The Hip Zip

Got to disagree with you on this one. My concern is not that some young staff member tried to promote his pro team. My concern is where is the editorial control in the athletic department. This should have been caught by a management team member and nixed before it was displayed. If it continues you could see all kinds of personal messages appear that all seem innocent, cute and I guess forgivable. Would a "Go Heat " message be ok at the next game? It is hard enough for the development department to raise funds from former athletes. I hope Mr. Taylor doesn't get a copy of the photo in this thread. Poor choice of song lyrics one week, and a stupid score board message the next game. Foregivable if it stops but I see a disturbing pattern and a lack of control. That's fair enough, though I was only refering to this matter as one independent event. When placed in line with other events, as part of a pattern, I can certainly understand the relevance.

I could maybe understand the bitch if it was like " Free hotdogs after the game for all Steeler fans" or BOGO tickets for those wearing black and gold tonight. I saw the same message and laughed it off. This was just a kid having a moment of fun, no more no less. I hope that all will find it in their hearts to forgive him and the university as a whole.

Can't argue with a single point that you made here. The line about JJ's 9th season had me rolling, good stuff

Strange, but when the game was on the line against BG Steve was at the point( yeah, the same Steve that everbody wants to bench)and the offense ran straight through Zeke as it should. I recall KD saying very early in the year that they were going to run the offense through Zeke quite a bit but they sure got away from that. I know that most here don't want to hear it but get prepared for more of Steve at the point. I'll betcha !

Generally perhaps, but that isn't so this year. My buddy wanted to get around the donation and has bought two lowers for 6 or 7 games this season. Another friend from Columbus also needed two for OU and had no problems at all about 4 days till gameday. He did however strike out against Can't. I will agree that it looks deceiving down there because many season holders only show up a handful of times a season. It's a shame that they won't just give the tickets to somebody that would love to be there but can't afford it.

Or that we rarely play great opponents in back-to-back games. Think of our usual OOC schedules and our weak conference. Oh OK, KD deserves no praise at all. Get real.

Well stated '72. The athletic dept should also lower their pricing. I've been to a lot of Mac and Horizon venues and spent much less to be down in the good seats. At YSU, the last time we went, I think we spent about $25 for two to sit in the 2nd row. $30 a pop to sit down low at the JAR is a little much for people to afford in these times. Simple economics, low demand > lower the price = Fill the lower bowl.

That is impressive. Makes one think that KD kinda knows his stuff eh?

