ZachTheZip

Sagarin is not the same as the RPI. Sagarin is more accurate because he includes the margin of victory.

Nate did it, and we all saw it. If you watched it on TV, you could barely get the feel of the crowd's reaction. It was something you had to see in person. So, I offer you this: It's a fan video of the game's end and it really gives you a feeling for the chaos that happened both on the court and in the stands. Thanks to sandroianiro, whoever you are, for capturing this. And thanks to Rasor and his blog, who found the clip.

A quote from the Plain Dealer article: "The challenge was daunting for the Bobcats just walking into Rhodes Arena. But they were up to the challenge from the opening tip starting with picking up Akron's guards in the backcourt to keep them from running, then with a 1-3-1 zone, then a man-to-man once the ball got inside."The defense changed depending on where the ball was. They didn't stick to a single type of defense for an entire possession, they changed it up in the middle of a play to suit their needs.Also, if we hit ANY of those open shots we were getting all game, this wouldn't have been nearly as close, but I think that's a product of OU's positioning being able to keep our guards from getting any type of rythm.

What stood out is how effective the 1-3-1 zone is against us. We can't do anything when the other team uses it. You can bet that's what BG will bring to the JAR. Can't will also use it on us unless we find a way to beat on Sunday.

This is not the BG of the past few years. They are tougher, and are very confident, being 2-1 in the East. They played a better game against OU than we did. All I know is that if we sleep on them or come out too overconfident like we usually do at home, we could very well lose.

I was sitting right there in the (sold out on both sides, by the way) AK-Rowdies section, and I saw him fall to the ground and hit his head on the court. I have no idea what made him fall, there was no contact. Maybe he knew the second he released it that it ws no good and that his teammates would hate him for making such a stupid mistake. Or maybe he's just an idiot who forgot how to stand on his own feet.

They're replaying last night's game on ESPNU at 1:00. Maybe they could get a few TVs and have a party afterwards.

Announced attendance: 4,557They were energetic, too. The terrible referees surely had something to do with that.So the AK-Rowdies filling up both sections is a result of classes resuming, I think. There will be a dropoff during the West games, but the final game against Can't will be sold out in advance.

Just got back. Some quick thoughts before I pass out: The crowd... WOW. Just WOW. The AK-Rowdies sold out both sections, and they all stood the whole time. The whole arena stood up for the final three minutes (good thinking grabbing that microphone, Will).It was LOUD. Very LOUD. Louder than I've ever heard it.Bubba: OU can keep him. He will be their downfall. Ballhogs always are.Linhart: Now you know why he's the MVP.OU's defense was stifling for a little while, but Akron couldn't hit any of their open shots to pull away.McNeese was the best ball handler. He may take over PG duties from Dials for the rest of the year.Where was Quade? He stood there every posession and waited for an alley-oop that never came. Hardly there on defense either.Conyers is the best defender we have. Hands down. Now, if only he could shoot the ball...Roberts has a great game while he was in.Everybody better show up this weekend for the Can't State women's game and the BG game.BG is better this year. We can't sleep on them. Hopefully last night's game was the wake-up call we needed at home.

Your grapevine is very knowledgeable. I have heard that he has returned and is now a grad student at UA.

Now you see it, now you don't?

All the good stuff comes after I leave....The best left though. You may remember that it was possible to buy beer in the Chuckery. The new student union does not offer beer. If they sell beer at the football stadium, they will sell beer in the Student Union and a few other places as well. Might as well make the money where you can, and a liquor license would be a good investment for the University.

Last year we had a great game against him. We completely shut him down for the minutes he played. A message to any players reading this: You take care of Jerome Tillman and Leon Williams. We'll handle Bubba.

You say, "the Union has been mayhem this week." So the general student populace is finally beginning to get excited over Zips b-ball?More like classes have just begun, there are several high-profile events held daily, and they just opened an Auntie Anne pretzle shop in there which is causing quite a buzz.

