GoZips

Let's be brutally honest here. The National Champion Mount Union Purple Raiders would get destroyed by a 3-9 Division 1-A team. Take nothing away from Mount Union; its all about the talent level. Its measured in speed, size, quicks, smarts, and a dozen intangibles. Then again, its always fun to dream.

Nonsense

Sounds like a more than a fair assessment. An odd thing is that Huggins and Faust liked each other. I don't think either blames the other for any of the missteps the university took. Some one posted that the J.A.R. was built prior to Huggins arrival. This is correct. I attended the first men's game played in the J.A.R. and Bob Ruppurt was the head coach at that time. And, Dr. Bill Muse was the university president at the time.

Since I am and have been a personal friend of coach Huggins all these years I think I can reveal the truth. Which, if you do not believe me, verify what I am writing with coach Peters who is also a friend of mine and of coach Huggins. There were several factors in Hug's decision to leave for Cincinnati. While Bob was not pleased with the construction structural issues of the J.A.R. I seriously doubt that those issues had anything at all with his decision. Nor did his relationship with Gerry Faust and then AD Jim Dennison. Hugs did not like all the money being spent on football. He believed that he could build a top echelon basketball program at Akron. Which conference was not important. But, being in a conference was. The university made an abortive attempt to join the Northeast conference to placate Huggins. When he left the university they withdrew and forfeited their application fee ($40,000, I believe). Huggins held the opinion that he could take the Zips to the Final Four. A lot of people, myself included, believed that he could do just that. Huggins offered to STAY as Akron's head coach if the University would match Cincinnati's offer which was a paltry $75.000 (Hugs was being paid $47,000 at Akron). So far as I know, it was Jim Dennison who refused to fight to keep Huggins. Bad decision, one that hastened his departure from the Zips athletics world. Huggins wanted Akron to join the then fledgling Big East conference. He had sufficient connections to insure that Akron would be accepted. The Big East literally invited Akron to join. It was Jim Dennison and some board members who put the ka-bosh on that idea. For the eighth time let's debunk that old rubbish about Gerry Faust costing Jim Dennison his job. Now, if, GP1, is half as smart has he likes to think he is; he will agree with me on this next point. Jim Dennison lost his job as head football coach while Gerry Faust was still the head coach at Notre Dame. Dennison lost his job because he could not win at the 1-A level. He had some opportunities to step aside and take the AD job. But, bull headed Jim wanted to be the football coach in an environment that was clearly beyond his abilities. Now, do not get me wrong, Jim was and is sill a great football coach at the lower tier, not at 1-A. sorry. That is fact. Gerry Faust was not even considered for the head coaching job until well after Dennison was fired.

Can't speak for all the players listed. Here is what to expect for some of them: GRADES. Not all HS players can hack college. Cameron Black, a kid the Zips would love to have. Except, bad wheels. Suffers stress fractures in his ankles and does not heal well. He is headed to Bowling Green. Coaches recruit the best kids they have any chance at. Coaches are professional analyzers. They know these kids far better than a casual fan does. I had my concerns about taking Egner over Henniger until I had the opportunity to watch (not listen on the radio or read in a newspaper) the players in action. Egner is light years ahead of Henniger in overall skill set. That does not show up in stat sheets or radio announcers excited voices. Good luck to all the kids who participated.

Were you watching the same game I was watching? Its not about the points scored. Its about the entire spectrum of play. Egner is miles ahead of Henniger in overall performance.

This was the first time I had a chance to watch both Henniger and Egner heads up for an entire game. Now I am a believer. The Zips staff is much higher on Josh than on Henny. And, for good reason. Egner is a far more complete player/athlete than Henny. Henniger is lost more than eight feet from the basket. Egner is a terror anywhere on the court. Don't anyone tip Henny off that in college he wont be fronting six foot tall opponents. In fact, at six-seven he is too short, too slow and too uncoordinated to play the four or five spot. Thanks, Zips staff. You made a believer out of me. Akron got the much better recruit.

Agreed. A little birdie told me some time ago that the fourth player in the mix is a PG from the Chicago area. Do some homework.

Steve McNees has shown, as has Nicola, that he can slash to the basket quite effectively. Oh, and so can Humpty. The trick is to not have Steve droning at the point. But, I digress.

