Districtballer

LOL. Just so you know...those were the same refs from the ODU game who made their 'no-call' on an obvious foul at the end of the game and just happened to throw a tech on Coach Grant on national TV last week. But yeah, they consciously cheated. Umm...yes although you don't have the calibre players at Akron who are capable of having 9 blocks, it's actually possible to do it without fouling . There's a reason he's the leading freshmen shot-blocker in the country. Ha you think VCU calls or hires refs? We share our refs with the ACC, the ref firm assigns refs to games. You really have no idea what you're talking about. Stop trying to make up conspiracy theories about why you lost, since you clearly can't except that you were beaten by a better team. If you're home court advantage was as great as you said, refs should not have even been in a position to give the game away to anyone. I certainly didn't hear the announcers sharing your sentiments. Get over it, you lost to a better team, and you will lose again next year in Richmond. That is a guarantee. The only reason you were even in this game was because Joey Rodriguez made some stupid frosh mistakes when we were up seven with 2 minutes to go. Jeremiah Wood was the only reason you were in this game. We are a much better team than Akron, and it showed from the tip.

And the inevitable excuses and griping about referees and conference conspiracy theories begin. Last I heard you were unbeatable at home. You guys can't even sell out a nationally-televised ESPN2 game??? Now Ohio...THAT is a fanbase. For a nationally televised game that Akron is lucky to get at home, I expected a lot more. It's pretty pathetic that you resorted to griping about officials and their conference affiliations having anything to do with the outcome. We were the better team, and that was clear throughout the game. We were playing 5 freshmen on the floor at times against your team. Our leading scorer was playing on a sprained ankle and a ligament problem in his shooting hand. Maynor played one of his worst games in a while. And those refs also happened to be the same guys who gave the game to ODU on national television last week and called a Tech on Grant exactly one week ago. You guys just lost to a better team. That said, I greatly respect your coach and team. You have a fine program there, and you should be proud that you got to represent yourselves and the MAC on national television against one of the better mid-major schools in the country. I'm looking forward to having you come down to the Siegel Center next year. We'll show you what a real game atmosphere looks and sounds like. Good luck with the rest of the season.

Congrats on playing a very good game. You guys kept it close. I'm kinda glad that Wood was in the game so we faced your full team. You guys did a very good job on Maynor, he was definitely not himself today. Wood is a load inside, but Sanders definitely blocked him several times in the second half and made him really change his approach to the basket. You guys have a good team, and I hope you guys do well the rest of your season. GoZips can now officially stick a sock in his mouth after all the crap he was talking. And for being lucky to keep within 20 of you guys, not quite. And the best was comparing VCU to Austin Peay. That said, I really appreciate the classy posters and fans of the Zips, you have a fine team and a good program. I look forward to seeing you guys at the Siegel Center in Richmond next year. I'm glad we won't have to see Wood again for sure. That said, it should be a decent win for us and will hopefully help our at-large profile a bit. It was nice bantering with you Zip fans. I'll be back before our game next year to chat up that game as well!

Thanks. Yeah...totally agree with you there, we know it will be a pretty big win if we can pull it off at the JAR. And no, we are nowhere close to North Carolina, and I never claimed we were. We are one of the better mid-major teams in the country though, and I'm proud of that fact. While I'm proud of my team, didn't I just break down my entire team and say they were centred around 2 players??? We are not a BCS level club that can put out 5 Maynor-quality players on the floor at a time. Old Dominion has played very well of late, they also just beat George Mason and are on a 3-game winning streak. While they are not an elite team, it seems like they are putting their pieces together nicely. They were very freshmen heavy, starting 3 freshmen and a sophomore. There freshmen are just starting to come into their own. Remember ODU was an NCAA at-large team last year. They are a very good program. Akron is a very good team at home, and while it may seem like I'm taking you lightly, rest assured I'm not...and you better believe Anthony Grant and the Rams aren't underestimating you either. After this loss I bet the Rams will be extremely fired up. It'll be a great game on national television. It's been a great year for the Rams on TV. I believe this will be our 4th ESPN2 game this season... Here's to a good, clean and exciting game.

