UAZipster0305

Solid win! On the road no less! Let's hope the line up and team play are figured out and that the rest of the season is more of what we expected!

Same here, but I think most of the imbalance in shots came after our goal as a result of Georgetown pressing to get it back to level.

Dollars rule supreme though. It's a business decision, not a cultural one.

Thanks for this observation. It is an interesting data point. UC's upward trajectory corresponds to their investment in the physical campus (UA based much of the Landscape for Learning plan on what UC did), an emphasis on increasing their research portfolio, and advancing their athletics program from C-USA to the Big East to the AAC to the Big 12. UC is also in a much larger media market without other major public research universities (OSU being the closest). Which of these was a main driver of UC's image enhancement is unknown. As compared to UC and despite having transformed its campus, UA does not have a medical school (a major source of research dollars), is stuck in the MAC, is not sited in the epicenter of a major media market, and has another equally large public research university only ~10 miles away, and a second in Cleveland (CSU). The proximity of Case Western and YSU are also a likely detriment. It's fun to think what UA could be without the presence of KSU, CSU, and/or YSU and with NEOMED under its umbrella, but that's just fantasy. Side note: I just noticed that UC cut its men's soccer program.

The difference between Kent, OU, and BGSU versus CSU, UA, and UT is that the latter are urban campuses. Conservative media's constant bashing of urban areas as unsafe and undesirable havens of criminals and minorities has likely taken its toll, especially in relatively conservative rustbelt states like Ohio that have many other suburban and rural options (Kent, OU, and BGSU). I'd be interested to know if analogous schools in similar states (e.g. University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee) are seeing the same enrollment trends. (I realize OSU and UC are both urban schools, but I believe their brand strength and cultures overcome the urban divide.)

Another bad foul by Ali.

At least we have not quit and are making it look respectable. The difference of late is that Freeman has been more actively involved on both ends. Love that kid!

Creighton is better at literally every position. The only way we could have won is if they were cold shooting or turned the ball over a lot. They are playing well, and we are making stupid fouls, which make it even more of an uphill climb.

Those two losses to end the season really hurt!

He still needs one more rebound.

No composure. That's the kind of thing that a verteran, senior laden team with NCAAT experience should not have to worry about and what should make them so dangerous. Not ours.

Super happy for KD getting an NCAAT win to close out his career. Akron now has at least one alum with an NCAAT men's basketball win as a coach too. If we can't be the Cinderella team this year, I hope Duquesne is.

Kent State still sucks! Hope their alumni enjoy seeing us in the spotlight!

In Pittsburgh in spirit here while having a virtual Primanti's sandwich. Any alums looking for places to eat outside of the immediate arena area but still inside the city, check out the Strip District, Southside, Walnut Street in Shadyside, or the Forbes-Murray Avenue area of Squirrel Hill. (UA, Pitt, and Carnegie Mellon alum here, so I lived in Pittsburgh for many years during graduate school.) Let's go! Z-I...

But if they do double, that leaves wing players open for 3's. If those shots are landing, we can definitely pull the upset!

There was a lot of good coverage for the Zips and Akron in general on the CBS show after the B1G Championship was over and before the selection show. It was just as much due to KD and the Dukes as it was Groce and the Zips. KD is an alum and took our program to the next level, and even if we plateaued under him, I want to see KD win a NCAAT game before he retires.

WaPo for the win!!! https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/17/kent-state-horrible-tough-mistake/

-P-S!!! Does it get better than beating Kent (or Kent beating themselves and the negative press and memes to boot), taking the series lead, and winning a MACC all in the same game?!?!?! I think not.

Agreed. I was in the mood to see some throat stomping tonight.

Then why bother paying to maintain a nice on-campus stadium. NFL stadiums are a huge waste of money with only 9-11 home games per year. How can four games later in the season after establishing a losing record be justified?!

Kent State should be the first game of the season, every season, and it should be played on a late Saturday afternoon...presumably good weather and all day for tailgating. It's the only way for the rivalry to mean anything more than pride. This way, the season isn't yet sunk, and one team starts off with a winning record and some momentum while the other will likely not have their head above water the rest of the season. Given the current status and long abysmal histories of each program, I don't think there is a better way to feature the rivalry and garner alumni/fan interest and attendance.

No, I was making the point that Thorpe's "college" team did not play Buchtel/Akron, implying we were not considered a major football program then either, but that so many of the schools we are looking up to now were already established. We have been trying to play catch-up to the big boys since the early days of college football.

A bit is made about Akron's football history with regard to John Heisman as a former coach. However, I am still amazed by how relatively under-celebrated this relationship is and how there is virtually no awareness about the deeper and more distant history of Akron sports and the University in general. I am currently reading Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss, which goes through some early college and professional football history. One thing that really stands out is who the Carlisle Indians opponents around the turn of the last century were. Their opponents included Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern, West Virginia, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Army, Navy, Lehigh, Lafayette, and all the Ivy League schools. There was not a single reference to Akron or another MAC-level team. So, Akron football has literally been trying to play catch up with the big boys for 125 years. We are not consistently at the level of the Big Ten, historically or now, and there is nothing wrong with that. Anyone expecting otherwise is ignoring history and not being realistic about the current or future. That is not to say we should accept mediocrity or worse in the MAC. Instead, we should be embracing the history we do have. Specifically, it is a mystery to me as to how I did not previously know that the owner of the first NFL Champion, the 1920 Akron Pros, was an Akron alum and former Akron football player, Art Ranney. He was also the first secretary and treasurer of the league and took notes of the league's founding meeting in Canton on Akron Pros stationary! A co-owner, Frank Nied was also an Akron alum and NFL co-founder. By my research, there are only four universities that can lay claim to having alums as founders of the NFL: Akron (Ranney and Nied), Dayton (Carl Storck), Notre Dame (Stan Cofall), and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (George Halas). Hence, Akron is the only university with multiple alums as founders of the NFL. Not Kent, Not Ohio State, not Pittsburgh, not Penn State, not West Virginia, not Michigan, AKRON! How is this not celebrated by the University, especially when the alumni and football program are starving for something to favorably change focus and momentum?! It makes me wonder, how many other alumni accomplishments are unknown or not publicized (and not just with regard to athletics)? How many Rhodes and Goldwater scholars have we had? https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/carlisle/head-to-head.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Ranney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Nied

I respect that approach. At least it is based on objective merit and not P5 bias, etc. I was hoping we would get in, but did not think we deserved to with the way the season ended...no wins in the last five games is highly underwhelming. For me, the whole point of the NCAAT is to crown a champion, so whether a team could win the championship should be the ultimate question in determining what bubble teams to invite. Early in the season I felt we were NCAA Championship worthy, but our offense became anemic and we stopped winning. Championship teams either find a way to adapt or run over such challenges with quality.

It's hard to say what's uglier, Kent's uniforms or their 1-8 record. Nice 4th quarter...where has that been all season?!