skip-zip

Z.I.P.....that's a great point. We should be more concerned about the quality of opponent that we'd get at home next year. And a chance to knock off someone with some credibility next year presents the best opportunity for us to grow our program.However....I know that the bracketbuster games are intended to pit two similar teams against each other. So, I don't expect us to get someone like a VCU or a Nevada type team this time around.

Ah Yes...the memories. And remember, McLaughlin and Roberts were both freshmen. And Russell Holmes was a football player who played post at 6'-3" tall. It was certainly a coaching job that helped launch Huggins into the big time a few years later. If my memory is correct, as the 15th seed in the tourney, we took the halftime lead on a very loaded #2 Wolverine team. We were indeed able to stay within striking distance most of the rest of the way, but faded in the final 5 minutes, and lost by either 4 or 6 points.

Excellent work Dave. According to your timeline, it sure looks likes as the situation progressed from just "no timetable for his return" to "out indefinitely"...they decided to make the move. And now we're getting news of a possible medical redshirt. Playing with 3 guards from December all the way to March would have been really tough. I feel bad for the kid. Not just because of this year, but also because I believe that he could have provided the missing piece that could have put us over the top last year.

Thanks guys. Other than the 2006 game, where we made sort-of a game out of it, I know we've been beaten badly by them every time.

Am I reading that right? This poster thinks Akron beat Penn State 8-10 years ago? Are they referring to the 1999 game where we got absolutely trounced by a very high ranked PSU team?

What a sad day I think that he and his staff will forever be linked in the minds of many Zips fans to what happened to us at the conclusion of the basketball season two years ago, and what happened to us in soccer this year. I hope the new commish makes a strong commitment to stand up for their conference members, and fight against the injustices that have plaqued us at the national level.

Marcel Boyce...the OVC Player of the Year in 1986 when we won the conference championship, and made our only appearance in the big dance. I'm an old man Blue and Gold...I was a senior at Akron. It was an exciting season. I'll remember it forever, and sure hope that some of you folks get to experience something like this very soon as well.

Dave...that's exactly why I am wondering if there was some indication that Ronnie's situation could be season-long when they made that move...and we just didn't know about it. Not that we have a right to know or anything.

I enjoyed the article. I've just always said on here that I think it's unfair to lump all JC kids together as a negative. I initially went to a JC, made some great friends, and some of those guys did move on to bigger schools, had nice careers, and finished their 4 year degrees. But at the same time, there were some guys who had opportunities, and blew them. I trust that KD would take one if it was the right guy, and I think that's the right attitude. Don't forget...our last championship team was anchored by a JC transfer.

I commented on this initially in the post-game thread, but will elaborate here...As I said initially....I hated to see him in there for less than a 1/2 year, and get thrown into the middle of the conference race. He's struggled. But hopefully hitting 3 of 5 on his 3s last night is something that he can build upon, and will help him gain some confidence. But as much as I didn't like the situation....we couldn't go through the entire season with only 3 guards either. And speaking of the reason why this all happened to being with......I thought someone mentioned that Ronnie would play again vs. YSU? Wasn't this initially reported as a condition that was only going to keep him out for a month? Is there more we don't know about? Did someone have a really bad feeling about Ronnie's long-term prognosis when they decided to bring in McClanahan?And an even more interesting question might be....if Ronnie returns healthy this year, is someone going to sit?...or are we going to start rotating 5 guards? And we still have one more very successful high school guard who will get into the mix next year after his redshirt. hmmmm.(Ok...my wife comments all the time about how I live, eat, and breathe Zips Sports....I better get out of here for the rest of the day and get some work done)

Captain...thanks for the find. And a special thanks for your insistence that the OSU sympathizers stay away from this one. This is an AKRON website, for AKRON fans.UAZipsMan....you are 100% right. Whoever feels that Akron and OSU do not compete in the recruiting arena is not paying attention. Kids can play at MAC schools sooner, in most cases. And the serious ground that we've made up in conference ranking, and the drop that the Weak 10 has taken in recent years, will only further support that notion.A side note on Nicely. Some old NE Ohio coaching friends of mine (although mostly basketball guys...but certainly knowledgable sports guys) have seen him play many times, and are telling me that they don't expect him to be good at our level. He's big, and has posted good numbers against some weak teams, but apparently has played poorly in some games against good teams. And I am told he has poor foot speed, and is strictly a pocket passer. I don't know how this will work out...but I'm only reporting what I hear. I sure hope they're wrong, and he develops into something special.

Captain...some of your references kill me. That's hilarious. But please, I'd keep it a secret that you have a framed picture of you and our fine conference leader hanging above the mantle on your fireplace.

PDT....that's classic!! And not surprising at all.So, what was it about your story that didn't "fit the views of the paper"? You mean, you don't support a spread-the-wealth socialistic economic philosophy? You believe that Americans should make the effort to improve themselves if they want to be successful, and not whine to the government to make their lives better? And....You don't believe that free health care should be a "right"?What's wrong with you man !!!!!!

