skip-zip

I completely agree.....if we can't get a home and home, we're still better off playing some good teams on the road as opposed to not playing them at all. You have to give yourself an opportunity to knock off someone that is going to get some attention if you want to elevate the stature of your program.After following this basketball program for decades, I just can't think of anything that makes us attractive to a larger conference. We operate on a small budget, our attendance is really poor (on big conference standards), we don't generate revenue, and we likely wouldn't be looked at as a good "draw" when we played at any of the other schools in the Big East. Beyond that, we still have yet to win even one title in the 15 years we have been in our present league.

GP1 is absolutely right about one point. We would instantly be recruiting on another level. Kids want to play good competition, have chances at national notoriety, and be in a position to win national titles. How long it would take to compete with the other teams is a whole different issue, but we'd immediately have interest from a higher level of talent.

Yep, we can certainly shut the door on any chance to see larger conference affiliation anytime soon. If any representative was even remotely interested in "courting" us, they'd likely instantly change their mind when they found out our "actual" football and basketball attendance numbers. We simply can't show any larger conference that we have the potential to benefit their league right now.I do see some interesting thoughts here that I have not pondered before...Big Zip....I don't recall any talk of Can't entering a larger conference due to their basketball success over the last decade, and we have a long way to go to even touch their level of success. Great point.lilroodude...I hope you aren't being serious that you would have great anticipation about the outcome of a possible Zeke vs. Thabeet matchup next year...if we would miraculously be playing in the Big East. It's sure fun to think about things in a funny sense like that, but what would you realistically expect would happen if we sent this kid who only averages about 10 pts. and 10 rebs. per game in high school out on the floor to face up against possibly the best center in college basketball twice next year in conference play? I'm just trying to be careful not to place an all-american label on this kid (or even an all-mac label for that matter) before he even shows up on campus, and has some time to develop.

Everyone has a right to their own opinion. But, you need to look at the flip side as well. In 2004 JDs Zips won a number of games in a row down the stretch to get us into that final game against Miami that decided the MAC East title. And in 2005, we also ran off a stretch of wins late in the season to get to the MAC Championship game. And in 2007, those two close games against Miami and Central Michigan were probably the two best games we played all year, defensively and offensively, against the eventual winnners of the East and West Divisions respectively.I just want to point out that it's not accurate if the claim here is that JDs Akron teams have always played poorly at the end of the season.

I wish this establishment the best of luck. Why? Because they finally gave us an AKRON bar that catered to AKRON sports. I also was quite puzzled at one of the times I went there to find the Akron game on TV, a DJ running his program based on what was happening in the Akron game...yet many of the servers were wearing Ohio State gear?? Sounds like maybe a memo didn't get to the right people. But, I hope they have that worked out. It was nice to have a gathering place for Akron fans to watch the Akron game.

I think our friend lilroodude meant to say 2-1 or 3-0, considering that we're talking about only 3 games. Anyway....I think we are all pretty much in agreement that for this year's team, our "A" game means that we play great, great defense to give ourselves a chance to win. I'm talking....a Dayton-type performance. Sure, we can win all of these games if that happens. And I sure hope it does.Unfortunately, I have to be realistic.Rhode Island: Wow...I'd consider this a great road upset, even if we were playing them with last year's team, or the 2006 team.Miami: I've watched plenty of good Zips teams get trounced down there. Last year's tremendous upset (without Jeremiah) was unbelievable. What are the chances we pull that off two years in a row? Very, very slim. Right now...I'm just hoping to get wins in HOME CONFERENCE GAMES...and possibly putting ourselves in a position to possibly make a run in the 2nd half. That's about all I can realistically hope for right now.

skhorbotly...I'm not feeling that good overall right now either. I'm seeing efforts like we had against Niagara and Dayton giving us reason for optimism, and efforts like we had against teams like Eastern Kentucky and St. Francis taking us backwards again. And a number of our wins are against teams that are so inferior to us that we really can't guage much of anything from the results. The youth of this team certainly would explain some of this roller coaster ride. But unfortunately, if we are hopeful of anything coming out of this season, we'll need many more efforts similar to the Dayton and Niagara efforts. And we only have a couple more games to aim the ship consistently forward in that kind of direction. Don't fool yourselves...many of our conference teams are more experienced and will be ready to play us, regardless of how some people feel about some of their performances during non-conference play.

I agree with Zipwatcher that this team has the ability to buckle down and play defense when they want to. I believe that's our only chance of having a decent year....if we can play great, inspired defense as often as possible. Because, it still looks like it's going to take some time for these guys to determine who is going to be their consistent offensive weapons, and solve this problem of always seeming to look for perimeter shots. I'd like to cut Nate some slack. He's trying to contribute in ways that he has not been asked to contribute in the other 3 years he has been here. It may still take some time. Conyers with an 8 rebound night? Gosh, we'll sure need some of that when conference play starts.I'd sure like to take the attitude that "well...we played bad, but showed that we could close out the game when it counted"......but that's hard to do considering that we were playing at home against a team ranked around 300th in the computer polls.

Zipwatcher...I'm defending you on the idea that praising KDs wins is not a knock on Huggins. I'm just stating that I can't agree with someone who thinks that the beginning of the Huggins era and the beginning of the KD era were even remotely similar. And you also might have forgotten that Huggy was working under NCAA sanctions as well. I certainly never implied that KD was left with 15 talented basketball players when he took over the program, and I am sure he did a nice job of turning that core group of talent he inherited into even better players during their careers. I'm only pointing out that the starting point for these two coaches was miles apart.

