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And don't forget about Bassett. He was the MVP in the tourney in 2010, and a huge part of their first run when Cooper was still just a freshman.

He'd fit right in with what we've been seeing on Zips Nation lately. Who knows. He might already be here. Watch out for any mysterious new posters.

I think OU feared what Zeke and Tree could do to them in the interior. Maybe that's why we never saw more pressure. But, there's also moments in that game where Harney and others got to the hoop because people were overplaying them looking for steals. I don't necessarily like Christian either. But more than anything else, it was just Our Night !! Switching on the ball screens on Cooper was a big factor in that game as well.

Me too. He may not be tied to the recent success, but he is tied to the last string of high level success, both as a Player and an Asst. Coach. I'm also trying not to be biased since Jon came here during my young "glory days" of Akron basketball. I think it's a fair question for some people to question his possible ability to recruit. And I'll say this. He has most recently been an NBA Scout. So, I think he's at least qualified to evaluate basketball players' abilities/weaknesses. That's certainly a big part of the recruiting battle. Also, he previously would have certainly been involved in Ohio recruiting as an Akron Asst. and Cincinnati Asst. I also love your idea to play the "NBA Experience" card.

Most of "Joe Akron" probably really doesn't know who he is. And I think much of that blame is on our media coverage....including our own hometown paper. I'd love to do a poll of Akron area sports fans and see how many people know Dambrot, and how many people know Thad Matta. I bet more know Matta. My wife and I were talking the other day about one of your normal conversations about how to get more poeple to the JAR. And we both agreed that the first step was probably just to see if any of them would even know how to FIND the JAR.

Grew up nearby in Galion. Played at Akron. Guard on the 1986 OVC Championship and NCAA Tournament team. Assistant to Huggins at Akron Longtime assistant to Huggins at Cincinnati. That's what you have, in a nutshell, previous to all of his NBA work. I stated this earlier, but I love everything about the idea of him being the next coach......if it wasn't for the long absence from college ball. So, I think we share a similar concern.

I'm not saying it wasn't a good thing. You just don't know how a player is going to take it. But based on what we know, the fact that he left after Keith exited probably doesn't indicate that it was their relationship that made him transfer. Remember: Keith always claimed to be the hardest on his best players, and that included LeBron.

Then, what would be your reason for why kids don't play well in plenty of other games throughout the course of the year? I'm sorry, you can't ignore the Houston performance, ignore the road wins against Buffalo and Kent late in the season, and ignore the first 2 rounds of the MAC tournament......and try to connect just the MAC Title Game performance to the fact that guys knew they were leaving. In fact, the earliest guy who reported that he was leaving had a great game that night.

I'll always remember how Ford acted when Singletary clearly punched Linhart, and got kicked out of the game. For that, I don't know if I'd ever want him on my side.

It wouldn't seem to be that he had an issue with the coach, if he didn't leave until after the coach was gone. It's funny, because I always thought Keith was particularly tough on him. But you could be right.

1981 grad....I'm actually surprised that he made this decision before the new coach came in too, considering his situation. He has to sit 1 year with only 1 year left to play. That's a very unusual transfer situation, especially if the coach who has already left was part/all of the problem for him.

Dude. You gotta give it up. Over 7 years, they've gone from the #2 team in the country.....STEADILY AND CONSISTENTLY DOWNWARD...to the 90th best team in the country who finished 11th in their conference. With the same coach all of that time. And it's not because a couple of guys left a couple of season ago, as you contend. This has been a steady plunge that started long before that. I don't give a damn what you say about their recruiting class rankings. The plummeting results over a long period speak for themselves. Then you try to scramble to prove your point for the 10th time by starting an argument with Blackburn about a couple of kids that would have been pursued by recruiters in High School nearly a decade ago. This isn't about Boals at all. You wouldn't be spending all of this time belaboring something like this. Please, go to the great and almighty Ohio State message board if you want to defend one of our competitors. Funny enough, I bet you'll get a lot of support.

Poke performed. Hughes did not. It was that simple. Hughes was still sitting loooong after he returned from an injury, other than the 2 times he came in for 1 minute, and returned to the bench. I think that told the entire story. People just continue to talk about Hughes. I know. I know. He LOOKS like he could be a good big man. Unfortunately, that's not what happens when his feet were on the court late in the season against formidable conference competition. I felt like he was slipping into that Aaron zone. I hope he bounces out of it very quickly.

What? I think coming into a program that has won at least 21 games for 12 straight years, with 9 title game appearances, 3 titles, and coming off of back-to-back 26 and 27 win seasons would be a pretty damn good situation to walk into, regardless of whether a couple of guys transfer. Right now, the transfers situation is not a disaster at all. It's rare that they do become a disaster. When a couple of guys leave, others find a renewed opportunity. I hope and pray that this is how the situation will conclude for us. We now have one thing we've been lacking forever.....Tradition and Reputation. That hopefully will carry us through this uncertain period.

So, if we were looking for a coach a few years from now, and Stony Brook was already established and doing well, he'd be more willing to come to Akron at that time, rather than now?

As already pointed out, there were plenty of other opportunities during the last week of that season, and the tournament, to throw in the towel. The big performances during that time shows that It didn't happen. And it's an unfair and bitter accusation to pin on everyone involved.

Yep, I can't say I'm happy that he talks about what he did here as if we've already accomplished our mission.

.....Or put in the effort to win very tough road games at Buffalo and Kent the last week of the season, or the back-to-back performances to beat EMU and Ball State to get to the title game.

Guys, I sure hope we aren't slipping into the idiotic mentality that is so prevalent in Cleveland. Akron is better than that. But when I see posts like this (and I've seen others), it reminds me of all the irrational people who were claiming that LeBron tanked in the playoffs for the Cavs about a decade ago because he already knew he was headed to Miami. I sure hope I don't see people yelling in the streets and burning Zips jerseys too. This is embarrassing.

Be my guest.

Of course they are.

I may have thought about responding to NWAkron's post if I hadn't already looked at the date.

Leaning? I'm all the way there. You may have missed some of the information shared here. They are 2.6 BILLION in the hole financially, which has TRIPLED in the last 10 years. I think some people are too naive to acknowledge these things. I wouldn't go as far as calling this particular activity corruption, but this is yet another example of how you'd publicly classify expenses under something like "Student Amenities" (they may have even borrowed money and tagged in on the University's debt to build it...sound familiar?) knowing that you're building something that you will use to impress recruits. Then you sell it to the public that this is a necessary expense to help your University conquer the great humanitarian causes of the world, and how it is "not just for athletes", and most people never question it.

He was there for 7 years, believe it or not. So, there's obviously a lot more to look at besides one recent year where a good recruiting class had a couple of transfers, if you are going to make a blanket statement about how great he recruited during his time there. You tell me what you see in these Rankings, year over year, over the last 7 years. #2 #6 #9 #25 #38 #78 #90

I thought this was funny when it crossed my mind tonight. Desprite all of Keith's massive success in the JAR, and all of the long home winning streaks, he ended his career at Akron losing the last 2 games he ever coached there.