Let'sGoZips94

Dambrot must have heard you say, "big game."

Interesting. Not sure I like it. Not sure I dislike it. I don't know what effect it will have in either sport, because it's a two-way road that might cancel itself out.

The MAC is a crapshoot this year, aside from Canada.

- Completely agree. His lack of desire to follow his shot is infuriating, especially when he is missing so many consistently. He has become a liability on the floor, and to overcome his shooting struggles, he needs to exert more effort on the boards and defense. - I don't know if yesterday's game was the best to evaluate our abilities or inabilities against the zone. Without Sayles and Poke, we were probably half a foot shorter than EMU on average, and with the refs letting them play, driving inside probably wasn't too enticing to our guys. The only way to counteract a zone when you aren't making your shots is dishing the ball to a player cutting to the basket once the defenders in the paint collapse on you, but that requires some pretty strong team chemistry usually. It's absolutely something that needs improved, but I'd like to see us play against EMU's zone when healthier to get a better judgement. - I wonder how much attacking a zone is an uphill battle for a college coach. I don't watch AAU basketball, but everything I hear about it is it's mainly running up and down the floor in more of a showcase manner, rather than technical and strategical basketball. I can't imagine these guys play against much zone during their high school/AAU days. 31-18 personal fouls, in favor of BG. Duvivier, Kostelac, and Utomi fouled out (nobody on BG did). Sayles exited the game early with his concussion/injury. Poke obviously wasn't available. We were down to 5 players after all of this. A guy we found in the rec center came up with a massive rebound, and a freshman hit what ultimately was the game-winning 3. Just wanted to give you a summary of the game because it seems like you missed it and have no idea how much adversity the team overcame.

The cupboard is just 2-3 players too bare. The effort is there. The wins will come.

Why wasn't Thompson just called for the T for hanging on the rim?

We need to quit chucking it. Easier said than done when they're a bunch of trees, but still. 8 pt game. Let's get this down to 2 possessions.

We need to quit chucking it. Easier said than done when they're a bunch of trees, but still.

Great off the ball movement and pass.

I thought that was a foul. The block was all ball, but you can't body someone during a block attempt.

MARK, WAKE UP UNDER THE BASKET!

Marky Mark is already in Thompson's head! I love it!

They make it natural with their masked fans. It's creepy. Buffalo is definitely a rivalry, but I don't loathe them like I loathe OU & Can't. #BuffaloIsInCanada

Uncanny resemblance to our rival, Can't State. Both Iowa and Can't are located to the east of Iowa State/Akron, and both Iowa and Can't have pee-yellow in their color scheme. It's like you were meant to be a part-time Akron fan!

I'm surprised a school like Can't didn't offer him. They had interest in him, and Joey seems to be their prototypical QB - undersized, athletic, etc. At 6'1" 190 lbs, I'm not too surprised he didn't get much DI interest. It looks like he had walk-on offers from a few DI schools, but he's smart to at least get the full ride scholarship, regardless of where it's at. If his University of Virginia wrestling scholarship wasn't a full ride, I think he made the best life decision from a financial aspect.

Sounds like he just signed with Elon.

While he's had some joke calls go against him in the past, he puts himself in poor positions. If he's in positions to foul 80% of the time, he's not going to get the benefit of the doubt as much the other 20%, right or wrong. If you look at this last game, there were a few times he was straight up when contesting, but a majority of the time he would come over top of the defender or briefly leave his feet. It's frustrating because I think Mark can develop into a very solid player. He has the athleticism and physical ability to be a threat at this level, it's just getting him comfortable and up to speed. This EMU game could be HUGE for his development because he'll be going against Thompson. It'll be interesting to see if he can play up to Thompson's level, and if the energy and emotion that Kostelac brings to the floor can rattle Thompson, who is prone to get T'd up as previously mentioned. I still for the life of me can't figure out how Mark wasn't called for a foul on his put-back late in the BG game, but I'm not complaining.

