Class of 82

Hey George, People here have been hard on the Beacon for a long time, sometimes fairly and sometimes not-so-fairly, but I think I can speak for a lot of ZN posters when I say that you've done an incredible job since you took over the beat. Zips coverage has never been better. P.S. On a side note, it hasn't gone unnoticed, by me anyway, what a wild journey your career at the Beacon has been. Movie critic, Cavs, and now the Zips. The professionalism with which you've handled all that change is more than commendable. Not many journalists could have done what you have, and far fewer still could have handled it anywhere near as well. Most readers have no clue how different all of your role's have been, but my hat's off to you. You are a pro's pro. P.P.S. I remember your son doing some reviewing from a kid's perspective when you were the movie critic. Is he still writing?

Buffalo losing Watt and Filzen will be a far different team, but they should still be pretty good. With all due respect to DJ Cooper, I think Rian Pearson may be the best player in the league so I have to believe Toledo could be a factor. If K-ent reloads with a couple of stud junior-college mercenaries, as I expect them to, they might also surprise. I know they will be playing us tough in any case. Ohio is going to be the favorite to win the MAC next year, with Akron right there and very capable of being the spoiler.

You're not being rude... just giving your opinion, and I respect it even if I disagree with it. I guess in what I've bold-faced that you've summed up the ugly truth pretty well, GP. And it's pretty obvious to me that the NCAA and the vast majority of member schools feel pretty much the same way that you do, which is why they cling so desperately to the mythical "student athlete" crud. There are a lot of true student athletes in college sports, but there are a heckuva lot of kids who are pretty much un (or at least under) paid professionals being used by a bunch of self-satisfied mobsters for their own gain. It's a truly poisonous system. On a side note, I think you greatly underestimate the importance of traditions and/or loyalties at the college level. I'm an Akron fan because I'm from Akron, and because I graduated from the university. Obviously, I'm not a fan because of all of the national titles we've won in football and basketball. If being a fan were purely about the overall quality of play, I'd be a tOSU fan. But I could care less about tOSU.

And who pays for that? Another loan from the so-called "student athlete"? This guy's idea would be a disaster, which probably means it has at least some chance of being implemented.

Not at all, JSF. This thread is about making what I believe is a fair comment about people who, instead of just enjoying what should be a wonderful time for them, feel compelled to be needlessly concerned about what other people think about their team's run. They started a thread to rip other MAC fans... several by name... for not paying sufficient obeisance. It's childish and insecure, but I think it's a fairly typical example of what gets posted at that particular board. If you disagree, that's okay. But spare me the holier-than-thou crap. Okay?

I don't know. My guess is that the college game at every level would still be pretty good. A lot of the players might be a little smaller and slower, but that doesn't necessarily mean the game would be boring to watch. The coaching would still be there, and my guess is that some subset of really good players would still elect to go the college route, just as they do in baseball. But all of the players would at least be real college students with a real desire to be in school. And I think most college fans are fans by traditions and loyalties that would still be present. Trying to reform a corrupt system without striking at the root cause of the corruption just seems like a total waste of time to me. In the article johnny posted, the guy is basically arguing for a system that make the system more corrupt than it already is. Students wouldn't really be paid; they'd be borrowing against future earnings that may never materialize. What happens if they blow out a knee? Or what happens if it turns out they can't cut it in the classroom? Do agents start paying off professors/administrators to falsify records in order to protect their "investments"? Any way you slice it, any pretense of the "student athlete" would become more of a joke than it already so often is. And the kids remain the ones getting screwed while everybody else makes a bundle. It ain't right. And it shouldn't be.

