Captain Kangaroo

I think Kwan has done a nice job in the paint recently. He's no Pat or Big Dog, but he's active, 6' 9", and starting to pull in some rebounds. He gets a little more comfortable down low every game, and against NIU I think he'll make an impact.

Funny that Kent's Paul Hayes spent several years at Ohio State, yet all the OSU transfers seem to prefer Akron. Speaks well for the respect our staff has. Tough choice: You can play for Bowden and Amato...or Laurel and Hardy.

Since it specifically states that season ticket holders will receive bobble heads, and the 750 are specifically for walk ups and GA, it won't.

Big Dog, Schmig Dog. We should win tomorrow regardless of his ankle. And in 2015-16, I put less stock in the severity of any publicized player injury than ever before. Either our Trainer has really upped his game this year...or that's more of a smoke screen than ever before.

If we continued to win-out through the MAC finals, and stumbled, I don't see our situation being any different to Middle Tennessee's in 2013. And they received an at-large. Despite one of their 4 regular season losses at the hands of ... the Zips. We would have a realistic shot at an at-large if we ran the table through the MAC Finals. Worst case, there would be a couple days worth of talk about the Zips Basketball team being "on the bubble" amongst all the national prognosticators, and that is not a bad thing. I think the Zips and CMU at The Q would be an absolute war, and as good a college basketball game as has been seen in NE Ohio for quite some time.

He was a four-star prospect who was ranked as the No. 13 running back by Scout.com, No. 16 by Rivals.com and No. 26 by ESPNU Rushed for 1,232 yards and 29 touchdowns as a DeSales senior and was named first-team Division III all-state. Meh... certainly not as good as Bethune Cookman or Lamar pulled in this year, but we're desperate, so we can give him a look.

Another Saturday evening home game scrapped so we can get on CBS Ocho. It blows. I wonder if Saturday fall football will start having games moved to Friday evenings so we could get on The Ocho too?

I think this is the time KD needs to sit down with the team and say: "I don't wanna see anyone in the police blotter ever...but especially between now and April. If your girlfriend freaks out on you, walk away. If you have the opportunity to sell 5 pounds of anything...walk away. If you think snowboarding might be fun this weekend...walk away."

I guess you could contend that Frye was a 1-A caliber back up to Sparks too? Frye's back ups were Micah Fahler and Jonathan Gill. I think if Lee Owens had to rely on either of them to carry the Zips for a season, we'd have been in trouble. Neither Jabari or Nick went back to QB after their move to WR. Other than Ohio State no one really seems to have had depth at QB, so if the Zips get a decent back up...great. If not, we're no worse off than 85% of the other D1-A programs out there. At least we have a #1 QB with 2 years eligibility left, and with proven work ethic and skill set to continue building and improving. Glad to see a few ITZ posts again. Thanks for checking in.

It's been said a couple times, but bears repeating - this team has the make-up of past mid-majors that have been successful in the NCAA's. We have the guard play and 3-point marksmanship to pull it off. And sufficient P5-level beef inside to hold our own. We lack a little on the defensive side, but the defense has markedly improved as Robotham's lateral movement has improved and everyone has bought into their roles. Whether or not we win an NCAA tourney game or two is up to the Basketball Gods. But this team, when healthy, has the best chance of any that KD's assembled.

April 16th.

Josh's shots hit the center of the twine better than about anyone else I've seen at UA. He's a pure shooter. There's a lot of variables that go into assembling a MAC team that can make an NCAA tourney run. One of those is having three guards that can kill you from behind the arc. Kent had Mitchell, Shaw and Huffman. Maybe even Gates at times. OU had some combination of Taylor, Bassett, Kellogg and Cooper that shot the ball at an elite level. Josh's emergence gives us that X-factor guard that can out-shoot a Power 5 team in the tourney, and Jackson and Robotham are deadly too. Big Dog, Kwan and Pat (can he get at least 85% healthy?) inside gives us the beef to match up with the big boys. And Reggie and Jake give us deadly perimeter scoring and defensive length. I watch a lot of Wichita State basketball, and they are running roughshod over the MVC. It's time the Zips do the same in the MAC. If the Zips are as good as I think they are, tonight is a double-digit win. Maybe even a 20-pointer. It's time to start flexing our muscles against the weaker programs. With Josh getting 20+ minutes, all things are possible!

I don't see any of the other in-house QB's after T. Chapman being viable alternatives. And if I'm Tra'von, I want to be switched to a position where I'm going to see the field. Woodson needs pushed, so maybe Bowden brings in a 5th year transfer to compete. It's either that, or we cross our fingers that Woodson stays healthy. Frye never had a "1-A" back up, and neither did Getsy. It's tough to find one in the MAC.

You are probably right. My bad. Apologies to BuckZip.Sometimes at 1 am you should just go to bed rather than hit the submit button.

Great game by the Zips tonight, The first half was as good a half as I've seen in 20 years. Great ball movement...just awesome. This is one team that I don't sweat when we miss 8 straight 3-pointers...because the next 8 are going in. With Williams, McAdams, Kertzer, Jackson, Robotham (Cheathum intentionally omitted) who do you guard on the perimeter? Some dead-eye shooter is always left open. Robotham's getting back to his old self. His D is improving every game. Big Dog is awesome. Thanks, HipZip. Some people write LOL, but they really didn't. That's a legit LOL! A month ago I said this Zips team has the best talent I've seen in 20 years, yet might be the worst performing team in 20 years. It seems like now, all that talent is meshing into a great team. It took a while, but this team is rolling. If they stay healthy, no one can touch them. Go Zips!

