Captain Kangaroo

Reminds me of a funny story -- When my son was 5 years old he had a writing assignment - "Write two things you love and two things you hate." For "Hate," he wrote (in kindergarten kid crayon): Bees and K.e.n.t If I can ever find that paper, I'll scan it and post it. It still cracks me up.

Homecoming Queen:

I really hope we're up for the task tonight. The OU game was on the internet...this one is an ESPN2 broadcast. Put on a show, Zeke!! K.e.n.t. is YOUR game!! As Chris Berman would chant: "Prime Time...Prime Time...Prime Time..."

My old college roommates were from Indian Valley, Newcomerstown and Dover. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Here's a trip down memory lane --

The 5' 2" OU kid that was on the court at game's end was not a starter.

My first...and possibly final basketball overview of the season - The Captain is looking to construct a brick pizza oven in his back yard this summer, and sourced some materials from a foundry in Urichsville. I parlayed the plant visit into an excuse to go the extra 2 hours to Athens West Virginia and watch the surging Zips. Didn't work out as I'd hoped.... The drive was simple. 77S to West Virginia, hang a right, and you're there. From Northern Summit County, roughly a 3 hour trek. All highway...72MPH. I'd never been to the Convo for a game. It's a great facility, and was 1/2 full for OU's senior night...which equates to a packed house at the JAR. The game itself was almost an exact replica of OU/Akron game #1. OU kicked our butts in every phase of the game. Obviously OU sees UA as more of a rival than the Zips view OU. The Bobcats were ready to battle...the Zips were ready for Milliken. Maybe. What was most striking to me in this game was our absolute invisibility in the paint. The 40-21 rebounding differential pegs the Desire-o-Meter in OU's favor. Every missed shot was fought for by two OU players, and you hardly saw a white jersey within 5 feet them. Our defense was the proverbial Chinese Fire Drill the entire night...guys running around, out of position, arms flailing futilely as OU methodically picked us apart inside-and-out. The epic scoring drought returned. Boooooo. Everyone was stone cold. It was so bad at one point that, when McClanahan drained a late three, the O-Zone kids politely clapped. Sure, 1/2 of them were clapping sarcastically...but many of them were simply compelled to try and be nice. A bad sign for McNees is when he's missing his warm up shots. The ball came off his fingers differently every time. He was destined to have a bad night from the moment the OU senior's parents left center court. Ironically he had as many points as DeVaughn Washington's mom. To be fair -- he had one more assist. Alex Abreu doesn't fear the roo, but he sure does Fear the Coop. DJ Cooper is fun to watch. And when he sees Alex Abreu guarding him, his eyes light up. Cooper looked for his shot all night, and when he played off the ball he always had it delivered in his sweet spot. No Zip could guard Cooper last night, but when Abreu was on him, you could see him kick it to another level. Likewise, Alex's facial expressions grew increasingly worried as the night wore on. And wear on it did... The refs stunk. Charges were called on the Zips at the offensive end, and blocks were called (on us) at the defensive end. That was, until the point differential became large enough that the refs felt they could begin calling it evenly. That said, like in 99% of the games, the refs in no way decided the outcome of this one...OU put the wood to us with a savage brutality. Speaking of brutality....KD tortured me by calling 3 time outs in the final minute. Or was he punishing his players...interestingly, none of whom were named Peterson, Oldham or Euton? Or was he messing with the inept refs (I think the old coot is the Athens Mayor during the day)? Regardless, I arrived at home really really late this morning. After a great February run, the Zips forgot what got them to the point where they were vying for a Championship. OU out-coached, out-fought, out-executed and out-everythinged the Zips. We needed to put forth a supreme effort to beat OU on senior night, and we dropped a deuce on center court. Bummer of a trip...except for my sweet front row seats. Off to K.e.n.t. A win over those smelly bastards and all is right with the world.

Both MAC centers. Both 7-foot. Both in the same relative era (not comparing anyone to Wayne Embry or Nate Thurmond). I think the comparison is valid, at least to people who know basketball. Check out John Edwards' stats. Another valid comparison. Another recent MAC 7-foot center who played in the NBA. Zeke's stats are better. Beyond that stated above, my original post highlights Kaman's production growth from year #2 to year #3. It was clearly not a comparison of their respective Sophomore seasons. Check back with me next season at this time, and I'll show you that Zeke's ppg and rpg will have doubled from his Sophomore season. And you will have learned.

A quote from macsportsonline says it all - "And can we lay off Zeke Marshall? He's not the second coming of Tim Duncan, but his numbers are much improved over last year (he sports a 101.4 offensive rating this season as opposed to 86.4 last year) and all indications are that he is going to be very, very good his last two years." MAC Sports Online Chris Kaman doubled his offensive numbers from year #2 to year #3. That's the way it goes with 7-footers. People are stupid.