Districtballer,How would you scheme against VCU? What's Akron have to do to win next Saturday? To beat the Zips it seems as though you have to pressure our guards from the time they inbound the ball, always have a hand in their face, don't give them any open looks, and in the half-court game pressure them up high - push them about a yard out from the 3 point line. With our big stud Jeremiah out it's been a lot (a TON!) easier for teams to do that.GoZips non-sensical post aside...the key to shutting down VCU is containing Maynor and Shuler. They both have range out to 25-27 feet. They regularly knock down NBA-range threes. They are both tremendous offensive players. Maynor would probably be the top player in the MAC if he played there. That said, after that we haven't really developed a reliable 3rd scoring option, partly due to having 9 new faces this year. If you shut down the both of them which is an extremely difficult task, but possible, Akron has a good shot. If you're Akron, you want someone other than those two to beat you. 6'9 Larry Sanders is a tremendous defensive presence on the inside, the leading freshmen shot blocker in the country with a 7'7 wingspan and a standing reach of 9'2 and 3/4 inches. While he's a defensive monster, his offensive game hasn't come around yet to the point where he is our go-to post player. Luckily for us, Wood isn't in there, so perhaps he can assert himself and become a reliable third scoring option. But every team that has beat us this year has done it by shutting down our two star guards. As you saw last night, we run a full-court press all game long and we pride ourselves on our defense. We lead the country in 3 pt fg defense, with our opponents shooting 26.8% from three. I think the best way for Akron to succeed would be to attack the press and find the open man. This requires very good athletes with great conditioning. Not sure if Akron has players who fit the bill, but those are the guys you want on the floor. VCU runs, and usually runs teams out of the gym. Dambrot should try and rotate his players as much as possible, keep them fresh. Not sure about Akron's depth, but keeping your guys fresh is paramount. VCU is usually a slow first-half team, and they usually kick it up several gears in the 2nd half. Hope that helps a bit. I'm sure Keith Dambrot and his staff will have Akron well-prepared for the Rams.

hey, its better than 100 Great! I wasn't aware you climbed back up into the top 100. That would be a nice win if we could pull it off. Keep winning until we meet!

Where did I whine GoZips? Please enlighten me. :rolleyes: . You're so predictable, I can read you like a book. Akron should be the last team talking about being hurt by VCU. Aren't you still sub-100? Still don't think our game is a shaft job? I honestly don't know how our game will go...you're supposed to be very good at home, but you're without your best player and just lost to a sub 200 rpi team who had never won on the road all season. It will be an interesting matchup regardless. But if you try to contain Maynor, you have to contain Shuler as well. Maryland tried to do this with Maynor, and Shuler went off for 30. He'll burn you if you leave him open. But the key to this game for Akron is to contain the both of them. If you do that, it should be a very interesting game. It'll be a good game regardless.

I am not so sure we want to run with VCU, they looked awful quick and athletic. They play a tough aggressive defense. Maynor looked fantastic, hopefully Linhart can slow him down. But no matter who wins this one .......... Gosh....we played our worst game of the season. Sorry to put up that performance for you guys. Hopefully our game will be better.

Hey Zips fans, VCU will be playing our arch-rival Old Dominion tonight at the Siegel Center in a sold out house before a national audience on ESPN2, starting at 8 p.m. I welcome you all to watch the game and perhaps do some of your own scouting of the Rams before our game on the 23rd. It'll also give you all a taste of what to expect when the Zips come to Richmond next year. Just a little background on this rivalry. The ODU/VCU rivalry, otherwise known as "the War on 64" (the interstate that connects the two schools) is the biggest in the CAA and arguably the state (with UVA and V. Tech as the only other comparable one). This will be the 78th installment of the series and VCU holds a 39-36 edge coming into tonight's game. However, since VCU has moved into the Siegel Center, the ODU Monarchs have failed to win on our homecourt (0-8 so far). We hope to keep that streak going tonight. Hope you all can watch the game, and if you don't have a rooting interest, I would recommend the Rams!

There are no words. :blink: VCU better win our game on the 23rd.

The D's been there for the most part. NIU just can't miss a shot.Let's pull this one out boys! We can't have Akron losing to a 5-17 team! Plus, we want that home streak to continue so VCU can break it! Hope you guys pull this one out!

Congrats guys! Keep up the good work!!!

