GoZips

Roll Tide ... !!!!Get it? The BEST team/program in the land.Shut up already about Boise Who. If they are so good ... let themtravel to Tuscaloosa for a game.Roll Tide ... !!!!

Yes, a really nice basketball player. Stud? Not a chance. At best maybe a Nate Linhart clone.

I agree. It is time to upgrade the OOC schedule. Just one home game against a RPI#75 to RPI#150quality team would have much better prepared the Zips for URI. Perhaps the coaches thought theyhad such opponents when they scheduled Drake, UIC and others. Unfortunately most schedules aremade a couple of years in advance. And most are multiple game contracts.You do not really know who will be hot or tank two-three years in advance.The best the Zips can do is put themselves in position to win by beating opponents. Wait, they alreadydo that. You start laying the hammer on opponents, especially at home, you soon wont be able to getquality opponents. Wait. We already have that problem.Let's give coach Peters a year or two to work his magic. Coach Peters has excellent experience havingpreviously done the scheduling for Ohio State. Wait. OSU schedules quite similar to the Zips. Only,the computer programs don't tank the Suckies.I would like to see Akron schedule better opponents with contracts that guarantee us home games.I am all for scheduling A-10 and MVC and C-USA schools. Two for ones with Big East schools wouldbe nice. Forget PITT. Talking about pissing down your leg. Jamie Dixon does not have the nads.Finally, its high time to recruit some stud players. Read that as "athletes". Mostly coach D findsbasketball players. Akron has just one "stud" player. And currently he is worth his weight in gold.We need four or five more studs similar to Jimmy Conyers. URI's starting guards were six-four and six-five. When the Zips get a six-five player you see himplaying the small forward. note: Name a stud player in the incoming class of recruits. They are all quality basketball players. Not a stud among them.

Alabama has Julio Jones.Texas does not have Julio Jones.If McCoy had Julio Jones to throw to ....Alabama has Nick Saban, enough saidRoll Tide

Well..Quickzips..I have to agree with you! Zeke has really been struggling with trying to get healthy. He came home with an ice machine, had to ice his knees 3x a day and then had to return on Christmas to a 3 hr. practice. He really hasnt had a chance to just HEAL! But, I also want to address a comment someone made when they said that Zeke was "being tossed around like a salad"..I have to respectfully disagree. Do I think, Zeke's head wasn't in the game the first half..YES SIR I do! I don't know what the heck he was thinking..but after a "friendly, maternal" rebuke..he pulled it together for the second half. I will say that he did manage to keep the big guy for URI from doing anything "sensational" and for that I'm greatful! Be that as it may, again, I wish Coach D would just allow Zeke to rest himself and allow his body to catch up to all of the work and abuse his body has endured. I'm concerned that his lack of rest will be detrimental to him and the team later on down the road. Just my UNBIASED opinion. Be gentle ZipNation....LOL:)GameChangr44, good to see you.Personally, I would like to see Zeke get more minutes against lesser opponents and few minutes against the toughies. Two reasons. First, to allow him time to heal. Second, allow him to develop at thecollege level. More time on the floor will get him up to speed with the pace of the college game.Zeke needs to keep the ball high. The opposition will continually foul him until he develops a murderous free throw percentage. As a big man he should feast on free throws. I think Zeke is a pretty decent freshman player. Each game, each season he will just get better. Cometournament time I expect Zeke to be a major contributor .

I'll agree COMPLETELY. I believe i saw ONE time the entire night where their bench was upset about a call. I could count 20+ where there were calls that were made or not made that absolutely shocked me. I think i'm going to nominate those refs as "Worst Officiating Crew In JAR History".The worst part is, after playing 5 on 8 for the entire night against a very good team all we had to do was just make a few darn free throws and we win. That's too bad. Though i have to say anyone who thinks that URI is better than us is crazy, we had them on the ropes and they got bailed out over and over again tonight. If we can get a decent officiated game and make free throws we will finish very strong this season.I have yet to see you not blame a loss on the refs. they must really hate akron haha.Zippy5, for your benifit, please read item one stated above. Second item points to poor free throw shooting. Thirdfactor, the officiating. Without be laboring the point I offer two pieces of evidence. First one, the comments of RootforRoo44,who states that they agree with my assessment. Second, and much more damning of the officials was URI player Jamesmaking six drives to the basket where he took THREE steps to the basket. He scored all six times. The last three stepdrive was called traveling by the officials and the basket disallowed. The other ten points were allowed. Each time Jamesmade a three step drive the fans went crazy complaining loud and long. Those ten points were a HUGE factor in the Zips loss. Too bad you weren't at the game.

