wadszip

Skip, come on. This has no relevance. What does Kevin Edwards have to do with Akron? First, Edwards is from Cleveland Heights/St. Joseph (yes, kind of local, but not as local as the guys mentioned above). Second, Akron was not even D1 when he was in high school. Third, while the "in-state" schools missed on him, it's not like he landed out in the middle of nowhere. DePaul was a powerhouse in the 80s that produced NBA talent almost every single year. ... Mark Aguirre, Tyrone Corbin, Edwards, Rod Strickland, etc. In that, he is more like a Darius Carter. And I know Carter was mentioned, but it's hard to call him a miss. His situation was pretty similar to Edwards' in that he went JUCO then to an, at the time, power. DePaul in the 80s was pretty similar to Wichita State currently. However, Nance and McCollum were flat out misses. Both guys, on record, said they wanted to come to Akron and neither got a shot. Yes, everybody else in Ohio missed on them too, but they are still misses. My take: I saw both those guys in high school, more so with McCollum, and while I thought both could play at Akron, I was hardly heartbroken at the time when Dambrot passed. So, I won't kill the staff for not offering either. In retrospect, you still have to consider both misses since they both wanted to come here.

8th grade? Either you were/are extremely tall or a D1 quality athlete. I played on a team with Sam Clancy Jr. in 7th grade and he dunked one time in a game ... one of those barely got it over the rim but it went in. All he did was go on to be an All-American at USC and drafted to the NBA.

I'll take it a step further. Despite UTEP's history. UTEP beating Akron would've been a bigger eye-brow raiser than Akron beating UTEP for college basketball fans.

Those who follow basketball are aware of Haskins and the Texas Western/UTEP name, and due to the movie "Glory Road," some casual fans who didn't know prior to a couple of years ago may know now (though I can't remember if the movie played it up) that Texas Western is now called UTEP. But, I'm in my mid 30s and an avid basketball fan. Off the top of my head, the only three things I know about the program are Don Haskins, it was the former Texas Western and that Tim Hardaway starred there in the 80s (the UTEP two-step). All of that is 30 years in the past. I think the people who think beating UTEP would've done something for name recognition are way overplaying that.

UTEP also had a much better shot at winning since it was on their home floor. You lose that game and RPI is taking a major tumble. You win and, frankly, it doesn't really matter. Yes, UTEP will be helped more in RPI by being in CUSA compared to Eastern Shore in the MEAC. But if UTEP only wins 2-3 games in CUSA and Eastern Shore goes .500 or better in the MEAC, it's moot. Let's cut it down the middle and say both go about .500 in league play. Is Akron really going to get that much of an RPI bump? I'm guessing you're talking a couple spots. Really, it doesn't matter. The biggest thing was getting out of this tournament 2-0. Playing Eastern Shore was far more likely to make that happen.

I kind of randomly started this thread, but Cincinnati beats Marshall on a last-second shot in OT. Mercer-LaSalle heading into triple OT. Watching that one on ESPN3. Hopefully ends before the Zips game starts.

Haven't tried getting a radio stream. Anybody know what time tip-off is?

Yeah, the true mark of a team coached by a D'Antoni. Still up one though. And Mercer scores five points in the final 6 seconds to send their game against LaSalle to OT.

11-0 run for Cincinnati to tie it against Marshall; and LaSalle on an 10-0 run to open up a seven-point lead. It was looking pretty promising up until the last couple of minutes.

Irvine only up 32-30 on UTEP at the half. That is exactly why I thought it was better off that Eastern Shore beat UTEP last night, since both teams stink. Better off facing the bad neutral court team.

Not that the Zips have a realistic shot at an at-large, but it still never hurts to climb as high as possible in ranking indexes. A couple interesting games of note that are going well for the Zips at halftime. (rankings are KenPom) No. 140 Marshall 50, No. 18 Cincinnati 38 (At Cincinnati) No. 191 Mercer 32, No. 103 LaSalle 28 (At Mercer) ... may have to look up if that is a home and home deal. If so, Akron needs to get in touch with LaSalle. Marshall is Akron's best win so far. A win there would vault them way up in the rankings. Mercer over LaSalle would give them a nice boost as well. In turn, both those would give the Zips a bit of a bump.

Marshall is beating Cincinnati 38-28 with about 5 minutes left in the first half ... Check that, just like that, it's 38-33. Gotta pull for the Herd in this one.

I'm not going to say that Joe Corner isn't deserving of an offer, and this is just my opinion, but this seems to be a relationship building offer ... which is something I alluded to a week or so back regarding the Akron East prospects. I'm almost certain that Joe and Reggie are cousins, so in a way, you can consider Joe a legacy recruit, considering Reggie Jr. was a high priority for the staff and Joe's uncle, Reggie Sr., is one of the best players Akron has produced in the last 20 years. So, I actually like this offer if it further deepens what seems like is already a solid relationship at McKinley, which is going to continue to produce talent especially now that Canton is down to one school ... not like Timken produced a lot of talent, but the McKinley QB was a former Timken kid (committed to Miami). If this is indeed a relationship building offer (and I'm sure the staff does sees potential in him), while I'm all for it in situations, hopefully those type of offers go out to kids at select schools. In Akron's case, McKinley, East and St. V's are probably at the top of that. Anyway, I wish him the best and another local kid staying home to root for. Let's continue to lock up the "State of Akron," which definitely includes Stark County ... and hopefully down the road Cleveland and all of Northeast Ohio.

