Class of 82

Players often jaw at benches... especially when benches are jawing at them, or when benches have jawed at them in the past. Guys have long memories in league play. Do I like it? Not really. But IMO, it's only a larger problem when the jawing crosses lines that lead to Ts or worse, or when it takes a player's attention away from the game. Lastly, I don't think you'll see much jawing by Diggs or anybody else come tournament time. I think the criticism of Zeke's pouting is pretty much overblown. A lot of the time, Zeke is upset with himself when he knows KD will have to sit him down. If he gets upset at refs about a good call on him now and then, the vast majority of the time I see it is when he gets called for the cheap fouls MAC refs are infamous for making. Ticky-tack calls in the paint essentially tell Zeke that he will not allowed to play his game. It would frustrate anyone, especially a guy whose stock in trade is blocking shots.

Well said. And it applies to the whole city, not just to UA. Having lived in several other parts of the country over the years, I wish more Akronites would come to appreciate the many wonderful things our city and area has going for it. We've been down. But we are far from out. Go Akron. And GO ZIPS!

I think what I'd like better is a system where deserving teams had a more realistic shot at slots in the tournament regardless of the conference they play in. For the reason you state, it ain't gonna happen, but I would definitely like it better. And I think college basketball... on the whole and in the long run... would be the better for it. The NCAA and the power conferences, though, are quite happy with the system's biases as they now exist. So, c'est la vie. At any rate, I don't really care about the name so much. And I'm looking forward to seeing us play ORU on TV. P.S. It's interesting you mentioned Marquette. I always thought they'd make a great program to get on Akron's schedule. Think maybe they'd do a two for one?

That's certainly true. For what it's worth, though, I'm not sure there's going to be a huge disparity between the 3, 4 and 5 seeds in the tourney. Call me crazy, but I just don't see nearly as many really dominant teams as it seems there usually are in college basketball. If we get in as a 12 or a 14, I still like our chances this year better than any other time we've played.

I'm not complaining about playing Oral Roberts at all. And I agree with you about Nevada, Creighton, VCU, etc. But woulda-coulda-shouldas aside, a B-Buster win is virtually never going to get anybody an at large birth if they weren't already well-positioned to get one anyway. I'm just saying I think the B-Buster would be a better operation overall if it pitted high majors forecast to be on the bubble against the top mid-majors. With all due respect to ORU (and I'm sure they feel the same about us), a solid mid-major would open more eyes on the selection committee by beating , say, a Notre Dame or Texas or NC-State than by playing another solid mid-major that the selection committee could care less about.

Should be a competitive and entertaining game. And it's on ESPN2. Other than that, though, I don't think this game will mean much, win or lose. Our fate is still going to be determined by the MAC tournament. The Bracket Buster system, as it stands, doesn't really allow for much bracket busting. It would be better if it pitted similarly RPI'd high majors against mid-majors, so the selection committee actually had some real comparisons of teams on the so-called bubble. As it stands, the Bracket Buster games are, as often as not, one more reason to include a middle-of-the-pack ACC or Big 10 team at the expense of a mid-major that loses its conference tourney.

I believe if his team finishes high enough in Pro-B, they will move up to Pro-A. If I'm not mistaken, the French leagues have a two-tiered system that after each season elevates the best teams in Pro-B to Pro-A and the worst teams in Pro-A back to Pro-B. I have no idea about the particulars, but I'm pretty sure that's basically how it works.

I'd love to see us play Murray State. They are no fluke, with pretty impressive games over Southern Miss on a neutral, Dayton at home (a 17-point spank job) and a tough road win at Memphis. What might be key is that it'll have been over a month since they played anybody nearly as good as Akron. If we can get out of our first-half funk and punch them really hard in the mouth early... might be a great day. Anyway, it would be awesome to knock off a ranked unbeaten.

Thanks for posting that. I think it's interesting that Jimmal has not only made a great career (and some pretty decent cash) for himself in France, but evidently a great life there as well. I'm pretty sure he's become a French citizen. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. And great for J Wood that he's escaped the Finnish tundra for France, where the weather's not only better but I'm sure the pay is, too. BTW, can you imagine if Jeremiah was on this current Zips roster? Almost scary to consider what our front court would be like with a beast like him added to the mix.

