GoZips

If Nate was listed as "six-eight" in programs and media guides, chalk it up to misprints. (cough, cough)

Dang it. Color me embarrassed. I attend team practice every day and I never noticed that Big Dog was sidelined with his wrist in a cast. Gosh, and for over a month, too.I did notice the change in the Dog's body shape. Thought it was not worth mentioning. Current plan is no red shirts. That is not cast in stone.

Here we go again. The same whiners and boo birds wringing their hands over the OOC schedule. Why? Cant gets to play AT Kansas why? 1) Cant is a great tune up opponent with a high RPI and the Jayhawks will have to fight for 40 minutes to eek out a home court victory. 2) Cant will roll over and play dead; get their heinies blown off and take a $75,000 check home. The basketball rags are picking Cant to finish fifth in the east division. There is a clue here about just how Cant ended up on the Kansas OOC schedule. First rule in coaching:do not schedule opponents that can cost you your job. Go read the PITT fan boards. duh.

Emmanuel Olojakpoke brings a set of special skills to the Zips. Emmanuel has a seven foot three inch wing span. He reportedly is a much better rim protector than Zeke was at this stage. Emmanuel flat out loves to block shots. At Akron he will mature into a powerful forward thanks to the great weight training of Tim Campbell. Emmanuel's last name is pronounced 'Oh-Lo-Jac-Po-Kee'. His nickname is"Okey Dokey". This a diamond in the rough found by freshman Antino Jackson and coach Rich McFadden.

Nate visited a Zips practice on Friday. He has continued to grow taller and is now at least six-eight. He looks fit. It was a special treat for the players; old friendships renewed and new acquaintances made.

Hey Kidz, Here is the final Summer Sessions installment. Thursday will be the final S/S "practice". Friday begins the regular season practices with a "burner" scheduled. We have a few walking wounded recovering from various "ouchies". Nothing season ending. All are invited to stop by the Men's Basketball tailgate tent, located at the northwest corner of Infocision. Stop and say "hello" this season's edition of the Zips Come meet the fabulous freshmen and see the power muscled players improved over last season. I think you will like the improvements. Tailgate times are from noon to game time.

Perkins may well end up playing at an NAIA school. Playing as a freshman is almost certainly out of the question. Perkins looks good on paper. If he was scared off by the Peter Agba commit, then he is not tough enough to be a Zip.

Been a while since a Summer Session update. The players are hitting the weight room with a vengeance. Antino no longer looks like a stick man. Noah has put on about 15 #. Malcolm bulking up nicely. The older Zips getting in shape with a lot of running and lifting. I read that Southern Cal's coach loves the "dunk". Wonder if he will love the "dunks" the Zips will put on his Trojans? Is Toledo really the best in the MAC? The Zips will have two chances (maybe three) to prove the prognosticators wrong. Long grind to first tip off. Defense showing strong in open gym. Most pleased with Peter Agba verbal. This is a stud player. Go watch D.I.G. video in another thread.

It's not often that you see a six minute high light video made entirely from just one game.

Peter is the heir apparent to Demetrius "Tree" Treadwell. They don't come much tougher than Peter. GREAT get for the Zips.

Summer Session II ended yesterday (for the Zips players). They have headed home for a few days rest. Even KD went on a short vacation. Here's the latest. Last two practices were held at Central-Hower. Nearly everyone is healthy. Only Big Dog on limited duty after stepping on Tree's foot during open gym a couple of weeks ago. Dog sh/be at 100% when practice resumes August 25. The freshmen have been stellar. This includes the walk-on Malcolm Walters. These kids are jet quick and shoot the lights out. Was fun to watch Antino and Noah squaring off one on one. Both are excellent defenders. Sh/be quite a battle for playing time at point guard. Rotation for shooting guard still not decided. IMO, Deji holds a slight lead thanks to his gritty play; and he scores well. Reggie and Jake will both get solid minutes. As will Tree, Big Dog and Pat. We just might be a tad better than that #124 prediction. Opening the season against high major Southern Cal will be a tall order.

Certainly not this year. Marshall is probably the biggest name home opponent. The OOC schedule is set. Only two road games; Penn State and N. Dakota State. If you want the compete list ... wait.

Talk about biased, unsubstantiated libel. Zip Watcher, you would tar and feather me for saying less than this. Reading the article it is readily apparent that Misters Miller and Culp were only opposed to including a new arena for the University; not the tax itself. I would like to know both men's connections with the Akron community. Especially their relationship(s) with the University. I did find that Mr. Culp is probably the same person who attended Cleveland State University. No little bias if that is the case. In any event; the downtown arena is not the best scenario for Akron athletics. Bear in mind that the University is the largest employer in the county. A good neighbor policy worth pursuing is keeping peace with one's neighbors.

