ZippyforPresident

I completely agree. In fact, that was pretty much my point. Like HS Stripes said, an arena is just one piece to a much bigger puzzle. Of course having a good coach and program stability are vital to the success of a program. You can have the best facilities there are, but if you can't win a game, the stands will be empty on gameday. Akron basketball has good coaches, program stability, and they certainly win their fair share of games. But other mid major schools within Akron's recruiting footprint have winning traditions too. Look at Xavier and Dayton and where they get to play, or even OU and Marshall. At this point, nice facilities are the one element that Akron basketball is sorely lacking. Having better facilities gives the coaching staff an additional tool to help bring recruits to campus. Is it hypothetically possible for the program to reach a consistent sweet sixteen type of level while playing in the JAR? Maybe, but when you're competing for recruits against other winning programs who have much better facilities, it makes the journey to that point a lot more difficult. I've never been on Duke's campus, so I don't really know what their facilities are like. But I'm sure if their facilities put them at a disadvantage against the likes of UNC and NC State, they'd build better ones or improve what they have. I'm sure they have the money for it. I'd also imagine that Cameron has a sort of sentimental value to most of their fans, as well as historical significance to college basketball fans in general, kind of like Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas or Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler, which I believe is currently undergoing a renovation. Those places are destinations on many college basketball fans' lists of places to visit and thus they are "elite" and special. I'm pretty confident in guaranteeing you that no one has a bucket list that says "ride the bleachers at James A. Rhodes Arena."

Well said. If nothing else, a brand new, state of the art arena gives coach Dambrot a lot more help recruiting and room for the program to actually grow. The level of talent he's been able to recruit in the past few years has certainly been excellent, but with a legitimate gym to play in, I'm sure he would be able to land some of the level of players that he might have missed out on in the past because a new arena provides tangible proof to a recruit that the school is very dedicated to winning basketball games and to the pursuits of the players. In this case the arena would be part of an equation that would go something like: Great Coach + Program Stability + Winning Tradition + Elite Facilities = Elite level recruits. And when elite level athletes are paired with a great coach, unparalleled heights can be reached, at which point promoting basketball games in order to sell tickets would be an afterthought. Certainly it's not quite that simple. But if basketball had the kind of facilities that football now has, I can only imagine where the basketball program could be right now. Also, in response to your comments regarding the media and the school in columbus, I think the Ohio/Akron rivalry has actually started to gain some traction in this state. People (the media included) have started to notice what's been going on with these two programs. Without Zeke and D.J., who knows what will happen, but the last four years could not have been much better in garnering interest for this in state rivalry with the excellent level at which both of these heated rivals have been performing.

A little trip down south this winter doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. Coming back to Akron with a W doesn't sound too tough either... Especially since South Carolina went 14-18 last season. Yet another SEC school poised to bite the dust against "little Akron."

Wrong link. The appropriate message board is here

Maybe he considers Zeke a lock and not a sleeper? After all, Zeke is already a better big than the ones that he listed, and has much more potential too. Just a thought... nothing more... nothing less. Also, although I think that San Antonio is a well run organization with a great coach, I'd love to see Zeke, LeBron and Norris Cole together. That would be a lot of fun, although unlikely. But trades do happen during the draft! San Antonio would make sense though, Zeke would be Tim Duncan's heir apparent. He has all the physical tools for it. Good luck Zeke! Looking forward to the draft! Even if Thursday, June 27th is the night before finals for the first 5 week summer session

That's really scary. Definitely not something to take lightly. I remember Coach Dambrot mentioned something about it during his post game interview after the Miami game.

What terrible news. Hopefully this gets straightened out and Alex can be back in time for the MAC Tournament. All that anyone can really do is to wait for more information to be released about the situation before jumping to hastily made conclusions. I really hope the team can overcome this adversity and keep playing at the highest level possible. And hopefully, whether innocent or guilty, Rico learns from whatever mistakes or decisions he may have made that led to the events that have transpired thus far. Sometimes its easy to get caught up in some really dumb stuff without realizing how severely it can impact the rest of your life. There are a lot of people in this world that will drag you all the way to the bottom if you let them.

Walsh goes for thirty Keely looks like Miss Piggy Green trolls fade away

French and Dunn are awesome. No doubt about it. They are passionate about what they do and they are passionate about Akron sports. As a listener, you can tell they are as interested in the game as the fans listening at home. That's something you can't fake. Heck, when a Zips game is televised I sync their radio feed up with the TV and listen to them instead of the television announcers.

I like it. That's pretty funny. I usually just yell back "N-O!"

