Blue & Gold

This is why I'm still so devastated about how our season ended. Like you said, lots of mid-majors make noise once. It's my personal little theory that to engrain yourself deeply into America's basketball consciousness, you have to make noise two years in a row (what VCU is about to do). Unless you make noise two years in a row, you're a novelty; a one-hit-wonder; lucky. That's why, even though I think we'll make some noise next year (Zeke's senior year), I really felt as though we needed to make noise this year.

Agreed. No upset there. I alsways pull for the mid-majors, let alone the MAC schools. So i found myself pulling for Ohio big time last night. It just makes the MAC look good and makes our 1-point loss in the MACC look good. Michigan, afterall, was a co-champion of the Big 10.

Absolutely. I'm glad that Ohio has everyone coming back next year. I don't want them to have any excuses when we beat them.

Amen. Our lack of a big to replace Nic this year, and Zeke next year, has me worried about our near future. I'm thrilled with this year's class. We've got two Big East caliber players coming in with McAdams and Mello, and Kretzer is also one of the best Ohio has to offer. But we're gonna need some additional beef down low next year, let alone after Big Zeke graduates. I was really hoping to have a big man in this year's class to give him a redahirt year before trying to fill Zeke's giant shoes.

Especially with the way KD's been composing the roster. We don't really run a "shooting guard." Instead, we have a PG and two Wings - both of which are expected to swing & go down low. I think Deji could do that. Blake Justice... I don't know. To make matters worse (on Deji & Justice) we're bringing in the two top rated wings in the state this year in 1) Reggie McAdams and 2) Jake Kretzer. Linky. (Scroll down to "Small Forwards.") Both can handle the rock (McAdams often handled the point for Elida), shoot from well behind the arc, and go down low with their height (Kretzer @ 6'7" and McAdams @ 6'6"). I don't forsee much PT for either Deji or Blake.

Out of necessity? What do you mean by that? Is Lee Jackson torn up right now?

I like having so many games at Canal Park. We only have 6 games at Lee Jackson Field.

I'm still waiting on ZipWatcher's Oral Robert's gameday breakdown. What happened to ZipWatcher?

I would hope they'd only add seating behind the west goal. The Rowdies have turned the east goal into the most intimidating spot in all of American college soccer.

I'm down with an on-campus location... as long as we don't bury the arena in the center of campus. Anywhere along Exchange (or even somewhere along Market?) would be great, as I really hope the powers that be are planning for future development (restaurants/bars/shops) which an arena can be the catalyst for. Since we're not Columbus and cannot afford two world-class facilities (NationWide Arena & Value City Arena) we can't do what Columbus State did. OSU's Value City Arena isn't near anything and is simply surrounded by a huge parking lot. OSU got their on-campus arena, but man, for such a beautiful facility, the surrounding environment is rather lame. (Much like where the JAR is located. Me no like.) Value City Arena is a lesson in what not to do. In Akron, we simply must make a new arena count for more than that. Much more than that. In contrast, Columbus' NationWide Arena & the entire Arena District is a stunningly beautiful development and should definitely be a model.

Brian Walsh, MAC 6th Man of the Year? Sounds good to me. PG: Abreu / Mello W: Gilliam / Walsh W: Q / Walsh P: Tree / Harney P: Zeke / Harney

Lots more Gilliam, please.

Well said.

And I would venture to guess that all the arenas Scott posted are much further from campus than a UA "downtown" arena would be. We're fortunate in that our campus is adjacent to downtown. Especially if UA could acquire the Mayflower for more dorm space, this would be a pretty jumping location. It also may help jumpstart the development of Lock 3 Park as shown in the UPA's masterplan.

I hope Josh is healthy next year. I also hope he receives a medical redshirt for this wasted season. I have hopes of Josh being a strong defender & decent rebounder. I don't envision Josh ever being much of a contributor on offense. Of course I hope I'm wrong about that. Right now I envision next year's lineup as such: PG - Abreu / Mello W - Gilliam / Q W - Walsh / McAdams P - Tree / Harney P - Zeke / Egner If Zeke stays out of foul trouble, we'll probably need, what, 8-minutes a game from Egner?

Ahh, I didn't think it was on. I checked the listings and STO had preseason baseball listed; no Zips Basketball w/ KD. Hopefully they'll play it again later this week.

Well, good. I had heard somewhere, or read somewhere, that some of these preseason tourneys don't count toward the regular season W-L record. So I was also curious about them being applied to a team's regular season RPI.

I receive PM's from Jake. I don't mind them in the least. Of course, the arena conversation is one of my favorites, so I'm eager for any arena discussion.

By the way, Friday night I asked an usher what the Q's lower bowl capacity was (they had the upper, nose bleed seats curtained off). He said the capacity was right around 12,000. So if you've been wondering what a 12,000-seat hockey arena, configured for basketball, would look like, that was the Q for the MAC Tourney. (Btw, he said there were approximately 8,000 nose bleed seats that when open, brings the Q's capacity to right around 20,000.) I was sitting in an upper corner seat and my view was honestly pretty good. I'm still torn on the benefits/drawbacks of a hockey arena vs. basketball arena. It truly is an epic decision.

Will the preseason tournament teams factor into the Zips' RPI?

I agree. Cooper makes Groce look very good. OU sans Cooper finishes 5th in the MAC East. The Magnificent Mr. Cooper was just simply unstoppable in the MACC. What are ya gonna do? Oh, well. OU's gonna be tough next year too - Cooper's senior year, but KD's really built UA into the MAC's top program.

Zips to Face Challenges Versus Wildcats Courtesy of George Thomas & the ABJ.

Thanks for the updates, Hilltopper.

Good grief, I had a complete brain fart. I have no idea what I was thinking. Thanks.

+1. Toledo's on the rise. Big time.