Valpo Zip

Excellent video.

If the zips schedule 4 more respected opponents in place of those 4, there would be NOTHING to criticize. I, personally will be very happy and much more excited about the OOC schedule. We're not delusional fans who are impossible to please and we're not asking for the moon. Are 4 entertaining OOC home games/year too much to ask for? And I feel compelled to remind that by entertaining home games, I am not asking for Duke, NC or OSU. I am talking a decent midmajor. And for those of you who are worried about the winning streak...if we cannot beat a decent midmajor at home and if the only way for us to have a winning streak is by playing cupcakes then, we should have the decency to admit that we are not that good...and may be this streak-based recruiting strategy needs revisited.

The hard core fans know the reality of who are these wins accumulated against...the casual fans don't give a damn because they are STILL not showing to games.

We all know top ranked teams will never come to the JAR. Therefore, the best thing we can do is to bring decent midmajors from the A10, Horizon, MVC, Summit, Conf USA etc... The games will be fun to watch, the team will be challenged and tested. If we loose, we know that we're not that good. If we win, we improve our RPI and we prove we're good.

Hey ZZZips, I hope you're doing well. I agree with Lzip. The away games are excellent. The home games on the other hand are easy wins that will not test or challenge the team, will not attract fans, and will trash our rpi (W or L). I know I am using last year's RPI and it is not an accurate indication of how the team will be this year, but it gives a general idea of the quality of the program: Charleston South: 164 Coppin State: 311 Beth Cookman: 343 S. Car. St: 318 Lipscomb: 271

Dr. Z, please don't take this personally, but I disagree with this mentality and culture of hiring. It is very common and natural to warm up for the individual we know and have interacted with. Especially when someone is a professional and pleasant individual. However, for the sake of the university and the athletic programs, we need to absolutely put these feelings aside and hire based on resumes and qualifications. I have never met GVH, but he seems like a great guy (from what I hear), and I appreciate his service to UA and I hope that he continues in his job and prosper in his career. Yet, comparing resume to resume, I think that the correct hire was made.

So your logic is, since Rob Ianello coached there for a few years, nothing good will ever come out of one of the finest institutions in the globe.

I do NOT believe that and I understand the value of Lebron James and I think this partnership is a great one. My question was about writing stories entitled: "Lebron James and the U of A funding or paying bla bla bla" while the story clearly states that UA is shelling those $$$. That's all

This is wonderful news!!! The only thing that I don't like is this sentence in the cleveland.com story: "The scholarships, paid for by the university, will cover tuition and Akron's general services fee -- currently worth about $9,500 a year." If the university is paying for all that, then why is Lebron getting the credit? I am pretty sure I am missing something...

I am amazed at how many stories were written in the ABJ about the "negative" news coming from UA. They were never interested in covering all the great things happening in the University but very eager to tear it down whenever they see an opportunity. Even if they have to make up lies (like EJ Thomas and the Press shutting down). Regarding Scarborough and his actions. I am not going to defend him and I don't care if he gets impeached tomorrow morning. And you, you can like or dislike what he's doing, but if you care about this university and its reputation, you should refrain from publicly ridiculing it and its president in public forums and social media outlets. You should know that what you write is being read by prospective students and their families and is directly hurting the University you claim to support and care about. Feel free to use all the appropriate channels to voice your concerns. Call, visit, or write to trustees, state legislators, UA administrators, or anyone who can make a difference, without destroying the most valuable asset in our university: its public reputation. An important thing to consider is that Scarborough is not in Akron to be popular. He's not running for office and doesn't need our votes. He was in Toledo when my wife was working there. She and everyone else in her office and most of the University of Toledo absolutely hated his guts. He didn't care because his work put UT in a good financial situation (only a few universities in the state of Ohio can say that). That's what the trustees saw in his resume and that's why he moved up to become president at UA. I know that the home renovation doesn't look good, and I know that everyone is having a field day with the olive jar. The bottom line is that the university has a yearly operation budget. The administration created a $1M line for the renovation. The finance committee (made of faculty members) must approve this budget and then the board of trustees also have to approve it. And they all did. Just like you, I don't like it and I am not going to defend it. But it was done. Does that mean that Scarborough should not work on reducing the budget for the upcoming years?

Wow! Reading that 2012 story, the question becomes: why did they wait so long to shut it down? I was a huge fan of Proenza but now I am starting to question his financial responsibility.

I have considered asking KD that question and in fact I did ask it to him in person. A couple of years back, in the bball tailgating tent before a football game, I did ask him why don't we schedule decent mid-majors in our OOC portion of the schedule. His answer was that they won't play us. At that time I bought it. Since then, I have changed my mind to believe that he schedules that way to tally 20 win seasons.

I don't know what you are playing, I am not playing any thing. I am trying to find out why does KD make us watch those terrible teams year after year after year while similar programs like Detroit can make a schedule without terrible, boring, RPI killing D1 opponents.

I'll explain: What is the worst D1 opponent on Detroit's schedule? (It has to be D1, so you can't pick Dearborn or central state). which ever team you picked, isn't it a better opponent than coppin state and arkansas pine bluff and baltimore county?.

