skip-zip

That is the heart of my disagreement with some within this thread - Those relegated to the old company line "...we only have one chance to make the NCAA's, so the regular season is irrelevant...play a bunch of cupcakes...get a bunch of wins...and hope you win the MAC tourney.If people want to place their heads in the sand and ignore that fact that the present, and future of our basketball program is better than that...that it isn't tethered to the same "let's hope we win the MAC tourney because nothing else matters" fate...I'll disagree. I believe our program is past that stage. We aren't Eastern Michigan...Central Michigan...Northern Illinois...etc. To those programs, the same-old-same-old applies. To the Zips, it doesn't.For lack of time to respond to everything, although I love this topic...right THERE is the response that pretty much sums it all up for me.Thanks for all of your responses, especially those who are reminding all of us that participating in this discussion is not a bashing of our coach, our program or our championship team. I knew this thread would would generate a lot of interest.

Zips Win...perfect. Brings us right back to the very reason I started this thread.We only need to look at our last couple of years of MAC Tournament history to know that anything can happen. We've now lost the MAC tournament with the best team in the MAC, and won it with a #5 seeded team. And I'm just not satisfied with continuing to rest our postseason opportunities on a situation where any one of 13 teams can have everything fall their way at the right time. I'm really quite surprised that anyone is fine with us continuing along satisfied with only having one chance to get into the big dance, when there are things you can do to improve your chances at getting a 2nd opportunity.

Uakronkid...I know your point of view on this. So, I guess we just sit around and not try to do anything about it? It's real simple....do one thing, and you give yourself a chance at some national recognition. You do the alternative, and you win games and nobody notices (i.e. the same old, same old). I know what I would choose.

Quickzips...I'm not glamorizing Cleveland State at all by starting this thread. I really don't like them at all, to be honest. I'm merely pointing out another example of a program that put themselves in a position to get a 2nd opportunity at an NCAA bid by scheduling some big teams. In no way did it hurt their chances of winning their own conference tournament. AND, it got their kids more "battle tested" against good schools, will aid their future recruiting, and gave them some games that could garner some national visibility...especially the game they won at Syracuse. I'm well aware of situations that can cause players to lose confidence. But losing to a top level school when it's expected is not a situation that will normally cause players to react that way. In fact, competitive players get excited about those types of opportunities. So again, I just can't see a good reason why you would NOT want to play more of these kinds of games. Blue and Gold...Xavier played here about 12 years ago, and we almost beat them. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't do a home-and-home with us.

The offseason might be another good time to start this discussion....I was listening to KNR this morning. and they were talking about CSUs out-of-conference schedule, and the value of putting yourself in a position to have a 2nd chance to get into the big dance. So, I decided to look at what CSU is doing, and this is what I found....Some of the games on their non-conference schedule included:Washington - Pac 10 winnerKansas State - Big 12Wichita State - Missouri ValleyWest Virginia - Top 25 teamSyracuse - Top 25 team....and they WON this game...on the ROADAnd two conference games against ranked Butler....both very narrow losses.Among this list were teams with RPIs of 12, 14, 21, and 24.They ended the season with a #52 Sagarin, which certainly was a reflection of some of the teams they played, and would have likely assured them of an NIT bid. And it even may have turned into an NCAA at-large bid if they could have come up with maybe another win or two during that stretch. And it certainly didn't hurt their run at the conference tournament title. So the question again is....what do you have to lose by upgrading your schedule? Even if many of them are road games?

I think everyone pretty much regarded the Selection Sunday party as the celebration of the MAC tournament title. I think the only thing you might see now is maybe an appearance of this team at the home opener football game??The 2007 JAR party was different. People felt as if that team deserved some recognition for what they did that year, even though there was no MAC tournament title, or NCAA or NIT appearance.

I've never known a player at this level that wished he was at spring drills....especially those who knew they were going to be starters in the coming year.However....it looks as if Mr. Davis might be fortunate to equal Omar's 5th round status.

I'm really curious about something, if someone who is really knowledgable about college soccer can help me.After being a big supporter of Zips athletics over the past few decades, I must admit that I never attended a soccer game until last season. On a very nice fall night, I went to the Michigan game. because I felt that a premier college "name" would be the game to go to. I had a great time...much more exciting than I expected from a 1-0 soccer game. And I'd guess that there was maybe 500-1,000 people there that day. But I could be wrong. My question is....does anyone know what the attendance numbers are for some of the other good soccer programs in the country? Not that I expect us to draw like an ACC school, but what can we reasonably expect? It would seem to me that with the limited interest in Akron Soccer, even being a good program year after year, that 2,500 seats is more than enough to handle even the biggest crowds we would get.

