Captain Kangaroo

No. He'll be walking on. He seems to really want to be a Zip, and the staff likes him. He's a good kid and he'll have a good opportunity to win a scholarship if he works hard.FYI - Look for another big, big dude to give the Zips a commitment soon. A DL.

There's no better feeling than beating K.e.n.t…and no worse feeling than losing to them. Thank God the refs couldn't steal this one from us. Wood was an absolute beast. His play in the paint was outstanding all evening. Any rebound he got his hands on, he pulled in. 17 of them? Some nice outlet passes too. I love how he's always looking to push the ball. Middleton's energy carried us in crunch time. Yeah he took some ill-advised shots, but he wasn't alone in that department. His late game breakaway lay-ups were desperately needed. I would bet the kid is dead-tired today…hell of an effort.The small forward position was enigmatic last night. Conyers got quite a few first half minutes, but really didn't distinguish himself. You'd hope that logging the PT he did in such a hostile environment will help at "The Q." You'd hope…. Linhart played tough, but the fact that he's NO offensive threat whatsoever with the bad thumb hurt us a bit. Playing 4 on 5 on the offensive end can only work for a limited time. Milum never found a rhythm. Since he's such an athlete and a leaper, you'd think he'd be pretty effective against K.e.n.t, who has a lot of similar players (K.e.n.t isn't a "bruiser" team like OU by any stretch). Dials was as frustrating as Chinese algebra. Great plays…crazy forced plays…but when it came down to crunch time, his last second drive that drew two defenders gave him just enough space to thread the needle to Wood and win us a MAC East championship. Gritty game by Nick.Dru had a relatively bad game. As usual, a pesky, quick opposing guard gave him trouble. To his defense, the piece-of-crap referees seemed obsessed with fouling him out of the game. K.e.n.t's #11 is the worst "flopper" I've seen in some time. If Dru sneezed, the kid flew into the stands like he was hit by a cannon. And the refs typically took the bait.Speaking of refs, the traveling call on Linhart needs to be reviewed by the league office. For that referee to make such a blatant false-call in such a critical situation of a championship game should bar him from participating in any Zips games in Cleveland this week. He should also not be allowed to ref the championship game regardless of the teams participating. If he wasn't cheating on that call, he "choked" in making it. If he's choking in a 6,500 person crowd, I can't imagine what he'd whistle in a 14,000 person championship game.The other horrific call that almost cost us the game was the late-game shove on Wood that put him at the line. Wood is ridden out of bounds…no whistle…he saves it to Travis…no whistle…Travis goes up to dunk, gets his tomahawk to about the 12 o-clock position…and the whistle blows…on the foul that happened 4 seconds earlier. Nice job by the ref to take away 2 points and put our worst FT shooter on the line. Great focus by Wood to step up and drain those FT's. You can tell he's worked on that part of his game very hard.I don't understand why, when we're up by 8 points, we started playing like we were losing by eight. Some really terrible shot decisions almost cost us the game and much as the referees. If we work the shot clock down and feed the ball inside, instead of hoisting quick 3's, the game's not even close. Kudos to K.e.n.t for taking advantage of the mistakes we made at critical times. And taking advantage of the refs. They hit some clutch shots when the chips were down.'Rome and Dru got their place in Zips immortality secured last night. If there's any sanity in the Athletic Department, the K.e.n.t basketball game at the JAR next year will be featuring the raising of the MAC East championship banner to the rafters. It'll be good to see 'Rome and Dru again.On a related note: How stupid is the K.e.n.t marketing and promotions clowns to get Z-E-R-O mileage out of their football victory over the Zips this past fall? Two absolutely beautiful monitors at the corners of the arena, and no videos of the Wagon Wheel to pump any of their fans up? No "Just Like Foot-Ball" chants from the student section after K.e.n.t took the lead? Nice job.Anyone else notice the Can't State dance team uniforms used the Zips Blue and Gold (not yellow) colors? Thanks to the team for a great win. Beating K.e.n.t, at K.e.n.t, on their senior night to win a MAC East title is about as good as it gets. I hope we can parlay the experience gained into a strong MAC tourney showing. Wood stated in the post-game interview that "This team doesn't care about what's happened to Zips teams of the past. This is a new team and a new attitude." We'll see on Friday night, because that's when we'll meet K.e.n.t again. BTW - I verified Jose' Davis has no more eligibility remaining, so I expect to win.See everyone at the games Thursday, and at the Winking Lizard in-between!