So long as college football and basketball essentially fill the role of the minor-leagues of the NFL and NBA, you will never "clean up" the system. You will continue to have kids (who everyone involved knows have no business anywhere near a college classroom) posing as "student athletes," when they are really nothing more than unpaid serfs forced into lining the pockets of coaches, administrators and NCAA officials and saving the NBA and NFL the many millions of dollars that they should be spending on the development of their own players. Corruption is rampant in the system, because the system itself is entirely corrupt from the ground up. If I were Caesar, I would immediately decree that the NFL and NBA to go the Major League Baseball route by developing true minor league systems and allowing the drafting and signing of high school players who want the option of playing pro ball. After all, why should any athletically-gifted kid who is not interested in college be forced into a system whose chief beneficiaries do not include himself? Why should high school baseball players have a chance to get paid as they progress to the big time, but basketball and football players be denied a similar chance? The only reason I see is the greed of others who want to cash in on their services for free. Some might say what I'm proposing would ruin college football and basketball, but I don't really think that's true. They would still be great games to watch, and the student athletes would once again actually be students who happened to be involved in athletics. In the end, that could only be a good thing. I'd still be a nut about Zips football and basketball, and I'd guess just about everyone here would be, too. And true minor league football and basketball would themselves be an exciting addition to the American sports landscape. (Don't even get me started on the NBA's D-League. It's a joke.) Besides, college baseball is not injured by the way MLB develops its teams, and I see no reason why college basketball and football couldn't live within similar systems. Everyone would be better off, imo, and corruption would become the rare exception rather than the near rule that it is today. Rant completed. Out.

I was at this game. Whatever that fireball was, it was an awesome site that I will never forget. http://www.ohio.com/news/bob-dyer-akronite...reball-1.277019 Anybody else willing to admit they're old enough to remember this? P.S. I also remember thinking at the time that we had just beaten Michigan, as in the Wolverine variety, rather than the Northern Michigan Wildcats. But hey, I was only 7.

Great points, Dave. I keep going back in my mind to the second half of the K-ent game at the JAR. Great defense forcing turnovers that allowed guys like Gilliam, Harney, Diggs and Abreu to dominate in transition. I think our personnel fits that kind of game really well, so long as the team stays committed and disciplined on the defensive end. And that's a huge "so long as," in my opinion. Time and again this past season, we failed to get back on defense after making baskets in transition. A running style doesn't do you much good if you consistently let the other team get the numbers to run it right back at you. We did that way too often, which I think is why KD didn't really embrace an up-tempo game the way he might like to.

Interesting. My older brother is an OU alum, and a huge tOSU honk! Not unlike a lot of Akron alumni who were classmates of mine at UA. I just find it a little pathetic that OU fan seems so concerned about what other people are saying, especially when they're having a dream tournament run. Sometimes I think the whole tOSU/OU thing gives them something of a Napoleon complex. P.S. On a side note, they even have a current Andy Hipsher thread. Really, you're probably saying? Yeah... really. It's sad. (Apparently, Andy is a junior assistant on Stan Heath's staff?)

I always thought Stainbrook was a dead ringer for Mikey, the younger son on Orange Coast Choppers...

First, the Elton Alexander... gasp... failed to compare them to the 1976 Indian Hoosiers after they beat us by one in the MAC title game. (A 47-reply thread!) Now, it seems Bobkitty Nation is shocked to learn that OU is not exactly popular with other MAC fans, even if most other MAC fans are generally happy to see them doing well. http://www.bobcatattack.com/messageboard/t...1&PID=63941 For the lurking OU fans desperate for validation, sincere congratulations on the Sweet 16 and for helping keep my bracket in good shape. But please, twist one up and get over your insecure selves.

Congrats, indeed, to OU. Cooper has been excellent and deserves the pub he's getting, but the real difference-maker, imo, has been their defense. Their helps and switches in the paint are running almost to perfection, and they have been really good guarding the three ball. I really thought they pretty much handled Michigan in a win I don't think was an upset. Last night, they beat a pretty good USF team at their own game. Very impressive. Don't like their chances against UNC, even without Kendall Marshall. Just too much Tar Heel talent for the Bobcats to overcome. P.S. They were better than us this year. Maybe not by much, but they were better. I hope they feel a little over-confident in our first match-up of 2012-13 so we can finally steal one in Athens. Going to be a really exciting MAC East race next year.

Promising While I wish we could have ended the year on a more positive note, I leave this season with a very upbeat feeling about what's in store next year. Our returning team is, by far, the strongest and deepest that Akron has ever had. I'm not going to let momentary disappointment get me down when the future of this program has never been brighter.

Have we ever had this many really good players on the same team at the same time? I don't think so. Having a lot of really good players is a nice problem to have, if you ask me.

