Dr Z

From the site posted above:Player of the Year: Leon Williams, OhioThe senior forward is having another stellar season and is a primary reason that Ohio (15-6, 6-2) currently finds itself in the middle of a three-way tie with Akron and Can't State for the top spot in the MAC East and with a solid shot at an at-large NCAA bid if the cards fall just right for the Bobcats, especially if they prevail in their Bracketbuster contest against George Mason.Williams is currently third in the MAC in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per game, tops the conference in rebounding with an average of 10.1 boards per game and is second in the MAC in field goal percentage (.608). Williams is also the only player in the conference averaging double figures in both scoring and rebounding and if those numbers hold up would be the first player in the MAC to average a double-double since Eastern Michigan's John Bowler averaged 20.1 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in 2005-2006.Combining with Jerome Tillman, Williams and the Bobcats present the MAC's most formidable frontcourt duo and with the emergence of talented perimeter performers like Bert Whittington and Justin Orr and the strong point play of Michael Allen, opposing defenses cannot afford to focus on Williams which has certainly helped Williams' numbers to this point.Through 21 games, Williams has topped the Bobcats in scoring nine times, including averaging over 20 points in each of Ohio's last three games and has topped Ohio in rebounding in 18 contests, including snaring a game-high 15 boards in Ohio's 61-55 win at Maryland.Keeping an eye on: Giordan Watson, Central Michigan; Joe Reitz, Western Michigan; Tim Pollitz, MiamiDefensive Player of the Year: Haminn Quaintance, Hippie UWhen he is on his game, there is no more tenacious defender in the MAC this season than senior forward Haminn Quaintance who has the ability to change the flow of a game and interrupt opposing offenses.Quaintance has picked up from where he left off last season, and then some, as the MAC's top shot blocking threat. Quaintance currently leads the MAC in blocked shots with 49 rejections (2.23 per game), already surpassing his total of 48 blocked shots from last season and has harassed opposing players with his quickness and defensive presence, recording 41 steals (2nd in the MAC) in 22 games.There are several milestone benchmarks within Quaintance's grasp. With just three more blocks and two steals Quaintance will become the only active player in the NCAA to reach career marks of 1,200 points, 800 rebounds, 250 blocks, 250 assists and 200 steals.'Q' has also been getting it done on the defensive glass, hauling in 104 defensive rebounds (3rd in the conference) so far this season. But the 6-8 senior forward is not a one-dimensional player as evidenced by the fact that Quaintance tops the MAC in field goal percentage, averaging 61.9% from the field which also makes him an outside threat for Player of the Year honors.Keeping an eye on: Tyrone Can't, Toledo; Jonathan Amos, Toledo; Chris Knight, Bowling Green; Jeremiah Wood; Akron6th Man of the Year: Calvin Betts, BuffaloEach year this award is harder to quantify with coaches going away from a traditional, standard five-man starting rotation. Often the sixth man in today' s game plays more minutes than many starters. This season there are several strong candidates for sixth man of the year but at the halfway point we are impressed by Buffalo swingman Calvin Betts.Betts, a sophomore, has appeared in all 20 games for the Bulls this season, coming off the bench in each contest, and is averaging 23.1 minutes per contest, fourth highest on the team. Betts leads the Bulls with an average of 6.7 rebounds per game and is averaging 8.3 points per contest. He ranks eighth in the MAC in rebounding, including sixth in defensive rebounding, while pacing the Bulls on the glass in each of their last nine games.Despite his "part time" status, Betts appears in the top fifteen in the MAC in four individual categories (field goal percentage, rebounding, offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding).Keeping an eye on: Steve McNees, Akron; Brian Moten, Bowling Green; Andre Ricks, Western Michigan.Newcomer of the Year: Kenny Hayes, MiamiWe will be introducing a new award this season, "Newcomer of the Year," and retiring our "Freshman of the Year" award. Freshman and other players in the first year of participation in a program will be eligible and right out of the gate, our leading contender is a JUCO transfer performer.Miami guard Kenny Hayes, a junior transfer out of Cincinnati State, came into the season with a lot of expectations riding on his shoulders with head coach Charlie Coles pegging Hayes in the preseason as the RedHawks' starting point guard. Hayes started strongly, scoring 18 points in his first game for the RedHawks in Miami's victory over Xavier and after a rough stretch, regained his scoring touch.Hayes has registered double-figures in scoring twelve times in 20 games this season and has started in all but one contest. Providing backcourt stability for a squad that was searching for consistency at both the point and shooting guard positions, Hayes has hit double-figures in each of the RedHawks' last seven games and recorded career highs in back-to-back games recently against Northern Illinois (25 points) and Ball State (27 points).Hayes ranks third on the RedHawks (and 17th in the MAC), averaging 11.9 points per game and shares the team lead with Michael Bramos in free throw percentage at .776 which is good for tenth overall in the MAC.Keeping an eye on: Chris Knight, Bowling Green; Darion Anderson, Northern Illinois; Malik Perry, Ball State; Bert Whittington IV, Ohio; Steve McNees, AkronCoach of the Year:Louis Orr, Bowling GreenComing off a 13-18 season that included winning only three of sixteen conference games in 2006-2007, not much was expected out of Bowling Green coming into this season under new head coach Louis Orr who took over the reigns of the Bowling Green program following the resignation of former head coach Dan Dakich.Orr, a prolific NBA and collegiate player, came over to Bowling Green after previous coaching stops at Seton Hall and Siena College and made an immediate impression as one of the more affable and thoughtful coaches, the near opposite of his predecessor who was more akin to being a veritable mini-me version of Bobby Knight.Orr's squad has been short-handed from early on with a season-ending injury to junior forward Erik Marschall; the departure of junior forward Dusan Radivojevic before the season started and the dismissal of senior guard Ryne Hamblet. All were players expected to make significant contributions this season. But Orr didn't flinch and the Falcons have responded.The Falcons have already surpassed last season's conference victory total and at 5-3 are only one game behind the leaders in the MAC East. Orr's teaching has also taken hold as the team has embraced his philosophy, especially taking care of business on the defensive end.Bowling Green tops the MAC in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 40.5% from the field and three point field goal defense, with opponents only hitting 30.2% against the Falcons from downtown. The Falcons are also averaging a league-best 4.65 blocked shots per game. All are statistics that reflect Orr's workmanlike style of play.With quality wins this season in non-conference play over Belmont, Furman and Cincinnati, Orr has turned around the Bowling Green program in lightning quick fashion while dealing with a seriously reduced roster. Halfway through the season, Orr is the clear leader for Coach of the Year honors in the MAC.Keeping an eye on: Keith Dambrot, Akron; Jim Christian (who fears the roo)

