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I do too.

It depends what I put in my body, and how late I was out on Friday That's why I asked the question. Maybe Saturday mornings haven't changed much since I was there 30 years ago.

Dave, I'm just saying that I am leaning towards "NO" because this was not a one-time event. According to the statements we've read, he had done it before, and had plans to do it again, and then had a probation violation that landed him back in jail after he was given a very generous reprieve. This was not an isolated event in which someone did something stupid. If that were the case, maybe I'd lean in the other direction. But, there's just too many factors that make this a bad move for the program.

And that's not everything. I encourage everyone to go back and read the stories, including some of Alex's own admissions. This wasn't just "A MISTAKE" or "A LAPSE IN JUDGEMENT". For many of the reasons already stated here, I just don't see the benefit of bringing him back at this point.

That's what I was wondering too.

Exactly. People purchasing GA tickets can sit wherever they want in the 3 bleacher sections. Here's the deal. We were about 1,000 short of a sellout in ticket sales, and the no-shows need to be subtracted from that. Knowing that the lower bowl is counted as full every game and counted as part of the 4,500 ticket sales, that means that we were 1,000 or more short of filling the top section. And since Upper Reserve was indeed full, someone really has to be a dreamer to think that the bleacher sections were 3/4 full when those 3 sections had to account for the 1,000 tickets that were not sold. The two end bleacher sections in particular were closer to 3/4 empty than 3/4 full. You could visually count the people in those two sections. That's sad for such a big game. And please, for those using the TIME excuse, tell me why an 11am starting time on a Saturday is such a big problem for a college student? Plenty of time to sleep in and it doesn't interfere with evening or night drinking hours? Are college kids still sleeping at 11am these days? I don't know. It sure seems like a "nothing else is going on" time frame to me. Come On !! Would students at Kentucky, Duke, etc., pass on a big 11am game on a Saturday? Especially when some of them will get to sit on the first few rows on the floor?

Oh, of course we agree on many things. And let me be clear that I DON"T think Quincy should be played heavily at PG. But, I will admit that his great stretch run at PG down at OU late in the game probably gave us a win in a game that we probably should have lost, and would have lost if someone else was running the show.

Dave, You know I agree with you that Quincy would be best utilized elsewhere. But, I don't think anyone could argue that the outcome on Saturday could have changed with a different point guard with the way we were physically dominated in the paint. But lets throw this out there too. We did beat OU with the ball primarily in Quincy's hands late in the game and overtime, and he was brilliant in that stretch. So, wouldn't someone have a good argument to say that we could very well be only 2-2 in conference play with a different player at the point ? It's all about winning games.

It was disappointing. School just started, there's no exams, etc. For any students that were interested in supporting Akron B-Ball, this was the biggest game of the year thus far. Very few Rowdies, and was there any assemblage of students in GA anywhere? It seemed like they started to show up in larger numbers for awhile last season. Back in the early 80s (for those who aren't old enough to remember), we used to gather in the bleachers on our own. No organized student group. Tons of students wanted to get on board, and all we had to look for was the people all dressed up in Akron gear that looked like they were ready to get into the game. We often showed up long before game time to get a good spot in the crowd. It was even tougher for a huge game, and I think Saturday was a huge game for us. It's beyond me why we have to go to such lengths to get good student participation. If they had offered us a section of seats on the floor back in those days, we would have been fighting each other over the available spots.

Dave, look at your post from Jan. 1 again. Especially the last line. We're 3-1 in conference play, including a huge road win. The only chance we had to be 4-0 was if we had kept Toledo off the glass on their offensive end. No point guard could have helped that, especially one that wasn't too skilled on the defensive end. A couple more baskets or a couple less turnovers wouldn't have given us a 4-0 record. Let me add something else: One of the asst. coaches talked to us in the T. Evans Lounge prior to the game, and talked about how a game in the 60's gave us our best chance, and if it got into the 70s or 80s, our chances diminish. I think that's going to be the pattern for the remainder of the year, and not just Toledo. I'll be surprised if we can beat any team in our league when we give up 75 points, like we did on Saturday. This could make the play of Pat on the defensive end the biggest factor from here on out. We'll have to see. But if we do need to match a team that scores 75+ on us, our chances are far better with Quincy vs. Alex.

Listen. I understand that having a more reliable point guard would help us. But, making such a definitive claim? We got whipped many times with Alex at the point. And we've now beaten OU twice without him, including a blowout in a title game and a win in Athens, and this is a team that he often struggled against. I'm just saying. Again, I have to ask why a few of you weren't blaming our struggles early last year on Quincy's absence, the same way you are blaming it on Alex's absence now? As basketball players (not necessarily as point guards), I'd take Quincy over Alex in a heartbeat in terms of what they are able to contribute to our team.

I'm not being mean, but please share with us how you get in superior position to get loose balls against your opponent.

