Captain Kangaroo

Here...I'll change my analysis. Nick Dials is the best player ever. Period. The guy in un-freaking-real. Everyone else sucks. Personally,I think their game suffers because they are all in awe of Dials. Who can blame them? It has to be distracting to play in His presence.Dials

Who cares if Travis only scored from 3' in? That's his job. He was totally spent at games end, and did a hell of a job against a much taller front line. And he did it with little help from any other big men.You and I watched different games. I'll leave it at that.

I can't stand it. Locked.

As I watched the game I jotted down the following notes:* I saw on the game thread that Travis was taking a beating. I disagree. With no help from any of the other #4/5's he played an awesome game. It isn't his fault he's playing 39 minutes against a team that's got guys going 6'9" and 6' 11". Travis was a warrior Saturday. MAC POTY is his award to lose.* Who wasn't a warrior? I don't know the severity of his injury, but Jeremiah Wood sitting on the bench did us no favors. After seeing him miss 1 1/2 seasons with a knee injury, it was disappointing to not see him give it a go yesterday. If he doesn't play vs. Nevada we will lose by 15 points on our home floor. Wood needs to suck it up and play.* Dials was solid. He hit every one of his open shots, and many of thse were "clutch," keeoing the Zips in the game. He was in great defensive position all night too. The opposing guards rarely could turn the corner on him.* Joyce was always a step or two slow. Gray toasted him on numerous occasions. Dru's worst game of the season, by far. Bad, "I quit" effort at game's end too. Body language said it all. * Nate Linhart brought to mind the old John Wooden quote "Activity doesn't necessarily mean achievemant." Nate ran around a lot, but he's been making terrible decisions with the ball lately. Way to many turnovers, and if I'm drawing up a final play of the game, Linhart shooting a 23-footer with 14 seconds remaining is about #8 on my option list. * A Marketing rant-of-the-Day: F-ing stop it with the "I played sports all through high school..." commercial. Can someone get off their a$$ and find a sponsor willing to pay a couple bucks for a real commercial? Don't we have all these great corporate partners? Ketchup soup commercial days have officially returned. I turn off the radio at breaks.* McKnight played fine, from what I saw. I do rhink he got lucky with his two long-range shots dropping. With wood sitting our, we needed his 6' 5" body on the glass where we were getting mauled. Matt Futch part #2?* Nice FT shooting. Did anyone want to win a key OOC road game? You don't do it by choking at the line. Dru's missed were particularly disappointing.* Conyers continues to play with no signs of a clue. I thought he was going to be the David Harvey Story - Hoops version. Dead wrong on that one. He's looking more like his rap-artist buddy John Rybek every game.If I was an impartial observer, I would say it was a very entertaining basketball game. UIC is a very solid team, with decent big men, athletic forwards and quick, sharp-shooting guards. That Gray kid is insane with his shot selection...but he seems to make them...and he hits hit FT's. I like their team. To go one step further, when the camera panned to UIC's bench during crunch time, their players were loose, and dripping with confidence. Their coach too. You knew they weren't going to fold. I give them all the credit in the world. They played a great game. * The Comcast announcers were the best I've ever heard do a MAC game. Very fair, very well-informed. * Cedric was clutch. Great show for his family. Too bad it was a losing effort.* Travis late-game leg cramps hurt his rebounding at game's end. That's why UIC players were going over him so easily (at that time). He couldn't jump.* We can't beat anyone when we give up 80+. And that's what we did. We'll kill Sster's of the Poor St. Francis Tuesday. We LOOOOOOOOOVE the cupcakes. But who cares....the game of the year for the Zips is Nevada. It sets the tone for the remainder of the season. A win gives lifts us up another rung on KD's ladder of success. We've never beaten a ranked basketball team in the history of the program. A loss...and we're the same old Zips. No moral victories vs. Nevada. We need a win B-A-D. Don't let anyone tell you different.