This is the biggest game in recent Zips men's basketball history. We have a chance to win a title on the home court of our rival. And to reach the 24-win mark...a D-1 record. Travis and Dru need something up in the JAR rafters. The championship banner is in their hands. Does it go up in the JAR...and the Zips men's team comes back into town next November for the big ceremony....or does it happen next November in K.e.n.t?The Zips are the better team. The more-veteran team. We should win. I'm really looking forward to tonight. It will be an outright war. Zips 72K.e.n.t. 68See you at Ray's @ 5pm

I saw the lady Zips had a nice game the other night taking OU into OT. The same OU that had beaten top-25 BG a couple nights earlier. What I didn't notice was the lady Zips were without their top scorer Nicki McCoy and three other team mates. They were suspended. Two of them will remain suspended for the MAC tourney game #1. Way to finish-out what was a pretty decent season (by recent Lady Zips standards)...It will be interesting to see if the OU game was an aberration, or if the girls who filled in for the starters can back their play up with another good showing.Hell's freezing over. I wrote a post on women's basketball.

Looking forward to placing another scoreboard pic alongside this one:I love how she's looking up at the scoreboard as she cries.

Dials goes for career scoring highs in consecutive road games. Is it because he's getting the looks that used to go to Linhart? Whatever the reason is.... Couldn't be happening at a better time.

Some of the "more seasoned" members of the board probably have some recollections of this guy? He was a little before my time:Click for Story

I think we'll be better in 2007-8 than we are this season. I would be money on it. Losing Dials, Middleton, Milum, Linhart and Wood will be a blow in 2008-9, but Dambrot has historically recruited well. I'm sure the recruiting class we sign this fall will address those needs. Sweich will be a Junior at that time. Assuming he's as good as advertised that will make a huge difference in MAC competition. Dominant big men can carry a team in the MAC (Stacey, Hunter, Trent, Kaman...even Edwards).

In the Bosley/Ball era...I think it was 1998...we were a prohibitive favorite to beat Buffalo @ Buffalo. We had something like an 18-point lead with 5 minutes remaining. Buffalo started draining a bunch of 3's and we lost. Hipsher exploded in the post-game interview. I recall lots of profanity. He sternly "called out" several of the starters for their poor efforts. That set the table for the player "revolt" and the subsequent slow, painful decay of the Hipsher era. Whenever we play at Buffalo I think of that game. I'll give anyone $20.00 for the .wav file of Hipsher's post game interview that day!

Hey, respect your elders!!! BTW - College students during the mid-80's thought those songs sucked.

Pencil me in for Ray's Place too. If it is packed...The Loft.

Okafor OK with the Zips

I discussed this very topic with someone over the weekend. Some people in Akron seem to want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be "big time," but don't want the things that inevitably come with being "big time."I listen to 1530 in Cincinnati on my way home from work. The people down there are absolutely ruthless. Many vocally hate Mike Thomas. The bitch incessantly about UC athletics. The radio show can run for hours with fans venting about UC athletics. Beyond that, every UC move is on TV. Every mistake is on ESPN. Everything is up-front.Many in Akron want to be like UC athletically. However, they still want Zips athletic discussions handled like a small town high school. "Pleasantville" only exists in movies. If Nick Dials has a bad game, the worst he gets is a couple people grousing on ZipsNation. It isn't on the radio. It isn't on the news. If he had a bad game as a UC or Pitt player for example, their school message boards would be B-R-U-T-A-L. Check out Notre Dame or Ohio State boards after a loss. ZipsNation is Mayberry North Carolina compared to the venom those boards produce. Zips fans are allowed to get frustrated too, even if we have no local TV, no Coach's call in show, mediocre newpaper coverage, virtually no games on national TV, no mention in local sports talk, and on and on...God bless the Zips fans! Never stop caring!!

Stop posting facts. That's cheating!

Pittsburgh Tribune Review column:Click Me

I was a student from 84-89. Other than the Cleveland state game, I never had to wait an hour to get in the JAR. Crowds in that era were typical of what we saw at the JAR the past two months. 4k to 5k. I don't understand your point? We packed the house for the BG game. I don't think the 2-for-1 deal had anything to do with it. We would have had 5k+ regardless of the ticket promotion. I went to a lot of games back then. There was only one game packed with people in the aisles and on the track. That was Cleveland State. The reason that happened was 2-fold:1.) CSU was coming off their Sweet 16 run and got a TON of press in Northeast Ohio.2.) CSU is local and brought a few thousand of their own fans.Such a game was prevented from ever occuring again due to Fire Marshalls limiting the JAR capacity to 5,500 after that game. All that talk occurred AFTER the '86 Zips made the NCAAs.You will hear the same things from the existing coach, mayor, papers, administration etc if the Zips make it to the NCAA's this year. Reasons for that are:1.) The Pitt game came the year following the Zips '86 NCAA appearance. There was a big buzz due to that. The Nevada came came on the heels of our NIT appearance. BIG difference.2.) Pitt is a recognizeable name to NE Ohio fans. Nevada is comparatively unknown, even though they are a Top-10 team.3.) Pitt had Jerome Lane. Lots of Akron people wanted to see the "favorite son" in action. A couple thousand. If the Zips had made the NCAA's last season, then the attendance comparison of '86 to '07 would be valid. We are still a year shy of being able to compare the eras. Mark this thread and re-visit it next season. I think you'll have all the proof you need that Zips fans of 2007-8 will support a winnner as well as, and probably better than in '86.

