams and it is why we will still have no chance of an at-large birth once again this season.

I'm sorry but this is just total bull. The MAC hasn't gotten an at-large bid in a long time so...we just stop trying? Settle for trying to get the auto-bid and hope that if we don't we've won enough games against I-AA cupcakes to get ourselves into an NIT tournament that noone cares about? I don't always agree with Miami's scheduling. I don't think you HAVE to play a gauntlet of teams like Duke, UCLA, Kansas, Louisville, etc., etc. to get at-large consideration. But you give yourself ZERO chance when you play a cream filled schedule of UIC, Valpo., Malone, Niagra and Austin Peay. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don't try, you can't fail.

I understand that a home/home with Rhode Island is probably better than a buy game with Xavier, but what would be even better is a home/home with Rhode Island AND a buy game from Xavier. I just don't understand why we continue to open ourselves up to getting raped by the selection committees just to try and sign home/home or 2/1 contracts. I'm pretty disappointed with Dambrot on this one.

Difference is Rhode Island is a home/home, and Cant's game with Xavier is a buy-game at Xavier. I think if we wanted a buy-game @Xavier we could have gotten one. Still hoping Dayton is on the schedule even though I believe they decided not to extend the series.I don't quite get this. Why wouldn't we take a buy-game from Xavier? They are a program that is nationally recognized, has made some deep tournament runs, they've been in the top-25 quite a bit, and they are close by. You think we signed a home/home or a 2/1 with Texas A&M? I have a hard time believing we will ever see them at the JAR. Is Texas A&M really that much better an opponenet than Xavier? Yeah, they are in the BCS/Big 12 and they are a pretty good team in their conference with some history of hoops success but are they really that far ahead of Xavier?

I think most fans feel like they already do more than the marketing dept, so telling a ZN fan to do something more is naturally going to make them mad that they're the ones trying and not the marketing department. If you can't market this beautiful new stadium, you need to get out of the business. I don't think anybody should post free ideas for Hunter. If he wants to hire one of us, so be it. But I would bet dollars to donuts that somebody that gets interviewed this month has a good marketing plan. Rasor had a telling poll posted.Read Hunter's marketing plan. Anybody impressed?Bingo! We have a winner. This isn't my job to market this stadium. I'm going to do what I can do with telling friends, family and co-workers about Akron Athletics the same as I always have. It's the Marketing Department's JOB. Read that JOB! to market the Athletic Department and the new stadium. So far they have been vastly underwhelming.

Um, No, the marketing department gets paid to market athletics. They should be held at a much higher standard.Um, yes they do get paid (and some are just grad assistants that get paid very little) and they have a very small budget to work with, so how "out of the box" can a small budgeted group of 10 actually be?My point was, if you as a fan, student, and alumnus aren't promoting the team and the experience then you're no better then the Ohio.com haters. You'll complain about the situation but you won't do anything to help."But it's not our responsibility G-Mann"I'm afraid that it is my friends.I don't think there is one person who posts regularly on Zipsnation that doesn't try like hell to "promote the team and the experience." Quite frankly I find it insulting that you are implying that we don't. This thread is about the MARKETING DEPARTMENT and what THEY need to be doing to promote the stadium. Word of mouth advertising can only be so effective. The MARKETING DEPARTMENT has to step in and fill the void by coming up with creative ways to get people into the stadium and support the team.

The key games for this years Zips are obviously A&M, NC State and to a lesser extent Drake, Rhode Island, Niagra and Wyoming. We absolutely have to get 1 win from the A&M and NC State games in order to garner any kind of credibility w/ the tournament committee. We also can't afford more than 1 loss to Drake, Rhode Island, Niagra or Wyoming. Losses to any of the teams on the remaining schedule will automatically be looked at as "bad losses" and must be avoided at all costs. I don't like having to count on the bracketbuster to "save" our schedule. We've gotten some nice matchups in VCU and particularly the Fazekas lead Nevada teams, but we've also gotten some real clunkers recently in Austin Peay and Valpo.

You misunderstand my point. I in fact do partake in most of those activities. I've tried to get friends and co-workers to games whenever I can. I've talked up the new stadium and how nice it is going to be. The problem is there are only so many die hard Zips fans that can and will go out and do this. It's on the marketing department to step it up and do their job. Word of mouth (essentially what you are arguing) can only take you so far.

I'm honestly not that sure that this schedule is even any better than last years.09 08A&M<PittWyoming<WinthropDrake<VCURhode Island=Rhode IslandSt. Francis=St. FrancisNiagra=NiagraPine Bluff=NC A&TMalone=UrbanaGreensboro=GreensboroAustin Peay=EKUHoward=Fairleigh DickinsonUIC>YSUNC State>DaytonYou look at that. Only the NC State and UIC games can really be considered upgrades. I could even make the argument that NC State is equal to or a downgrade from Dayton. A&M isn't far behind Pitt, but Pitt is still a better program. Winthrop has had more success than about every other team on this years schedule outside of A&M and maybe Drake recently. Same for VCU. Rhode Island, St. Francis, Niagra and Greensboro are all holdovers. For tournament purposes Pine Bluff, NC A&T, Malone, Urbana, Howard and Fairleigh Dickinson might as well all be the same team. Austin Peay and EKU are about in the same place at this point as well. I really am not impressed with this schedule. We just won the MAC. We've got a top 50 7' C coming on campus. Plenty of returning talent. It's time to step it up scheduling wise.