One thing about last night really pleases me. We are all frustrated and P.O.d because we now have proof that ourZips are a pretty darn good team. To say they are pushing the Top Twenty-Five envelope is no exagreation.These kids are a darn good squad. Better even than we dared hope.Playing second and third tier teams was frustrating because they were not capable of pushing our kids to the extentthat they needed in order to develop. Rhode Island, a near Top Twenty-five team themselves had the benifit goinginto last night's game of playing a better schedule. Their skills were better honed than ours.Frustrating because we can now guage just how good the Zips are and can be. Pre-season favorites to win the MACis no longer a speculation. Rather, it was an accurate early assessment. It is a goal these kids should obtain. Now,let us enjoy the ride.

I now realize that a few of you folks have a fixation of some sort that Steve McNees walks on water.Truth is, he doesn't. Steve is an excellent basketball player especially when he plays with in his abilities.When he forces things, things go bad. I am pleased that one other poster saw what I have seen fromSteve for three years. He goes into a mindless dribble until he turns over the ball mode. When he doesnot do that he runs the show effectively. Passable at the point, not great. Perhaps it is not fair of me to refer to the excessive dribbling as mindless. Steve is at his best when he operates as a shooting guard. He gets good looks, squares up and knocksdown a lot of shots. Frankly, he is capable of turning the three ball into a high percentage shot.But, not after dribbling and dribbling and dribbling and then lofting a desperation shoot from mid court.In Steve's defense when he runs the point, as one poster noted, his team mates do not "flassh up" tocreate a passing option. They do not set their floor spacing well. This needs fixed.Did anyone hear any of our players calling out switches, plays, anything last night? Quieter than a tomb.

What game were you watching? It was totally the opposite?! Our plan was to beat their press...to attack, and push the ball up the court. We sliced them up when we got into a "track meet." We were HIGHLY successful. It wasn't until Rhode Island slowed the game down and turned it into a half court affair that we struggled.dittoCoach D said the same thing during his post game radio interview. Which makes wonder howsuccessful we could have been running a zone part of the time in the second half to counter theirhalf court offense which was a simple man up one on one and beat the defender to the basket.

