skip-zip

I think it's quite a long shot for that to happen. But, lets hope. It would be one of our rare opportunities to play a ranked team at home. But, after narrowly slipping by Drexel the other night, and having to pass about 20 other teams when the next poll comes out, it seems like a pretty remote possibility to me, even if they beat a quality opponent in Ok. State. Nonetheless, beating a Top-50 team from a great basketball conference would be a great accomplishment for our program. I am looking forward to the game.

I'll restate what I said in another thread...If we can't get a return game with those teams we need those games anyway. Everyone else has the same problems getting return home games. If we want to grow, we can't pass up opportunities to gain revenue, get some good work for our players, increase exposure, increase our SOS, and possibly win a game agaisnt a ranked team. I don't want to see another Akron basketball team get heartbroken, like the 26 win team did in 2007. And if we keep doing what we're doing, it's going to happen again.

I suppose it's a good thing your name neither starts with Tom or end with Wistrcill.Why is everyone so afraid of such a small percent of both ooc games and overall games being played as ATM games? I'm not scared of what the other teams have or how the Zips might perform. It has nothing to do with performance and everything to do with generating revenue for the Athletic Department.I partially agree with you GP1...the first two sentences. As for the 3rd sentence, I want the money AND a chance to knock off a highly rated program. Having trouble getting a return home game puts us in the same boat as every other team of our caliber. But, we still have to do what we have to do.I don't ever want to see what happened following the 2007 season ever happen again. And it doesn't have to.

I agree...the Raiders are terrible, and it showed when Frye tried to make things happen. He showed some talent, just his receivers are AWFUL.Someone just called me to tell me that two of Oakland's WRs, a TE, and a RB did not play because of injury, yet Charlie's passing yards were the highest of any QB in the league this week. If that's true, it's pretty amazing...whether some people on here like Charlie or not.

I would hope, with the conference schedule drawing near, that we have improved enough to bury a team with a 228 RPI that has already lost to teams like Monmouth and Hampton.

zipseuph...good points....I'll add to that.I'm actually quite surprised that he's throwing so many good balls after only playing in a couple of games the last few years. You don't throw for 350 yards playing with an offensive unit that's ranked at, or near, the bottom of the league in most categories without doing some good things. Unfortunately for him, a couple of those bad reads on short passes were costly. And since the highlight films will show those before the good plays, I don't suppose he's doing what he needs to do to show anyone that he's ready to become a starter again somewhere in the league right now.

Some thoughts from that season -The Zips played as an Independent. Being a basketball Independent at that time, much like today, is an impossible situation. You have no Conference Championship to play for...absolutely no chance at an NCAA bid...you needed to fight and scrape to schedule every game played after January 1st, because every other school in the nation went into their own Conference schedule at that time and had no desire to schedule an Independent game. Especially on the road.I remember those two games against Pitt. I attended both. Unbelievable wars. Losing by 2-points and 4-points to those Top 15 teams was impressive. We went toe-to-toe with some greats...Sean Miller, Jerome Lane, Demetrious Gore, Charles Smith...lots of big names on those Pitt rosters.Yep...that Independent scheduling was tough. However, myself and most of the people I know still believe that this '88 team's biggest downfall was the two losses to Western Illinois. That was a tough hurdle to get over when trying to impress the NCAA tourney committee. Once again, no matter what your record, "bad losses" will do you in. I still wonder if the strong turnout for that game against #3 Pitt in Richfield indicates that possibly a game today against a Top 10 team at the Q would be a good draw. Or...was it the fact that Richfield was so close to Akron. Who knows. But, I do know a lot of people throughout NE Ohio who went to that game, and would not otherwise go to an Akron basketball game.Skip, I think some of it can be attributed to the fact that we were finally winning at the D-1 level. Bob Ruperts teams were not so good, but when Huggins arrived and the opening of the JAR, the people of Akron started to take notice. You didn't have hundreds of games available to watch on TV like today and the internet was unknown to the average fan. If you wanted to see NCAA basketball your options were limited to a few games a week on TV. Huggins was also a very flamboyant coach(Still is) and part of going to game was the guessing what he might do next. I lost count of how many times he removed his suit coat and flung it into the stands. It was rumored that he kept a roll of quarters in one pocket so that the coat would fly farther. When Muse decided that we needed to go bigtime in football as an independant it was the kiss of death for the BB program. After Huggins left, we were treated to really awful basketball during the C Crawford era. His idea of basketball was summed up in the "Defense 65" promotion. All you had to look forward to was a free taco if we held our opponent under 65 points. Some good points, Hilltopper. You bring back some old memories. And Huggins was indeed often a side show that added to the value of your ticket.You also make me think again about the affect our D-1A upgrade in football had on the basketball program...and the timing. All of us who were around at the time, and have known people who were involved, may all have our own story. But, one thing I like to remind people about is that the wheels were turning on our transition to D-1A in football LONG before we returned to playing successful basketball again. In fact, if you recall, our basketball program was going through some NCAA sanctions, and were getting scholarships pulled right around that time. That somewhat magical 85-86 team really came out of nowhere....and what an exciting year it was. But, we had already done everything to qualify as D-1A in football the previous season, and had everything in place to start competing at that level, and I don't think anyone wanted to turn back at that point.Personally, I still agree that we did the right thing. We were a large, growing University, and we seized an opportunity to move up to the big-time level, and had the people around who could make that happen. And a dozen or so other schools have followed our lead since that time.

