Blue & Gold

Excellent! Hopefully Tom Hagan's employer will grace us with another leaked aerial photograph of the stadium once the east grand stand is complete. This will really give us a complete idea of the scale of the stadium!

Zeke is one of the most talented players in the country. He should be placed in the starting lineup the second he walks into the first practice. It is his job to lose.I absolutely disagree. Look, noone is talking about redshirting Zeke or anything like that. But this team is built on 5 guys on the floor playing as one. No one player on this team is bigger than the rest of the team and that attitude shouldn't change just for Zeke. Now if Zeke comes in in Fall practice and earns the starting spot more power too him. But for now our starting lineup is Humpty, Roberts, Conyers/B.McKnight, C.McKnight and Cvetinovic. From what I understand of Zeke and his mindset and work ethic he shouldn't have any problem with this.I don't think we disagree. My point is he gets the starting spot at the first practice. If he is not up to the task or if he is simply out played by someone else, then someone else gets it. Either way, he has to earn it.I'm really excited about the potential of Cvetinovic. He's big, skilled, aggressive and passionate. I think he'll really afford us the luxury of bringing Zeke along slowly. It may take Zeke a year to hit his stride.

Boston Zip, I'm glad you started this thread. I was going to start an arena thread but wanted to wait till the season was over. I don't have deep pockets, so I can't put a whole lot of money where my mouth is, but personally, I'm really hoping we DO NOT simply renovate the JAR. Both the university and city need a first-class basketball arena. The city has the perfect spot for a new arena directly across Main Street from Canal Park.Go Zips mentioned a couple weeks ago that he had actually seen two models of possible new arenas. One model was of a multi-purpose NBA-style arena (basketball & ice arena) and the other was a basketball-specific arena (though we could also, of course, hold concerts in the facility, just not ice shows.)IMHO we should aim for a top-notch basketball-specific arena, ala Pitt's Peterson Events Center, USC's Galen Center, Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena or Miami Fla's BankUnited Center. The sight-lines for basketball are MUCH better in these arenas than in the more generic NBA-style arenas.Go Zips, are you still out there? Where did you see these models? Give us some info on the subject! Thanks in advance!

Here is my prediction for next year's starting rotation:PG - HumptySG - RobertsSF - B-MacPF - C-MacC - Cvetinovic10-DeepPG - StewardSG - McClanahanSF - ConyersPF - Parrish (AP looks like Amare Stoudamire's little brother.)C - Zeeeeeeke2 More ContributorsG - McNeesG - Sullivan (I'm anxious to see what he brings to the team. Positive: he flat-out lit it up in high school. Negative: he's another 5-10 G)If Zeke works hard, I predict he will move into the starting lineup halfway through the year, like Cventinovic did this season. That would give us the luxury of bringing either C-Mac or Cvetinovic off the bench. However, I don't think KD will move C-Mac out of the starting lineup, him being a senior and we needing a senior leader on the floor.I don't want to be negative in any way, but Jimmy C. is the only weak link in the 10-deep. He just needs to play good defense when he's in the game. The SF should be a recruiting priority for us this season.

Thank you, Nate! You're a class act. Thank you team for a terrific season where we watched you grow and jell before our very eyes! You guys played your hearts out and we're all fantastically proud of you! Can't wait for next year!!!Go Zips!

GREAT ARTICLE!! Thanks for the find and link!

I don't know how accurate this is, or if it is helpful, but on my Time Warner tv guide, for the Zips' time slot it reads: "WOIO CBS, College Basketball 7:00 - 9:30 p.m. Akron vs. Gonzaga: NCAA Tournament First Round Game 3. From Portland, Ore."So it looks like CBS will be broadcasting the game in it's entirety, though they are likely to cut away occasionally for brief updates and look-ins from other regions.

This is my leaning on the subject. Open with a 1-AA. *Guaranteed win*hopefully a blowout (lots of fun, vroom-vroom party starter) *Zips score the first TD at the Info*open the Info with a W *open the season with a W (for the first time I can remember) *opening day/night will be a sellout even if we'd play Mogadore, lol.Also, if we have visions of being the Boise State of the MAC and a Top 25 program, we can't afford more than 1 non-conference loss, and can't afford any losses in conference. Being in the MAC makes our margin for error very slim. So the easier the schedule the better. Boise State should be our model and their 2009 non-con looks like this:Septemeber 5 Oregon Home (Nice game! They got Oregon to travel to Boise)September 12 Toledo @ ToledoSeptember 19 UC Davis HomeSeptember 26 Miami (OH) HomeOctober 3 Tulsa @ TulsaNow that's what a mid-major non-conference schedule looks like when you have Top 25 aspirations.

what LBJ gives us is exposure. I agree that Nate, Nik, Humpty ect should get more credit than LBJ I do think that when you are a mid major in Ohio (especially with OSWHO down the road) you take whatever angle you can get untill you start winning and winning constantly.I agree with Zipseuph. We need all of the expose we can get and we should be thanking the perfect alignment of the planets and all of our lucky stars that the most famous athlete on the planet is a loyal Akronite and an outspoken Zips fan!