I love Zipsnation, too. I mean, most boards would have run me out on a rail for something as downright off-the-wall as an I Hate Can't Haiku-a-thon. Here, they not only accept such things in the jovial spirit offered, they do so with a generous and humorous spirit of old-fashioned fun... and that even includes the engineers for God's sake! P.S. Glad you adopted the Zips as your local fav, xu. Your taste is as impeccable as your pain and misery threshold is impressive.

BA Political Science, 1982. Born and raised in Akron. And my mom attended UA from 1939 until WWII got in the way.

No disagreement. Just a comment your post brought to mind. Steve French is a definitely a homer, but I think that's part and parcel of being a team's play-by-play guy as opposed to a general-audience play-by-play guy. He's not just super professional at being our eyes and ears; he's subject to the same emotions we are, which creates that real sense of connection and excitement. It's guys like Frenchie and Joe Dunn (and their counterparts around the country) that have kept and still keep radio such a great sports medium, even in this age of cable television.

Nice job, ZW. No question that the Zips have the talent and the depth to win the MAC. I think this season hinges on KD's ability to keep the young guys focused, disciplined and emotionally balanced. We saw how difficult that was early, and how the team definitely suffered for it. We can only hope that everybody is on the same page now and that it stays that way. I'm optimistic about that, though, because there seems to be a real appreciation on the team for the advantage that their depth gives them, as Harney's post-game comments attest.

Agree almost totally. But the truth is... there's a lot that I kinda miss about old Memorial Hall! It was certainly old and outdated and too small; but when we filled the place, it was loud(!) and hotter than a sauna in Helsinki. And it was a really, really, really tough venue for visitors... at least in the 60s and early 70s when Akron had decent teams. The JAR was certainly an upgrade in aesthetics and capacity, but it was a severe downgrade in atmosphere and home-court advantage, imo. I'm hopeful they can fix that.

Yeah, Captain. What is up with the difficulty of buying truly nice Zips gear, as in real jerseys? And it's not a rhetorical question. I'd really like to know why?

Thanks for those, Keener. Best dadgum haikus yet!

That would work for me. In a perfect world, I'd love a new arena. Great both for UA and the community at large. But as a Zips fan, I'd settle for making the JAR what it should have been in the first place. The JAR didn't open until after I graduated and left town for a number of years. But I remember, when it was first approved, the disappointment in the state mandating a "physical education building" as opposed to a true arena. It was a ridiculous and needless requirement, and we're still suffering the consequences. A lot of people forget that UA didn't have many friends at the Board of Regents or in the legislature (our local reps excepted) in those days.

No problem. And hey, what could possibly be more fun than roasting Can't on a spit of ancient Japanese poetry? The Roo shall be feared The eagle shall not soar We will feed it DDT And nice haiku, ZfP!

Well, it ain't haiku... but limericks are cool, too.

That is priceless. It is a T-shirt that simply MUST be made!

Oh lurking Flash fan How sad and inadequate Is your joyless life?

Light up those Flushers Subject them all to great shame Humiliate them

I guess it depends on how you decide to renovate. As in, why would they necessarily need to make all of the seating permanent? I've never heard anyone complain very much about the lower-reserve seating. It's the GA seating behind that danged track that people really hate. It makes for both needlessly poor sight lines and likely a substantially less intimidating environment for visiting teams since the bulk of the crowd is so far away from the court.

I tend to agree with this. Unless a new arena were some kind of community/university facility, I don't see how to justify seating for 12-15,000 when we can rarely draw more than 4,500 as it is. I'm not sure of the complexity of a JAR overhaul. Getting rid of the track would be the most important improvement, IMO, but I don't know how that would affect either the supporting structure itself or the rooms beneath both the track and the existing GA seating. Personally, I think if you could eliminate the track and thereby move all of the GA seats closer to the floor, the JAR could be a pretty nice venue.

Priceless execution of haiku, Capn. A sledgehammer blow to the over-inflated egos of lurking Can't fans.