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I have two thoughts tonight... 1) Maybe the unpredictable nature of this team will surprise us and they can rescue these last two games. I agree with those who fear going into postseason recruiting on a big downward trend. 2) With last night's performance, these guys will be playing in an empty stadium next Tuesday, if the weather forecast holds up. We'll be counting people sitting in seats by the dozens or hundreds, and not by the thousands. If that doesn't take the rest of the heart out of them, I'll be surprised.

True.

I hope you're right. He'd be incredibly valuable. From one of the first times I saw him, I felt like I was seeing Brett McKnight. A 6-6 guy who looked like he had some build, and was physically strong, and was multi-dimensional. Could play at the perimeter, and strong enough to play closer to the basket as well. If he can drive effectively and finish, he would increase his value even more.

When I said earlier that this team is unpredictable, I just realized that it couldn't be more true. A complete collapse against a bad team was not even remotely on my mind for this one.

I think the only thing you need to worry about with him is his growing tendency to force shots in the paint. Maybe he feels he needs to take over, as other reliable low post options have dwindled in the last couple of years. He's going to increasingly continue to get blanketed down there, in which case he needs to improve on his decision making...and others need to pick up the slack. I don't want to bring up the disaster in the 2nd half against WMU in March, but it's a great example of what can happen to us if Tree is determined to take shots, regardless of the situation.

I know it's exhibition, but one thing really stuck out at me tonight.... It appeared that the offense consisted mostly of passing the ball around until we could get it to Tree in the post, or someone launching a long jumper. It seemed like there wasn't much in between. And certainly not anyone else in the post that we really looked to. I sure hope we get comfortable with some other things very soon But it got me thinking....I know I've said for years that Quincy was really the only guy who could penetrate and finish at the rim. I hope we have some other perimeter players come along who can do the same.

Does this just affect "televised" games? Will we still be able to pick them up steaming on the MAC website?

Can I say that I have no idea how this is going to turn out over the next 3 games? Please, someone tell me if any game this season has gone like you expected, beyond Howard. An 11 point win at Pitt? Flopping in the first half against EMU? The "tale of two halves" at Ball State? Getting shut down by BGs defense? These are all very winnable games, and we should be favored in all them. But, that's nothing new.

Dave, I've seen some of this in non-profit areas, but not otherwise. Tell me where you've seen this in the private sector, especially among competitors.

My favorite was JC7 not picking up the block on the end rusher on the high snap that Pohl didn't handle in the end zone. That same guy then recovered the ball while he stood there watching, made no effort to dive on it himself, or at least get down on the ground and fight for it. And that was a game-changing play. Watch the ESPN highlight, and see if you see the same thing.

I'm trying to gauge in my own mind what an impressive student turnout would be, when we are talking about a school with a 30k enrollment. But, I would take two sections full of students behind the visiting bench any day. What would it take to get 3 full sections, Free Cars?? But I will say this.....the fact that so many people were hanging out under the overhangs for most of the game probably made the crowd look much smaller than it's actual size.

I hear ya. By the looks of it, they are merely "predicting" who will be the best players. So, they can pick whoever they want, and naturally, as history repeats itself, they just neglect Akron. Or, their MAC knowledge is suspect.

Hilltopper, I think that's been the nature of this program for quite some time. There's never really been any stars in recent memory. Maybe the closest thing would be Romeo, Woods, Zeke, or maybe Diggs or Tree? I can't think of any others remotely close to fitting a "standout player" profile. Just thinking....has any guy in the Dambrot era ever reached 15ppg, or been a double/double guy with any consistency? Or, handed out 10 assists with any regularity? I think most people would agree that the depth of talent has gotten us to this point, and not having a few standout players. But yes, on the surface, you would expect the top team to get more recognition than that.

I think you nailed the top part. Our inability to score against a defense that had been butchered by so many others was puzzling. But in regards to the weather, I really thought this would be our game to win. I felt like the lower offensive output gave us the advantage. We really should have been able to win this game when defense vs. defense was the real decider. But when you can't score at all, it was just a matter of time before our defense got pounded enough to put the game out of reach.

