Districtballer

the baller knows Dambrot and said that he was scared to play Larry Saunders again. French is wrong I guess? Am I in your head? It certainly sounds like it. I said no such thing. I said that he said in the post-game presser that he wants to play us in 2 years. He did. I also said I wouldn't want to play Larry Sanders again either, not that Dambrot said it. "I know Dambrot is desperately trying to get the return game postponed to 2011-2012 when our whole starting line basically graduates."You said it and if I remember correctly you followed that statement with a ..I actually talked to Chaka Khan coach of VCU last night and he said that he filled up his schedule next year because he was afraid of playing the Zips again.Ahh I forgot that. I stand corrected. It was a playful jab considering his post-game comments. I doubt that statement about our schedule is accurate if its ours because we are still looking for OOC games as far as I know for next season (we only have 3 scheduled so far). I doubt anyone from VCU is scared of playing Akron next year. We will be pretty strong. The next year, I think you will take that game. That said, we are reloading with some fairly highly-touted recruits so we should be strong, but inexperienced. On the road that usually means losses. Akron will be a solid team in 2 seasons and I would expect a loss at your place.Oh, and yes, I'm in your head. Most definitely. Funny thing is I didn't even intend for that.

the baller knows Dambrot and said that he was scared to play Larry Saunders again. French is wrong I guess? Am I in your head? It certainly sounds like it. I said no such thing. I said that he said in the post-game presser that he wants to play us in 2 years. He did. I also said I wouldn't want to play Larry Sanders again either, not that Dambrot said it.

That means you guys probably have a good shot at taking the game that season. VCU will graduate Larry Sanders, Jamie Skeen, Joey Rodriguez, Ed Nixon, and Brandon Rozell. 4 of those guys started against the Zips last night and Brandon who came off the bench scored double-digit points...but you can bet I'll be back then talking the game up just the same as before. As things look right now, I would expect Akron to win that game fairly easily with a young and inexperienced VCU team coming in 2011-2012. Rob Brandenberg, our 2010 recruit out of Columbus Ohio at Gahanna Lincoln will have a bit of a homecoming as far being close enough for his folks to come out, so that will be nice for him as a sophomore. We'll be young, but still pretty talented and should give you a good game up there. I wouldn't guarantee a win like I have in the past though until I see how our current underclassmen progress next season. A lot can change in that time.

Only to indulge those who start it. If you show my team respect, I will similarly show respect to yours. If not, then don't expect me to just sit there and listen, especially when I've heard the same thing 3 years running with the same result. As for Dambrot he said in the post-game presser that he wants to play in 2 years. I wouldn't blame him either. I wouldn't wanna play Larry Sanders again either.

Food for thought. Zips fans said the same thing 3 seasons ago when we were coming to the JAR. Based on what I saw, the team we beat then with Jeremiah Wood, Nick Dials, and Cedrick Middleton was significantly better than the team I saw out there tonight. I remember a freshman Larry Sanders coming into the JAR and setting an all-time record in your building with 9 blocks in that game. Of course we are a different team from back then too, but with new weapons. At the same time, VCU has now beaten Akron 3 straight seasons and is 5-0 all-time in the series. At some point there should be a level of respect given to VCU. If Larry Sanders doesn't leave for the NBA this year, I think we have a very good shot at winning at the JAR next year. I wasn't particularly impressed with the talent on the Zips squad, but you have a team that works hard and maximizes what they get out of what they have. They really scrap it out and work hard. That kind of work ethic is something you can build on. Shaka recruited the McKnight brothers, Darryl Roberts and Mike Bardo for the Zips before he left Akron. In contrast we had a recruit from California at the the game to watch our two teams face off who is 6'11, 225 pounds and has a number of BCS offers. It's just easier to recruit when you have basketball tradition (9 NCAA appearances, 5 wins) and recent success (beating Duke in the 2007 NCAA's, losing by 1 with a shot to win against UCLA in last year's NCAA, Eric Maynor being a first round NBA draft pick, Larry Sanders being slated as a lottery pick etc). I could easily say that how is Akron so good if they lost to Eastern Michigan? Every team has bad games. You could say that Akron had a bad game, but it becomes more than coincidence when you lose repeatedly to the same team year after year. At some point you just have to give props to the better team. I like the Zips program a lot and Dambrot is a solid coach who cares about his players, but Akron is still not at the level of VCU as a program. I think they will get there, but it's not the case right now.I dont see VCU being that impressive from any of the 3 times i've seen them now. ALL three times it was a case of being outcoached and outhustled, sure i'll respect that but i wont say that VCU was a better team a few years ago. Maybe this year and last year but not by much, Akron should have played them better if not beat them yesterday and i expected both.I think that's a fair statement. VCU probably wasn't all that impressive. Only thing is, they were more impressive than Akron and that's all that counts. 3 games, 3 wins, the last one in a blowout. VCU returns everybody of consequence next year. I know Dambrot is desperately trying to get the return game postponed to 2011-2012 when our whole starting line basically graduates. In the event that this happens, you should have a good shot knocking off a young, rebuilding team at home. We'll see. You guys are 0-3 now and have said the same thing before and after every game.