Whew....thank God there are some decent, sane-thinking posters here. I was beginning to wonder... I had GoZips figured as soon as he started posting on CAAZone and I know exactly what kind of poster he is. I won't fault the rest of your fanbase for that. Although I'm sorry to hear of Wood's injury, I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm relieved. Hopefully we can take advantage and get a good win in a place where very few teams pull out one. PLEASE don't get us on ESPN360. These next two opponents you have are very winnable (200 level RPI teams?), I was hoping for a game on the deuce like we got with Bradley last year, but it looks more and more like the U might be a possibility. Either way, I wish your program continued success in these two games, and after you play us...just not our game!

Umm...over the top anyone? Read my post? Why are so offended that you would respond like that. I'm one of your biggest fans until our game. Yes, it took overtime, in fact we only beat them by one at home. So they are a tough out no matter where we play them. They have a great new coach in Rod Barnes (2001 National Coach of the Year) who likes to throw junk defenses, and the Rams have trouble with them. Fortunately, no one outside of yourself cares that we won in overtime. A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. The Selection Committee is not going to be like "Well we should put an asterisk next to that win, cause it took overtime to beat Georgia State." Oh yeah, read up on the Sports Illustrated article on the game. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ...ynor/index.htmlStop having an inferiority complex...I never gave a crap about Akron, and only care now cause of our game and how it effects us. After this game is over, I'll go back to not caring. But for now, every loss you garner pushes us a way from an ESPN2 slot, and hurts our RPI when we play. Did I ever say we would definitely win in your house GoZips? That's what I thought. The only one who has been guaranteeing anything here are the 10 akron fans on this board. Explain the diss as well...where is it in my post??? I'll be waiting for your answer. How old are you really. Good luck with your games from here on til we meet....

Rough loss guys...sounds like you got taken to the woodshed last night. Hopefully you guys can turn it around. We really need you guys to keep up your record and the RPI for when VCU comes to town. We also want that ESPN2 slot, so it's paramount that we keep up our records up! Good luck with the rest of your games til then.

I just stated the facts...but then again that's what happens when your school has the hottest coach in mid major basketball in Anthony Grant (who just happened to be head assistant to Billy Donovan). The fact is 2 1st-team all-state players in the Class 5A division, a 2nd team 5A player, and another 1st teamer in the 3A division from Florida. To go along with last years VA 3A POY. The 5th best mid major recruiting class behind Gonzaga and Memphis. By the way, we're 14th, right behind the MAC, and our conference sucks this year. Umm...most experts put us ahead of the MAC in recent years. We were being compared to the MVC and A10, not the MAC, although this year you are better, but not by much. With a good bracketbuster showing, our conference will actually pass the MAC. However, I understand we'll be lucky to stay within 20 in your house, so I thank you for the privilege of playing on your floor.

I am talking about our current freshmen...not this upcoming year's class. There are three such divisions in Virginia. 1A, 2A, and 3A. Rozzell was POY for 3A. This I believe is public schools in the State. Therefore prep schools like Hargrave and Oak Hill don't count. Last year we had 2 1st team players and one 2nd team all-state player from the 5A classification in Florida and one 1st team all-state from the 3A division. (Florida has 6 divisions in total) Joey Rodriguez was #100 recruit in the nation according to Hoopscoop with offers from Kansas State and UMass, who he decommited from before coming to VCU. He was a 3 star on rivals and scout. Scout listed him as the #37 point guard in the country. He played on the State Championship team with Lake Howell and was part of a big 3 with 5-star Florida commits Nick Calathes (McDonald's AA) and Chandler Parsons. He is currently starting for VCU, as is 6'9 Larry Sanders, (7'7 wingspan) leading freshman shot blocker in the country (15th overall). We have some extremely talented freshmen making immediate contributions this year. I'm sure you guys also have your stud freshmen, and while I've honestly never heard of Cventovic, I trust he'll be a decent player for Akron.

For the record, I don't think this will be anywhere near a 20-point game.Well some of your posters have led me to believe we'll be lucky if we keep it any closer than that.

