GoZips

Tonight the Zips play the Ohio University Bobcats for the MAC championship with a ticket to the NCAAtournament as the grad prize. Can the frazzled Zips pull it off?Maybe, maybe not. If the Zips can "man up" and play the kind of ball they were projected to play,they should be able to run OU off the floor. But, can they? The last three games have been aheart wrenching gut check. The Zips seem to sputter and play listlessly; especially after gettingup by fourteen points. All three games, Kant Sucks, EMU and now WMU, the Zips jumped to anearly lead that they gave back and then had to fight for their lives.Make if fun, KD. Turn the kids loose. Yeah, yank Nik when he loses control. You did a fine jobtrying to keep Nik from imploding. And, thankfully you gave him several chances to redeemhimself.KD, you were right about having faith in Zeke coupled with patience. Zeke is now producingmuch like we all expected with one sweet plus. Zeke is scoring the ball. He still needs to keepthat rebound ball held high. Opponents quickly swipe at him when he brings the ball down tohis chest. C-Mac and B-Mac need to come with their best game of the season. On both ends of the court.How do we guard two great , mobile, quick shooting guards when we couldn't stop Medlock orKool whom both played for teams that could not give them much support? OU has front courthelp.I think the Zips will git'er done. Expect another nail biter.

Very nice comments about C-Mac by all of you. He is a class kid from a classy family.I hope and pray that C-Mac gets to play in several more Akron games. Let's make the postseason last a good bit longer.

In some respects I agree. I disagree when it comes to his being allowed by the officials to constantlyforearm shiver, hold opponents by their jerseys to the point he can turn the player, the little cheaprabbit punches he throws and worst of all almost never gets called on it by the officials.Shoot? You bet. A great shooter and not just open look set shots. Of course, it helps a lot if youropponent plays eight to ten feet off of your face. Still, he can flat out shoot the ball and probably is this year's best MAC player. Credit where credit is due. If Brett McKnight played like Kool, Brett would foul out in the first five minutes of the game.

I guess I am just a stupid, old fan. Tell me where our guys played their asses off.Zips basketball is not suppose to be three minutes of great play per game.

Yes he did.Nik needs to focus that energy and play with in himself.He never seemed to get himself to play with discipline.And, like you, I love his passion. It just can not flounder around.

You sauced?Cold sober. Just pissed. Cry baby fans and a team that played like they didn't care.

18-13, a number four seed (which they defended) in the MAC Tournament, only two departing seniorsand a boatload of incoming talent. MAC Women's Coach of the Year is getting it done.God bless them one and all. May Jolene and Ayla have a sparkling, blessed future.

David Kool goes off on Akron for THIRTY-NINE points. Not one Zip could or did guard him.Ohio has D.J. Cooper (Freshman Player of the Year) and Armon Bassett. Guess what? These are two of the best guards in the Conference and they are playing for the hottest teamin the tournament. Unless the Zips grow some nads and hops Ohio will be dancing tomorrownight.Screw all you fracking Pollyannas. I am fed up with the butt head fans and poor play from the team.It is time to grow some balls and play like men. What a rotten, poorly played game. They shouldbe ashamed. The next fan who tells me to shut up is going to get their lame ass kicked.

The officiating was beyond disgusting. I was screaming at the TV for most of the game. You gotta give the guys props for playing through it and coming up with the W.From my seat in section 125 I observed MAC head of officials and associate commissioner Boyages watching that sorry group of officials. How can they watch live, and see replays and not correct some of the blatant errors made by those 3 officials. For instance how do u eject a player for a flagrant foul ( on D Rob) when you didnt even call a foul on the play?? Isnt that admitting their mistake? Im sorry to say the MAC will remain a mediocre 15th rank conference until they improve quality of refs. How is that done? More money? Well guess what- No Can't in the final ( no I dont think that was due to officiating) and possibly no Akron means attendance of probably 4000 in final. Talk about lost revenue.Think back. D-Robb shot FOUR free throws. He missed the first one and drained then next three.Two free throws were for the foul on him. And, the second set of two were for the technical on theEMU bench. The issue was that originally the officials were not even going to review the play on themonitor while D-Robb was laying on the floor writhing in pain. Ramsey got his ejection for violentlyprotesting the flagrant foul and ejection of the player who clobbered D-Robb.

The big, bad wolf is going to the NIT

All season we have whined that the Zips play without heart. Tonight one player manned upand seems to have found the heart of the Zips.Steve McNees with his clutch last second three ball to send the game into a second overtimecame straight from his heart. What a play. Steve deserved the accolade of "offensive playerof the game". Steve nailed that desperation trey while Carlos Medlock "gacked" three timeslate in the game. Medlock's 42 points go for naught when he could not score when the chips were on the table. Medlock gacked. Got to love these Zips. They may be maturing at theright time.

