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I'd take our current overall athletic situation over CCUs

Well Del Duco (who I assume was the head official) has officiated 44 games this season all over the country including a few Stanford games, Balster has done 17 games..seems like a MAC/Horizon league guy, and as of January 12th, Leggs had already done 12 games, with 3 of them including Louisville and Notre Dame. I'd say they are a little more qualified than rec league. Look, I wouldn't even make a comment about the refs if there wasn't some form of complaining about them on here literally after 95% of the time after every game.

Unfortunately, life gets in the way of attending sporting events sometimes. GT rarely writing in his articles about officiating =/= GT rarely ever talking about officiating (twitter). Have you ever been a ref? It isn't easy. You have to make split second decisions that can have a large impact on games. You seriously think they were out to get the Zips? Give me a break. I'm a big fan of accountability, something it seems a lot of people lack. Would the Lady Zips have lost if they wouldnt have fouled the 3pt shooter with 46 seconds left or even let the PG who did absolutely nothing the whole game drive the court and make the game winning lay up with a few seconds left? The answer is no. So people need to quit looking for excuses, admit defeat (albeit a great effort), and get ready for the tournament. I doubt Jodi Kest and the team are blaming the refs for the loss. She teaches them to have a higher standard. "He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."- Benjamin Franklin

Great win last night and great win on national tv (finally) at that. Happy with the way we ended this season. Definitely on the right note, especially with McAdams having a few ease in games to get some of his legs back before conference tourney time. We can win it, and I'm not sure why...but I'm glad if we win we will be facing WMU in the semis. Probably going to have to beat OU, which we know is no easy task.

Well it wouldn't be an Akron thread if there weren't complaining about officiating. Really wanted to make this game. I've enjoyed watching this group of seniors. Props to the Zips for a great effort without Tecca. Definitely think they can get them in the tourney. Should be an entertaining few days for both the men and women again!

I believe I saw that Lynch did some DB drills at NIU's pro day. Anyone know when Akron's pro day is?

I would have swore it was over 1000 at one point last year, but regardless, great turnout. So pumped to get the W!! Wish I could have made it.

sending my imaginary reps your way.

They also have the best WR we will face all season, and you can take that to the bank.

even simpler than what ZTZ suggested, my suggestion is to put attendants at the bottom of the rows just like they do to get into the lower section. No ticket = no entrance.

Ah, GP1 never missing an opportunity to write a 500 word rant on the "building process". Thanks for sharing, Dave. I knew I could count on you to have something. Mods, probably isn't the right place to inquire about it, but could we possibly get the "like post" feature turned on?

nice thread, Balzy. Looking forward to hear some people's thoughts before heading into the season. Game 1: Home vs. Howard Love the cupcake being the first game of the season as well. A great chance to start off the season on a good note and continue to build on that momentum that we had at the end of last season. Game 2: Away vs. Penn State Hackenburg has been one of the great up and coming QBs the past few seasons. I expect him to continue to improve. As far Franklin, not really sure how I feel about him. Did not think it was that great of a hire, though he did improve Vanderbilt's program *some*, it wasnt spectacular by any means, in my eyes. OU beat them a few seasons ago. As time goes on, I think their sanctions will continue to take more of an affect, though im not so sure it will hurt them much that early into the season. Game 3: Home vs. Marshall A great mid-major program. Not sure of the reasoning, but I always enjoy watching Marshall play. Is Cato gone? If so, I believe we have a chance. If not, I dont think we win this one. Game 4: Away vs. Pittsburgh Love how close it is to Akron. I was watching their bowl game and came away very impressed with their young talent. Very good young QB, RB, and WR. I could very easily seeing this being our worst loss of the season. However, Pitt seems to have been very Jekyl and Hyde the past few years, so I also wouldn't be surprised if it is close. Game 5: Home vs. EMU Hopefully this Homecoming goes a lot better than last season's. I expect a W. Game 6: Home vs. Miami Miami was horrible last season and I expect them to be horrible again. I expect another W. Game 7: Away vs. Ohio Thank God Tettleton and Blankenship are finally gone. However, I don't think I've seen someone regress more over a season than he did last year (I actually blame that on the coach). From what I saw of their back up last season (Vick? If my memory serves me correc), he looks to have some real potential. Other than that I do not know what to expect from them. Should be an entertaining game. Game 8: Away vs. Ball State Wenning is gone. Snead as well? If so, I like our chances to win. Wenning is one of the best and most underrated QBs the conference has had in a while, IMO. I dont think his value to the team could be overstated. Game 9: Home vs. BGSU Its nice that our guaranteed home nationally televised game is against the reigning MAC champs. However, if everything goes as planned, they should handle us by 2-3 scores. BUT, they do have a new head coach and we were up on them 14-0 in 1st quarter last season before our offense went MIA, so you never know. Game 10: Away vs. Buffalo Mack is gone and the only offensive threat they had was Oliver, who is gone. Don't really know what they have coming up, but as of right now I think we should win this one. Game 11: Home vs. UMass New coach. The stud RB is a year older. Don't know anything else about them, but don't expect a huge improvement. Disappointed if we don't come away with a W. Game 12: Away vs. Can't Archer is gone. The other RB gone? I liked what I saw out of the QB earlier in the season, but it seemed he regressed some. Still like his potential. Still not sure how I feel about Haynes. Should be a competitive game as it usually is and we end the regular season with a W. As of now, I am predicting 7-5. My only locks are W's over Howard, Miami, EMU, and UMASS. I would be more than satisfied coming out of the OOC at 2-2, because that mens we beat somebody we weren't supposed to. If I had to choose, definitely would want it to be over PSU. I certainly think we stand a chance in every game.

