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I was pretty impressed with what Can't State and their self proclaimed " BEST DEFENSE IN THE MAC" did to MSU. Put the clamps on them and really made them look bad. If it wouldn't have been for that safety the offense took, this could have been the game that put them over the top and into the national ranking for defense. Oops correction -- that was the Can't State womens soccer teams loss to Mississippi State. The self proclaimed "BEST DEFENSE IN THE MAC" gave up some big numbers against the 8th rated, IN THE BIG TEN, Michigan State - 49 Points 440 Yards in the first half - A MSU record 690 Yards total - 2nd highest in MSU history Now, that being said - if we can stay away from these types of numbers versus a NATIONALLY ranked Big Ten team. I'd be very happy. I dont know if it's going to happen unless we can keep the ball out of their hands by having some success running the ball and with short screens.

I don't think our front line is that scary at all-- If Foust was everything that was advertised, he would have had no problem seeing some serious playing time. I'm concerned our front line doe not match up at all with Ohio and Miami -- Unless we are running up and down the court staying out of the post/half court/rebounding game, we will struggle. We need another big body bad to really start talking about this season's possibilities. I think this is a big step backward (If the kid could play..). Must have been something else and we decided the guy wasn't the right fit for the team. Futch for Three !!?!?!??!?!?!

There is no doubt Frye is #2. I follow the Browns quite closely and it would not surprise me by midseason to see Crennel go against the general consensus that Frye should sit the bench the whole year due to the OL and risk of injury. The OL is rebuilt/better and should be able to protect the QB from getting hurt and taking too (??) many hits. It's still probably best if he sits the bench unless OL is really playing well. There is a huge push in the organization that Frye is the future (next year). From what I saw in training camp, Crennel and Carthon are on board. Last night, he was very impressive. I dont know what he did but Charlie has impressed the likes of Jim Brown, Bernie Kosar, Reggie Rucker, etc. Those guys could not stop themselves from complimenting him during the local broadcasts --

Did anyone see this in person ? Thoughts ? Scrimmage GoZips Recap I read the short recap in the Beacon and was pretty encouraged as it mentioned Getsy got on track and had a nice scrimmage - 13-19, 136yds, several nice tD drives -- and solidified his hold on the starting job. Nice. Good. Then I read GoZips and get the rest of the story.....Ferguson 8-10, 100 yds...and led the team on several TD drives. Good. Sounds like the offense is starting to click a little and JD has two solid QB's to chose from. Glad to see Getsy living up to some of the hype. I'm just wondering if anyone has any insight/opinions to these QBs play and who is actually better - now and long term.

A lot of good points that I agree on. JD's got the program moving in the right direction but lets just say I'm chasing the bandwagon not on it yet. Recruiting -- Awesome, obviously his strength to date. Biggs adjustment and play last year - Best coaching move but did it take too long ? I remember a lot of people on the board on the Biggs bandwagon in early August.......ala Ferguson ? My point earlier -- Big difference, Ringer was not JD's guy. Frye -- Please give a man his props for last year. Biggs was Big but my point is that Charlie may have done a lot of little things throughout last year that we will just start to miss this year when they are gone. I hope everyone seen/heard that Green Bay's wishing they would have taken Frye in the 1st rather then Rodgers -- Let's just say Rodgers is struggling a little (a lot, if you can piss off Favre already). I'm not sure Frye could be more impressive at the Browns camp. Did anyone see the comment by a veteran (Northcut) about the respect he's already earned from new teammates and coaches ? Owens -- Glad he's gone but I do give the guy credit for offensive schemes and talented recruits (QB's, WR's, RB's). I never doubted that we could score against the likes of OSU, Wisc, PSU and others. Granted we never stopped anyone but we could score. COY honors -- It seemed a little early for this based on field/game performance. Throw in recruiting and maybe you've got something...... Jackson versus Jacquemain -- Conflicting reports on this -- not sure who/what to believe BUT what a great problem to have !!!!!! Hope the board picks up now that the season is here -- tought to post in the summer on so much speculation. Anyone want to fire up the "Can, will and why didn't Dambrot win the big games last year ? " ---Let's wait till atleast Halloween Hoops for that one.

