GoZips

Hey, BALLER, congratulations on your fine new head coach.Fess up to ZipsNation and tell the gang just who was the first soul to "prop" Shaka on the VCU board ...!!!!

I am home sick with the flu today. This you do NOT want.As to Bardo and Swiech and my dumbest ever post ... funny, I was under the impression thatmy "read" on them is right on. But, I'm dumb. What do I know?It was a genuine treat at the Gonzaga game to see the little twinkly light go on in Bardo's head.If only for a second as he took the ball hard to the rack without putting it on the floor first.Mike is learning. That sense of satisfaction coursed through his whole body. For a few minutesMike played the way we all want him to play.I think most of you are forgetting that this is a freshman and a sophomore. True, they are BIGmen. But, you know they are at Akron because they lack fundamental skills or abilities. It isup to the coaches to train the skills into them.Make no mistake. Had Jeremiah Wood been six-eight rather than six-six he would have neverbeen in a Zips uniform. Our coaches take the potential players and work to develop them.For the most part they succeed. Look at the vast improvement in Jimmy Conyers.It is bloody tough to get high quality big men to any team not in the "BCS" conferences. Thereare lots and lots of quality guards (usually six foot and under) to spread around.I concur with what KD said in the Elton Alexander article. The teams that play deep into thepost season are HUGE, high quality athletes. It is a tribute to the character of our Zips that they hung with Gonzaga for more than thirty minutes. They were out sized and out athleted all the way. Watching Western Kentucky playing Illinois made me ponder how we would havefared against either of them. Not well, would be my speculation.Let us see how Bardo and Swiech do as juniors and seniors. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The potential is present in both men. It is up to them to do the work and bring it.

I will defend the coaches. I see these kids in practice. Neither of them puts in the effort necessary toexcel as a division one player. Bardo, more than Swiech works on his game. After two years of weighttraining Swiech still looks like the Pillsbury doughboy. You understand me up to this point?A coach can teach over and over. It is up to the player to develop. Under different circumstances, thatis, if the were a great need for their services the coaching staff would light an even larger bonfire undertheir azzes. They, not the coaches, play themselves on to the bench.Sure, I am darn disappointed that huge, wide body such as Steve Swiech puts so little effort into improving.It is on Steve to improve. And, frankly, he has not. Bardo seems to be making small gains. Mike needs to learn how to play like a big man. That is, keep theball high off the floor, be forceful, rebound, attack. Instead, Mike tends to lay back and let the game come to him. One player did greatly improve this year. Steve McNees. Frankly, I figured Steve for the deep end ofthe bench. He proved me wrong. He worked hard at his game. He became an important part of thesuccess story this season has been. Steve did a great job.In Zeke the coaches have what they have been looking for ... a student of the game. Zeke will deliverbecause he has the personal desire.

Keep in mind Zeke's raw potential. Now, factor in the excellent college level coaching of KD, JB, RM and TW. Zeke's best is front of him.This is the beginning, not the summit of Zips basketball.

That's an excellent idea.

I had to create a new topic. Way,way too much grousing and observations under the banner of ClevelandState. Since the topic has turned to Akron and not CSU, its high time to switch gears.We can break down what is happening into three categories. The past, the present and the future makethe categories. First, the past, KD has guided this program for five years. In that time the Zips have compiled a 115-51record. That includes two NIT appearances (winning the first round both times), an NCAA appearance,a Division title and the MAC Tourney title. A record that has eclipsed the Bob Huggins era againstbetter opponents with better results. After the humiliation of going 26-7 and no bid of any kind, theZips are not likely to be overlooked any time soon.That brings us to the present. A fine 23-13 season with a mere 14 home games, and two true Freshmenstarters. Mostly Sophomores and Freshmen with a bench so deep it is difficult to see the end. HadRonnie Steward been healthy and Humpty at the end, it is probable that the Zips would have faired evenbetter. One good thing came out of those injuries. Steve McNees "manned up". He wins my awardfor the most improved player. Steve, you did great.The player we missed the most is the one who opted out of the program. I am referring to Jeremy Sallee.Had Jeremy played this year (his senior year) he would have played far more minutes than he couldhave imagined. Jeremy, you left too soon.Lastly, the future, and the future is now. While we salivate over the coming of the "Game Changer",we need mind the store. The players need to stay focused and in the gym. Gym rats one and all.The preparation for next season and the seasons following begins right now. It begins in the weightroom and on the track. Run, baby, run. My father's words ring in my ears to this day, "lift and run, boy,lift and run". How true that is.Let us leave the scheduling to the coaches. They have a game plan. Thus far, their track recordspeaks well. If wins are more important than RPI (and they are despite some folks who knoweverything), then by all means, get the wins. Sure, I don't like playing the Little Sisters of the Poorany more than you do. The plan is home and home against high mid-majors. Its a tough sell.Consider Dayton. Win at home by two in double overtime and win at Akron by four against thegreenest Zips squad in a decade. Not easy to schedule good teams. Buy a few wins. Take one ortwo trips to high and mighty foes knowing the outcome (can you say PITT?). I like that the coacheswork hard to get into tournaments on neutral sites. Evens the odds at least.Me? I am rooting for Gonzaga all the way. They earned it.

