Districtballer

I have......Shaq and Dwight Howard! lol I could be wrong, but I don't think either has ever shot below 30% from the line like Tree is right now. Not saying they are great FT shooters or anything, but... right, anyway.. the Zips need to keep attacking the rim and drawing fouls. Also, look for Zeke on the backside. The Zips are knocking on the door!!!

Looks like Cleveland State's pressure is giving you guys problems here.

I'll be watching guys! Rooting for a big Akron win!

Oh yeah, well we're averaging one new suspension a week so we have that going for us. But seriously, that is a pretty impressive win over your crosstown rivals Now if you beat them in football by 22 I'd be REALLY impressed Sorry to hear about the suspensions. I guess it's kind of to be expected when you have to go with non-traditional recruits. There's a give and take with getting talented players that other schools can't recruit if they don't except partial qualifiers (I know we don't) but also having to deal with character/academic issues that inevitably arise with most of them. Thanks. We're 41-25 in the all-time series with and have won 7 of the last 8 meetings. We also go to 13-2 against the A-10 in our last 15 meetings. As for football, FCS football is not going to impress anybody, who are you trying to fool?

VCU just crushed crosstown rival Richmond (went to the Sweet 16 last year) by 22 points to the tune of 73-51 on ESPN2 at home. This Richmond team had beaten both Rutgers and Wake Forest this season coming into this game and it was a big matchup for city bragging rights. The Rams notched a school-record 7th straight sellout and we're gunning for the conference record of 9 straight. We're on a 4-game winning streak with the average margin of victory being 20.75 points. The Rams are playing some good ball right now. Hoping we can keep it up!

I hadn't heard it. thanks for the post DB does this forum have a block option ?? LOL, no problem man.

In another example of how crazy this OOC season has been for a lot of teams, Middle Tennessee lost by 10 on the road at previously 1-6 UAB. Parity abounds.

Zips are in the 'Others Receiving Votes' section with 21 votes in the new mid-major top 25. http://www.midmajortop25.com/ Here's to hoping Akron can get back on track and in the top 25 again. Other MAC teams and opponents on this list: 5. Cleveland State 8. Can't State 17. Middle Tennessee 20. VCU 21. Valparaiso 25. Ohio

Great post. No reason to over-react at this point. It's still way early and there is a ton of basketball to be played. Some of our fans panicked when we looked like ass in the Charleston Classic and we've pulled together nicely. KD is the kind of coach that will have you playing your best when it matters the most.

I try never to have too many expectations with a team as young and inexperienced as the one we have now. It's not like you guys are losing to bad teams. They all seem to be pretty decent to me. It'll still be on your home court and we're still going to be the 10th youngest team in the country. We could play real well and win convincingly or lose by 20. I wouldn't be surprised by either. You guys have Sweet 16 talent on your squad and if you play up to it, we'll have as hard a time as we'll have with anyone this year. Don't get too low on your squad...KD's too good to let this team fall short of it's potential. I have no doubt you guys will be firing on all cylinders when we meet. Plus I'm sure KD will be fired up to beat VCU after losing the past games in our series, especially given the fact that Shaka is one of his pupils.

VCU beat George Washington out of the A-10 by 15 today, 75-60. The Rams are now 4-1 in their last 5 games with the only loss on the road to #12 Alabama by 8 points. Shaka's got the boys hitting their stride and playing some decent ball. The Rams take on another A-10 opponent and crosstown rival Richmond on Friday at home on ESPN2 if you want to check out the game. It will be VCU's 7th consecutive sell-out dating back to last season. Richmond is 6-2 with wins over Rutgers and Wake Forest so it should be a good contest if you want to scout the Rams.

www.twitter.com/AdamZagoria Just thought you guys would want to know.

Welcome to the club! Ha thanks! Here are the video highlights of the game from VCURamNation.com. Just click on the link and scroll down to view the video player. http://www.vcuramnation.com/2011/12/video-...-south-florida/ Here are some other videos from Rams Review with highlights and post-game analysis: Rams Review Video Highlights: http://vimeo.com/32952465 Rams Review Post-game Analysis: http://vimeo.com/32953288

For a team this young, tonight was an awesome glimpse of the potential of this squad. We have made some major strides in the last couple of games and I expect this team to be a major problem come March. Very happy to see our young guys starting to blossom, and on as big a stage as they'll play on at that. No doubt this game will be a barn-burner! Looking forward to getting more games under our belt and hopefully we'll be closer to what Shaka sees as the finished product by the time we face you all. As I suspected, Shaka has these guys buying in and we really are coming together. We just beat previous 5-2 South Florida out of the Big East by 23 points at home by a score of 69-46. Hopefully we can go on a bit of a run from here on out, although any at-large hopes are likely nil.