I've never been a fan of the "Have you ever been a D-1 head coach? If not, you don't know basketball" argument. There are several people on this board with a very good basketball IQ who likely never so much as sniffed the water bucket in their high school "career." Put the ball in the hoop. Stop the other team from putting the ball in the hoop. It is a simple game. Nor am I a fan of the line: "If Coach "X" isn't here, we will never be successful. Be happy you aren't <insert perennial loser here>." 20 wins is not the be-all-end-all. There are scores of coaches who do it every year. And scores of programs that re-tool with different coaches and still win their 20+/season. There's nothing wrong with wanting to win championships. There's nothing wrong with wanting to have a magical 2-game deep run in the NCAA tourney. There's nothing wrong with admiring what Gary Waters has accomplished at CSU, in such a short period. There's nothing wrong with wanting to beat a BCS "major" program every-so-often. There's nothing wrong with hating to lose to K.e.n.t more than you beat 'em. There's nothing wrong with having high "mid-major" standards for your program. You should have them at Akron. It's a 30,000 student University with a long basketball tradition. I understand that we are in a transition year to a new style of team. But there are no guarantees that next season will be any better. I was geeked about Andy Hipsher...and he won nothing. I was stoked to get Derrick Tarver...and he won nothing. I was excited when Dru Joyce's eligibility expired, thinking we'd open up our offense more...and after 7 seasons he's still the best PG we've had under Dambrot. I was excited about Humpty, who delivered us an NCAA tourney bid... and he got booted off the team after 2 seasons. We have potential to be really good next season. But potential simply means: you haven't done it. Next season could be worse than this year. It could. The MAC is very mediocre this year, and the league championship is there for the taking. I've personally lamented that we don't have guys with the skills and intangibles of Dials/Joyce/Middleton....but I don't think that means we can't win the MAC as it consists in 2011. Fans are frustrated that the team has not played to it's potential. Especially at home. We need to beat BG tomorrow night. Coack K gets paid $300k+ to figure out a way to do it. I think there's nothing wrong with having expectations that he should do it. Or being pretty depressed if he doesn't. It's called being a fan. Maybe I overemphasized the wrong point. It is absolutely ok to want to win every game and to want the best for the program, and hell, to criticize the crap out of the coach. (See some of my former posts on the football forum). My issue is more with those that suggest that coach would even have a slightly-above-room-temperature seat. It just seems that a lot of folks look for reasons to whine here when there are few. How's KD's record against Can't? 5-9, as best I can tell. Good? No. Terrible? Hardly. Still a fairly small sample size when you play two or three times a year. We've made the MAC Championship game 4 years in a row. How many times previous to Coach Dambrot have we made it to that game? Some people choose instead to focus on the fact that we only won 1 of them. I've only been following the Zips for a short time (10 years) compared to some of you vets, but it wasn't all that long ago when we couldn't even win A GAME in the MAC tournament. I just think this team, especially with underperforming veteran guards (McNees, Roberts), under-utilized and still behind "breakout level" Marshall, and a bunch of newcomers and unknowns, currently lacks the ability and knowhow to win these big games. Everything is just inconsistent right now, and I don't think much, if any is from coaching. Currently, defense is the biggest glaring weakness. We lack that lockdown defender on the perimeter that we had somewhat consistently over the last several years in Conyers/Linhart and such. Can Abreu step up and be that guy? He certainly has the speed in the half court game, but he's still raw. The onus, to me, is much more on the players. The MAC is built on the perimeter right now, the league lacks a 7 footer other than Zeke. It should be a big plus for us, instead of a liability. If we continue to not put a hand in the face, perimeter based slashing guards will continue to kill us. You can't tell me it's on coaching for those rotations to be slow. Alright, apologies for the ramble and apologies to those of you who took my previous post personally. All that said, to compete this year, and I do think we'll get slightly better as the year goes on, tomorrow is a MUST WIN. I typed out a few lines but somehow lost it. Here goes another try. I do admire the passion of the fans on this forum. We all see things a little differently and thats OK. What I saw in Miami deeply disturbed me. We are soooo slow to the ball 1-5 with the exception of Abreu. When you are a slower team you damn well better have the hustle, desire and the smarts to compete. There was no excuse, not one, to get beat up on the defensive glass like Miami beat us. IMO, there is nothing wrong with our coach, he know's how to win and how to motivate. The problem rests with every one of our players. They must have the desire to compete and excell and I'm just not seeing it now. Chemistry is a big part of it as well. I know that they all pretty much get along well but on the floor they seem unsure of themselves and and tentative at times. This team needs to get a chip on their shoulder and start playing some hard nosed hoops soon. Zach, I know that you have had it with McNees but have you really watched Nitro on the defensive end?? He has improved, he tries hard and I admire his hustle but he is a liability on defense. He's not quick enough to step out and keep up with the guards and not big enough to guard the 3 in the corner or paint. Alex is our only guard that can defend but his size limits him and he makes freshman mistakes like reaching and getting called for it. I remember someone on here gloating about how we don't miss Humpty at all. I for one wish he was still a Zip. He is a very good "on the ball" defender and he brought emotion and a fire to the team that is now missing. In short, our defense is about as bad as I've seen going back to the Hipsher years. Our guards are not guarding and our big men are not the fleetest of foot as well. Maybe it's me but Zeke often looks like he doesn't even want to be on the floor at times. C'mon big man, get hungry out there !! I don't know all the answers but I do know that we are all frustrated with the brand of ball that we are currently playing. I still don't buy into the "must win" game in this conference until we hit the Q but share with most opinions that we need to build our confidence moving forward. This conference is up for grabs. It's time to sack up and go get it !!

Must win ? John Groce and the Kitties would beg to differ. IF we were in a two bid league, I would highly agree. You are right on about the players only meeting. Someone needs to grab the bull by the balls and assume leadership of this bunch. I think that B McKnight or Serb would be good choices. This conference is more wide open than ever, the team that is playing the best basketball going into March will take the cheese. That group even includes the likes of BG, Buffalo, Miami and Ball St. Depressing, but true. The Bulls looked like a top 20 team last night, Western Mich was never in the game at Toledo, etc,etc. Anybody can beat anybody in this conference on any given night, I know that is a common cliche but more than ever, it is true. Good point as well on beating Can't State in the opener. I am sure that most of us were on the same page. BTW : I know that there was some concern here about Phil McKnight's health. I sat by Phil at the OU game and he never looked or sounded better. Lets hope that he's on the mend for good.

