GJGood

This one really scares me. This is probably the last team I wanted to face in the final, even less than those Portage County boys as they likely would have been overconfident to a degree and they don't have the outside gunner that OU does. This is the type of team (like our archrival) that gives us trouble. It is good, however, that we are playing them when it is three straight days with games. That should benefit the deeper team and the team that employs a more low tempo offense.I see it as a 50/50 game. I think Ohio has played better than us in this tournament but a lot of the intangibles (depth, experience, etc..) favor the Zips. Stay away from that dreaded scoring drought and play good defense guys! That's the key.

And unfortunately, that was pretty evident throughout most of the 80 minutes we've played against those guys this year. So how do you beat a team like Ken+ if you know that they are superior to you? Can you come up with a scheme to beat them? Can you take away what they do best? Can you expose them defensively? Will we change something if we play them again? If our coach goes in with the same game plan and doesn't try something different, I will be disappointed. Does anybody have an example of KD beating a team that was superior where he "out coached" the other team? Will he tighten the rotation? How did other teams beat Ken+? I need some hope if we play Ken+ again.Hopefully the answer to the how do you beat Can't question is you play them when it is the third day in a row playing. Since their style is more up tempo than ours and our rotation has the ability to go a little deeper into the bench if a third meeting happens the Zips' legs may be a little fresher. I'm just worried about getting to the title game first though. I really think the rest of the teams remaining in the MAC tournament have all improved quite a bit over the last month or two. We've already lost to EMU and Central by no means was a cakewalk for the Zips either if you recall. These teams are better now than they were when those matchups took place.

Guess you haven't been reading about Josh Egner in the recruiting forum.Actually, that quote of mine was slightly edited by the moderator. And rightly so (thank you). But, sadly, it sounds as if, excluding Zeke, Egner will easily be our most explosive athlete next year. Man, what's that say about the caliber of athlete on the team now? Where are the hops? Where are the rim-rattlers? Where are the players salivating on every fastbreak opportunity?Sure, CMU loses LeFevour and NOW they take them off our schedule. Actually finishing where we did last year I was kind of surprised that we aren't playing EMU in Ypslanti in 2010.

I disagree. Both Roberts and especially Steward can be especially expolsive. I don't know why we haven't seen more of it from Darryl but when he attacks the defense he is as good as anyone on the team. Steward, for all intents and purposes, has the game experience of someone in the second half of their freshman season and has already shown a spark in a number of games despite limited playing time.

Based on a few things I've read, including the article below, I believe the CIT is still in existence.http://www.thesouthern.com/sports/article_...1cc4c03286.htmlHowever, I prefer the CBI for the simple reason that is has brackets and seeding. The CIT is like the old NIT where they just pair up the remaining teams after each round. That would be the least likely way for Akron to get a home game as they would surely try to fill each of the larger arenas available. In the CBI the seed would determine who is at home. Plus, the championship is a best of three guaranteeing both teams a home game.

I'd like to Zeke play more too. I love the way he changes opponents' shots even if he doesn't block them. The problem at this point is the coaches want him around near the end of the game and he hasn't shown an ability to stay out of foul troble yet remain aggressive defensively. He's a bright guy and he'll learn, he just hasn't got it yet so he can't really be a 25 or 30+ minute player yet.Where defense is concerned, though, I'd like to see more of Steward. I think he bothers his man and makes good defensive decisions more than any of the other outside defenders for the Zips do. A game like last night's is where we really missed a guy like Linhart or a big wide athletic body like Jeremiah Wood.