You're spot on that most students don't even know about this. I've told other students about games and taken a few to games in past years that had no idea that all they had to do was flush their Zipcard and walk through the gate. I have to say, I'm absolutely underwhelmed by the marketing job they are doing with this stadium. I'm actually wondering if people in this community are even going to know about the thing when it is done. I guess the real question is, "if Akron builds a new stadium, and noone knows about it, is it really new?"

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/in...chedule_wh.htmlAccording to the PD our OOC games include the Glen Wilkes Classic teams already mentioned plus:Arkansas Pine-BluffNiagraTexas A&MMaloneNorth Carolina GreensboroSt. FrancisValparaiso (Bracketbuster return game)Austin PeayWyoming Rhode IslandI can't say it is a huge upgrade over past schedules. A&M is a nice addition, but they are far from an elite Big 12 team. Pretty much every one of those games is winnable for us. Rhode Island is a pretty good A-10 team, but not on the same level as a Xavier which Can't has apparently been able to schedule. Wyoming is a mid-level MWC team. Not a bad challenge, but not great. I think we are all pretty familiar w/ Austin Peay, Valpo., St. Francis and Niagra from past yearse. Pine-Bluff, Malone, Greensboro should be easy rolls. I have to say, I'm still kind of disappointed in the scheduling. It's a slight upgrade from past years, but still not quite enough. Certainly not enough to get us an at-large bid unless we practically win out.

Maybe LBJ can get Shaq to come down and tutor Zeke? They are far from the same type of C, but you have to believe that any C could learn a lot from the Big Diesel.

Have to like this tournament better than last years Legends Classic. The Legends Classic basically had Pitt as a draw and not much else. This deal has a pretty decent NC State team, a good high mid-major in Drake, an SEC team (albeit not a very good one) in Auburn, and some nice mid-majors in Niagra, UCF, Austin Peay and IUPUI. A far cry from the Urbanas, EKUs and Fairleigh Dickinsons of the Legends Classic. Now we need to combine this with a well rounded OOC schedule and maybe give ourselves a shot at some at large consideration next season.

I don't see how him moving the camp to NY would be any worse for THE ZIPS than moving the camp to San Diego is. Now if you are approaching this from the perspective of a Cavs fan...

Sorry, but I just can't get too interested in the scheduling of a game that won't be played by pretty much all of the players on our current roster. Not to mention the fact that in this day in age with college football future schedules rarely come out looking the same once that season actually rolls around.

I can't see how anyone can argue that this is a good sign for the Zips. Contrary to some of the delusional beliefs on here, Zips Hoops can't yet stand on their own. We've made one tourney appearance in this new era. ONE. And we got knocked out in the first round. Granted in a relatively competitive game, but knocked out none the less. Now I know we've got Zeke coming in, and there is a lot of optimism for this program right now, but now is not the time that we can safely wave goodbye to the LeBron connection. There is still a long way to go before Zips Hoops can "stand on their own." When we are getting 4 and 5 star recruits into the program on thier own, winning the MACC every year and making deep tournament runs then we can talk about whether or not we still "need" LeBron. Even then, it can't hurt to have him around. Make no mistake about it, this is most definitley NOT a positive thing for the Zips. The sky isn't falling, but there are a few clouds in it now.

I hate to be a jerk, but screw off. The Zips have just as much chance to compete in the big dance as Davidson, George Mason, Gonzaga, Can't State, Xavier or any number of teams that have made big runs in the dance. This kind of defeatist attitude isn't needed around Zipsnation.

http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/47770742.htmlAgain, have fun in Houston Mack. Now who do we replace him with?

If it's true, best of luck to Mack, but don't let the doorknob sting your behind too much on the way out the door. The Zips will move on without you. Enjoy Houston.

Just as a little note, this puts a big obstacle in the way of Daryl Roberts getting a scholarship for his senior year. At this point we have 2 graduates next year, Chris McKnight and Jimmy Conyers. We now have verbals from Michael Green and Josh Egner to take up those two scholarships. Unless someone transfers out (which is always a possibility looking at our youth and our depth chart) there won't be a scholarship open for Daryl.Our 2010-11 roster as of right now (listed alphabetically by position)PG's: Hitchens, Steward, SullivanSG's: McClanahan, McNees, Peterson, RobertsSF's: Egner, Green, Brett McKnightPF's: Cvetinovic, ParrishC's: Bardo, Marshall, SwiechLooking at that it really makes a lot more sense to me why we've gone after guys like Green and Egner. When you look at what we have available at SF and even PF we are pretty thin after this year. From what I understand both of these guys are more combo-forwards. We know we've got two players in B.McK and Nik, but beyond that Parrish is still an unknown and we have NO depth at either forward spot. One or both of these guys will have to come in and play significant minutes right from the getgo.