He is built kinda like Nick Myers was. His body is ready for MAC play.

I'll start a post-game thread with a couple off the wall thoughts:Prior to the game, "hoopla" questioned why everyone was down on Rybek and didn't think he was capable of stepping up in Nate's absence. What a great call. I watch the Zips pretty closely and I never saw it coming. Hoopla's post goes down as my "Observation of the Week."There were those who said we should rest the starters and take a break in this "meaningless" game. One very large reason this game was NOT meaningless is the benifit to Pittsburgh area recruiting. If you look at the Zips most-recent 2008 recruit lists, several "focal" names are from Pittsburgh. McNees and Sweich are two recent commits from the area. The revitalied Duquesne is a prime competitor to the Zips for the services of Pittburgh's better players. The sound beating administered by the Zips will be covered very well in Pittsburgh's two local papers and Akron Basketball will subsequently get some very nice "ink." Beyond that, it negates arguments that the A-10 is somehow superior to the MAC's elite. The MAC needs these kind of wins.Tonight's win was big for the MAC, big for Zips recruiting and a much-needed confidence boost for a team looking to notch a road win vs. a quality opponent.Great job to all involved!

Thanks for posting that one. I wouldn't have been able to watch the game otherwise.

I agree. The Rowdies came in loud and clear on the webcast. Excellent, excellent job.I will be very honest...I didn't think the Rowdies would have a chance to stand up against the O-zone in Cleveland next week. To me, the OU fans have always been the standard-bearers for student support in the MAC. I now believe our AK-Rowdies are ready to run with the big dogs.

PD's Elton Alexander says Nate broke two fingers on his left (shooting) hand Saturday. He could be done for the season.Conyers will definitely get extended minutes this week. Can McKnight help too? He has a decent outside shot, so I'm thinking he may get some minutes at small forward too?Not what we needed...

well thats pretty much what you are saying here. we needed to play our best players yesterday. the rest shouldnt come at game time, but during the week between games. I agree. We play to win on Monday. If we get the chance to give Conyers, McKnight and even Rybek some decent minutes, great. But, the MAC needs to win OOC games vs. A-10 competition. We can't afford to tank it for any reason. The top-7 play the lion's share of minutes unless it is well in-hand.A game like this has Goddard written all over it. Duquesne plays almost no defense. Goddard could fire at will on offense, and his defense wouldn't really hurt us.

The only thing I will add to this is:In these cases, the kids that are "preferred walk-ons" were thought of pretty highly by the Zips. They aren't simply the Honorable Mention All ICL, D-5, Mineral Ridge, 5' 8" JP Morgan trying out for the team.The WR has a great chance to get a scholarship next season. We just didn't have another scholarship to give to a WR this year.The kid from Bellaire is small, but lightning fast. If he can put on some weight between now and fall 2008 he has a good chance at a scholarship.The kicker is in a great position. Igor's health fails, then he's got a starting job. Beyond that, he may win the job outright this summer. The Zips can't afford to have two scholarship kickers in Feb 2007 (no D1 school can), so he's a walk-on at this time.

Fear...there you go! The winning solution. Rather than ask 5,000 people to take small radios to the game...start the post-game show 5 minutes later. Is it that much to ask? I can't believe Dambrot can't wait 5 minutes for the fans to get to their cars. Play the stupid "I played sports all through college..." commercial while people walk back to their vehicles, not the coach's post game interview.

As the year has progressed, crowds at the JAR have grown. It takes longer and longer to exit the building now-a-days. Conversely, the timing of the post-game interviews seemed to have accellerated? At the A-P game I walked back to my car at the Rt 8 parking deck as fast as humanly possible...and caught only the last 12 seconds of the Dambrot post-game interview. It kinda sucks that the losers who leave the game early are the only ones guaranteed to hear the post-game interviews in their entirety.I sent an email to Hunter and Mack after the game requesting that post-game interviews be delayed 5 additional minutes to allow the fans who attend the games a chance to get back to their vehicles and hear what the coach has to say. As with other suggestions I've forwarded...no reply. I miss Waddell.We'll see if anything was changed. Tonight is the final home game. Hopefully someone keeps the JAR-fans in mind when they arrange the post-game stuff next season.