You're new to being a Zips fan, so I wanted to give you a heads up: this happens a lot. MAC refs BLOW and are probably some of the most inconsistent referees in all of basketball. There used to be a lot of griping on this board when it came to the refereeing. Poor officiating has become so incredibly common, we've shut up for the most part. Whenever you hear about the refs on this board in a negative way, you KNOW it's bad.

My point is that the concussion protocol would probably including avoiding attending sporting events, including women's basketball, immediately following being diagnosed with a concussion. This would follow under the rest & recovery portion of the protocol. I am a bit surprised they haven't announced anything yet. That could be a very good sign.

It might. Typically with concussions, light and noise bothers you. I don't know if the protocol has changed, but I've always known it to include avoiding exposure to light and noise.

Not sure how many of you listened to Groce on the post-game show, but he talked about what he's trying to build here with the program. It was a great interview. He talked about the main focal points being hustle, toughness, etc., and those are non-negotiable. He said win or lose today, the answer would have been the same, that the guys fought really hard with a lot going against them and he would have been proud regardless of the result. The whole interview gave me incredible optimism for where the program is headed under Groce. Those are the qualities that teams who make runs in the tourney possess. The way the team reacted to the victory was awesome. The genuine smiles were a sight to see. This team is young and will grow closer with the adversity. Our future is bright.

By the way, with our win today, we are back to .500 on the season, leaving Can't State as the only team in the MAC with a sub-.500 record. Beautiful.

Hardly a recruiting tool if it's not going to be used in-game. I'm not a huge fan of the look of it, mostly because it looks off-center to me. Why can't it be used in-game?

I'm not buying that Dambrot wanted to stay here, and I'm certainly not buying that Williams forced him out. The locker rooms, weight room, etc., were all upgraded. The JAR was/is going through a transition with the painted bleachers, new video board, etc. He can cry about the Info all he wants, but football is where the money/revenue is at in the NCAA. A new football stadium to replace a crumbling one was a necessity. Did the University maybe error on the budgeting for it? Possibly, but that's life. Dambrot was one of the higher if not the highest paid coach in the MAC, and was well compensated for the level of success he had achieved in his time here. Nothing he had done in the final years of his time here warranted any sorted of extra compensation. I think Dambrot saw some writing on the wall that caused him to jump ship to Duquesne. I think he knew this year was going to be a transition year regardless of if he had stayed or not, and that his value as a coach as at a high point. I think he saw that the A10 could be down, and now was his time to get into Duquesne, especially at the $1M price point. I also think he could hear the whispers about a stagnant program at Akron, feeling the pressure to either win in the NCAA tournament or leave. There were a lot of excuses used during his time here to create an illusion that outside factors were holding him and the program back. The MAC being a one-bid league, the JAR, and the fact that bigger schools wouldn't come play us in the JAR. They grew old and empty with the mounting pile of letdown losses. I also don't like the complaints about the JAR, and the supposed complaints about the offices/basketball dorms. I struggle with a college coaching making six figures - it's an academic institution first and foremost - let alone one that makes nearly $1M a year and complains about the financial backing of the program. The JAR isn't perfect, and we've all wanted either a major renovation or new arena, but in the end it doesn't make sense unless the finances are there. I've said it in other threads that Dambrot could have made a huge statement by saying he would donate a portion of his salary as the foundation for a new arena/JAR renovation. That is my explanation of my critical dialogue directed at Dambrot. Call me a "basher" or whatever you want, but I'm an Akron fan first an foremost. I'm grateful for growth of the program under Dambrot, and always have been. Two things. - The Can't/Akron Championship Game last year was brought up. Just in case anyone forgot, we lost that one with a flat performance. - I would still like to know what major offers Dambrot had that he turned down. I would additionally like to know what Dambrot's reputation around the college basketball landscape truly was, if anyone has any inside info on that topic.

Officials are trained to do this, as long as the play that is being continued occurs at the other end. Whether or not that should be changed is a different discussion, but as bad as the officials were today, they got that right, at least by the book. I knew it was more serious than just a fall when, once play stopped, the police officers at the other end of the floor sprinted down to Sayles.