Food for thought. Zips fans said the same thing 3 seasons ago when we were coming to the JAR. Based on what I saw, the team we beat then with Jeremiah Wood, Nick Dials, and Cedrick Middleton was significantly better than the team I saw out there tonight. I remember a freshman Larry Sanders coming into the JAR and setting an all-time record in your building with 9 blocks in that game. Of course we are a different team from back then too, but with new weapons. At the same time, VCU has now beaten Akron 3 straight seasons and is 5-0 all-time in the series. At some point there should be a level of respect given to VCU. If Larry Sanders doesn't leave for the NBA this year, I think we have a very good shot at winning at the JAR next year. I wasn't particularly impressed with the talent on the Zips squad, but you have a team that works hard and maximizes what they get out of what they have. They really scrap it out and work hard. That kind of work ethic is something you can build on. Shaka recruited the McKnight brothers, Darryl Roberts and Mike Bardo for the Zips before he left Akron. In contrast we had a recruit from California at the the game to watch our two teams face off who is 6'11, 225 pounds and has a number of BCS offers. It's just easier to recruit when you have basketball tradition (9 NCAA appearances, 5 wins) and recent success (beating Duke in the 2007 NCAA's, losing by 1 with a shot to win against UCLA in last year's NCAA, Eric Maynor being a first round NBA draft pick, Larry Sanders being slated as a lottery pick etc). I could easily say that how is Akron so good if they lost to Eastern Michigan? Every team has bad games. You could say that Akron had a bad game, but it becomes more than coincidence when you lose repeatedly to the same team year after year. At some point you just have to give props to the better team. I like the Zips program a lot and Dambrot is a solid coach who cares about his players, but Akron is still not at the level of VCU as a program. I think they will get there, but it's not the case right now.

Hey Zips fans,Just wanted to say good game to you guys. There was a small but vocal contingent of Zips fans at the Siegel Center (I assume most of whom were parents). They were very nice and cordial throughout the game. For those of you who watched the game I hope you now see what I was talking about when I said we are tough to beat at home. We were actually a little quieter than we usually are for tv games, but the 7,248 in attendance were pretty vocal for the most part. You guys aren't a bad team (20 wins is evidence enough of that), but still lost by 17 points in a game that VCU lead basically from wire-to-wire. It's not an indiction of the Zips, but more the VERY strong homecourt advantage we have at the Siegel Center. It seems that several of you were particularly harsh on your team, I can sympathize as we had several of our own fans come out with similar sentiments during our recent 2 game losing streak last week. One thing about college basketball is that you need to try and stay away from getting too emotionally high off of wins, and too low after losses. Learn to appreciate the good with the bad, and the wins will be that much sweeter when they do occur. Here are some of my thoughts on sub-plots that were discussed prior to the game:Larry Sanders vs. Zeke Marshall: Much as I predicted, Zeke didn't get many minutes and was pretty raw all game (2 points on 1-5 shooting, 3 rebounds in 10 minutes of play)...while Larry just missed a double-double, scoring 15 points (7-9 from the field), 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks in just 20 minutes of play due to foul trouble. Larry showed why he's an NBA prospect and Zeke is what most thought he would be from our end. He shows some solid fundamentals and a nice soft touch for a guy his size, but he's very soft and needs to be more aggressive and time in the weightroom wouldn't hurt either. Our athleticism and talent vs. Akron's: This is hard to gauge since Akron couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with their shooting today. I think it was clear that our players were on a different level from both a strength and athleticism standpoint. We do recruit a bit of a higher level player due to our higher national profile. That said, I think Dambrot recruits a specific player for his system, and he makes it work pretty well. I do agree that playing cupcakes and loading up wins that way is probably not the best way to go, but when building a program like Dambrot is where there isn't too much tradition or previous success, sometimes building a culture of winning is more important, and that may take some time. While we weren't getting too much respect from some fans here, it's clear Coach Dambrot recognized the difference between our programs from his post-game comments. Our messageboard community does great work covering the Rams and this game was no exception. The game video highlights as well as post-game comments from both Shaka Smart and Keith Dambrot in addition to some of the players can be found here (scroll down to view the player):http://www.vcuramnation.com/2010/02/video-vcu-vs-akron/Here are high-quality photos from the game action as well (scroll down to view the pics):http://www.vcuramnation.com/2010/02/photos-vcu-vs-akron/Once again, it was good talking to you guys and I do wish you guys the best from here on out as always! Good luck against Can't State!