Drexel's leading scorer in Chris Fouch has been out all semester recovering from a knee injury. They will be very tough. They were one of the top rebounding teams in the country last year and return pretty much everyone. They are all about tough defense and rebounding. Fouch is a HUGE part of their offense and a lethal 3-point bomber. They will be very formidable once he comes back. Humpty is playing well but I expect his PT to go down once Devon Moore gets back. Humpty thrives off of dominating the ball and he's simply not going to be able to do that with Moore back. He's a better all-around point guard and Humpty will suffer a bit as a very undersized 2 guard. Still a heck of a mid-major player and he plays hard. Thanks for the offer, still working things out to see if I can make it, but I will let you know if I make the trip up. I feel the same way about the Zips and hope you guys can break through and make some noise in the tournament. It's a great experience that I hope your fans can enjoy sooner rather than later.

It always is. I don't think we make as much at-large noise this season since most of our squads graduated a lot of seniors but the talent level in this league is as high as any mid league in the country. That won't manifest as much this year, but I suspect the next couple of seasons after this one will be VERY good for the CAA. George Mason has boatloads of talent, ODU will be better when a couple of players become eligible next semester and their star (and preseason CAA POY) is still recovering slowly from a stress fracture. VCU is young, but some of you have seen what they are capable of already this early in the season. Drexel is actually the favorite and the only team really returning a lot of upperclassmen off of a 21-win squad last year. It's as tight at the top as any conference in the country. It'll be a fun race to watch once the conference schedule starts up. James Madison has TONS of offensive firepower and they don't even have their starting point guard in Devon Moore this semester. They can't play a lick of defense however and that's what I think will sink them. I expect they will probably be middle of the pack in the CAA. Very talented squad, but they have to buy in as a team on the defensive end, something they haven't done to this point.

Did anyone see Valpo get absolutely destroyed by Ohio State yesterday? 80-47. Cleveland State plays one of our CAA brethren in Hofstra today. I expect CSU to romp since Hofstra lost Charles Jenkins to the NBA draft and don't bring enough back to hang with CSU. Even after losing Norris Cole to the NBA draft it looks like the Vikings are still very formidable. That's looking more and more like a chance at a marquee win for you guys. Marshall also managed to go on the road and beat Cincinnati 73-69 in overtime. Don't look now but they are also 5-0. Another shot at a marquee win. Don't be too down on yourselves about the recent losses, you guys still have a great shot at an at-large if you take care of business. 2 losses won't sink you. We had losses to some bad teams last year (Northeastern, Georgia State, and James Madison were all bad ones in the CAA, and the South Florida game wasn't a good loss either). We still ended up getting an at-large and did pretty well in the tournament last year. There's no reason to hang up your hopes for an at-large bid now. Still way premature to say anything about that. If you guys want to check VCU out there will be a couple of opportunities in the near future as we play #13 Alabama on ESPNU tomorrow in Tuscaloosa. We'll be going up against our former coach in Anthony Grant and they'll be making a return trip to Richmond next year. We also play cross-town rival Richmond (Sweet 16 last year) on ESPN2 on December 9th at our place. All of our home games are streamed on ESPN3 as well (we have a game against South Florida at home that you can watch there on Wednesday). We're very young and we've had some expected bumps as we started but we are showing some good progress and I really like some of the young guys we've brought in. We played in the Charleston Classic and lost to Seton Hall and Georgia Tech by double-digits, really showing our youth and inexperience. We beat Western Kentucky in the last game of the tournament in a game that wasn't decided until the final minute. We then had to play them again since we had them on our regular schedule at their place in the very next game. We played much better beating them on their floor by 23. It remains to be seen how much of that was whether we were good or they are that bad. WKU doesn't look like a strong team but we'll take the progress with a team this young. Alabama will obviously be a real test at their house. It's still early and I'm hopeful we can get things together to make a run at the CAA title in March since the league as a whole is way down from our 3-bid one last season. I don't foresee anyone from our league sniffing an at-large bid this season. I'm certainly glad we get a lot of time before we have to play you guys though. That is going to be a great test for our young guys! Watched the Bama game and think that Shaka is coaching 'em up pretty good. IMO, the Rams looked light years better than when I saw them earlier against S Hall and W Ky. I agree. After the first 4 point win on a neutral court against WKU, we had a regular season game at their place and beat them by 23. We then led for a large chunk of the Alabama game on their floor and they are #13 in the country and the most talented team we will see the rest of the regular season. Very impressed with the job Shaka is doing. We have another BCS test with South Florida coming to our place tomorrow. The game will be on ESPN3. Would love to see us beat the snot out of a Big East team. Young teams are exciting if only for the reason that you see very real growth from game-to-game. Very excited by what I'm seeing on the floor. Hofstra ended up beating Cleveland State which is a very good win for them, but I still think Hofstra is going to be fairly mediocre this year. Next year they have a couple of big-time transfers eligible in Jamal Coombs-McDaniel from UConn and Taran Buie from Penn State becoming eligible. I suspect they will be much better next season.

Tough loss Zips fans, they happen though. I have no doubt you guys will rebound from this.

For a team this young, tonight was an awesome glimpse of the potential of this squad. We have made some major strides in the last couple of games and I expect this team to be a major problem come March. Very happy to see our young guys starting to blossom, and on as big a stage as they'll play on at that. No doubt this game will be a barn-burner! Looking forward to getting more games under our belt and hopefully we'll be closer to what Shaka sees as the finished product by the time we face you all.