The only thing I've seen on him is from the Boston Herald column from early December.Work has been to busy lately & I'm slacking on my "hobby." I'll try to get more info next week.Searching through here might yield additional info:Click for Bishop McCourt SiteI have dial-up at home and that page takes too long for me to load...just like GoZips.com.

Click for Another Dead Hipsher-era PlayerWas there ever a more overrated player than Carson? He was Top-50 nationally when Cincinnati signed him. I also never saw a player so fond of palming the basketball as Carson. You could have called him for it every time he brought the ball up the court.Certainly a tragic end for him.

If you're from Ke.n.t. you can never have ONE good running back.

What's going into this shopping plaza...a Kohls...Walmart...Target...Lowes...Applebee's...? That would be great for the Macedonia area. There's nothing like it for miles...well maybe feet.

Erring on the side of caution, I deleted two posts and edited my own.

I spoke to someone on campus. Fobbs verbaled a couple weeks ago.

I don't think there is any way we would get an at-large bid to the show with this type of non-conf schedule.No, I'm afraid we have to win the MAC. Otherwise, it's the NIT....again. I think we can. We'd need to make the MAC finals for sure. And, we'd need to beat whomever we play in the February bracket buster game. Assuming we have 3 or fewer losses going into the Feb Bracket buster selection day, we will play a very highly rated opponent. And we'll probably play them at the JAR. A 24-or-so win season with wins over Nevada and someone like Butler would give us a legit case for an at-large bid even if we slipped late in the MAC tourney. Those will be two top-25 teams at year's end.

Dude, you are flat-out wrong.Daron Smith may/may not enroll in January. It is not yet known what he will do.Stoudemire is taking classes at The University of Akron.Shawn Lemon is taking classes at The University of Akron.It is BS to include kids that are taking classes at U of A in your list of "Those Who Didn't Make It. " DJ Henderson, who's pumping gas in Florida, is in no way to be tossed in the same group with a Shawn Lemon, who will likely play 4 seasons for the Zips.I take some pride in keeping the information on this board as accurate as possible. If some idiot with an agenda starts posting inaccuracies...like saying students that are enrolled in school have dropped out...people tend to believe it. Stop it with that shit. This board is not a place for anyone to push their little BS agendas, whether they want to post 50 times that they hate OSU, or they want to post 50 times that enrolled U of A students are no longer with the program. Both personal agendas are equally BS and won't be tolerated. If any of those student athletes drops out, I will be the first to let you know.

Listed below is the most up to date listing of U of A verbals from Scout.com, Rivals and various other sources. Updated 12-18-06.1.) Ryan Brinson On campus. RB Canton McKinley2.) Vince Hill -Verbal. Staff loves him. (Friendly HS) Fort Washington, MD 5-10/1753.) Zac Kasparek -Verbal. Had strong interest from Penn State and Northwestern.(New Brighton Area HS) New Brighton, PA 6-6/300/5.10 4.) Jerome Royal -Verbal (Cleveland Heights HS) University Hts, OH 6-2/1805.) Gary Pride -Verbal. QB of the #1 D1 HS in Ohio. Will likely be an all-purpose back at Akron. (Colerain HS) Cincinnati, OH 5-9/1806.) Matt Rodgers -Verbal. Set the WPIAL on fire this season. (Seton-Lasalle HS) Pittsburgh, PA 6-3/180/4.707.) Sean Fobbs -Verbal. Projected to be a strong safety. (Miamisburg HS) Miamisburg, OH 6-1/200/4.50 8.) Da`von Moore - Verbal. RB. (Brentwood SHS) Pittsburgh, PA 5-11/2059.) Paul Simkovich - OL - Verbal. De-commit from Mich State. 6' 5" 285 lbs. Latrobe HS (Pa)10.) Wayne Jones OL/DL -Verbal- 6' 3" 320 lb . Bishop McCourt (Pa.)11.) Jake Anderson -Verbal- Great player (OL). Courted by several BCS schools. (McDowell SHS) Erie, PA 6-5/29012.) Joe Rash -Verbal - Big DL from a great program. (Penn Hills SHS) Pittsburgh, PA 6-2/25013.) Jalil Carter -Verbal - Very good player. Had a lot of BCS school interest. (St. Johns Jesuit HS) Toledo, OH 6-1/17514.) Casey Estrada -Verbal - JUCO OL from Sacremento. 6' 5" 285 lbs.15.) Dan Ronsman -Verbal - OL Lindenhurst (IL) Lakes Community 6' 3", 250 lbs.16.) Shane Shead -Verbal- DE Chatham (VA) Hargrave Military - 6-foot-5 225 lbs