Well if Akron continues winning the MAC that would be fine. The MAC is terrible this year, but I don't think it'll be that bad in the future. I actually don't think Keith Dambrot wants any part of VCU now after the 2 game bracketbuster series. At Coach Shaka Smart's Hiring Press Conference, Dambrot came on by phone after Florida's Billy Donovan to congratulate Shaka and compliment the hire for our program. He was asked if he would consider a home and home with VCU and he hung up. I'm pretty sure the coaching etiquette is that coaches don't like to play their former assistants. So as long as Shaka is at VCU, I doubt you'll see VCU and Akron matchup. Luckily we have had a good schedule and have been lucky to start off pretty well. Our only bad loss was at Western Michigan out of the MAC ironically in our second game. We played completely horrible basketball. Since then we've done a good job as that was our only OOC loss. We've beaten #17 (at the time) Oklahoma, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Richmond so far and have set ourselves up for an elite bracketbuster matchup so far with a 8-2 record and the #13 RPI in the nation. We did sign a local Ohio kid for next year that Akron and most of the MAC was heavily recruiting in 6'2 guard Rob Brandenberg out of Gahanna Lincoln. If Dambrot is up for it, perhaps Brandenberg will get a chance to come home to Ohio to play a game before his career is out. Either way, Dambrot will continue to build the Zips into a MAC power and I'm sure you guys will continue with your success and hopefully garner a 3rd NCAA appearance this year.

One thing to consider is that the A-10 has the #4 rated conference RPI ahead of 2 'Big Six' Conferences. Rhode Island has wins over ACC Boston College (at BC) and Big East Providence (VCU beat them head-to-head)Richmond has wins over #13 (at the time) Florida and Mississippi State out of the SEC, and Missouri out of the Big 12. (VCU beat them head-to-head) #19 Temple has wins over Siena, ACC Virginia Tech, Big East Penn State, #3 (at the time) Big East Villanova, Big East Seton Hall Charlotte owns a win over #22 (at the time) Big East LouisvilleDayton has wins over MVC Creighton, #19 (at the time) ACC Georgia TechXavier has wins over MVC Creighton, MAC Can't State (SUCKS!), #21 (at the time) Big East Cincinnatti, and SEC LSU. UMass has a nice win over C-USA Memphis. The A-10 is certainly a step above your typical mid-major conference. I wouldn't say a major conference, but along with the C-USA, MVC, and MWC, they form their own tier of 'not quite major, but not mid-major'.

Haha to be fair, Shaka was at Akron several years ago. We hired him from the University of Florida. What Giffard has helped do at Akron has been nothing short of remarkable, and we hope to emulate some of Akron's success on the soccer field with him at the helm.

