Captain Kangaroo

Fun game to watch tonight. i though Buffalo played their asses off. Good size, and for long stretches they out-worked the Zips. Great perimeter defense. I like their coach...he'll be dangerous with some depth and talent. Hell...they're dangerous enough right now. The Zips woke up with 5 minutes to go in the first half, and after that I never really thought the game was in doubt. Multiple great performances. Welcome back Ace. The team's offensive chemistry has really solidified over the past month. Double team Big Dog and we find the open man on the perimeter...don't double team him, and he takes it to the rack. And he drains his free throws. When do the Big Dog "MVP" chants begin? Defense has some work to do, but is definitely improving. Fun Tuesday night. Thanks, Zips!

Like I said a few days ago...

The major point of the author is - "Despite the football team having a winning record, attendance did not improve." That is asinine. The weather was a contributing factor. It rained virtually every game. But the author needed Larry Williams to inform him. The team finished 8-5. Winning their last 5 games. So when the season was 60% complete, the Zips were 3-5. The author somehow believes the Zips home attendance should have shown a massive improvement with 2 home games remaining, heading into November with a 3-5 record. That's asinine. The University of Akron constructed a new football stadium and entrusted it to Tom Wistercill. Wistercill could have hired anyone to get the Zips football program rolling, and he chose Rob Ianello. The same Rob Ianello that went 1-11 for two consecutive seasons and essentially took napalm to our football program. The same Rob Ianello that has since been fired at Kansas, and is now a sideline toadie at Buffalo. THAT is the article that should be written. But that takes investigation and effort, and dolts need to write about simple stuff. So it never will be written. Can't wait for that same stupid tripe to be written for the 4th time in about 3 months. Nice job ABJ.

Of all the vapid, ignorant columns I've read in the ABJ regarding Zips home football attendance, that was the most-recent.

Regarding Tassel Cap-gate 2015: At least the students that U-turned through the turnstiles got Akron hats to wear around campus. When I've gone to basketball games I've spotted many of them. If a Zips hat replaced a Buckeye hat on campus, that's a win.

As I approach my 50th year on the planet, whether I get a doll or a tassel cap means increasingly less. Hope whomever gets their dolls enjoys them. And those who don't find the appropriate therapist to make peace with it.

George is all over anything Buckeye-related.

I'd be happy if we had an RB that could gain 1 yard when we need it, instead of having to bring in a DL. He's hardly toted the ball in 4 years, and will be running behind a completely re-vamped OL, so he may get off to a slow start. But I'd expect some good numbers out of him by year's end. We haven't had a 1,000 yard rusher in 10 years.

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.