Captain Kangaroo

Ok...last week you say we have no chance vs. an 8-10 K.e.n.t. team. Now we're looking at a Sweet 16 appearance?The .gif is coming back...don't make me do it....

I believe I saw 6' 9", 215lb Cameron Black , K.e.n.t. Roosevelt Class of 2010, at yesterday's game? He was sitting near Zeke.

Apparently some guy solved the puzzle without even needing to guess a single letter?

I can't help it. If 8-10 K.e.n.t. is coming into our house, and someone wants to post (on the UA board) that we don't have the talent to beat them...well...you gotta be prepared to prepared to defend the point, or take a little heat.That said...to prove I'm not totally unreasonable...I'll remove the .gif. Acceptable compromise?

Interesting Column - Is Dearborn is in the Middle East?

I don't think so.

I agree. It is all a big lie. The Zips have proven they can finish-out a game with the best of them. We are playing rock-solid basketball in the last 3 minutes of tight games. It is difficult to find any room for improvement.

Hilltopper - You filled us in on the answers to many of last week's ZipsNation questions...can you do a repeat performance? Anyone....Buehler...Buehler...?I bowl on Thursday nights so I rarely catch the show. Thanks!

If we condone you coming on our board and being a douche, we will obviously accommodate just about anything.

Coach Dambrot - "Is Chris McKnight emerging as your go-to option on offense? His consistency seems to be becoming a trend."

I agree. K.e.n.t. is WHITE HOT this season. There's no chance we can run with them. We can only pray that no one gets hurt.

:lol:

Nicely says nice things about UA

Coach Kest: "Your team was absolutely bludgeoned by BG the other night. Then you beat a similarly talented K.e.n.t. squad in your next game. To what do you attribute the difference in results? Was the BG beating a result of a hangover from a tough OT loss to OU. Is BG that much better than K.e.n.t.?"

If the QB's are competitors, they'll stay. If not, they'll transfer.Funny thing when you transfer...wherever you go, you still don't have any guarantees. There's always going to be 3-4 QB's who want the ball.

Nicely committed last night. He committed. There is nothing to worry about. At least not more than any other commitment.Personally - I'm worried about Jarvis Givens. Rivals says he's committed, but I haven't heard anything about him.

One reason we were so close could be neither Miami or OU is all that much better than us?We were right there with Buffalo, OU and Miami until the very end...then we went cold, lost composure, and lost the games. Because of our youth, and heavy reliance on defense, we're going to be in a lot of close games this year - I don't think were capable of blowing many teams out of the gym. Hopefully we pull one out soon and the kids get some much-needed confidence. That's really what we're lacking. I saw Humpty in the state finals. He's got the ability to play with anyone. But he's driving the lane against 23 year old men as opposed to 10th graders from Bucyrus. That's a big jump."The best thing about Freshmen is they become Sophomores."

You are correct. Is playing Miami toe-to-toe for 40 minutes better than playing OU like garbage for 30 minutes, then great for 10 minutes? Is falling apart like wet toilet paper with 3 minutes remaining better than doing so with 5 minutes to go?It all depends upon your perspective. In the end, Zips fans are again left with the question "Which of our losses was more impressive?"

1.) Back in the 80's Bob Huggins frequently recruited some guys from the football team to bolster his inside game, and he had some success with it. Have you ever given any though to asking Coach Brookhart if you could "borrow" a couple of his defensive lineman or tight ends to pound on a guy like Tillman in the paint for a few minutes a game?1a.) In a related question - Has the game changed in the past 25 years to the point where a dual sport athlete is no longer possible?2.) Have you considered instituting any "rules" that would mandate the team make "X" amount of passes, "X" amount of clock, or give a post player "X" amount of touches before taking a shot? We seem to be taking more ill-advised, quick, early-in-the-shot-clock shots than any Zips team I can remember.