Hi Zips fans,Greetings from the VCU Ram Nation. As VCU is the only team that has beaten Rhode Island to this point, I thought you might appreciate a short scouting report on these guys. They are almost a mirror image of us in the way we play. It was surreal watching the teams go at it earlier this season. URI is 10-1 and on a 6-game winning streak since their loss to us at VCU's Siegel Center on December 2nd. Even that loss was by the slimmest of margins as VCU won by 2 points and URI missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer that would have won the game. They play 40 minutes of non-stop full court pressure. They will press you from the opening tip and they won't stop til the game buzzer sounds. They are long and athletic and will get in the passing lanes. They like to shoot the 3 and are pretty good at it. Their big scorer is Keith Cothran who dropped 16 on us but can definitely go off for more if you don't D him up. I'd say Delroy James is their most talented and versatile player and really changes the game with his skill set and size at 6'8. They have a 7 footer who will matchup with Zeke in Will Martell. He's not especially athletic or explosive, but he has a really nice perimeter shot and he'll pop from 16-17 feet and make them if your bigs don't come out on him. He actually had a season-high 18 points against us with those outside jumpers falling for him all night. Akeem Richmond is 6'1 freshman guard who is one of their sharpshooters and will hit the 3 if you leave him open. He looks frail and weak but he can really get hot from out there. Orion Outerbridge is a 6'9 forward who is probably the most athletic guy on the team and they run set plays for him off of inbounds going to the rim where he can throw it down or lay it in. Lamonte Ulmer is another strong 6'6 forward with guard skills that is very athletic and can throw it down off the fast break. They have 2 point guards, Stevie Mejia, who is short but a very steady point, and Marquis Jones who is about 6'0-6'1 and a better scorer but really not a true point in the way that Mejia is. Hope and pray that their coach Jim Baron plays Marquis Jones more, for some reason he played that guy a lot and Mejia was definitely doing a much better job of running the team than he was. Honestly, you guys probably should have scheduled stronger than you have as URI is gonna be several steps up from anything you have faced so far. They are a VERY good team, and they should beat you guys unless they completely overlook you. That said, Akron has a great coach in Dambrot who will have you guys as prepared as you can be to win. Im sure our Coach Shaka Smart may have already helped Dambrot out a bit with the scouting report as a favor to his old mentor. :)Here are the game video highlights and post-game pressers of the VCU-URI game from the folks at www.VCURamNation.com which is the posting community of VCU Ram fans. It should give you a feel for the way that they play and who their go-to guys are. http://www.vcuramnation.com/2009/12/video-...t-rhode-island/(Click on the link and scroll down, and you'll see the video player)Have a Happy New Year Zips fans!

Shaka has been awesome! I wanna thank the Zips for helping train this young great coach. I have no doubt that he will follow in the line of great young coaches here. He's a heck of a recruiter and we have been getting heavy interest from several 90+ ESPN players with SEC offers. We also got a commitment from Rob Brandenberg out of your state as well and I understand you and most of the MAC were recruiting him pretty hard. Would love to hear any tidbits on his game if anyone has seen him play. I believe he plays with Stevie Taylor at Lincoln Gahanna. All the best this season!

Hey Zips fans,Allen Payne is no longer considering Akron. His final 2 are VCU and Auburn and he will decide on signing week.

i'm sure we'll be under "others receiving votes" for the Overall Top 25. I know a few year back we were, and last years team made it to the national tournament, so I don't see why not. As long as we get votes, we'll be able to move up and potentially get a national ranking, we just need a STRONG start and play some respectable teams, maybe Sh*tsburgh and Dayton again???. NO losses to Eastern Kentucky, Rhode Island, and VCU next year...PLEASE!!!!Are you saying VCU is not a respectable team? A little respect would be nice. Not sure how you can complain about people not respecting Akron when you disrespect similar non-BCS with as much or more basketball success than Akron does. I know there are many level-headed Akron fans who are great, and I'm sure this one fan is probably young, still attending the school and thinks Akron is all-world. Don't disrespect. Rhode Island, VCU and even EKU are all good programs with basketball history. They are certainly not bad losses. Rhode Island took Duke to the wire at Cameron Indoor and killed you guys by 29 points. VCU swept the bracketbuster series with Akron, lost in the first round to UCLA by one point with a shot to win it at the buzzer and has a guy going in the first round of the draft this year in Eric Maynor. The blatant homerism doesn't do justice to the many great fans of the Zips. To say you guys should be 1 or 2 on this list is a joke. Akron has a bright future but it will be that much brighter if you accept it with class.

Yes, GoZips definitely gave us a glowing recommendation for Shaka! Hopefully he will be as good as his predecessors were. Congrats on the NCAA bid again! I was rooting for you all against Gonzaga and you put up a great fight for most of the game! I'm sure this is a glimpse of things to come soon!

I remember that I used to e-mail Shaka for info late in the Hipsher days, and he always responded promptly with as much news as a maniac fan could ever expect. That's rare for a D-I program, even a mid-major. I know VCU made a good pick, and I look for them to continue their run. Especially with Larry Sanders on the tube. Hidey Ho!?Hello Zip fans! Yes we have hired Shaka Smart as our next head coach after Anthony Grant resigned to take the Head Coach position at the University of Alabama. Perhaps we may see more of each other although I know it's not standard policy for Coaches to play against their assistants. Not sure how Dambrot feels about that. It would be cool to see Zeke Marshall matchup against a very similar player in Larry Sanders! Anyway here's an article on the hire with some quotes from your very own coach. Thought you might like to read it. http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/co...-221608/245665/Take care and enjoy the offseason!