An excellent report, zipboy. I believe that many of us are frustrated over a disappointing season. Now, 24-11 on the surface seems like a successful year. But, was it? I think the expectations were a lot higher than a ticket to the CBI. In another post some one was critical of being deleted for blaming KD for the "weak" season. Now, I do not know if the person's post was deleted or not. I will say that KD must shoulder the responsibility for the performance of his team. We all expect KD to right the ship. And, he will. Anyone who wants to abandon ship, please feel free to do so. KD and the Zips will re-emerge stronger than ever. All great teams struggle at points. We are no exception. Keep going in the right direction. Improve the talent. Improve the schedule. Weed out the weak and the unproductive. For heaven's sake, and ours, get a point guard. No, I will NOT let go of this. I see people boasting that McNees had zero turnovers and think that is a sign of great play. It is not. West Virginia's great point guard "Truck" Bryant averages nine turnovers a game. Which PG do you want for the Zips? I am a little surprised to read that KD thinks the perimeter defense was bad. Steve and Darryl defend pretty darn well. Ronnie and Humpty get shuffled so darn much it is difficult to evaluate them. At any rate, having six guards should have been a blessing. But, when three of them rarely see the floor the talent is wasted. Perhaps a better floor rotation would help as much as fresh meat. As for filling the three hole; it seems to me that Dakotah Euton is made to order. We will have to live with some freshman mistakes. Overall, he reads like he is well suited for that slot. Can Brett McKnight take the leadership? No comment. Just play solid and keep improving is all I would ask of Brett. Nicola is our bull in the china shop guy. I love it. Be strong. Play hard. In fact, all players should play hard knowing that they will be getting a rest in 3-4 minutes. Deep, deep rotation. It works. It also hides weaknesses that all players have. Josh Egner at the power forward. A man on springs with great "hops". Will he get floor time? KD has been extremely reluctant to turn freshmen loose. Which is odd since he built a great team using a pack of freshmen. Names like Wood, Joyce, Dials, Middleton and Travis come to mind. Turn them loose KD and enjoy the ride.

Love the picture of the dunk in the article. Did any Zip come even remotely close to such a dunk this year. No way. Egner is headed to the wrong school. Dambrot is going to stiffle him just as he has Humpty and Nicola. Wake up, Keith.

skip, there is a reason that many folks, me included, switched to the Nicely camp after clamoring for Rodgers to play. Once Matt Rodgers was exposed to actual game speed he was simply overwhelmed. Frankly, the game was way too fast for him. Matt showed no sighs of catching up. Pat Nicely stepped up and delivered right out of the box. There was plenty of talk at Spring practice that Nicely (still in HS) was better than CJ or MR. Truth is, he is.

My heart and soul are with Cornell. Good sense and wisdom say that Kentucky will destroy Cornell.

This is a darn savvy introspection. Especially coming from a young person. There is hope for the Zips.

This is the best comment of them all.

Actually, KD needs to get a lot more creative. Now this will sound like an oxymoron, but less offensive plays. The Zips have more offensive plays than the rest of the MAC combined. More with less. More pick 'n roll (almost never run by Akron), more ball screens, oh, wait, that would require Steve McNees to play his natural position. My bad. Pound the ball inside more. Having McNees dribbling at the top for twenty-five seconds is not good offense. Zeke needs to keep the ball high. Zeke needs to learn the ball is a rock, not an egg. Teach the kids to go hard to the basket. Kill the SOB standing in your way. You might get an offensive charging call, but that sucker wont get in your way again. Get rid of the lame "pockets" defense. Anyone notice Green Bay using the classic defensive stance the entire game? Works, doesn't it? I am so sick of yelling to the kids to get their hands up. If KD needs a reason to give a kid some bench time ... start with this. If you get beat on the ball, because your hands are down ... enjoy the pine. Oh, what's a "pockets" defense, you ask? That's where the defenders look like their hands are in their shorts pockets. i.e. at their sides instead of in the opponent's face. Develop all three of the true point guards and play them all every game. Teach them to drive the lane. Nicola and Darryl are currently our best go to the basket guys. Unfortunately they almost never get the chance. Steve can dribble drive decently as well. Forgive me, I am stuck on having a true point guard and converting McNees into rangy, three ball shooting, lane driving guard. Oh, oh, he'd have to play the two guard slot. I guess I can't get it through my thick, stupid fan, head that the four hundred grand and arrogant head coach knows more than me. Well, over all he sure does. I admit that. Now will he admit that his stubbornness and unwillingness give his kids a chance wrecked this season? Get a big man (hint: Rick McFadden) to work with the "bigs". Currently a coach who is five foot tall coaches the "bigs" and the "littles" and sells popcorn during the game. Delegate and trust your staff more. You have some darn talented coaches and players. My big beef I saved for last. When a kid is thrown into the dog house his stay should be thirty. Yes, thirty, not thirty months, not thirty weeks, not thirty games, not thirty days, not thirty hours, not thirty minutes, but thirty seconds.

I said it before .... John Groce IS the true MAC Coach of the Year. Now do you believe me? Ball screen after ball screen after ball screen. John Thompson III had the same opportunity to prepare for them as did Keith Dambrot and Geno Ford. Of the three losers (and they are losers), Keith had his kids best prepared. At least Akron took OU into overtime. Georgetown acted like they had never ever even seen a ball screen before. They deserved to get beat. Whether GP1 is so full of himself it does not matter. You have to defend. Georgetown was arrogant. They wrongly assumed they could run these upstarts from podunk off the floor. Wrong. A much deserved congratulations to Ohio University. John Groce has accomplished much more in two years as a head coach than a couple of MAC coaches who are totally full of themselves. Names upon request. Fortunately for the rest of the MAC, Groce probably got himself a ticket to the major-majors today.