Right....we have some big time playmakers on our defense right now...and they will suddenly and mysteriously emerge just as soon as they get a little bit more "coaching and teaching".

Zipwatcher...I respect your observations. Sometimes I can't quite figure out what other people are trying to say, but the only point I am trying to make is that Watters at Can't and CSU, and Huggins at Akron started with virtually NOTHING. I'm sure you are not trying to drag Huggins down. I know you know our basketball program better than that. But, I think many of us tend to attach a different level of appreciation to these kinds of situations. I sure wish I could tell the same tale of a dramatic rise of a program after the naming of a new coach. But, we all know that KD had top notch players to work with when he took over the program. And I know him, and love him. But, it's just a different feeling you get when you see the guys who raise the level of programs from scratch, are truly in the dumps, and have no talent.

Hilltopper...sorry, you aren't telling me something I don't already know. I've been quite well connected with the basketball program here for decades. I'm just making the point that he didn't start from scratch...by any means. I agree...Hip might have found a way to screw it up if he was still the HC, and KD the assistant

I'll add this much.....and don't get me wrong....I love KD.Watters has now twice formed successful D-1 teams out of virtually nothing. KD has done a nice job, but also inherited the Wood/Travis/Joyce/Dials nucleus that we all knew was going to win a lot of games over the next few years. Now is when we find out what KD can really do as a coach. If he takes this group of kids to 2-3 successful seasons, I'll happily say that he should be considered one of the best coaches in Ohio.As far as someone making the comment about KD being ahead of pace with Huggins in wins....remember....Huggins started with absolutely NOTHING. And NCAA sanctions. He only won his 2nd year because he made a brilliant move to get a great freshman PG from Michigan (McLaughlin) and an outstanding JC transfer (Boyce). But, from his 2nd year on, once he had things together, I think he was probably going to continue to win 20+ a year for as long as he would have stayed here.

We may not see a Jason Taylor caliber player again for a long time, but you desperately need impact players on that side of the ball. I'm sure maybe people can name a few others who might fit that bill in recent years besides Stokes and Mackey...you might even be able to put the 2007 version of Reggie Corner into that category. But, if anyone wants to take a stab at labeling the players who were big difference makers on our 2008 defense, I'd love to hear it.

I've said this before, but what this defense needs more than anything else is a couple of impact players. Playmakers like Mackey and Stokes were not easy to replace, and that was obvious this year. I hope Bain is one of those guys, but we need a couple of guys in the LB and Secondary to emerge as well.

zipstrumpet....you are right that we were able to kick up the tempo at home against Miami last year. But, that happened because we had an unconscious 3-point shooter who was making every shot, even when closely guarded, in the first half. And if anyone else recalls, right after that series of 3s from McNees, Jeremiah closed out the half with a thunderous reverse dunk. That was soooo much fun watching the Sweaters getting buried during that stretch. It's one of the rare times I've seen them look so dumbfounded during a game. That 20+ point deficit forced Miami to play an entirely different way in the 2nd half. It's not often that someone forces them into that kind of situation.

I agree. A super, super nice guy. I'm sad to hear he is leaving, but wish him well.

I'm not sure if you noticed this when you wrote it, but does it really look like the entire East Div. is better than any team in the West? This would seem on the surface like a good thing, but in the end all of us in the East will be beating up on each other, and the West winner will still get a #2 seed in the tournament. I know the West has been weak in other recent years also, but I'd sure like to see some improvement over there to help our overall conference strength.

Captain...there's the question. Are MAC level schools willing to raise their budgets to the level that will keep football coaches when all of the programs in the MAC operate at a huge loss, and fan support is minimal?

uakronkid...good point. MAC salaries might be getting larger, but the only thing that matters is how these salaries compare to other coaching jobs in 1-A. We simply don't have the budgets to make big offers to marquee coaches. And sadly enough, if this guy has any kind of success, don't expect to see him stay there more than a few years.

Good question GP....I'm not sure if 1-A teams require a degree. But, I would bet that his NFL coaching experience would make him very attractive to just about any college level staff.

I'm glad he has gotten an opportunity to play, and may be able forge himself an NFL career. I guess that's about all we can hope for.

Birdzip...I think you may have confused my analysis of Steward's efficiency as opposed to Roberts', although Roberts has done quite well. But, I don't want to see Darryl handle the ball......I just want him to score some points again. We need him!!

BirdZip...lol..nothing to worry about. We're all fans, and it's certainly nice to see that Humpty was efficient with the basketball last night. I hope it continues. Actually, I was somewhat surprised to hear KD say last night on the radio that Humpty wasn't very good in the first half last night. I think he may have been talking about his shot selection, because he wasn't hurting us with turnovers. Dr. Z...good point. We need to start scoring in the paint for a number of different reasons. We seem to have a desire to shoot a good amount of 3-pointers, and those are going to be easier once we have the inside threat to play an inside-out game. I just don't think we'll survive conference play by passing the ball around the perimeter and shooting 3-pointers, as we have a tendency to do at times. We need to make opposing guards feel the need to sometimes sag into the paint to guard against entry passes. And remember, our conference teams will study us a little more than most of these teams have done.

That's a tough one. I never regarded him as a scorer, but considering that he's played in well over 100 games, it doesn't seem so improbable.