What am I missing here? I don't think Can't State is necessarily much better of a team overall than Akron is. Last night Akron didn't hit shots, plain and simple. Granted a lot of that was because they settled for jumpers and long-range shots instead of taking the ball inside. The Zips are used to winning that way though.My main point is that basketball is a game of matchups. Akron does not match up well with a bigger and equally as fast team that likes to take ball inside that also plays quality defense. They haven't been all year. Our opponents last night can be taken out of their game too. They were unable to be very successful when they played games in which the other team controlled the tempo and had a good inside-out game going and was able to hit some key outside shots. I believe if Akron and Can't played 10 times, Can't would win about 7 of those games. However, if both Akron and Can't were to play a team like Miami ten times Akron would have more wins than the flushes. Its about matchups in style and position versus position if not player versus player.Personally I'd like to see the Zips play a few more teams that exhibit that 'A' word in the non-conference slate the next few years so that the defense can learn to play those types of teams more efficiently because if you look around the MAC teams like Ohio, EMU, and Ball State are starting to follow that 'A' model too.For what its worth, I thought Akron played well for the most part when they took the ball inside on offense. Cvet looked inspired underneath and Conyers wasn't bad with the ball in close range either, even Zeke got that little hook shot going late. The problem was they didn't go to that well nearly enough.The goal now is to get to that title game in Cleveland for the fourth straight year and see who we meet there if we make it. If its our arch-rivals again it will be interesting to see if we learned anything from last night. If we did, we can win but the gameplan and strategy must be sound.

Buffalo plays more of the kind of non-conference schedule I'd like to see the Zips play. I'm not for loading up on schools in or near the Top 25 although having one or two is a nice measuring stick.I just think if we are going to play teams from conferences that are lower profile leagues than the MAC that we should play teams that perform fairly well within that conference and not teams at the bottom of those standings. I am all for playing teams like Niagara, Austin Peay, and Wyoming. I just think it would be nice, if instead of teams like St. Francis we were getting at least somebody like a Bucknell, Morgan State, Arkansas State, or even Air Force. Those teams are at least going to get a good number of wins over the course of a season and you may even be able to secure home-and-home scenarios with them.

Just wanted to point out that in addition to the NCAA, NIT, and CBI there is also the CIT. This tournament was specifically created with "mid-majors" in mind, so even if catastrrphe strikes and say we lose two straight from this point, we would almost assuredly have a place to continue playing. The only problem with the CIT vs. the CBI is the fact that they don't use a bracket, so its like the old NIT and we'd not be too likely to ever have much of a chance at a home game whereas the NIT and CBI have seeding and better seeds play at home.Hopefully none of that matters in the slightest for this year, but I thought it should be mentioned.

Since I am just outside of Columbus, I'm hoping to get out and see Green soon if Dublin Coffman continues to advance in the tournament. If I go, I'll be sure to post something. It just depends on when their games are compared to my work schedule and of course Zips games.

It will help for seeding too if we end up in any of the following: The NCAA, NIT, or CBI. The only way I'd rest a lot of the guys is if there is an injury that needs nursing or you really want to take part in the CIT.

Can't argue with what the statistics say I guess. Its just too bad that they are so important to selection committees and those who do the seeding in postseason tournaments.The fact that those numbers can change so much with just one game is exactly why I say the Zips need to schedule a little differently out of conference. I don't think they need more big name schools necessarily though. They just got to keep the bad teams from lesser leagues off the schedule. How big an impact would it have had on our SOS if we took the four worst teams off of our non-conference slate and just replaced them with teams in the middle of the pack in those same conferences? I don't think we need to change who we schedule from the marquee names down but rather from the bottom up.

I think the Zips frontcourt actaully did a decent job on Sanders which surprised me. The key was both McKnights and Marshall getting in foul trouble. Of course Sanders did too. Still three guys in foul trouble is much worse than one. The frustrating part about it for me was the "bigs" were getting called for petty little hand-checking fouls for the most part.The difference in this game was Akron not being able to use their usual depth, the foul shooting, and the field goal shooting. To be fair though a lot of those Akron shots really looked good and somehow spun out.As far as athleticism, VCU has more than Akron but not by as much as many say. Conyers, Hitchens, Steward, and Roberts are all very athletic guys. I actually cannot figure out why Roberts isn't leading this team in minutes played most games (although right now he may have a bit of a bum ankle). He's able to drive and dish and probably has the sweetest shooting stroke on the team.Just my take. Kudos to VCU on playing well.

