GoZips

Z.I.P., old buddy, old pal, your aging memory fails you. The Zips and VCU met on the hardwood just twice. In the 1969-70 timeframe Akron lost both homeand away by two and four points. The Zips were a college division team at the time. I do not know if VCU was.As for Old Dominion, there is no record of Akron having played them. Roanoke, however, played the Zips five times with Akron claiming four victorys. The one lossis a game the Zips gladly would have swapped all four of the victorys for. On March 17, 1972 the Zips LOST a heart breaker to Roanoke in the National Championshipgame. The Zips won all four of a double home-home series through the mid seventies.

Natty, that loss at Winthrop was an embarrassment. The Zips led by ten with four minutes to play. They suffered a meltdown getting out played to the tuneof 23-3 over the final four minutes. Shame on us. Note worthy is that two players in the current rotation were not eligible for that game. Brett McKnight, a truefreshman, and Darryl Roberts a sophomore who has sat out the last year and a half due to academics are now in the last part of what has become an eleven manrotation.Please do not see the Cant game as a six point loss. That is deceiving. The true score with eight seconds to play was 69-67 Cant. A series of bizarre events awardedCant six free throws and the Zips two free throws. All the players involved made all the free throws, thus the final margin. Since two technicals were called onAkron and just one on Cant they received the ball with 2.9 seconds to play. Cant was not assessed a technical inspite of their fans throwing numerous objects onto the playing floor. Emotions run high. It was ugly.

woot, perfectly stated.As for revealing who claims that Nik Cvetinovic is the third best player in Virginia I have to take the high road that CAP'N K so often takes ... because I said so. FranklyI do not care to reveal my source as I like keeping open lines of communications. Paths that quickly close when you start bandying about certain persons name.CAP'N K ... I understand now your "because I said so". Here I am forced to take the same high road lest my great sources become past tense.DISTRICT probably is being honest (to a degree) when he claims VCU signed a POY. Now I do not have knowledge of how many classes/divisions Virginia has fortheir HS system. Here in Ohio there are six divisions. There will be a Player of the Year in each division. Most likely we will get two POY (Hitchens and Sullivan)of those six divisions. DISTRICT did not claim to have garnered the Virginia Mr. Basketball which would be the over all top player in Virginia. BJ Mullins will get the Ohio Mr. Basketball thanks to the usual politics. What the hell do sports hacks know anyway? Those free buffets at Suckeye U are mightytasty. And, if you are a hack writer you wont be grazing there next year if you do not prop the Suckies number one recruit.For grins and giggles ... Koufos (sp) or some other tosu recruit received the Mr. Basketball award given by the hacks. Brett McKnight was voted the best HS playerin Ohio by the HS Coaches Association. Young Mr. McKnight is not attending oversized U.Since DISTRICT claims that VCU signed a POY that means that the player is already at VCU as this season's POYs have not been announced. Nor could they be until all tournaments are completed. Capese? I would tend to believe that Cvetinovic will be the POY of his division in Virginia. He sure has the numbers in points,rebounds, blocks and steals to warrant such an honor. Virginia POYs this year (2007-08) are not yet named. Maybe this kid was a POY last year as a junior. Whichis one heck of an accomplishment. Last player in Ohio to do that went straight to the NBA. Oh, and he was Ohio's Mr. Basketball three years running.All three of Akron's Ohio early signees are probably going to be first team all state. They are all having great senior years. Thus, I again have to wonder about DISTRICT's claims about signing three first team kids from Florida. Now since I know a fair bit about recruiting do to my past I find it difficult to accept that a kid in Florida let alone three kids who were first team all state as juniors would sign with any mid-major let alone one 800 miles away. That type of kid signs with high majors.With six divisions in Ohio HS basketball that translates to thirty first team all state kids. Of note, Steve Swiech was a first team all stater in Pennsylvania (wheresuch an honor is far more difficult to achieve due the number of schools than it is in Virginia). We know where Steve is. Steve is red shirted future Zip star.