Nothing special, but here are a few pictures from BGSU:

Zips move up 4 spots to number 9 in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 poll: Men's Mid Major Top 25

College Insider.com video highlighting Akron's Zeke Marshall Link

Since they have an RPI that is 30+ points higher with a better record against a stronger schedule. Rufus better bring his litter box up for this one because nobody at Akron is overlooking Ohio U, despite what talking heads in the national media might be saying. This one's been circled since March 10, 2012. February 2nd can't get here soon enough.

Also, they are giving away Coach Dambrot's bobblehead at the BGSU game. The two bobbleheads are a set, so all the people who showed up for LBJ bobbleheads will have to come back for the KD bobblehead But on a serious note, if they can somehow keep this win streak going until the February 16th meeting with BGSU, I don't see any reason why the JAR wouldn't be filled to capacity on February 16th. Hopefully they can just keep the momentum moving forward game after game.

Awesome atmosphere tonight. Those guys showed serious heart coming back like that after falling behind by 20 early on. A lot of teams would have folded after getting down that big early, coming back like that shows a lot of mental toughness. Also, the 1-3-1 was the difference tonight. Fantastic adjustment. Who knew it was Buffalo's kryptonite? Great job getting the W tonight Zips. Let's keep this thing going!

Agreed. All gold jerseys, or all gold anything for that matter, is really gaudy. I like the new ones though! They're pretty boss looking. But hey, they can wear street clothes for all I care as long as they keep racking up the wins. Keep it up Zips!

2-0 Zips!!

This has to be, by far, one of the stupidest things I have ever read. Why are the kids being punished? Why is anyone being punished for what in essence amounts to nothing more than some inadvertent typographical error? The objective of such a punishment should be to assure that employees in university compliance departments make sure that they proof read their work and adequately understand all NCAA bylaws. Punishing student athletes does not and cannot achieve such a result. Perhaps the compliance department employee should be suspended for 15 days, that would at least present the remote possibility of serving as a deterrent for such an employee doing his or her job in such a careless manner. Thanks for doing such a thorough job UA compliance department!

Well, hopefully Ohio U gets a shot at that elusive at large bid this season...

Since the rest of our games are in conference, every single one of them are streamed here for free no matter where in the world you live and what ISP you have: mac-sports.com (unless the espn3 stream prevents them from being streamed on the MAC site, which I'm really not sure about). This works for in conference basketball games too FYI. Now lets go get some f-ing wins!

I didn't think of this one, but I wish I had. I laughed until I cried when I stumbled upon this. Then I began crying again when I thought back to how bad of a football coach that guy was. Ianello Hipster

The Akron "Devil Strips"

In no way am I trying to get in the way of a person sinking their teeth into their favorite food, be it a hamburger or a rack of ribs or a snow cone, but healthy eating should be encouraged on a college campus and people really should be educated as far as "food politics" are concerned. What budget do you think farmers have for advertising? Vegetable farmers? Fruit? Grain? Soy? Dairy? Even the "food pyramid" or "food plate" is the result of extensive of lobbying and politics. Most people don't have any idea that what they consume is the result of corporate and political influence. The only reason sugars, snacks, soft drinks and the large amount of fats that have been "recommended" on the food pyramid at all is because of the lobbying power of soft drink and snack food companies. Their advertising budget outweighs real farmers to such a point it is ridiculous. Many students have made a conscious decision to abstain from eating animal products, choosing either vegetarian or vegan diets, or at least try to eat foods that are healthy and just normal basic local foods, myself included. As far as a vegan restaurant next to Europe Gyro, I've never heard of it, otherwise I would have checked it out and given it repeat business if the food was any good. Was this before the remodeling of those stores or after? A LOCAL business trying to promote HEALTHY eating...sounds like a no brainer. - Has anyone seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? He gets Huntington WV to get behind healthy food initiatives and in 2010, before the initiative, they were the most unhealthy city in the U.S.! He helped to change the lives of a lot of people whose lives were actually at risk because of the unhealthy condition their everyday diet put them in. People did not know that what they were eating was basically poison to them over time. Jamie's Food Revolution Huntington has now set a good example and I think everyone can learn from that. People need to be educated about food and dietary decisions and there is no better place than during their university years. I have summer classes in West Hall and the only quick "healthy" food option I have on campus is subway in the student union. Subway is ok and all, but that's really not good enough. If the options on campus are healthy and tasty, I don't see why there should be any problem. Food can taste good and be good for you at the same time. - Also, I'd encourage everyone to check out the book "Food Politics" by Marion Nestle, it will open your eyes as to how our decisions about the foods we have to "choose" from aren't completely our own.