I still say we don't need a FCS, or 1-AA, team. There are plenty of FBS teams we can compete with and defeat. I'd rather play Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, or Florida International than Gardner-Webb, Howard, or Morgan State. Plus, I still believe the NCAA should quit letting games against 1-AA count toward bowl eligibility. It hurts schools in the non-BCS conferences because they are getting on the BCS schools schedules as much as they used to.As far as the only one BCS level team I can go along with that. At least to a degree. I wouldn't want to play more than one mid-level or top BCS conference team but wouldn't mind playing a BCS conference bottom feeder in addition to an "ATM" game as it was referred to before. I'd have no problem with us playing both a Penn State and an Iowa State, Washington State, or Duke in the same season.

I really like the spark Roberts has been providing lately. I'm not sure that he isn't the MVP for the last two weeks, yet he always seems to be overshadowed. Maybe, though, that is a good thing.

True, and that auto bid to the NIT is nice too, just in case.

I tried the close and reconnect method and ended up with a message saying the URL I am trying to access the content from is invalid. I was better off with the slowly changing still shots.I hope somebody is putting this on YouTube or something so many of us can watch later.

I am hearing it but the video is only stop and go like looking at a series of still photos and not streaming video. Anybody know how I can correct this?

It is frustrating to say the least. The feed is not working and the game is supposed to be on FSN Ohio but down here in the Columbus area they apparently have decided to show poker instead. Freakin' POKER over an actual sport on a sports network!

I think this change in scheduling philosophy may be a good thing. I really don't think we need to schedule any more than one more bigger name opponent. The problem in my opinion has been too many teams on the schedule that end up with RPIs around 280 or worse. I'm not saying we should never play schools at the bottom of D-1 but we shouldn't play 3 to 5 of them in the same season. I'd like to see more teams that are average to good teams in decent mid-major conferences or teams that are at or very near the top in the bottom conferences.The Las vegas tournament next year sounds intriguing. I'd have to think UNLV would be involved in that event too.

My only question is at the end of a close game when we are making substitutions of offense for defense, why aren't we seeing Marshall at the defensive end of the floor?Other than that I like the fact that we play so many guys. We should have somebody with fresh legs at the end of most games, plus it allows us to capitalize on somebody unexpected having the hot hand. That is, as long as we leave the guy with the hot hand in the game.

Congrats to LeVon. This is truly just about the top accomplishement possible for a non-scholarship major college football player. LeVon's story is one of overcoming many obstacles and getting himself turned around as well. It is also worth mentioning how hard of a worker he has to be, holding three jobs, a class schedule and being a college football player.On a personal note, I am particularly pleased that he won because I have a good idea of where he comes from. While I did not have nearly as many trials and tribulations as he had early in life, I am not only an Akron alum but also an alum of Brookhaven High School in Columbus, which is where Levon also attended.I know that the Brookhaven community is every bit as proud of what Mr. Morefield has been able to accomplish as those around the Zips program are.Congrats again Levon!

I thought Butler was.

Guys, the MAC has five bowl teams so I guarantee the conference won't be 1-3. We still have the GMAC (CMU vs. Troy) and the International Bowl (NIU vs. South Florida) in Toronto.

It is a positive.I was a MAC football fan before I was a zips fan because of those games. Every sports bar in America is tuned in during them. Kids being recruited by those MAC schools are reminded to watch and tune in. Exposure is good. Anyone arguing against this is defending the honor of the MAC conference and Akron against common sense.I think the MAC weeknight nationally televised games are a positive too. I do, however, agree with the sentiment above that if ESPN decides not to televise a game (a la EMU-UA) that they should let the schools involved change the time to a Saturday if they desire. What does it hurt ESPN at that point and it would likely only help the schools involved and their fans.