The interesting thing about having these discussions is that we seldom draw a distinction between attendance increases and a packed house. Kangaroo talks about an increase in attendance. This is a realistic perspective, although I am not sure if there will be 800 more people EVERY game than what we saw this year. But 2,900 was such a disappointing number (and that's not even excluding the no-shows in lower reserved) for a team that was winning that you'd have to anticipate that there will be some kind of increase.But once again, anything bigger than that is going to take something of national significance. And I'd absolutely be in favor of an upgrade in scheduling. Zipwatcher...I'd sure love to see the difference between 85/86 and 86/87 in terms of attendance numbers, if that data is available. Those years were both at the tail end of my student days, so I remember them well. I don't recall any sellouts in 86/87 (with the exception of the Cleveland State game in December 86...which was actually MORE than a sellout), but I recall the crowds being bigger. And maybe the biggest point of all is that I can recall darn near packing one entire side (the upper reserved section, which was still bleachers at the time) with STUDENTS for key games. Let's just hope one thing about that era does not repeat itself......the 86/87 team also returned everyone except ONE senior, and added some good recruits, and we did not repeat our OVC title.

I'm sure a few more people will jump into the fold at the beginning of the season. And I'm sure a few more will show up out of curiosity over the arrival of Zeke Marshall. But once again....The "Joe Akrons", and all of the people who think that Ohio State is the only "real" college basketball team in the area, won't start coming until we do something of NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. Last night was an opportunity to score some points with some of these people, but it didn't happen. Just being a top level MAC team isn't going to change things in a real significant way.

Quickzips pretty much has my line of thinking here.What I Want:A 15,000 seat state-of-the-art arena. What's Realistic:An 8,000 seat arena.What I think the University will do over the next 5-10 years:The JAR is only 25 years old, and I honestly don't think it looks much different, or has deteriorated in any way, since the first time I walked into it in the early 80s. I don't see a MAC school replacing such a facility unless it can't hold the demand for fans. We got nowhere close to a sellout this year, even against Can't. A lot more needs to happen before a new facility becomes a "need" to the University.

First, I am so happy to see some of you younger folks get to experience what I experienced as a student 23 years ago. I've never forgotten it, and still talk about it all the time. Now, we finally have another similar experience to add to it.The season has been a wild ride?? Heck...just the last couple of weeks has been a wild ride!!! We went from playing some of our worst basketball of the season in losing 3 games in the final couple of weeks of the season, to needing two miracles just to get out of the preliminary round of the MAC tournament, to playing maybe our best 3 games of the year, to playing on the same floor with one of the best programs in the country for 3/4 of a game. Can't believe I got through all of that without a visit to a cardiologist. But it sure was exciting!

It's nice to see that people started bringing up Sullivan, after he was mysteriously omitted from the original post. He's a strong kid, a great defender, and averaged somewhere around 25ppg each of his last TWO years of high school. Here's some of my thoughts about next year......1) Is B. McKnight going to become a starter? I actually like his role right now, but don't know what the staff has in store for him.2) I like Humpty coming off of the bench too. This "spark plug" kind of guy coming into the game might just be the way he could help us the best in the future. 3) Does the way Steve Mc. has handled the point the last couple of weeks change anyone's mind about him? His floor leadership has been unexpectedly tremendous, and it has me once again confused about whether the 1 spot or the 2 spot is the best fit for him. And I still can't figure out why the guy with the best technical shooting mechanics from long range has struggled so much to find the basket this year. 4) I sure hope Ronnie has better luck next year. I still believe that he is the best we have in terms of running an efficient offense. 5) I'm not sure where McClanahan stands right now. His minutes dwindled significantly as of late, and other than 1 or 2 games, the shooting accuracy we had heard so much about didn't really materialize. We had to add a guard to the lineup. We had no choice. But I hated to see him go from filling meaningful minutes, to being in a "go in for a few minutes to give the other guys a rest" role. And we only had 3 healthy guards. I just hope it's not a sign that the coaches gave up on him.6) Forget the idea of Bardo getting more touches in the paint, as some people suggest. His offensive skills (both hands and feet) are really weak. He belongs in the role he's in right now, and I don't see that changing. 7) I think Nik really showed what he could bring to this team over the 2nd half of the season. I expect to see him as a starter once again. 8) Can anyone really at this point figure out which Jimmy C. will appear at the start of next year?9) Nice to see Darryl get his confidence back as a scorer by the end of the season. 10) The burning question....does Zeke start from Day 1? I have no idea what Keith's thoughts are on this, but if he does well in the preseason, I'm sure it's possible. I know one thing...the bench is gonna be pretty full next year with the addition of Zeke and a few redshirts. And a lot of talented people will be fighting for playing time.

