Blue & Gold

Yeah, that really just sounds like revisionist-history spin doctoring. Personally I wouldn't be using that line as my apologetic because I don't think people will buy into it. That was just a really embarrassing mistake. Ouch. I love and admire the Rowdies (one of the two best student sections in the MAC - Ohio's O-Zone being the other) but man, I mean, I often double check myself @ Dictionary.com before I make a silly little post on here while amongst friends, let alone a sign I'm gonna hold up for the world to see. That was just a bad blunder - one that Can't fans could rehash for years (I doubt they will). If the sign were intentionally misspelled it likely would have read more along the lines of, "wE duN't thoW sToof." If it was intentional, then it was far too understated; it should have been much more over-the-top. Oh, well. I didn't see it and I don't believe the FOX Sports cameras caught it either (that would have been a disaster!)

Tim O'Shea would like a word with you.Good point. You guys had more talent than anyone in the league.As far as Can't fans outnumbering Akron fans at the game, well, I was only watching on t.v., but it may have only seemed that way because Akron fans didn't have hardly anything to cheer about after about 10 minutes into the game; whereas, as much as I hate to say it, Can't's fans were probably letting it be well known that they were loving every minute of it.

The Zips seem to be loading up on guards, but if they don't end up with big Zeke from Pennsylvania they really need to start looking at some big men. Check that....big men (6'10" +) that can move well. I don't care what size school they come from (more likely to find a steal in the mid- to small high schools) as long as they can shoot from point blank range, rebound, play defense, and just get in the other team's way.I'm anxious to see what kind of game Steven Sweich has. He was a heralded big man recruit last season and redshirted this year. He's between 6-9 and 6-10 and probably weighs around 250. He doesn't look like someone who's gonna run the floor extremely well on the fast break, but he is very big w/ long arms and big hands and he really could both rebound and score in high school. I think we're really gonna need a good season from him NEXT year to be competitive.

An Akron alum living here outside of Columbus I make it a point to see Zip recruits in my local area I have seen a lot of high school basketball the last few years. I love the fact that so many Zips, like Linhart, the McKnights, Steward, and Hitchens are coming out of central Ohio.I would like to comment on the Hitchens conversation. He certainly is an impressive point guard and can easily be the most talented PG in the MAC in the near future. I do, however, see a problem occasionally with his decision making, especially in the area of taking ill-advised shots. Hopefully that trend will go away when surrounded by a bunch of D-1 college players. For what it is worth, though, I still say the Zips next great guard is Ron Steward. I'd actually have him ahead of Hitchens when it comes to being a college ready player at the conclusion of his high school time. I really hope he will be healthy next season. If he is the Zips could have the best 1-2 (and even 3 with McNees) punch at point guard in the MAC, and I don't mean eventually I mean by the second half of next season once these guys have gained just a little experience.Wow, I'm really excited and quite intrigued to hear you say that you'd pick Steward over Hitchens right now! While I have never had the opportunity to see Steward play ball, I was literally shocked when I saw how fast, quick and skilled Humpty is! So your comment really whets my appetite to see Steward do his thing! Steward must be an amazing talent as well! And, as you could tell from last night's bitterly disappointing loss to Can't, we desperately need athleticism at the PG position. Ironically, it looks like that may be our calling card as soon as next season w/ Steward & Humpty. (Additionally, Darryl Roberts is a quick player and new recruit Alex Sullivan is also heralded for his quickness and athleticism.)

Z-P, sorry I missed your cry for help! I was over in the live chat room and didn't see your post! I couldn't have helped you anyway, but I wouldn't have ignored you! None of ZipsNation saw your post because most members of ZipsNation were up in Cleveland and the few of us still at home were watching on ESPN2 and talking in the live chat room. Sorry Bro.

I know this is a hypothetical question, but I think we'd have a better shot of winning a first round game in the NCAA than getting to the Final Four of the NIT. The NIT is a tough tourney as well and making it to New York is a tall order. But I'd rather make the NCAA tourney because 1) it'd be the first time in longer than I can remember and 2) that means K.e.n.t. would have lost!

Wow, I hope that's not true. How many times is a player allowed to do that before their scholly is pulled?

