Captain Kangaroo

Bring the ticket stub to either the Main street or Exchange street location.

Towards the end of the Hipsher area I purchased my upper reserved Zips basketball seats. I remain in them almost 15 years later. At the time of purchase, the options were WIDE open. I would be shocked if there were 20 TOTAL seats that were reserved at the time of my purchase. In Dambrot's hey day, upper reserved were sold out. Lower reserved too. People seem to think, because Dambrot's teams didn't sell out every game, the attendance was bad. It was pretty damn good, and leaps and bounds beyond the Crawford and late-Hipsher eras.

It's part of the process of rebuilding a gutted team/Program. You lose, and the crowds shrink. You win, and everyone wants to be a part of it. Those of us who lived through Crawford and Hipsher know the crowds return once winning begins. Until then, enjoy your unobstructed view, stretch your legs out and hopefully watch some exciting young talent develop. It's a different Zips basketball mindset for both players and fans. But only for a season or two.

How many floor burns did you see from the Zips last night? Did you see frustration by the upperclassman that resulted in leadership? Did they try and pick the youngsters up by the scruff of their necks? Or did they hang their heads? Did you see endless uncontested lay-ups by Buffalo, or did we defend hard? To date, I felt this team was "lovable," "plucky" and fun to watch regardless of the outcome. That wasn't the case last night. Overall, we didn't compete. We have 9 scholarship players. 5 are freshman. A walk-on from the rec center was forced to play 8 minutes against the defending 2017 MAC champs. So I get the fact that we are not at Buffalo's level. But our Big 3 need to be engaged and lead, night-in-night-out. If they aren't, we could match Hipsher's inaugural 0-18 MAC record. There's no team we can beat. Buffalo can coast for 10 minutes every game, and still go 13-3 in conference. They have seniors and talent. The Zips can't coast for a minute. A kid like Duvivier has played on a team that knocked off the #7 team in the nation (Arizona). He's used to playing in front of 10k+ fans. Now he's taking bus rides to Toledo and starring for a losing team with no center and no point guard (we'll see if Cotton can build off last night's performance). That reality takes a toll. Ivey and Utomi are in similar situations, where they've gone from expectations of championship banners, to mentoring a slew of kids that were playing HS or even rec ball last season. I think the reality of the Zips season sunk in for the team last night. The early season honeymoon is over. They need to adjust their goals from winning a championship to competing and improving every night. They need to take some pride in building a program from the post-Dambrot ruins. Once that happens, then we'll have that puncher's chance @ The Q. The alternative - If we continue competing as hard as we did last light....the few remaining fans will hold an 0-18 parade around the JAR at season's end. The Buffalo game was a learning experience for all involved. Throw it in the garbage and move forward. I expect a rebound game by the Big 3 on Saturday.

This game reminded me of the early Hipsher era Zips, except Utomi, Ivey and Duvivier have way more talent than Ali Kart, Scott Gooden and George Phillips. No excuse for such a lackluster performance by our Big 3 tonight. Cotton really showed up...I didn't think he had that type of game in him. Other than him though...bad things, man...bad things. it will be very revealing to see what Zips team shows up to defend the JAR on Saturday. The one that is unmotivated and beaten down by the current losing streak. Or the one that's sick and tired of losing and plays some smart, hard-nosed basketball.

The sad thing is - Buffalo isn't playing well. It could be a lot worse.

Michael Buddenberg. Walk on who ended up starting at long snapper for 4 years, and I can't remember him screwing up once.

Duvivier doing all he can.

I wish we had a point guard.

Ivey's stock is not rising.

E-man makin' me say ah, man... Playing like it's 2016-17. Ivey also wound up too tight tonight.

Utomi may go for 30 tonight.

7 minutes into the game, still holding to that?

I think this is yet another example of being "factually correct." (One of my all-time favorite means of stating - "You're right, but I'm not going to admit it.")

That schedule would be a murder's row.

No one is discussing our current team. Everyone (almost?) knows you're a pretty long shot to make a tournament with 9 active scholarship players, 5 of whom are Freshman. The discussion is regarding why some people think what's possible/expected for North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Ohio U, MTSU and on and on and on... is somehow impossible for The University of Akron.

MTSU is a great example of a MAC-equivalent program that can field a good mid-major D1 football team while also winning games in the NCAA basketball tourney.

I predicted 20 also, including 2 wins in the MAC tourney. While it is looking dicey right now, I am also remaining positive about this season. We lost to USC, Princeton and Davidson in Hawaii, and followed it with a loss to preseason MAC West favorite WMU in Kalamazoo. Those are 4 tough teams. Hopefully the difficult road tests have set the table for a solid performance at Toledo. The follow up, Buffalo, is a daunting task, but we have them at home where we've been very good. Just as UA high school commits are blessed to receive a scholarship offer, Zips fans are blessed that Malcolm Duvivier decided to come to UA for his final year of eligibility. The kid brings it every night on both ends of the floor. Whatever win total the Zips garner in 2017-18, you can divide it by 2 if Duvivier weren't playing. I hope his toughness and will to win rubs off on the young guys.

Zipmeister and ZipsWin post? Can GP1 be far behind? Happy to have K92 back.

I don't know whether or not Hughes is a baller, but if he was looking for playing time, he should have stuck with the Zips. Another transfer that would have made some hay this year is Dunn-Martin. We have no true point guard. Ivey is getting some assists...2-guard Duvivier is doing his best...Cotton needs to improve in all aspects. Dunn-Martin could shoot, and did an ok job handling the rock. I don't know where he'd fit in in 2018-19, but in 2017-18 he'd be having a blast hoisting 3's and getting a ton of time at the point.

Draw your own parallels to 2017-18 Zips football and basketball

Kent loses to Albany by 10.

Zips defensive rotations are s-l-o-w.

Akron/Davidson tips off in 5 minutes on ESPNU.

Duvivier is cold blooded. Wish we could have closed that one out. Would have been a big one for this young team.