ZachTheZip

"Ianello was known as an ace recruiter at all his stops as an assistant coach, so perhaps he just needs a couple of years to get things going." I wonder about this statement... Other than that, I like this addition to the staff. Our secondary needs all the help it can get. I believe his Twitter account is @TonyVBouie

From looking at Rivals recently, I think only one or two MAC schools (CMU/Toledo?) had more verbals than Akron. Now, if we can get some more three*s. I don't think the number of recruits should mean anything. The way the ratings work, we would be ranked higher with a class of 25 scrubs than a MAC school with 18 recruits but five or six three-star players. I don't know if we have enough quality recruits to make a difference. Looking at who we lost to graduation and what "talent" we have to replace them, this class needed to be a home run with a bunch of guys who would start immediately and were comparable to upper-level MAC players just to have a chance at a .500 record. It shouldn't be too hard for the much-heralded recruiting genius Ianello to come up with a couple dozen players who match-up with what the upper MAC schools have. Even his worst classes at his old jobs would tear through the current MAC with ease. But, we're not seeing that kind of talent coming in with the exception of maybe three or four players. Why is that?

We're at home. The bracketbuster likes to match up top participating teams by RPI and the rest by location. We won't be paired with a MAC school or a school we have already played this season, or VCU because that's who we played last year. Here are the possible opponents and their current RPI (will obviously change before the pairs are announced, but should at least be in the same general vicinity). Our RPI will likely be slightly above 100 at the time the selections are made. 29 Cleveland State 33 Missouri State 48 Utah State 50 George Mason 69 Vermont 73 VCU 83 Miami OH 85 Iona 90 Can't State 93 Ball State 94 Hofstra 97 Austin Peay 109 Morehead State 112 Creighton 123 St. Peters 131 Delaware 132 Pacific 136 Davidson 137 Montana 139 Milwaukee 145 Northern Colorado 150 Boise State 155 Northern Arizona 156 Evansville 159 Green Bay 166 Detroit 168 Delaware State 180 Ohio 181 Weber State 183 Northeastern 188 Idaho 204 Maine 210 Appalachian State 211 Georgia State 212 Loyola Md. 215 UC Riverside 218 Charleston Southern 222 Canisius 235 Illinois State 248 Hawaii 251 New Hampshire 159 Loyola Marymount 265 Bradley 266 VMI 274 Bowling Green 279 Gardner-Webb 284 CS-Fullerton 286 UC-Irvine 292 Eastern Kentucky 293 Central Michigan 296 Manhattan 302 Eastern Illinois 304 Seattle 307 Radford 314 CS-Northridge 343 Jacksonville State 344 Sacramento State We will probably not get a TV game. However, Zeke's presence and Dambrot's TV-friendly LeBron connection could be enough to get one with a little luck. The top 11 games get a TV spot, and we're currently #11 in terms of RPI for home teams. That loss to OU hurt big time, and we must win out until the selections are announced to stay in contention. We will likely get Vermont, Iona, Hofstra, Austin Peay, Morehead State, Creighton, or St Peters. Maybe Milwaukee or Evansville on the low end. Anybody lower than that and we're getting screwed in terms of a quality match-up. George Mason, Utah State and Missouri State would be huge, but they are probably destined for a better opponent. Hofstra would be our match-up if you go strictly based on RPI.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/high-school...17a4a78c22.html Update on John Clay.

There is a possibility of being even better next year even after losing 64% of this year's starters to the pros.

We have 18 verbals. Which means room for 7 more. No updates because nothing is happening. No new offers, no new verbals.

Ask the AD.

That's a really good idea BirdZip. It would be far more interesting than their usual live footage of some unsuspecting fan picking her nose and not realizing she's on camera for the entirety of a timeout. Also, it might help to give less knowledgeable or new fans of Zips Basketball a sense of the winning tradition this program has built, as evidenced by the success of Zips Basketball Alumni. Even if there were some issue with replaying their professional footage they could replay some memorable moments from their college career and post their professional stats with a photo. Not to get too off topic, but just to throw another idea out there, what about some type of "This moment in Akron history" clip? I think that would help to elevate the energy from the audience in the JAR, especially if they mix the video with a recording of one of French's frantic and emotional radio calls from the specific moment. Send those ideas to the AD. Seriously.

Yes, I think it was this. That name Zach the Zip rings a bell too. Hmmmm! Yes. What a strange coincidence.

I remember hearing something about a Luke Holmes coming to Akron, but I never connected it with that Luke Holmes.

San Jose got an absolute steal in Ampai. Korb to United is also a sweet development. Now for all of them to succeed along with the rest of the former Zips. We're ready to really make something good here and also help push the MLS in the right direction.

I was right in front of Zeke for the supposed flagrant. Zeke never moved his arms after grabbing the ball. The OU kid fouled Zeke with his face and then got called for a foul. The refs review it and call it a flagrant on Zeke, which is a bad call but within the ref's discretion. But what is even more unacceptable is that they took away the OU foul that would have had Zeke shooting 1-and-1 after the two flagrant FTs, instead resuming play immediately after the OU freethrows. That's illegal and is hopefully being investigated. You can't take away the other foul just because you think (wrongly) that Zeke committed a flagrant.

1st round is over. I believe that's the only one that will be fully televised.

I'm with Zip Watcher. Never noticed the type of music when the dance team is out there. My attention usually is focused elsewhere.

Pretty strong overlap. Maybe not for soccer fans, but he is a Wolverine in Columbus.

Crew pick Meram from Michigan at #15. He's not going to be a popular guy...

Man. Was really hoping Chivas would go after Ampai there.

There's at least one Akron fan there. Chivas trades back into the first round at #14.

Now there's a curveball. Thoughts from Crew fans? Oh, and the Crew coach's son is still a douche.

Crew on the clock. Will they take Ampai? Doubt it.

Sporting KC with a reach at #10. Coach Porter to interview next.

Nanchoff to Vancouver at #8! 5 Akron players already.

Houston takes Kofi at #7!

If you want to congratulate them, @AnthonyAmpai @darlingtonnagbe @zarekValentin02 are all on Twitter. @mnanchoff, too, for when he gets drafted.

Perry Kitchen and Darlington Nagbe both currently trending on Twitter.