Dr Z

Will this hurt or help Buffalo?

Coach likes guard on court, admires him off of itby Michael BeavenCedrick Middleton applies a half-court press.The sophomore guard is averaging 7.6 points per game off the bench this season.University of Akron basketball coach Keith Dambrot loves to recruit players with strong character.The coach not only looks for excellent athletic ability from a recruit, he also looks for morals and values that make the player a solid person.Cedrick Middleton fits that mold."Cedrick is one of the highest quality people I have ever had in my time as a coach," Dambrot said. "He's a super kid."Dambrot credits a solid family environment for Middleton's personality."He comes from a tremendous upbringing and a great family," Dambrot said. "He's just a high character kid. If I had all Cedrick Middletons, I'd coach the rest of my life. I've had a lot of great guys, but he might be the best guy I have had."Middleton, a native of Illinois, provides a spark off the bench with senior center Rob Preston. The tandem brings athleticism and 3-point shooting. Middleton provides Dambrot with a solid reserve to junior Dru Joyce and sophomore Nick Dials."He's the first guy off the bench at his positon," Dambrot said. "He plays a lot in crunch time. He is really like an extra starter, both him and Rob are.""I don't view him any differently than I do Dru or Nick," Dambrot said. "He has great athleticism and now his skill level is catching up."Middleton was vital in the Akron's 76-61 triumph over Ohio on Saturday at Rhodes Arena. The 6-foot sophomore guard scored 13 points and had four assists."Cedrick played a great game," Dambrot said. "We didn't even know if he would play in (Saturday's) game. His knee locked up (in pre-game warm ups) and he was questionable."Middleton was key in the closing minutes of the victory over the Bobcats, making a jumper and converting a fast-break layup to help Akron improve to 20-7 overall and 13-3 in the Mid-American Conference."He got hot in the second half, making some big 3's," Joyce said. "He sped the game up and tired (Ohio sophomore point guard) Antonio Chatman out."Middleton was a standout at Marian Catholic High in Illinois, graduating as the school's all-time leading scorer. After a year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, he landed in Akron.This season, he saw a spike in play after the Dec. 28 departure of sophomore guard Bubba Walther, who elected to transfer to Ohio. Since that date Middleton has scored in double figures in 10 of 19 games.On Jan. 14, he tied his career high with 17 points in a 86-73 win over Northern Illinois. He previously set the career high last season, on March 5 at Buffalo, the Zips' opponent on Wednesday evening.All of the Zips' contests with Buffalo hold extra meaning for the sophomore guard. Cedrick's older brother, Roderick Middleton, is a senior guard for the Bulls."Buffalo isn't going to be easy," Dambrot said. "It's going to be a difficult game. We never play really well at Buffalo. It used to be no one was at Buffalo games, now, everyone is at the games."They'll come out extra hard because it's going to be senior night. Plus you have Rod and Ced playing in the game. I think Cedrick gets that extra spark, that extra juice, when he plays his brother."Middleton credits much of the Zips' success to better practices."It's definitely more competitive in practice this year," Middleton said. "It's more fun and we enjoy the winning feeling."Following the Buffalo game, Akron closes the regular season on Saturday at home against rival Can't State."We know these last two games are huge for us," Middleton said. "We want to win the conference and get an NCAA berth. We came out of the woods last year when we were in first and second place. This year, it's just expected of us and not a surprise."

Per Rasor:Major news within the athletic departmentMiscellaneousI have heard that a senior administrator may be following Mike Thomas to Cincinnati. I will attempt to confirm this in the morning.------------------------------------------------------------------------If this is true, I wish him well. A GREAT help to the University

"TAKE YOUR SON OUT"...still echoes in the JAR once in a while.

Can't fans unite at the JAR. Bring your frisbees and hacky sacks.

KNR also predicted that Quincy Morgan would be the best receiver to ever put on a Browns uniform !?!Although he does have a SB ring, I think I'll consider the source.In case you forgot

If anybody is in need of one ticket, I bought one too many.If you know me, I'll be at BW3's before the game.