Some thoughts from that season -The Zips played as an Independent. Being a basketball Independent at that time, much like today, is an impossible situation. You have no Conference Championship to play for...absolutely no chance at an NCAA bid...you needed to fight and scrape to schedule every game played after January 1st, because every other school in the nation went into their own Conference schedule at that time and had no desire to schedule an Independent game. Especially on the road.I remember those two games against Pitt. I attended both. Unbelievable wars. Losing by 2-points and 4-points to those Top 15 teams was impressive. We went toe-to-toe with some greats...Sean Miller, Jerome Lane, Demetrious Gore, Charles Smith...lots of big names on those Pitt rosters.Yep...that Independent scheduling was tough. However, myself and most of the people I know still believe that this '88 team's biggest downfall was the two losses to Western Illinois. That was a tough hurdle to get over when trying to impress the NCAA tourney committee. Once again, no matter what your record, "bad losses" will do you in. I still wonder if the strong turnout for that game against #3 Pitt in Richfield indicates that possibly a game today against a Top 10 team at the Q would be a good draw. Or...was it the fact that Richfield was so close to Akron. Who knows. But, I do know a lot of people throughout NE Ohio who went to that game, and would not otherwise go to an Akron basketball game.

I remember listening to that Pitt game on the radio. We had a great chance to win that game, as well as the game against them at the Richfield Coliseum the following year when they were ranked even higher. I really thought Cleveland State was ranked early in that 86-87 season. I guess not.

I thought this deserved its own topic since we might need some fellow old timers to chime in on this, or someone that's good at digging up statistical data.I'm pretty sure that Cleveland State was ranked when we beat them at home in OT early in the 86-87 season. Does anyone else remember that? It was the beginning of the next season following our first-ever NCAA tourney appearance, and CSU's Sweet 16 accomplishment. And both teams returned almost all of their players. We had to get there early that day just to get in the JAR. What a game!

Ok....now we're getting somewhere....I think the last couple of comments bring me back to two things...1) As several people point out from time to time, we can't win the games that we do not schedule. So, for God's sake, schedule a few more games that give us a chance to get noticed.2) As I've believed all along....Joe Akron will wake up when we show that we can do something of NATIONAL significance. Beating low-level teams, no matter how lopsided the score, isn't going to prove anything to those people.

Still getting 5-10 minutes a night like normal. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The depth of our frontcourt and the addition of Zeke has limited his minutes a little more this year. He's a 10 minute a night guy at best. Not someone you want to have starting, and not someone you want to rely on for major minutes. Bottom line, he's simply not talented enough to get more minutes on this team right now.I'm honestly more concerned about the disappearance of Brett McClanahan who I expected to be a major piece for us this year. I'm a bit leery of our matchups against some of the MAC's bigger SGs if Brett doesn't get out of his funk and earn some minutes.It seems like a repeat of last year. As time went on, his playing time dwindled. Even when Hitchens was hurt at the end of the year, he was playing limited minutes. I have my own opinions about his abilities, and I'm not sure what our coach is basing his decisions on, but at the very least I believe that when he's not hitting shots, his value to us on the floor really diminishes. I think two other things have happened so far this year that are affecting this situation as well.1) The emergence of Jimmy C. 2) McNees is shooting the ball really well from 3-point range.

