apalmison

Thanks for posting. Interesting to have a VCU and Akron grad in the same family! Sorry about the tough loss at home. I was pulling for you guys in my NIT bracket (I may be the only person that has one). Best of luck and we'll see you in Richmond.

Nice post. I especially agree with your conclusion that the NIT is a valuable tool to grow the program. It's not the NCAA, but it's a hell of a lot better than sitting at home. I'm having fun so far. I hope the team is too. Go Zips!

NEVER!

They broke into the coverage of Maryland v. Minnesota (which was almost over on the clock but long over on the scoreboard) for about a 5 second snippet showing Dials and the final score. That's about all we got. I watched some Sportscenter this morning and then again over lunch and nothing. Can't say I'm surprised.

1169 is correct.Source

You know, that CBI tourney where you can try to purchase a win (at home) for $60K like OU did!Still trying to verify this, but this is what I heard:Attendance:Virginia 4,000ODU 2,000Ohio 1,100Capacity:Virginia 14,593ODU 8,424Ohio 13,080

Mass beat Stephen Austin. No home game for us unless Robert Morris pulls an upset! :(Go Zips!

If KD can find ways to frequently get Hitchens and Steward on the floor simultaneously and neither has a "me first" mentality then Zip fans are probably going to be very happy before they graduate from the program.Thanks all for the updates on the recruits. It appears to me that KD has a way of coaching the guys to be team players. I was very impressed with the lack of selfishness in the game against WMU. It was one of the things that stood out most to me in that particular game.

Thank you. I was just about to ask.

Just the position I like us to be in. We play anywhere near how we played against CMU and WMU, then they have a trap game on their hands. I hope I can catch it on the web, I don't get Classic.

Wood is doing his part to shut down the three . . . two stuffs in a row on Kellerman.

BC 52 - Can't State 6 It's gonna be ugly. :screwks:

:laugh_up: :laugh_up:

Interesting thread. I agree that Can't winning certainly helps the conference as a whole, but it may also be a boon to their recruiting. Perhaps these two points are not entirely incompatible. Increasing the status of the conference would be a boon to ALL of our recruiting - just maybe more so to Can't in the short term. Either way, I'm not worried. Seems to me that KD's building this program the right way.Go Zips!

Heard of us now? We are the team that doesn't care if you heard of us or not, we win.You have to remember that outside of this board, it's Akron that no one has heard of across the country. Trust me, VCU is much more well-known then you think. We are just coming off a year where we beat DUKE, took Pittsburgh to overtime in the second round. We have a Bob Cousy Award finalist for one of the top 16 point guards in the COUNTRY. A freshmen who is the leading freshmen shot-blocker in the nation and 10th nationally. The #1 3-pt fg% defense in the country. Yeah...a lot of teams just happen to miss a lot of shots against us. Try every game. I guess we're just lucky, or we're doing something right. Oh yeah and we have Anthony Grant who is only the hottest name on every AD's list and the 2-time defending champ Florida's #1 pick to replace Billy Donovan when he almost left for the NBA. Gimme a break, what has Akron ever done in hoops??? We average 6,400 a game playing teams like Towson, William and Mary, Georgia State, and James Madison. You think we sell out our arena because of our opponents? Think again, we sell out cause of the product we put out on the floor. Just face it, people just don't give a crap about your program. Your excuses are ridiculous, yoru crowds are pathetic, and the so-called atmosphere there was equally so. That was an AVERAGE venue in the CAA, sorry to break it to you. There was NO goal-tend, I reviewed it myself. You have one gripe, and that's Rodriguez's walk. But Wood was getting away with all sorts of stuff on inside as well. We played 5 freshmen on the floor at the SAME TIME against your team for several minutes. We recruit on an entirely different level then you. We will destroy you next year.Guys, come on. Baller- I reviewed all of your previous posts. Half the time you make very classy statements and show respect for our program, our school, and the bracketbuster game. I've enjoyed your perspective and what you've told us about your respectable program. I understood why you responded in a hostile manner in defending your program to some of our fans' comments in some of your previous posts. But posts like these (and there are just as many) make me wonder if these are your true colors. Which is it? If you're not interested in civil conversation then please just put the keyboard away and go on with life. Bottom line is that the better team won on Saturday. That doesn't give you license to trash a program, a city, or a state. Can we talk sports without being so judgmental?!

