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I'd love this idea. I see the connections to Crean. I'll just assume that he has much bigger aspirations than a MAC school at this point.

That's exactly what I was thinking. And....I think that also could tell us that he didn't make a trip to Pittsburgh just to hear Duquesne's latest sales pitch.

If length of contract is the issue, he already has that here. If money was the issue, wouldn't he have taken the South Florida job? I don't see anything here that will move the needle for him.

Dayton is very supportive of the Tournament. The locals are the reason that there are sellout crowds every year. And they have the size with 13,000 capacity, and no conflicts to worry about with the large NBA/Concert arenas that are often used in the first rounds of the tournament. The favorable ends there. Please, go there and report back. You'll see exactly what i described above. Sorry guys about the mix up between Dayton and Duquesne. Maybe I thought about that because the Dayton job is open too. But Dayton is, in fact, in the middle of a multi-million dollar upgrade that will occur in 3 phases. Trust me. It needs it.

Have you been to Dayton Arena? I have. A big concrete hole in the ground with seats. Everything in that place is old and dungeon-looking. For example, if you sit low enough you can't even get cell. phone reception. You can bitch about the JAR, but I can think of plenty of better comparisons if you wish to view the JAR unfavorably to other arenas. Just take the 12k NIT bonus as your indication. Nobody at Akron wants to lose him. We'll do what we can to keep him. And he doesn't want to go. Yes, I guess Robby no longer being here would remove one of his connections to Akron.

No, I wasn't mistaken about the distance between Duquesne and Pitt. I meant that the extra perk of seeing his son next year would be nice for him if he was being pursued for the certainly much-more-lucrative PItt job.

I'm wondering how a monumental career decision would be influenced at all by the fact that your kid is playing a sport in the same city for another school......and for only ONE year. Funny, but it's surely a coincidence. That crossed my mind too. Now.......If Keith was being pursued for the PITT job, that might be an entirely different story.

To those who want a "Shake Up" in our staff, maybe this would have been a good thing for you if Rick left? I'm not seeing anything about this anywhere except a "reportedly" statement from the highly-recognized source called Hoop Dirt? YSU isn't even saying anything about the hire itself until sometime today. Now I'm seeing people wanting some young ex-players of ours who have never coached before to be our next coach? This is getting crazy, guys. It really makes you appreciate the longevity and success we've achieved with having Keith here for so long.

Here's how I choose to look at it: We all know what we have with experienced players. Our overall experience level is probably no different than it's been any other year. So, the x-factors will be the following: 1) Forget about Utomi. He's going to be a big contributor. But, who's going to have (hopefully) a Conyers or Deji-type rise during the off season between Michael, Poke, or Aaron? 2) Are we going to have any Newcomer who makes a significant contributor right away to help us win a few more games? We usually always have one of those guys. From B. McKnight all the way to Noah, Antino and Utomi. And next year, I think we'll need that guy more than most years. If those 2 thing happen, we're one of the Top few teams in our league once again. If not, we're looking for a late season rise and a MAC tournament run from one of those less-than-usual positions. But I think the crap about having a "non-winning" season is ridiculous. We still have way too much experience than that. We're still a competitive MAC team next year, regardless.

Not even close. I took a big Duquesne when I woke up this morning.

When we were discussing his situation a few weeks ago, I had hoped some people would notice that I added a big "S" to the word "offer".

I don't agree at all. He always had to know that Antino and Noah would likely be playing in front of him until he was a Senior. But that had to be a blow when Keith started him this year, then removed him and replaced him with Ivey.....a spot that he would never get back again the rest of the season.

Who else believes that Jimond's emergence this year was what changed everything for him? At least at the beginning of the year, he was part of the 3-Guard trio as a Starter. I think he's happy with his situation right now if that had not changed.

I can't blame him, but it hurts us. He obviously saw himself moving into a more prominent role by this point. Having Noah, Antino and Jimond ahead of him for another full year doesn't help him.

Gimme a break. They scored 8 points in the final 30 seconds. What more can you ask for? Maybe instead of hoping for a miracle finish, they should have played better for the other 39-1/2 minutes when they were getting their a$$es handed to them?

You think it looked closer than 4 (the final margin)? Come on. I'd LOVE to minimize UTA's loss, considering what happened to us down there. But I can't. They trailed by double digits (and as many as 20) for most of the last 3/4 of the game. The 3 straight 3-pointers drained by UTA in the final frantic 30 seconds is the only reason it even "looked" close at all.

I actually like the term. There's plenty of very average and below average teams in those conferences that don't deserve the favoritism they get, just because they are a member of those conferences. But are they really any less of a Household Name? Or just possibly haven't had as many successful seasons lately as they did in the past? Joe American Sports Fan couldn't tell us their recent records, and doesn't see them any differently today when comparing them to MAC schools.

Pretty much any "high major" is going to be considered a Low High Major if they are in the NIT. At least for the current year, when you consider the number of teams from their conferences that are given NCAA bids. There were 34 bids given to those 6 "major" conferences (adding in the Big East to the list of recognized Majors for basketball).

Nooo. You're thinking of the 2002 Marshall team that we beat at the Rubber Bowl when Leftwich broke his leg. The 2004 Marshall team finished around .500 and had an 0-3 start. Nowhere close to a ranking for that team.

Well, in general, most people in Akron obviously always have something better to do than attend an Akron Football game. But it's worth pointing out that the Thursday night game against Marshall in 2004 drew 29,000 to see a .500 football team that had just changed coaches that year. And the student energy was fantastic that night right from the kickoff. And they had to travel to the Rubber Bowl. They can't use that excuse anymore.

Was that a reference to Western Michigan? Maybe Boat Rowed? I acknowledge that Tuesdays are generally more difficult. And it pretty much eliminates a couple of times per year for those who like to make an entire day's experience out of it. But in utilizing the law of averages that times and dates will always be more or less convenient for different groups of people, wouldn't Tuesday seem perfect for the Student population? We hear the excuses all the time about how they go home on weekends and for the end of Thanksgiving week. But some FREE entertainment on a school night would seem ideal to me. For those older folks like me, I'm sure you all remember the Thursday Night game in 1986 against Murray State. And for the younger folks, the 2004 Thursday game against Marshall with Charlie's big comeback at the end. Those two games were among the most fun I have ever had at an Akron football game.

Only because plans have been made and schedules have already been altered to accomodate. Otherwise, Friday or Saturday makes no difference.

Not enough people want to go to an Akron football game. The ones who do will be there.

Arlington trailed by 16 at the half, and by as many as 20 in the 2nd half. Arlington made THREE 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to make it look WAY closer. Call it what you wish. It's convincing, at a minimum.