I'm concerned !!!! We all know (it's that gut feeling so dispute if you want but deep inside you know it's true) that Getsy transferred over from Pitt with some spoken/unspoken promises of the being the "QB in waiting". BUT, what if Ferguson is actually better, what if thru spring and camp drills he actually outperforms Getsy ? How long does JD stick with his chosen one ? I see tough decisions ahead for JD as all I read/hear says Luke's not all that was advertised and Ferguson may be more capable of leading us to more wins. When I read of a WEAK arm and shaking off the rust, it's unsettling to me -- A decent Qb has not been an issue for us in a long time. Does anyone actually feel Getsy won the job or was it handed to him ? The boards been very nice to JD but maybe on this one it's time to start asking some tough questions......I know I'm rattling some homer cages here but JD's free pass just does not work for me. He rode the shoulders of Charlie last year to COY honors and an extremely lucky win over Marshall (Watch the tape guys, they gave the game to us, talk about bungling opportunities - it's why no bowls called and Marshall was chosen as the better team). Charlie's proving to be quite a talent in the higher ranks and may have done more himself alone then we realized leading to some wins, So will JD make the tough decisions ? or will he stick with the chosen one when the writing s on the wall ? Will Ferguson get a chance early in the season if Getsy fails ? I also think Kennedy vs Biggs is an interesting developing situation -- and dont even go down the Kennedy or Biggs vs Ringer road. Every carry that Ringer gets over Kennedy or Biggs might as well be chalked up as a sympathy vote.,,.a wasted play....Ringer may be a great team player, a great guy but hey were not talking YMCA ball here where everyone plays. Yours truly, Mrs Ferguson and Mrs Kennedy.........

It's been in the back of my mind but the thread was just warming up. It makes a lot more sense then playing football. I do think the reaction of the Nation was interesting - Not much concern about programs heading the right direction or staying on track or moving towards championships. Have we become so accustom to mediocrity that we just accept it ? Could you have imagined the outrage on the Ohio State, North Carolina, Duke, Louisville, Arizona, Wisconsin Mil (?), West Virginia, OHIO.......sites in a similar situation. It would be a good experiment on bobcatattack - "Leon Williams joins football team"....you wanna see $hit hit a fan. Isn't mediocrity great ?

and we wonder why we are stuck in mediocrity Our star BB player opts to play for a 5-6 or 4-7 football team. These are the things that keep programs down. Captain, if you think Romeo will transition right from FB to BB on the fly...the homebrews got a little too much kick to it. How can he practice in October ? thru November ? How is he in basketball shape ? He wont grow into his potential at the start and the late season drop off is bound to happen. I didnt realize that Cole Magner (Good one - you've got to be kidding me) and Javon Harris ( better effort ) were 20/10 guys and carried their teams to the tourney and raised the program to the next level. Throw the latest homebrew batch out, it's making you dillusional

