Blue & Gold

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.

Why did the announcers keep saying the NIT had a field of 32? There are 4 regions with 7 teams per, right? 4x7=28? And what a nice field of teams! We have the chance of being on an ESPN network channel a number of times. I'm down with that. The potential trip to Washington would be a tough on on the fellas.

OU's set up nicely. They're a 13-seed and have a beatable #4 Michigan team in the first round, and either Temple, South Florida or Cal in the second round (USF & Cal are a play-in game). Ohio can beat any of these teams. They may just make a Sweet 16 run this year. I'm jealous.

Any additional updates on how McAdams is faring in the state playoffs? We're probably going to need him to contribute as a true freshman next season to beat OU (who returns everyone).

Haven't heard anything. After the defeat in the MACC tonight, I was cruising over here looking for a little pick-me-up.

+1. Greene's the man. He's been a great one.

One of the best articles I've had the pleasure of reading in a very, very long time. Thank you, George. Excellent work.

Wow. This article was excellent; best I've read in a very, very long time. Excellent work, GT. I'm going to start a separate thread with a link to this article, just to make sure all on ZNO see the link.

WMU made a furious but futile run at the end. K.e.nt it is.

I'm watching on STO and the crowd is prettynlame. I'm a bit surprised as I thought there'd be a larger contingent of Can't State fans. Edit: I take that back. The camera must be pointed towards WMU's side of the arena. They just showed a pan shot of the arena & the Flashes have a nice group.