Hate to sound like sour grapes .... however, its a bit stinky that the Ladies are relegated to this lower level tournament while Eastern Michigan is invited to the WNIT. Yes, yes, EMU has a better record than do the Ladies. However, the Lady Zips defeated EMU twice. First at EMU. and then a rather sound beating in the MAC tournament quarter finals. NCAA still snubbing Akron?

The Zips have an excellent shot "maker" in Steve McNees. Steve just has to be allowed to play the position he plays the best .. the two guard. As for me refering to KD as Hip jr. etc. Who is the head coach who got comfortable with playing a great player out of position because he was fearful of the other talent he failed to develop or trust? Was it me? Evaluate, develop, encourage, teach. That's a coach's role. All of you know that I love KD. Does that fact disqualify me from having an opinion? Sadly, it will piss him off. Akron already has the players. None of them are less than really good. The team underachieved. Blame the kids? Blame the staff? I never blame 18-22 year olds kids.

This is where the MAC Championship game was lost. It was lost a few months back. It was lost because our kids were not well prepared. They played their hearts out, to a man. No one should lay any blame on the kids. Not an iota. How often have I made a point of the fact that Steve McNees is not a point guard? KD failed to develop any of his three (count them, three point guards). KD pulled a Dan Hipsher. KD was not willing to "risk", as if that is valid, losing a game or two in out of conference play by playing Humpty, Ronnie and Alex at the point. Steve and Darryl are two pretty darn good shooting guards. I think Steve showed his metal again Saturday with his open court shooting. It was apparent the other day that Ohio had two quick, shooters in Bassett and Cooper. Where was the game plan to run these rascals down? With six guards you would think that Akron could keep fresh legs on both of them all the time. But, you have to play all six guards in order to do that. Ole Dan, er, KD, did not have the courage, guts, intestinal fortitude, balls, nads, what ever, to risk playing kids he let rot on the bench all year. This loss belongs to KD. He has been consistently out coached for the past several games. I love the guy. I want him to improve as the coach. I want him to develop his kids. and, put together game plans that attack the opponent. John Groce should have been the MAC Coach of the Year. He clearly out foxed Hip jr. As for defense .. what defense? KD, you boast of your team's defense. What kind of a defense never gets into the classic defensive stance? Did that go out of style with Gene Hackman in Hoosiers? Its fairly easy to shoot over even seven footers when their hands are in their pockets. I want to see real defense. Stifling defense that the other team is continually forced to adjust to. The Zips defense is a joke. For the umpteen time I want to point out once again what I said about Steve and the end of the half turnover that is not counted as a turnover. Steve dribbled and dribbled until the clock was nearly gone. Then, a weak pass to the middle that went out of bounds. Cooper drives the length of the floor and scores. But, stupid old fan (me) does not know what the hell he is talking about. I could say a heck of a lot more. But, like most of the rest of you, I'm way too steamed. Green Bay will be a stern test for the poor defense of the Zips. How can they guard three shooters when guarding one is a problem? Akron needs a point guard. They have three nice PGs, all rotting on the bench. Steve plays out of position because coach Hipsher II lacks the nads to trust his kids.

try this ... CBI in PDF Format One school pops right out at you .... guess who

The Athletic Director does the calling to other schools for scheduling, but Dambrot tells Wistrcill(or whoever is in charge of basketball), how he wants the schedule the non-conference games. He can suggest schools, he can tell what type of schedule(brutal, hard, medium,easy, cupcake), and AD Wistrcill tries to follow those set by Dambrot. The basketball coaching staff does all scheduling. The AD is NOT involved.

Hmmm, let's see ..... Zips nearly lose to a weak team that has ONE great shooting guard .... Carlos Medlock of EMU. Zips nearly lose to a poor team that has ONE great shooting guard .... David Kool of WMU. Zips LOSE to a mediocre team that has TWO great shooting guards .... Now the Zips to face a decent team with THREE guards averaging ten plus points per game each. And the great Zip's defense is going to stop whom? Hmmmmm ....

Folding clothes fresh from the dryer and I have ESPN on the tube.There's Andy Kennedy of Southern Miss whining about how his Rebels deserve an NCAA bid with asolid 65 RPI. Wins over this vaunted team and wins over that vaunted team. Gack, gack.Next ESPN schleps on Seth Solderberg of Virginia Tech with their 58 RPI. Same whine.What the heck about Kant Skate? RPI 43 or something. Now, like most Zips fans, I hate the Flushies. BUT, they are in the MAC; this is our conference.Where's ESPN's love for us? Why should second rate ACC/SEC schools get a bid when thebest (sorry, they are the best, they proved it) MAC team is shuffled off to the NIT?Tell me.p.s. And all of you know that none of these darlings would set a foot in a MAC arena (in Cant'scase a gym). If any of these turkeys land in the dumpy MAC Center, as MAC fans we owe theFlushies our support. I'll swallow my pride and go support the Flushes, weather and time permitting.

Quickzips, excellent and accurate analysis.