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We'll see what happens. Hope for the best.I didn't make any comments about how McLaughlin or Ball's teams performed. Regardless, they did have good freshman seasons, and that is very rare. Someone made the comment that B. McKnight will instantly be the best player on the team. And all I am saying is "slow down folks"!!!

Guys,Let's be realistic here.....There were quite a few people on this board that were saying 6 months ago that guys like Swiech, Steward, and B. McKnight would give us the guys we needed to win the MAC this year.Well...I don't think Swiech will even play this year.Steward may redshirt as well.B McKnight might be the only one ready right now to contribute anything, but that will likely be in limited minutes.Just like C. Jackson, our prized QB that we couldn't WAIT to see play, things don't always turn out as we expect.Let's hope that the cavalry can contribute "something" to our success this year, and leave it at that. I'd rather be surprised, as opposed to setting my expectations way too high. And with freshman....well...you never know what you are going to get. Like I said earlier, a freshman season like Jimmal Ball's or Eric McLaughlin's doesn't happen very often. Let's hope for the best.Go Zips !!

ok...ok...Some of you are insisting that this team instantly becomes a dramatically better team with these guys in the lineup. Unless we have an Eric McLaughlin or Jimmal Ball in the group, it's rare that a freshman steps on the court and becomes a difference maker. At this point, all of these guys have "potential". Yes, Brett McKnight comes in as a highly-touted freshman. I hope he lives up to his billing. But, he'll likely need some time to develop. This team will win or lose this year behind Wood, Dials, and Middleton. Plain and simple. All I am saying is that we should keep our hopes in check when thinking that this will instantly make us a great basketball team. But... I am looking forward to seeing these guys finally get on our court.

Very creative. I guess this is why everyone keeps calling them the "cavalry".I'm not quite sure why some people are thinking that this is going to make a big difference with this basketball team this year. They'll be fighting just to get playing time this year. Maybe, if we're lucky, one or two might develop into impact players for the future. But to expect any of them to make us a significantly better team, this year, is probably wishful thinking.

Nav......they DO chant "Let's Go Peay". That goes way back to when we played them in conference play back in the 70's and 80s, and way beyond that.

Not as if anything is working well tonight, but I do think that our best frontcourt in the long run will be Wood/McKnight/Linhart. Quade is a bench player, always has been. And although Conyers has gotten better, I don't see him playing consistently in place of Linhart anytime soon, if ever. I liked seeing KD start that frontcourt, and give them some work together. We'll see that 3-man front quite a bit during conference play.

I was only disputing what someone said about him playing in the 70s. Knowing a lot about him, I'm guessing that he could not have still been playing at the age he was in the 70s. But I could be wrong. But, I did not know that he was a UA basketball player, so that is a new piece of information

Good post. Almost everything that is being said here is right in line with how I feel. For gosh sakes.....if we play just at least a couple of high-ranked teams a year, we're in a far better position than what we are with the schedule we have currently.

Actually, if someone actually knew the score, even if Zippy was losing badly, that would be the best piece of information we could get our hands on right now. It is quite frustrating not knowing what we need to get the win.

GP...sometimes I agree with some things you say, and sometimes I do not. But, saying that Akron is becoming a "Youngstown" along with the rest of NE Ohio, is just ridiculous.Had you not read the current report which shows that Akron is one of only two of the major Ohio cities to show job GROWTH over the last 25 years? Yes....job GROWTH.Can you tell me how many THOUSANDS of jobs the other major cities in Ohio have LOST, maybe the worst of which is Youngstown, during the same period of time? Might want to look that up. Lumping Akron with the depressing decline of the industrial cities in Ohio is simply not a reflection of the facts.

I think H. Peter Burg was a lot older than someone who could have played basketball for the Zips in the 70s. but I could be wrong.

I'm sure people are making efforts to garner free publicity out of this. The media still has to accept it as a newsworthy story that appeals to large numbers of viewers. And that has always been a difficult sell for Akron.

Hmm...Sounds like he plays on a good "team". Is someone that size usually considered a "long shot" to succeed at this level? How many Spud Webbs or Earl Boykins really exist out there?For all of our complaints about being deficient at PG, we'll be flat-out "saturated" come next year.Let the battle begin. Good thing Sullivan is versatile enough to light it up at a 2-Guard.

I do indeed believe that some of the critics that come on here bashing JD are being a little harsh. But hey, the purpose of all of this is to have good discussion between fans, and all of them have a right to their opinion.Lets just hope for this much....We don't accept an Akron football coach ever again to stay here for 9 years, with a few "decent" years at best, against sub-par competition...and the rest of the years being either "bad" or "disasters". I don't think our current leadership is of that mindset, but they also would have a very difficult time convincing the board that we should "eat" the salary of someone who has several years left on a contract.JD has won a MAC East title, MAC Championship, and beaten a BCS level team on the ROAD. Those are some nice accomplishments in 4 years. I encourage everyone to appreciate the unprecedented accomplishments, accept the fact that he'll be here at least another year because of the length of his contract, but want to see growth as a program if he is going to make it to year 6,7,8 or beyond.

