UAZip0510

I've long fought for one of the lower sections to go to students, but it's tough to support that argument at this point.

He can take out student loans for it like I did (and most of us do).

I'm talking the other side...it was 75% full yesterday (and that might be generous)

To answer your first question, absolutely. They'd have to go 8-7 or worse in the regular season, lose their first MAC Tournament game, and not win a postseason game. I don't see that happening. As for the seeding, I'm not sure you can predict the MAC at this point. Akron struggled at home against Ball State but beat OU on the road. Toledo smashed Akron at the JAR but got beat handily at Western Michigan and had a close call against Buffalo. EMU lose to Buffalo and had a close call against BG but pounded Western Michigan. Can't lost to OU, needed OT to beat NIU, and lost to Buffalo. Buffalo and OU have been been impressive but have played mostly weaker MAC opponents so far. To say ANYONE is a lock for any seed at this point is silly IMO. Akron, Toledo, Can't, OU, EMU, and Buffalo all could be in the mix for 1st round byes.

I will admit before anything else that I haven't attended every home game this season. However, the ones I have attended I've seen very low student/Rowdy turnout. Yesterday both ends at the bottom had plenty of seats open. I'm not trying to start a bashing of the Rowdies, just curious from those on campus/in the group what has happened this year as far as basketball goes?

I'd be all for Abreu returning - if he did so as a walk-on. Playing his final year as a non-scholarship player would show me he truly wants to make good on his past mistakes.

You really think Toledo is that much better than Akron? They're very good and may well win the MAC but this is a pretty big exaggeration IMO.

This was OK when Alex Abreu and Brian Walsh, two starting quality players, were playing in front of him. At this point Betancourt is a bench player and Nyles and Deji probably are as well. I'd start Diggs/Ibitayo/McAdams/Harney/Treadwell, but that's just me.

Pros Today - A lot of this was based on effort (fixable) - Treadwell kept playing hard all game - I still have full confidence we can beat this team (and any other team) in Cleveland Cons Today - A lot of this was based on effort (why wasn't it there?) - Awful, awful rebounding - Forsythe played with no confidence and little effort...he was awful - Jake/Reggie - 4-13 from deep combined - Nyles/Melo - 0 points combined - Quincy couldn't get going

My heart says we win, my gut tells me we lose by 10. To this point in the season the Zips haven't responded well to adversity - I think OU's crowd makes a big difference and the Bobcats win. I think this will be one of three MAC losses for Akron - the other two coming against Toledo and Buffalo, both on the road.

Any news on who will take Diggs' scholarship when he graduates? All I can find is that they have interest in Devaugntah Williams. http://akron.scout.com/a.z?s=333&p=8&a...amp;nid=7324922

Any news on who will take Diggs' scholarship when he graduates?

Thanks! If it's not possible please just pass along the message that we are all proud of him!

Side note - Zeke is starting to get more minutes. http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/zeke...game_stats.html He had a rough shooting night but had 7 rebounds and 3 blocks in 20 minutes against Iowa.

Any way Zeke could hang out for a few after the game to meet with some Zips fans? I, for one, would love to personally thank him for what he accomplished at UA and for always representing us incredibly. If not I understand...I'm sure they have a tight schedule, especially being the road team.

Who is your pick and why?

Zipsnation is a joke at times. Some of the posts on the South Carolina thread were ridiculous. That's the nature of a fan forum though..they all get ridiculous at times. I'm a little worried that Tree cared enough to post that. As Keener said, it's better for players and coaches to stay off of here (and, from what I know, most of them do).

So I was looking at the schedule and noticed the Maine Red Claws - Zeke's D-League team - plays the Canton Charge in Canton on Monday, January 20th at 3 PM. For those that are off that day (MLK Day) and/or can still make it to the game, I think it'd be cool to see a nice Zips contingent there to support Zeke. He represented us as good as any player that's ever worn the Blue and Gold and it'd be cool to give him a nice homecoming of sorts. Maybe we can even get some AK-Rowdies in the house. As an added bonus the Charge are running a promotion that game - Buy One, Get One free by presenting any non-winning Ohio lottery ticket at the box office. Go to http://www.nba.com/dleague/canton for ticket information!

I agree, but it's still possible to stagger the PT while starting them both.

