Let'sGoZips94

For those in the Akron area trying to watch on ESPN3... The game is BLACKED OUT. So pissed.

Excellent videos. A couple thoughts... 1) I agree that the shot at students who wear OSU gear is great. I also agree that the soccer promotion was top notch. 2) Frieda and Flash would have ugly hatchlings. I mean would they have teeth, would they not have teeth...? It's an anomaly to say the least. 3) How many "Zippy" costumes does the University have? I hope this was an old one that they were getting ready to throw out anyways. Since Flash touched it, I'd burn the dang thing just for good measure. 4) Rufus wishes Zippy were in his league.

I will say this. I think the University itself does a pretty pee poor job of getting their students engaged in athletics, especially with basketball. Again, this goes back to my previous comment regarding the layout of the JAR, but they stick the Rowdies - 50 or so students - in one end of the court behind a freaking basketball that you have to look around to see the other side. The rest are thrown up above, again on the end where you have to look over or through a basket to see a lot of the action. Get them on the side of the court and involved in the game. Give them signs, pom poms, etc. If I were on the AK-Rowdies leadership team, here are some things I would do... - Have theme nights. This is Marketing 101. It may sound a bit high schoolish, but it could be very effective. Kick it up a notch from the usual high school crap (camo night, etc.), and relate the themes to either the University, MAC, or NCAA as a whole. I could see something like Grayson Allen night, where students are asked to make all of their signs relate to "tripping". I'm not saying that's a theme the Rowdies should do because we don't play Duke, but it's edgy and would catch some national attention I'd assume. This is where getting the Rubberducks involved would be phenomenal. They are one of the best minor league organizations when it comes to marketing. They thread the needle with some of their themes, but they never cross the line and are absolutely terrific. - Have a committee of "retired" Rowdies that aid the current student Rowdies leadership team. Have the "retired" Rowdies committee help select the leaders, and coach them in how to get students involved, how to get national attention, etc. I remember 10 years ago (+/-), the Rowdies were talked about on national broadcasts. Their bus trips made a difference, and the media loved them. I don't know what the Rowdies do now as far as bus trips, but this is an area where former Rowdy leaders could be of much assistance. Not sure the retired Rowdies would do something like this, but if it's being mentioned that a large part of the current Rowdy contingent is made up of graduates, I feel like some would step up and help. - Get in sync with the rest of the students/crowd/band. Send people to the upper bowl to help organize a LET'S GO ZIPS chant, or Z-I-P-S or ZI-PS chant. If other students are reluctant to participate with the 50 or so Rowdies on the floor, get the crowd involved and force the hand of the other students. - Lastly, be creative. Come up with some game-time antic - within the rules - that gets you noticed. Do something that makes people want to join in. I forget which college student section does it (Nebraska maybe?) but the students sway side to side, with every other row going one direction, and the other rows going the opposite, during opponents' free throw attempts. That wouldn't work for us the way the JAR is set up, but you get the idea. Just my 2 cents.

Let's hope this makes them money, and they can have an extra pile of cash made for us on the side.

Give me 1000 of him all day every day. I think something the University needs to look into when it comes to renovating the JAR, is creating 2 levels in the lower bowl, and putting the students in the lower level of that lower bowl - Duke style. Make the first row in the second level of the lower bowl high enough as to not have a view obstructed by the heads of the students in front of them. I know I always enjoy watching a game from a more elevated seat, so this might even be more enjoyable for the big donors and season ticket holders that occupy the current lower bowl. This would give the students more of a visually pleasing view of the game - not obstructed by a basketball hoop - and would create a more involved/inviting atmosphere for students. College basketball is all about the atmosphere. If it ain't loud, crazy, and fun, what's the draw? What would draw someone to Akron over Ohio State, if the atmosphere is lame at Akron along with the lack of quality competition? Z.I.-P.S. What the Bulls fan left out of the article was the cost of the bus trip was $5, but he'd have to buy his own passport. Probably why his ex-girlfriend thought he was insane. BUFFALO'S IN CANADA!