ABSOLUTELY Irrelevent When you flip the sports and football is primary, it is a completely different story. We are not talking about a role player. Need a role playing center for rebounds and little scoring - look to the football team. This is THE BB guy. Interesting, I once heard that Tarver was the difference of a 10 win season versus a 20 win season -- What would Travis be, especially with our current lack of underneath presence ? To keep the conversation going on this one - it's slow around here.... Does Romeo really need to play FB at Akron to pursue a Pro Football career ? So much of the FB draft is now based on physical attributes, combines, and numbers. Could he pull a Gates ? Playing for Akron, does it really get him on the draft board other then a very low round pick ? or maybe a tryout that he'd probably already get if he has the numbers/physical stats ? Didn't Gates actually benefit by not being drafted and tied to a team ? He got to chose his spot and best opportunity....I want to be a TE, who wouldn't first try to work into Marty Shott's TE friendly system - It was a great fit and he had the athletic ability. If he goes to another team/coach that doesn't utilize the TE and strengths of a big guy over the middle -- Is Gates never given the opportunity and now out of football ? He took advantage of a great opportunity and the right system because he had the choice. Secondly, is Romeo such a more gifted athlete then other star BB players in Div 1 ? Probably not, how many of them are playing line for the FB team - obviously they are all gifted athletes and could be multi sport players in college ? Not many. Why ? Reality is I bet there is a line of people behind these star BB players "gently" nudging them to stay focused. At some Universities, there would be a lot riding on this. I guess in some ways, it's nice to know at the good old UofA there is not. And maybe the football team will finish 6-5 rather then 5-6. Allaluha.......But let's all not worry about the downside untill BB season starts -- We can bitch then about rebounding, not enough big guys, poor attendence, Travis looking tired at the end of the year, wishing he had a jump shot, dead legs at the stretch and tourney run (wait a minute, that happened this year without football) ....... If we think this has not come up at other schools behind the scenes, I just don't think that's reality past a few exceptions. Fire away guys. And remember this is not about the Romeo personally -- He should do exactly what he thinks is best for himself -- If football is his opportunity to make a living -- Then he should dedicate to the sport and go for it and our expectations on the BB court should be lowered. Asking him to be "great" or an impact player in either or both sports while trying to do both, now that would be selfish of us. That happens with only exceptions to the rule. Good Luck on whatever he decides to do. I, for one, will not be playing both side of the fence bemoaning his performance in either sport - This is difficult and not many try it. Let alone being the main BB guy after a long football season. Captain, it's just a different story to me the other way around.

My Opinion is solely based on a Zips BB fans perspective. It is nothing against Romeo or his interest in playing another sport. Good for him if that's what he wants to do. I'd just rather have him practicing jump shots/working on is hands throughout the fall and be a 20pts/10 rebs guy every night in the winter -- he has that potential focusing on BB. He would/will dominate the MAC. We are talking about "the" star of the BB team -the man, Option #1, the go to guy, "the" rebounder of the non rebounders.....NIT tourney....NCAA tourney....No tourney..... But if he must play football -- please stay off the line ....WR...Passing situation TE...Pass situation DE...somewhere where knee's are a little safer. Sorry for my conservative view on this one but these are the types of things that seem to happen to the Zips.

Quote me now if you want and I'll put it in print. This is a horrible idea. As a side note, I believe I remember that KD mentioned in one of his post game interviews that he saw Antonio Gates like potential for Romeo in football AFTER college basketball. KD said he had all the tools - strength and quickness. It's a possiblity. But as a bigger hoops fan, his loss or injury has alot more serious negative impact to the BB team then any possible positive impact to the FB team. In BB, he is one of 5 and the only rebounder returning (We'll see about Woods, when and how he returns). Romeo is in position to dominate the MAC in BB for two years -- Without him, we hurt bad. This is just plain stupid.

Akron's record versus the last 2 MAC team in the NIT -- 0-4 There's just no argument. The NIT was not going to take 5 MAC teams As others said, we had our chance - we just didn't take care of business on the court.

FYI -- Just like Football National Invitation Tournament By The Associated Press (AP) - Rice (19-11) at Southwest Missouri State (18-12), TBA Davidson (21-8) at Virginia Commonwealth (19-12), TBA CS Fullerton (19-10) at Oregon State (17-14), TBA Denver (20-10) at San Francisco (16-13), TBA Can't State (20-12) at Western Kentucky (21-8), TBA Houston (18-13) at Wichita State (20-9), TBA Drexel (17-11) at Buffalo (22-9), TBA Hofstra (21-8) at Saint Joseph's (19-11), TBA First Round Dates TBA Western Michigan (19-12) at Marquette (19-11), TBA Texas Christian (19-13) at Miami-Ohio (19-10), TBA Oral Roberts (25-7) at Maryland (16-12), TBA Boston U. (20-8) at Georgetown (17-12), TBA Arizona State (18-13) at UNLV (16-13), TBA Miami (16-12) at South Carolina (15-13), TBA Northeastern (21-9) at Memphis (19-15), TBA Temple (16-13) at Virginia Tech (15-13), TBA Vanderbilt (18-13) at Indiana (15-13), TBA Holy Cross (24-6) at Notre Dame (17-11), TBA Clemson (16-15) at Texas A&M (19-9), TBA DePaul (19-10) at Missouri (16-16), TBA Rice-Southwest Missouri State winner vs. Davidson-Virginia Commonwealth winner CS Fullerton-Oregon State winner vs. Denver-San Francisco winner Can't State-Western Kentucky winner vs. Houston-Wichita State winner Drexel-Buffalo winner vs. Hofstra-Saint Joseph's winner ___ Second Round TBA ___ Quarterfinals TBA ___ Semifinals Tuesday, March 29 At Madison Square Garden New York Semifinal, 7 p.m. Semifinal, 9:30 p.m. Championship Thursday, March 31 Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.