District, this pains me to do. You seem to ignore facts, especially facts that contradict your preconceived baloney. You wrote, "I was not the one posting on the opponents board several days before the match ups were announced touting a VCU match up." Fact: I wrote on yourboard several days before the pairings were announced that I would like an Akron vs. VCU match up. Looks like I called it right on the money. Give me credit formaking a wise and accurate analysis. Instead you try to make it sound like I did not know what I was talking about. Truth is, I did know. I even posted beforeany CAA poster where VCU and G. Mason would be playing. Again, I was 100% correct. Give props for those who are more wiser than you are. Trash me becauseI am wiser than you? That is pathetic.You wrote: " Again, can I please get the name of said recruit?" Fact: Nikola Cvetinovic's name was posted on this thread less than an hour before you asked thequestion. Can't you retain what you read? In a response I posted, "an Akron fan mentioned Nikola Cventinovic on the CAA board. A poster claimed he never heardof Nik. Odd, Nik is rated as the third best HS player in Virginia. Not third best in his conference, not third best in his division, but third best player over all in Virginia.I would say that the Zips found a pretty decent player over in Lynchburg. Six-seven, 240#, averaging over 20 ppg and often pulls down double-doubles. Hmmmmm"You wrote, "Didn't stop us from having a superior recruiting class to any team in your conference". That's nice. That recruiting class shows potential. It does notautomagically translate into on the court performance. Zips fans are deeply impressed by what our coaching staff has done with our recruits. Almost to a manthey have far exceed what critics claimed they could produce. I for one am quite pleased with our kids. Soon, you will be, too.You wrote, "You don't think you should consider the same? You've never beaten us before, you are 0-2 in the series against us." Fact: Not one of the players on eitherteam was alive when those two games were played. Also, in 1970 Akron was a college division program (equivalent to today's division 2.) I think that VCU was a university division program (equivalent to today's division one) in those days. Both games were close according to the final scores.I suggest that you get beyond Scout and Rivals for sources on a kid's abilities. No college coach in his right mind recruits off either of those two lame operations. Therehas to be at least a dozen basketball scouting services that far exceed either of those web sites. They are for fans, NOT, coaches. Good scouting services charge severalhundred dollars per season for their analysis. Try subscribing to a couple of chum up to the VCU coaches ask them to let you look through their purchased copies.Also, you can google "rick bolus" and see his over views for free. You will find that three of Akron's incoming class are ranked between twelfth and twentieth in Ohio.

District, apparently you have an inferiority complex. You have to find fault with everything. Then you twist it to attempt to prove something you do not knowanything about.Case in point, you keep referring to the RPI as if it were some golden and pure measuring stick. It is not. It is a lie. It proves nothing. Last year Akron had an RPI better than eleven teams admitted to the NCAA tournament. These were all at large bids. The claim the selection committee was not the 26 wins, or the 13 wins on the road, it was our SOS. It is all a sham. and when VCU gets screwed by those old a-holes, do not come here for sympathy.I am going to bed. I am tired of dealing with a twelve year old.

Let's be honest. VCU will give a good game. They have a lot of talent and they are a program on the rise. I expect they will win the CAA. The only competition theyface is from George Mason. The Zips on the other hand has a tough in conference schedule ahead of them We still have to face, Ohio, Miami, BGSU and WesternMichigan on the road. That is not unlike facing George Mason four times, all on the road. Throw in Cant here and that makes it five times.I realize that CAA people have little knowledge of the MAC. Too bad, as the MAC is a tough, hard nosed dog fight of a conference.Sadly, they buy into the RPI crap like it is caviar. Its fish eggs, that's all.

skip-zip, an Akron fan mentioned Nikola Cventinovic on the CAA board. A poster claimed he never heard of Nik. Odd, Nik is rated as the third best HS playerin Virginia. Not third best in his conference, not third best in his division, but third best player over all in Virginia.I would say that the Zips found a pretty decent player over in Lynchburg. Six-seven, 240#, averaging over 20 ppg and often pulls down double-doubles. Hmmmmm.

Oh, one more thing ... at Akron basketball is a contact sport.