Finally some sane posts on this thread. Esp. the part about what a true "Bracket Buster" would look like. Along the same lines, I would rather see us get a home game against one of the BCS lesser knowns, who will get into the postseason based only on pedigree. Sorry...you misunderstood me, Our recruit who was VHSL Player of the year last year was Brandon Rozzell. Bradford is not player of the year in Virginia, nor will he be. I was just pointing out that while your recruit apparently is the third best player in VA (which no one has backed up), scout has him as a two-star, and rivals has nothing on him. Ed Davis is definitely number 1 this year, we have Kendall Marshall (going to UNC), Ben Boggs (Virginia Tech), Roscoe Davis (West Virginia) Shamarr Bowden (Charlotte) and Bradford Burgess (VCU)...not including Powerhouse teams like Oak Hill and Hargrave Military Academy...all higher ranked than Cvetinovic. Yeah I know all about Ed Davis, he plays on the same team as Bradford Burgess and happened to beat Oak Hill and Brandon Jennings this year. And you're right, Billy Donovan, Leonard Hamilton and Frank Haith are not worrying about our recruiting class, we are not challenging high major schools for recruits, but we have some of the best mid-major recruits in the nation. But to the topic at hand. We did get unlucky...but we'll take the draw...Akron is a good team, and we can only hope to stay within 20 of you guys at home. We'll give it our best shot. Then when you come to our place next year, we'll try and return the favor!

Probably this guyMake sure you stop back after the game is over...either outcome.Now show me where he's ranked third in the state. Surely a no star rivals recruit with only Akron recruiting can't be the 3rd ranked player in Virginia? Our VA recruit is a 3-star Scout recruit and a 2 star Rivals recruit with offers from Richmond, Northeastern, Loyola Chicago , and Western Carolina. I'll be here no matter what. Guys I totally understand that we'll probably lose this game, given your dominance there...and I'm glad some of you get VCU's position with the RPI. Yes I agree it sucks...but to say it's not a huge factor in giving out an at-large bid is foolishness...Of course Akron would have a better RPI then several NCAA tourney participants every year. That's cause there are auto-bids from 15 or so conferences ranked lower in the RPI than the MAC. Unfortunately its not that you're a bad team...it's just that cause your RPI is double digits lower than ours, but you're dominant at home...it only hurts us unless we win, and then it only marginally helps us. Hope you guys don't take it to personally. You bet the Ohio folks would be griping too if they had to play VCU this year...it's the same situation. We're very good at home and 15 or so spots behind Ohio. It's a no-win situation for them. Anyways should be a good game. Hopefully we can keep some mutual respect between two fine mid-major teams. I promise I'll be here to offer congratulations regardless of the outcome.

Just that no one from Virginia was interested. Or they wanted to play away from home. I bet you'd be surprised to learn that there are better players outside of Virginia (ie. Florida) that we might pursue. Again, can I please get the name of said recruit? Didn't stop us from having a superior recruiting class to any team in your conference.

Why would I have an inferiority complex with Akron??? I was not the one posting on the opponents board several days before the match ups were announced touting a VCU matchup. Yeah...SOS is another part of the equation, you can't play a schedule with no one of significance and expect to get an at-large bid. No RPI is not the be all and end all...but it is an important component of the equation. I won't come here for sympathy, don't worry. Sorry to hear a twelve year old is giving you trouble there. Sweet dreams!

Who is this player you speak of? LOL. We have the State Player of the Year. Actually we only had him from Virginia...The rest are from Florida. Coach Grant was mining that place like crazy haha...

Too bad the rest of the NCAA, including the Selection Committee buy into your "RPI Crap" as well. If it didn't matter, I would not have minded this match-up at all. RPI 190 Bowling Green? 165 West. Michigan? I'll give you Miami and Ohio as tough matchups...but don't start with the other two even touching Mason.

Realtimerpi lists you as 58...I'm right you can't subtract...But how bout these apples? Pitt has had 3 straight top 25 recruiting classes in football.Have they had a winning season in the past 3 years. You guessed it, no.No one really gives a shit about your recruits. Unless they morph into your walk-ons bodies and play with your starters this year in the JAR, it doesn't matter.No we use the jerry palm RPI which is what the NCAA uses. Haha...well we are not Pitt football. Two of them DO start for VCU. If Akron ever got a recruiting class like that you'd bust a nut, but jealousy is understandable. I mean, you want to be where we are...so I get it, and I'm flattered. Good luck with that.