As MAC play approaches, I think it's time for KD to start settling in on a rotation that we're going to roll with through March (barring injury of course). A little bit of this discussion was taking place in the South Carolina thread but that discussion has started to morph into another KD debate and, quite frankly, I'd rather discuss this team and this season than talk about something that isn't going to happen (KD being let go). The Zips have used several starting five's this season and, while I know the number of minutes each player plays and the five on the court at the end of the game are the most important things, I also think this team could use some consistency. Starting Carmelo and then playing him 3 minutes (Detroit) doesn't make much sense. I'm curious to hear what everyone would go with for their rotation. This is what I'd like to see: Starters C-Forsythe F-Treadwell F-McAdams G-Diggs G-Evans 6-Harney 7-Ibitayo 8-Kretzer 9-Johnson I understand that Diggs brings energy off the bench, but I think you have to start your 2nd best player. On a team like last year (with Abreu), I think it worked. On this team I think he needs to start. I like the idea of both he and Evans bringing the ball up and trying to create offense. I think McAdams has a ton of potential. He needs to work on the defensive end, but he has nice handles and is a pure shooter. I'd like to see more screens set up for him to work a mid-range game, not just setting him up for three point attempts. I believe Forsythe might benefit the most from an established role. He seems to play better when he is able to get a feel out there from the start. We need him to play well to win the conference - I'd like to see KD show confidence in him and keep him in the starting lineup. Tree is Tree. He needs to decide what he wants to do long-term. He's made some modest improvements but hasn't taken the MAC POY, future NBA Prospect type of leap I think many of us were hoping for. He has the potential to do both of those things - become a dominant player in the MAC and become a legitimate NBA prospect. It's up to him if it happens. This team seems to follow Tree's lead. Sometimes that's a really good thing, sometimes it's a really bad thing. With Zeke and Brian Walsh gone now (I think Walsh's leadership was underrated) someone needs to take on the leadership role of this team. That can be Tree if he wants to be "the guy" on the squad. I think Harney is best served as a 6th man. To me, he's the most disappointing player on the team. Sometimes he looks like an all-league player, sometimes he completely disappears. I know he wants to be a starter and get his playing time, but it needs to be earned. He seemed to be upset about not playing point forward much this year - I'd give him some looks there in small doses. I've been told Deji is one of the best players on the team in practice and it has just never translated to games for some reason. This year, it seems to be starting to. He's shooting better from the field and from deep. He's also playing nice defense (although he has to be smarter with fouls). I also love how he crashes the boards. I think Deji should be one of many shooting free throws after games though - 6 of 19 (32%) isn't going to cut it. I like Kretzer but he seems to be limited to spotting up for three pointers at this point in his career. If ESPN's statistics are accurate, he's taken 55 shots this year and 49 of them have been three pointers. At this point he's a bench role player. Hopefully he can expand on his game and add a spot-up, mid-range game similar to what I'd like from McAdams in time. Finally, I'd like to continue to see more of "Big Dog" Isaiah Johnson. In the small sample size that we've seen he's played well. I think with more court time, we could see some major improvements as time the season goes on. Barring serious foul trouble or garbage time, that's where I'd cut it off. I love Kwan Cheatham's potential, but there simply aren't consistent minutes yet for him. Carmelo Betancourt seems like a good kid, but I'm just not sure he's a D-1 player. He's an awful shooter and he should have to do push-ups every time he attempts a three pointer (3 for 25 in his career!). Until he can at least shoot well enough to keep a defense honest, I just don't see how you can play him much. (Note: I didn't include Aaron Jackson and BJ Gladden because it seems clear that they'll redshirt this season.) So that's what I'd like to see. I'm curious what the rest of ZN would like to see from KD moving forward.

Am I the only one not down and out on this team? Last night's game was the only one where I thought they had no business losing. It's important to remember that our point guard tandem came into this season with very little experience. Aside from the post-Abreu games, Betancourt was playing around 10 minutes or less per game. Evans transferred from a community college. Did anyone expect either of them to step up and lead this team successfully right out of the gate? Nyles has shown flashes of turning the corner despite an awful performance last night. Betancourt...well...I think we better hope Nyles is the answer. This team just wasn't good enough to be a top team for an entire season. Last year's team was, but unfortunately losing Diggs kind of blew that up. My biggest worry is the body language - even when last night's game was close, I saw South Carolina's players bouncing all over, the players jumping up off of the bench and clapping, and more energy altogether. The Zips lost to Iowa State because Iowa State is a better tam. They lost to South Carolina because they didn't come to play. Let's hope that loss was a wake-up call, they stomp SC on Saturday, and finish OOC play strong. Who knows, they may still get their shot at beating a Top 25 team at home on January 18th.

Melo played 3 minutes tonight. Nyles played 29. I think KD agrees with you.

Very sad news. Maybe this will put some things in perspective for our players.

If the sample size of your evidence is one guy - Zeke - then that's not a lot of evidence.

Tree came to UA with questionable academics and extremely raw basketball skills. Entering his third year, he's doing well in school and is a MAC POY candidate. KD is the issue though?