taxpayer

Never been in it but from the description it sounds like a nice emergency gym. I'll be interested to hear how this plays into the "Master Plan" for improving UA's campus and programs. Would this facility make a suitable volleyball facility?

Floor is ok to me. I don't like how far the seats are from the floor on the sides and would hope they have portable seats that ascend up from the first row for the end zones; if not, UA's administration should hand a photo to the design staff and say this is exactly what we don't want.

Do you think a MAC Challenge Tournament would work? If ESPN could be involved I'd propose the following. Participants MAC - Zips, ou, cant Others: Cincy, osu, Xavier Site: Columbus (only way to drag osu in I believe) Why: Good games, easy & cheap travel & some TV money & good OCC games for all involved Fan bases would buy 1,000 per x 6 = 6,000 pre-sell. Walkups should be another 2-3000 in attendance. Could be a 4pm, 630pm 9pm night If osu declines invite Pitt/WVU/Dayton or the Valpo Homers

I agree that ou will continue to challenge the zips. I agree Buffalo will be an interesting watch what with the new coach and the possibility of bringing in some nyc/nj recruits that Reggie couldn't. Cant will always be Cant but I think they might be slipping a little plus Toledo is building something nice with their coach and facility. BSU deserves watching as they seem to have the commitment, money, facility and Whitford as the new boss might surprise in another year or two. He is well respected/known, he will get some nice Chicago recruits. I still see the Zips as the Big Boy in the MAC; KD needs to keep pushing for a facility to keep the momentum going towards being a Top 25 - 30 program. We also need TB to win and win now to generate cash.

With the news of ou vs tosu does anyone have an idea of what the upcoming season's OCC schedule looks like?

I see four players subjected to extra pressure by KD and the staff: Q - no BS in practice, show up early, lead by example and no off court issues. I look for Q to be co-leader of this group along with Tree. I believe Q is up to the challenge. Mr. Evans - The coaches know that it's imperative for the pg to be a solid ball handler and a deliverer of the ball. Limited turnovers, the right pass, solid D will be demanded. A few points from this spot is icing on this cake. If the two listed pg's only play this position it will be a great thing. Deji - he appears to be the odd man out at the 2 and 3. If he can be a defensive stopper, adequate rebounder and limit mistakes with the ball then that role is available. Shooters and average defenders abound. What will be needed is an effort and attitude like BWalsh displayed. Content with not alot of shots, defend other teams scorer at the 2 or 3 and rebound your butt off. If Deji embraces such a role then I see a redshirt for one of the freshmen. Mr. Johnson might be the best offensive lineman at Akron but this is basketball. Speed kills (VCU) and not many 300+ young men can move. Nutritional discipline, time in the weight room and conditioning to be as important as skill development for Isaiah. If he buys into this, there are minutes for him. If not, run, run, and run some more big man. Get a red shirt, drop weight and work on your game for a year during practice. Like last year, practices will be as intense as games to earn playing time. Good luck to all!

Admission of guilt as opposed to the drawn out trial process puts a ray of hope into the conclusion of this sad chapter in Alex's life. If AA has taken responsibility for his actions and accepted the consequences, he has the chance to turn this bad event into something positive. Maybe there is a university who will bless him with an athletic scholarship and thereby give him the means to complete his college education.

Maybe both K Walsh's will be at the golf outing....will you? Brian could introduce you. Zips need to sell this out and raise some $ to keep raising the bar in the MAC; with budget cuts being made outings such as this take on even more importance.

Looks like the Houston Astro's finally cleaned out the Astrodome storage rooms and sold the U of L those hideous uni's.