Did anyone see Valpo get absolutely destroyed by Ohio State yesterday? 80-47. Cleveland State plays one of our CAA brethren in Hofstra today. I expect CSU to romp since Hofstra lost Charles Jenkins to the NBA draft and don't bring enough back to hang with CSU. Even after losing Norris Cole to the NBA draft it looks like the Vikings are still very formidable. That's looking more and more like a chance at a marquee win for you guys. Marshall also managed to go on the road and beat Cincinnati 73-69 in overtime. Don't look now but they are also 5-0. Another shot at a marquee win. Don't be too down on yourselves about the recent losses, you guys still have a great shot at an at-large if you take care of business. 2 losses won't sink you. We had losses to some bad teams last year (Northeastern, Georgia State, and James Madison were all bad ones in the CAA, and the South Florida game wasn't a good loss either). We still ended up getting an at-large and did pretty well in the tournament last year. There's no reason to hang up your hopes for an at-large bid now. Still way premature to say anything about that. If you guys want to check VCU out there will be a couple of opportunities in the near future as we play #13 Alabama on ESPNU tomorrow in Tuscaloosa. We'll be going up against our former coach in Anthony Grant and they'll be making a return trip to Richmond next year. We also play cross-town rival Richmond (Sweet 16 last year) on ESPN2 on December 9th at our place. All of our home games are streamed on ESPN3 as well (we have a game against South Florida at home that you can watch there on Wednesday). We're very young and we've had some expected bumps as we started but we are showing some good progress and I really like some of the young guys we've brought in. We played in the Charleston Classic and lost to Seton Hall and Georgia Tech by double-digits, really showing our youth and inexperience. We beat Western Kentucky in the last game of the tournament in a game that wasn't decided until the final minute. We then had to play them again since we had them on our regular schedule at their place in the very next game. We played much better beating them on their floor by 23. It remains to be seen how much of that was whether we were good or they are that bad. WKU doesn't look like a strong team but we'll take the progress with a team this young. Alabama will obviously be a real test at their house. It's still early and I'm hopeful we can get things together to make a run at the CAA title in March since the league as a whole is way down from our 3-bid one last season. I don't foresee anyone from our league sniffing an at-large bid this season. I'm certainly glad we get a lot of time before we have to play you guys though. That is going to be a great test for our young guys!

He had 16 points and 9 assists in a blowout of Rider at the Palaestra in Philly yesterday. He's a decent player having seen him a bit more in the CAA, but he does have some attitude issues. He's getting PT at the 1 because their starting point guard is academically ineligible in Devon Moore. He's actually an Ohio boy out of Columbus Northland (Jared Sullinger came out of there as well).

Wow West Virginia looks very beatable! You guys should be licking your chops. I certainly would be if I were a Zips fan. You guys may very well go undefeated in the OOC if you can beat Cleveland State. The team I saw against Mississippi State would wipe the floor with this Mountaineers squad. Not to mention this gives some much-needed credibility to the MAC in case you need an at-large with Can't State winning.

ESPN gives you some love to make some noise out of the MAC. Andy Katz goes over some mid-majors to watch and Akron is among them, mentioning Zeke and Cventinovic (although they butchered his name lol). http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7215740 Detroit is also being picked to beat out Butler in Horizon as well.

A lot of these tournaments had mids beat the major conference teams in their pods to advance to the final rounds. These tournaments are privately funded by corporations with the intention of making a profit. When mids made the final field, interest and ratings significantly went down in most cases and these organizers took a loss financially. More often than not, mid-major squads don't travel well or have a large following either. Case in point, Akron likely would not have a large contingent of fans at MSG compared to Mississippi State or a local fan base in NYC that follows it to the level that MSU does. It's not right, but it makes sense from a business standpoint. At the end of the day that's what sports end up being about. The big draw of these tournaments are the big names, heck, isn't that the reason we as mids play in them in the first place? To get a scalp and get much needed statement wins we can't get in conference? It does suck for mids trying to prove themselves, but the organizers are only doing what they think will make their tournament more successful and get the most television ratings and attendance to turn a profit and get the most publicity. By and large, mid-majors aren't going to provide that. There are a few tournaments that still have the traditional 'earn your way to the final' format such as the Preseason NIT and the Charleston Classic which we are participating in this year.

Yeah most preseason tournaments are like that now to make sure ratings don't dip in the semis. The organizers of these tournaments don't want to take a loss if a mid-major crashes the party. This is the case for most of the major preseason tournaments with the exception of the preseason NIT tip-off. We played in it last year and beat Wake Forest by 21 on their home court to earn a trip to MSG where we lost by 5 to Tennessee and then beat UCLA in the consolation game. Most of these tournaments are designed to keep the mids out, but you guys won the games you could and made enough of a statement with your play. Hopefully you guys can knock off West Virginia (who has looked slow coming out of the gate in their exhibitions, they lost 1 D2 game) and that should give you a decent chance for an at-large if you take care of business in the MAC.