Blue & Gold

Excited about Cooper. He might be the game breaker we've been lacking.

+1. HustleBelt does some great work! Definitely worth giving hits to their website. Unfortunately, Immanuel Stinson did receive an offer from MSU according to this article I found (dated February 19th). http://archive.freep.com/article/20140219/SPORTS07/302190175/michigan-state-spartans-football-recruiting Edit: I take that back - I didn't look closely enough, as it's dated February 19, 2014. My bad. Nothing to see here.

Here's a rough video of Peter Agba highlights. Filmed in Africa, no? Very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v47591Bz5xo Peter seems like a real warrior! I see both he and Josh Williams contributing immediately next season with Emmanuel Olojapoke (did I spell that right?) taking advantage of a redshirt.

Here's video of the Peter Agba -vs- Henry Giles matchup. (Henry Giles being the 6-10, 5-star forward being recruited by Duke.) Peter Agba's Greensboro Day School won the matchup 56-48 (Peter had 18 points while Giles had 21). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNUiBOrtFFk

Richie Cooper looks like the playmaker Bowden's been coveting.

If they're on campus right now the temperature is 17; 2 degrees with wind chill.

3,500-ish in attendance is pretty good, IMHO, considering we have none of the following: comfortable arena - no good concessions - no decent team shop - no halftime entertainment - no interesting opponents - no There is nothing to convey an important, special, "big time" atmosphere. The only draw, and this will sound odd, is the basketball. The 3,500 are Zips diehards. I think attendance will improve against K.e.n.t., Toledo & Ohio. But other than those three opponents, you've really gotta be a true diehard Zips fan who bleeds blue & gold to want to come to the JAR for a game.

How about GoZips.com not yet having a picture of Tommy Brown. Who works in UA athletics & what do they do all day? After suffering through so many years of systemic incompetence little things are beginning to annoy me.

Thinking out loud: Require Dambrot to play two money games a year. Go into the lion's den & play two B1G big boys on their home courts. Not Northwestern. I'm talking teams that resonate more with Joe Akron - Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Ohio State. (I like the Penn State matchup.) Use the additional income to offset the financial loss of making the blue seats behind the visiting bench the student section.

Kwan's 3-shot has been off and he's been getting stripped of the ball by smaller guards when driving to the hoop. He's just in a rough stretch right now.

Two post-game articles from today's ABJ. http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/men-s-basketball-akron-59-ball-state-47-second-half-streak-lifts-zips-over-cardinals-1.562105 http://www.ohio.com/blogs/ua-zips/university-of-akron-zips-blog-1.277207/points-to-ponder-in-the-akron-zips-59-47-win-over-the-ball-state-cardinals-1.562157 And one article about UA & the Peters' family. http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/tears-flow-family-struggles-to-cope-as-ua-pays-tribute-to-the-late-dan-peters-1.562094

Great stuff! Did you get any insights into our QB situation and offensive philosophy?

http://usatodayhss.com/rankings/expert/boys/basketball/2014/6 Josh Williams' STVM now ranked #4 in USA Today's Top 25. "Previous: 6. Result: Josh Williams had 18 points in an 82-65 defeat of Thurgood Marshall (Dayton)." Peter Agba's Greensboro Day School now ranked #14 in USA Today's Top 25. "Previous: 28. Results: Defeated Forsyth Country Day (Lewisville) 49-33 as Peter Agba had 15 points. Agba had 18 points in a 56-48 defeat of then-No. 8 Wesleyan Christian (High Point)."

Pregame story from ABJ. http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/university-of-akron-men-s-basketball-zips-looking-to-build-on-gutsy-road-win-1.561537 Interesting bit on Big Dog. Apparently the big fella is just naturally a bit injury prone. “He’s partially back,” Dambrot said of Johnson. “He tweaked his knee a little bit [Monday], so he’s still a bit injury prone, but he played good.”

Rivals.com (I know) has a S named Jason Williams from Milford Academy as a Zips' verbal. http://sports.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/player-Jason-Williams-166996;_ylt=AueiYfnjGLWRhidOV3ntorpDPZB4

Just found Anthony Clark's twitter. Looks like he might be at Iowa Western CC? https://twitter.com/AnthonyClark55/with_replies

Bump. Anyone know Clark's status?

Who was on the floor to finish out the game? IIRC 1 senior - Nyles Evans 2 sophs - Big Dog, Kwan 2 frosh - BJ, Robo Aaron Jackson also got considerable crunch-time minutes, as did Antino. Love it.

Joshua Williams leading STVM to #6 national ranking in USA Today boy's Top 25. Peter Agba leading Greensboro Day School to a 25-0 record and a #28 USA Today national ranking. http://usatodayhss.com/rankings/expert/boys/basketball/2014/5 Peter Agba's Greensboro Day School just beat USA Today's #8 ranked Wesleyan Christian Academy - who is led by 6-10, 5-star junior Henry Giles who is being recruited by Duke. Duke's Coach K was at the game (check the photos accompanying the below linked article). Giles had 21 points while Agba had 18. http://www.news-record.com/sports/hsxtra/basketball/greensboro-day-trumps-wesleyan/article_449ec46a-a120-11e4-94ce-27dec82f7e0e.html?mode=story Btw, Agba is now listed at 6-7. We may have really found one there; I think he's going to be a beast. *Edit: Here's an article by DigitalSports.com covering the Greensboro Day -vs- Wesleyan Christian game. DigitalSports.com has Wesleyan nationally ranked at #8 while ranking Peter Agba's Greensboro Day School nationally at #16 (and Josh Williams' STVM nationally ranked at #9). http://65051.digitalsports.com/2015/01/22/north-carolina-rivalry-match-between-greensboro-day-and-wesleyan/ **Edit #2: Though Josh Williams is the team leader & a superb lead guard, STVM is really a complete team. There is a junior on the team - Henry Badley - of whom I'm sure the Zips' coaching staff is well aware and, I would assume, recruiting hard. He's a legit baller. If you're into recruiting, you'll want to keep an eye on him.

My ABJ / Ohio.com subscription is finally paying off.

Ouch. I thought he'd be a great #2 receiver if we ever had a great #1. We never had a great #1 threat with L.T. Smith. Good, but not great. I was excited to see what D'Orazio could do alongside Michael Means.

I'm glad they played the Zippy "Thriller" pre-game video Saturday night.

So I'm bringing a few friends to the CMU game tomorrow night. I'd like to take them to get a bite to eat before the game. Is The Score Bar & Grill our pre-game hang out, or what? Is it a quality place? I want my friends to be impressed with their Akron experience and since I know they're sure to be underwhelmed by the JAR...

Good call.

^^+1. I've thought for years that I would be just absolutely beside myself if I were an Ohio fan seeing all of the Ohio State cheers & "O-H-I-O" pictures.