I agree with TW's comment regarding student involvement on campus. From what I've observed the last few years, leadership needs to decide if they will build dorms or if they want to let private industry continue to provide the bricks and mortar for upper class housing. UA definitely needs more residential students, those same students would hopefully translate into better attendance at week night basketball games. UA athletic & marketing departments did a better job this year getting some BBall players to speak to student groups about attending their home games. This year was better than last year and the goal should be that next years student turnouts be better than last years. I believe football has the necessary ingredients in place, great facilities and a name head coach. Winning has to be next. Men's basketball has a loyal, successful head coach who is bringing in better and better talent in spite of playing in a less than impressive facility. Like it or not the facility does impact recruiting. There are ways to make the JAR more attractive to the general population which is needed badly. A packed JAR is still a below average facility but it can be an above average game day experience any kid would want to play in. Since there isn't a line of corporations drooling over funding, buying corporate seating/boxes, or even bidding on naming rights UA will be in the JAR for at least 2 - 4 more years. The first question is what is the long term plan for the JAR? Will it remain in use for students and D1 sports other than hoops if and when a new bball facility is built? If yes, then improve the seating now. Put some kiosks in so everyone doesn't have to get some food and drinks from the current location. I doubt much $ is made from the current food/beverage arrangement. Invite some people in that business to come in and bid to take that function over. Install some additional lighting in the main entry so people don't feel like they just entered a mine shaft upon entering. Figure out how to get the students down on the floor. I've suggested moving the media table to one of the corners on "the track". Bunch the boosters into courtside seats opposite the benches if there are enough of them willing to pay to be down on the court. There is wasted floor space in all 4 corners, explore ways to increase student bleacher seating in the corners and dedicate both ends to students/band,cheerleaders/dancers. Find a top 25 D1 team who is willing to come into the JAR. Heck find a top 50 team to come into the JAR. Everyone complains about the OC schedule; someone else mentioned playing at the Q with OSU, Xavier or Cincy being involved. Cant could participate but we would never play them because of conference obligations. Would a Saturday of college hoops involving the Zips, Cant and the other Ohio schools draw a big enough crowd to entice (pay) the bigger schools to come in? Would ESPN bid/sponsor such games? The exposure would be worth as much for the Zips as the money.

Meaning? Current Zip transferring? Ineligible? Someone willing to pay their own way coming in?

The wife and I attended the banquet and must say that from the players to the coaches I was impressed with how approachable, friendly and accommodating they all were. If you didn't attend you missed a very enjoyable and relaxed night out with some young men that represent UA well! All for $20. I think they said there were 450 in attendance, didn't feel like that but thinking back, the entire court was full. Nicely done Zips. Brian, Chauncey and Zeke, impressive speeches. It was evident of the character we've heard about from the coaches.

Heck of an accomplishment, not to mention doing so with 4.0! Only the 2nd Zip in school history to be named twice. Great job Brian!

A championship game on a Saturday night makes total sense; the players actually might get to a few classes, their families might be able to work and the fans might consider a trip if not for missing work the day off and the day after. Makes sense to start the game at an earlier hour on a weekend so the west coast isn't inconvenienced. All the above is true but we are speaking of the NCAA...they could care le$$ about all the above. It'$ all about the $$$$ for them. If you buy into their student athlete mantra I have some Florida swamp land I'd love to see you. Consider this, the NCAA had the University of North Carolina sideways in a cheating scandal involving their football and basketball teams and did absolutely zip about it. Speaking of Zip....our athletic compliance office made typographical errors on some paperwork submitted to this fine organization and what happened. We had two (2!) players suspended for 3 games for something they had nothing to do with. Guess this sounds like sour grapes and admittedly, I guess it is but the old line is still true that the NCAA was so mad at Alabama that they took 3 scholarships away from Arkansas Pine Bluff. Oh, I almost forgot....NCAA approves Alford leaving his gig which just gave him a 10 year contract extension (to assist with recruiting) but little Jimmy and Jamal, who were recruited by Alford you can't go anywhere. Well, you can leave but you must forfeit 25% of your eligibility. Enough said.

Walsh's performance when healthy was impressive; especially when you factor in he rarely got more than 8 to 10 shots in a game. His game versus OK State illustrated what might have been but for injuries. He will never use it as an excuse but he was injuried almost all year with hip, back and ankle injuries. How he even got on the floor in Athens after severely spraining an ankle 6 days prior was unbelievable. Summation: great team first player who unfortunately played his last year hampered. Like Paul Harvey said........an now, you know the rest of the story.

Who will be attending the last event of the year? I've got my tickets and hope there is a strong showing of Zips Nation in attendance.

