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I think it will be difficult, when we return one senior starter, and one part-time underclassman starter, to not refer to next year as a rebuilding year. I mean, if this is truly our last game this year, where are the people that are READY RIGHT NOW to become major contributors in our NEXT GAME, without the help of Wood, Dials, and Middleton? If I had to guess right now, I'd say that we will have difficulty, for at least the first half of the season, to get some guys to the point where we'll be able to compete consistently.As we learned this year, you can't count on recruits to come in and make you a better team right from the start. Many of you on here were counting on Bardo, who ended up playing very little. And others thought Sweich could be a starter, and he never even played. New players rarely make an instant impact. And we need to keep that in mind when assessing next year. You really have to look at the people who have played this year, and decide for yourselves who is really, truly ready to step up into a major role, without the help of the departing seniors. I'm looking at 2 years before we have enough to be able to compete for a title again. But I sure hope I am dead wrong.

I'm pleased that we got as far as we did this year, considering that we were picked to finish 4th in our division. But, the way we played last night was awful,, and almost embarrassing. I sure hope it's not an indication that KD can't win big games. Especially with our letdown last year still fresh in our minds.I'm sorry, but the "Can't is a coach and losing a couple of players away from their program taking a dive" argument is really lame. So is the "JUCO players do not help you build a long term program" argument. A change in philosophy is likely going to be necessary if we are ever going to reach Can't's level in this conference.

I had a similar experiences where I was sitting. I tried to ignore them, but just couldn't.Booing the military people who were taking their oath of service at halftime????Totally classless, but I am not a bit surprised. s

Bull. Fatigue played a big factor last year for us in the championship game because we played in the late Saturday game, and had to launch a big 2nd half effort to win the semi against Can't.Can't will probably see some of the same effects tonight.

So, where are all the Zips fans hanging out tonight? I tried the Hard Rock yesterday, and really saw a mix of fans from all schools. I thought everyone was going there, including the Rowdies. Should I have been somewhere else?

My voice barely recovered between Sunday and today. But I let it all hang out tonight. And I am really hoping for a one day recovery this time :DIs anyone else getting the feeling that this is finally OUR time? Can't getting stretched to the brink of elimination, in the late game, is the ABSOLUTE BEST scenario we could have hoped for. Now we need to finish the job.Can anyone tell that I can't sleep tonight? A team that was picked to finish 4th in the MAC East is sitting pretty, with plenty of rest, and poised to finish the job at 7pm on Saturday. I can't wait!!By the way, the Rowdies REALLY got into the Can't fan's heads tonight. Can't fans were spending more time jawwing with the Rowdies than they were paying attention to their own game. I LOVED IT !!Looking forward to seeing more of you guys tomorrow.

I predict at last one scuffle on the court tomorrow night. And probably a dozen more in the stands.This is going to be an exciting night.

Now that we're up to 22 years since we've been to the NCAA Tournament, we again stand on the doorstep of making the big dance.For those of you who were at the semis tonight, you saw that Can't brought a very large contingent to their semifinal game. They probably had twice as many people there as we did for the 7pm game. Playing Miami would have been pretty much a home game for us, but not Can't. This is why it's important for every Akron fan to be there tomorrow night.If you're an Akron fan but never really go to the games, now is the time. If you know some friends who've wanted to go to games if you just give them a call? now is the time.If you usually go to the game, but mostly sit on your hands? Now is the time for that to change.If you lost your voice last Sunday, and again tonight, and think you don't have much left? Now is the time for a quick recovery.The MAC and NE Ohio has been waiting for a Can't/Akron championship matchup ever since they started playing the tournament at the Q. And now it's here, and we need every bit of support we can get to seize the moment. Zip Fans....NOW is the time !!!!Oh...and....

What a shame for OU. They had all the tools to have a great year, and once again self-destructed. In his final basketball game ever, Bubba once again showed how much he can hurt a team. Heck, they played their best basketball game of the year (win against Can't) when Bubba DIDN'T PLAY A SINGLE MINUTE.Guys...I still believe our chances in the championship game are much better if we play Miami. And they would be playing their 4th game in 4 days.

Portland State especially had the potential to look like a really bad loss on our record, but they ended up getting bettter and having a pretty good season.Winthrop has really slipped though. The last I looked, they were way over 100 on the RPI.I still hope we can get an NIT bid if we don't win the tournament this weekend. But, based on the fact that we're probably not as good as we were last year adn didn't make it, I am not real optimistic right now.

Thanks. I just wanted to make sure that was correct.It appears is if it's a huge advantage to play the early game on Friday, and have more rest before your Saturday championship game.I think that made the difference last year. We played a draining game against Can't that lasted until almost midnight, then had to play our 3rd game of the tournament the very next night at 7pm. On the other hand, Miami was resting on Friday night and watching our game.

Ok..something isn't looking right to me.Vandelay looks like it is saying that the #2 vs #3 game in the 7pm game on Friday, and the #1 vs. #4 game is the 9:30 game?That doesn't sound right. We were the #2 seed last year, and we played the 9:30 game. Wouldn't the 7pm game be given to the #1 seed since they would have the advantage of having the most rest before the Saturday championship game?Does anyone else have more information on this?

This is why I am glad we are not in the other bracket. All of us know that OU and Miami are capable of beating anyone in this league. I like the idea of one of them being Can't's opponent on Friday night. And Can't has a challenging matchup with Toledo just to get there.This is all working in our favor so far.I don't know about Eastern beating Western, but that would certainly make our path to the championship game a little easier.