You know what is really disturbing about Charles Ramsey getting ejected for two technicals on him?Ramsey is generally a soft spoken and a well liked MAC coach.The odd thing to me was how much EMU benefited from what was obviously biased officiating,If you don't believe the officials were homering the Zips just as they did Central Michigan, youhave no clue about basketball.The officials need to be reprimanded and suspended by the league. Fat chance of that happening.EMU had so many favorable calls and no calls it was difficult for the Zips to get in a rhythm.Toward the end of the second overtime the officials did what game officials often do when theyhave been favoring one team. At a point they back off and leave the favored team to finishthe game on their own. EMU could not "pull the trigger".Ramsey was obviously "protecting" his thug, er, player. Darryl Roberts took a vicious chop to histhroat that doubled him over in pain. At first the officials seemed reluctant to review the foulon the monitors. When they did, they realized that the foul was intentional and flagrant. Theplayer was ejected and Ramsey exploded. When you have been the beneficiary of favorableofficiating you often have this type of bad reaction. Ramsey owes the Zips and especiallyDarryl a heart felt apology. His player was a complete thug.What really hacked me was Carlos Medlock repeatedly DELIBERATELY dribbling into Akrondefenders and getting rewarded with free throws. He did this numerous times leading toseveral Zip players fouling out. This is not good basketball ... its cheating. And, the a-holeofficials repeatedly rewarded Medlock for his poor sportsmanship with free throws.Medlock is a bum.p.s. It has been determined that the officials all live in Cant.

Nice game, Zeke. You earned some kudos tonight.

Put a lid on what? Playing his butt off?Looked to me that Humpty was the driving spark that ignited the down trodden Zips.No way should he tone it down. Just the opposite .. turn up the wick.

Sorry to read this. Gene Cross is a class coach.Resurrecting a morbid program takes more than two years. Ask Jodi.

Ahem ... !!!!This thread pertains to the Lady Zips. Or, at least it is suppose to.Last night was a great shot in the arm for Akron. The gals played their best game that I haveseen in a long, long time. EMU is a quality opponent. EMU was relegated to the fifth seedsimply because the Zips had beaten them during regular season play. There is nothing in theirbio that indicates that the Lady Hurons (nee: Eagles) would be anything less than a rough go.EMU came into this game with great credentials. Over twenty wins, the highest average pointsper game in the league, they are young, athletic and talented. Plus, they had the revenge factor.All for naught as the Lady Zips took care of business with solid play at both ends of the court.A stat no one has yet mentioned played a key role in the win. The Lady Zips committed only12 turnovers for the game. EMU had a respectable (for the women) 18 turnovers yieldinga six turnover differential for the Zips.Tavelyn James (and no, I don't care if I spelled her name correctly) went off on the Zips forseventeen first half points. She also helped Amber Witt pick up two first half fouls trying toguard her (James). Coach Kest made it a priority for Amber to shut down Miss James. Which,Amber did admirably. Here is a cute sidebar: In the post game quotes Miss James explains her lack of point productionin the second half. " Tavelyn James (on being held scoreless in the 2nd half): "I missed a lot of shots in the 2nd half. Shots that I usually make. I don't think it was because of their defense." "Looking at the play-by-play record I find that James took a grand total of THREE shots in the second half. But, of course, Amber Witt's dogging her was not a factor.The only disappointment at last night's game was the total lack of Zips fans. BGSU, Miami andCANT were all well represented. Once again, the AK-Howdies did their disappearing act.

Carly Young, teammate of Hanna Luburgh brings equally impressive stats and awards.All District AwardAnd, feast your peepers on these stats. The girl can play.StatsKeep in mind, that the All State Awards are not yet announced.

Hanna, another of Jodi Kest's outstanding 2010 recruiting class has numbers to back up the claimto be a "shooting guard".StatsHanna garners All District Award (note, her teammate and future Lady Zip, also named All District).All District Award

Is this class or what? Incoming Freshman power forward Sina King garners "student athlete of the week" award. Check out her GPA.AwardAnd ... now, Sina picks up an even sweeter award ....District Player of the YearThank you, Jodi, thank you ... and, congrats on your much deserved MAC Coach of the Year award.

Not a lot has been written about the Lady Zips incoming class. Here is a taste of Kacie Cassell asmallish five-four point guard who can shoot the three ball well.Kacie Thru the Year

ATTENDANCE: 349A hell of a lot of you missed a fun butt kicking. OU got their payback for upsetting the Ladies down in Partyville.You also missed a peak at the future Lady Zips. The last ten minutes of the second half were givenover to high energy, fast break basketball. It took the Ladies a couple of tries to get the hang of it. But, when they did they blew the hinges off the doors. They quickly padded their 13 point lead to 27 points.They literally ran the OU gals off the court.Thanks, Jodi, for a glimpse of things to come. It was truly exciting.

Naw ... the University should stick with their plans to build an 11,000 seat arena (without a hockey rink).

I just heard this last night at our women's game. What has twenty-eight legs and two teeth?[/b}answer: the Can't Skate Dance Team

According to the media guide the official attendance for the December 9, 1986 game was 8,168.The actual attendance was in excess of 10,000.It was widely reported (including in the ABJ) that between 1,500 to 2,500 people were refusedadmittance including many souls holding reserved seating tickets.I was there. The aisle were full of people. The tier was jammed. The place was a nut house.The Zips won in overtime 73-69. "Mouse" McFadden fouled out sealing CSU's doom. Even this huge crowd does not come close to the highest home game attendance for Akron. Thathonor goes to the 15,000+ game against third ranked Pitt played at the Richfield Coliseum on December 21, 1987. The Zips lost 63-67. Best big time atmosphere ever for an Akron game.I attended that game as well. Still, I'll take the win over Cleveland State as the best game.

Some good points here.Are we forgetting that nine of the ten kids that gave the mighty Gonzaga fits for thirty-two minutesare still wearing the Zips uniform? This team can excel and do plenty of damage.Start by way laying CANT Friday night on national TV.