Jo Pa...Jo Pa...Jo Pa...Always wanted to do that. Welcome Joe

Probably this guyMake sure you stop back after the game is over...either outcome.

Worked out odd for Chase, he got more tv time with his helmet off than I think any other player did.

This means our QB might actually have someone to throw to this coming season.Other than Harvey, can anybody recall a WR that come in as a freshman and made an impact?

"I am officially committed to the Akron Zips," Fleming, who is the No. 44 player in Ohio, said. "I committed today. My dad was really excited about the news."Click here for source

Commiting TWENTY THREE turn overs and crying about the refs?I agree with you, you sound like a cry baby.Kiel, nice graphic

Wow! 4 star WR. Looks like a gym rat too.

I have never tried this before, but since I'm out of town, this might be my only option.Click on "WATCH"PS If anybody reads this that can do anything about it, can we get some MAC games on Sirius?It can't be hard, every other conference does it. :rolleyes:PSS Needle "works" for free, he doesn't get paid to announce....right?

What part of bad MAC officiating surprised you? The officials in the MAC have been awful ever since I watched my first game at the JAR.I have grown to expect bad officiating in the MAC, if there is a game that is officiated good, that surprises me.

Tim O’Shea quote“If you’re a fan of MAC basketball, you felt you saw a quality game. Both teams played hard on the defensive end of the floor. Too bad we couldn’t get the rebound at the end of the game. I wish we would have gotten a better look.”Translation: "F Bubba"

Were the coaches scaring Bubba by yelling at him when he went up for a shot and missed NINE times????

I would be surprised if his "goal" is to play CFL. I have never spoke to him directly on the issue.I think one of the biggest positives he has coming into the draft will be his combine.I have to think he will open some eyes at the combine. If you have ever stood next to him, he "looks"like an nfl player (big and cut). I also like his attitude and I think he is a team player. As far as dropping a few passes, I don't see that being an issue with him. I would guess his move fromQB to WR was a business move to improve his chances in the NFL. If he does wind up in the CFL, I'm sure you will be pleased if he is on your team Trojan.PS If you are a scout and sign him because of good things you read about him here, you owe us a keg of Labatt for our first home tailgate.

