Valpo Zip

If you are wondering why we do not schedule any decent teams in the OOC schedule, you saw the answer tonight. If you think that good teams are scared to play us because we are "poisonous", I don't know what to tell you.

So, is there any D1 team that DOES NOT have a nicer arena than the JAR? Kent state doesn't count.

Limit the number of teams that make the tournament. Only top 4 teams go to the Q. This way, you make sure that one of the best 4 teams will represent the conference and most importantly, the regular season becomes important. Look at the NBA, they play 82 regular season games and it seems like every team that is halfway decent will be in the playoffs. Even though better teams get rewarded with home court advantage, it seems like everybody just wants to fast forward to the playoffs already. On the other hand, in the MLB (where a team plays a whopping 162 games a season), the regular season matters because only 4 (or 5 if you count the play-in) teams per league will make the playoffs. In the MAC where every team gets to play in the tournament and where being the better seed doesn't get you any home court advantage, what is the motivation to work hard in the regular season?

This was a great win. Congratulations to the whole team. This should be a big help with the recruitment of the Houston area in the future.

I have read about 10 posts berating other posters who want Dambrot fired, but I don't remember reading any post suggesting that !!!! Who are you arguing with? Why are you arguing about something we all agree on?

1 - Nothing has "been shown" it is your opinion vs my opinion. 2 - Shaka Smart and Jeff Boals were NOT KD ex-players and they were great and I miss them. Add Lamont Paris to that list. Rick McFadden will not be the head coach at any of those schools next year. You know that better than I do. 3 - Zeke Marshall did not reach his potential. Forsythe was a better Freshman than he was a senior. Kwan spent 4 years in the program and still doesn't know how to post up a shorter player without being called for a charge. I will give you big dog. 4 - Are you happy with the FT situation? Are you ok with things remaining the same way? 5 - Again, this is a subjective issue. But just to make sure I understand your argument, you think that none of my criticism points are valid, nothing should be changed and we should keep doing everything the same way and expect a different result next year?

KD turned our program around in 2003-2005 and I am immensely grateful for that. But we already thanked him enough for that. He got raises and extensions and he has had a very comfortable and very rewarding job (not only for him but also a handful of others that he chooses to hire) for 13 years now. How much longer are we going to milk this cow? If you want to keep reminding me that we had Hipsher and KD turned the program around, I will remind you that he had CMU and we turned his career around too. It is a win-win situation. It is a great partnership. We appreciate him and want him to REMAIN the head coach at Akron and be more successful. He has to change his ways about a few things. There is nothing wrong with that... I have a boss and I get pressured to do certain things in a different way. Is that too much to ask?

Dambrot will NOT and should NOT get fired. let's put that to rest. We can't afford eating the rest of his 10 year contract, we can't afford upsetting Lebron, and great coaches are not dying to come coach at Akron. That being said, we need to stop worshiping him and he needs to feel some pressure. Here are a few starting points: 1 - He can't keep scheduling his way to get an inflated number of wins every year. We can't celebrate having x 21 win seasons when we all know it is fool's gold. The AD needs to step in and make him schedule better. 2 - He needs to hire better staff members, it is not Akron's problem to make sure that all his ex-players have good paying jobs. All his assistants are his ex-players and all what they know about college basketball is what they learned from him. Who is going to draw a new play when you need one? 3 - Hire an assistant coach who can coach post players. We don't have one. 4 - Practice free throws...it is EMBARRASSING! year after year after year. 5 - Stop this nonsense of being loyal to upperclassmen and playing them no matter how terrible they are. You play the best players on your roster. (Utomi over Kwan will be a good example).

It's not fair to say that Waters failed at CSU. He had good success when he started. He won a game or two at the tourney few years back and was always competitive in the horizon league and had a player drafted to the NBA. However, 3 years ago, he had his 3 top players mysteriously transfer to Michigan St. and Louisville. He couldn't rebound out of that. Those 3 kids killed his career.

It's going to be an epic battle between Hall & Big Dog. Both of them have tired legs (hall more so than dog) but we will see who wants it more.

Utomi has been very very impressive. I don't remember a better performing freshman since Nate Linhart.

That's the key to the loss tonight. With around 5 minutes left, game is tied, you're in double bonus, you're having a bad shooting night, Big Dog just came back well rested after a while on the bench. What do you do? YOU DON'T TAKE A FREAKIN THREE.

Welcome to the forum coach! Thank you for your post.

I don't have a problem admitting that my perception or opinion was wrong when facts are presented. So thank you Jupitertoo and OU dude for chiming in and adding some objectivity to the conversation. Campbell and Big Dog are both great players and it is a shame Campbell will finish his college career on the bench. At this point, however, it seems like big dog is dominating the conference and no one is matching up with him.

If you are on twitter, please like Terry's tweet. Make him feel that Zips stories will be well received. The guy has 47K followers (mostly) in NE Ohio. We can use more good publicity from him.

I will next time I hear about our streak of 20-win seasons.

That's a wonderful appointment. Matt was the graduate student who started the Ak-Rowdies organization back in 2004-2005. He was the one who planned the switch-a-roo at Kent state and as CK pointed out, those were the best marketing times of UA athletics. I am so happy to see Akron hiring its own loyal "qualified" sons. This is how you build pride. Because those guys actually work for more than a paycheck. Willy Kolman was the first one, Matt Newhouse now and I am hoping to see a third one in the Athletic Department soon. #gozips

Thanks.

Where can we watch online?

isn't this the guy who will get drafted in the fourth round by the Buffalo Bills in 2020?

I predict Ezeli and Harisson Barnes will bolt for greener pastures but the main Warriors core should remain the same. What will be interesting is to see what the Cavs will do. It is crazy to think that they won the championship with a roster including so many bench warmers.

Their results in the last two years.

That's the difference between you and me. I want the best for the zips basket ball program, you want to make sure your friends keep their jobs.

I don't know about the several others you are referring to, but I can speak for myself. I hear the argument about the "scheduling difficulties", I just don't buy it. Does that offend you? Am I not entitled to my own opinion? As long as mid majors with very similar programs are able to get decent OOC schedules, we should too. If McFadden or McNeese cannot get it done, they should make way to someone who can. That's the fact! Also, just because you think that Akron will never get an at large bid doesn't make it a fact.

I surely appreciate your bullying attitude and your derogatory tone, but have at it... Your post about the sweet16 season was in June 2011 and you were referring to the 2011-2012. Here is the link: Alex Abreu's issues happened in 2012-2013. The team you were referring to was the team that lost to OU in Cleveland and then lost to Northwestern in the NIT. But, hey...I am the one who never seem to bother with facts. I am calling BS. It is up to you to come up with a document that backs up this claim. Put up or shut up! Are you trying to be funny?! There are people who are paid to do this job. If they cannot do it, they need to be replaced with people who can.