Let'sGoZips94

I REALLY hope my comment about stripping KD of his COY award didn't come off as me wanting KD gone. I want KD to retire a Zip, WAY down the road. I can't believe how quickly some of you forget what this program was like when KD took it over. Here's the evolution of Akron... - 2004-05: 19-10 in his first year after Akron went 13-15 in 2003-04. - 2005-06: 23-10 with a win against Temple in the NIT First Round. Less-skilled, guard oriented team with undersized bigs and lots of heart. - 2006-07: 26-7 and, well, y'all know how this season finished. Again, less-skilled, guard oriented team with undersized bigs and lots of heart. - 2007-08: 24-11 with an NIT First Round win against Florida State and a close loss to UMASS. Still an undersized team with lots of heart. - 2008-09: 23-13 with our first trip to the NCAAs since 1986; we lost to Gonzaga in the first round. Again, the roster makeup was an undersized, less-athletic team with lots of heart. - 2009-10: 24-11 with an uninspired loss in the CBI. Zeke's freshman year. No longer undersized, but still less-athletic with lots of heart. - 2010-11: 23-13 with a FANTASTIC MAC Championship win and an NCAA First Round loss to Notre Dame. Still less-athletic, but with lots of heart. - 2011-12: 22-12 with a 2 point loss to Northwestern in the NIT. More athletic, but still some raw talent (Tree/Harney/Abreu were young) with lots of heart. - 2012-13: 26-7. The Dream Season that ended in Hell. Nationally ranked at one point in the Coach's Poll, nationally recognized winning streak, etc. Fairly athletic/talented team that was crushed by injuries/suspensions. Good team with lots of heart. - 2013-14: 21-13 with a loss to IPFW in the CIT. A lot of the key pieces to today's team were young on this team. - 2014-15: 21-14. Injuries killed us, young backcourt (young team overall, actually), and just couldn't put it together consistently all year. Played with lots of heart to get to the semis of the MAC tourney. - 2015-16: 26-8 currently. Injuries didn't help us, but still got backed to the MAC title game. Very young backcourt, starting to get more and more athleticism on the roster, and have some decent size. Didn't win the MAC but the post-season is still TBD. This roster has the blueprint-look of an NCAA team that can make a run. Need a little more experience and one or two more pieces. Basketball IQ on this team is pretty high at times (experience will make it more consistent). This is a very long, pointless post when it comes to the season overviews because y'all can google that. My point, though, is Dambrot has evolved this team over and over again. He definitely knows his weaknesses and recruits to fill them. Eventually he will put it all together and we will finally get over the hump. You also can't ignore the high character guys Dambrot has had on his roster year in and year out. The MAC has also evolved into a more complete conference. Buffalo is now a perennial contender. OU is still biting at ankles. Can't State is still there. The West is getting better. But Akron still dominated the MAC in the regular season and nearly won the Championship game. Quite frankly, I'm with the people saying the MAC holds us back. The reason teams like NIU and Miami are able to beat us: they see us every single year, and have a lot of chances to build a successful gameplan against us, combined with off-nights by us. It's just like every conference, no matter what level you look at. Losing Reggie, Jake, and Pat after this year is going to hurt from an experience, skill, and character standpoint. All three seem to be high character leaders. We have what seems to be some very athletic recruits coming in next year, combined with the redshirts from this year. I am VERY excited about next year, while this season still isn't over. I am damn proud of this team. Am I pissed they lost in the Finals when they had every opportunity to win? Hell yes I am. But I certainly am not going to overreact and call for the firing of the guy that has taken this team to consistent levels that, 10/15/20 years ago, we were dreaming about. Now, losing in the Finals of the MAC tourney is a near failure of a season. Dambrot will get this program over the hump. Trust in him. Let's see where our postseason takes us. If it's against the Suckeyes of Ohio A&M, great. If it's something else, also great. Let's Go Zips.

Dambrot should be stripped of his COY award for three things: 1) Subbing Kwan in for McAdams at the end of the game. I like Kwan's skill set but McAdams would have been the better choice to play D. 2) KD went back to the old offense with no movement, instead of sticking with Z Ball or whatever the new offense is called. 3) That play with 2 seconds left was the worst possible idea of all time. He must've watched the Valpo game. Dumb dumb dumb. The NIT gives our seniors one last horah and our young guys a chance to grow, but this one stings because we had plenty of opportunities to win the stupid thing. Our guys looked tight all tournament. The shots weren't fluid. Not a recipe for success. Go Zips and Can't State still sucks.

I think there are three keys to tonight's game, two of which have already been identified on this board. 1) Make your shots, specifically from beyond the arc. If there was ever a game we needed our "bombs away" style of play to be executed properly, it's this one. 2) Rebound. Rebound. Rebound. Bobcatattack talked about how Canada killed them on the boards last night. 3) Bench points. This can't be a one-person effort tonight (Big Dog has been that main person recently). Bobcatattack mentioned that their bench was outscored 25-8 (if I'm not mistaken). We have a relatively deep rotation, all things considered, but they can't just be bodies tonight. We need contributions from every player. An Honorable Mention key to tonight's game: the crowd. Akron fans need to be LOUD. I HATE the BU-FF-AL-O chant almost as much as I hate "WE ARE (clap clap) CAN'T STATE" and "O (clap clap clap) H (clap clap clap) I (clap clap clap) O (clap clap clap)". I want to drown the Canadians out. This Akron team can get this done. I believe in the team and in Dambrot. Canada knocked us out last year and eventully went Dancing. Let's make sure the only Dancing shoes collecting dust in the closet are their's. LET'S GO ZIPS! BEAT CANADA, EH?! Z-I...