Hey, I never mentioned any model. I have seen well executed and detailed drawings of a proposed11,000 seat arena planned for across the street from Canal Park. As I previously reported; thesedrawings have grown in detail and color since the early ones. Where there is smoke a fire usuallysoon follows.

Tidbits ...Rhode Island comes to Akron next year.The Zips travel to Temple with the Owls coming the following year.Most of the "ats" will show up in the JAR this year including Valpo and UNC-Greensboro.Akron will "buy" three to five home games to help the stats. Its wins, not RPI, that count.Dayton declined to extend. Perhaps another A-10 is on the horizon.Possible home-n-home with Wyoming. We go there next season.Do not look for a schedule that knocks your eyes out.Zips probably get a home game for the Bracket Buster.I almost envy Creighton. They beat a good Bowling Green team at home. Then,barely lost to Kentucky at home. Its a toss up. Lose to Gonzaga 2,500 miles away,or lose a close one at home to KENTUCKY. The NIT is looking strong.Remember this ... Gary Waters will NOT be the CSU coach by May first. CSU played with three seniors; as did Gonzaga. CSU fades back into the swamp. Cant will be the Zipsnemesis next season.

Yes, its a home game.No, its not a BCS school.In fact, its a I-AA program.

I hold up my paw as the fan who used the word "pussy". It was "pussy" .. as in a lame, weak azzed,a-hole as in Josh Higher-than-A-kite. The officials hooked him with a foul just once for all the pushingand shoving he did through out the game. After he was tagged with the foul call he started in on the refs. He chewed on them over and over. Soon enough he was getting foul calls on the Zips repeatedlyfor actions he initiated. He is a pussy.It was the main imbalance from the whistles. Mostly they called a fair game. Except that they cuddledthe over sized pussy. He committed foul after foul. He would hook his arm, twist the Zip player andthen flop. He likes to shove players from behind. Anyone notice that little trick? He is a pussy.Enough said. He is a pussy.