It all depends on everyone's expectations. I guess 7-5 is great, when you were 5-7 the year before, and just dug your program out of the doldrums. But I think some people expected a MAC championship contender. The schedule set up perfectly. We got the game we needed to get us there, at got it at home. Unfortunately, we weren't up to the challenge. Our progress will now be measured by 3 games. Are we a team that's still only capable of winning a handful of games, and still one to stringing together a long list of losses? Or, are we ready to be in the mix? if we go 1-2 in the next 3 weeks, and end up with 5 conference losses, I think doubt will linger throughout the off-season. If we win 2 out of 3, hope will survive. If we win all 3 and go to a bowl game? I think most people would be thrilled with that outcome.

You should come around here more often, and join those of us who have been venting about this for years. There's also been many discussions about how the common fan who is loyal to the Zips is treated around here. There aren't enough loyal fans to alienate anyone, or disregard them to kiss the butts of a few high donors. Catering to the entire scope of fans is the only thing that will ever grow the program. But less specifically, the fact that you decided to show up here and voice your concern, as a loyal and long-time Zips fan, should be appreciated by all. And I agree with you....most of those students will not show up again. Their mass exit from the building (an understatement) as soon as the last list of finalists for the scholarship drawing was announced.......that tells the whole story.

You're kidding. Right?

Interesting that you criticize putting blame on the QB, but want to give him credit for all of the wins over the last season or so, which would include all of the victories where we clearly performed poorly offensively. Scoring our only TD against Ken+ on a trick play with D'Orazio throwing the ball is unacceptable, I would think. Going nearly scoreless for a half at home against EMU as well. End zone interceptions at Pitt and last night, just to name two. Completing half of your passes for 103 yards against a bad Miami team that's allowing somewhere in the 30-some to 50-some point range against nearly everyone else in the MAC? Scoring 3 point at Penn State?. We lost our offensive confidence in the last couple of weeks? I'm not fond of either QB, but Woodson's first half against Ball State last week would be the most recent example of a great half of QB play against a respectable opponent. Previous to that, under Pohl's leadership, what would be the moments you could point to that would compare? Maybe the Howard game or the 2nd half against Eastern Michigan, maybe the worst two teams on our schedule this year? It's all about providing the leadership, and executing a relatively consistent amount of plays and making the throws to maximize scoring opportunities. We don't appear to have that with our current starter.

Here's some further thought on the QB situation. We have no answers right now. Not until next year. Our "starter" is who he is. He makes some good throws, and makes plenty of bad ones too. The execution simply isn't there to sustain scoring drives, regardless of the drops. For me, if you can't consistently throw the ball on target on those shorter in and out routes, which are needed to sustain drives, you get what we get. I hope this is finally the end of hearing that "Pohl has a X and X record as a starter". Going back to last season, particularly the Ken+ and UMass games, the defense gets all the credit for the improvement of this football team. This year, we thankfully got our act together against EMU after an abysmal offensive first half. We won at Pitt because we held them to 10 points. Most of our MAC competitors have loaded up points this year against Miami, except us. Thank God we held them to 19 points and won. I can't stop thinking....Maybe the next Charlie Frye isn't that easy to find. But a Dalton Williams should be. If Stephen F. Austin was able to attract a guy of that caliber....why can't Akron?

That's the reason why they dropped the arena from the proposal. They already had information indicating that it would be even more difficult to pass with the arena attached. My initial thought, months ago, was that possibly there would be more support of the overall issue if Zips fans got on board to support it. I made one major miscalculation. Zips fans in Summit County, or anyone else that would benefit from an arena, unfortunately don't come close to outnumbering those who flat-out don't want to pay more for everything they buy. As I've stated many times, and it came to fruiting last night, sales tax increases are a bad idea. Unlike property taxes, sales tax increases affect everyone, not just property owners. The makeup of Summit County just isn't going to support a sales tax measure for an arena.

Yep, I hope they are right, and the locals are wrong, because I see us blanketed by rain from about 7-12 tonight, with no breaks.

Here's my game thoughts.... Although the atmosphere will be dampened, the weather will play into our hands. Windy and rainy is the perfect recipe. With our defense, I think we can win a game where we can't throw the football. BG can't.

With BG being at one loss in conference play, I don't think we could have survived a head-to-head loss against them, regardless of what we did the last 2 weeks.

I'm following the radar progressions of the rain on the weather stations this morning. It's looking like it will arrive around 7pm, be mostly light, but may have some heavier periods around 9-10pm. The really bad news is that it will be a steady rain until about midnight. Horrible timing.

Come on. You know better than that. It's giving serious exposure to Dr. Pepper as a sponsor.