DISTRICT, with all due respect, you are completely in over your head.You, like you fellow CAA folks, put way, way too much stock in the lame assed RPI system. RPI and SOS are so phony. Akron could have a nifty RPI if they whoredthemselves out by going to a big name program and taking a loss on the road. Many mid-majors take this route to boost their RPI. Cant, Ohio and Miami are amongthem. Akron takes a different route with scheduling. Here the long term plan is to gradually build a solid OOC schedule playing home-home series with the topmid-major programs. This takes awhile and often does not look pretty. But, its working. We know who we are. And, we know that our kids are one of the bestprograms in the country. Most big time coaches would never come to our house for several reasons. Not the bullcrap you want to spew. Akron is a tough outwhich you are about to find out. Its going to pain you.Pointing out such nonsense as the Zips are losing four seniors next. Who cares? Not us. We reload all the time. We are almost entirely crafted from high schoolrecruits. There are no bums, no dirty players, no short cut takers or kids failing in the classroom. This program is built very much like Mark Few's Gonzaga.We run an eleven man rotation. That is why I offered on your CAA board a link to the latest box score. Instead of reviewing the total stat line you have a posterthat claims we ran up the score because we scored 80 points. Which all the Akron readers know is nonsense. The Zips could easily scored over 100 points. Checkthe play by play and learn that the kids led by 26 with 6:29 to play (71-45). We win by 19. We scored nine points the last six minutes because it was all our walk ons.Akron does not run up scores. By the same token even the walk ons are allowed to play their best. Fact. The walk ons were told to run the clock down the lastfour minutes of the game. To the dismay of the fans who get free BBQ wings from a local restaurant if the Zips put up 80 points. A senior walk on nailed a treyat the end of the game to get the wings for the fans.What years we were in post season play or how we faired has no bearing on these kids. You are ignorant and not a real basketball fan when you diss the kidsfor being snubbed with 26-7 record. That was an insult to ALL mid-major programs by a pack of evil old men all from big name conferences. Wisely Akron hascapitalized on this flagrant insult by getting better programs to finally negotiate series. You CAA people brag about beating Duke in the tournament. Posters on this board know that last season I was begging for a play in game against Duke. I knewthen that we could easily beat them. So, your beating Duke means little to me. They were ripe for a fall. They flat out sucked and I am glad VCU beat them.Be sure and come to the VCU-Akron game. You are in for a shock. This place is not next of kin to Chicken Little.Here is a suggestion: Beat our ass before you run your mouth. My prediction. VCU loses twice, this year and next.

Posted on the CAA board early this afternoon:The Missouri Valley Conference and the Horizon League will take center stage in late February on ESPN's BracketBuster weekend, the network announced Monday. Both conferences will have five teams represented, including the marquee matchup of current Horizon League leader Butler (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today) taking on the Valley's top team Drake (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today) on Feb. 23. Among the other big games that weekend, all three current Mid-American co-leaders are in action including Akron hosting CAA leader Virginia Commonwealth, Can't State traveling to face No. 23 Saint Mary's and Ohio entertaining the CAA's 2006 Final Four participant, George Mason. In other games, Winthrop hosts Davidson, the Southern Conference's top team, while Rider (10-2 in the MAAC) takes on Cal State Northridge (7-1 in the Big West). In total, 28 teams will square off on ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com and ESPN Classic on Feb. 22-24. With the Valley and Horizon leading the way with five schools playing in BracketBuster weekend, the Mid-American has four participants while the MAAC and WAC have three schools each. The CAA and Big West have two teams apiece while the Southern, Big South, Summitt and West Coast conferences have one school represented. The times and networks for each game will be unveiled on Monday, Feb. 11. BracketBuster Weekend ScheduleFriday, Feb. 22Marist at Cleveland StateDavidson at Winthrop Saturday, Feb. 23VCU at AkronSiena at Boise StateUW-Milwaukee at BradleyDrake at ButlerRider at Cal State NorthridgeGeorge Mason at OhioCreighton at Oral RobertsCan't State at Saint Mary'sNevada at Southern IllinoisUC Santa Barbara at Utah StateMiami (OH) at Valparaiso Sunday, Feb. 24Wright State at Illinois State

zipboy, I agree with you. However, the CAA posters see us as bastard step children. Red headed ones at that.Boy are they in for a surprise.

Learned this afternoon that the Zips have a high probability of facing either George Mason or Virginia Commonwealth in the Bracket Buster.Posters on the Colonial blog board are lamenting having to play the lowly Zips.If any of you feel like stepping over and offering an earful here is the link: http://caazone.com/boards/Fair warning. It is a bit difficult to get an account and use it on that board. I continue to have trouble with it.

uakronkid, I was there. The girls are definitely improving. They were down by eight after a dagger trey with about eight minutes to play. They stormed back.It was a satisfying win. They deserve more than 200 on hand. I think I saw a couple of AK-Howdies there. Well, these guys qualify as genuine Rowdies.Laura Stevenson is no longer with the team. She had been a starter all season.More cavalry is arriving next year. Like the men recruits the four future Lady Zips are having banner years I was told today.

