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Because it should be an easy win at home? With their best player out? And they needed a miracle to win at home against Miami on Saturday? Who knows. I've sensed a little lack of game day enthusiasm all year. Still a hangover regarding the Tree departure, I assume. I think the OU loss took some steam out of some people. It's Must-Win tomorrow. That's all I have to say. And right now.... Ken+ probably really does suck more than usual.

Interesting. Now we will see if changing the DATE, unexpectedly, will mess up some people. I don't know if I have ever seen that, beyond the flexible Fri./Sat. that they put on the season-ending Ken+ game. The first problem would be that everyone currently has tickets that are marked for the 28th. So unless they pay very close attention to Zips news, they will miss the game, for sure. Secondly, I have family and friends who I know set their work and/or business travel schedules to accommodate a Saturday night game. I'm going to really upset some people when I tell them that they are going to miss this game by flying back into town on Friday evening.

This at least brings me back to my point. Ken+ would have surely gotten in with a #19 RPI in 2008, and Toledo did not get in with a #38 last year. This should tell everyone where the target needs to be. If our RPI after our 18 game win streak a couple of years ago was in the 40s, it wasn't going to be good enough. Not sure where we might have been if we could have won all of those remaining games, but again, those things are so improbable. Although I do believe that the selection committee will give final spots in tournaments to teams that have a "name" vs. a "no name", I guess you have to be good enough so that you aren't in that discussion. Ken+ was a #9 seed in 2008. If there was some sort of conspiracy against the MAC, this would have never happened.

You'd find similar results with the post players on most basketball teams in the country, at any level.

Dave, This is something I've pointed to for years, in debates concerning our ability to raise our profile, and possibly get an NCAA at-large bid. It's so darn near impossible to run the table. So, you have to increase RPI. We have no other choice. And since we can't change the conference schedule, we have to change the OOC schedule. I'd be interested to see exactly where we stood after that 18 game winning streak a couple of years ago. That in itself would be so improbable to ever repeat again. Yet, it also may not have put us in At-Large position either. Risk a few more losses, and increase the schedule strength. It's the only choice to raise our status.

I have to tell you. I cringe when he steps back and faces the basket and takes a jumper, from ANY distance. It's very awkward for him. I don't know what you're seeing.

That wouldn't be a factor. We normally have two guys playing the post at any given time anyway.

I'd possibly pay big money to sit behind Hurley for a game. I need to find out who has those seats. It's too hard to yell at him from the opposite corner. I won't be able to talk tomorrow.

Thanks Glib. I was down low, way to the other side of the floor, so I only know what people told me happened. I couldn't see it. All I could see was that he got wiped out, and our guys had to pull him out of the pile, and before I knew it, they were shooting two Technical. Sorry. I have no idea why officials are so afraid to control Hurley.

I have one MAJOR problem with the officials tonight, and it can go here because it's about Technical fouls. How does Hurley go after the officials the entire game, run out on the floor after every call against his team, and gets a "bench warning". Yet... Antino gets a technical for apparently yelling at somebody after getting wiped out and landed on under the basket? It cost us Two points via Technical foul shots late in the game. Who says that officials cannot control the outcome? Thankfully, we didn't allow that to happen.

Can we get some defense out of the Big Dog tonight? This would seem to be an important part to stopping UBs offense. Can't have Pat shouldering that burden. And this doesn't relieve the responsibility of the smaller guys either. Shutting down entry passes can be just as big of a factor in stopping someone's inside game.

As early enough in the season as possible when someone realized that they were better than a guy we had on the field, and would make the team better. I certainly wouldn't do it with 3 games left, but I think that you could evaluate the performance of the guy on the field vs. the freshman redshirt long before that point. Sorry. I'm just not a fan of "waiting til next year" when you have a guy who can make this team better right now. We need to win games. Now.

Interesting.

I think my favorite Hurley entertainment is when I've seen him yelling back and forth with the Zips fans sitting behind his bench. When a guy has that kind of demeanor, the fans will feed on it. He asks for it himself. Tonight, when he starts storming out on the court after officials, and pointing out Zips players, he'll get the crowd going. Wasn't there an incident with him and Quincy? Does anyone else remember that?

This is a great point to make here. No matter how any of us feel about the accuracy of the rating systems, the D-1A schools are all going after the highest rated players, and it appears as if we might be at the bottom of the totem pole in what we are getting. We can only win so many games with inferior talent. As of last year, we'd probably all say that D'Orazio and J. Brown are probably the closest thing we have to "high level" players, and I don't think either one of them has a legitimate chance to play at the next level. Whether you like the ratings systems or not, when you land those guys with several stars next to their name, it's a least an indication that you are doing a good job of selling your program against other D-1A schools. Even with a new stadium, new first-rate training facilities, and a big-name coach, we're clearly losing this battle right now, even against other perceived "weak" schools in our own "weak" league. That has to change.

Beyond the 0 for 6 from the line, which could have resulted in 2 more opportunities since they were front ends of one and ones, there was one other things that really surprised me about this game.... OU had 3 guys play more than 30 minutes (N'Dour played 40), in an up-and-down-the-court shootout. Meanwhile, Akron didn't have a guy play more than 29 minutes. And most of the rest of the team played far less. With that in mind, I was shocked that OU seemed to gain steam throughout the 2nd half, up until that last minute or so.

Well, as of today it looks like we have a new favorite Twitter post from an Urban Meyer recruit at OSWho. "I'm hurt as hell I ain't gone lie"

Exactly. Naïve to think that the teams with the best recruits don't have the best chance of winning the most. And based on this, I say "Thank God we have a good coach". Getting 5 wins out of these guys each of the last 2 years, and a road win against Pitt, sure seems pretty darn good at this point.

I'm sure you're referring to the "Moving A"? We made a nice transition into an "Old Gold" color when we first turned D-1A during the Faust years. We then went back to the "Athletic Gold" (Yellow) during the Owens years. It looked even worse the 2nd time, and didn't last long, fortunately. I pray we never go back. Just look at any Ken+ uniform for a few minutes, and you'll see what I mean.

Bingo. I'll say no more right now.

It's a different story with Athletes. Because it's transported by saliva, the fact that these guys are breathing on each other, rubbing up against each other, etc., really increases the risk. We darn near had an epidemic among the athletes at my high school in the late 70s. Maybe I had it and didn't even know it.

Having family in the medical profession, you are correct. Severity differs, and so does length. But for an athlete to be completely healthy and strong in a month probably isn't likely. People older than adolescent age often have longer bouts. I remember Reggie's episode, but can't recall his particular severity, or how long it took for him to play any significant minutes after "recovery".

I feel bad for the kid also. Different circumstances, but we lost our best player too. So, I guess we'll see how the two teams match up right now with their remaining parts. Maybe the key thing here is that it makes that final conference game at Ken+ as a good possibility of a win, if we need it. And winning that final game at Ken+ has meant a lot in some previous years.

How did they get Willie Alvarez out of Javarez Willis? Unbelievable. But I will say that I was SHOCKED that the top half of their Sports Page today was a huge picture of Terry at the recruiting press conference.

Win at home, and get Two on the road. That was my wish for this conference season for this group. The 2 road wins are done. Now....just close out the home games!!