Western Michigan in the NIT Playing Marquette. Miami and Buffalo sure to follow. Miami looks to be in and playing Depaul. Rumor also has Can't in the NIT. Looks like a total of 4 MAC teams

Favorite listed with Points. What does everyone think ? Basically the games are straight up with exception to Miami by 6. Buffalo/Toledo game is a bit of a suprise with Toledo by 2. MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE Quarterfinals - Gund Arena - Cleveland, OH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03/10 BUFFALO 12:00p 2 TOLEDO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03/10 AKRON 02:15p 1 WESTERN MICHIGAN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03/10 BOWLING GREEN 07:00p 6 MIAMI OHIO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03/10 3½ Can't STATE 09:15p OHIO

Yes. BG has some work to do not to slip some spots. There will be some great games in the future with Ohio.

That is a great deal. $12 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FILL THE BUS. FILL THE BUS, FILL THE BUS

Got great tickets and going with a good crowd of people. We will be there and we will be loud.......... We have a really good chance of moving on..

"good year for you...." ...."YOU"....Guess you are not with us, KingZip. Maybe your true identity and colors are starting to show. Quit cluttering up the board with your ignorance and negative comments. You're bringing me down on a great week of college hoops. Go back to Can't

Now, Now... they will come - hop on a bus, MISS CLASS, and see the Zips play!!! They will come because it's CLEVELAND.

1520............................. :blink: WE SUCK. We (the fans) have a lot of work to do. How dare we write an open letter to the team when WE cannot even back it up. WE SUCK All of my Apologies to the TEAM. Great effort tonight in spite of us. Congrats on going to Cleveland WE SUCK. Fire away, all of us losers on the board who cannot backup what we type.................. F-Us

They can't rebound. What's your problem with the truth??? Maybe we should all stick our heads in the ground and act surprised "IF" we somehow we don't get killed on the boards tonite. KD is trying to motivate the team. Sometimes they need a hug. Sometimes a kick in the pants. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which apporach this is. I'll bet they come out fired up and grab a rebound or two tonite!! I, for one, find KD's honesty completely refreshing after the last regime's double speak. KD calls it like he sees it. Totally agree. This is motivation. If the Zips are going to rebound, it is not going to be because they are the bigger or stronger team, it will be because they hustle and crash the boards and want to get that rebound. We just don't have the rebounding talent once you are past Travis and Wood. There are just some players who have a knack for rebounding, we dont have many. There is one guy that does a good job under the boards sometimes -- McFadden and it's purely on hustle and being in the right place. Go Zips.

