Captain Kangaroo

What do you base that on?

The players basically stood around for the last 1:00. Why bother extending the game to put walk-ons in, if all they're going to do is dribble the clock out. The last minute wasn't all that stressful.If you put the scrubs in, and Goddard drills a 35 foot 3-pointer, the the opponent grouses all the same. Screw what the loser opponent fans are complaining about. Go on their board and tell them -- "Get better." Regarding the short leash -- I don't see it. When Hipsher was coaching, you'd see it all the time. Even when a player made a shot...if the shot wasn't the one Hipsher wanted he'd smack his hand on the court and yank the player at the first opportunity.B McKnight got yanked because he was utterly lost. I love the kid, but he still has a ways to go to figure out the overall "system."

Nice of Tom to give us a plug.

If giving transfers stars, like Ryan Bain, why not give 4 stars (Rivals) to Andrew Johnson, and Jeremy Bruce 2 stars (Rivals)? Let's see 'em Captain!Stupid work is getting in the way. I'll add Will Fleming and some stars tomorrow!Master List is Updated!

Word on the street is Dawson had a bad senior year, and many recruiters fell off his bandwagon. He had D1 scholarship offers in October, but he wanted to wait and see if he could get a BCS-level offer. It was a gamble on his part. In the end, I think he may end up with no D1 scholarship offers. Maybe EMU gives him one....but that's all I hear remain interested.It is too bad. By all accounts, he's a pretty stellar kid. Very personable and bright.

I could be wrong but we could potentially have an experienced set of WRs next year.Ryan Gardner (JC)- would make him a Junior?Deryn Bowser (JC)- would make him a Junior?David Harvey - is he in his 30s by nowGary Pride - can't wait to see him in the gameJeremy Bruce will be in the top 3.

This means our QB might actually have someone to throw to this coming season.Other than Harvey, can anybody recall a WR that come in as a freshman and made an impact?Schifino, and maybe Lavel Bailey?

For the record --These two have been on the list for a while. Gardner for a couple weeks, and Cooper for a few days. Their scholarships were already accounted for.

If giving transfers stars, like Ryan Bain, why not give 4 stars (Rivals) to Andrew Johnson, and Jeremy Bruce 2 stars (Rivals)? Let's see 'em Captain!Stupid work is getting in the way. I'll add Will Fleming and some stars tomorrow!

Goddard is a 3-point shooting "freak." But he isn't all that great a D-1 basketball player. You can't give a one-dimensional senior like him minutes in lieu of developing Freshman talents like Brett McKnight, Roberts or McNees.If Goddard is unhappy, he has an odd way of showing it. He's been on the team, as a walk on, for what...4 1/2 years (I believe he redshirted)? If he didn't like being part of the team, he would have quit long ago.

While it was a loss, it was one of the Zips better efforts against BCS competition. And, it was a great time. My favorite memory from the game was, on our first offensive possession, the guy behind me saying "What...is this 1942 or something? What's the deal with the little white running back?" I turned to the guy and said - "Mark my words, he'll put over 100 on you today." I forget what Hendry had that day, but is was something like 119 yards? I enjoyed that. Overall, Wisconsin people were very complementary of the Zips. Good folks.Picks from the game and tailgate:

That's an interesting question. I remember when Andy Hipsher played there was some hub bub about him being on scholarship because if he weren't, he couldn't get travel per diem and his hotel paid? Do I recall this correctly?Are you saying that the walk-ons on the team pay for their own hotels during team trips? :blink:Maybe it was just per diem, I forget. It was about 10 years ago that the topic arose. Can anyone add some insight here?

That's an interesting question. I remember when Andy Hipsher played there was some hub bub about him being on scholarship because if he weren't, he couldn't get travel per diem and his hotel paid? Do I recall this correctly?

I am hearing the same thing. I'd be surprised if he isn't included in the 2008 Zips class.

Personally -- I doubt he's in the mix. There are a scant few scholarships remaining, and those are being held in hopes that some "big fish" slip through the cracks (ie. a BCS school pulls an offer to a Blue Chipper). Or a Ryan Bain-like transfer arises.

Updated

Meet Coach Pfau

He's a 6' 3", 185lb WR that caught 62 passes for 1100 yards and 18 touchdowns...in a single season. He currently holds the Connecticut state record for most consecutive games played with a receiving touchdown at 13. He runs a 4.45 forty. I'm pretty excited that a kid like that is coming to UA.I'm not privy to any of his academic information, other that the single sentence written on the recruiting site, so I'll defer to JD's knowledge of the situation and assume the kid has a good chance of being successful with his classwork. JD knows he can't have another 2006 class again. And, the 2007 Zips class was excellent.BTW -- If there were a 6' 3", 185lb kid that ran a 4.45 forty, and had a 3.35 GPA and who wanted to come to UA I'm sure JD would have offered him.