You lose 100% of the games you never schedule. Can't beat good programs, or even compete with them if you don't schedule them. It is that simple.If that is true, then Duke, North Carolina, OSU, CSU have all lost to us because they never scheduled us.Quick call that in to the RPI people.edit* It's funny that you guys think we could even compete for an at large bid. 20 wins with 6 losses to Duke, Pitt, UConn, OSU, Michigan State, and Kansas, get's us the same thing we have right now. No bids and getting ready to start the MAC Tournament. Until we are good enough to compete and beat top 30 teams, we need to have an easy schedule with some bench mark games so that we don't get beat up going into MAC play. It's gotten us to the Championship game 3 years in a row, and taking away poor Ref work, should have been two Dance Invites.So, are you saying that 20 wins with maybe a 50 SOS wouldn't put us in a much better position than 20 wins with a 150 SOS?

Not necessarily wanting to refuel the ongoing scheduling issue, but I decided to take a peak at the RPI/SOS numbers, and also look at our first 9 games of the season. As far as how we've played so far, I don't see that it's far from what we should have expected. Even though I have to consider the Austin Peay game as somewhat of a semi-bad loss, especially since it was at home, the other two losses are no surprise. And we've beaten most of the "weaker" opponents by sizable margins, for the most part. I wish we were 7-2, but 6-3 is pretty close. So...how do we stand nationally for our efforts? I was somewhat surprised.RPI = 171SOS = 243Sandwiched right between powerhouses Jacksonville and South Carolina State....two teams with a COMBINED 4 wins between the two of them. I don't know about the rest of you, but we've pretty much done close to what we could have expected at this point, and we're looking at poor numbers like this?I'm sorry, but this scheduling is going to get us nowhere.

With asst. coaches, I usually only pay attention to whether they have a good amount of knowledge and experience in relation to the position, or groups of positions that they will be coaching. If I don't see that, I tend to be a little skeptical since I think the most important thing that these people can contribute is the ability to teach players, and help them become better at performing their particular job.

Rumors have Nagbe leaving also. We'll have to wait and see. Maybe it will entice unsigned talent to bring their skills to Akron.Big Soccer board has a thread on MLS and Generation Adidas prospects. Zakuani supposedly got $175k to go -- Teal won't draw that much, and will not be a top pick. Probably first round, however.Hey, Z.I.P., where did you find this "rumor" about Darlington? I've looked around but haven't seen anything on him. I hope a mass exodus doesn't start!Or...lets hope we really are the best program in the country, and our incoming freshman are darn near as good as everyone else, and we can still compete nationally every year.....like the North Carolina's of the college basketball world.

I forgot about him. It is kind of fate really.Cruz drops footballs, Hofstra drops football.LOL...If i remember one play from that Buffalo game it'll be that one forever.That play is all I can ever think about whenever his name is mentioned.

For years, we've all certainly watched as the best college basketball and football programs lose players to the pros. So, this is something we'll have to live with as well. I just hope that others don't follow his lead. We survived when Steve Z. left. I hope I can say the same after 2010. I'll assume that other soccer programs may lose guys to the pros as well, and it will all even out.

It is being reported that Charlie will be the starter again next week when the Raiders play the Browns in Cleveland. From what I've read this morning, his coach appears to be pleased with his performance in their win over Denver after not playing in a game in over a year. How funny will that be that Charlie comes back for a game against Cleveland as the starting QB for another team? I enjoyed watching him yesterday. It was great to see him playing again, and I hope that the concussion was a mild one.

Even though I have been skeptical that the "Joe Akron's" would suddenly awaken just because of an NCAA tournament appearance and the arrival of Zeke, I still didn't expect to see any crowds as low as this 2,200 number this year. And although I could not make it last night, I bet it was probably even smaller since there were certainly no-shows in the bottom sections. Disappointing.I know it's winter break from school, but it looks like those pictures show about 10 students behind the basket. Very disappointing as well.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk about this.On two of the occassions where we got a yellow card, there was no contact and the Virginia players TOTALLY flopped. The replays on tv were excellent in showing this. Where these supposed to be the best officials in the country? They should have been for a national championship game.