If we have a healthy Steward next year then we'll be unbelievable at PG. Did any of you out there get to see Chillacothe (sp?) in the state semi-final game today? Good grief, Humpty is amazing! He's one of the best high school players I've ever seen! I know you'll be rolling your eyes at that statement, but I'm not speaking in hyperbole. IMO rarely does a player stand out like Humpty did today. He's amazingly fast & quick & can stop & pop on a dime. You guys just have to see the game. Now perhaps he was just on fire today, who knows? He scored about 25ish points today, which is 4 above his average. Poland Seminary was a pretty good team (undefeated), but they weren't incredibly athletic -Ray Chambers also had a monster day and he's been known to disappear at times against tougher competition (if I remember reading). But, man, did anyone else out there see what this kid can do?!Most all D-1 college players dominate in high school (unless they're a project big man.), but in basketball teams can scheme to slow down a big time player and make the others on that team try to beat them. For instance, I've had the opportunity to see both McKnight bros. play in h.s. and they were very good, but not like this. Likewise, I've had the opportunity to see (off the top of my head) Rydell Brooks, Derrick & Darren Tarver, Johnny King, Andrew Lavendar, Ricky Jackson, Todd Brown, Keith McCleod, Jamie Bosley, Jimmal Ball, Doylan Robinson, Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce, Andre Simms, Andy Hipsher, Marcus Johnson and many others play in high school, but none of the aforementioned players came close to impressing me like this kid did today.High school players that I've seen who were clearly on a much higher level than their peers (like Humpty was today) have been, LeBron (of course), Bill Walker, O.J. Mayo, Kosta Koufus (sp?) and Raymar Morgan. Those are, off the top of my head, the very best h.s. players I've had the privilege of seeing in person. When watching those players it was evident that they could do almost anything they wanted, anytime they wanted. Even though I was only watching Humpty on t.v., and not in person, Humpty is, IMO, in this category of player (at least today he was.) Okay, okay... it goes without saying that LeBron is in a category all by himself.See a replay of the game if you can!

Yeah, they can change it. I've noticed in the Canton Repository that they'll run AP articles on, say the Cavs or on Michigan State and when the AP article on the Cavs may mention Eric Snow they always add to the article the fact that he played at McKinley, and likewise, if the AP article on Michigan State happens to mention Raymar Morgan, they always add to the article the fact that Raymar played at McKinley. See, they have a passion for who they are.

Don't you mean you expect WMU to win the WMU/EMU matchup?

The title of your post is exactly right. It's the myriad of little slights that are like a thousand paper cuts. Or being "hen-pecked" to death. We need people on the BJ's sports staff that are excited about Akron athletics. If that were the case then it would be a natural inclination to point out to the uneducated masses that Anthony Humpty Hitchens is a future Zip.

This sounds like a good idea. But screw the Q. I don't like dropping any more of my money up in Cleveland that I already do. Bring the teams down here to Akron. Every year Walsh and Malone host a Hoops For Habitat Tourney where Malone would host the teams during the first night of the tourney and play Team A in the nightcap while Walsh would play Team B in the first contest of the evening. On the second night of the tourney Walsh would be the host school and play Team A in the nightcap while Malone would play Team B in the first contest of the evening. It was fun because both Malone and Walsh could see how their clubs compare to like opponents, and also served to highten the excitement for the annual Malone-Walsh games. Naturally, Malone would be very interested in the Walsh games and vice-versa. It gave both Walsh and Malone the opportunity to make statements to each other. Some of the money from the event would go to benefit Habitat For Humanity. Akron and K.e.n.t. could cooperate like this and bring in CSU & YSU (or 2 other schools for that matter.) I just remember it being a lot of fun.

I think it all comes down to how Matt Rodgers plays at QB. I've given up on CJ. But what do I know?

Rivals.com has absolutely nothing on Johnnie Davis. I couldn't find anything about Davis on Scout.com either. Is he a late-bloomer? Are his grades so poor that he's not considering college? Is he getting looked at by anyone? I'd think that I would have been able to at least find his name mentioned on one of those two sites.

Yeah. I watched the CSU game last night and even though they lost, they looked damn good. Very athletic, very quick, very fast. Frankly, I'm glad now that the Zips didn't play them this year. Additionally, most of their studs are juniors, so I'm hoping we avoid them next year too!

Does UA need to seek permission from the state government in order to begin a new program? How does that work? Did UA need the state's permission to allocate funds to build InfoCision Stadium? When can the state step in and say no to a UA proposal?

Negative: I don't like losing the Miami game. I love to hate those guys and look forward to that game every year. Positive: I do like picking up Toledo. We should try to play them every year - they're a natural rivalry and a quality opponent.

I'm gonna be pulling for NIU. There's no way they'll be as hot from the outside as they were the first time we played.Interesting 1st round matchups leading to 2nd round opponents:NIU & CMU playing to meet Akron. Both NIU & CMU defeated Akron during the regular season.Toledo & BGSU playing to meet K.e.n.t. Both Toledo & BGSU defeated K.e.n.t. during the regular season.

I didn't know McCleod was a head case at McKinley. I know Akron offered McCleod but he chose BGSU because we already had Jimmal Ball and Jamie Bosley at our guard spots. Unfortunately for us, McLeod ended up being better than either Ball or Bosley! Agh! Figures.

