Captain Kangaroo

I think in the 10 years of participating on the various interations of our board, this is the first time I've ever disagreed with you? I must finally be wrong about something? Conyers, IMO, has regressed a little since his ok start to the season. His 1-2-2 stat line vs Buffalo was indicative of his overall play. Even his saving grace...the lock down D...was missing last Wednesday. He's the guy that got beat on the back door allowing Buffalo to go ahead at game's end. Unless Conyers was sick last night, I'll guess the coaching staff saw the same thing. Hence his minutes dropped to 5 vs. BG and he was absent from the starting line up. KD also made mention that "some" players may have started taking their minutes for granted, and he mixed up the line up to let everyone know "there's no free lunch"...keep working, or someone else will be happy to take the PT.If we have a lead at game's end, I'll take my chance with Conyers, I guess. If I'm behind, Conyers can't be in the game. Roberts, Linhart, C McKnight, Humpty and B McKnight would be my preferred 5. Mc Nees would be my 6th. Cventinovic my 7th. Then I'd ask Romeo Crennel to flip a coin to see if Bardo or Conyers was next.

Sweich...beats me. Who knows if or when it will click for him?Cventinovic? If he's "the next Conyers" I'll be sorely disappointed. Conyers is averaging 4.5points and 4.2 rebounds per game in his 4th year on campus (3rd on the court). I expect Cventinovic will be doing that in a couple weeks, if he can get Conyer's equivalent 18min/g.Is Conyers' performance a step up from his freshman or sophomore seasons? Sure. But 4.5 / 4.2...well let's just say he still has room to improve. Tonight would be a good time to start. BG has some bangers in the paint and we're going to need someone to crash the boards.

Right now the bid on two floor-seat tickets for the January 24th K.e.n.t. game at the JAR, PLUS two Tommy Evans Lounge passes, PLUS a Lot 2 parking pass sits at only $100.00??!! It ain't an autographed Jim Tressel book, but it is still a nice item. Click to bid.

Other names of interest:Sedale Threatt Jr, son of the former Philadelphia 76'er. And Mike Berry - A LO recruit who out of Michigan never made grades at UA.

Never heard of it?

Many people don't have the opportunity to catch the show. I'd appreciate it if people could place any thoughts on the show content and how the "question & answer" segment played out in this thread.

I banned him. BWAH HA HA!! Viva la attendance discussion!!

Highly Scientific, Undeniably Accurate Lunchtime Analysis:#1 - Buffalo (9-5) Previous Rank #1Close road loss to BG followed by a nice road win at Akron. Having seen Buffalo in person, I can say they are definitely a solid, albeit unspectacular, basketball team.#2 – OU (9-6)Previous Rank #55 consecutive wins. Shockingly, the loss of Bubba is not being felt in Athens? A 6-point win vs. K.e.n.t. and a 4-point road win @ Oxford vault OU to the #2 spot. Tillman looking like a lock for POTY?#3 – Miami (8-6)Previous Rank #2 Home loss to OU + requiring OT to take care of a very young Akron team at home drops Miami to the #3 slot.#4 – Can't (8-8)Previous Rank #3 A 6-point loss to OU is somewhat forgotten with a 24-point home blow out of BG. Geno Ford still struggling to get any consistency out of this squad. #5 – Bowling Green (8-7)Previous Rank # 5Got absolutely crushed by K.e.n.t. on the road, but the home win vs. Buffalo has to give them the edge over the Zips. BG stays at #5. #6 – Akron (8-7)Previous Rank #6Close losses to Power Poll higher-ups Miami (road) and Buffalo (home) show there’s not much separation between the top and bottom of the MAC East. But sitting at 0-2, the Zips have made a solid case for being at the East’s bottom. Road game this week vs. BG looms large.#7 BSU (7-7)Previous Rank #72-0 in the MAC West. The Cardinals are starting to put some heat on the Zips for the coveted #6 slot.#8 WMU (5-12)Previous Rank #12Western makes a HUGE jump this week on the strength of their 2-0 league start.#9 NIU (5-9)Previous Rank #9Hey…they’ve won a Conference game. Good enough for me to hold their #9 slot. #10 EMU (2-11)Previous Rank #12Hey…they’ve won a Conference game. Good enough for me to move them out of the basement.#11 Akron Women’s Team (6-10)Previous Rank #10Lady Zips have one more MAC win than the men’s team. Is Coach Kest talking any “smack” in the JAR offices?#12 CMU (3-11) Previous Rank #10Double OT loss to EMU in the second biggest MAC pillow fight of the season. Beware - Toledo’s pillow will be primed and ready for their big January 20th match up with the Chipps. In a bold move by Toledo’s marketing department, the game will apparently be sponsored by Serta?#13 Toledo (2-14 with no D1 wins…is Stan Joplin still available?)Eternal rank - #13.