I'll begin by saying I love hockey, with that said, the cost to have a refrigerated ice surface is huge. So are the costs to keep the ice acceptable to skate on. Unless UA decides to take the plunge and bring hockey (mens & womens) on board at the D1 level which will cost the athletic department a minimum of 18 full scholarships (guessing) x $30,000 (swag) which equals over $500,000 just for the players. Is there any minor league hockey teams worth trying to lure with a new arena that will pay for the capital costs listed above not to mention the zamboni, driver & the man power to switch from hockey to hoops to concert to hockey to hoops, etc In other words until a comittment to hockey is made it's way too expensive to consider. If the day ever comes a pre-engineered steel building could be built similar to the indoor track/football facility. Quite frankly, that approach could be considered if the Zips keep the basketball arena at 8,000 or lower. As stated previously, excavate down forty or fifty feet and put up an engineered building with a wall height of 30' t0 40'. The exterior could be to look expensive by following the brick veneer & glass styling of Infocision and a few of the new campus buildings. I don't have much experience in such matters but it's obvious the JAR is a liability to future plans to "Think Bigger" so I thought I'd throw this on the wall.

UCLA - all that glitters isn't gold. It definitely has the big name but that program has some issues as well as serious competition with their conference which wasn't always the case in the past. In the financial world, the cost of living in LA is probably twice that of SS's VCU world. SS has definitely got some good will in the bank with VCU & can parlay this years performance and UCLA's interest to obgain some more cash if that's his desire or could get some more $ for his program or both if UCLA shows public interest. It's nice to be wanted!

Hate to say it but UA isn't going anywhere currently. Football is an anchor currently in athletic reputation and financially as well. Men's basketball surely turned a profit for the university but with sellouts still being the exception to the rule, how much cash did they profit the university? The leg of this stool is radio/TV money and I'm afraid that stream is pretty dry as well. I think the plan should continue to be to resurrect football for the simple reason of the enormous capital investment that has been make here. Concurrently, keep raising the budget for mens basketball. It has the potential to be a cash cow in the future and the program is climbing the ladder to being a nationally know program. Right now, we are on the outside looking in as far as national discussions go but regionally we are in the cat birds seat and need to stay there. How? Bigger budget for recruiting for the staff, pay increases to keep quality staff and entice some coaches outside the program to consider earning their chops here. Upgrade the OCC schedule; obviously we would prefer to play better competition on neutral courts rather than adding to our challenge by playing Goliath in his own house but once a year just for name recognition would be worth the risk. Get to as many preseason tournaments as the NCAA will allow. Design an 8,000 seat fantastic facility and show off the design to prospective sponsors (cheaper today than in a couple of years as the program continues to climb. Show to big boosters and promise seat/box preference. Continue to recruit players and just about guarantee MAC rings and typically at least two trips to the dance in your 4 yr stay. Realistically, KD will have some problems as 4 stars recruits coming to UA will have some baggage typically that cooled off the big boys. That means additional university academic support and committment. Start the fundraising for a better facility. Dominate the MAC - win, win, win. Attendance was up and it has to go higher. Season tickets should account for 40 - 50% of the JAR if sellouts are to be a consistent. Pressure other MAC schools to improve their athletic product or get out. Do all of the above and there will be knocks on UA's door from the bigger conferences.

Here is Akron/KD's challenges as I see it: 1. Add an offensive specialist to your staff or delegate if that talent is already on the bench. 2. League - competition is at best coming from 3 teams historically. Akron, Can't State & OU. Another problem associated with the MAC is playing the majority of our schedule against smaller, inferior competition. That's not KD's fault it's the MAC's fault. Zips get false sense of security playing inferior competition in mid size arena's with smaller crowds. When they go to major arena's and teams courts it's a bigger adjustment than you think. 3. JAR - The Zips did their best to keep up with the Jone's with their new player lounges and weight room but let's be serious here. The JAR is the worse arena in the MAC. By a large margin in fact. This year attendance was encouraging and the players and athletic marketing department deserve credit for that. I've been in better high school gyms. 4. Budget - We can all "Think Bigger" all we want. Either Akron goes on a major fundraising campaign or what we see is what we get. Better conference, better RPI's, better players need a bigger budget. What comes first, a better facility or access to better players. Playing in a nice facility can only help. Right now KD is out recruiting the MAC with a high school gym as a facility. 5. Priority - Better facility? Better OCC schedule? Short term has to be a better OCC schedule while designing and financing a new facility. 6. Marketing - I understand the bobble heads and having some players speaking to students in dorms and clubs and asking their fellow students to come and support this years team was one young marketing man's ideas. Give him a raise and give him a 5 figure budget tomorrow. He produced immediate, tangible results. This year showed what is possibile. To keep climbing means to increase UA's comittment to this program.

