Captain Kangaroo

If I can get jalapenos with my nachos @ Infocision I will consider the University's planning to have been a major success.

Wow...that's a great gig for a 1st time HC position?!

One of my favorite concession-related stories of 2009 was Bleacher Bum's request for jalapenos with his nachos. Concessionaire reply - "We quit offering them. People complained they were too hot."Every other arena concession facility in the United States...I'm guessing there are tens-of-thousands?... has overcome the obstacle of offering jalapenos with their nachos. But at the JAR the only possible solution to a customer's complaint regarding the scoville unit of a jalapeno was to get rid of them all together.

I watched the WKy/Illinois game after the Zips/Gonzaga tilt. Western Kentucky had great guards and two very capable centers. One was more of an overall beast, the other more of a shot block specialist (a higher-skilled Quade Milum). If the Zips want to take the next step, they need to get Zeke another big man threat. Payne could well be that guy. Cventinovic could be that guy too, depending upon how he fills-out. Zeke is a big piece to the puzzle, but if we want to be a 2-deep NCAA team, we need another high-quality post guy. I like it that we're recruiting with that in mind. Now we need to land one.A final note on Cventinovic - I remember watching Wally Sczerbiak in his freshman year at Miami. He had a very similar build to 2009's Nik. He also scorched the Zips for 6 three's during their JAR appearance, so he was a different kind of player. It will be really interesting to see which way Nik develops over the off-season. Does he become a Ryan Andrick-esque, low post threat? Or does he focus on his strength & shooting and go the Wally-esque 3-position route?

Tough not to improve if you logged a bunch of "DNP - Coach's Decision" in your previous season's box score.I like Jimmy. He certainly made strides in 2008-9. But let's no go overboard. His improvement was not in ball-skills or through coaching, it was from within...he decided to quit pouting and accept his role - playing eight-or-so min/game to give the starters a breather. And to shoot 20% from the three-point line.

Because someone was short-sighted and f*cked up.

Davis. I want to see the stuffDa'Von Moore's heart just broke.

Numerically speaking, you are correct. But if you were to create a pie chart listing all the JAR shortcomings from a critical point of view, 90+% of the chart would be related to the physical structure and layout.On a scale of 1 - 10, the structure, layout, amenities, "things that trip a recruit's trigger and get him to choose UA over a BCS school with regularity"...all that stuff is horrible.It is a bad Division 1 basketball arena.

TESTIFY, BROTHER 'GREEN!!!

I like everyone's perspective on this topic. My 2-cents:I disagree with entirely the phrase "We can't fill the arena we have, so why build another one?"The JAR sucks. As a middle-aged guy who flew back and forth to Portland last week, then to Baltimore and back afterward, I can attest to the fact that sitting on wooden bleachers sucks for your vertebrae. And your butt. And those seats are pretty much all that's available at the JAR. The upper and lower chairbacks, while not fully attended, are mostly sold. Sitting in the upper corners of the JAR, under one of those french fry heat lamps, ain't a party. I think if Joe Akron has his choice, he's sitting at home listening to Steve French rather than heading to the campus. Regardless of the team's quality.Whether it is a new arena, or renovation of the existing arena, we need improved seating. You aren't going to entertain a client, or impress anyone, by getting them a GA ticket to sit on wood bleachers and watch Canisius. On the topic of entertaining - The Tommy Evans Lounge blows. If you want to attract decent donors, businesses,etc. you need a loge-like setting where people can entertain. And, where they can actually watch the game if they prefer. I've been to 4-H competitions that were swankier than Tommy Evans.Concessions? Good grief... Small wonder the food lines are as long as they are when every register attendant has to use a calculator to add $3.00 + $2.00. Everything about the concession area would need to improve to reach even 3rd rate status. "Hall of Champions?" Hey...ZipsWatcher's always talking about all these NCAA championships we've won. Where are the trophies? Where is the history? K.e.n.t.'s crappy arena has all that stuff on display. We have a handful of individual photos.Running player and game stats available? Don't get me started on the video system. For some reason 3-for-17 equated to 50% shooting all year?We'll draw more in 2009-10 than 2008-9. Probably by several hundred/game. But if anyone is waiting for 5k/game before we can justify a new arena...it ain't gonna happen. Thankfully the folks responsible for making such facility decisions seem to have more vision that that. I just wish they had more cash.

No player from the 2009 recruiting class is on campus. They won't arrive until summer.I'm not worried about Bain. I know they wanted to go easy on him this spring to make sure he'd be fresh come summer camp. I know there was also a concern that he might hurt someone on the offensive side of the ball if he played full-go, which is the only speed he knows.Every spring game the Zips leading rusher is someone that never sees the field the following season. See Frank Berchie or Ben Ruhlin. Generally speaking, I don't expect to see a whole lot of PT from any of the upper-classmen.