This thread reminds me of the Rubber Bowl seating issue too. Some University "lifer," who's never been a traditional fan, decides to make a policy that screws over the people that actually attend a Zips game. To be fair - if you're an administrator that only sits in the RB press box, or the Tommy Evans Lounge, how would you know otherwise?It should be mandatory that people making fan policies need to sit in a fan's seat for 2 years before they can legislate.Like 99.99% of the posts on this board, I agree...kicking out a student from the half-empty student section due to an incorrect shirt is flat-out stupid. Just like it was stupid to turn away Gen Ad fans from the press box side of the Rubber Bowl...where the seats were 25% full (at best).

Click for What Might Be Another VerbalOr did he Verbal to K.e.n.t?I wonder which story is correct? Eugene Jarvis revisited?

Click Me

1.) If a 7-6 football season and a NIT win in basketball is our best period, shoot me now. 2.) I dig Mike...but he also struggled with the scoreboard stuff. He seemed to be "getting it" last season. By year's end there were nice stats on the center board and good clips and graphics. This year is pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. The most creative thing I've seen from this Marketing crew is Dambrot, reading a cue card, asking people to bring teddy bears to the St Francis game. Great stuff.

That's easy: "Yes" we have a marketable product. "No," no one's selling it.Next question: Is anyone held accountable for the poor Marketing efforts this year?What I would like to believe it the Marketing Group decided Marketing the first 4 home games is a lost cause due to Rosie O'Donnell-esque uglyness of the schedule. The Marketing Group hopefully is laying low, waiting for the Nevada game to kick things into high gear.What I believe is people are sitting on their thumbs saying "Gee we're a really good team and we have $30.00 ticket plans...why aren't we selling out the JAR? I guess the people of Akron just won't ever support a winner?"

We are in no way shape or form in Gonzaga's league from a recent historical pespective. They have multiple players in the NBA, multiple runs in the NCAA's, incessant presence in the national media. During that time the U of A has had Coleman Crawford, Dan Hipsher, no MAC titles, no NCAA's and one lone NIT win.Wichita State is in a great gonference and also a post season NCAA regular. They're #10...yes #10 in this week's AP poll. I think the Zips are #8...in the MID-MAJOR poll! The shockers are also in the middle of nowhere...what else is there to do in Wichita?Oral Roberts was in the NCAA's last season and expected to do it again this year. If we had beaten Toledo and gotten to the NCAA's last season, that would have been a decent comparison. However, we fell far short of Oral Roberts success last season. Who has Akron played at home that's our equivalent? NO one. Just a pile of crap thusfar. And people are supposed to pack the house for Winston Salem Marlboro...Hillsdale...Tiffin? No freaking way.Creighton? Compare our last 10 years of hoops to Creighton. We don't hold a candle to them. Again, they play in a great conference (4 NCAA bids last season), they've played in the NCAA's multiple times and been very successful. People at the University of Akron plant a seed on Monday and expect to be picking fruit by Thursday. It doesn't happen. Win SOMETHING and people will show up. If we had K.e.n.t's success over the past 8 years, we'd be packing the JAR every night...even for garbage opponents. But we've experienced minimal success over the past decade, and you don't overcome that negative inertia with a measly NIT win.