The main reason students do not attend games in droves is -- we aren't winning. Simple as that. Akron-area fans are no different than any other fans...they actively support a winner...and they, at best, passively support anything less.So why is men's basketball attendance so mediocre? They win? Note: Basketball attendance isn't terrible by any stretch...3k people showing up on a blizzard-like Tuesday night to see Buffalo is hardly cause to whine about lack of support.Basketball has won ZERO games that capture the imagination of Joe Akron. ZERO championships. Knocking off a Top 20 team gets butts in the stands...dancing underneath a sea of confetti at The Q gets people pumped to buy season tickets. Beating Florida State in the NIT and finishing second in the MAC is impressive to hard core hoops fans, but it will NEVER pack the house. If the Zips had beaten Pitt this season, and were sitting at 13-2 right now, you could easily tack on 1,500+ to whatever crowds presently exist. Maybe more.K.e.n.t. drew flies before they turned their program around a decade ago. The Akron / K.e.n.t. game @ K.e.n.t. would be lucky to draw 3k in 1998. And 2/3rds of those fans were from Akron! Now, even though their heyday has somewhat faded, they're still riding that attendance wave. Their student turn out for home basketball games dwarfs the AK-Rowdies. K.e.n.t alumni, who at the time loved the Buckeyes as much as any UA alumni, all the sudden grew some school pride and began buying K.e.n.t. t-shirts and ball caps. That’s what happens when you win championships and play in the NCAA tourney. NIT Fever doesn’t quite measure up.If UA hoops would have won a MAC championship...competed in the NCAA tourney...we would not be having any discussion. Students and alumni would be ga ga over the Zips. But we haven't. And while us hard-cores are ga ga, Joe Akron, Joe UA student and Joe UA alum sit at home and peck away on the internet. “Market” all you want…winning is the only way you’ll draw great crowds. 15k Zips fans showed up in Detroit to see a 7-5 Zips football team play Memphis in the MCB. Zips fans will show up if you win championships. If you don't win, they won't. Look at Miami in the Szerbiak years or Rothlisberger years. Compare their respective attendance then, to today. It is no different at any other mid-major college. Win and they will come. Come up short on the field/court, and your attendance will likewise come up short.

For coach Dambrot - "Cventinovic played decent minutes at the center position vs. Buffalo. Are you willing to give him a longer leash and try to develop him in the second half of 2009...living with some Freshman mistakes. Or will Nik continue to see single-digit minutes and spot duty?"For coach Kest: "Your team has as many wins 1/2 way through this season as most recent Zips women's teams have had at season's end. This, despite jettisoning your top players from the last 2 year's squads. Are the Lady Zips exceeding your expectations this season...meeting expectations...or should they be playing better?"

I saw Shane at last night's basketball game. Odd that he'd still be on campus in mid-January if he were transferring.I don't know about Cruz. He dropped some balls for sure. But so did Poindexter. I miss Mike Brake.

Big Game Upcoming for McKeesport

ZipsNation was approached by the producer of ZipsLive - the weekly UA Coach's Radio Show - to assist in generating "Ask the Coach" questions. In exchange for using our forum to generate some questions, the segment will be "Sponsored by ZipsNation.org," which is great! The User Name "ZipsLive" will post a weekly thread where your questions should be listed. Important - PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO QUESTIONS WITHIN THE THREAD. The thread is strictly a list of questions for the coaches. ZipsLive will identify the guest coaches prior to their appearance each week.I think this is a great opportunity for fans to gain insight to the all UA athletics programs. I urge everyone to participate. You can be as "direct" in your questions as you like (you are not relegated to tossing the coaches "softballs") but please keep it classy. After question is read, you'd like the staff to think we're a bunch of passionate and knowledgeable fans (which we are). If you have any questions on this topic for the ZipsNation moderators, please send them my attention (PM Captain Kangaroo). Or you can list them here.I know this will be a great partnership once things get rolling. Represent, ZipsNation!Thanks,CK

Zips 79-Buffalo 75

Yes, we do. I checked.