BLUE & GOLD ... nice find. Keep up the good work.I agree with most of the posters that an arena similar to this one would be great for the Zips. As one poster wisely mused, it would need to be slightly larger. Say on the order of 12-14,000.As for filling the Jar first that would be a mistake. At 4,500 the JAR gets uncomfortable. That alone keeps fans away.I predict that a 12,000 seat arena would yield average attendance around six to seven thousand. A larger arena also gives Akron the capacity to schedule "big time"opponents. These newer arenas do not have hard wooden pews. Rather they have all chair backs and are far more comfortable.Next time let's get a proven arena designer. The JAR is a monstrosity.One last thing. Certain features of the JAR play into the Zips favor. The closeness of the seating to the floor. The tight feeling because of the angle of incline of theseats, The limited openings in the walls helps keep the noise in. Make it a large, tight band box with good amenities on the perimeter. Make it a walk in at groundlevel like the football stadium. Certainly far more and larger restrooms and concessions. A team shop up front and easily accessible by car on non-game days.

Southern Illinois and Cleveland State both lost tonight. This will move the Zips ahead of both teams in the RPI.It should improve the quality of Bracket Buster opponent. It also probably moved the Zips back into an ESPN2 TV game.The Zips should now have the sixth best RPI of the Bracket Buster home teams.With Nevada losing it becomes likely that the potential opponents for the Zips has been narrowed to Virginia Commonwealth,Wright State and Davidson. Best bet is VCU.

How does Cant's loss at Toledo affect the Bracket Buster? And the RPI?Cant was sitting pretty with an RPI of 37 well ahead of George Mason at 50.Toledo currently holds an RPI of 208 after losing to the Zips. The Zips gained no ground by ripping Toledo.The reverse is true for Cant. Losing to a 208 RPI will sag them badly.The questions become will Cant fall beyond George Mason; will Akron be pulled ahead of Cleveland Stateand Southern Illinois? There could be major ramifications regarding the Bracket Buster pairings if this is the case.While George Mason may not move up but one position to 49, Cant could easily fall in the mid fifty's.This could change who either team would be paired with. George Mason and Akron benefit from Cant's loss.Even though the Zips would get on a fractional improvement it should be sufficient to move ahead ofCleveland State and quite possibly Southern Illinois.The reason the Bracket Buster selection committee waits until after today's games is because today'sgames matter in their decision process. If it does not then ESPN is as crooked as the zebras.

Holy Toledo (Rockets), Batman ... !!!!The Toledo Rockets successfully defended their home floor with a stunning 59-56 upset of Cant State.A beautiful full court outlet pass to the basket followed by a shattering two handed dunk with 00:00.1on the clock gives the Rockets a victory celebrated as much in Akron as in Toledo.Stan Joplin (Toledo's coach) for President. They may want to fire him after Toledo's humblingloss at Akron last Wednesday, but, we sure do not. Go Stan, go.This will shake the RPIs up a bit.Hambone is not dancing tonight.Oh, and Chris (hic) Singletary played for the Cant Staters. A lot of class Mr. Christian has.Singletary has been re-instated pending his trial which has been scheduled for June. he he

No offense GP1, but a cynic doubts while a pessimist is adamant. Unfortunately I see no doubting. You are quite adamant in your views.Truth be told, GP1 is a a dyed in the wool Zips fan. I have a friend who knows who GP1 is. He claims that GP1 is a former Zip footballer player (probably from theleather helmet and brass knuckles days). GP1 is not going to like this, BUT, he is financially a heavy contributor to the Zips athletic programs. My friend says GP1 is a lot of poiant bluster. Since I like myfriend quite a bit I accept his viewpoint as valid. GP1 you big teddy bear.Ahem, Temple might well draw 69,000 playing Penn State at Veterans Stadium. The rub is that 68,000 are wearing blue and white, Same goes for playing Rutgers.I remember when Akron was an 8,000 student city school. My own Dad tried to get me to accept a scholarship from Akron. I went to "bigger" school instead.Still, today I hold my degree from then lowly Akron. Things have changed. The school has grown tremendously. I am proud of Akron. I support the programswith money and my voice. I believe that GP1 does also. Only he chooses a style that he enjoys.

