UAZip0510

Bring it on. They beat us two out of three this year, but tonight could have gone either way. These are two pretty evenly matched teams. I think Abreu, Treadwell, Harney, and Gilliam will all elevate their games to new levels next season and we'll be much-improved. I hope we do get a rematch...I want revenge.

He still makes contact with it though...doesn't matter how hard he touches it. However, this is the first I've ever heard a technical foul for basket interference...?

Looks to be right above the cylinder from that picture. It seemed like Zeke timed it perfectly for a tip in too had it popped out. Damn.

I think we'll be much better next season. Abreu, Treadwell, Harney, and Gilliam should take big steps forward. Walsh is already a solid starter. The team seemed to finally gel a bit over these last three games...hopefully that carries over into next season.

Can anyone clarify what the proper ruling should have been? His fingers were clearly on the rim, but nobody touched the ball. Because of that: 1) Would the free throw had just counted regardless, giving the Zips the point they scored anyhow? 2) Would it had counted as a 2 point field goal because the ball had not yet gone in?

Wow...after blowing that picture up on my phone, it sure looks like his fingers are on the rim.

The first seven rotation players are locks: SR-C-Zeke Marshall JR-F-Demetrius Treadwell SR-F-Chauncey Gilliam JR-G-Brian Walsh JR-G-Alex Abreu SR-6-Quincy Diggs JR-7-Nick Harney The remaining five roster spots will be filled by Josh Egner, Deji Ibitayo, Blake Justice, Carmelo Betancourt, Jake Kretzer, and Reggie McAdams. I can honestly see major improvements from each of the first seven. The key to our success next season may depend on 2-3 of the last seven listed becoming reliable rotation players.

Cooper hitting the off-balance, fadeaway three pointer with a hand in his face was a dagger.

Duke's students would have a blown up cutout of this within an hour and have it ready for tonight's game. AK-Rowdies...perfect opportunity here...are you going to take advantage?

Good call once again!

Good call!

When Keith Dambrot took over the Akron Zips, they were coming off of a 13-15 season and a 1st Round MAC Tournament exit. The program had three winning records in its twelve seasons in the Mid American Conference. They had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals in the MAC Tournament. As an assistant in Dan Hipsher's final season as head coach, Keith played a large role in recruiting two players (Dru Joyce and Romero Travis) largely unnoticed by other schools. These two players would help Dambrot begin the rebirth of Akron Zips basketball. Starting with 2004-2005, Dambrot has led the Akron Zips to eight straight winning seasons and seven straight 20+ win seasons. Dambrot now has 291 career victories at The University of Akron. His teams have played in the MAC Tournament Final for five straight years, winning two of the past three. He's led them to five (soon to be six) postseason appearances (2 NCAA, 2 NIT, 1 CBI). During his eight year tenure, seven players have been added to the school's 1,000-point scorer's list. He helped turn Dru Joyce into the school's all-time assist leader and Romeo Travis into the MAC Player of the Year and an All-American Honorable Mention. He helped two players (Nate Linhart and Jimmy Conyers) to be named MAC Defensive Player of the Year, two (Cedrick Middleton and Brett McKnight) to be named as MAC Sixth Man of the Year, and two (Nate Linhart and Zeke Marshall) to be named MAC Tournament MVP. Even with this impressive list of accomplishments, Keith Dambrot has never won Mid American Conference Coach of the Year. This season, Dambrot knew he would be tested. He had just lost four seniors (Steve McNees, Darryl Roberts, Brett McKnight, and Mike Bardo), giving him the 16th youngest team in Division I-A basketball. Six of his players weren't on last year's active roster and four of his rotation players (including two starters) didn't play a minute of college basketball last season. His work was cut out for him. However, the adversity didn't stop there. It started in November, when the Zips lost a heartbreaker to Valparaiso, followed by a defeat by Duquesne. During that game, Nikola Cvetinovic openly argued with teammates and coaches on the bench, leading an assistant coach to send the senior forward to the locker room in the middle of the game. The Zips seemed to rebound in the next game with a win against Detroit, but then things really got bad when Alex Abreu was suspended for two games. His backup, Deji Ibatayo, was also suffering from a minor injury, leaving the Zips without a healthy true point guard. Things got even worse when Dambrot made the difficult decision of suspending Demetrius Treadwell for a violation of team rules. Predictably, a powerful beating from West Virginia followed. Abreu returned for the next game against Middle Tennessee, but it wasn't enough to prevent another huge loss. With Treadwell set to return in the next game against Cleveland State, the Zips seemed ready to bounce back. However, hours before tipoff, it was announced that Nick Harney would be suspended for a violation of team rules. Although they fought hard, the Zips lost their third straight game. Harney would miss the next four games. Finally, on December 29th, Akron had its full roster for the first time in a month. Akron would lose a tight contest to VCU that night, leading some to question if the team was good enough to win the MAC. The Zips responded. After defeating Marshall in their next game, the team started an incredible conference run with a win at Miami. Akron would go on to win twelve of its first thirteen MAC games before being embarrassing by Ohio University on national television. With a chance to clinch the #1 seed, they followed the OU debacle by losing a close game to Buffalo at home. Again, the team and coaching staff were questioned. The Zips responded once again, this time with an emotional win over arch-rival Can't State on ESPN 2, locking up the #1 tournament seed and MAC Regular Season Title. This has been the most difficult year of Keith Dambrot's tenure at The University of Akron, and yet, working through injuries, suspensions, and a transformed roster full of inexperienced players, the Zips are in a familiar place - the MAC Tournament Semi-Finals, two wins away from another NCAA Tournament berth. Keith Dambrot has revived the Akron Zips basketball program and, in his toughest test to date, has his team on the cusp of another historic season. I cannot imagine any coach more deserving of the Mid American Conference's Coach of the Year award.