You're right. I forgot they snuck in and got the 4 seed.

Looks like Akron vs. Canada! Here's to the hope of Canada's 4th game this week catching up with them.

See y'all tomorrow night!

Lost by 1.

Pretty much. Yesterday's Akron game could be like the 2010 soccer team's loss to CSU. The basketball team survived, but I hope it's a wake up call for the rest of the tournament and I hope they come out tonight firing on all cylinders.

I figured some heart had to do something with it. And yeah, I listened to the end and the CMU announcers were complaining about their FT shooting. Thank you for the responses! Like I said, I haven't followed their little run very closely and was wondering if the key(s) to their success is something we can stop.

So it's a player who has gotten hot at the right time? What's the rest of the team doing?

I haven't followed BG's little Cinderella run very closely. What has been the key to their success?

I'm going to answer your question with a question. Where on Earth did the MAC find TWC to televise their basketball games?

And "March" continues to happen. BUGS knocks off CMU in the last 20 seconds. Incredible. Be careful what I wish for... I know... I know...

I need to hurry up and make a will. The number of years that took off my life is still being determined. Every year, good teams always have 1 game where they play like dog poop. This was ours and we survived. Here's to opening up a can of whoop-ass the rest of the way. P.S. I'm at work, and I work at a sporting goods store in the golf department. I walked over to the putting green, and told myself if I make this 6-7 foot putt, Akron will win (this was with several minutes left in the game). I made it. You're welcome, ZipsNation.

Is this the last time we played them in the tourney? Between all of the Directional Michigan games in the tourney (Western most notably), it's hard to remember.

Agreed. Not to mention "Let's Go Peay" is one of the greatest chants in sports. Will sound great on CBS/TBS/TruTV.

Wichita State, another #1 seed, just lost to UNI in the semis.

Agreed. Shoulder injuries are no joke, especially when you play a position where your arms are constantly up either calling for the ball, rebounding, or putting up mini-hook shots. Look at Aaron Jackson. His shoulder injury is to a lesser extent, but the guy is always running to the bench with a limp arm after making a play. This thread is about thanking our seniors, not questioning their heart and toughness. Thank you Jake, Reggie, and Pat! Go finish your careers in the Big Dance.

Toledo and CMU are the 2 teams I really wanted to avoid. Toledo has had our number (0-4 in our last four games against them) and CMU has the fire power from beyond the arc and athleticism to give us fits, as seen in our loss to them earlier in the season. This team has grown a lot since playing both CMU and Toledo. I most definitely believe we can beat either of them (we've already beaten CMU), I just wanted the path of least resistance and these two teams match up well against Akron. Side note... I really hope we don't follow the trend of conference #1's getting knocked off. Belmont, North Florida, and I believe two other #1 seeds have already lost in their conference tournament. Here's to breaking that trend and getting to the Big Dance!

What a game, what a win! I was talking with some Akron fans behind me all game and told them, as mentioned earlier in this thread, that this is the most comforting and impressive win all season. Why? Because our 3s didn't fall, yet we still found a way to win big. The key to our success is our guard play. Their understanding of the game is reassuring. When the shots weren't taking, Noah calmy drove and pulled up for a mid-range jumper. Or Antino drove and hit a floater. These types of shots often go unnoticed but can have a huge impact on the game as they can calm a team down. Oh, and Jimmy Hall is officially up there with some of my least favorite Can't players of all time. He was cocky when we played them at their dump. Last night, he exposed his lack of composure. If we play them at the Q, I hope we can expose that again. And man, is he sloppy with the ball. Loose dribbles and crap shots. Great atmosphere. Great win. Now let's go reclaim the MAC Tourney title and go dancing. Go Zips. It's 10:26 and...

Of course, the one year we don't play them, they have an unbelievably great RPI.

According to this, CMU looks to be the 2 seed if they win.

Has anyone figured out the perfect seeding scenario for the MAC tournament in regards to Akron? With Akron as the #1 seed, I want the path of least resistance, which means OU, Can't, and CMU on the other side of the bracket if possible. CMU seems to be a lock for the 2 seed, but three other teams have a 10-7 record, and Buffalo is looming at 9-8. I don't know how the tiebreakers work after record, then head-to-head. Is it possible for OU/Can't/CMU to be on the other side? Or what would be the absolute perfect tournament bracket for us with 1 game remaining?

Wish JAR had windows Stinky hippies are in town They smell really bad

For all but maybe 1 year (2012-13), Dambrot's teams have always had "live by the 3, die by the 3" built into their gameplans, typically resulting in the latter. But this team is different. - The guards on this team are quick and athletic. Very multi-dimensional with very few holes. Noah has taken a step back this year it seems (sophomore slump maybe), but is still a great guard. Antino is quick, slick, and a pain in the (play on words off the old AK-Rowdies Steve Swiech chant) for opposing teams; plays with A LOT of energy. Josh has a quiet swagger about him and I like it. Very smooth and can really knock down the 3 ball. - The team is full of shooters, so if one or two have bad nights, one or two others can pick up the slack. - Big Dog has incredible court vision for a big man. He can really spread the ball around once it enters the paint; in the past, the paint has been somewhat of a black hole, with the ball never coming back out once it enters. - Kwan and Reggie can really spread the floor. Both are tall and athletic enough to create mismatches while also opening up shot opportunities. - Most importantly, from what I've noticed, the ball movement this year is the best I've ever seen under a Dambrot team. There have been times during games where I'm just in awe of the passes being made. Teams like this Akron team, who can get hot and make 20 threes a game, are the teams that make some noise come Big Dance time. Beat Can't, win the MAC Tourney, and get the opportunity to make said noise. Go Zips!