VA Tech was furious at the turnout that game and I can assure everyone they will never come back to Akron.Having games played at the tail end of a hurricane tend to hinder attendance.People seem to forget that Virginia Tech, pre Frank Beamer, was atrocious. The Zips/Hokies series was a 3-for-1 set up pre-Beamer, when 4-7 was considered a banner season for Tech.It was a classy gesture for Beamer to honor our contract, but no way in hell would they do it again.

I got lucky and stumbled into it.

That is the heart of my disagreement with some within this thread - Those relegated to the old company line "...we only have one chance to make the NCAA's, so the regular season is irrelevant...play a bunch of cupcakes...get a bunch of wins...and hope you win the MAC tourney.If people want to place their heads in the sand and ignore that fact that the present, and future of our basketball program is better than that...that it isn't tethered to the same "let's hope we win the MAC tourney because nothing else matters" fate...I'll disagree. I believe our program is past that stage. We aren't Eastern Michigan...Central Michigan...Northern Illinois...etc. To those programs, the same-old-same-old applies. To the Zips, it doesn't.Who's Joe Jakubik anyhow? Until I see him in a UA golf shirt or ball cap, he's a myth.

The Spring Game kicks off at noon April 4th. I'll probably be in the parking lot at the corner of Carrol St and Spicer, next to the Natatorium. My goal is to arrive at 10am...which always means 10:30am. Fire up your grills and join the fun! What better time to get acclimated to our new tailgating environment!

You gotta tell me how a game against Delaware State is more exciting than one against Morgan State.

FYI - CSU's non-conference schedule, as it stands today:Home games: West Virginia, Wichita State, Robert Morris, John Carroll. Road games: Ohio State, Kansas State, Xavier (tentative), tournament in Hawaii TBA.Seems appropriate for an upper-echelon Horizon League program. Plus they will get two chances to beat a Top-40 (maybe 25) program in Butler.FYI - A non-conference game vs. CSU would sell out the JAR. That would be cool...if, of course, you like those types of games. Make it happen, Mack. Ink a 2-year, home/home deal with CSU. NE Ohio wants that game. Ch43 or 19 will pick it up. It would be HUGE.

I don't see it as complaining. I see it as discussing. The old saying goes "Those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it." I don't want to see another 2007, and it is easy to avoid it. Continue to schedule better. To silence Joe Hyperbole here: Should we schedule UNC, Kansas and Oklahoma? No. Should we upgrade our schedule commensurate with the increase in Zips team talent and ability? Yes.We were 1/2 an eyelash away from sweating out a CBI bid this season. And I'm good with that...I think our 2008-9 schedule was good for our 2008-9 talent and experience. But I don't think we should be in that position again anytime soon. Our program is now in a position where, should we stub our toe in the MAC tourney, the breadth of our season's accomplishments should be sufficient to place us in NCAA "bubble" discussions, and be a lock for an NIT. Dambrot said in a recent column that it was good to have his players compete against LeBron in open gyms to humble them, and to remind them "how bad they really are". Likewise, the Zips team needs to measure itself against top-tier talent every so often to gauge where they are collectively.

Ask Romeo Travis what 26 wins against that schedule gets you. Then ask Mack Rhoades what kind of turnstile interest it gathers

Miami was bad this season. By MAC standards "average," but by D-1 basketball standards, bad. If they'd have played a bunch of average OOC mid-majors, they would have lost the lion's share of those games too. Miami lost Haynes because they played a tough schedule? Puh-LEEZE. I guess we lost Humpty because we played a MAC schedule? So if we beat Dayton, Rhode Island and...for the sake of argument...Pitt. That would have no effect on the NIT selection? That wouldn't get our name bandied about with the likes of a Creighton or Saint Mary's on Selection Sunday? You can't be serious. I think you might be spending too much time with the worry worts on the bbs board who matriculated from schools with no reasonable chance at sniffing so much as a CBI bid in the next 5 years. The Zips aren't in that situation. We're poised to be in the Selection Sunday discussion for the next several years. Believe it.

True, but CSU's Syracuse win made them a lock for the NIT, should they have floundered in the Horizon Tourney.Getting an at-large for a mid-major is VERY difficult. And it takes some time to get the respect necessary to be under consideration for one. Teams like Creighton and St Mary's put themselves in contention for an at-large because of their tradition, scheduling and performance. The Zips goal should be to put ourselves in that position. If we schedule well over the next 3-4 seasons, we'll be in the mix for an at-large. We'll never be a "lock" but we'll be no worse off than the Creighton's of the world. And until we get the 10,000 seat arena and the Summa-Nike Leer jet, that's all we can realistically aspire to achieve.

Prices can rise a little for 2010. I'm ok with that. As long as the home OOC schedule is upgraded. It will be interesting to see which direction the Zips OOC schedule goes in 2010 -Cup Cake City - Play a bunch of sorry teams and begin the season 12-1. Huggins did this in 1986-7.Saint Mary's - Play a bunch of high-mid-majors (like MVC's) and low majors (like BCS schools presently in the NIT, or low seed NCAA's) and begin the season 7-5, but with a couple marquee wins.

Hard to believe, as well as he played in his final two games? He looks to be "The Next Omar Jacobs."