Wouldn't the #4 spot force us to play Toledo in the Semifinal, according to your scenario? I wouldn't think that's the best path to play on Saturday.

As far as the MAC tournament seeding is concerned, we're tied for the best record in the MAC right now, and still have one big factor in our favor right now: A road win over OU. So today, right now, I don't see why we'd want to settle for a 4 seed. As poorly as we all think that we are playing we're still keeping pace with everyone else at the top of the standings, and I pray that we continue to do enough to keep it that way. There's still likely plenty of losses to be had this year for every team that stands with us at a 3-1 mark.

I agree about the beating, but not the details. Many of those rebounds today were not clean rebounds, but were loose balls that were slapped around, and they beat us to many of them. I don't want to pick on Pat, but there was one particular instance where he took a couple of lazy steps and reached out for a loose rebound in some clear space, and a Toledo player simply ran in front of him and took it away. It was that kind of day. This was not typical of how Toledo had been playing. They appeared to have gotten themselves well prepared to come in here and play our kind of game and win, and that's exactly what they did. They showed another side of themselves, and that scares the crap out of me. And I have to ask myself....how is a team this good that is just coming off of probation?

Just a couple of thoughts tonight, as I deal with my depression: 1) I saw us get "out-toughed" today. We were beaten at our own game. Very surprising for a Dambrot era Akron team. This included some more lazy efforts going after loose balls. 2) Getting outrebounded by 14 by a MAC team is just unacceptable. 3) Making barely half of our free throws is unacceptable, and unbelievable. 4) Pretty scary when we can give up 75 points to Toledo with Pearson scoring only 6 points. But his flying dunk late in the game was unbelievable. 5) With an attendance of only 4,500, we were obviously getting some bad numbers this week of there only being a couple hundred tickets remaining. 6) This reminded me of only one other game in the last decade or so at the JAR, and that was the beating that OU put on us at home 2 years ago. Good thing we only play them once, and good thing we don't have to go to their place on a return trip. 7) We have about 6 weeks to get ready for a MAC tournament, and the road to a title will probably have to include a win over Toledo. I hope we are already looking at the film tonight, and finding ways to get better.

That's my point. He seems anxious to dethrone us and discount all of our consistent success with a Toledo team that's come out of nowhere, and is only 2-1 in conference play, and hasn't been all that impressive? Even if we lose, there's still a ton of games left, and Toledo has already shown that they will lose league games this year. He's relying on selected stats. It's just very, very early to be making that kind of statement, and very disrespectful of our long record of success.

That ticks me off. So, after our almost decade-long run of success in the MAC, 7 straight title games, and 2 straight regular season titles, he's suggesting that a team coming off of probation with a 2-1 start should somehow be more highly regarded then us if they win this 1 basketball game? Thanks for giving us our due respect.

I understand the three recent 1-11 seasons, but since they are referring to DECADE, do you think they paid any attention to us having a MAC CHAMPIONSHIP in that time frame? If they are leaving Ken+ off the list, they are giving them waaaaaay too much credit for 2012, and ignoring the rest of their history. So obviously, they aren't focusing too much on the entire decade. Don't we have something like a 7-3 record against Ken+ in the last 10 years?

What was my question?

Let me continue on my previous post, after knowing the numbers on the Miami game tonight. Only 3,000 at the JAR tonight for Miami. If Toledo ticket sales are in excess of 5,000 PRESALE, I'd conclude that the opponent has a lot to do with the difference.

Dave, I'm on the same page with you lately about resting players, but I don't think any coach anywhere plays with the strategy that they can sacrifice the start of the game, and catch up later. Tonight's Game: Everyone has to wonder if there is any answer on our roster to our problem protecting the ball. Again, it's not a personnel issue, but a focus issue, in my opinion. And everyone from Quincy to the normal culprits contributed to the problem tonight. As an example, right in the middle of this same game, we witness the most remarkable play by Carmelo, where his spin move at mid-court makes a guy lose his jock, and he delivers a beautiful feed for a bucket. Just inexplicable how we have people who can play so badly and play so flawlessly within the same contest. Keith will double his amount of gray hair this season.

Right. Who exactly knows? I'm just saying that it's not following our normal pattern, since it's early in the season and it's not a big rivalry opponent. But, if it really is sell-out territory, it HAS to have something to do with Toledo's recent emergence. If the Miami crowd tonight is not big, that probably confirms that point.

I don't really care what Keith does with his starting lineup. In the end, everyone who was intended to get their minutes will get those minutes. I do however have a concern with the duties that Quincy is performing, and if he is being overextended. But, what was particularly puzzling to me was that Betancourt/Deji starting backcourt that we used for several games. These were guys that were going to play limited minutes during the course of the game, but they were in the starting lineup? That was odd.

This would be amazing, especially so early in the year. But, I have my serious doubts that we've sold almost 5,000 seats 5 days before a non-Ken+ game. Is Joe Akron really paying attention to Toledo??