Brian - thanks for your leadership, heart to win, defense and being a true stand up guy and player! Chauncey - thanks for your emotion, heart, colorful actions during games and your personality! Zeke - thanks for making defense a topic of conversation, pleasant demeanor and attracting better players like yourself! All three of you brought the 1st regular season championship in 2012 and brought BOTH the regular season and Conference championship to Akron! All three are excellent ambassadors for the Zips and their families! Well done, gentlemen!

POSITIVE Oh my, what could have been? Q - been discussed Compliance - shame on the compliance office & shame on the NCAA. UNC gets caught in a major academic CHEATING scandal and DOES NOT GET PENALIZED AT ALL. Further proof of the old saying that the NCAA was so upset at UNC they penalized Akron. We win at CC, beat OK State & play a Tennessee team ripe for a beating. I seriously believe if we beat Ok State in game 1 at PR we win the tournament and already have national attention AA - I still can not believe his action nor timing. I still can't believe our guys & coaches recovered and won the MACChampionship! Sickness - Flu? Food poisoning? Like KD said, snake bit. It would have been a struggle, but come on........ In summary, another step up the ladder. KD said it best, this was his best team. As most of you no doubt have considered though, what might have been?

Great idea but difficult to accomplish. From the Zips side there is no question why they'd want this to occur. From the opponents side of the table, one question. Why? The big boys don't need the cash, the only attraction would be large alumni in the Cleveland area. Why risk losing to a MAC team. The off campus "neutral site" might appeal to OSU or Notre Dame for alumni purposes. It's a gamble that the Zips should take as long as the Neutral site game doesn't cost them money. I would agree giving up one of the games we buy (guarantee) opponents to schedule a game vs a major in the Q would be a good investment. It will be a question of lining up a sponsor (likely) or selling the game to one of the networks (less likely) in order to entice a quality opponent. That's why the pre-season tournaments need to be utilized as much as possible since someone else typically pays the bills and the Zips get opponents they usually can not get. Not to mention exposure.

Disappointing for Brian and the Zips. Playing with a sprained ankle from the first OU game (6 days) through the MAC championship game was difficult. Brian, without a doubt you are an all time gamer. As far as the flu or as I've been told, food poisoning, I know you had the will but there simply wasn't a way. Unfortunately, sh*t happens. Thanks for trying to play through sickness and for such great memories during your two playing years at Akron.

Wow, you guys are being harder on Melo than KD and that's saying something. For whatever reason, AA always had a long leash with KD; turnovers and blind passes and less than stellar defense. I, for one, have confindence in Melo. To judge him on getting thrown into the deep end of the pool against Can't State, Can't State and OU and then getting thrown into the middle of a raggy ocean (VCU) with very little experienced backcourt help is simply ridiculous. In a poor analogy but an analogy none the less, how comfortable and proficient were you as a high school/college freshman? Melo is already a very good defender and with some experience and time in the weight room, has a chance to be a lock down PG defender. The vision is there, he needs some strength and experience so he doesn't get knocked off balance when penetrating. Obviously, his shooting needs some work but I believe that too will come with time. Give the kid a break, he was put in a very difficult situation, a situtuaion not of his making and was able to steady the ship enough for the Zips to become MAC champions. The Zips won't be near as good/tough defensively next year. Zeke is the obvious major difference but don't overlook BWalsh's defense; when he was healthy he made life miserable for our opponents SG and SF. That's a difficult role and one not many guards embrace like Brian did. Chauncey was a good defender when healthy as well.