Odd. I never put the blame for the loss on Steve McNees. My issue with Steve is that he is not a good point guard.Steve is a solid, dependable shooting guard. Did I complain that he had a two for eleven night? No. Why, becauseoften Steve was chucking the ball up toward the basket after dribbling, dribbling, dribbling with out ever distributingthe ball. The point guard is suppose to see the floor and distribute the ball, run the plays, show leadership, notdribble, dribble, dribble. Sorry, I like Steve a lot, especially when he is in the shooting guard role. Then he doesnot cough up a fur ball and go two for eleven.This team needs a leader. Traditionally the leader is either a senior or a point guard. Last year we had a fine teamleader who was a senior. Neither of our two seniors seem to want that role. Thus, let the leadership role go tothe young man who plays like a mad bull. I nominate Nicola Cvetonvic. I am already of the opinion that he deservesmore minutes.We need to face the fact that Rhode Island has better athletes than we do. But, we have better basketball players.We need to deploy our better basketball players in a manner that negates their athleticism. A zone might have stopped the dribble drive penetration they used all night to go to the basket. With man coverage once they were by the defender it was an open drive to the hoop. We rarely stopped the dribble drive.Of course it would have helped if the wonderful officials had whistled James more than the one time they did (probablyan accident) for traveling with his three step drives. Those of us in our corner were speculating that he was auditioningfor the NBA.Speaking of James, a very athletic and tallented player, who was guarding him? I have to wonder how Rhode Island reacts to a zone defense. Unfortunately I only saw the first ten minutes of theirOklahoma State game. OkSt was in a man at the time.No negative comments on Zeke Marshall. Good. He is developing, albeit a bit slower than most of us would like.Zeke needs to keep the ball higher when he has it. He also needs to get "tough" and not get man handled. That will come as he develops. For Zeke I would have him on extra rations of food and minutes shooting free throws.Opponents are going to foul him a lot until he is a reliable threat from the free throw line.One last comment. No turnovers from Steve? Let's see, on a fast break in the second half, Steve is bringing the ball up court when James picked him clean from behind, But, I suppose that wasn't a turnover, just a steal.There were other incidents, but, I really do not want to bash McNees. I like the kid. I especially like him at thetwo guard where he gets open and shoots a sweet three ball. I do not like beyond NBA line shots (they don'tcount as a turnover, but they sure are).In the final analysis, we discovered that we really are one of the best teams in the nation. The Zips are certainlyno RPI #149 team. Ask coach Barron if he thinks Akron is a middle of the pack team. URI got what they neededfor their development last night. They got an A-10 type road game they will see from Dayton and Xavier.Akron took the final test before conference play. I give them a decent passing mark, but, no A+.

There were three major contributing factors to tonight's hurtful loss.1) Turnovers. Probably the number one culprit. We simply have to do a much better job of taking care of the ball. This means playing under control, not helter-skelter. For heaven's sake, let's get this right: Steve McNees is a dandy two guard (shooting guard). He is a mediocre point. Ronnie Steward simply needs more minutes.2) Free throw shooting. The statistics don't tell the story since we consistently miss the front end of one-n-ones. This has to be fixed. Certain players shoot free throws like they just don't care. They should be glad they don't play for me. Because I would have them so far down on the bench that they would never see the light of day. If you can't bother to make free throws you should NOT be on the floor.3) Officiating. These clowns were from Mars. And, sorry previous poster, they were not bad both ways. They were far more biased against Akron than they were against Rhode Island. It was not only the bad calls; it was also the inexcusable "no calls" that kept Rhode Island from getting blown out of the (sic) gym. A prime example was official stopping play to admonish two players when the Zips were in the midst of a hot streak. That sure helped Rhode Island. There were several other situations that benefited Rhode Island. How the hell do you miss a player standing on the end line with the ball and not call him out of bounds. Oh, I see, that would have meant giving Akron possession. We cannot fix the ref crap. We will have to play through it again this year, The coaching staff can fixthe free throw shooting and ball handling. Here is a tip for you fans: count how often Steve McNeesturns the ball over as the point guard when he fails to distribute the ball and goes into "mindless ribble" mode. McNees is a shooting guard; not a point guard.I am not blaming Steve. He is not the problem. He is part of the problem. There are others that approach free throw shooting like they were taught as small children that making free throws just isn'tfair to the other team. Screw the other team. Make the free throws. Its like finding twenty dollar bills.Again tonight we saw Nikola drive to the basket. Just not often enough. It the guards are afraid to penetrate give the ball to Nic. It is wonderful to see a big man able to drive to the basket. He deserves more minutes.Hey, coaches, this last comment is for you. Remember the old adage that teams that press do not like being pressed? Well, Rhode Island is no exception. When we put full court pressure on them the onlything that saved them were their friends the refs. Put pressure on the ball. Have the nads to trust your kids.