There are a few reasons for my post - If you work and have kids, weekday games can be difficult. But obviously with a 30+ game schedule, weekday games are a necessity. I get it. That's not really my complaint.My point is Saturday afternoon and early Saturday evenings are optimal game times. And we have none in February or March. On Saturdays you can stop at BW-3's 2 hours prior to the game, eat some food, watch some sports, take in a little pre-game atmosphere and then watch the Zips. I realize there are many folks who hit the campus strictly for the game. Park the car, watch the Zips, then go home. And many Zips fans don't have to deal with work (student, retired, etc) or kids. That's all good. But for me, I can make a great Saturday scheduled around Zips athletics. I can't do that on a weekday, and Sunday is a similar buzzkill.As far as the comment that MAC football is only on the weekend, you must not have seen the Zips 2008 football schedule. Three of the Zips last 4 games were Wednesday/Thursday/Friday. Give me a Saturday football game where I can fire up a grill and enjoy the day, or make an away road trip, over a Wednesday night, school & work night game, where I also contend with the work/school thing the next morning, any day.

After the Zips January 31st game vs. CMU, the Zips have Z-E-R-O home Saturday games for the remainder of the 2008-9 season.The three February home games are Feb 8th (Sunday), Feb 11th (Wed) and Feb 18th (Wed).March gives us BG on Sunday March 1st and OU on Thursday March 5th.I'm sure the Sunday games are being held to accommodate TV (seems like anytime the Zips are on TV, it is a home game).Maybe I'll take a road trip to Buffalo on February 26th just to remember what a Saturday game it like. I guarantee that if I attend...it'll be placed on TV.

Seems like the basketball team has it's own Alex Allen?He's 1.5 years into his career, and has missed 1.4 years due to injury. Even if he comes back next week, he's going to need all of February to get back into game shape. Maybe longer. I can't figure our if we missed him more last season, or this season. We can't catch a break at the PG position.

We held Miami to 19 points in the first 20 minutes...then gave up 16 in the 5-minute OT. I wish Brett McClanahan wouldn't have redshirted. We need someone who can score B-A-D.Both McKnights need to step it up if we're going to compete in the MAC this season. I swear they have the ability...but at game's end, their stat lines fall well short what the should be. I'd hoped Roberts would have filled Ced or Dials' shoes as the guy that sticks the "dagger" 3, but Darrel has been very quiet this season. Take away Brett McKnight's performance in the second half vs. Pitt, and maybe one game from Humpty, there's really been no Zips player who's said "I'm taking this game over...try to stop me!" Everyone seems to be waiting on someone else to carry them. Maybe that's just what you get with a bunch of youngsters, but I wish someone would develop an offensive mean-streak. We're too soft - inside and outside.I like Humpty. It'll be fun watching him for four years. Having seen Jimmal Ball expolode on the scene as a freshman, then finish with only a "nice" career...I'll hold back on anointing Humpty "The Next Eric McLaughlin." At least for another year. With 2 minutes to go in OT Miami scores to stretch their lead to 8 points. Steve French *sigh* "Well, that pretty much does it for the Zips." McKnight hit a 3 to cut the lead to five about 10 seconds later. Come on Steve, an 8-point lead with 2 minutes remaining isn't such a monster obstacle to overcome.

Does a Royal "!@#$%" beat "????"?

12, or 13 overtime periods?

Wayne and plane! Where's that jumping banana emoticon when you need it?

There's two hidden in this picture, kids. Can you find them?

If you want to participate on our board, you are welcome. There's one simple rule to follow - don't be a douche.I appreciate your insights on recruiting, but if you're going to slight UA's programs, academics...whatever...here, or on other MAC boards...your welcome wears out.

Uncle Conrad?