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Even better if Heath brings his assistants with him. Hipsher would do wonders for us over at Can't

ZIP_ME87 --- Thats really funny !!!!Good thinking I guess. and I'm sure we agree

Actually, WKYC ran footage from the Buffalo game last night on their newscast and said a lot of nice things about the Zips continuing to roll. WKYC lack of coverage was mentioned in another thread on the board but it seems like someone got their attention.

Skip-Zip --- What is your point ?Are you telling everyone that it is okay and understandable to draw 3000 measly fans after developing a successful program on the court ? I completely disagree. 3000 is embarrassing after all that success - I can't even fathom a logical acceptable excuse unless people are not doing there job marketing and developing the fan base. 3000 is not a big number for this area and the number of alumni/students.Are you also saying that if the football team wins year after year for a decade, that we will still draw 15k ? I completely disagree.How can you compare our attendence now with the Huggins years ? They won something. We havent really won anything yet in the 2000s that puts you over the top with the fans. Plus, you are forgeting a little span of 8 years in the 90s where the Zips under Crawford sunk to all time lows -- ALI KART was the leading scorer one year. Consistent losing and bad a product sets you way back. And Pitt versus Nevada....Major versus Mid Major trying to be Major....Ranked team versus a ranked team with less losses then everyone in the country but still cant crack the top 10.........2 hour car drive versus 3 day car drive.....west coast versus your backyard....Are you still suprised that Pitt would kill Nevada in attendence draw playing Akron. Seems pretty logical to me. And absolutely everyone I've talked to here was very embarrassed with the turnout for Nevada. People didnt do a very good job of selling that game and getting over the hurdle that this program hasnt won anything consistently yet.I sure hope that we are not drawing 3k/BB and 15k/FB with good championship programs if we ever get there. Also, please note no predictions on my part other then we wouldn't be talking about trying to get from 3k to 4k in attendence.

Sorry, poor excuse. If the Zips would ever rip off 9 consecutive 20 win seasons, mulitple NCAA berths and in turn barely draw an average of 3000 fans during another 20 win season, I would seriously find another favorite team and disown my alumni. Thats embarrassing and pitiful. What it shows to me is that Can't has had no idea how to market and build a fanbase. 10 years of winning and you can't develop a solid following...its a small 6000 seat arena with cheap tickets....it's not that hard with winning...That is the pinnacle of failure....it's classic Can't....It's why 10 years of consistent winning in Akron and additional corporate suppport that comes with it, you're talking about building a larger arena to handle the crowds, not worrying about getting a thousand additional fans out to a game. Think Big. Dont think like K.E.N.T.

Good post ZW.Agree completely - KD needs to watch over extending the 3 guard lineup these last 3 regular season games. It will be tempting as he tries to win every game to fall back on this lineup but it hurts us later. He has said it all season - it's all about the MAC Tourney - Now, we will see if he listens to himself or not. McKnight and Conyers should be on the floor ALOT versus the Dukes and Buffalo. This is much needed experience for the three game tourney run and saves Cedric, Dials, and Dru's legs. Let's hope he doesnt use the short leash with Chris/Jimmy. Let them make some mistakes and get into the flow of the game. The experiance will be huge later. I'd also to see Milum get some additional minutes early this week while resting Wood and Travis. We need Quade back to his midseason form. Last year at the end, he came on so strong - this year, he's fading. We need his defense and shot intimidation.BTW. On the Can't game -- completely different story, no resting, no messing with lineups, play it like you are in Cleveland already and make a statement for the tourney. I know inevitably the topic of beating a team 3 times in one season will come up but UA needs some confidence that they can beat good teams away from the JAR.

Are you guys serious? How can anyone argue that this is a bad idea…….Option 1 – Using help from LBJ, arguable the best basketball talent in the world, to fill up an arena and provide his friends, Dru and Romeo, the proper send off that they deserve for being part of revitalizing Zips BB. I wonder who donated/sponsored all of those 3000 LBJ wall sticker giveaways…hmmmm… I don’t see a sponsor’s name. I could be wrong but what’s the problem with taking this opportunity to make sure that people are in their seats early to see a game against bottom dwelling BG – hell, the line may be 20pts. Personally, I think Dru and Romeo don’t spend anytime worrying about their association with LeBron and are more interested in promoting UA and laying the foundation of a successful program. They have always said that they wanted to leave their mark on UA basketball. They will be playing in the game in front of a big crowd – So what if Lebron’s poster or appearance got fans there, if UA and in particular Dru and Romeo play well, what do you think fans will remember leaving the JAR ? Maybe some go to the Cleveland tourney and we end up with new fans. What’s the problem ? Potential Sellout, Crowd 5000.Option 2 - Rely on Dru/Romeo popularity among mainly Zip fans. High end crowd of 4000 Zip fans. Half empty side blue seats showing up late and missing pre game festivities.I’m grateful and appreciate the efforts of UA Marketing, Dambrot,, and LBJ (if involved) to make sure that his friends have a memorable night and get the crowd there early for the pre game ceremonies with a good LBJ giveaway/promo. Congrats on pulling it off, Love it, Appreciate it and Icing on the cake if LeBron is there at the game and gives the plaques to his friends with KD – PERFECT. To me, It sounds like UA is trying it’s best to give Romeo and Joyce a great night.