I was just wasting some time on the Internet, and came across KD's Wikipedia article. It's a bit lacking, and is apparently on some type of project slate to "build a comprehensive knowledge base on College Basketball", but I find the article a bit lacking. Here's the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_DambrotI'm thinking it could use a chart with his various records during his head coaching careers, and quite a few more details. More than two thirds of the article is devoted to his incident at CMU. It mentions nothing about his comments after last season's NIT snub. If anybody want's to help make this thing better, please do it. At the very least, someone could simply copy+paste what it says in the media guide, so long as you provide a source. It doesn't even have his home record, which is a feat that should be mentioned.I really believe that the more information and the more details we have out there, the more respect we will get. "He was this guy, and some stuff happened" doesn't cut it. Other schools have meticulously chronicled everything about their programs and add it to the wiki. I'm not asking for that much, just a few tidbits here and there to fill out this article.Any help at all is appreciated.

I'll be there. In fact, I am watching them set up right now. It starts at noon, and is in the main dining area during "peak traffic"at the Union, so there will be many many people coming and going, but I don't know how many of them even know that we have sports here at UA. The apathy on campus is truly suffocating sometimes.

Nobody goes to them, but that's because they don't advertise the rallies at all. No mentions over e-mail, no announcements over the paging system in the Union, nothing. I'm suprised that you even heard about it at all prior to it happenning.

Temple beat Xavier 78-51. Big boost to us, and a bad thing for Miami (Xavier was their best win)Dayton losing to UMass 64-72 with under 2:00 left. This is not good for us at all.NC Central winning 45-38 in their first home game since November and only the second one of the year. If they win, they will be undefeated at home with a record of 2-0Wyoming down early to AF.Also, in the MAC:Western Michigan is destroying Ball State on the road 71-45NIU up 34-33 over EMU at the halfToledo up 68-59 over CMU with 2:00 to go.

For those of you that can't make it to tommorrow's game for whatever reason, I urge you to go to the Women's Basketball game on saturday at the JAR against Can't State instead. We don't want more Can't fans there than Akron fans like there have been in the past...

Location, location, location. They're in downtown on Main Street right near Lock 3. The actual buildings are built overtop of the Ohio and Erie Canal, and there has been talk of having the towpath run right through where they are built. This is exactly where you want to put restaraunts, retail, and possibly high-end appartments. It's a batch of near-condemed buildings in the most central part of downtown where the most economic developement needs to happen.

If Can't beats both Miami and Ohio on the road, I'll say that they deserve to be ahead of us.I like our being ranked 6th this week. Does anybody remember the highest we were ranked last year?

Winning at Can't means pretty much sealing up the division, assuming we take care of the games we're supposed to win (all the home games and sweeping the West). Winning the MAC regular season crown should be the focus now, since it makes sure we get into the post-season. We can't afford to look past any opponents, though. Let's take care of the Bubbacats first.

If you are a member of the Rowdies, sit tight. Keep an eye on your email, and go to the games on Thursday and Sunday to ask around. Whatever happens, don't blab about any plans you happen to overhear, no matter how awesome they might sound.

Many of the families are unaffected by the late time because both the City schools and all the local private schools are off on Friday thanks to a teacher inservice.I really do hate ESPNU for football games, though. College Football should be played on SATURDAY, not a tuesday or a thursday in the middle of the day. I would sacrifice this "exposure" to boost the pathetic attendance numbers above 10,000. Will the U sacrifice attendance in the new stadium to reach out to a non-existant national audience while we still don't have a local one? What about the MAC? Half of our MAC games were on weekdays, and that is extremely unfair to everyone involved. This conference needs a new commissioner who understands that you can't sacrifice your existing fans in the attempt to get new ones.

Guys, its on ESPNU, how many people get that channel? Not many....If you didn't know, ESPNU is now on the extended basic tier of Time Warner Cable. Almost everybody in the area who has cable has it now.