I like your line of thinking. Probably won't happen. KD seems to be loyal to Dru.I would offer #4 Reason: Defense.

Genius. I dont want to get killed though. You'll be fine. The worst they could do would be to hit you with a frisbee or hacky sack.

What about an "alumni" Ak-Rowdie/Oldie section?I know we could put together 50 to 100 alumni that would make a lot more noise then the blue-hairs.Make it crazy. A place where no team wants to play.PS Serve beer in that section also

Maybe that was our punishment for the criticism? Or maybe they are working on a new layout and it wasn't ready yet. PS The scene from X-mas vacation ("if that cat had nine lives, it just used all of them) done on the big screen Saturday was perfectly timed...nice job. As always, I still love the Thriller video...I love when Zippy bounces that buck nut.

Why not just be Ak-Rowdies in your Akron garb at Can't? You don't need green (that is an ugly color).How would that tick off K-ent fans, if a bunch of Akron fans were cheering for OU.Do all the same stuff you would if OU were Akron. Do the AK-Rowdie cheers.Do your defense cheers. Maybe even throw in a "Time for Bubba" cheer.Have a sign ready if OU does win that says "next beating to come on Saturday"

Rome wasn't built in a day. You guys were great yesterday.Keep up the good work. Best chant: One side "who needs Bubba" Second side (pointing at OU bench) "you need Bubba"

3. Falling star: Memphis tailback DeAngelo Williams has the talent to be a high first-round pick, but his work ethic, toughness and attitude are being questioned by scouts. Williams needs to get his act together fastLooked pretty good in Motor City BowlOther MAC note:7. Men of Miami: A trio of Miami RedHawks — wide receiver Martin Nance, cornerback Darrell Hunter and linebacker Terna Nande — are worth keeping an eye on. From the third through seventh rounds, they cover a lot of ground on draft boards

I never thought I would jump into a discussion about the side scoreboards. But here goes.My problem is the way the scoreboards are layed out. They are not very fan friendly.When you sit in the middle of the court, you look left or right to see how many pointssomebody has, by the time I find the info that I want, I missed action in the game.I don't think the problem is the location, I think it is the set up (layout) of the information that is there.It just needs to be layed out better. I know somebody might say, "just wait for a timeout and you won'tmiss action", but sometimes player X hits a shot and I think wow that must be 10 points already, then I look over and by the time I find info, I missed something. This sounds lame when I read it back, butI'll still submit anyway.How about if we could get a pair of glasses that produce each players stats above their head as a hologram?We wouldn't miss action, no money wasted on scoreboards, it won't matter where you sit. Problem solved.

Isn't this the site that somebody emailed ZFF's name as the new OC and they posted it?Consider the source here.

Go to UT or go to jail?....how long of jail sentence?...

Maybe "da ZIPMAN" broke into his office a went crazy on the keyboard?!?!

Great info. One thing I question is getting ground breaking this summer.Can that happen that quick with eminent domain ?

------------------------------------- .........Anyon E............who S name is Bubba should P lay in.......souther N ohioFear the Roo...up next Sportscenter------------------------------------- Anybody can have the rights to make this sign. I won't have time.

in looking up the spread for this game (Nevada -6) I found an interesting stat.Akron is number 4 in the nation against the spread.For those of you that may be in the car out of state or country tonight, the game is on Sirius 126

Bluto

When the Steelers cut Maddox, they will be looking for a cheap third string QB.How odd would it be for an NFL team (World champs at that) to have 3 MAC QB's on one team at 1,2 and 3?Assuming they picked up Gradkowski and resigned Batch.

For all the Toledo fans on the board

I will be out of the country Friday night and will not be able to attend.Can someone do me a favor? Take a few photos and place them in this thread on Sunday or Monday. I'm interested to see the good time.Just some overall crowd shots.