CLEVELAND -- Three specialty awards and the all-MAC Freshman team were announced today as the first of the league's post-season honors signals the tip-off of this week's conference festivities that conclude Saturday night with the conference's championship game at Gund Arena. The five freshmen who comprise the team, as voted by league head coaches, are Bubba Walther from Akron, teammates Leon Williams and Jeremy Fears of Ohio, Kashif Payne of Toledo and Joe Reitz from Western Michigan. Williams, a graduate of Cardinal Gibbons High School in Baltimore, Md, helped the Bobcats increase their win total by seven (from 10 to 17) from last year with averages of 11.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Williams, a 6-foot, 7-inch forward, started all 27 games and added 32 steals and 13 blocked shots. He shot 63.8 percent (118-165) from the field and led all league freshman in rebounding, ranking third in the MAC overall. Joining Williams on the all-Freshman Team is teammate Jeremy Fears, Bubba Walther from Akron and Kashif Payne of Toledo - all guards - and forward/center Joe Reitz of Western Michigan. Fears played in all 27 games for the Bobcats and worked his way into the starting role on 21 occasions. His 10.9 ppg was fourth on the team and he added a team leading 103 assists, the most by a MAC freshman this season, and 48 steals. The 2005 MAC All-Freshman Team Player School Pos. Ht. Hometown/High School Bubba Walther Akron G 6-4 Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller Leon Williams Ohio F 6-7 Baltimore, Md./Cardinal Gibbons Jeremy Fears Ohio G 6-3 Joliet, Ill./Joliet Township Kashif Payne Toledo G 5-9 Philadelphia, Pa./Mt. Hermon School Joe Reitz WMU F/C 6-7 Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern 2005 MAC Freshman of the Year - Leon Williams, Ohio (Baltimore,Md./Cardinal Gibbons HS) 2005 Defensive Player of the Year - Chet Mason, Miami (Cleveland, Ohio/South HS) 2005 Sixth Man Award - Mark Bortz, Buffalo (Commerce Township, Mich./Walled Lake HS) The league's all-MAC team, Coach of the Year and Player of the Year will be announced Wednesday, March 9. -MAC-

It is a nice draw avoiding the stronger East until the semifinals or maybe finals but the league is so balanced. I dont know if anyone saw the special on KD and the Zips on Cleveland's WEWS sports special -- nicely done, 5 minute or so piece with coach, player and MAC commish interviews. But to the point, the rest of the special was about the MAC tourney and expectations that anyone can win it and there's going to be a lot of close contests. I dont think there are any clear favorites - Past years, clearly there was one team to beat. Not so this year, I'm with ZW - I think the string of champs coming from the #1-3 seeds will be ended.

Shooting is the key - I didn't see as much of a breakdown on D as everyone else here. I think CM's brother got hot and sank the ship in what was a fair defensive effort by both teams. We sure seemed to have more life and energy then in the Marshall game and came to play. Had we shot well or even at a 35-40% clip, it's a tight one. ZW makes a good point though. This has not been just one game but a string of off nights and it is a little concerning going into tournament play. It's not only the jumpers and 3's but layups and wide open lane shots that are not falling. Worst thing about shooting slumps is that you just have to shoot your way thru them and hope that someone finds the mark, ala Cedric at Buffalo, but it's going to take more then one. I hope the good shooters don't get hesitant with their shots when open. I think this has somewhat already started with Romeo (pass first, shoot second when under the hoop ? I loved that Can't game with the dunks -- Maybe he needs Lebron in the stands - Cavs are off on Monday....) and Joyce passing up some threes at critical times. I thought we might see Goddard but maybe he's a little off in practice also. Noone's mentioned the lineup changes for the Buffalo game --were they good ones, should we keep it, did it hurt Mcfadden or Bubba getting into the flow of the game ? I dont think it really mattered and if anything Cedric came up big. The defense seemed a bit tighter at the start then the past several games. But did it hurt Mcfadden ? I know that lineup was mainly due to matchups with Buffalo (CM) and adding some offensive firepower (DP) but should it stay ? And I guess I have absolutely no career as a Hypnotist ? My rebounding machine was only able to stay on the floor for 9 minutes.... As for Eastern, this is a little eerie -- I think someone on this board actually thought they were the best team in the league back in December. I don't necessarily buy into such things but would sure like to get this monkey off our back about going to Cleveland. Wouldn't like anything better then a quick start on Monday. FYI - First time around, we outrebounded them but their leading rebounder and second leading scorer was limited most of the game with back problems. The final margin hardly was indicative of a close game as we led by 25pts at one time but remember they were a little shorthanded. As long as we regroup, come in aggressive and play our defense, we should take care of business. We need to gain some of that confidence back. Go Zips.