Its Saturday morning and I finally got past sleep depravation.I arrived back in Cleveland last night around ten PM from Seattle. Yes, I blew off two days of work.I do not get paid for time I do not work. I changed plans so many times it would make a greatcomedy film short. Even met a professional short film maker on the plane. What a co-inky-dink.It all began with the Tuesday night game against Toledo. Sad to say, but I lost my faith. I left the"Q" at 5:05 to play and the Zips down 62-50. I was seeing red. The poor play, the lack of drive, grit,you name it, had me fuming. I was so upset that I only turned the radio on for a few seconds to hear the score was 67-63. My feeble, crusted brain failed to make the obvious connection that theZips were in a dog fight.Waking the next morning after a poor night of sleep I was delightfully surprised to learn that the kidshad pulled it out in overtime. I vowed to myself to stick with the Zips no matter what the rest of theway. Even willing to travel to any post season game they could snag. Thursday, back in the "Q" after another fitful night of semi-sleep, I was delighted with the strongperformance the Zips laid on a good Miami team. Win number twenty-one meant that in all likelihood the NIT was a strong possibility. A berth in the NIT and a twenty plus win seasonclearly meant that the young Zips had over-achieved.Bowling Green Friday night in the real game for the MAC championship. Both the Zips and BGSU were pre-game betting odds favorites to defeat Buffalo. It took a while, but the Falcons eventuallysurrendered. Euphoric and adrenalin charged led to another semi-sleep night.Saturday night was mellow. I knew the Zips had a post season game locked up. If not the NCAAprize, surely the NIT. Yes, yes, I know that only one MAC school played in the NIT this year.Neither Buffalo or Cant had Akron's resume. If they had lost the MAC the NIT was a sure betto come calling. The Zips won easily and the dancing began.Sunday, after another adrenalin driven sleepless night found me at the packed Ohio Brewing Company.What an eruption when they announced the Zips opponent. Could there have been a better opponentfor the Zips than the Zags? The old man sitting at the table with me thought so. I wanted a "name"opponent. Heck, I thought the Zags were thee name opponent. No sleep Sunday night either. Frantic phone calls looking for a way to get to Portland. Up half thenight trying to find an affordable way. Settled on a rape job. Northworst, ala, skank Delta airline,gouged me for fifty thousand frequent flyer miles (there goes a sweet trip for two to Hawai'i).Fifty thousand is double the regular amount. Delta dogs were not done gouging. They laid a $130redemption fee on top of the double mileage rip off. I was not pleased. Worse, the trip only tookme to Seattle. That meant driving to Portland.Next came getting a rental car. A sweet lady on the phone found me a nice weekend package for $55 that would later blow up in my face. A call to hotels.com found me a cheap room over in Vancouver, WA for $45. Clean, with cable TV (which never left ESPN), shampoo, etc. Nicedeal. Fifteen minutes from the arena. It was one of the better points of the trip as neither hotels.com or the motel ripped me off like Delta and later Alamo would.On ZipsNation I sort of learned that Portland was only 120-130 miles from Seattle. WRONG.Try 168 miles airport to the Rose Garden. Did you know that Portland is the "Rose City"?I did not see any roses. There were lots of rose bushes planted around the arena. As we stoodoutside the arena there were plenty of flowers. Dandelions, daffodils, snow drops, crocuses, andeven freshly planted pansy's were in bloom all over the place. Driving in the rain (it rained 90 percent of the time out there) in heavy, rush hour traffic for a hundredand sixty eight miles is a genuine treat. If, you have nerves of steel. Washington has its own peculiar type of driver, and I saw lots of them. This was verified for me by an Akron grad who nowlives in Seattle. The drivers literally "park" in the high speed lane. They drive right around thespeed limit, sometimes a couple of MPH faster or slower. And neither heaven or hell can get themto switch lanes. The traffic backs up for a mile behind them. Frustrating. I learned four new swearwords.The game ... the kids played their hearts out. I will criticize none of them. For the most part even the refs were tolerable. Except for the favoritism constantly given to "mushroom man", Higher-than-a-kite-felt. Our kids were mauled by him and then whistled for a foul. That annoyed me.Fifty-one all with 8:32 to play. The Zips hung tough. The future looks promising. Now, if we canonly get some opponents. Had to chuckle. When the Zags began to pull away a couple of theirfans taunted us a bit. I responded, "we have a 99 RPI, what's yours?" (its four)I saw more Prisius (don't kare if eye spell it right) than you can shake a stick at. A lot of them withobama bumper stickers. California has moved north. Every time I saw one I thought of Jeff Dunhamand Achmed the dead terrorist. I thought of Achmed a lot.One last thing .. one of player's sister, niece, friend had a great sign that she held up and none of youever saw on TV. In a salute to her, the Zips, our wonderful traveling fans .. it read "I'm Rather Be A Zip Than A Zag"

Brudda,Read you zippy messages ... dun leb jew my cell numberda Zippy

The other evening these talking heads were ranting against Dick Vitale who very much wantsthe "lesser" schools to have more representation in the tournament.At one point they called on Bobby Knight to state his view. They quickly regretted that move. Knightsuggested expanding the tournament to 128 teams. With a surprise kicker ... play the first round atthe lower seed's house. That is, the #4 plays at the #13. I have made this argument for years. Be more inclusive and play the first round at the smallerschool from the smaller conference. Reverse RPI seeding if you will. Plenty of excitement, getsthe snot noses out of their ivory towers and kicks Jay Balless right in the crotch.

I heard from a creditable source that the Zips will NOT take on a fourth BCS opponent,home or away. Boise State would be a nice non-BCS possibility.

Count me in. The ticket office promised me a ticket. That's scary since they twice messed upduring the MAC Tourney.I plan to head for Seattle early Thursday. Arriving around 11 AM their time. Getting a car anddriving down. Will take riders or ride with some one if possible.I would like to stay at the same hotel as the team. Is it the DoubleTree?I plan to return Sunday, but will try to come home earlier if we lose.Leave a message on this thread if you are heading to Seattle.

