GJGood

I have found most VCU fans to be quite gracious and kind. As an Akron alum and fan I thank you. While glad that VCU and their fans may not think too badly of us my concern is for how many people nationally that will be the only time they see our program. Even though it is totally unfair I will get to hear nothing but how bad Akron or the MAC are from any casual basketball fan. I saw this as the time we would impress, even with a loss. Even the broadcast never mentioned the one point overtime loss a year ago. That at least might have helped paint the picture that this was the abberration that it was.

We absolutely MUST stay out of foul trouble and take care of the ball. Do this we should be every bit as good as VCU in the half court game and better on the boards.

The Zips could not have played in the First Four in Dayton unless we were one of the bottom 4 conference champs (i.e. a 16 seed) or one of the last 4 at-large teams (we were not at-large)

I actually didn't put them in just because I thought the NCAA would take into consideration that Shaka was one of our supporters between the Abreu thing and Cleveland and the publicity that got. I thought for that reason they would treat it almost as if VCU was a team we had already played this season. Obviously I was wrong.

I agree totally. I would like to avoid SLU.

That would be an interesting game for Zeke in particular given where he is from. A win over them could certainly be yet another boost in regional recruiting as well. If we played them though I'd want it to be in a place like Salt Lake, Austin, or San Jose to be sure that more fans in the arena would be pulling for the Zips and the upset.

Conventional wisdom seems to have the Zips being a 12 or 13 seed when the brackets are revealed for this year's NCAA tournament. That got me looking around at the various projections and seeing what teams are being most projected as 4 and 5 seeds. I have come up with 13 teams that seem to be in the range of being opponents for Akron. This, of course, is all conjecture and the committee could pull some major surprises but of the following who would you most want to see the Zips play and who would you want to see them play the least? Wisconsin, Syracuse, Kansas State, UNLV, St. Louis, Marquette, Arizona, Notre Dame, Pitt, Michigan, UCLA, Butler, and Michigan State. The two teams that scare me the most there are St. Louis and Michigan. The Billikens are really, really good but don't have the name recognition for us to "shock the world" with a win. The Wolverines not only would be determined to not be "one and done" like they were last year but knowing that they were knocked out by a MAC school I believe they'd play it as sort of a revenge game. I'd love a shot at UCLA, especially in a 5 vs. 12 setup where the Bruins would not be geographically protected.

I agree with this. I am just still not sure that I wouldn't rather have Reggie in than Jake just for ball handling purposes. Other than that the two seem to be pretty equal and Jake may have more of a chip on his shoulder when it comes to playing OU.

Looking forward to seeing Big Ike on the tube. If they end up playing for the title against Northland it would be very interesting. That Northland team is no joke. I went and saw Aaron Jackson and Gahanna Lincoln in their regional final against Newark a week or so ago. In Aaron I saw a guy who looks like he has a ton of potential. He is very quick, has good height, and hustles all over the floor, and looks like a guy who really likes to get his teammates involved around him. That being said he seems to have a very wiry frame and really needs to bulk up and get some more strength. I trust that will start happening on Day 1 as an actual Zips team member. One thing that I mentally made note of about Jackson was that he looks to be a pretty darn good free throw shooter. Now THAT fills a need for the Zips!

I think Carmelo is going to be very good for this program in the long run. I just don't know that he is experienced enough to lead the offense at the level we have played all season yet. I actually think he is a better passer and distributor than Abreu. Of course, Alex was much more of a scoring threat and that is probably the biggest difference. Betancourt as a freshman actually reminds me of another freshman guard the Zips had a few years back, a guy whose critics said he tried to do too much and had too many turnovers. That guy was Steve McNees. I don't know that Carmelo will ever develop into the type of shooter that McNees eventually became but I do think he is quicker and has the potential to a much better defender than Steve ever was. Ironically, when I watch Carmelo on the bench now, especially since the North Dakota State game, I see him chatting to coach Steve McNees more than any other coach. In my opinion, this can only be a good thing. For now, I'd like to see more minutes for McAdams at the PG than he has gotten all season as he splits time at the position, but I truly believe Carmelo is the PG of the future.

Great post and Congratulations to you and your son. This story really doesn't surprise me though. This has been a classy program filled with classy players and coaches since Coach Dambrot arrived. With all the negativity in the media about this program since Thursday it is a shame that so many people never hear about these types of things. While I know Keith and Zeke would never do things like this just for noteriety it would be nice if George Thomas and/or someone else from the local media were to put out a story about this side of the program.