Western is an enigma. They played No. 1 Villanova to 11 points, now within 4 in the second half against No. 2 UCLA and they nearly beat a top 50 ranked UNC-Wilmington team. But they also have a 25-point to a horrible Cleveland State team.

It's probably better that Eastern Shore won since UTEP came in at No. 289 in the KenPom rankings and Eastern Shore at No. 331, so it's not like either team is very good. Might as well beat a bad team on a neutral court than take the chance of losing to a bad team in a true road game. Overall, hopefully the Irvine game was worth going to this tournament, because it was evident it would be the only game worth anything, regardless of who the second opponent was. Either UTEP or Eastern Shore is a no-win game. Maybe you can argue there would've been something to be gained from playing a true road game against UTEP, but I doubt there would've been more than 500 people in the stands. With that, I won't kill anybody for agreeing to this tournament. The Zips took a chance and it backfired. I'm sure it was sold to Irvine and Akron that you guys get a crack at each other (both top 50 to 70 teams last year) with the winner taking on UTEP (since the Miners brought in as close of a gimme as you can get with Eastern Shore). As luck has it, Irvine (ranked No. 178 in KenPom) is decent but not as good as they were a year ago; and UTEP is god awful. But last year the mid-major tournament worked out well. Both Iona and Santa Barbara were ranked right around the top 100.

Point stands, but it was UC-Santa Barbara and Iona in Vegas. The USC wins (both Southern Cal and South Carolina were in Charleston, IIR). We did beat Oregon State in Hawaii three or four years ago.

That should be ball game.

Just like that, a 5-0 run and this is gonna go down to the wire. ESPN also corrected the score. LOL, just thought of it, I'm streaming the radio feed. Probably why I'm behind.

ESPN, which is a good minute or so ahead had Akron at 69 points after the TDM FTs, French saying 68.

Sounds like Big Dog and Hughes dealing with Montezumas Revenge.

Here is who I think can potentially play early: Justin Sampson may be too good to keep off the field. He was easily St. V's best player this year, IMO. But like Blue & Gold said, he may end up being a big WR. So if that's the case, he'll be at a position of strength so it will be tough to move up the chart. Though, I think he'll end up at DE and be a terror as a pass rusher down the road. Once he gets into a college weight program, could see him ending up being in the 6-3, 245 range. With his speed, will be tough for OTs to stay in front of him. ... I mean St. V's is hardly hurting for athletes with all the D1 skill guys they have and he still was the team's kick returner, just crazy. Tracy Jordan has the build (6-3, 250 as a HS senior) to potentially play early next year on the line. IMO, he probably projects as an interior lineman so if he gets time next year, will probably be at DE until he fills out in the 285 pound range. But he looks athletic enough to start out at DE if he's needed. Hopefully, he can redshirt and fill more into his frame. Kobie Booker has a shot at early playing time if he comes in as a TE. He won't unseat Taylor-Bennett, but could see him moving to No. 2 on the depth chart if he is a TE (where I think he should start). If you haven't watched his senior highlights (he added the full season about three weeks ago to hudl), check them out. I've never seen hands that soft on a guy his size. ... one-handed leaping catches, going over defenders to pull passes in, a one-handed running interception (obviously on defense). He's a guy who if he was 6-4 is a no-brainer TE and probably a 4-star, top 150 player. He reminds me a ton of Newman Williams just as an overall monster high school player. I know Williams is now a TE, but always thought he was a better defensive player than TE, but just doesn't have the speed to stick at LB (where he excelled in HS). But as a TE, don't think there is any doubt that Booker is the better prospect. But Booker can also easily come in as a DL, so who knows. ... BTW, wonder if he is any relation to Dante Booker, the former St. V 5-star LB now at Ohio State? Jemarulin Suggs I think absolutely plays next year and becomes the starting running back at some point in the season. Part of it is that it's an area of weakness and part of it is Suggs' talent. I think I mentioned this before but I talked to somebody who watches a lot more high school football in Summit County than I do who thinks Akron actually got the two best backs in the county. He actually think Marquise Bridges is the best "player" of all of them. Either way, that's saying something when you are in the same county as 4-star Todd Sibley and Michigan State bound Weston Bridges (MSU has never been short on RB talent). The reason I think Suggs plays before Bridges, though, is because is definitely a RB all the way. Bridges may be better suited in a JoJo Natson role on offense in the slot ... get him the ball in space and let him go to work with his speed and shiftiness. Bridges' speed is legit. It's funny if you watch Suggs' hudl highlights, you can hear the East coaches talking from the box throughout. There was a play in the East-Ellet game where Suggs gets to the corner and one of the East coaches says "He's gone." Immediately another says, "Bridges is going to catch him." Bridges absolutley ran him down from across the field (though did have an angle ... 2:44 mark). But Suggs has very good speed, so for Bridges to still close that gap on him that he did shows you what kind of speed he has. Reggie Corner has the bloodlines and the high school accolades, so won't count him out. I think he's a safety all the way. Guiser is entrenched at one spot, but if Corner is like his dad, going to be impossible to keep him off the field. Just my take, fwiw.