Capt....Since you brought it up on the board........If you are talking about the best basketball player and can forget about all the baggage, you know it is BOSLEY. He averaged 17 points over 75 games, won our only MAC East championship and was the one guy that we have ever had that could take over a game at the end and win it. The dude was an unbelievable scorer and always played hard - he was undersized and slow but knew how to play the game to his advantage. I remember when he started with the Zips, couldn't shoot the three at all but by the end of his career, he was a deadly outside shooter.Two things killed Bosley and that entire team - 1)Hipsher and 2) F-ing K.E.N.T (actually Jose Davis, right?). That team did quit and implode at the very end thanks to 4 years of Hipsher beatings. Too bad, they were a very good team at the start.Are you still holding a grudge with Bosley over that headlock ? I'll give you Ball as a close second but other then that, all the guys mentioned are no where near their level. Neither deserve a banner unless you had to put someone up there from the 90's. My votes - Guard - Bosley / Big Man - Boyce (if we are going back that far) or Andrick

Good point, I was thinking along the same lines - finishing a close game strong. Last night was probably our best effort since the Oral Roberts game - got it to OT atleast. Miami buzzer beater at home was good but if I'm not mistaken, we actually lost a 7 point lead with 1:30 left making it closer then it should have been. That was almost a choke.In addition to the late game missed FTs, it's a little concerning that in 4 of those 6 losses, we had the last possession to tie or win the game and didn't come out with at least one win. And in each, the last shot was hardly a good wide open look, more like a prayer. We are still mssing that player that can create a shot with 10 seconds left - I'm not sure why Dials ended up with the ball trying to create a shot last night when you have Middleton or Joyce to penetrate and make something happen. Our offense at the end of close games is horrible right now and could be another reason this team is not ready to win a championship.

Disagree with your MAC prediction in the blog. I think Can't loses at Ohio on Saturday. That will be a huge game for the Bobcats as they try to stay in the race for a bye in Cleveland. No one wants to have to play Wednesday in Cleveland and look at winning 4 straight games in 4 days which seems nearly impossible and Can't (like Akron) is very vulnerable on the road against decent MAC competition. I'd expect OU to bring their best game and have a huge fan turnout. Tough one for Can't to win.There are a lot of scenerios for the MAC East title and the top 4 seeds in the tourney. I wouldn't bet on it just being the Akron/Can't game that decides the East. Three way tie between Can't, Miami and Akron is possible but the more probable is a Can't/Akron tie at 12-4 and Miami losing at OU to fall to 5 losses. Not sure of the Can't/Akron Tiebreaker ???? Guessing Toledo game factors in. I know - Take care of businees at Can't and none of this matters. That will be a tall order for the Zips with travel to the Pitts and Buffalo during the week. I'd rather beat them in Cleveland anyway when it really matters.SGM - No disrespect, you are a good ZN poster - the blog is good - but why not just cut and paste it over here on Zipsnation rather then making us jump around sites. Jumping sites just seems to stiffles the feedback. No biggie just an opinion.

I'm sorry but I disagree. This is nonsense. The grade on most of our Fresh and Sophs is incomplete - they are role players right now because of the talent in front of them. That is the sign of a good solid program that can win more then it loses year after year. If they (mainly Conyers and McKnight - I'm not really sure how anyone here grades out a redshirt ) had more playing time and got comfortable on the court, who knows what we would be saying ? This is just a horrible comparison. From what little we've seen of them, I'd say McKnight will be a force in the league when his time comes, Conyers is a disappointment but will improve with more court time, Bardo looks big on the bench, and McNees looks funny with that hair and headband. And (clearing throat), I'm not really sure I can tell the difference between a walkon and Rybak. Hope he proves me wrong but that is may be our one lost scholarship under KD.

Great thread about Bubba's game yesterday and overall contribution to OU's team. Sound familiar ? What Zip fans already knew.

Pot meet Kettle, Kettle meet PotCan't beats Toledo at home on several very questionable calls down the stretch. Those calls go the other way and Toledo wins. It's the MAC - Home cooking rules. Ohio and Can't were just fortunate to have Toledo at home. That will probably end up being the deciding factor on the Tourney's #1 seed On the Zips/Toledo game - Zips up 6 and in control to take the Rockets AND Refs out of the game. Just didnt get it done. A great effort in front of a tough crowd of 8000 (BTW AZ, nice crowd of 3200 at the Mac Center for the Toledo game). As for the last shot by Joyce, saw it on TV/news replay - probably a foul at another time in the game - but never at the buzzer on the road. On the road, you just have to stay out of those situations.Nothing bad about this loss but the Zips still have not shown they can finish a close game strong.