Do they have penalty kicks in the pros? If so, he better hire someone to teach that aspect of the game. Nothing seems more important.PKs are only used in the MLS during the playoffs. Regular season ties count as one point in the standings (3 points for a win). This is typical world-wide for "group" play. If an MLS playoff series (one home, one away, the winner with the higher aggregate score) ends in a tie after the overtime period, then PKs decide the outcome. In general, whenever there is a single elimination tournament (the so-called "knock out stage" in the World Cup, Champions League etc), the specter of PKs deciding the champion lingers.As far as Caleb hiring someone for PKs, it should be noted that the Zips under his watch have been VERY successful (Bush etc.). And they just went 5 for 5 against UNC on Friday. Sure the 2 of 5 showing yesterday was well below acceptable, but don't forget UVa's staff had the advantage of watching and evaluating the Zips in this regard against UNC. It sucks that it happened at the most critical time, but these things happen in soccer.This was my first thought as well. But when two of the shots are not even on goal, it's hard to blame the failure on UVA possibly knowing our tendencies from Friday night. Holding them to 3of5 should have easily given us the win. Was it nerves? pressure? fatigue? We'll never know.Weather Conditions?Look, don't sit there and be a tool and blame these kids or Caleb for playing their asses off and then missing a goal by an inch (Sarkodie) or over thinking the shot (Gavin) it happens; it sucks. I would wager to guess that we will be the favorites to be there again next year and Caleb seems to me to be the type of person who doesn't let things slide. I mean I'm sure since he had that taste in his mouth and knew it was there he is going to want to finish what he started, the beauty is he is 34 with a long life and career ahead of him and even if he is out for the money, a couple National Titles will get him a better gig then that crappy DC United one.You mean the same weather conditions that both teams had to deal with? If anything, we are probably more likely to play in those kinds of conditions more during the course of the year than a team from Virginia.If you read my post more carefully, it's merely a response to someone's post about whether our penalty kicks against UNC gave UVA any advantage. And since UVA only had to make one save on our 5 shots, I would disagree with that thought.

Any good news helps right now.The reality is, we can have great teams over the next several years, maybe even better than this year's team, and still not be fortunate enough to be sitting on the doorstep of a national title in mid-December. Then again, we could be in the title game every year. You never know. That's why it's so painful when you do not finish the job when you are in that position. Even a program that's been as strong as ours had a 23 year hiatus from the title game. I'm sorry. I'm having a tough time getting over this. Even though most people have said to me, "It's just soccer...nobody will even notice", I still so badly wanted us to have a national championship.

Do they have penalty kicks in the pros? If so, he better hire someone to teach that aspect of the game. Nothing seems more important.PKs are only used in the MLS during the playoffs. Regular season ties count as one point in the standings (3 points for a win). This is typical world-wide for "group" play. If an MLS playoff series (one home, one away, the winner with the higher aggregate score) ends in a tie after the overtime period, then PKs decide the outcome. In general, whenever there is a single elimination tournament (the so-called "knock out stage" in the World Cup, Champions League etc), the specter of PKs deciding the champion lingers.As far as Caleb hiring someone for PKs, it should be noted that the Zips under his watch have been VERY successful (Bush etc.). And they just went 5 for 5 against UNC on Friday. Sure the 2 of 5 showing yesterday was well below acceptable, but don't forget UVa's staff had the advantage of watching and evaluating the Zips in this regard against UNC. It sucks that it happened at the most critical time, but these things happen in soccer.This was my first thought as well. But when two of the shots are not even on goal, it's hard to blame the failure on UVA possibly knowing our tendencies from Friday night. Holding them to 3of5 should have easily given us the win. Was it nerves? pressure? fatigue? We'll never know.

Do they have penalty kicks in the pros? If so, he better hire someone to teach that aspect of the game. Nothing seems more important.I do feel the worst today for our two kids who missed those penalty kicks on their own. On the other hand, we nearly pulled a miracle after being down 3-1 and nearly forcing a 6th round, which surely would have added to the drama, and would have stopped my heart.