Minnoy not playing is HUGE. I watched that first game, and nobody, including Jeremiah, could stop him in the paint. He's just a big body, and was so difficult to defend moving towards the bucket. With that being a done deal, anything short of Watson scoring 40 points should equal a pretty easy Zips victory....I hope. AND...playing a 2:30 game when we don't have to play again until 9:30pm Friday night will prove to be a big advantage as well.

Big Zip..you are very much correct. I've been connected with basketball my entire life, played, and coached, and have relatives and friends that played at the college level, and coach as well. Zipfan81...I'm sorry, you can argue all you want that "two minutes could not have made that much of a difference", but it made all the difference in the world if you account for things you are not accounting for, such as momentum, continuity of players on the floor, confidence, etc. Now..this is NOT to say that Keith didn't do a class thing by playing those guys. That's always a nice gesture, and I don't necessarily chastise him for doing it. But to say that it's just about a measly two minutes of basketball really shows me YOUR lack of knowledge about the game. Without a doubt, it set the tone for the entire first half. Kangaroo, I wasn't intending to be entirely accurate with facts that go back 30 years. I'm too tired to look all of that up about each individual year. I know there have been several 20+ win seasons, and believe there was one under Huggins in the late 80s where we also got snubbed from both tournaments after having a great record. But, if you consider the "big tournament" alone, we got snubbed from that tournament every one of those years, because our 1986 bid was an auto. I'll have to look up the details of some of those other seasons sometime and remind myself of the exact number of wins, and which tournament we appeared in. I'm getting old, and can't recall details off hand like I used to.

I sure hope Parrish is not another "project". We seem to already have enough of those.

Good Question Big Zip....Remember, other than the handful of years that we played Independent, we've probably had about 25 opportunities now to win conference tournaments, and have come up empty (besided 1986, of course). Beyond that, we've had quite a few 20+ win seasons, indluding a couple when Huggins had us playing Independent, and have gotten snubbed.If last year's ending didn't make us feel like we have bad luck, nothing will. And you know I am one of the biggest proponents on here when it comes to doing some serious upgrading to the OOC schedule to give us another way to get in every year. If not, I am willing to consider someone's suggestion to downgrade our conference affiliation to make it easier for us to get the auto bid.Heck, I just want to play in an NCAA tournament again. Could this finally be our year?I'll agree that 20 wins next year will be a tremendous accomplishment.I'll also agree with you that using the odd starting lineup last Sunday was a bad idea. That poor beginning really set the tone for a bad first half. Would the first half had been different if the regular starting lineup had been in there from the opening tip? Of course, we'll never know that, but why did we take such a chance when it was a game where it was so critical to establish early momentum.

Ya, I never noticed it, but apparently Dials and Bubba talk to each other throughout a game, if this is true. I have to be honest. I never notice Dials talking to opponents. I just notice him talking to teamates and the fans.

Marty....I think everyone probably thinks about that song when we heard his nickname. My question is, did his nickname happen because of the song?I guess it would probably be unfair to the other players if they play that song for him, since you can't play a theme song for everyone, like they do when baseball players step to the plate. But, it would be pretty funny. Heck, this is all premature. We are recruiting quite a few guards, and we really don't have any idea yet if/how he is going to fit into the mix. However, this appears to be a very promising recruit for us. If I am hearing right, we have a 1st Team D-2, and a 2nd Team D-1 with Hitchins and Sullivan? That gives us some hope for where we might be again in a couple of years if both of them live up to their potential.

Wow..Stupid of me not to notice the change. When did this happen? Haven't the first round games always been on Tuesday at the 5-8 seeds home courts?

Just thinking about this today..... Since we don't have anything going on for a few more days, does anyone have a preference as to who you want to win today between CMU and NIU, one of which will be our opponent on Thursday?CMU beat us on the road, has one of the best players in the league in Giordan Watson (a guard who we managed to contain the first time), but really beat us with their beef inside.NIU beat us in Akron, but shot the lights out. They are a very athletic team, which sometimes gives us problems. Plus, they may have a real feeling that they can beat us.My preference? I'd choose to look at the two teams overall performance throughout the year, and would still want to play who I believe is NOT the best of the two teams, which is NIU.

The Linhart mention surprised me too.I hope that Jeremiah can still somehow make the first team.

Hey guys. I got on the live chat screen earlier today, and it's pretty cool. I was talking to Zip Watcher for awhile.It provides an opportunity to build some rapour among fellow fans, as opposed to just debating issues. I suggest giving it a try, and I do believe it will be fun in the future during away games. On the flip side, my wife already thinks I spend too much time on zipsnation, so I might have to do it when she's not here. But I'm not complaining. I drag her to every game, she's a big fan, yells at the refs, and makes more noise at the games than I do.

I think we all already know that there is a big emphasis on defense under the current coach. I'm fine with that. In fact, I believe that has always been the most consistent part of his teams here at Akron. And much like yesterday, our defense keeps us in ballgames, even when we are playing badly.If anything on the defensive end could improve with this team, it would have to be our defensive rebounding, and our shot blocking. We were not a very good rebounding team this year, and once Quade is gone, Bardo becomes about the only guy with shot blocking ability in the paint.Other than that, the way we get after people defensively is one of the trademarks of this program right now.

That's a funny post. Of course, we are all hoping that he's a great player. But the important question is, of course, how does he match up against Al Fisher?