GP1, give it up. Your bias makes you look like an IDIOT when you see yourself as puffed uppurveyor of dumb remarks. The truth is, Charlie Frye gave an excellent account of himself in both games. Had he had a decent offensive line, say one as good as the Ravens or a myriad of other teams, He would be celebrating two late season victories.Charlie did his part. The Oakland Raiders lost two football games; not Charlie Frye.I will state this again because I have not forgotten my prediction: Charlie Frye will earn a Super Bowlring as his team's starting quarterback BEFORE the hapless Browns play in a Super Bowl game

Well, we will probably have a Bracket Buster game at home next season. I know there are about sixpotential opponents currently in contract negotiations. Names I cannot, nor would give out until toldit is okay to do so. This much I can state; at this time there is no major opponent that will make you wet your skivvies. A couple of current contracts will still running next season.For all you who keep whining about playing Cleveland State .... for the umpteenth time ... until CSUhonors the existing open contract which calls for CSU to play a game at the JAR .... there will be nonew contract as long as Keith Dambrot is head coach. Unlike slick Willy Waters, coach D has integrity.

This may be the toughest road trip in college basketball. You have to fly into Denver and bus about three hours through the mountains to Cheyenne and Laramie. Get a good driver, as I recall Hawaii's bus sliding into a ditch in one WAC excursion. Fortunately, it looks like no new snow to arrive till Wednesday, but temp's are below 0 in the mornings. Did I mention there's still one vacancy for the Diamond Head Classic here next year? Huh, coach?Hula Z.I.P., I asked coach Dambrot at last week's Zips Live radio show about a returntrip to hula land. No dice. As much as coach D loves Ono's on Kapahulu blvd (you know the place),he would much prefer to stay in the Eastern time zone. So look for trips to Puerto Rico and/or the VirginIslands.

Two questions:1. What is his stated reasoning for not wanting to play UofA?2. How do you know the motives of all major-major coaches?GP1, Bob did not state that he is not willing to play the Zips. He will play us in Morgantown as oftenas we like. He just will not bring the Mountaineers in to the JAR. Nor, would he care to play at the Q.Bob did tell me that he might consider playing Akron at the Q if circumstances were favorable. Pleaseread that as 'Akron is a top 25 team'. Thus, a loss does not hurt WVa. Still, under no circumstanceswould Bob play in the JAR.Second, please note that I wrote "nearly all". I cannot speak for all the major-major coaches. I cantell about those coaches I have personally spoken to. I lobbied quite a bit two years ago at the LeBronSkills Academy. I spoke to several top tier coaches regarding them playing the Zps. Most were notinterested in the least. A few expressed that they would consider playing at their house. This informationwas passed on to the Akron staff by me. As for motive, wouldn't you expect any coach's motive tobe to win? You do not win in rat holes like the JAR.

zip37, I see you got it. Keep the faith.Oh, and for you unbelievers, Dan Peters is also a friend of mine. We just had the future schedulingconversation at the On Tap last Monday night.

Interesting article. The numbers prove the obvious. You have to play in games to get rhythm and timing.All in all, Frye preformed well, all things considered. He will only get better. Playing real games and notrunning the scout team is the medicine Charlie needs.For those of you who hate Charlie, in the delightful words of Whoopee Goldburg in the movie Ghost,"kiss my butt".

Ellen, Ellen, Ellen,For a change why don't you tell the entire story instead of potshoting the Zips?As fans we would love to see "power conference" teams coming into the JAR. So would the entiremen's basketball staff. See any of them willing to invade the JAR? Oh, neither do the rest of us.My long time friend, now West Virginia head coach, Bob Huggins' reply to my question about bringinghis Mountaineers into the JAR was, "are you nuts?" Hugs is barely willing to consider playing the Zipsin the "Que". That is pretty much the overall thoughts of nearly all major-major Div-I head coaches.Alexander knows full well the scheduling difficulties the Zips have. Most coaches prefer to avoid losses.You ZN readers had a chance to read fan sites for UIC and VALPO the past few days. Their fans forthe most part had this glassy-eyed vision of picking up an easy win. After the Zips drilled UIC theVALPO fans started whistling a different tune. They fore saw the coming train wreck. They boastedof their hard fought, eleven point loss at UNC. Down by twenty-eight with seven to play at Akronwas an icy dose of reality.Wyoming was suppose to be a tough customer. They, not Akron, have faltered. The Cowboys willstill be a tough road game. Next up at home for the Zips is high flying Rhode Island. But, accordingto the Ellen's of the world we Zips fans need to pencil in a loss. Screw that. And, Ellen, screw your flaming hate rhetoric.