Okay, this is a big story; big development. I posted a comment on the Ohio.com site, and I think I'll post the same here. Here's what I posted @ Ohio.com:"Wow, this string is getting emotional. I'm not looking for an argument; just want to toss my 2 cents out here. This is, naturally, a complex issue. However, I think that UA should strongly consider whether this cooperative move w/ NEOUCOM is the direction in which they should to go. NEOUCOM, being a collaborative effort between 3 (and soon 4) universities, is quite political in nature and could possibly be hampered with bureaucracy. I have absolutely no proof of this, but from reading various articles and quotes over the past year, I believe that Dr. Proenza may be putting some pressure (a lot?) on NEOUCOM to make Akron their primary campus. On the surface, that sounds like a great move. I think that the city of Akron's medical facilities combined w/ UA's research makes a logical place for a medical school - much more advantageous than out in the sticks of Rootstown. I think NEOUCOM realizes this. Here's what I believe may be happening behind the scenes: I believe NEOUCOM may be concerned that UA could very easily pull out of the NEOUCOM consortium and start a medical school of their own, in partnership w/ Summa, Children's Hospital, General Hospital and perhaps Canton's Timken & Aultmann hospitals as well (they're a mere 20 minutes to the south). If UA lets NEOUCOM get a foot in the door near City Hospital and UA's campus (as NEOUCOM apparently desires), it would make starting a UofA med school much more difficult. With UA's proximity to City, Children's & General hospitals - even utilizing those facilities for classroom space, how difficult would it be for UA to actually start their own medical school completely separate from the NEOUCOM political conundrum?"So what do you guys think? Would it be wise to bring NEOUCOM to UA - with all the baggage of K.E.N.T., Youngstown State and soon Cleveland State - attatched. Or should UA be considering beginnin their own med school program? With UA's research & development, Akron's hospitals all within minutes of campus & Canton hospitals 20 minutes to the south, wouldn't UA be the ideal location for a med school of their own? I believe we may want to divorce ourselves from a NEOCOM governing body composed of politicos from Can't State, YSU & CSU. I think UACOM may be the way to go.

Ramel Mitchell (Firestone) and Johnnie Davis (Timken) were both named 1st Team All-Ohio D-1. Ramel is a 5-10 PG and Davis is a 6-2 SG. Does anyone know much about either of these players? I know Ramel has been a standout players since his sophomore year. Up until this year I hadn't heard as much about Davis; maybe a late bloomer? Does anyone know whether KD is going to offer them the opportunity to walk on? We've got a lot of Ohio players, which I like, but both these guys are from the immediate area! I'm hoping KD acknowledges them somehow.B.t.w., Alex Sullivan was named 2nd Team D-1 All-Ohio. He continued to put up amazing numbers in spite of the fact that he was playing on a team where he was often the first, second and third option.

I think that KD is able to get the DI athletes over the other MAC schools. This is why Ohio and Can't have to look outside the region. I don't think many coaches are going to look outside their footprint unless they have to extend themselves.I agree. I just really pick up a tangible vibe that athletes would rather attend Akron than Can't. I understand not being interested in Can't for football. But I don't understand it for basketball. I don't think Can't has ever gotten a recruit Akron's really wanted. Why do you think that is? With Can't's 10-year history of success you'd think kids would be lining up to go there, wouldn't you? But Jim Christian (who seems like a good guy that I'd enjoy playing for) generally just goes the way of transfers. KD, meanwhile - even though we Zips have never won anything at all and haven't gone to the NCAA tourney in as long as I can remember (let alone any high schoolers) - gets commitments from the outstanding Ohio & PA high school talent. Hey, I'm not complaining at all!!! Just a little perplexed. I think KD just must be a hell of a recruiter. Additionally, the talent he goes after are quality guys off the court as well, so the team really has a great chemistry and seem to have a lot of fun together, so the team itself is probably very attractive to the type of person KD's after.

Wow. This is unthinkable! I live in Hartville and my FSN is channel 31 and their showing the freaking Stanford - UCLA women's game! Unthinkable!!!

I just got home and turned on Fox Sports and the women's Stanford-UCLA game is on! Someone help me! What channel is the game on?!

We need to start Wood and C. McKnight and tell them to get out there and bully Ham-Sandwich & Mike Scott and push them around. Both those guys are athletic as get out, but very light. Q's playing better this year than last, but last year I could tell he was intimidated inside by Wood (and Rome) throwing his weight around. When the thick & muscular B. McKnight gets in the game KD's gotta tell him the same - push those guys around out there! Like last year, scare the hell out of them! Wood's gotta let those two know that if they come inside then he can put either of them into the 3rd row w/ his hip.