Hey, good for BG. Instead of watching the conference sink further and further someone has stepped up and is trying to elevate his teams performance. I hope that this gift helps BG to become a much better program.

For those of you that have not noticed, this is a slow, plodding Zip team with the exception of Alex and Quincy. We seem to always be a step slow and this has a negative impact to all phases of the game. On top of that, we have a guy or two that seem to show up about once in every five games. I would not be the least bit surprised to see Miami, BG or Buffalo take the east this year. The entire conference is a large pile of mediocrity, top to bottom.

There is a pattern of laughs.

No, this is not a must win game on the road, just 4 games into the conference schedule. In a one bid conference, the only must win games will be played at the Q in March. We 're not winning anything until we begin to defend a whole lot better than we are now. The last two MAC games were perhaps the weakest defensive games that I have seen them play in succession.

My wife and I really like the McKnights. My Phil favorite was at BG last year when Phil and the BG fans across the floor engaged in a shout fest. It went on for some time before a loud voice from the BG side told him to shut up. Phil shouted back "you don't know me" back across the court at him. I never heard another word from the BG fans. Keep in mind that this was at BG where Akron fans were out numbered by about 40 to 1. We still laugh about it. GET WELL PHIL !!

Pine Bluff also came in here last year winless and we were very fortunate to escape with a two or three point victory. That was the game when Humpty lost control and came very close to starting a major brawl. They have played a decent schedule and, after last years troubled visit, I am sure that they will come in highly motivated. To overlook UAPB would be a major mistake. I predict a much closer game than some of you might expect.

Thanks for bringing up Belmont. I knew that they were always very good in recent memory. I just didn't know how good until I looked at their media guide. Actually, mighty,as you put it, Belmont has a recent history that any Akron fan would kill for. The Bruins have been to the NCAA tourney 3 times in the past 5 years and have been to post season play 5 of the last 6 seasons. I was also surprised to read that there are only two teams in the nation that have won 12 or more conference games over the past 8 years, Kansas and Belmont. The Tennessee score does not surpise me one bit as Belmont has had a history of playing the big schools tough. In the '08 NCAA tourney they fell to Duke by 1 point in a memorable game. So I guess I'd have to agree, the little Belmont Bruins are indeed pretty mighty.

ABREU 7 AST / 2 TOs and some nice 3's. Well done !

Stetson got to the stripe 27 freaking times and out boarded us as well. If they had knocked down their FTs we might be having a quite different discussion. The officials were way out of hand( one guy in particular). They took the game away from the players and created a FT shooting contest. They did everything humanly possible to keep Stetson in the game.

I hope that the Golden Grizzlies have one more upset in the tank today ! I'd give 'em the right nut for this one.

I'd give it a 3 or 4 on a 1-10 scale. The good: French audio in sync with the video for the Stetson game. It's anybody's guess if they will use ours or Miami's audio tomorrow. The bad: Just about everything else. Video quality is poor at best. As I recall, the entire game was shot by just one camera with no close ups at all. Tough to tell who was who at times as it appears that the camera is pretty far from the court.All and all, a very low budget production. Not really worth it unless you are a complete Zips fanatic ( probably most of us) and just have to see it.

Very nice !! I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I went through several of their boxscores earlier and did note that they use a lot of kids. One other thing that I noticed is that they tend to give up some very high field goal % to their opponents. I think that this is huge factor and especially tonight. It's no secret that we have not been shooting real well so facing a user friendly defense may be just what the doctor ordered,

Would you not place much more value in Oakland beating the Vol's on their own floor rather than the 49's beating them in Charlotte? Huge difference, I would say. No doubt though, Tennessee has no business being in the top ten at this point of the season. Still, Oakland's season has been pretty damn impressive for a member of the Summit League. I think that we would both agree on that.

Sorry Dave, I didn't read your post and just about copied your praise of Abreu, word for word.