I did not imply that the basketball program had anything to do with it. Just pointed that another person associated with the program has added yet another black mark. Not about to continue beating the dead horse. We need more players of Zeke Marshall's character. Damn I miss that guy.

Yep. I wonder how our student attendance stacks up with programs of similar caliber; DiG? Now attendence vs involvement during the game is a whole other discussion. Anyways, it's nice to see the Zips get back on a winning track. We are in serious need of McAdams and Kretzer back if we want a chance to win the tournament. Need some 3 shooters to spread the defense some.

I definitely see where you guys are coming from. I even *meant* to point that out in my initial post, but somehow said "win" instead of "attend". I guess you know what's on my mind. Here are some of my thoughts: Students:The vast majority of students are looking for every and any reason to drink/skip class. I mean we do only have like a 30% graduation rate. IMO, these games will have better student attendence than Saturday noon games for the obvious reason that the students are too hungover to get up and moving that early. Joe Akron: I don't see any reason Joe Akron cannot make it out to the game if he really wants to. The games will be over around 11ish depending on start time. I usually go to bed 11:30-12 and wake up at 6:30, so that doesn't really affect me at all if I want to go. And if it did, I think "Joe Akron" could suck it up for a night if he thought there was a team being fielded that is worth his time and money to watch. Comparison: I looked up a few #MACtion games from past season. OU @ Buffalo had an attendence of 23k on a Tuesday night in November. Can't St @ OU, a game with very little interest for OU fans to attend drew an attendence of 17k. Buffalo @ Toledo drew an attendence of 15k. I didnt even mention any of NIU's games because they are the prince of the conference. Would have been much better #'s if I did. BG did only draw 8.5k against OU for whatever reason, but that appears to be an outlier. Maybe there was some adverse weather conditions? Regardless, they are MAC champs and everyone seen them BCS bust NIU on national television. Doubt they care. Bottom line: We were given a guaranteed national primetime home game against the reigning MAC champs. If we are putting the team on the field that we all think we will, the attendence will be just fine. That's really what it comes down to. Any rumblings of the MAC "punishing" us is a complete and utter joke (not calling either of you out).

cool thread. Way to start it off Keener with The Lockview. My favorite restuarant! I'l follow up by recommending the University Inn located in Tremont. Today it was named an "American Classic" by the James Beard Foundation. Sokolowski's University Inn was one of 5 restuarants in the COUNTRY to recieve this honor. http://www.cleveland.com/dining/index.ssf/2014/02/sokolowskis_university_inn_nam.html

you guys have to be shitting me complaining about the scheduling. Yeah it isn't ideal from a fan's perspective that is looking to win the game. Only on ZN.O will you see people complaining about national #MACtion exposure and an easier conference schedule than last season. The MAC is rewarding us (and no, not by the easier teams) by giving us national games. How many did we have last year? And no, ESPN3 doesnt count. We are playing in the time slot that OU, NIU, Toledo, Ball St, Buffalo, etc were playing in. Enjoy it.

Is this well known and often in trouble fraternity you are speaking of known as "The fraternity of Zips Men's Basketball"?

This.

You do know that it is Evans and not Evens, right?

who was the engineering guy who did the new arena model?

While he is standing in the corner by himself, I hope Harney is realizing how much his selfishness has set the team back.

something to think about- I keep reading "those who know best need to make the decision to bring him back" Now please let me know if I am off base, but I am assuming this is in reference to KD and/or the AD or whoever else. My statement is that it's apparent none of these guys "knew/know" him considering what went down.

I would not be shocked for one of the St. V stud freshmen to get some reps on defense

thanks for sharing. I think a statue is a great idea. Even though our program doesn't have much historically to offer (IMO), this is something that is very important and needs to be embraced.