Where's his scrunchy ?????? Did he finally get a clue that's not a good look on a guy

Ohio beats Cincinnati and then turns around and loses to (4-8) Marshall by 10. The game was at Marshall but tough to figure out what to expect of the kittens on Saturday.

UA doesn't seem concerned about the possibility of trying to build two new stadiums in Summit county that are only miles apart with tax dollars involved. While they are seperate issues for the most part, will the public agree ? I think this may have more implications to UA's stadium - not to whether or it is built but what type and how nice of a facility. With a complex like this 10 miles down the road capable of handling some of the events that the UA/City of Akron may have wanted to attract, it may cut down on the use of our facility. Could it result in a scaled back stadium/facility for UA especially when people start to get concerned about any tax dollars ? Interested in everyone's thoughts and if people are behind this new soccer/football stadium in Macedonia ???? I can almost hear the solution about to come up that UA can play at the off campus Wolstein field Wolstein soccer stadium in Summit countyStadium article #2

I'm with SGM and DR Z, There's nothing wrong with knowing all the scenerios and at the same time taking care of your own business. I'll remind you that a lot of the people that are getting on you about starting this thread were probably the last to understand how the Zips got to the championship game last year.As for everyone giving the MAC East to Can't, I'm a little confused by that also....They are 5-2 versus teams with an overall record of 16-39, their 5 wins are against teams with a record of 10-29. It hardly qualifies them as an unbeatable team. They still have plenty to prove and finally have to face a team (Ohio) that has something to play for. So, why not ? Maybe, they'll remember why there were 1-10 last year and 0 for forever in football. It wouldn't be that strange of thing to happen considering their history.First it comes down to Ohio beating Can't on Saturday and Akron taking care of business in Toledo.

Yep.I couldn't find any preseason rankings on the website yet.

If we can win a couple out of the gate at the CBE tourney, the schedule will look a lot better. It's weak right now and playing a lot of mid major games on the road which could result in some damaging loses. I also wonder if these higher mid major road games will help our RPI (with wins) as some articles have suggested. That could be the silver lining. What's it going to take to get decent teams to the Rubber Bowl and Arena in the early portion of the seasons ? It's a tough task and we are not in a position to float big $$$$ in front of them to come. AND even when you do (ie Pitt BB), they still don't come.

Eugene Jarvis looks pretty good right now too.......You knew that one was bound to blow up on us. Having him as a backup with all these injuries would have been nice.

If we sold 16001 for North Texas, I'm sure that Miami will be able to come close to that figure. The weather will play a huge part again in the number of people who actually show up. It's unbelieveably only the second home game - people still got to have a little tailgate and Zip football fever left in them- and the Zips will prove to be 2nd best in the East by year's end. My guess is 12-14k.

We will just have to disagree on this one and see who is right as the season starts. My guess is that both Conyers and Linhart will log a lot more minutes then Rybak. I was surprised that Rybak not Linhart was in one of the primary rotations during the play portion of the practice but I think that may be over reading things for the 1st practice. Maybe not. I did like Linhart's game last year - all around solid player.

From what I hear "posted" is the correct term. I talked with several people at that game and asked about attendance - They answered 13k-15k at most and stated that the game was not even close to the UA game. Now that attendance is about "posting" a ticket sales number rather then butts in the seats, I think you'll see plenty more of this.

I thought Rybak looked unimpressive at the first practice. He is the one KD recruit that continues to confuse me. As for being a "shooter", I hope he proves me wrong but I don't see it, even his form is unconventional. This was just practice and the first one at that so maybe he'll make more progress in the next couple of weeks.One of the better shooters I saw in the reserves/walkons was Sowers. That guy never missed at the practice and has great form. There must be serious defense or quickness issues that keep him from gettting any time.Most impressive practice - McKnight - KD was pushing him hard so he must be in the fold for some time. Way better then I ever expected even when talk of OSU pursuing him late in the recruiting process came up and Matta saying that he was the one that got away. Very nice recruit.After all the hype - Conyers - You can see the talent but I'll agree with others that he was tentative and finding his way with the team - looked lost at times. Early contribution depends on these preseason practices. Nice shot, quickness and leaping ability but I was suprised that he struggled with the ball handling drills.Quick comments- Ced looks ready for a break out yearWood looked better then Travis.McNees can handle the ball very well for being a 2.Bardo is already better then Weinken, Seibert, Claus and Myers. That's good but not saying much.

Academics and eligibility issues have kept BCS schools away. If he has cleared these up, BCS offers will start rolling in and we have little chance of landing him.