What an incredible journey this week has been. For the past several nights I have been running on four hours sleep. The guys at work are all pulling for the Zips even though none of them have madethe drive to the "Q".The kids have been terrific. They combine heart, passion, intensity, desire, soul with their athleticskills. There has been a huge monkey on the Zips back. It is high time to kick this sucker to the curb.Is it fun to read the detractors? So many anti-Akron opinions to chuckle over. They do not really believe we are any good, just lucky. Most of our opponents would not even take one of our playersif he were available. Isn't that strange?Couple of our opponents players were outstanding against us. Jonathon Amos played his heart out.He carried Toledo to a near upset. Michael Bramos lit us up. No one defended him well. Then comesNate Miller who fortunately only hammered us for a half. Every time a Zip defender backed off hima half a step he launched ... with success. Scary.Our kids are playing excellent basketball. Seems like they are peaking. Have to wonder if we can get an NIT bid if we falter tonight. BGSU had that NIT ticket in their pocket. I am jealous. I do notwant this to end.Cant and Miami both still have a shot at some post season tourney, so do the Zips. The beat down we took after the loss to Miami in the conference championship game still haunts us. Twenty-six andseven and we stayed home. We are not staying home this time unless we choose to.My prediction: The Zips go dancing tonight.

I thought that the officiating crew doing the Akron-Bowling Green game were a lot better team thannearly all the officials Akron has seen all year.

Laughing my head off ... what a jerk this Van DeLay person is.Any one with passion for the game other than a supporter of Van DeLay's own team is a this or a that.Here's a tip. If you do not know what is going on ... don't make up or embellish stories ... just keep itto yourself.I was one of those awful Zips fans sitting right behind this knucklehead. In fact, Phil McKnight and myself spoke frequently to each other during the course of the game. I consider the entire McKnight family friends.As for Phil constantly yelling "Integrity of the game" I agree with him. Apparently Van DeLay or whoever this hack writer is does not know much about Akron sports. Nor does he understand the neverending bias against Akron by MAC officials. (I will get called out on this as whining, be that it as it may).Phil is correct. The officials in the MAC tend to pick a favored team (in their eyes) and often call aone sided game. That happens to more teams than just Akron. Akron does have a legitimate beef.Just look at the Singletary affair. The referees originally tried to hurry that game along. None of thethree called a foul on Singletary despite an obvious injury. It was only after the huge uproar that theybothered to review the tape. Lo and behold, Singletary did commit a flagrant foul.Even so, many non-Akron fans still tossed up lame excuses claiming that Linhart was flopping or faking. That it was a touch foul. That it was an isolated incident. Nonsense. Nonsense just like the pap rolling off Van DeLay's keyboard. When you do not know the facts ... shut up. Works for me.Leaving after the Akron-Miami game I spoke with several RedHawk fans. The conversation started with complimenting them on their great and chuck full of integrity head coach ... Charly Coles.The conversation got around to Chris Singletary. Singletary has no friends in Oxford. SeveralMiami players have suffered bodily harm from Singletary. So much so that the coaching staff atMiami officially reported Singletary to the league. Now, Van DeLay take this tip and dig up the truth;if you dare. You wont because you lack any personal integrity. That is why you are a hack and willnever be a creditable journalist. Like your pink slip, your biases are all too easy to see.

Mom, That kid is not getting enough power lasagna.

Most of you posters are over looking one important factor. Geno Ford has known for at least a coupleof years what kind of a person Chris Singletary is. Ford choose accepting Singletary's athletic skillsover any sort of integrity.Ford himself has no personal integrity. The proof is that Singletary has been brutalizing opposing players all season. And little was done to curb his behavior. What did Nate Linhart do to Singletary in one minute on the court to warrant such a vicious attack?I am disappointed in Ford, Laing Kennedy and Rick Chryst. All of them have known for a long time thatSingletary was a time bomb. Still, they did nothing. They let it happen by the fact that Singletary was inuniform and on that court at that time.They did not need to remove Singletary for what might happen. They needed to remove him becausepast events that did happen. All of them knew all along it was only a matter of time.

