ZachTheZip

http://www.nscaa.com/articles/20100113161118561.php Well deserved!

Buffalo is obviously pumped up for this game. If we play like we did against Ohio, we'll lose.

The NCAA instituted a rule where there is now a circle under the basket like in the NBA. The only problem is that the circle can't be painted on the court and the referees get to decide whether a player was in it or not. They get to make up their own rules under the basket, essentially.

Akron has a loooooong way to go before you can say that they are caught up. But beating Can't twice in two years is a huge improvement. I think last year's win gave the team confidence. They know they can beat this team and they act like it. It used to be that you could see how they would just give up once they hit some adversity, but that's not the case anymore.

Conyers had another incredible game. Pretty soon the MAC teams won't be overlooking him. Right now, they're used to him being a scrub who gets a few minutes a night and maybe scores 5 points and gets a rebound. No longer.

A very good win for the Zips! Winning at home is breathing some life back into this rivalry.

There will be no official Rowdy road trip for this game.Hopefully plenty of Zips fans can make the trip on their own.

Walmart and Kohls on Arlington have a bunch of Zips stuff. I don't see much at Target, though.

Is their an on campus marketing effort to speak of?No. Has there ever been one?I think that the RAs need to push their students to going to the games. It doesn't take that much to fill the JAR.Also, I think that next football season we'll really see an improved student turnout, and lots more tailgating across campus. Last season it was tentative, people feeling out what is allowed to take place and whether it would actually be fun. Now that it's been proven, things should pick up. Maybe it will carry over to basketball and soccer.

That's right. Tonight is the Women's basketball game against Can't State, at the JAR. Tip off is at 7:00PM.Last season at the JAR, the women broke an 18-game losing streak to the flushers. The crowd played a big part in that. It's time to establish a home winning streak against them. The first step towards becoming a respectable rivalry in this sport. This game means a lot for MAC tournament seeding. I know the women's team has the potential to be the best one we've seen in a decade. They need our support.Go Zips!

I don't think that Kiffin bolting affects Browning's status, so long as he signed a contract already, and I'm assuming he has because it would be dumb to announce anything without one.Of course if Tennessee does come knocking they'll have to pay the full buyout fee, which I would think should pretty significant this early on.As far as the coaching carousel goes, it's been one crazy year. I would hope that the coaching staff can take advantage by nabbing some prospects who aren't too enamored with their new coaches.

A good win for Miami.

thanks a bunch. hope I see quite a few zips fans thereI'm hoping they'll all be in the JAR watching the women play against Can't State.

WZIP does have a sports talk show. It's on Sunday evening, but I don't know the exact hours. It's call-in based, but nobody ever calls in to talk about the Zips. It's run by UA students. If there's anybody on the radio at any station (besided Steve French) who might be able to hold an intelligent conversation about UA sports, it should be them.

This goes back to my hypothesis about a fragile sports ego in N.E.Ohio and how "fans" want to latch onto a winner.They aren't willing to invest themselves unless they see it as nearly a sure-bet (OSU) or unless they have already had their great season (Cinci). Even the sports media people do this here.... and no, soccer doesn't count for them.Or maybe Cinci and OSU do a better job of reaching out to the sports media. They set up the interviews, not the radio station.

There are obviously many Zips fans that care, but not as many as the pro teams have. We're also collectively quieter. Browns fans or Indians fans or OSU fans or whatever get out and talk about there team to the media. They wear their team colors everywhere.There are quite a few Akron fans who don't do this because they get crap for it. "Why are you an Akron fan?" "Who cares about the Zips?" Stuff like that. I try to wear something Zips-related everywhere I go, whether it's a hat or a t-shirt or a tie. It's the small things done collectively that add up.

Moving on is part of the problem. We never stuck with a brand image long enough for it to settle in. Before Fear the Roo was able to reach its potential, we moved on to Roo Town and all the FTR stuff virtually disappeared. Now there's all sorts of "Roo" things but it's not very focused.Why can't we pick something solid and stick with it for more than two years?

Akron hires MalloryAlso, on Gozips.com's coach page we apparently have hired the former strength coach from Marshall to be the football program's new strength and conditioning coach.

Rittenberg's blog postMallory was just demoted from the DC position at Illinois. Why is that?

Why does it look that way?Because that's what Adam Rittenberg says on his blog, per Tom Dienhart of Rivals.com. Same with the Illini message boards.

I would guess he is waiting to see if he can land a HC job?The only job he was in the running for was the CMU one, and that just went to somebody else.

Looks like the DC job is Mallory's to lose. Illini fans are almost universally happy to get rid of him. I'm apprehensive.

I'm still waiting for the walk-in team shop to be built. It's just an empty shell tacked onto the Info's main gate.But if they don't have anything to fill it with, I guess it can wait.

I agree with zen.They people want a winner. Not a winner of individual games, mind you, but a winner of meaningful championships. We need to win the MAC again this year. To win it once and then go back to being an also-ran in the MAC isn't going to do it. To win it twice in a row gets a bit of attention. To win it three times in a row shows consistency, and being a consistent winner is what will attract the people. To win it four times confirms their beliefs. Until there is a legitimate excuse for not winning the MAC i.e. a Gonzaga or a Memphis that dominates us and everyone else, then not winning the conference is seen as a failure and the mark of a losing team who can't get it done.

This might be some kind of new marketing effort, but it's an example of what I like to call "invisible marketing". It's the kind of stuff that you have to actively seek out to find, instead of it being put forward to the people you're trying to reach.Regardless, it's a convenient way to keep up with some Zips sports.Women's Golf blogWomen's Basketball blog