The stupidity within this thread makes me ill.

You'd be surprised how a point guard's turnovers can diminish after their freshman season.

I think this is the best point of the thread. Zeke isn't a scorer at this point in his career. And people can theorize whatever goofball psychoanalytical hypothesis they want regarding "why?"...but Zeke is a defensive player 1st. And 2nd and 3rd. That's the way it is today. Letting Zeke focus on D, and letting our other O-Centric players score, is the best formula for winning in March. When teams start focusing on McKnight and Nik, then Zeke will need to step up and score. Zeke loves D. He always has. Letting him focus on D, and letting the other hot hands score, is what's best for our team right now. The standings don't lie.

Such a big game that CK may indeed grace OU's campus for the 1st time in about 16 years?!

In a related, important story - There is no indication that Alex Abreu has any thoughts of transferring. If there is any other breaking regarding players not doing anything, please keep us all posted.

I don't think he was all that consistent for the first 40% of the season. But he's the best post player in the conference for the past month, and that should garner him a 1st team nod. He just needs to finish these next 3 games strong. And I think he will.

$50,000 (cost of buying a CBI home game) is a really expensive couple of practices. After practicing since October, a handful of additional basketball practices in March means absolutely nothing. As evident by our lethargic home loss to WGB last season, the players don't really care about the CBI. And as evident by our <1k attendance, the fans don't either. In a football bowl game, where you can practice for 4-6 weeks more than a non-qualifying team, the extra practice time makes an impact.

I remember in January and early February...all the posts complaining about the horrific referees...oh, how the disgusting, vile, evil referees were screwing the Zips over. You'd swear the three refs were Hitler, Dahmer and Charles Manson night-in-night-out. Amazingly - since the Zips have been winning, no one complains about the referees? Funny how that works out...

Why do you have to talk that way about other programs? Is it because Akron is the worst team in the worst conference in D1 so it makes you feel better? It's a fact that iCoach is driving away players in maas (he even drove away the "Rudy" award winner) - the fact that they won't see the field is not the issue, the issue is why are all these kids leaving. For every kid that leaves, there is probably at least one other kid that wants to leave but can't since they are on scholarship. The kids that left are thinking they can either stay with a program they hate and possibly see their grades suffer, or transfer to a quality school and still play the game they love. Remember, the main reason for going to college is to learn, not play football. The focus should be on education first, not athletics. So when your attitude about the athletics effect your performance in the classsroom, it is time to move on. For over 99% of these players, this will be the last football they play. Wow...don't get your panties all in a bunch there, killer. The fact is, these kids are transferring to lower divisions. Whatever your feelings about the MAC, if they were so good they could still go to Youngstown State, Delaware, Montana, etc. My guess is either THEY realized, the coaches realized or a combination of their and the coaches realization was this= you are not good enough to play FBS football..even in the MAC!!! Believe it or not, some kids choose a school not because they play D1 football but because of other factors - outrageous I know - but it happens. For you to say these kids aren't good enough to play FBS football just shows your ignorance - but we knew that by reading the first line of your reply. I wish more kids would consider more than just football when deciding where to go. They probably have parents like you telling them - "Hey, Akron is D1 football - you have to go there instead of that other school that you like so much". Some kids just want to play football in college and have a better chance contributing for a longer period of time at a level lower even though they are capable of playing at a higher level. Furthermore, the majority of a teams roster is made up of players that will not see significant playing time - you still need these players to contribute in practice. Seems like the kids aren't buying into what iCoach is trying to sell them. I guarantee you Akron will again not have enough players for a traditional spring scrimmage and we will see another offense vs defense scrimmage. I will be curious to see how many will be on the spring roster. I said that is my GUESS that they came to that realization. I am just looking at what I see. Not speaking in definites here. I'm not about to get in a pissing match with you about this. Kids leave colleges every year for many different reasons. Fair enough. But, as an example, Tate Forcier left Michigan and is going to...Miami (and not the one in the MAC). And, guess what= he looked like an FBS QB last year. So he is probably in the division he belongs. 2 of the players mentioned are going to schools that play, arguably, a much lower level of football than Akron does. Great...if they are more comfortable there...more power to them. Do they get scholarships to play there? Hmm...I am not 100% certain, but I am pretty sure Pioneer schools do not offer scholarships. If this is better for them, their families, etc...great. Sorry, but I am not about to bust on Ianallo and the coaching staff just yet. As someone mentioned in this thread or another, there were many that lambasted Auburn for grabbing Chizik a couple years ago. And, "closer to home", we had Miami (OH) with Haywood at 1-11 go on to win the MAC. He, of course, then went on to do some bad things...but that really doesn't matter does it? Or, maybe it does. Ianello might win 7 games at Auburn just because he can recruit talent there. Doesn't make him a good coach or may be it does. How many quotes can be contained in a single post? It's like a literary Turducken. I'm thinking at least seven. A "double turducken wrapped in bacon" post?

