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You might be on to something, with Big Dog's already-demonstrated passing ability from the high post. I'd love to see someone try to step in front of him on a dribble drive.

I do agree that this is probably one of Keith's best coaching jobs, based on the circumstances. I also agree that maybe the biggest deficiency has been the lack of leadership, as I have pointed out in other posts. It's actually pretty surprising, because there are some very experienced players on this team. And I've said this before, but both Reggie and Jake's inability to elevate their games and increase their role has been particularly frustrating.

LOL. Good catch. I guess an 11am appt. in Akron would not be possible. Seriously though, I trust that Keith will make a decision that he thinks give us the best chance to win. Plenty of us will either applaud it or 2nd guess it. My aim was really just to point out that there's more than one guy on the floor at any given time who's handling the ball, making entry passes, etc. People get way too caught up in delineating the specific duties of each position.

As if every thought on here is something the coach would agree with? Even when Noah was sick, I felt like letting Nyles pick up some minutes at the point rather than a walk-on with almost no experience made more sense to me, and I still feel that way. Obviously he felt differently, and he gets paid half a million to make those decisions. I have 11am open tomorrow, if that works for him. Are you in?

I don't think it's necessary to get caught up in what "position" he's played this year. He's certainly dribbled the ball up the court, handed out assists and made passes into the post on many occasions this year. He's also very involved already in the rotation of the ball around the perimeter. He'll do Remember, we once won a MAC Tournament Title with Harney picking up that role.

Just like when Noah was sick last week, I thought that Nyles might pick up some PG duties. Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing Nyles and Deji out there as the two seniors at the 1 and 2 for periods down the stretch. I love Deji. I won't say if Deji should start, but I'd at least like to see him start on Senior night. But I definitely think he could handle some significant minutes over these last 4 games. Lets run more of those isolation plays with him also. We need to create some offense, and he might just be the answer.

That's certainly the easiest path to the #4 spot. And probably the only scenario that allows us to do it with a 10-8 record. (Gimme) Three Steps: 1) Beat Buffalo tomorrow, pull a game ahead of them, and own the tiebreaker. 2) Win one more of the remaining 3 games. 3) Hope BG falters, and we own the tiebreaker there also.

And still no word from the ABJ? Their hometown D-1 basketball team just had one of their top players go down for the season with an injury, during a title run. If the Suckeyes actually had a chance to win a conference title this year, and this happened to one of their top players, it would have been in an article on the front of the sports page the next morning.

I'm not condemning the coach here, but kids get disappointed in the way things are going and/or disappointed in playing time. The way we split time among a number of talented players can make us especially vulnerable. The only thing I have scolded people about on this board in the past is not to assume that everyone is happy just because the team is winning. But, I am not going to be the one who starts speculating about who, or the number of people that may be leaving. I'll worry about it if it happens. This is a possibility every year.

Maybe he's too busy sulking over the Suckeye's demolition at the hands of the Wolverines today. Seriously though, 24 hours later, and we're only getting a small bit of this information about the aftermath of last night's game, and it's via one of the player's own Twitter accounts? And we got that bit of information about 12 hrs. ago? Nothing from any news outlet since?

Reading his post makes me proud that a student/athlete of his character is representing my University, appreciates being here, and understands the great opportunity that he's been given. Our competitors can ignorantly continue to tolerate their "Ain't Come To Play School" tweets. I'll take Noah any day.

Balsy, I think we've had a team that CAN beat anyone in the MAC for the last 10 years. I'd rather consider the chances that it WILL happen. So many people tend to forget the format change a few years ago. So, the HUGE OBSTACLE would be winning 5 games in 6 days, with 4 of those games outside of the JAR, with a bunch of freshman. So....Mission #1....Win a minimum of 3 of the final 4 games and secure a seed at #4 or higher and avoid what would become an almost impossible road to the title. Yes, Winning at home against OU and on the road against Ken+ would be nice. But, I don't think 10-8 gets us there. We'll also need an upset at Buffalo, or a revenge win at Miami.

Actually, last night brought back instant memories of this one.... The home loss in 2008 to Northern Illinois, a 10-point loss to a 5-17 team that had just lost their previous 5 games. Worse yet, it was the game that snapped a 22-game home winning streak. Time for us to snap a losing streak in Buffalo on Tuesday.