I agree with all of this. I'm guessing there will be at least one DL transfer. That's kind of been the theme the last couple of years ... McCray, Pittman, Marcus, Hamilton. Anybody know how many open scholarships there are? I'm done trying to figure out who exactly is on scholarship and who isn't. But I see there are 22 seniors on the roster and only 14 that were no brainer guys on scholarship, then Lane. It'll be interesting to see where some of the attrition will come. Here's the eight seniors I'm unsure were scholarship: Matthew Hoyer D.J. Jones Christopher Spurill Cory Morrow Zachary Sweat Ibrahim Mohammed Michael Butler Darian Williams Not that 247 even pretends to care about Akron recruiting, but I went back and they don't have any of those guys ever signing a letter of intent. I'll split the difference and say four of those guys either were always on scholarship or were put on scholarship this year. That tentatively puts Akron at 19 spots (18 seniors and Lane). Then Shipman left the program, so that's 20. Can't remember if we lost anybody else on scholarship. When you factor the usual 4-5 guys (at any program in the country) who transfer/give up football/injury during the offseason, so it actually looks like the Zips can easily fit all the guys on your list and have a couple more slots for grad transfers. Plus, I would be stunned if the two Oregon kids ever end up at Akron.

Thanks for sharing. My take after watching this is it's clear Burkahart has good speed and agility on the clips on turf fields (Norton, Cloverleaf). Hard to show that throughout when half the highlights were played in a swamp, especially the clips at Springfield and whoever that team was in all whites (Ravenna?). Overall, this is a quality get, IMO. He has enough speed where he could play outside, but looks like somebody who could flourish in the slot.

How didn't they win state is easy to answer. D1 recruits doesn't automatically equal a state title ... see Cleveland Glenville. The school has produced in the neighborhood of 50-plus D1 athletes (a ton to top-tier P5 colleges) and 15 or so NFL players in the past 15 years. Yet, never has won a state title. It has been, by far, the top high school for producing next level-talent in Ohio over that period. ... More overall D1 players, more BCS and more NFL players. To a smaller degree Buchtel has been similar (though Buchtel does have a couple state titles in the 80s/90s). Still, it's a school that recently has produced a ton of next-level talent that, for whatever reason, hasn't translated to a state title (though Buchtel did lose a 13-12 heartbreaker in the 2010 D3 state title game). Anyway, what I'm saying is that East has essentially become the new Buchtel. Marques Hayes took over a dead-end program and in four years has built it into a playoff winning team (East did destroy an undefeated an No. 1 ranked Marlington team in the first round of the regional playoffs). Kids from the city are taking notice and I'm guessing you'll continue to see more of them gravitate toward East if they continue to win ... like they did to Buchtel (more recently) and Garfield (going a little further back). What Bowden seems to be doing is trying to build a pipeline into that school, and it helps it is coached by a former UA player. Maybe part of that territory is taking a kid or two out of good-faith (and I'm just speculating on that, but it is not that uncommon in recruiting circles) in order to solidify that relationship when it comes to getting some of the higher-recruited kids who could be coming up through the system. Plus, I think a lot of people don't realize how good Summit County football is becoming. The county has 52 athletes on FBS football rosters this year. That is as many as Stark (26), Trumbull (14) and Mahoning (13) combined (I use those as examples because those areas are historically perceived to be "hot beds"). Plus, it's not like Akron can't go after recruits in those other areas, either, or Cuyahoga (which leads the state with 101), since all are essentially in their backyard. And at the high school W/L level, going back to 2010, Summit County teams have the highest winning percentage in the state playoffs of any of the major counties in Ohio. It breaks down: Summit (Akron): 83-50, .641 Montgomery (Dayton): 70-45, .605 Lucas (Toledo): 37-26, .587 Cuyahoga (Cleveland): 106-87, .549 Franklin (Columbus): 109-93, .540 Mahoning (Youngstown): 47-42, .528 Hamilton (Cincinnati): 103-102, .502 Stark (Canton): 40-43, .482 Trumbull (Youngstown/Warren): 28-37, .431 The numbers back up that Summit County has some good football. Akron already has major inroads to St. Vincent-St. Mary. Adding East to that looks like it will strengthen UA's pipeline into the city's public talent ... a base that could grow if East can establish itself as the city's football school and be a UA feeder. Branch out from there and you have quite a bit to work with in a 50-mile radius. With all that said, this program can't afford more years like this past one. Despite one of the most disappointing years in the program's history (relative to expectations), it looks like the local guys are still on board. But if the Zips have another disappointing year in 2017, all the local good-will, IMO, is on very thin ice. You start losing those inroads and have no real backup area to turn to (outside of Tier 6-7 Florida recruits), you are back to being, well, Akron.

I wish Antenno Jackson and Noah Rowbottom the best ... and the rest of Akron's sports programs. But I'm done.