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I think this has become a rather outdated assumption. Look back over the last 5-6 seasons. And look at how many times Cincinnati was actually better than OSWho. I'd love to follow Cincinnati's path, in both their progression to larger conferences, and their ability to make the SW corner of Ohio their own, and defy the OSWho allegiance. Well done. This notion actually goes back maybe 30 years for me. The old Metro Conference (which makes up part of the current C-USA) was a conference full of Midwest and Mid-South city schools. It seemed like the ideal fit for Akron, even back then, as we were just starting to establish ourselves as D-1A in football and basketball.

I'm pretty much with you here. I see these benefits. I don't understand why so many people on here over the years have seen this potential move as "lateral". I think there's a lot of potential benefits for us, if the opportunity should present itself.

Not sure about this. For a guy who probably still has a guard's mentality, and still isn't spending much time under the basket, I will be more than happy if he can continue to pull down rebounds at a 4.5 per game pace. Heck, we had a 7' Center a few years ago, who averaged about the same his sophomore year, and it was his 2nd year as a starter. Getting 4 or 5 rebounds out of Kwan per game is just fine.

Pretty good, Dave. I like this description. Here's one thing I'd like to see. About 3 times a game, I'd like to see Kwan get a pass about 15 feet from the basket, facing the basket, and use his ball handling and mobility to take his slower and less agile defender right to the basket, and power slam the ball. Once I see that, I'm totally convinced that he has the determination to be a high-level MAC player. Some like to lay claim to the fact that they were talking about Kwan last year. I was too. Many of us were doing it. His unique skill set for his size was just hard to ignore. All he needed was some playing time. Honestly....how many people here were convinced that Big Dog would be the major contributor first....when looking at our two freshmen coming from Cincinnati?

LOL...that's usually the way it works, Dave. There's been plenty of times in the past where I was even sure that I knew what was going on, and was surprised at what actually happened in the end.

Pitt....the most rewarding road trip I have ever taken as a Zips Football fan. I wonder if the fact that it was the only road trip I have taken in which we beat a BCS team had anything to do with it?

I don't mean to direct this at you, but I really get a kick out of the number of people who come on here thinking that their link to inside information at the U of A is certainly better than someone else's. Or, that someone else can't possibly be right. For the most part, I think all of us on here fall into one or more of the following categories: Athletes, former athletes, friends of athletes, friends of staff,regular special event attendees, boosters, doing businesses with the athletic dept, sponsors, or maybe even people who actually work there. Who knows. Most people here wouldn't know anything about my connections there unless I occasionally divulge them, and I fall into most of these categories. Heck, most of us don't even know each other outside of this forum in order to be able to question someone's level of association. So, how can someone angrily insist that someone else doesn't have good information?

I didn't want to make a joke here, but do you really think that an amount astronomically greater than this number regularly watches our internet feeds?

Amen....I just wish there were 100,000 more like you, who become Akron fans because they live in this area, instead of automatically thinking that they should be Ohio State fans.

Now that's funny. But I disagree with you on one point. I think the effect would last for more than a game to so many of the "Nut" fans, who never went to school there, maybe never even went to college at all, and just robotically pop into a bar every Saturday afternoon to profess their association with the school.

Dave, I think it's already been determined that, not only is he not guilty, but they have elected not to even charge him. Am I right? But I still think we are waiting to see if "student discipline" might still come into play here, and whether that applies a different standard? As far as his return to the team, I think Keith's history of having few stars, and an unselfish style of play really makes it easy in terms of plugging in a new part. Why is this any different than someone being injured for a half season or so? Heck, Brett McKnight became the key to a championship run his senior year, after sitting out a significant number of games. It might really be Tree's team again, or it might not. I don't think that's something that someone can just determine. It all depends on how the remaining games transpire. But, I will definitely agree that his best attitude coming back would be to have an unselfish demeanor. And we already know that his teammates like him, and would be unlikely to shun him from getting his touches. At the very least, I think that he'd come back fresh enough to become the modern-era equivalent to Jerome Lane as a mid-sized front court rebounding machine. And that could, alone, elevate our level of play in a major way. And lets not forget......It's been incredibly valuable to have several other guys who have increased their ability to contribute during his absence. Upon his return, this could potentially be a very good team because of that.

Head Coach in D-1A in 2011. In 2014, hired for a few days to help a coach transition to a new school. Sad.

I just don't understand why someone would want/need to formally and definitively "leave" the forum. I hope someone as passionate as GP1 would still just choose to make a visit from time to time, Maybe he wanted it "locked' so that nobody could talk him into coming back I'll admit, it's often tempting to sit here all day long and get involved in conversations.