Folks...there's more important questions here.....As someone who was heavily involved in Zips athletics back in the OVC days, I don't necessarily feel as if a former OVC commish is a bad idea. For right now, I'll trust that the people in our league felt that this person was ready to make a move upward, and had the talent to do the things we need to accomplish. No..there's not going to be a split. The majority of our members have been around for decades. In fact, some of my fellow old timers might even remember that it was a long fight just to get INTO this conference. I'm willing to see what this guy has in mind for the league, and give him a chance.

Or...just move the high school game over to Memorial

BigZip...it's actually worse than that for BG, as I pointed out in another thread.There are 32 teams in the NIT, with 4 brackets with 8 teams each. BGs #8 seed means they were one of the last rated teams of the 32 team field. And they were the MAC regular season champ. Says a lot about how people feel about the MAC right now.

We didn't do a watch party in the JAR last time, but again, that was a daytime game. 99% of the people I know would rather be at a bar.

I have to admit, I would have liked many, many other matchups much better. To me, this is like matching two wanna-be-majors against each other (I know...Gonzaga really isn't a "mid" anymore). I would have rather had the chance to knock off one of the majors who would NEVER schedule us to play them on a neutral court. But my biggest disappointment is in having to play them in a place where they will be able to bring thousands of their fans. It will be pretty darn close to a home game for them. But once again, I am going to enjoy an experience that I have not had in 23 years....and hope for a good performance.

Well...I guess the Zags fans were right.....the game is now officially listed this morning as 7:25 EASTERN.Perfect....could not have worked out any better for those of us who will be working, and can't get out there. I was fearing a 12pm game time. Now, I can anticipate some great atmospheres at some local establishments for the viewing of the game. In 1986, we had an early afternoon game time. It stunk.

I have to share something really cool with you guys...although it was also, in my opinion, complete BS. My wife and I left our seats behind the Akron bench and walked up the tunnel near the close of the cutting-down-the-nets festivities Saturday when we were approached by a woman and her son who wanted our ticket stubs. It turns out that they said that they were friends of the McKnights, and the son had played high school ball with them, and NOBODY was going to let them down that tunnel to a good viewing point of the post game festivities....and this was 30 MINUTES AFTER THE GAME WAS OVER. I was so happy to give them our stubs....it made my day. And it reminded me of what I saw just previous to that. Which was the trouble Akron players were having getting their parents or wives onto the court. Until a kind guard started allowing them, one by one, as they begged for permission, they simply were not letting anyone out there without intense scrutiny. But of course, it was just fine for those freaks from Miami to all go running out there a couple of years ago...EVEN BEFORE THE GAME WAS OVER (and as Keith pointed out, should have been a techinical). Did anyone else notice some of this? Is this another double standard that's applied to Akron?

Of course, it bothers me that BG gets a rock-bottom #8 seed in the NIT.....being the regular season champ of the MAC. I guess that shows how much respect the MAC is getting these days. I'll root for BG, but I can never root for Can't. BG being successful in the NIT is the only one that's going to matter in terms of either of them being in a position to bring any respect to our league.

That would make it 7pm, which would be perfect for us watching on tv here.However...Channel 5 just said that no game times will be announced until tomorrow.

Quick..thanks for bringing this up. As the game approached its final couple of minutes, I was hugging my wife and friends around me.....realizing that 23 years of frustration was coming to an end for all of us who had been in school, or just out of school when we made our last appearance. It was a sweet moment. And honestly....my next thought was of those who came oh so close, and got robbed of an NCAA berth a couple of years ago with a 26-6 record. I even thought about it again today when I saw Cedrick at the tournament selection party. Lets never forget the group of guys who made up the nucleus of Keith's first several teams here, and were certainly good enough to have had a couple of years of experiencing this kind of joy.....but it just didn't happen for them.

I'd argue that we played good D pretty much the entire season. I often try to go back and analyze games afterwards, and this one particularly was a display of excellent shooting (55%, and even BETTER from 3-point range), at the most opportune time. If someone had told me that Buffalo would outrebound us by 7, I'd say it would be unlikely we would win. But instead, we won in a blowout.

Great pic Can't State. And you're right...the season isn't over yet. There might be another surprise yet.