Dave...after reading the two recent posts from uakronkid and captain, I wanted to also point out the difference between being favored in 6 INDIVIDUAL games vs. the odds of winning ALL 6 games.You beat me to it...thanks.

uakronkid...I love your unbridled optimism. But if you were predicting a sweep of the MAC West last year, at the very least you should have respected how strong of an effort it would have taken to beat Western Michigan on their home floor. They only lost one home game all year, and it was a narrow loss to a Big 10 team. And they had already recorded wins at home against the likes of Davidson and Southern Illinois before they played us. Then, if you couple that with a couple of sub-par performances, it doesn't take much to end up with a 3-3 record over a stretch of 6 games. PDT1420 has a good idea here. I'll expand on this a bit, and see where this discussion goes....6-0 ---- Very,very pleased (as I said in an earlier post), despite some who might insist that these teams are all made up of 9th grade level talent 5-1 ---- Alright with me...for sure. We're still in the East race.4-2 ---- Good, but I think someone at the top of our division will win more than 4 against the West, so this would put us in a tough position for the 2nd half.3-3 ---- "ok" at best...and that's only if we won all 3 home games, and the losses were all on the road.2-4 ---- Would shake my head in disappointment. Would ask dance team to get new uniforms again to try to turn our luck around. 1-5 ---- Only the lady flipping the soup bowls on the unicycle would draw a good crowd over the final few home games. 0-6 ---- So unlikely, I might bet everything I have against it happening.

Zipwatcher....I'm sorry, but I don't recall seeing where any of us were arguing the fact that these games are "winnable". Of course they're winnable. The range of Sagarin ratings among the MAC West teams range from 212 to 302 as of today. My disagreement was with someone's assessment in an early post in this thread which indicated that we SHOULD win them ALL. Other posters share some of the same honest sorts of concerns, and have referenced some of our difficulties in the past as well....despite the fact that I'm certain all of us as die-hard fans want nothing more than to win these next 6 games. Yes, I'm very aware of Jeremiah's absence, but it's an obvious letdown when you lose a game to a team ranked somewhere around #300 in the country...At home. This is just another indication of the kinds of things that often go wrong in the world of college basketball when you anticipate consistently good play over such a long stretch of games. As fans, I think these posts all indicate that we're excited about the next few weeks. After a 2-3 start that by no means has us out of the East race quite yet, we're facing the challenge of sending our young basketball team into unfamiliar territory with the hopes of winning 6 games in a row, half of which are road games, during a portion of the schedule that was particularly difficult for us just as recently as last year, with a much more experienced team. Let's hope for the best. And lets hope that some of these West teams can knock off some of those guys ahead of us in the standings.Captain...We may not think alike on some things.....but I'm COMPLETELY on board with you about taking the "let's go pound these guys" attitude.

I posted some of this in another thread, but I will include it here as well:You only have to look at last year to convince someone to look at the next 6 games cautiously.I'm sure we'd all admit that last year's team was a veteran bunch...much less vulnerable to "letdown" performances. So, what happened in those 6 games?Akron's 2008 Record vs. MAC West: 3-3Included:Loss @ Central Michigan (completely unexpected)Blowout 20-Point loss @ Western Michigan10-point loss to Nothern Illinois at Home (probably the worst game we played last year)Sure, the MAC West looks worse than ever. But, that Central Michigan team last year was about 100 places behind us in the computer rankings, and the NIU team that beat us at home ended up being one of the worst teams in D-1 basketball last year. My point is...I'll be very, very pleased if this team gets through this stretch with a 6-0 record.

Dave...unfortunately it was even worse. We were only 3-3 last year against the West. And they were awful last year too. A close loss @ Central, a 20-point loss @ Western, and a 10-point home loss to NIU...which I felt was the WORST game we played all last year.Speaking to the character of that team, we avenged that 20-point loss to WMU by beating them in the semis of the MAC tournament, which I thought was the BEST game we played all last year.

And maybe it's time to also put an end to the notion that our MAC West schedule is a bunch of easy wins. As I said earlier, even our best teams the last few years could not run the table against the West. And last year's team even lost a home game to a West team that wasn't even that good.Welcome to the MAC.

Johnnyzip....very interesting. This would seem to indeed indicate that many "lower" conferences will get plenty of bids.

Quickzips....I agree with you that it's hard to not put both Miami and OU in front of us since they both beat us head-to-head, and one could arguably make the point that they buried us when it came to those last few overtimes minutes, when it mattered most. I really hate to say this, but....regardless of how Can't State looks right now, and my opinions about how poorly I think this coach has done his job of molding these guys into any kind of team, I still believe that Can't has the talent to make up serious ground as the rest of the season progresses.Our biggest hurdles? We still have to play road games at Buffalo and Can't. And please...we all do this every year....don't assume that we breeze through the MAC West schedule, and win all of our remaining homes games. Even our best teams over the last few years weren't able to get this done.

Well...since this brings the number of post-season bids up to somewhere in the neighborhood of 150, I sure hope we'll always be in that mix...even in a down year. My other thought is...this probably means that EVERY team from EVERY BCS conference is probably assured of a post season bid.

sgt zip...I'll let you answer your own question.For a Zips team that already has 8 losses, even if we play lights out, and are incredibly lucky enough to completely run the table, and win every game in the MAC tournament (in other words, the absolute BEST case scenario to close the season)........What do you think we could realistically expect as a seed in the NCAA Tournament? In a year where the MAC is particularly weak? My guess?.....maybe as high as 14...in the most hopeful and fortunate of circumstances.

I knew someone would bring up the "preparation for the tournament", but these games are far too important if we even hope to be in a position to make a run in the tournament. I've just never been a fan of squeezing in non-confrerence games in close proximity to the conference games that are oh so important. If they were home games, or all in one location (like a tournament) it's not so bad. Toledo will get us at at home,....after a stretch of 3 games in 5 days.....with travel.....and little time to prepare for a team that we haven't seen yet this year. And suddenly, Toledo has won 2 in a row, pretty handily, and may just be a pretty dangerous opponent on their home floor. I'd just rather not see us put ourselves in a position like this right during a critical part of the conference schedule. We're 2-3, and will need every win we can get over the next 10 games.

Where excatly is Manny's new location? I'm not aware of any unused commercial locations around the Buchtel Field area.