Could be the debut for B-ball. I frequently listen to the football broadcasts.

Ced looked soooo calm and confident hitting those free throws. Whew. Nice win. I can sleep tonight!

That's the final

56 - 52 Akron about 1 second left

Throwing this one out there for Zips Nation . . . What other bracketbuster games do you have your eye on? Why? How will the games affect the Zips? (I know, I know . . . the obvious answer is that none of the games will affect the Zips now that an at-large is out of the question, but humor me a bit). Give us a preview of the games you're watching. Here's mine: I'm watching the Miami vs. Valparaiso matchup (ESPN Classic 6 P.M.). Miami is a familiar bird (forgive the pun) to all of us, so I figure I'd throw in a bit about lesser-known Valpo.Valpo (15-11 overall; 6-8 conference; 9-4 at home; current RPI of 112)is new to the Horizon league from the Mid-Continent. Valpo's season has mirrored the Zips season in a lot of ways. Like the Zips, it has been the tale of two Valpos. They started out strong with some key wins in and out of conference. Everyone was wondering just how good the team really was because of their early dominance. They led the Horizon league through early conference play. Key wins are:11/28 over Western Michigan (77-65)12/1 over Ball State (71-58)12/6 at Wright State (71-66)1/12 over UWGB (82-73)The "Can't" of the Horizon league is obviously Butler. Valpo lost the first trip to Indy on 1/5. They had their chance to face Butler again on 2/5 at home (I was at the game, with my Butler-alum wife, the game was a record crowd and aired on ESPN2). Valpo started the game with a 12-0 clinic which pretty much maintained throughout. Valpo led Butler for the entire game until the final minute when Valpo missed the first free thrown on a one-and-one and Butler nailed a clutch 3 with about 7 seconds on the clock . . . sound familiar? It gets even more familiar . . . That Butler loss (read: our loss to Can't this season) started a started a 3-game slide that only ended when VU traveled to a weak Youngstown State (read: BGSU) team. Hmmmm . . . Valpo suffers a tough loss in a rivalry game that has huge conference implications which prompts a series of losses in games against weak opponents only ending with a road-win against a weak conference team leading everyone to ask whether the skid has finally stopped or whether the bracketbuster game will reveal how deflated/injured the team really is . . . You see my analogy. What to expect: Valpo shoots a lot of threes, with the Finnish Samuel Haanpaa leading the way (.430). Their inside game isn't the strongest but the short (6'0") and scrappy Jarrod Loyd is an emotional leader/playmaker who can make things happen in the paint. Valpo's starting forward, Senior Urule Igbavboa (6'9") is a solid inside presence, but his backup, Freshman Brian Bouchie (6'11") is inconsistent and indecisive with occasional moments of abject brilliance. However, even when Butler shut down Haanpaa, Valpo still got solid performances from everyone else. In the end, VU's starting lineup isn't flushy and there isn't one big star, but it's pretty solid/balanced and unstoppable when they're on.Bottom line: this season has been the season of two Valpos. We'll see if the team that took an 8-point lead over Butler into the half and throttled Western Michigan shows up or the team that loss twice to Cleveland State and took a downward slide after the Butler loss shows up. Miami beats VU by shutting down the three and playing a physical game - which has always frustrated the Crusaders. This one's hard to predict without seeing how Akron/Miami turns out tomorrow and VU/Loyola turns out on Wednesday, but I like Valpo at home with a recently healthy squad.Affect on the Zips: I doubt much. A Miami win over a lower RPI team doesn't really make Miami look any better, which doesn't make Akron look any better - especially if we split the series against Miami. This one looked like a good matchup a month ago. But with VU's decline and Miami's surge, I'm not so sure. Moreover, because Akron, VU, Miami, etc. aren't in the at-large hunt . . . looks like just another game.

yep, it's in the works. Expect it no later than mid summer. But then again it might be up a lot sooner. I'll let everyone know.Thanks! I didn't see any other MAC football ones. I think we'd be the first!

Any chances of a football application in the future?

hmm. They made her look rather . . . masculine. Wonder if they know she's a she?

Let's hope our fellow MAC school gets through this with only injuries. That's what it looks like right now.Chicago Tribune

Wow! Thanks for the great post. A lunch break well-spent.