Well that's amazing! I felt Purdue shamed most schools on the list by having 2 moon-walking astronauts while most other schools have B-list actors as their famous alums. But then we finally scroll down to Akron and... 2 moon-walking astronauts! Wow. That is a terrific accomplishment, but does it qualify as "famous" since we seem to be surprised by their inclusion?

Your friend is correct. I was watching the interview and Mark Few most certainly said that the Zags would have two tough games.

KD's segment was on ESPN2.

Did anyone else just catch KD's 5-minute segment on ESPN's First Take? Great interview; great exposure. The angle of the story, naturally, was LeBron's connection to the school and affinity for the Zips! Great stuff!

That sounds better to me. Let's not take any business away from our downtown establishments.

I wasn't able to watch or listen to the game live last night (prior obligations.) But I've been a die hard Zips' fan for about 16 years now and thus, I've been waiting just as long to hear Frenchy celebrate going to the Big Dance. Does anyone have any audio clips that they could post online?! I just wanna hear Frenchy's reactions and emotions. Dang, I love Steve French!

This is fantistic, Zips! Thank you so much for all your hard work and discipline and unselfishness and teamwork! You guys are a joy to watch! Savor the present because you, along with the rest of us, will remember these handful of days for the rest of your lives! God bless you guys.

I think this team is deeper than any team that we've put on the floor in recent memory. On the other hand, this team doesn't possess an individual player who is able to dominate like either Romeo or Woody were. However, for the MAC tournament "4-games-in-5-nights" format, it appears that, if given the choice, one should lean more toward depth. Especially if that quality depth is gelling like this team did over the past 3 days. KD was right, we peaked at the right time - the last 3 games have been the best looking games of the Zips' season, IMHO.P.s.Is Cvetinovic going to be an absolute MONSTER, or what?!?! As a true stinkin' freshman he is huge, he is fearless, he is an emotional leader, he's got low-post moves and savvy, and he is already our best player at putting the ball on the floor and attacking the rim!

I asked in the Footlocker @ Belden Village whether they had the Akron LBJ's and the young (& I'm not certain how reliable) salesman told me that it was likely that only the stores in NY and Chicago would have them. Does that make any sense?

The crane is back.

I probably should know this, but who won it the past 4 years?Zeeeeeeeeeke will win it the next 4 years! Aren't I clever? How's that working out for me... being clever?

Congrats Nate! This means a Zip will win the MAC DPOTY award 5 years in a row!

Okay, that might be why Zips Zone isn't working for me.

Here is another youtube video of Zeke. It's taken from the game I was able to see @ the LBJ23 AAU Tourney @ UA.

I really like the idea of bringing in Army and Navy. They are tradition-rich programs and would extend our reach further into the east - along with Buffalo and Temple. And I agree about C-USA. I just think it's a very uninteresting conference. I would much prefer to remain in the MAC (and retain our rivalries with Ohio, Miami & Can't) than jump to the bland C-USA.

GOLD BASKETBALL JERSEYS ARE CURSED!!!!Lol. But we were wearing the whites against Miami 2 years ago in Cleveland. THOSE are the cursed jerseys! In the golds we almost pulled off the big upset of Nevada! During Dru & Rome's junior years we wore the golds for all home games the entire second half of the season and we went undefeated wearing them! Then we got upset by someone (Ohio?) in the quarter finals of the MAC tourney in Cleveland while wearing... WHITE! Why, oh, why didn't we stick with the lucky golds?!lol i dont know, it just seems we lose MOST of the BIG games while wearing Gold. I love how they look though.I think gold jersey and white pants and vice a versa...You're absolutely right. But RootforRoo44 and I had gotten off on a bit of a rabbit trail. The two of us were actually discussing our basketball jerseys. As far as I am aware we've never worn gold jerseys in football.