POY and MVP are 2 COMPLETELY different categories. This was a hot topic when Steph Curry won the MVP over LeBron and some other guys like Westbrook, Harden, etc. Keene should be the unanimous POY. The guy leads the NCAA in PPG by 7! Big Dog is the MAC MVP, but won't get the POY award.

I know it's probably impossible to confirm unless you were in the huddle before the shot, but was Big Dog supposed to take that shot? Or was the play designed to have Robotham pop out beyond the arc after the inbounds pass and get the ball back from Big Dog? Z.I.-P.S. That shot by Big Dog was a thing of beauty. Who knew he had that?

Men's Soccer had to gain respect somehow. If I remember correctly, it took road wins and tournament runs to garner enough respect to get ACC teams to come into our house. Granted the soccer program had a slightly more established foundation to begin with, but not much. It's still AKRON. To compare to a fellow "mid-major" men's basketball program... Gonzaga had to go beat teams on the road and win tourney games for teams to finally respect them enough to play the Zags AT Gonzaga.

[Argument for Weaker Schedule to Secure 21+ wins] Take a page from the Men's Soccer handbook. I think it's page #1 or #2... "THE MAC BLOWS. ELIMINATE THAT HINDRANCE BY STRENGTHENING THE OOC SCHEDULE. IF THEY WILL NOT PLAY YOU AT YOUR PLACE, GO BEAT THEM AT THEIR'S."

Which included blowing a 21 point lead. I hope there's a bit of a hangover from that choke-job (OU pun intended ).

Wow the MAC is bad. Is this the worst the MAC has ever been? We are the only team in the top 100 RPI, and nobody else is even close. Nothing like some #MACtion to put a damper on your 18-3 start to the season.

Well, they travel to Akron once a year, and NEO 2-3 times a year - if you include Akron, Can't, and the MAC Tourney. I think it would be smart and efficient to combine their game travel obligations with a recruiting trip.

Step 1: Get ranked. Step 2: Back-up the ranking with an NCAA Tourney win... Or 2... Or 3... Etc. You should always strive to get ranked. But that ranking is meaningless if the end result is a laid egg in the NCAA Tourney.

I thought the same exact thing. Our marketing/in-game hype team needs to take a class on when/how to play certain songs to hype the crowd up, and when to leave certain promotions alone. I don't think schools like Kansas, Duke, UNC, etc., interrupt their high energy crowd with an in-game promotion. Willy (the MC) does a TREMENDOUS job at getting people hyped. Also, I was very disappointed in the Rowdies. I don't believe they did a "BUFFALO'S IN CANADA" chant all night. Willy went over to the band towards the end of the game, and started that chant with the band, but the Rowdies were MIA in that regard. Buffalo gave us their best game probably all season. We withstood their hot shooting barrage and still won. That was an impressive win by Akron. They pose matchup problems with their athleticism, but shooting wise that was a special night by them.

Halftime show: LeBron walks to half court and presents the president and AD with a huge check for a new arena. Just an idea... Or maybe more of a dream...

BRUCE! I used to wear a Weinkein jersey my mom made me when I was real little. Ended up staying in touch with Bruce and even Nate Schindewolf a bit throughout the years. I still have a game-worn jersey of Bruce's that will go in the man cave of my new house.

Zeke. Multiple reasons. 1) He's the only TRUE Center on that list. 7'0", long, and a true rim protector. 2) As previously mentioned, he changed the game in so many ways not reflected on the stat sheet. 3) Most importantly, just go watch the final 30 seconds of that MAC Championship Game Overtime WIN against Can't State. Would love to compile a front court of Zeke, JWood, and Big Dog, though. We'd go pretty deep in the NCAA tourney with that Front Court.