Phil McKnight (Chris and Brett's father) often yells out to the referees "Integrity of the game".Today I witnessed the classic lack of integrity of the game officials. Early in the game Kant playerChris Singletary slugged Nat Linhart with a closed fist. Ninety per cent of the fans in the building sawthe punch. None of the three referees saw the blow. It was only by persistent cries of out rage fromthe Akron bench and fans that the officials decided to review the game video. There was Linhart laying on the floor writhing in pain and these three jerks ( need I be any politer?)were pushing for continuance. No foul was their collective call. Are you kidding me? Even the Crap Ufans were in shock. Was the king of thugs about to get away with another one? He almost did.The referees looked at the video monitor for several minutes trying to determine what they, the three,evil, blind mice might have missed. Obviously they missed something. After review they saw theirlucrative future officiating paychecks drifting off into the wild blue yonder if they did not take action.Now, none of us in the (sic) gym got a look at the video. But, you can bet those peckerwoods realizedthat they had to take action if they ever wanted to referee a college game in the future. And with,gulp, extra pay tournament action blowing in the wind they manned up and ejected Chris, the a-hole,Singletary. A player who, if Geno Ford actually had gonads would have been dismissed from theteam prior to the start of the season.Ford showed his lack of personal integrity by letting this THUG beat up on opponents all seasonfor the sake of Ford's personal gain. Ford, you have no integrity. You are a disgrace to your profession.You three gutless officials were want to keep Singletary in the game until the replay showed that all ofyou would no longer be officiating if the bum was allowed to stay in the game.Shamefully the officials called several ticky-tacky calls on the Zips through out the entire first half to help suave the Cant wounds. Shame again.In the second half Brandon, becoming a thug, Parks clearly punched Nate Linhart in the face knockingNate to the floor. No call. NO CALL!!!! If Parks did that on a public street he would have beencharged with battery. A crime you nit wit. I would hope that that "no call" will get those three actorsout of their zebra suits for the MAC tourney. They saw the punch. They just did not want to furtherdamage their beloved Felon U. What a farce ... integrity of the game.Any one who was at the Saturday game between the Akron and Cant women or watched it on TVknows how utterly and shamelessly biased the officials were in their support of Felon U.And you ... COW ...lousy ... you are every bit as much of an a-hole as Singletary is. Shame ...!!!!

The PD article on Mack (the same one that gives him credit for the fieldhouse, so I can't be sure of the accuracy) says we're renovating the JAR. Maybe we're removing the corners to give the upper section a rounded look. Maybe we're removing the track (it causes the biggest amounts of complaints) and having the seating go all the way up. I have no idea what it could be, but I know that it's supposedly going to start very shortly after this basketball season is finished, which is good timing. Renovated JAR + Zeke = very good year for basketball.Time to weigh in.A) The four pillars in the corners support the weight of the roof. They CANNOT be moved. Thus, the corners are nearly worthless for seating.B ) The seating can be increased by eliminating the indoor track. Also, the end zones offer good possibilities, especially if the AK-Rowdies would grow in the number of regularly participating students.C) There is an ongoing study to build a NEW arena. Current proposal is to build an eleven thousand seat facility directly across the street from Canal Park. There is some squabbling about whether to make a basketball only arena or one that would include a hockey rink. From the four color drawings I have seen it would be a winner as a basketball only facility. Note: Over the past several months the quality and quantity of these drawings have gone from pen and ink to the quality four color drawings like those used to promote the football stadium.D) If I were a betting man (and I am) I would bet that a new arena with in five years is a much more likely prospect than a renovated JAR. You can put lipstick on pig and it will still be a pig.

Cripe ...!!! I'm so damned old I had to look up "wet dream" in the dictionaryto figure what the hell it was.And they claim that your memory is first to go.Go Zips ... !!!!Go Zeke ... !!!!Go Trevor ... !!!!

Frankly, I do not see any cupcakes remaining on the schedule. NIU proved to Cant Skate that theydare not be taken likely. Sunday up in DeKalb will be a severe test.I think the Zips will not lose any game, if any, at least until they get into the East wars again. Playing at Cant and Buffalo will de tough, tough games.Sorry, Valpo fan, the Zips are likely to steam roller right over the Crusaders. Two teams going indifferent directions. And, forget next year. The Zips return nine of their ten man rotation and addthe seven footer, a six-eight power forward and two outstanding guards. The Zips will be huge anddeep at every position.Hopefully the Zips got the stumble out of their system last night against Ball State.