Hey ZZZips...I'm still around. It is not that easy to get rid of me As for playing Valpo, it is too late for this year but if KD wants to do it next year, I would love to see it happen. Dave, BG may well be the weaker team on Detroit's schedule. For the sake of the argument, let's say they are. I am still stunned reading your second sentence Do you feel that our team schedules great mid-major opponents but our fans still whine anyways? I (and other fans) will celebrate if the weakest team on the zips schedule this upcoming season is an equivalent to the 2015-16 BG falcons. No matter how bad the falcons will be. Our fans have to deal with a schedule full of UMBC (RPI 346), ARPB (RPI 301), Western Illinois (RPI 328), Coppin State (RPI 311), and Marshall (RPI 295) and you think that they will complain about a schedule where BGSU is the weakest opponent?!! Come on man!

Dear Dave, Your OOC SOS figures don't add any thing to the point I am trying to make. I'll give you two scenarios: 1 - The Zips go play @Duke and follow it with a home game against NC A & T. 2 - The Zips play @Cleveland State and then a home game against Green Bay When you average the two games, both scenarios will lead to very similar OOC SOS but they are two very different scheduling approaches. In scenario # 1. You have a game that is 99% a loss and another game that is 99% a win. Both games are uninteresting to fans and do not test the team. In scenario 2, it is a totally different story. I did not want to get into the numbers game but I had to respond to skip-zip questioning the quality of those teams. My point is KD and his crew have been telling us that it is not possible to play a schedule of quality mid-majors. I am trying to say that if detroit can do it, we should do it too. If 20-win MAC teams are willing to play detroit, 20-win teams from the horizon league should be similarly willing to play Akron.

I understand that Excellent is a qualitative description and different people my vastly disagree based on their different standards of what excellent is. So I'll take it back and simply compare the midmajors we play to the midmajors the Detroit will play and let you be the judge. Just like us, Detroit is an ambitious midmajor trying to fill their arena in a economically not so prosperous area.They found the following teams with the following records last year: Oral Roberts: 19-15 Northeastern: 23-12 Toledo: 20-13 BGSU: 21-12 UCF: 12-18 WKU : 20-12 EMU: 21-14 Other than UCF, every team had at least 19 wins. Total W-L records for all 7 teams: 136-96. Average (19.4-13.7). On our side, and since our schedule for next year is not yet released, let's look at last year's D1 non power conference teams and their records: Bryant: 16-15 UAPB: 12-20 Western Illinois: 8-20 Middle Tenn: 19-17 NDSU: 23-10 Marshall: 11-21 Coppin State: 8-23 NDSU is the only team with more than 19 wins. Total W-L records for all 7 teams: 97-126. Average (13.8-18.0). The numbers speak for themselves. If Detroit can do it, we should be able to do it too.

The Detroit Titans just released the OOC portion of their schedule. http://www.detroittitans.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball&schedule=145 Nothing too fancy. They are neither going to play @Kentucky nor @Duke. At the same time, they won't torture their fans with Coppin state and UAPB. - 2 non D1 teams (Central state and Dearborn) - 2 winnable power conferences (Pitt and Vandy) - 7 excellent midmajors where you don't kill your RPI, don't irritate your fans aways, and prepare your team for the conference part of the schedule. If it is doable at Detroit, it should be doable at Akron.

Since we are Ohio's Polythechnic University , I thought I will put my thought in an equation: Richaun Holmes = Tree - the baggage + 41.9% 3point shooting percentage So why wouldn't he get drafted?

Travis Switzer sighting with the Miami Dolphins

I am not trying to change anyone's mind regrading the name change. However, if your only problem with the suggested name is that it has the words technology or polytechnical in it, then you are being ridiculous. Some of the most prestigious universities in the nation are: MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology VA Tech: VA polytechnic institute and state university GA Tech: GA institute of technology RPI: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and so on. Saying that the words "Polytechnic" and/or "Technical Institute" are beneath us because we don't want our school to sound like a mechanics school is as ridiculous as saying that we shouldn't be a University because we don't want it to sound like Devry University or Can't State University.

I can't believe this is being discussed. We have nothing to win in these "lowly" tournaments? Because we go in there and dominate year in year out? Give me a break! When we create a cupcake heavy schedule every year we complain that no decent team wants to play us...here is a chance to play someone decent. You have an opportunity to play a (most probably) decent mid major, we're going to cowardly run away?!

The same scenario happens time after time after time: it's tied at the end of the game, the team has the last possession, and only need two points (or one) to win... they call a time out and draw a play for a high chance shot. Not in Akron!!!!! in Akron we will just take another three.

It blows my mind to know that Reggie is still an engineering student. That is an unbelievable workload for any body, let alone a student athlete who has to be traveling and attending practice every day.

This is the most enjoyable Zips game I've seen this season. Not because we beat Can't (which is nice, I have to admit) but because we played fundamental, nice to watch basketball. For the first time this season it seemed like we are not chucking a 3 pointer on every other possession. I saw a lot of dribble penetrations and a lot of drive and pass to an open post player and I saw one single back door pass. Today the zips looked like a well oiled machine. Today the zips didn't lose because they didn't make 50% of their 3 pointers. I was a happy zipper away from Akron. What made my night even better is that I saw at the end of the broadcast KD was giving high fives to the ak-rowdies behind the basket.