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Dude, please pick something that has a much shorter clean-up time. Does anyone even eat tuna fish sandwiches anymore? You must be a very nostalgic guy.

I agree with you on all of this. I was never a Hughes fan, and I don't know how much he was going to grow, and how much he might help us in the future. But on this team, in this situation, I think he definitely could have helped.

clarkwgriswold and kreed....I pretty much agree with both of you. But, I sense that the posts from dre22era and a couple of others is a rebuttal to those who've been posting since Groce's hiring from some kind of "he's God" viewpoint. And it continued right through the time we were beating some scrubs at home, talking about how we might still be able to win the MAC, and proclaiming that everything Groce was doing was better than Dambrot, etc. It's crazy. Just go and look at the number of people who predicted that the projected MAC Champ (WMU) would be our first road win. They toyed with us all night, and that's with their best player only hitting 3 baskets all night ! Once again, I really think that a few people were so angry with Dambrot's departure that they've taken their thoughts about what the new regime can accomplish this year to a wildly unrealistic level. I'd think the tournament out in Hawaii should have brought everyone back down to the current reality.

You know, this isn't going to make this season any better by continuing to belabor the Dambrot issue. But note the following: 1) Keith didn't leave because he saw some kind of Apocalypse coming for Akron's program. 2) Noah and Antino would have still been here. 3) Considering our current situation, YES, I absolutely wish we still had Hughes.

I was watching ESPN yesterday, and they were interviewing Kiffin at length about his thoughts on Alabama's trip to the national title game. The graphic at the bottom of the screen said something like "Defeated Akron 50-3 in Boca Raton Bowl" I almost

I don't believe we've ever given anyone that big of a halftime lead to play with either, so maybe they were coasting in the 2nd half? Considering that we never got closer than about 10 in the 2nd half, I'd guess WMU was never playing with much urgency? I'm inclined to compare this to the football theory of feeling good about winning the 2nd half, even though all of that happened after the game was already essentially over. But, I hope you're right that we just played much better. We'll take whatever positive we can rest our hopes on right now. However, this WMU team should be very beatable when Wilder only shoots 3 of 18 for the night.

I'm guessing you're seeing what you want to see in terms of looking like an athlete, but he's just not good enough to play. Who knows if he ever will be. We're way too far into the season to be experimenting. The coach already knows what each guy can do at this point, and he's going with his best options. Even if guys don't fit the prototypical profile for each position. At this point, I'd encourage you to pray that we get much more capable big men in here over the next couple of years, rather than hoping that he somehow becomes the "future of this team"

Should we post that Survey again about our first road win? I'm still surprised that a predominant number of people thought that this one would be our first. I'm sure there will be more beatable teams that this one, to give us a chance to steal a few road wins this year.

How do you get only 7 total rebounds in an entire half?

It was 15 years ago, in a conference game, against a #25 team, with a QB with a broken leg. And we were 1-7 at the time we played that game. No chance for any impact from that one. Unfortunately, it was remembered for so many other things. But factually, you are correct, we have beaten a ranked team in our history. My brain cells need some time after a long New Years weekend.

I'll be there. I'm looking forward to that road trip already. The Nebraska game is pretty interesting. I agree with everything you said about the way they are probably headed, but I wonder how vulnerable they might be at the start of next year?

Yes, maybe Michigan should not have been ranked as high as #11 going into our game against them, despite coming off of a big win. But regardless, they were ranked. And continued to be ranked all the way until Week 10. That would have been the biggest upset in the history of our program. When we do beat a ranked team for the first time, I hope you will enjoy it with the rest of us, and not continue to minimize it in some way, 5 years later. It will be a huge moment for us, and it isn't going to matter how high or low that team is ranked, or whether the level of the ranking is accurate.

ALL of those teams on the 2019 slate are beatable. Illinois absolutely stinks, and we just came within a first down of icing a game against Troy on the road this year. But...none of those teams will be ranked when we play them. Guaranteed.

Although I don't believe that the top of the MAC will ever be unreachable, I do agree that knocking off a ranked team sometime soon and consistently making bowl games would make me very happy with our progress as a program.

Yikes. I hope you're not telling us something about our own Zips, considering how we fared against them. I'll contend that on two points. First, the team he took over at Akron was nowhere near "horrible". Secondly, I think all would agree that he did far more than just make us "decent". To the contrary, I think most people don't think Duquesne has a chance. I still think it's a daunting task, even with his track record. If he ever gets them to an NCAA tournament, he'll win conference Coach of the Year, and probably be a candidate for the National honor.

This is almost as big as Michael Jordan's return to the Bulls after his short baseball "career". I'm sure the staff at the ABJ will be all over this story. Glad to have you back.

This song made me laugh back in the early 70s. I guess I found it fascinating as a teenager that they would put those words in a song. Of course, today, that's really mild stuff.

Reading that blog should at least remind everyone that at the present time, we're trying to win with with some talented, leftover Dambrot recruits, and simultaneously trying to build a future with A LOT of unknown entities. Most notably, quite a few guys who may have once had promising careers in front of them, and are just looking for a 2nd chance to play. Or, guys who fell way under everyone's radars coming out of high school. I don't mean to throw out a Christmas cliche, but I feel like we're becoming the Land Of Misfit Toys. I think this is exactly the reason why you're finding people who are all over the board on predicting when we might be competitive again.

That's what I think I've see as well. I think it falsely raised some hopes.

Way too early to tell what we'll have next year until those guys get on the court, but I can see your math Zipnetter. Malcolm will be gone, and we'll likely need someone brand new to effectively run the show. I do see Hester as a guy capable of becoming a big contributor. But beyond that, it's "wait and see" if anyone else materializes. If not, we'll be making a run at it with pretty much the same core we have now. I just sure hope we see some signs of hope among those who appear to be non-factors, between now and the end of this season. There might be some situations that look like big mistakes right now. Maybe that will change. I understand that we were pressed to get some bodies in here. I think I'll wait awhile to try to figure out how longs it's going to take to get where we need to be, but it may indeed be a few years.

Other than the fact that they both shoot plenty of 3's, I wouldn't define either of them as "back court" players. I actually think you're going to find that the two of them are going to be forced to carry a heavy burden in the scoring and rebounding department in the paint this year, unfortunately. We just simply won't get the production we need in the paint from anyone else on this team. Because of that, we're going to need an additional "shooter" to emerge. I've been thinking all along that Parrish is our best chance. Way too much is resting on a small number of guys to do everything for this team. And I really think Malcolm will have his hands way too full just being a 35-minutes point guard, at both ends of the court, when conference play begins.

Also, Keep in mind that Getsy is from Pittsburgh. So, playing at Akron is not his only connection to the area.

If the Akron connection entices people, and having much more coaching experience than Getsy is desired, I often wonder why we have never found a way to get Mike Johnson back here. He's certainly been available at many junctures throughout his career.

That's if you assume that some people would still be lamenting so much about "transition" or "rebuilding", if Antino (and maybe Noah) were still here. The 2012-2013 OU Bobcats, who changed to Christian as their coaches, still had plenty of experienced players and had a 24 win season. Maybe with those guys still here, Groce would have been able to attract a big man to replace the Big Dog right away. Who knows. But I think we still would have had enough pieces to be pretty good this year. It's the friggin MAC, guys.

No, it wasn't the terminology at all. Again, I just think it's probably bad timing to harp about the limitations of having freshmen in a postgame, right after you get rung up for 30 by an opposing freshman.