Why is it such an unbelievable feat to beat Texas Tech. They aren't exactly Duke, although they did crush Gardner Webb by 12 and North Dakota State by four this season, to go along with their 3 losses. They aren't anything special this season. Stating we would definitely be 6-1 if we played Texas Tech exudes a pretty pathetic, loser D-3 mentality. We could have beaten them, and it would have been on national TV for everyone to see regardless. And Akron people need games on national TV to see their team, since we have no local TV station. UALR was a crippling early season loss. It can be overcome...but it was what it was.

There is plenty of blame to go around. KD needs to look in the mirror a little too. The loss to UALR makes us 6-1. The difference between being undefeated and 6-1 is huge. We shouldn't have lost to UALR on a neutral court. We should have been playing Bobby Knight & Texas Tech on ESPN. THAT would have gotten the locals to take notice. A win would have been HUGE. Instead we beat Gardner Webb (Wyatt's cousin?).We've started our home slate off with three Div 3 schools and a 1-11 D1 newbie. That, coupled with the disappointing performance in Lubbock doesn't get the bandwagon up to warp speed.The Nevada game is our chance to shine. Beating them will garner some local and national attention and set the table for a nice gate for the remainder of the season. We can't choke like Buffalo vs. Pitt. We MUST win that game.Side note: Our marquee game this home season was set up by ESPN (payback for last year's Bracketbuster). If you look at the games we set up on our own, it is pretty shabby. Hopefully we get a nice bracketbuster game this February too. We should.

Finally...we have a winner for "Least Compelling Worldwide Internet Thread of 2007!" It narrowly edged out a thread discussing an odd-shaped mole on Brett Musberger's back.

And they still can't pay a student $6.00/hr to give the fans some stats at the games. How freaking bush-league can you get? A 6-1 Division 1 basketball team with about $2million dollars in scoreboards and they can't give you one freaking statistic the entire game. Hey - Great live shots of the basketball game going on directly below the monitors. Everyone in the stands wants to look up at that monitor to see the game rather than watch it on the court below. Pathetic, bush, Division III effort. Whomever is in charge of that stuff has no idea what it is like to be a fan. BTW - Love the fact that I need to buy my 5-year old a 20 freaking ounce pop for $2.75 if he's thirsty...and a $3.00 hot dog or a 3-lb sack of Skittles when he's hungry. No one at the JAR has ever seen "Super Size Me" I guess? How about some bottle of juice or some normal-size food? Or, WARM pizza?Also a great innovation - Offering soft pretzels at one concession stand with chesse being an extra $0.50. But, you need to get back in line over at the nacho stand to get your pretzel cheese.Ahhhh....the game day experience at the JAR in awesome. Does St Francis have a win yet?

Click for 6' 9" Mascot

It is the age-old Penguin "given"...as predictable as the sun rising in the east or the Beacon not sending a reporter to a Zips' away game.Penguin Fan is unseen for 5 years...then finally they're back in the 1-AA playoffs. Penguin Fan gets full of himself and starts thinking he's too big for 1-AA football. Penguin Fan starts making posts on MAC message boards and bringing up decades-old diatribe about how they should have been in the MAC if only it weren't for U of A and K.e.n.t. Blah blah blah....Hey, it happens in Akron too. The Zips beat NC State and all of the sudden the ZipsNation is petitioning for Big East entrance.If YSU wants to move to 1-A, there is nothing stopping them. They could make the announcement tomorrow. They won't sack-up and do it. They could find plenty of C-USA, Sun Belt and MAC schools to play. They win 7 games and, with their fan following, you know they'd get a bowl bid.Why don't they do it? Because they're a big fish in a small pond and they like it that way. I don't blame them. There are already an insane amount of D1-A football schools in Ohio. Sack-up like Akron, Boise State, UConn, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, etc. and move to 1-A. Then the Penguins can legitimately gripe about not being in the MAC. Until that point: *yawn*.