I know I've been harping about how I see Kwan and Nyles as the guys who can rise up this year and be surprises, and really give us a chance to have a successful season without Tree. There's a reason why I hadn't brought up Deji. I actually already expected that he'd be a big contributor. You could already see it coming last year, in my opinion. Both the physical tools and the production appeared to be ready to blossom. So, although I know he put a lot of work into the off-season, his performances so far have not really been a tremendous surprise to me.

Early in the game, I convinced myself that it shouldn't be hard to defend them if they had no inside presence. But even without that, they could dribble-drive and dish to the perimeter like crazy. And they had several guys who could do it. It was as if we were trying to defend 5 guards at times. I don't suppose we'll see another team like that again. Interesting Stat: Our 4 guards accounted for OVER HALF of our rebounds tonight. That's normally an indication that missed shots are scattering all over, which makes sense when you see that there where FIFTY ONE 3-pointers attempted in this game.

Let me tell you guys this... I have a fantastic parking spot at the Info....and I STILL complain about the lack of environment compared to tailgating at the Rubber Bowl. I can only imagine how disappointed people feel if they are parking further away in an isolated lot.

I had never heard of them until they appeared on OSWho's basketball schedule last year. They were one of those long list of cupcakes they had stacked on their schedule in OOC play along with Morgan State, American, North Florida, and Central Connecticut, just to name a few. The Suckeyes beat them by 38 points. Hopefully we can do the same, but who knows how formidable they are, compared to last year.

1) We're always going to have that $1M payday game on the schedule (Oklahoma). It's a must. 2) I'm just thrilled that we managed to negotiate a home game with Pitt. I'm glad Syracuse was willing to do the same thing a few years ago. I commend those two programs. It's a blessing to get programs like that to play in Akron. Take it whenever you can get it. 3) If any Zips fan fears playing ANY Sun Belt team (UL-Lafayette?, Really?), at any time, it's time to pack it in.

Try reading my post more carefully. Please tell me where I said that I expected us to beat Penn State, BG, or Marshall? And...YES....I at least expected us to at beat OU, Can't and Buffalo. Drinking the cool aid? You're giving quite a bit of credit to some bottom-tier MAC teams if you think we all were dreaming if we thought we should beat them.

Absolutely. The black is awful if you are not going to incorporate our real colors along with it. We look like Army. Plus, as I keep saying to anyone who will listen.......We can't even get our fans to wear Blue and Gold. So, Good Luck getting them to wear black when you ask them to.

The season in review: The one thing that sticks out at me is that nearly EVERY game had an unexpected outcome. I didn't think we'd nearly get shut out at Penn State, especially after a great opening drive. I didn't see us getting thoroughly dominated by Marshall at home, and then go out and beat Pitt convincingly on the road? I didn't think we'd come out flat and struggle against Miami, and do the same for more than a half against EMU. The best and worst offensive halves of the season...both in the same game? (Ball State) The blowout loss at Buffalo was a complete mystery. And then bounce back to dominate UMass, with a ton of passing yards, on a January-like day? The loss at Ken+ was just unthinkable.

I'd call this the understatement of the Bowden era.

This is why I posed the question several weeks ago. We had just pushed ourselves out of the MAC race with the home yawner against BG. So I asked everyone's thoughts on how we could still forge an impression of the progress of the program over those last 3 games. So, we had a chance to win 3 games, go 7-5, and show a clear movement forward. Then, we laid an egg in Buffalo. So, I posed the question again, with 2 games remaining, and a chance to win 2 and improve on our record from last year, possibly go to a Bowl Game, and leave an "upward" impression in the minds of football fans. It didn't happen. My feeling, unfortunately, is that we will go into next season with a lower impression than we went into this past season. I would expect ticket sales to drop next year. One more win against a bad team could have made all the difference.

I've mentioned this to someone already. That's the real problem. THIS is the best we have found/developed at the QB position after 3 seasons of the Bowden regime being in town? The only real problem I had with the play calling was that we adopted the loser mentality of running the ball and punting on 3rd and long on more than one occasion. This could have actually tied into the same issue....no confidence in the guy you have playing QB to make the play...who is playing by default because you have nobody better. But for the most part, the play calling has involved multiple routes being run by a number of receivers. The QB then needs to make a good choice and deliver a good pass. That's not happening with this guy. When 6 or 7 guys are rushing, how can you be trying to throw to a guy who is double covered? Someone else HAS to be a better option. The INT in the end zone was also simply a late, lazy throw to the sideline. I've said this all along about Pohl. He doesn't make enough good throws in enough situations to sustain drives and lead to scores. Just too many 5 yard crossing routes on 3rd and 5 that are behind receivers or in the ground. Too many downfield passes into coverage that get knocked away. Forget the play calling, for the most part. When 4 or 5 guys are running routes on nearly every down, there's makeable plays out there somewhere, if you make the right choice and throw a good enough pass.

LOL...that's true. With the weather, and their awful football team, there might not be enough of them to ruin my experience.