One can only hope he's as top flight as this guy. ;)Thanks for the updates!Go Zips!Several years ago I got fed up with the Beacon’s shoddy recruiting coverage and figured “If they won’t cover it, I’ll do it myself.” That’s why I do it today. I’ve explained how that one transpired to a few, but for those whom I haven’t, here’s the story –Back in January 2006 I spoke to someone within the UA Athletic Department regarding Zips football recruiting. The conversation went something like this:Mr. X: “We’ve got a 4-star recruit who just committed to the Zips!”Me: “Can you give me a name?”Mr. X: “No. But I can say the following – he’s a Rival’s 4-star recruit from Pennsylvania. He’s rated in their Top 20 nationally at his position. He plays on the offensive side of the ball and although Akron is not listed as one of the schools recruiting him, he’s coming to UA. That’s all I can say.”Ok. So I go on to Rivals and look at the WR’s, RB’s, OL’s…I scan everyone. And the only Top 20 offensive player shown as uncommitted was LeSean McCoy. So I go back to Mr. X and ask: “If I were to post that LeSean McCoy is coming to Akron, would that be ok?”Mr. X replied: “Go ahead.”Why did Mr. X do this? To be honest, I don’t know. But back in 2006 I didn’t have nearly the relationships within UA that I presently have. I think, at the time, Mr. X just thought I wanted to play a joke and that I was only wondering if the joke might hurt the program at all. It wouldn’t, so he told me “Go ahead.” I don’t think such a communication gaffe would occur in 2009, but 2006 was a different time.So…how wasn’t this recruit LeSean McCoy, if every possible sign pointed to him?Mr. X neglected to tell me his Rivals information was from 2005, not 2006. The recruit was actually David Harvey, who attended a prep school from ’05 – ‘06. So I got some egg on my face for that one. What can you do… I think my track record since then has been pretty good? I take a lot of pride in getting recruiting information correct, and on ZipsNation before you see it anywhere else. I know a lot of the ‘Nation enjoys it, and it is fun to assemble. And, to be honest, it is fun to beat the Beacon.So that’s the way it transpired. Believe it…or not.Funny story to close this out:At the football Golf Outing two years ago I spoke to a Coach about this story. He said “Yeah…once that LeSean info was put on the Internet I started getting phone calls. Coaches from all over the place were calling wondering “How’d you get that kid?” We all told them “The new practice facility”

Where did you come up with that?First, the Zips were outscored in the OU OT 14-9, not 12-4.Second, there was absolutely no comparison with the Miami OT. Miami dominated OT from beginning to end. The Zips took the lead early in OT against Ohio, and led halfway through OT. Only at the end of OT did they fall behind and have to foul to get the ball back.Sorry - at 11:30pm my attention to detail sometimes erodes. I will re-phrase:In the final five minutes of the Miami game (OT) we were outscored 16-4. Similarly - In the final 3 minutes of the OU game (OT), were were outscored 12-3 (Zips led 62-58, and ended up losing 70-65).You say there's absolutely no comparison. From my point of view the losses are almost identical...we can't score to close-out these tight games. But, the opponent seems to do so with ease. Whether they do it via lay ups or from the foul line doesn't matter.Sorry for the confusion.

Ok. Then let's play CSU @ K.e.n.t.As pointed out earlier in the thread, the Bracketbuster matches "like" teams, and CSU is a few notches above the Zips at this time. Even if the home/away thing lined up, we wouldn't play them.

Watching the BG game on TV Saturday, Jim Chones constantly commented on the Zips poor shot selection. If he were doing color for the OU game, he could probably have just ran a tape of the BG broadcast...it was the same thing.OU worked the ball inside constantly. Conversely, we heaved up all sorts of stuff, at all points in time within the 35 second clock. We just don't have a whole lot of poise and confidence in our offense. Too much early panic.Humpty is really struggling with letting the game come to him. He's forcing everything. In fairness, Linhart probably had a worst OT than Humpty.If you want to look for positives - Chris McKnight continues to be a reliable scoring threat. Roberts is playing well too. The comeback to force OT was amazing. A really gritty effort was wasted with the horrific OT.Zips were outscored 16-4 in the Miami OT. And 12-4 in the OU OT. Getting to OT is nice...but you gotta at least show up once you get there.Who surrenders quicker - A real French person, or Steve French? I think our Frenchy broke his own personal record by waving the white flag with 17 minutes remaining in the 2nd half.I won't fret over this loss. It was a hell of an effort at an arena where the home team is something like 21-1 in their last 22. Beat K.e.n.t on Saturday and all will be well. It will be VERY interesting to see how the youngsters respond to the intensity of that game.

From what I hear, Bleil and Moorhead's successors will be announced some time soon after Signing Day.

Bardo will use his 5 fouls tonight.