I wish I could take every basketball team I've ever been associated with in my lifetime, and somehow just persuade them to "shoot better". We would have won a lot more games As far as last night is concerned, we had plenty of open shots. Is this a "coaching debacle"? I'm sure Keith is doing things to try to get a team that's in a rut to perform better. I'm sure he'd admit that his moves are not always the right ones, in hindsight. And he's not beyond criticism. But, he gets paid a lot of money because he does the right things pretty often.

Read the article.

It's worse than that. The current format makes you have to play 5 games to win the title if you are not in the Top 4 spots. So, that's both one extra game at home, and an additional Wednesday game in Cleveland. If we can't pull out a huge win in Buffalo on Tuesday, we'd have 5 teams in front of us, with 3 games to play, and 2 of those are on the road. We need a big turnaround.....soon. Last year, we were able to secure the #4 spot with a 12-6 record, and we've 8-6 right now. It may not require 12 wins to get that spot this year, but I'd think we need to win at least 3 out of the last 4 to get it.

This is the most noticeable thing to me. What are we doing down the stretch in some of these games when we need experienced guys to lead the way? Reggie and Jake have seemed to become role players, when I thought they'd be very vital pieces in Tree's absence, especially down the stretch. That looks like it's left Keith to try to rely on freshmen to close games, and that's turned out to be a disaster. Other Observations: 1) Miami successfully pressing us into mistakes? I'm sure other MAC teams will zero in on that now. 2) I'm sure the "twin towers" lineup was intended to exploit our advantage in the paint. That came up big in the rebounding dept., but the points weren't there. 3) I said recently that we need everyone healthy to make a run. I hope Noah is 100% soon. 4) Keith skipped a post-game radio interview after a home game? I'm sure he was beyond upset. 5) Attendance of 4,700? You would have never known it. Although the bleacher sections were fuller than normal, those folks were pretty quiet. Looked like there were a lot of youth groups who probably had no real interest in Akron Basketball. And the number of empty blue seats (already counted in the attendance) also really impacted what could have been a difference-making crowd. I guess this is proof that a larger crowd doesn't always equal a better crowd.

Interesting fact I learned in this article... Charlie's HS coach says that OSWho had Roethlisberger and our very own Rick McFadden at the top of their radar that year for QB recruits. And Ben went to Miami instead? Really? I thought that the MAC doesn't compete against the Suckeyes for recruits? #TeamOhio

Yes, it is rather passive. It's signs that say "game today" or a game announcement sent through FB. Neither of which are going to get anyone excited about going to a UA basketball game if they don't have an interest in going to a UA basketball game. You can make 30,0000 students aware that there's a basketball game, but that doesn't make them act. But when you say "actively engage them", I'm curious what you're specifically thinking.

If a panel was created to discuss student participation at athletic events, why would they exclude current leaders of such a successful student cheering group? Maybe the best one ever? Even if some people currently feel that this group is divisive and in disarray? I feel all of these tensions among student Zips fans. Pro-Rowdies...Anti-Rowdies. Kick out the leaders, etc. I'm just saying...if this is having an effect on participation, I would think that its imperative that we get some people together, get some answers.

That better not apply to this game!! This is a below average team, at home. These are the games where we normally start to assert ourselves late in the season with the tourney approaching. And we're coming off of a decent performance at home against a very good team, while missing an important player. This better be a decisive victory.

Wow. I'm looking at it right now. But, did they mistakenly put the previous game's ad in there? Or, did we mistakenly submit the wrong one? Still.....you'd think someone at the paper would have noticed it before it went to print.

Like I said in my post, they have to buy a group of tickets. So, I guess that answers the question. There's obviously a lack of people who want to sing the National Anthem at an Akron Zips basketball game at the expense of a couple dozen tickets.

I can clarify this for you. They are looking for a large group of tickets to be purchased by the singer(s), their family, friends, etc. It doesn't matter if a single person ends up doing the singing of the anthem, or a group. To Zippy5...............I am surprised that nobody else has talked about the fact that the Anthem HAS been getting done before the players return from the locker room. I have no idea why. Personally, I like when the teams and their staffs are out there lined up on the floor honoring our country. I have no idea why this changed. Could it have something to do with the preference of the Time Warner broadcast people?