Let'sGoZips94

It was flat out embarrassing to come out as flat as we did against our rival in the MAC Tournament Finals on national tv. I'm hoping for different on Saturday. We're a scrappy bunch a majority of the time, so I wouldn't be surprised if it got chippy.

Did you not understand my response? As it has become cliche to post "blessed" every time an offer is received or a commitment is made, it might have become cliche to mention the consecutive 20+ win seasons.

Success to a certain point. It's subjective. He didn't just work with those future NBA players; he founded the school that is (or was; haven't checked any high school rankings in recent years) a top prep school in the country. These kids come from high school. They pay attention to top high schools, and Huntington Prep is on there. And it's not absurd to compare. Dambrot had LeBron, but never developed anyone else who played in the NBA. Fulford developed Wiggins, Dieng, etc.

I forgot about that. I hope he sent Dambrot a basket of muffins with a "Thank you" card for choking in the MAC Tourney Finals with ZERO effort.

- Yes, because look at this through the eyes of a 16-18 year old. How do you think they view a coach that was thought highly enough of to be hired by a Big Ten school? - What do you mean what's happening right now isn't going to help either? Anybody with half a brain can see what he's working with, but he's been-there-done-that at this level with OU, and that's all he has to use as an explanation. "I took OU from the bottom of the MAC to a winner in the NCAA tournament by my second year. By my fourth year, we were in the Sweet 16, a shot away from the Elite Eight. Akron has a foundation of consecutive 20+ win seasons which we can build on moving forward to take that next step, and you would be a vital asset in taking that next step." - The long string of 20+ win seasons is somewhat valuable. It gives a foundation of success at Akron that Groce can use to build upon. But from the eyes of a 16-18 year old, winning in the MAC is what it is. Having a coach that has won in the NCAA Tournament and coach at a Big Ten school, that is the next level we need. Also, we have Rob Fulford. What an asset he is in recruiting and development. To be able to say one of our top assistant coaches founded Huntington Prep and was instrumental in the development of players like Andrew Wiggins and Gorgui Dieng, that's huge. And if there is any doubt that matters, look at the connection between Dambrot and LeBron. It's no secret that was a key in recruiting for him.

If they look at his last 6 years they'll see he was at Illinois, which is gonna carry quite a bit of weight with it being a more recognizable name. These kids can cite the streak all they want. When they receive an offer or commit, they're all gonna tweet the same thing - "blessed". Why wouldn't they all have similar answers when it comes to why they like Duquesne/KD?

He's such a baller, he has Can't at 6-7 in the MAC in one of the worst MAC fields in quite some time. I also don't want to be following any blueprints made by Mr. Pinky. I wouldn't be surprised if this is his last year at the helm of the Golden Flushes.

KLac hasn't adjusted to the speed of the game yet, but when you look at the low-post moves he already has in his repertoire, I think he'll be just fine. He LOVES to play physical, but he needs to learn better defensive positioning. He also needs to learn how to play help/weak side defense. But he'll be just fine. Torrey Patton is my #1 choice for a redshirt. I'm interested to see if anyone transfers out. Also, does anyone know if they're expecting Poke to be able to play basketball again?

Easy explanation. "The previous coach left behind a dumpster fire roster, plus two of my three centers had season-ending injuries. It was so bad, I found a 6'5" kid from the Rec Center to play significant minutes at the PF/C position. It's been proven that 20+ wins can be done at Akron. But as I get my guys in here - and I'm targeting you, so you're one of my guys - we can win 20+ and win games in the NCAA tournament." I'm not worried about losing the streak. I'm focused on building the culture and expectations necessary to take the next step as a program.

Do you know what else is a great recruiting pitch? "I took OU to the Sweet 16 in 2012 and came within a couple points of knocking off #1 seeded UNC to go to the Elite Right, 2 years after beating Georgetown in the first round."

That's 2 games against Balls that we've been literally taken out of the game/had the game stolen by the refs. We missed shots, sure, but the refs played too big a role yet again.

Does anybody else wonder if the basketball rendering in the basketball shuffle mini game video is what the renovation plans are for the JAR?

Great. If he chooses Duquesne, he'll reach 80% of his potential by his senior season.

I don't know how you can watch this team and not think we're going to be JUST fine.

Especially when it's 8 vs. 5 already. Looking at you, stripes.

Hey, at least the marketing department has come up with promotional items people actually want to trade for. Have you seen what the Dru/Romeo/LeBron trio sells for on eBay? Together, they fetch around $100, give or take. LeBron is the driving force obviously, but kudos to the marketing department for putting it all together. I traded my extra President Wilson bobblehead for a Michael Brantley (get healthy, damnit Dr. Smooth!) bobblehead, and just sold my extra Groce bobblehead (which by the way, looked more like Dustin or Geno Ford). Thank you Akron! Random question, but who pays for the manufacturing of the bobbleheads? Is it the sponsor, the University, or a split between both?

I wonder how the poll results would change if we knew that Sayles & Poke would miss most of MAC play, and we'd be down to 9 guys total. The coasters are very nice. I'm impressed, and am looking forward to them being under many a beer in the Man Cave, hopefully watching the Zips finally win a game in the NCAA tournament someday.

He apparently "went off" on their legendary announcer, and might have referred to him as an 80 year old, old man, or something like that. I never heard the audio, but that's what I gathered by what was posted on their board. Against something like the 340th "toughest" schedule in the country. I'm way past beating cupcakes for the easier W's. Duquesne is in the stage currently that we were back in '05-'07 or so, and these wins are great for them. But losing to a horrific Fordham squad (DU's board was saying they only have 8-9 players dressing at the moment, with their top players out with injuries or something, similar to us) isn't good especially at home, regardless of past success - or lack thereof. I don't understand why it's a bad thing to want a competitor to do poorly. I thought that was the "agenda" of every sports fan.

You should really change your name to either ZachTheKD or ZachTheZipUnlessAkronMakesADecisionIDoNotLike.

At EMU? It's been so long since I've had to pay attention to the non-Cleveland portion of the MAC Tournament, I forget how the seeding works. Edit: After some research to refresh my memory, 5-8 all host the first round games. For some reason, I thought seeds 5 and 6 still went to the Q automatically.

Oh stop. There were worse crowds during Dambrot's cupcake OOC schedule; actually I remember some similar attendance numbers during conference play under Dambrot when some garbage MAC West teams would come in. Half the issue is the MAC isn't interesting. Of course MAC-play attendance might be down a bit this year, but we've had some solid crowds for how decimated this team. It's up to Groce & co. to win games worth a damn in future seasons to build interest back up. My "filled in decently well" comment was in reference to what the place looked like 10+ minutes before tip, which was a ghost town.

It wasn't, but 5-10 minutes before tip, there were a lot less people. It filled in decently well right before tip-off.

Revenge game.

KSUcks. Buffalo doesn't impress me.

That was a fun, fun game. Incredible effort and great win. Frenchy mentioned that pulls us even with CMU and we hold the tiebreaker.