LOL ... #124 is a strange and some what naive analysis. Let's just smile and act like the writer has the Zips pegged. He doesn't. But, that's good. No need to know. At open gym yesterday the kids have added a new wrinkle. They played defense with intensity. Far more game like than offense only. I was impressed with the over all play. The freshmen have already melded into the team concept. Antino is showing signs of gaining muscles. Noah has been bulking up for some time. The others look really "buff". Big Dog has slimmed down some; not enough. Just realized that Kwan was not there. What with several other invited players he got lost in the shuffle. Deji is playing himself into contention for the starting shooting guard spot. Deji is getting more Jimmy Conners like by the day. The freshmen points have discovered that Jake and Reggie nail threes like popcorn. Means plenty of assists on the stat sheet. Aaron Jackson and BJ Gladden have both made good use of the weight room. They will be major minute players. Not to be out done, Nyles plays like a senior. I missed seeing Melo as I arrived at 9:45 and the session started at nine. The season is still a long way off. The one on one drills resume next week. The coaches have been out on the recruiting trail. Check Antino's twitter for a tip about a potential future Zip. Good lead.

The Zips already have a practice facility. Central-Hower has TWO full sized courts complete with fan seating, restrooms, scoreboards, parking and even existing vending machines. Akron needs an excellent arena for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that the dump no longer suits the needs of the University. Pretty sure alternative plans exist if the tax levy fails.

The objective is not always to fill an arena. The objective is to have sufficient capacity.

Wednesday, July 16, is Coach Dan Peters SIXTIETH birthday. I saw and spoke with Coach Dan today (7/15). He looks great and is in excellent spirits.

Therany Dunnigan Forward JUNIOR 6'2 Cleveland, OH

Sunday, July 13 report from Canton. A number of Zips played some Summer ball at Walsh University over the weekend. I can not report on Saturday games as I was not there. Sunday got a chance to watch most of the freshmen and redshirts. Impressive. BJ and Action Jackson put on a clinic as their team crushed the opponent a hundred and seven gazillion to thirty seven, burp. Kwan bombed in numerous long balls and still had an improving inside game. Antino once again showed why you MUST guard him at all times. His three ball is NBA deadly. Big surprise for me was the excellent floor play of grey shirt Jimond Ivey. This kid is the complete package. Last game of the day featured Sina King verses Taylor Rupurt. Taylor's team was a tad better edging Sina and team by one point in double OT. Sina looks completely fit.

Perhaps this young man likes his chances of playing in the NFL out of Akron. Some have such as Luke Getsy, Charlie Frye and Mike Johnson. Oh, and that guy John Heisman.

Abreu is NOT part of the team. Add invited walk-on Malcolm Walters who is contributing. Malcolm was the starting point guard for division one state champions Lakewood St. Edward.

Garsh, when I listened to the podcast Chuck's portion began around the 38th minute. I didn't find anything interesting around the twenty-fourth minute either. Chuck spoke for over thirty minutes. He gave some nice insights about Akron and numerous events in his long career. Be darn glad we have him. As a fan I enjoyed the interview. I have a Chuck Amato true story of my own. When Coach first came to Akron I asked him if the Zips actually scored on the disputed last play of the game. This being the Akron upset of Chuck's NC State team. He said, no, the Zip player did not score. Then he winked and smiled and said that Getsy had gone into the end zone untouched on the previous play. The ACC officials spotted the ball on the two. This denied the Zips momentarily. Chuck then stated that since we were both Zips now to enjoy Akron's victory.

Furthermore, the Celtics did not select a center in the 2014 draft. Zeke is property of the Boston Celtics via the Maine Red Claws.

Rationale: Young Zips team. Two seniors, two red shirt freshman, two true freshmen. Since most of the games are "buy" games, Most of the home opponents will be low majors. The objectives are to score wins and season the young players. A grueling schedule is a disadvantage. Schedule to build the players confidence, don't you think?

Folks, it is still way, way, way to early to speculate on who is starting, coming off the bench, getting red shirted, etc. Practice this week was held at Central-Hower. The women held a girls camp in the JAR. Speaking of the JAR; let us pray that little or nothing is spent on more lipstick for that pig. Enough unbroken seats, good locker rooms and excellent players lounges,new, improved lighting just this past season, almost no restroom facilities and concession stands that are never open,the venerable JAR is as good as it deserves to be. Everyone is basically healthy. A few bumps and bruises. Currently no walking wounded. The three freshmen are in the best shape of all the players. Definite improvement in overall conditioning today verses three weeks ago. The freshmen are playing their tails off. They learn quickly, show excellent skill sets; best of all, they shoot the lights out. BJ Gladden has greatly increased his body mass. He reminds me of scaled down Rome. (Romeo Travis). Coaches say he reminds them more of Brett McKnight. BJ is doing all that is being asked of him. His stock is way up. Tree is 100% Tree. Looking fine. Pat is back to full go and he has grown into a man. His bulk and moves remind me of Zeke his senior season. Dog is still slightly behind, but works hard. The Big Dog will get plenty of minutes. They are still working Kwan with the bigs. He seems a lot more comfortable in the blocks this year. Still, Pat is too much for KC to muscle. Reggie and Jake are the best shooters we have. Both have great range and should score double digits most of the time. Deji is reminding me of Jimmie Conners. Does many aspects of the game with finesse and toughness. Nyles and Carmelo have major battles on their hands if they want minutes. But, do not sell them short. The competition is raising their game. ESPN game at Penn State as part of the Charleston Classic. Seven home OOC games, three in Charleston means only three OOC road games. Slick.