GJGood

I'd love to see the Zips start to be more of a player in recruiting kids from Central Ohio. There is a lot of talent down here in my part of the state. The behemoth local university doesn't seem to pull a lot of players from their close-in back yard and although a number of area players go to MAC schools it isn't usually Akron (there are exceptions with Aaron Jackson, Nate Linhart, and the McKnights come to mind).

Yes, I always feel that way but this year I just kept hearing people calling MSU a Cinderella and to me that glass slipper just didn't fit. They were a team that went to the title game in a P5 conference and have been to multiple Final Fours recently.

The tournament ended for me when the only "Cinderella" left in the field was a team that has been in six Final Fours in 15 years.

Why go with the two hand dunk at all? Just lay the ball in. It is still two points and a two possession game in the waning seconds. Why give the officials any potential reason to call anything?

Keep winning at least two every weekend and find a way to peak at tourney time and things could get pretty interesting.

I saw the game. Of course its only my opinion but I thought the technical was clearly deserved. He not only hung on the rim but pulled himself up and swung his legs out horizontally. If he had just hung and dropped it may not have been called. It was the showboating nature of it that drew the 'T'. In fact when he landed he immediately looked at the official on the baseline half expecting that he was going to call the 'T'. He didn't, however, an official behind the play did. The one with Zeke a few years ago against NDSU in the BracketBusters game was more of a 50/50 call in my opinion. It almost looked like Zeke would have crashed his head into the backboard had he not held onto the rim on that occasion.

Did anyone else watch how our archrival's season ended last night? It was quite a game. It has been a long time since I have team up five with 30 seconds left in overtime end up losing, especially when the losing team only missed one free throw the entire game. Northern Arizona had a steal and a blocked shot in the last 30 seconds that led to two layups. Simply unbelievable. http://www.collegeinsider.com/2015/2015-round3-Can't State-nau-recap.pdf

I admit that I don't know who the best guy for the QB job is. I do think, however, that it isn't unusual to see a QB not start 'clicking' until after he has had 15 to 25 games under his belt. Some guys don't need that initial experience and some do. The patient approach also allows the QB to learn the more intricate nuances of the system and/or for the offense to be tweaked toward the ability of the QB. This isn't about Pohl specifically I just generally hate to see a revolving door at the QB position. It rarely works out well when you are continually changing the QB. You only have to look a little north to the team that plays on Sundays to see this. With early draft picks every year and people paid to evaluate talent you can't tell me they haven't had a single very good QB in 15 years. The constant changing of signal callers has definitely hurt them. I know college is different in that guys can only be around and playing for four years but I just don't want to see the Zips become the Browns of the MAC.

If they'd be willing to make the commitment to moving up to FBS would schools like Illinois State, Murray State, or Eastern Kentucky be worth considering? I admit I know very little about their athletic budgets and their ability to make such a move going forward.

That event looks like a lose-and-done type of format. Why wouldn't they just make it a three game guarantee situation with the eight teams involved like they often do with college tourneys? I mean they already have to have the time set aside in case they win, right? That is a long way for some high school teams to go to potentially only play 32 minutes of basketball. Still, I 'll have to remember to watch to see Agba.

The only thing I don't like about UMass leaving is the 'preferred scheduling' arrangement I believe the MAC was supposed to have with them pertaining to the other sports. I would've liked to have seen an Akron-UMass home and home series in basketball.

In that VCU game we also had a team which, was stricken by the flu bug and the opposing coach was much more familiar with what Akron does than just about any other coach in the nation would be. I honestly think that year it was the absolute worst possible draw Akron could've gotten. I also liked drawing Notre Dame for the matchup possibilities but I did think it was a slap in the face to the entire MAC that the conference champ was a 15 seed, especially since it was the year after OU went to the sweet 16.

Currently EMU is down 16 early in the second half at Louisiana-Monoe. CMU lost at La Tech in the NIT last night. Western Michigan got absolutely drilled 86-57 by Cleveland State in Kalamazoo in the CiT. With Toledo and Akron declining their postseason opportunities, if the EMU score holds the MAC will be down to only Buffalo in the NCAA and Can't State, which won 68-56 over Middle Tennessee down in the Blue Raiders arena tonight.