Seems to me like he's just a soft-spoken, stoic kid. The hoodie is just a style thing. With all due respect, you guys are wayyyy overanalyzing.

I agree...that was a rare "good technical" in my eyes.

Some Tourney Tidbits - Akron has not lost to a team on their side of the bracket this year, going a combined 6-0. - Upset Specials? Bowling Green and Toledo defeated Ohio this season, and Miami played them close both times. Buffalo split with Miami and narrowly defeated Bowling Green twice. Central Michigan played them close. Can't State needed overtime to defeat Western Michigan narrowly defeated Eastern Michigan. - Top Seeds: Akron is 2-0 against Can't State, while Ohio is 2-0 against Buffalo

His original post had this: As mentioned above, EMU wins a tiebreaker with Ohio and Bowling Green and losses a tiebreaker with Can't State. Eastern Michigan can (believe it or not) earn the third seed if Ohio AND Can't State lose AND EMU wins AND Bowling Green wins. The BG win is important, because in that four-way tiebreaker EMU has a 2-1 record (66.7 percent), while Can't State is 3-2 (60 percent). Ties are broken on winning percentage, not number of wins. So yeah, I guess Can't could have been a different seed.

Can't State was locked into the #4 seed last night according the MAC Media Rep Jeremy Guy. EMU could have bumped up to the #3 seed had OU lost, but #4 was not a possibility. I'm keeping my two original posts updated for the entire tournament scenario as games go final.

Michael Porrini: “We won’t lose three times in a row (to Akron). I promise that.”

According to the MAC site, 8 PM. http://www.mac-sports.com/portals/20/MAC/1.../MACBracket.pdf

Anyone have information on buying student tickets for Friday and Saturday?

I agree. One interesting note - Ohio beat Buffalo in both of their matchups this season. We may be on a collision course with the Bobcats.

No problem! The original writer did a great job of breaking it down initially, I just edited it with the updated scenarios. Another advantage is the Zips will play in the early game Friday. After we win, our Finals opponent will be playing until close to midnight.

Akron and Can't State are locked in at #1 and #4 respectively. If we see Buffalo it wouldn't be until the final, regardless of what they do tomorrow.

Our results vs. each team currently projected to be on our side of the bracket: Can't State - 2-0; 84-75, 61-55 E. Michigan - 1-0; 77-47 W. Michigan - 1-0; 69-66 (OT) Miami (OH) - 2-0; 65-60, 74-59 N. Illinois - 1-0; 75-51 I'd love for things to remain like they are. I feel like Buffalo and Ohio U are our toughest matchups, and the only time we'd see them is in the final. Can't State would also be a good Friday matchup, as Zeke matches up extremely well against their bigs. That is if they get there. They needed overtime to beat Western Michigan at home, beat Eastern Michigan by 4, and split two tight contests with Miami. The potential for an upset certainly exists.

Just updated everything.