They do. I was at one.

He didn't mention it because the Big ten schedule ended on Nov 17th.

Taking 'The' as a spoil of victoryBy Clay TravisLet's be honest, the SEC owns The Ohio State University. The ownership is so clear I'm officially awarding the pretentious 'The' that Ohio State likes to place in front of their school to the SEC. From now on it's The SEC. I'd encourage everyone to join me in this. And if you ever see anyone referring to Ohio State as The Ohio State University, please be so kind as to point out that The SEC owns them.In the wake of the second annual Ohio State beat down, several of you have already written to me suggesting that Ohio State is the Buffalo Bills of college football. That's far too generous to Ohio State. The Bills had to win their way to the Super Bowl. Granted they lost once they got to the big game, but they beat several decent playoff teams to get there. All Ohio State had to do to make the BCS title game was have the good fortune to play a regular season in the Big Ten.This win brings into stark relief the reason the Big Ten doesn't favor a college football playoff. It's because they know their teams wouldn't be nearly as competitive if the games were played on the field instead of inside computer databases.Don't give me any more of the excrement-filled talk from Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney about why a playoff doesn't make sense for college football. It makes perfect sense for college football, and anyone with a pulse knows it. What it doesn't make sense for is the Big Ten. Because their teams are always overrated and never justify the media-fellating they receive all season long.Nine consecutive losses to the SEC is way past a trend folks, it's a way of life. Basically Ohio State is the SEC's bitch, and there's nothing they can do about it.On to the BCS title shellacking and the things that most jumped out at me about the game.1. Florida coach Urban Meyer is a guest analyst. I'm sure he doesn't realize he's holding the microphone with his huge national championship ring. That's probably just a coincidence.2. I'm not going to lie, the most interesting over/under in the game tonight is number of "you can't see me" gestures we're going to get from LSU. I'm thinking the number has to be at least 10.3. My wife comes into the room, sees Ohio State take the field and says, "I hate Ohio State. Their fans are so smug and mean. They're like the Georgia of the SEC." (My wife also hates Georgia, an emotion we don't share since I like Georgia fans. In defense of Georgia, Ohio State would have lost a minimum of three games if they'd played eight in the SEC.)4. LSU's quarterbacks have been preparing for the game against Ohio State by playing video games. My favorite part of the entire article? "So when Flynn, LSU's fifth-year senior starter, sits down to play, he's got an extensive selection of plays from which to choose, compared with Perrilloux, the No. 2 quarterback whom Crowton usually limits to about 10 plays per game."5. Ten plays per game? Ryan Perriloux has been at LSU for three years now. He's a redshirt sophomore and he can't even play a video game with more than 10 plays? This means he's learned an average of two plays a semester. Seriously, two plays a semester. That's unbelievable. Especially when you consider that one of Perrilloux's 10 plays on the video game involves dodging federal investigators.6. Also, did UT's defensive staff recognize this limitation when Perrilloux started the SEC Championship Game? If so, this means they were effectively playing Tecmo Super Bowl only with 10 play options to defend instead of eight. And we still lost. Awesome.7. Slowhio scores the first 10 points of the game. I have to admit I was sort of rooting for Ohio State to go up 14-0 just to see how Les Miles reacted on the sideline. Source

source

Nice find, thanks. I know who I like in the big man matchup:

Your not looking for sympathy from a Zips fan are you?

Does "Zippy" know about ZipsNation.org?

So your going to take Akron in your bracket when we get a 15 seed against Pitt who gets a 2 seed?

There is a good batman utility belt joke in there somewhere. Loved watching him at Akron. Good luck to him.

So we have a chance to play an in state, top talent team at HOME and some of you would rather see a crappy team with a good band? Oh boy.I would love to see Cincy come here and play!Are you guys the same ones that didn't want Akron to play VT at the Rubber Bowl too?Future Schedule for reference

Nice notes GP1. Thanks.I caution making overall general opinions about the team based on seeing 1 game.I did the same with Can't State one year and I was dead wrong. Hopefully this is a team that learns from their mistakes and gets better as the year goes on.

AK-Oldies on one side of the hoop vs AK-Rowdies on the other side. A little friendly competition to spice things up. The competition would create the attendance.Maybe just try it one game early in the season.