Folks...let's not lose site of our goal this week.Through all of our debates about the basketball and football scheduling, etc...etc... we have one VERY IMPORTANT item on the line.Zippy...in winning the Capitol One mascot competition...would give us, by far, our biggest piece of national publicity that our U of A has ever received.National bowl game.Zippy introduced at halftime as Mascot of the Year.Thousands of people in attendance...and possibly hundreds of thousands nationwide.Let's stay focused....and keep applying our energy to the voting!!

First of all, let me get this out of the way right off the bat. My comments have nothing to do with playing against the HUGE programs for MONEY. Sure, that helps, but the exposure, and how it helps recruiting, are really the biggest reasons why you play these games in the long run. Rowdy...nice job exposing the Suckeyes for playing an easy schedule, but still getting to the national title game. But "you am i" is right. Although they played a soft OOC, their SOS in their own conference gives them enough clout (even though the big-11 is not what it used to be). Plus, this is about finding a way for a lower-level team to elevate towards the top. And you simply cannot do that just by playing anyone and winning games. The Suckeyes are what they are this year....a team that sat back, played easy games, and watched the others who play tougher teams, week in and week out, lose games. It is what it is. And this has happened before. uakronkid..your point is well taken. Yes, getting bowl eligible with 7 wins is nice. But in the long run, just playing in some obscure bowl game that nobody attends, and nobody is watching every 5 years or so is not really my idea of the long term growth of this program. I think that there is also another distinction to make here. Winning 7 games gets you to postseason play in football. But just "winning games" does NOT get you to post season play in basketball. In basketball, SOS is much more important. But, this does not take away from the fact that to gain ground nationally, you need the SOS in football too.

You know, I had completely forgotten about football for awhile, until I just read an article about more players getting honored for their accomplishments this year on GoZips.com.What I noticed is all of the UNDERCLASSMEN that got honored.Chris Kemme...who will be a senior next year, and will anchor an offensive line that really gelled this year as the season went on, and returns ALL of its starters in 2008.Almondo Sewell....who although is not a natural DE, will be a much-needed returning starter in the front 7 for next year.Andre Jones....will see his 3rd year as a starter at safety, and, along with guys like Brandon Anderson and Wayne Cobham, will need to anchor a defensive secondary that will have some new guys in starting roles. Igor.....looking to be a very consistent kicker.Brian Williams.....who along with Alex Allen, give us what I believe is our most talented 1-2 punch in the backfield since the Doug Lewis / Marcus Reliford tandem in the early 90s. This gives me some hope!!

Dr. Z.....who am i......You are both hitting the nail on the head with how I feel about this. Upgrading scheduling makes you a better program in the long run, not downgrading your scheduling. For the naysayers, please find me a program that elevated themselves nationally by scheduling weaker teams and padding their win/loss totals. I'd be interested to see if anyone has ever made that philosophy work, in either basketball or football.

I'm sure we'll fight to keep quality opponents.

I make a point to look at the Sagarin on Monday. Don't know why, it just happens to be the one I choose to look at.Here's where we stand.AKRON = 97Our Big-3 challengers for the MAC East title....Miami = 48Can't = 70OU = 94Teams we've beaten....NC Central = 339USC Upstate = 337Binghamton = 305Tennessee State = 282Wyoming = 159Temple = 103I think you all know how I feel about this. Temple has really been our only real quality win.Teams that have beaten us....Winthrop = 51Portland State = 120This Dayton game is our last chance to prove something in our OOC schedule. They are ranked at #47, which techinically makes them the best team we'll play all year, based on current rankings.Go Zips !!!

Big Zip...I keep asking myself the same thing. It has to do with the philosophy about not playing road games unless we get return trips. Bad move. We're stuck with what we have for now, unless someone wakes up.

jeaglet1....you're right on the money.When we're hoping for someone like Portland State to keep winning in order to make us look good, we're hurting.Our OOC is doing absolutely nothing for us. Even with Dayton sneaking up as a formidable opponent, the overall OOC is getting us no notice nationally. So, when you have an OOC like we have, you have to WIN!!!!! We missed that opportunity with Winthrop. We have another chance to get a somewhat respectable OOC result by beating Dayton, but that is a long shot.Let's hope for the best.

I don't see KD doing too much differently. They have 7 days off after this game to rest. I'm sure he wants to give them a decent workout.

I'm always hesitant when I hear the words "multi purpose". I was around when we built the JAR, and we all know now what can happen when we try to incorporate other uses into a facility like this. I hope they don't lose their focus....this is a FOOTBALL stadium, and nothing more.

It's now under 100.I'm guessing the contestants in the other semi-final don't want us in the final.It's time for another weekend/Monday morning assault.