Hey guys, I read over on the VCU boards that you guys won the MAC! Congratulations on this great accomplishment! After 23 years I'm sure it is a sweet feeling indeed! Enjoy these moments, they are very special. It's good to see Coach Dambrot and the Zips taking the next step in becoming a basketball power. Congrats again!

Umm...not sure if you know this, but Virginia is the doormat of the ACC. I'm sure the Zips could beat both with their eyes closed.

Hey Zips fans! I'm back again! Just wanted to wish you all a warm welcome to Richmond, VA for the game this week. It seems like you guys are off to a good start again and your freshmen are really stepping up. It certainly looks like the Zips will be able to give the Rams all they can handle and will be a good test for the Rams heading into our contest against Blake Griffin and the Oklahoma Sooners on the 20th. Looks like Humpty is living up to his high billing so far and he's certainly taking a central role on the team. We also have a freshman starter in 6'5 SG Brad Burgess who is showing great promise and is a starter on our squad this year. Eric Maynor returns as does shot-blocker Larry Sanders (I believe he had 7 blocks at the JAR last year). Gone is Jamal Shuler (he played injured in the game last year, but I think he did well) who is playing overseas. We are extremely young outside of Maynor and are maturing and learning every game, much like the Zips are I imagine. It should be a great contest between the two squads! Unfortunately I'm not sure how packed the game will be since exams are over and the students are gone. We'll probably only have 5,000 or so, maybe even less. That said, I hope you guys enjoy your experience in Richmond if you choose to venture down! Safe travels and here's to a good, clean game! Can't State SUCKS!

Yeah that's a new thing this year, usually you would have to pay $5 a month or something like that for these services. Fortunately for you guys, it's free this year!

It should be a good game. We're looking forward to welcoming you Zip fans to Richmond. Unfortunately the game is scheduled during Winter Break so I'm betting the atmosphere will not be as big as it usually is. VCU is also a very young team but we still have Eric Maynor who is our leader as the lone senior on the squad and preseason POY for our conference. By all accounts we should have Maynor and four sophomores starting, so we are just as inexperienced as the Zips in some ways. That said, it's really not that easy to win in the Siegel Center. I think we've won 84% of our games there since we opened the place several years ago. It certainly looks like you guys brought in some good talent this year though and I'm sure Coach Dambrot will bring a well-coached team into Richmond. We hope you guys will enjoy your stay in Richmond (although I hope without a win!)

Hey Zips fans! VCU fan here. It's getting around that time for basketball talk and I can't wait for the season to get started. I noticed that we share some common opponents in Rhode Island and Western Michigan this season. As Western Michigan is in the MAC, I was wondering if you might be able to give me some information on their team and the prospects for the season as I can't seem to find a message board with actual basketball fans. Would love to get a mini-scouting report if possible. We're also really looking forward to having the Zips come down to Richmond, VA for the return bracketbuster this season. Although I understand it looks to be somewhat of a rebuilding season for you guys, I see you have some great young talent coming as well as a 4-star in Zeke Marshall. That's a great thing for mid-major basketball as a whole. Unfortunately our game has been scheduled after fall semester exams, so I'm not sure that it will be quite as packed as it usually is during the season. But hopefully you'll be able to enjoy Richmond and the game atmosphere that most fans of other schools will acknowledge is the best in the CAA. Coach Dambrot is running a quality program up there and we look forward to meeting with you guys and hopefully beating you a second time. Good luck with the season and beat Can't State! They actually have a walk-on from Richmond named Tyree Evans who had all sorts of sketchy things going on, VCU didn't dare touch him. For that reason alone I will root against them which makes me an unofficial Zip fan as long as you're not playing VCU or another CAA team.

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.

True. You guys played very good defense on him. If you guys want to know the real reason you lost, here it is: You guys missed wide open point blank 3 point shots ALL game long. You couldn't hit those shots to save your lives today.

Much better, huh? You won by 5 points against a team that got 20 mediocre minutes out of its best player and with a little help from the officiating. I think I'm not alone in stating, "GO AWAY." Considering Shuler was playing on a sprained ankle and Maynor played one of his worst games of the season. Yes, much better. It's been fun bantering with you guys. Don't take it to heart, a little trash talk does the soul good sometimes! Have a great rest of the season. You guys got the matchup you wanted...hope you enjoyed it.