No guarantee they would've gotten the same pairing but how awesome would it have been if Akron had won the title and drew former head coach Huggins and the Mountaineers just down I-71?

I remember two NIT wins for the Zips, both on the road followed by highly competitive road losses on short turn arounds their next time out. Ending Florida State's season as well as ending Temple coach John Cheney's career are still two of my favorite Zips basketball memories.

Am I the only one that thinks Pohl didn't look too bad when we were going with an up-tempo no huddle offense? It just seemed like he bogged down when the tempo and play calling slowed down. If we go fast on offense I still think Pohl would be a pretty decent option at QB. Of course I don't know as much about the other guys as most on here seem to know.

I know most people tend to focus on the big names, or lack thereof, on the out of conference schedule but I tend to think of it from the opposite end. Sure, I'd like to see another bigger name opponent or two on our schedule to try to notch 'quality wins' but to me the bigger issue is just how lowly ranked some of the teams the Zips play in the JAR are. More than anything else I just want to see the Zips quit hosting so many of these 300+ RPI teams, even if they are just swapping them out for middle of the road teams in true mid-major MAC-like conferences or top teams in low-major conferences. If they do need to play teams farther down the totem pole than that maybe they should consider occasionally playing them on the road, that at least would be more of a team building exercise and slightly more beneficial with respect to stats like RPI than just hosting some of the worst squads in all of D-1 college basketball.

Just a side note but right now I feel better about the JAR than normal as I am watching the first game of the CiT on collegeinsider.com One look at the NJIT arena and I feel better about what we have, at least for tonight.

I really hope there was no thought that Akron is somehow above these tourneys. I am of the belief that the decision had to do more with having injured players and off the court family and health issues for KD himself than about any entitlement issues. I still think we could have accepted even without playing the injured and having one of the assistants take over if KD needed to take some time if he couldn't be there. I get the decision and won't criticize them much for making it (this was one tough year in a lot of ways) even though I still think they could've gone the other way and been just fine too.

By this. Time last year we had known for a while that team was going to Charleston. Should we read anything into the fact that we have heard nothing yet about a tourney destination in November or December?

I disagree. Akron was one of the programs cited as a need for these tournaments to exist. The CBI came into existence the year after Akron went 26-7 and lost the MAC title game on a 30-foot bank shot at the buzzer and then was snubbed not only by the NCAA selection committee but by the incredibly corrupt good ole boy NIT selection committee. Akron was a program mentioned by name by the founders of the CBI. The CiT came soon after as a tournament to help level the playing field between the mid- and low majors and the traditional power schools. How are these tournaments, other than the pay-to-play, garbage compared to the NIT?

What do we know about the schedule next year? Are the Zips in another early season or holiday tournament? I hope they are and can get a shot at some bigger name programs on a neutral floor. What I don't like seeing them in are those so-called tournaments where the teams advancing to the championship rounds are already determined regardless of preliminary round results. Plus, I would like to see the Zips play some games in and against one or some of the Houston area schools since we will have two players on the roster from that area.

I get all that. We are only talking about another two or three weeks maximum though. We are only talking about a time frame that everybody tentatively had to be ready to play in anyway. I am not saying we should go into the CiT or CBI and just play the way we had been along. I am saying go as a way to get those at the back end of the rotation and even deeper on the bench more experience, and giving the seniors a shot at the type of minutes they always craved. Why not go and do it with the mindset of gaining experience for the young, lower PT guys, continuing conditioning for Big Dog, and letting the seniors take the reigns of the team to close out their careers. The well known commodities that are returning or anyone currently injured would not need to be the focus.

Just a tidbit of info... Murray State and Yale played in the CiT finals last year. This year they have a combined record of 49-14. Not saying a postseason tourney run guarantees great things ahead but it does appear to bolster the chances.

As far as the time away as students goes, how would a CBI or CiT invite be any different than a NIT invite other than we have the option of paying for a home game? We surely would take an NIT invite if it were offered. Getting your name out there in circles where you are less familiar can only be good for future recruiting and possibly even future scheduling. Other than money, which didn't seem to be the issue in KD's post game comments, I really don't see a large downside to playing on. This is the time of year, that if you don't go to the Big Dance,you play to learn for next season and to reward and thank your seniors.