I'll add one more thing --Back...oh...12-or-so years ago, the Beacon did a nice job covering the Zips. Even when the team was bad, the coverage was fair. Both recruiting, and on game days. Then, they made the decision to cut WAY back. I went through the proper channels and wrote the editor. They basically told me "F U, OSU sells papers and that's who we're covering."I figured it wasn't so difficult to contact people at UA and get the stories myself. The lack of discussion regarding Zips athletics (ie. on the radio), lack of print coverage, and the dearth of recruiting information were the main reasons why some of us hackers got together and formed this site. Sitting around bitching about it wasn't getting anything done. The people within the University have been VERY accomodating in providing information. Because of UA's market situation, they value the exposure our blog gives their respective programs. And they like forums that generate fan interest and excitement. The people that run this site are all married, employed and most have kids. This site is a hobby, but one we all take pretty seriously. If I post something on a recruit, you can be assured it was well-researched. I typically never post a source within UA because I don't want to be responsible for screwing up someone's career with a mistake. I'm an engineer, not a journalist. Most of the inside-scoop stuff I write is in the "Word on the street is..." venacular. That has proven to be the best way to handle things in the "blog" format.I'm glad a lot of you enjoy the site and enjoy the information. Like any hobby, it only costs money...but we do it because it is fun & it supports UA.

Because I wrote it.If you elect to believe Scout or Rivals info on UA over mine, that's your call. Or maybe you question it because it isn't in the Beacon? Either way, it's up to you where you choose to obtain your Zips recruiting info.

Rivals Bio -- 2-StarsScout Bio -- 3 Stars

Say I stand behind you and blow a trumpet in your ear for minutes on end. Because I'm a monster Zips fan, does that make it cool? That guy's whistle cuts like a knife though several sections...it is beyond obnoxious. Just because he can create the noise without a physical whistle is irrelevant. And as you stated, it had no effect on K.e.n.t.'s free throw shooting. It only ticked off a few hundred Zips fans near by. If he wants to toot a little here and there...fine. The dude just didn't get it. There is a line between being a fan, and being obscenely obnoxious.And for those of you who weren't there...trust me...stick yourself in a room with a 4-year old who just chugged a 2-liter of Mountain Dew, give him a whistle and a Black Sabbath-size guitar amp + microphone...and you MIGHT get an idea as to the level of incessant, loud, shrill whistling this guy produced.

My thoughts:We got our butts kicked.Say what you want about the K.e.n.t. students, but anyone in Akron would give their left nut to have such student support at a basketball game. If UA had 4 tourney appearances in the last 9 years, we'd have that support too. We're getting there. But with regards to student support at basketball games -- K.e.n.t. is "there."Rowdies did a nice job...except for the idiot that kept whistling when K.e.n.t. was shooting free throws. Someone please put a sock in that dude's mouth next game. Got a free ticket from a K.e.n.t. student prior to the game. 12 straight years I've gotten into that game for free. I just can't put money into the K.e.n.t. coffers if I can avoid it. If you lose a game, you always start thinking, "If I were the coach, I'd have...". If I were coaching last night...and there's good reason I wasn't...McNees wouldn't have seen the floor in the second half. He was absolutely overmatched. He was at 33rpm's, and K.e.n.t. was on 78. It will be interesting to see how he picks up his game in the March 9th rematch. In McNees' place -- "Big Shot" Brett McKnight. No he can't handle the ball, but other than Dials he was the only guy that was able to fill it up. He needed more time on the floor. Chris McKnight brought is "A" game offensively too...I'd have taken 10 minutes more of CM over Quade.Ced -- Who doesn't love Ced? No one. He's one of my top 5 all time Zips. But he's been atrocious lately. He's a great shooter from 19 feet 9 inches, but his shooting percentage drops exponentially for every inch beyond the arc. He needs to get better physically for sure...but he needs to start playing to his strengths too. He forced things last night. He's done that a lot lately. Wood did ok, but Quaintence got the best of him. Wood got the ball 15 feet out WAY too frequently. Rarely did he get it down on the blocks. Credit K.e.n.t.'s help defense. Conyers is usually an enigma offensively, and solid defensively. Last night he was a consistent enigma.Dials was awesome. Tough on D, clutch on offense. Maybe his best overall game as a Zip.As seems to be common in games that get physical...Quade disappears. The up-and-down "track meet" games....there, he goes off. But when teams are banging, he's really at a disadvantage.I thought the refs stunk, but no more than any other MAC game. We lost because K.e.n.t. played awesome defense and hit clutch shots. They wore a very deep Zips team down.Our near comeback at game's end was nice...but hitting shots when the game is essentially over is easy. You see it all the time. We needed to hit those shots with 10 minutes to go in the 2nd half. McNees' foul on Quaintence was nothing big. Quaintence is a jerk. But that jerk owned the paint last night.Kudos to Quade for sticking up for his teammate. The 6' 8" 230 lb Quaintence could have killed the 6' 180 lb McNees. I agree with GP1...it is good to see some passion like that in the rivalry game.Why can't we throw a late-game inbounds pass inbounds? Our late game inbounds pass was "Miami" all over again. The game was already decided, but there appears to be a pattern.I like the MAC this year. OU, K.e.n.t., Akron and Western Michigan are all playing at a very high level. Miami will be in the mix at the end too. Let's get up to 17 wins, and see what the Bracket Buster draw gives us. K.e.n.t. will get a slightly better draw, but...they deserve it.

"They don't pack much of a whallop."

oh man im gonna have a field day with this tonight....we all gotta start chanting "Eric Thomas, Eric Thomas"I would think a chant like that would reflect pretty poorly on UA. I hope no one does it. The dude raped a chick. That's not funny.I would rather hear a chant of "RICH-ARD SIM-MONS" whenever that goofy-looking guy gets the ball. That's funny, and clever.