Great counterpoint. If you ride a short yellow bus to school. NIU and BGSU have won 8+ games per season for a decade. They didn't have Rob Ianello or Tom Wistercill. Or JD Brookhard. And, and, and... Their recruiting structure plays into what yields high rankings, Good for them. Where's their February trophy? The Zips found a way to get competitive in short order, won the most games in program history, and won a bowl game, yet you and others harp on irrelevant recruiting rankings and stars. Unreal... How many stars did Jatavis Brown have? Nice win by KD's Zips tonight,

Someone gave me a list of students attempting to be a football walk on this spring. I'm sure 85% won't amount to much, but maybe there are a couple players in the bunch. Anthony Brown Deaven Curtis Steven David Joshua Glaze Aren Harris Braulio Garduno Abdoulie Jallow Tyrel Jones Jefferson Joseph Jarrett Malone Mario McFarren Ed Mitchell Shane Orchard Shawn Orchard Tyler Perry George Rusinko Johanthan Saucier Satchel Strahm Malcolm Thomas Clayton Uecker Shawn VanGorder Brian Ward Hakeem Wrimene If I have time I will see if there are any worthwhile player profile links to include.

If Kwan can keep that attitude and effort, it's the difference between going to the CBI or the NCAA for the Zips.

If you are a Buckeye fan, the rankings mean something. If you are a Zips fan, they mean nothing.

Let's say those rankings are weighted towards Freshmen recruits, and don't do a good job of taking into account traditional transfers, grad transfers and JUCO recruits? If that were true, it would probably affect the Zips "ranking" pretty dramatically? The programs ZipGrad listed as above would get waxed by 40+ if they came to Infocision. That alone shows the "rankings" have no bearing on the quality of the Zips recruiting class. I think this class is excellent. It addressed all our needs...as best as is possible in one class. As has been the case for a couple years, there will also be another couple impact signees over the next few months too. Bowden always holds a few back for the Coe's and Monroe's that inevitably come across the waiver wire. If Bowden came in and signed 24 freshmen in each of his first four classes, he'd have won a handful of games, and Larry Williams first major move would have been to fire him. Bowden's not stupid. He knew he had to win, and JUCO's and P5 transfers are a way to become competitive quickly. No one waits 5 years for a coach to turn a team around now-a-days. Some may ask - "But when will we start getting classes that are only Freshmen, so we can get higher recruiting rankings?" Who cares. If we have 30...40...or even 50 percent of a given class being transfers, and we win...and there are no excessive police blotter appearances...who cares? Give me a 5th year kid from Wisconsin over a project from Hoban any day of the week. Several months ago ZipGrad posted an article from a newspaper stating North Alabama had stopped taking transfers. It mentioned that North Alabama had a reputation for accepting D1 transfers, and they were getting calls from 70+ kids looking to transfer to NA because of their reputation. Seems like a bold move by NA, but they're winning 9+ games per year. For a decade+. Dating back to his North Alabama days, Bowden has a reputation for welcoming transfers. And he gets the call when a lot of the better ones are looking for a new school. Especially ones with Florida roots. It's a huge benefit to the Zips that he has those connections. And it was a big benefit to Zips fans too, as it gave us 8 wins, including a bowl win last season. You need to be creative to go from 1-11 to 8-5 in three years. Bowden accomplished it. I look forward to what the next 3 years will bring. I guarantee it's a hell of a lot better than what Samford, Lamar, Bethune-Cookman, Yale, Columbia, Austin Peay, Harvard, Sam Houston state, Abilene Christian, UC Davis will do. Any ranking that lists those shit schools in front of the Zips is a joke.

To an extent, I agree. But hopefully the kids chose the Zips because of the academics, campus, facilities, Bowden, etc. rather than Funk. Bowden will soon acquire a solid line coach. I have no concern on that hire.

I'll disagree with the calculation. If your wife dies suddenly at 43 years old, you have years to find wife #2. When your OL Coach passes away unexpectedly, you have weeks to find your next Coach. Bowden found 2 guys that ascended to P5 schools. I wouldn't call thise strike outs. We'll see if he tweaks his strategy this time around.

Here is the first guy I call for an interview His lines were always solid under Lee Owens. He's at a lower-division school right now, and I'm sure wouldn't mind a bump in pay.His son Clayton is walking on for the Zips this spring. Akron guy. Older - wouldn't use UA as a springboard. And he was a lot of fun to hang with at the old Zips Golf Outings. Interview a couple others. If someone's better, great. But give this guy a look.

I can't believe Bowden saw this one coming. About 26 hours ago he was in front of a crowd of fans extolling Funk's virtues. TB has enough connections that I'm sure he'll find a solid replacement soon. But it sucks.

Regarding 2015 listee Ray Ray Smith - word on the street is he never made the requisite test scores and decided to go JUCO rather than be a non-qualifier for the Zips. You never know if he gives UA another look, but he's thought to be "an SEC talent" and likely will end up at a P5 program. I thought it was interesting that Bowden said he got a large haul of really good OL's because we'd lost 5 senior linemen this year, The newcomers all felt the Zips situation was their best chance to see the field the fastest. Also - usually the coaches are reserved in discussing which incoming Freshman have the best chance to see the field the fastest, but he stated Davon'te Jest was expected to come in and at least partially fill the void of Rodney Coe's departure. The kid looks like a beast on film. Jo Jo Natson will be a HUGE addition to special teams and the offense. Unbelievable quickness & speed. Natson, Gladney, Lane and Traylor-Bennett...Young and Wolf...Woodson has to be licking his chops! It's gotta be a completely new look for the offense next season. And I would not be too concerned about the RB situation. Word on the street is there are a couple players still to be signed, including a back.