Ken Stewart's or Moe's for dinner if you can tell me what I was wearing Suit? Drinking a Diet Pepsi and yelling at McClanahan and Zeke?

I'm sure Coles said the Serb's personality is off the charts, and it got mistranscribed off the audio tape. Awesome observation. I am also sure that Cole's said "he loves 'Boolean'. I would love Boolean too." Lots of mistranscribing going on.

You could take us back to a 10-year period where they used peach baskets for hoops, Charlie. What's your point?

And the prophesy is fulfilled. Mark it down. Dambrot gets his first CoTY. Miss Cleo ain't got nuthin' on me.

Why do you have to talk that way about other programs? Is it because Akron is the worst team in the worst conference in D1 so it makes you feel better? It's a fact that iCoach is driving away players in maas (he even drove away the "Rudy" award winner) - the fact that they won't see the field is not the issue, the issue is why are all these kids leaving. For every kid that leaves, there is probably at least one other kid that wants to leave but can't since they are on scholarship. The kids that left are thinking they can either stay with a program they hate and possibly see their grades suffer, or transfer to a quality school and still play the game they love. Remember, the main reason for going to college is to learn, not play football. The focus should be on education first, not athletics. So when your attitude about the athletics effect your performance in the classsroom, it is time to move on. For over 99% of these players, this will be the last football they play. Wow...don't get your panties all in a bunch there, killer. The fact is, these kids are transferring to lower divisions. Whatever your feelings about the MAC, if they were so good they could still go to Youngstown State, Delaware, Montana, etc. My guess is either THEY realized, the coaches realized or a combination of their and the coaches realization was this= you are not good enough to play FBS football..even in the MAC!!! Believe it or not, some kids choose a school not because they play D1 football but because of other factors - outrageous I know - but it happens. For you to say these kids aren't good enough to play FBS football just shows your ignorance - but we knew that by reading the first line of your reply. I wish more kids would consider more than just football when deciding where to go. They probably have parents like you telling them - "Hey, Akron is D1 football - you have to go there instead of that other school that you like so much". Some kids just want to play football in college and have a better chance contributing for a longer period of time at a level lower even though they are capable of playing at a higher level. Furthermore, the majority of a teams roster is made up of players that will not see significant playing time - you still need these players to contribute in practice. Seems like the kids aren't buying into what iCoach is trying to sell them. I guarantee you Akron will again not have enough players for a traditional spring scrimmage and we will see another offense vs defense scrimmage. I will be curious to see how many will be on the spring roster. I said that is my GUESS that they came to that realization. I am just looking at what I see. Not speaking in definites here. I'm not about to get in a pissing match with you about this. Kids leave colleges every year for many different reasons. Fair enough. But, as an example, Tate Forcier left Michigan and is going to...Miami (and not the one in the MAC). And, guess what= he looked like an FBS QB last year. So he is probably in the division he belongs. 2 of the players mentioned are going to schools that play, arguably, a much lower level of football than Akron does. Great...if they are more comfortable there...more power to them. Do they get scholarships to play there? Hmm...I am not 100% certain, but I am pretty sure Pioneer schools do not offer scholarships. If this is better for them, their families, etc...great. Sorry, but I am not about to bust on Ianallo and the coaching staff just yet. As someone mentioned in this thread or another, there were many that lambasted Auburn for grabbing Chizik a couple years ago. And, "closer to home", we had Miami (OH) with Haywood at 1-11 go on to win the MAC. He, of course, then went on to do some bad things...but that really doesn't matter does it? Or, maybe it does. Ianello might win 7 games at Auburn just because he can recruit talent there. Doesn't make him a good coach or may be it does. How many quotes can be contained in a single post? It's like a literary Turducken.

Never forget? Why? Were you rooting for Miami? My gawd, one of the biggest swings of sporting emotion that left me with a punched in the gut feeling for days. Why would I not want to forget that? Thanks for reminding me. Never forget? You never forget, I want to, except you keep posting one of the horrific moments in Zips fans history. Keep it to yourself. I was having a perfectly fine day. It means: Dont forget how much we were screwed in that game and that we should hate Miami with everything we have (just like Can't) because of it. We didn't get screwed. We choked-away the game. And the Miami kid made a miracle play, and game over. +1 on Dr. Z's comment. That photo, or any related videos, will never again appear on ZipsNation.

Per GoZips.com: UA Athletics again will partner with Cadillac Ranch (located at 200 Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland and within walking distance of The Q) to serve as its official fan headquarters throughout the week of the tournament. Cadillac Ranch will offer a variety of food and drink specials to patrons who are wearing Zips attire.