ditto

Some thoughts on UIC. They play a rather helter-skelter style that makes them tough to defend.That coupled with unselfishness resulted in a large number of open looks. They managed toknock down a fair portion of those looks.UIC plays pretty rough (if you know what I mean). That and not getting fouls called on them whenthey bang you hard also helped them. While the Zips maintained they did not close the deal untillate in the game.Hats off to Jimmy Conyers who now looks and plays like a solid Div-I player. Jimmy just might bethe answer to Chris "da thug" Singletary. Jimmy rewarded his coaches for their faith in him withhis spectacular rebounding and "double-double".This current starting line up in not what any of us fans dreamt up in pre-season. Most, if not all of thetop ten players are pretty much interchangeable. This will again bear fruit as the season progresses.I, for one, am pleased to see Ronnie Steward getting more minutes. He can be our best guardif he gets completely healed and the rusty barnacles knocked off. The other guards are progressingwell. Note: Steve played against UIC a bit under the weather. For all that, he still continues toimprove.I like having guards who can penetrate the lane and score. Having a six-eight bulldozer is even better.

Pretty fair advice.I think that our opponents have already discovered Zeke's primary flaws. Until he learns to shoot free throws better he will be a target of rough interior play. Much to his credit he knocked down apair against UIC. After which they backed off a bit.Zeke recently topped seven-one and is still growing. This along with his metabolism has kept himfrom putting on more muscle bulk. He works hard in the weight room and is definitely stronger.A bout with food poisoning hindered him the past two games. His great Mom will heal him upnicely over Christmas. Power lasagna, Gamechanger, you know the recipe.

Interesting. Quinn has a hang nail or some other "major" injury, thus preventing him from goinghead to head, mano a mano, with the guy the Clowns organization threw under the bus.What a pity. A heads up face off would prove the Clowns drain bust was right. You bet.With Mike Holmgren entering the picture you just might see Frye back in a Clowns uniform.I hope Charlie tattoos all you haters and the Clowns as well.I was a huge Frye fan when he played for Akron and I would love for him to do well in the NFL.

Over the years I have started at least five businesses. One still exists and is owned by othersbecause we split our partnership up and sold out. Others died a quick death or languished. Hardwork, long hours, determination, great product or service are no guarantee.Its exhilarating, exasperating, nerve wracking and a thrill.Biggest piece of advice I can give is be sure to over capitalize. Falling short on workingcapital is probably the biggest business killer.I "retired" for the fourth or fifth time back in September. Spurred by GP1's comments Iobtained a vendor's license today so I can pursue an new interest. I have decided to turn ahobby (of sorts) into a business. Fortunately I am well capitalized. My pursuit requires a heavyoutlay of capital. This is no spur of the moment decision. I have been teetering on making this move for a coupleof months. Not having a vendor's license caused me to miss out on profitable opportunities.Now I have to have the nerve (balls) to take the risks of capital outlay.

Now there's a plan. Unfortunately, it is one that the basketball staff and Danny Ferry of the Cavaliershave tried to set up at least a half dozen times. Plus, it would be far more advantageous to bush whacka BCS opponent in the friendly confines of the JAR. Playing at the Q neutralizes.I think you can stop by the basketball offices and voice your opinions most any afternoon. Call aheadfirst and make sure the coaches are available as practice, workouts, scouting and recruiting sometimescause some or all of them to out of the office. This is for real. They will happy to meet you.

Call me puzzled.All over the news this morning was a story that the University is in the black for 2009.A three million dollar "profit" or as they say "unspent expenses".That money would easily fund the soccer stadium improvements.Bless their souls they gave the money away to the non-union employees as a two percent bonuses. A two per cent kicker for Christmas. Nice. Of course, now the union employeeswill strike for their two per cent. Wisdom.