I was on campus when Joe Jakubick was lighting up Memorial Hall. The team was not very good, but seeing Joe play was pretty amazing, win or lose. Sadly, student interest was minimal, at best. Indeed, more than a few students were downright dismissive of Akron athletics in general as "a joke." They rooted for "real" teams, like tOSU.

God bless your son, Capn'. It's gratifying to know that the next generation isn't entirely made up of bandwagon pansies. When your boys' beloved Zips finally do put the look of overwhelming joy on his face, I'm predicting the tears will be rolling down your face instead of his. How freeking sweet is THAT gonna be?!

Great bullet pass from Chauncey. An even better catch and finish by Zeke. Had we pulled out a win, it would be my nominee for highlight of the year. P.S. Had we pulled out a win, the play might have had a better shot at SportsCenter Top Plays.

Couldn't have said it better, Dave.

While he hasn't exactly dominated (with the exception of last year's MAC tournament and some spurts here and there), he's nevertheless made a significant impact. Without him, we don't win the MAC tourney a year ago, and we don't win the regular season this year. We sure as heck don't beat Can't and Justin Green three times. And it's not unusual that fans had such high expectations for Zeke. I sure did, and for that matter I still do. But it's worth noting that KD pretty much told us what to expect from day one, and what he said then has pretty much panned out exactly as he stated. Maybe we just didn't want to hear it. And maybe some folks are still so caught up in what they imagined Zeke's impact would be that we take for granted the impact that he has already had, which has been substantial. But you're right, skip... tonight would be a GREAT time for Zeke to make his presence felt!

If we can guard the three-point shot (which we do pretty well, usually) and prevent the back-door, pick-and-roll stuff they like to run (which we really haven't seen much), and if we can neutralize their 1-3-1 zone with good three-point shooting, Northwestern has a serious problem. I think we do all of the above at enough stretches throughout the game and win 67-61.

While I agree that Zeke's continued development is a key for next season, I respectfully disagree with most of your other analysis. First basketball-related-- Zeke isn't the typical guy who started playing a lot of ball as a kid and focusing his life in that direction. He has said he kind of got steered into playing competitively a lot later than most players after people just expected that a kid his size belonged on the court. In high school, his size alone allowed him to dominate, but he didn't arrive in Akron with the kind of honed skills most D-1 recruits already possess. And it showed, just as KD said that it would. He's had to learn on the fly, and he's gotten better, bit by bit, every year. I credit him as a person and KD and the coaching staff for that, and I'm not willing to concede that his progress has been hindered by poor coaching. In fact, I'd argue just the opposite. I'm not at all in doubt that Zeke's senior season will be his best and that he'll continue to be a primary reason the Zips will be one of the favorites for the MACC and a team with a chance to make a post-season run. Second, only partially basketball-related-- Zeke says chose Akron because of the school and the overall environment as much he did to play basketball. Does he want to help the Zips win? Heck yeah. But he also wants a degree in computer science. From everything I've heard, he's thriving in the classroom and enjoying his experience as a student. As fans, I understand that a lot of us don't really care about that. But as an alum of UA, I'm nearly just as proud that Zeke is getting it done in the classroom as I am that he's helped us win quite a few basketball games. And I'm really glad for him and his family that he'll be leaving Akron with something far more useful than just memories. And with the coaches' help, he might even have developed enough of a game to get a serious look at the next level. Whatever his future holds, I expect Zeke Marshall will leave Akron with the same love for the school most of us here have because of the tremendous impact it has made on our lives. And, bottom-line, that's what college athletics is supposed to be all about. Anyway, my two cents.

Wow... that's... well...

I'll say Zips over Ohio 76-68.

To be fair, he was pretty much inconsolable on the bench. Glad it didn't come true, but he played his butt off to try to back up his guarantee. And not going through the line didn't seem to bother Akron. Nik went over and spoke with him, probably to wish him well and commend him for his effort. Very classy on Nik's part, and Porrini seemed both receptive and appreciative. P.S. What's so wierd this year is that the Can't and Akron match-ups weren't really very chippy this year. Hard fought and intense battles, but there always seemed to be an air of mutual respect that I haven't seen in a long time. Last night was no difference. Now tonight, however, may be a different story. The bad blood this year seems to be with the Bobkitties.