I agree with the first point above. TCU beating Kansas to get their first conference win this year immeadiately comes to mind. I disagree with the seeding comment though. Seeds 1 thru 4 get location protection in the NCAA tournament. Those squads play teams seeded 13 thru 16. When Akron was a 13 they played Gonzaga in Portland, when the Zips were a 15 they played Notre Dame in Chicago. If you can get at least a 12 seed it is much more likely that you get a true neutral site game. In fact the last two projected brackets I saw on ESPN's site had Akron as a 12 seed playing Wisconsin in San Jose and then one showing the Zips as an 11 seed playing 6 seed Pitt in Dayton, there is a good chance that the crowd in both of those scenarios (certainly the San Jose one) would be pulling for us to pull off the upset.

Love the matchup but despise the time slot. I have been to every home Bracketbusters game since the inception of the event but living two hours away and having to work that day makes Friday at 7:00 difficult. I'd like it for a road TV game but not a home one. Still, I can't complain about the game and the fact that they want to showcase us in prime time.

The best hope for an at-large now would be running the table in the MAC. The MAC may not be perceived nationally as being at the same level as the A-10 or MVC but it is also seen as being higher quality than leagues like the Big South, MEAC, A-Sun, and Ohio Valley conferences of the world. If a MAC team goes undefeated prior to the conference tournament there would be many who feel an at-large bid would be deserved. It may lead to a trip to the First Four in Dayton and not an immeadiate pass to the round of 64 but I would think inclusion (especially on the heels of the league having a team in the sweet 16 last year) would be a distinct possibility. That being said going through without a loss until Cleveland will still be incredibly difficult and I am not counting on it happening. I am hoping but not expecting.

The Ohio at Akron game is a bigger game. Indiana and Michigan KNOW they'll be in the Big Dance, so their game doesn't mean as much. It doesn't matter if they are the 1, 2, 3, 4, or even 5 seed in the Big Ten tourney. They won't even have to win a game in the conference tournament. They won't have truly meaningful games until after that in March.

Reynoldsburg is the school district directly to the southeast of where I live. From what I have heard about Traylor-Bennett (haven't been to a Reynoldsburg game since he has been there) is that he has great size and especially great speed. I know there has been some concern about him at WR because he lets the ball travel in on him more than many would like instead of catching with his arms extended. I just watched the video on Ohio.com and now see what they are talking about. How big a deal is something like that though? The other things I noticed are that he looks like he can really lay a hit on defense and that his speed serves him well on kick returns.

Agreed but I'd rather do it in, say, the round of 16 than the round of 64 in the tourney. That would make me happiest of all.

I tend to agree except I am not sure about the 1 loss in the tournament.

Nope, missed that. He must have still been out a game or two later in the schedule then as well. Kudos to the Gahanna Lincoln coach. It had to be tough leaving his star player, or one of them at least, on the bench for a game where they are hosting the defending state champions. Hopefully whatever the issue was is not a recurring problem.

Went to see Aaron Jackson, or at least I thought I was, play when Gahanna played Pickerington Central. I was disappointed, though, as Jackson did not play and I can only assume he was one of the players on Gahanna's bench in street clothes. I never was able to find out why he didn't play against such a high level opponent. Does anybody here know? I guess it could have simply been because it was a Friday night and they had another game Saturday but I would doubt that was the reason since Pickerington Central would have been the more marquee of the two games.

If the MAC title was the first goal of the program at this point then I may agree with the statement above. The first goal for the Zips now though has to be to get to that magical 6 win total and bowl eligibility so that the team can get the extra practice time that comes with a bowl bid. In that respect the 2013 MAC schedule does indeed hurt and I'd rather play Buffalo and EMU.

I just wish the MAC bowl games were against a wider variety of conferences. I realize that some of these games have MAC schools filling in for conferences that couldn't fill their tie-ins but I sure think that it would be nice if any conference gets 7 bowl bids that they would be opposite 7 different conferences. The MAC-Sun Belt thing is one thing because of the fill-in teams but things like three Big Ten-SEC games just creates more boredom for me. Each conference should try for more diverse TIE-INS with respect to who their opponents would be. I know it will never happen because of the $$$ though.

Quite true, stay away from those tournaments where the semifinalists are not based on performance. That is, of course, unless the Zips are a guaranteed semifinalist and will meet two high-major opponents.

I'd like to see the Zips in the Paradise Jam... always a field with high majors mixed in with good mid-majors. No teams selected yet for that one in 2013?

At the very least next year's roster will be full of guys that have a year in the Zips new offensive and defensive schemes as well as a FULL incoming class that is recruited to play in those actual systems. Let's not forget that at least 80% of this year's team was composed of guys who were brought in to play an enirely different style than what they were endoctrined into this season. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of players TB and Amato can get in this year's recruiting class since they will have the full amount of time to recruit.