Brett nets 17 in a poor shooting (7 of 24) night in a loss to an arch rival.Not A Good PerformanceNitro Runs Out Of GasBrett Gets 21 In A WinBrett Gets 24 In A LossNote: This was four games in five nights. These kids are as tough as the coal miners.

Andy's team, NORTHMONT, is now 16-1 for the season.Dayton News is stingy with their high school coverage.

I love a player that is tough as a box of rocks. Read this article and find out what Nik is bringing to Akron.Nik gets 26 in a game where his team wins 38-37. Do the math. VES in conference opponent had beaten VES earlier this season. VES is now 13-5. Has a statement two handed dunk.Rock Tough

Humpty gets 26 in limited minutes.BlowoutHumpty gets 33 last WednesdayHumpty Has A Hot Hand

Bracket buster selections begin Sunday. Monday we learn who we play and what TV format we get.All the main players have one or no game to play before the selection takes place. At this point it is quite difficult to improve or erode a program's position in the creepy RPI or other measuring tools. Looks like the Zips are locked into the seventh or eighth place among home teams.The likely opponents should be selected from Virginia Commonwealth, Wright State, Nevada and Davidson. Nevada's current RPI is 77. If the Zips get an opponentwith any lower RPI they got screwed. Getting George Mason or Creighton would be a major plus.If the Zips win Saturday they improve their position. If Cleveland State loses Saturday they hurt themselves to the point of falling behind the Zips. The same holdstrue for Southern Illinois. SIU has a tough road game against Northern Iowa. CSU is on the road to a weak Loyola IL. To Loyola's credit they beat a good Valpoteam recently.The loss to Central Michigan really marginalizes the Zips chances of getting an ESPN2 TV game. Right now ESPN Classic is more likely. An ESPNU game wouldbe a bad sign. BracketBoard.com predicts it is the Zips verses Nevada on ESPN2. Historically they have an excellent prediction record.Cant at Toledo Saturday on Fox Sports Ohio at noon. Got to root for the fizzlers. Oh, that's the Rockets. A UT poster on their board claimed that the Rockets havemuch better talent than does Akron. He claimed that Stan Joplin needs to be fired as he was out coached and lost with better players. Question: any of you see that?

For those of you who appear to be a bit confused ... read what the CAP'N wrote carefully. He has it nailed. And I totally agree about Brett McKnight. I love the kid. Still he has to play defense. Brett has not learned the Zips defense to this point. Give him time. Also, he was played out of position. Brett is a three man. While he can and will play the four in the future, today the power forward is beyond him. Give him time.What was gratifying was watching Mike Bardo step up and play the post. His presence really hurt Toledo. True he scored no points. Last night we did not need pointsfrom Bardo. After the game J Wood told his step-Dad that Mike did a heck of a job. I was chatting with his stepfather when Jeremiah joined our conversation.Jeremiah was pleased with the overall performance of his team mates. J was in excellent spirits.Nate Linhart is the MVP. What started out as a joke has evolved into a great prophesy. Look for Nate to be the team leader next season.Have the Zips gotten the bad performances out of their collective system? I sure hope so. That first half was agonizing. Here, read the Toledo Blade and seehow the other side saw the game. To their beat writer the Zips had nothing to do with Toledo losing. Ahem.Bleat, bleat, bleat

XU, according to what I have read the selection takes place on February third. The matches are made, agreed to, time slots for TV determined. Then on February fourthESPN announces the TV game schedule and match ups. The non-TV games pairing are then determined and announced a day or two later. Bear in mind that on atleast two previous years the pairings announcements were delayed a day or two.Since the Zips are currently eighth in the home team's RPI they will get a TV game. There are fourteen TV games in total.uakronkid has no faith that a Nevada verses Akron rematch will occur. I am not so sure that it is out of the question. While ESPN might like to find different pairingsfor both schools it is still a match up of interest. Personally, I still prefer Virginia Commonwealth to play the Zips. The folks at the Colonial blog have the Zips matchedup with Marist. That would play well along the east coast.The Bracket Board has an excellent reputation for being accurate with their past predictions.Steve French on his TV show adamantly stated that no Missouri Valley team will play any MAC team in the B/B. I tend to agree with him.I just want us to a Bracket Buster game with an opponent that will have a decent RPI next season when we go there. Both Niagara and Austin Peay have hurt theZips RPI in the past the next year.