Sports are becoming more and more crooked, but I don't mind this. Since the late 1800s/early 1900s, baseball organizations have been using their ballparks' walls and such to advertise for companies like the American Tobacco Company, banks, etc. If a team is privately owned, the owner should be able to open up their business to marketing/advertising profit opportunities such as this (now when these billionaire owners go to the taxpayers for stadium renovation funding, that's where I draw the line, but that's a whole different can of worms). Could you imagine AKRON, scripted on the front of our jerseys in GOODYEAR font or something like that? I think it would be pretty cool, and an excellent way for a college to get funding for sports, since sports should come secondary in funding to academics.

That 2012-13 season also included a much better schedule. Although the end-of-season SOS, according to RealTimeRPI, was 131 (this year we are at 146 currently for comparison, so not a HUGE difference), we played much tougher opponents throughout that season. Here's the Breakdown for 2012-13 Top 50 Opponents: 3. Record was 1-2, with a win against MTSU who finished at 28 (that was a fun home game). Top 100 Opponents: 8. Record was 5-3. This includes the MACCG against OU. Also, that Detroit loss is bad name wise, but they finished #64 in RPI and it was a road game. Our current schedule is crap in comparison (actually, it's crap period, compared to every schedule). Unless EMU and OU win out (minus their contests against Akron), we won't play another Top 100 team all year, and will have only played 4 all season - IF Georgia Southern and Marshall stay in the Top 100. Based on the research provided by MDZip and my findings, this would be good ammunition for anyone arguing against our cupcake, "prestigious" 21-win-guaranteed schedule. The committees seem to reward some success against tougher schedules over more success against weaker competition (duh).

Absolutely. He is very well educated (even says he loves the Zips! - in response to you). The comment wasn't directed at him, but more the perception of "In short: not good." Another topic but one that will continue to warrant more discussion. The P5 schools have automatic exposure due to their conference ranks and conference schedules. They can play 10 DIII schools, but if they go .500 or better in conference play, the committee/media will take notice. Mid-Majors, especially those not in the A-10 and AAC, don't have that luxury. Hence the hundreds or thousands of posts on this board ranting about our Out-of-Conference schedule. My frustration stems from us needing to "up" our level of competition, that next-level competition not being willing to play away from their home gym, and then us scheduling Coppin State instead. It's a perpetuating circle of crap.

The title states "In short: not good," but I would love to know how many of those Top 25/50/100 Losses came on the road against P5 schools that are too prideful and scared to leave the friendly confines of their mother's basement.

For those saying we have no shot at an At-Large, we're top 40 in RPI, could very realistically run the table to get us in the top 20-30ish, and we just had a couple-minute exclusive segment on SportsCenter. Exposure matters when it comes to the committee, because exposure means $$$. If UNC Wilmington finishes near us in the RPI, who are they going to take: UNC Wilmington, or the team closely associated with LeBron James? Monmouth had the exposure last year, they just timed it all wrong; it was a tight year in college basketball with about 20-40 solid teams on top of conference champions. We're talking about the 2nd most corrupt sports association in the world, next to FIFA, in the NCAA. If they turn over a rock and see any resemblance of something that can make them $$$, they'll take advantage of it. On a side note, why aren't teams like UNC Wilmington (recent NCAA tourney success; 4 pt. loss to Duke last year in The Dance), Middle Tennessee State (perennial competitive mid-major; used to be on the schedule, but what happened?), and middle-bottom P5 schools on our schedule every year? Teams like Pittsburgh, Clemson, GTech, Georgia, VaTech, etc., might not be a top 5 team in the country, but they are names and play top competition every year which would help our RPI. Can't played Texas - beat em. Bobkitties played GTech - beat em. Schools like UNC Wilmington and MTSU would give us experience against NCAA tourney-caliber competition. I know this has been but it's frustrating that, at this point each and every season, we have an At-Large discussion that is always brought down by a weak schedule.

"Musical Chairs Night"

Be forewarned... LeBron mentions galore. But still a VERY cool segment.

We must have played with a lot of energy for 13 years then.