skip-zip

Sounded like Hyperbole for the story to me too. 40 involved/participating students at our OWN home game would be nice right about now, wouldn't it?

That's a good point. Why are OUR games seemingly getting shifted from Saturday to Friday, while others are getting to stay on Saturday and are still on TV ? It's been a long time now since I've said anything regarding the theory that Akron is treated like the young forgotten stepchild of the MAC. But, they are definitely making it harder on us. And if they are doing it because we're the class of the league this year, and they are trying to make it a little harder on us and rescue a little parity, that would be completely bogus.

I like how he really goes completely out of his way to make sure that he describes Ohio as an AWFUL STATE, more than once. Maybe they get very sensitive after about 12 years of "Buffalo's In Canada". I'm sure that the way they were treated by Akron fans was probably exaggerated from his own perspective. Sounds like the National Guard should have been called to safely escort them out of Akron But, I've really gained an appreciation for MAC fans in general over the years. I give a lot of credit to all of the kids who choose to display their passion for THEIR OWN school instead of bandwagonning with the "most recognized" schools in their states. Buffalo fans could easily choose to be Syracuse basketball fans. But, I wonder if that all has an opportunity to change here for now, since the Suckeyes have plummeted nationally, and have now perennially fallen way behind Dayton, Xavier and Akron for a couple of years now? We need to take advantage. Side Note: Our RPI gained 6 points in the last couple of days, virtually gaining back what we lost after the OU game.

All I care about is if he can give us some carries that live up to the lofty virtues that so many people here have bestowed upon him over the last two years, and some of what he showed us in some of the limited carries he had last year. I'm also a little bit disheartened that some people talk about Manny and Van like they are discarded garbage that should be relegated to the bottom of the heap. These guys have done some good things for us, have the game experience, and may need to be counted on again for us to win games.

Have you heard our coach talk about how it messes up the practice and school schedules too? It's hurting everyone. We're in an era where the gap between the public and private money needed to run a D-1 athletic program is widening. All of this inconvenience is for the sake of some TV revenue, and unfortunately we have no choice. I'm sure my wife and I are not the only ones who have had to alter work and appointment schedules, or have simply been unable to alter them.

You are just one example why a 6pm start on a weeknight is ridiculous. We fought traffic to get into the arena a few minutes before game time. To keep a loyal fan like you from making it convenient to show up is why this could ruin mid-major college basketball. The blue seats were as empty as they've been in several games.

Hey, look at how many of us old guys have claimed Cardiac Failure with all of the last minute finishes in recent years, especially with the do-or-die games in the MAC tournament. But at the same time, those games are always by-far the most memorable. I just hope I can continue to survive, like you said.

This is actually a really good thing to keep in mind. If this game had gone as I had hoped, I would have left about a minute before the end, been in bed by 10pm, and it would have been just another night, and this would have been just another day. Instead, I left the arena in a sweat, I couldn't fall asleep until 1am, I'm tired as hell today, and I'm loving every minute of it, and reliving it in my head over and over (especially with all of the videos). If we want to attract new people to Akron basketball, it's the images of such a fun atmosphere like this that will turn them towards the JAR on game nights. Not the fact that they read that we beat some average MAC team by 20 when they pick up the paper in the morning. Everyone.....Do all that WE can do and keep passing/posting those video clips to your friends. It's the least we can do.

I'm right there close enough to see and hear the whole thing. They stepped into the lane after the miss and really started talking some sh^t and clapping and laughing. I was like, "Oh No". But obviously it didn't bother him. I don't know too many kids who could have all of the scenarios/rules in their mind, and make a play like Noah did. Your first instinct would clearly be to grab the ball and end the game. Unbelievable. I guess that's why Keith calls him the brains of the team.

They are in a tie for 2nd at 6-5.....because so many teams in this league suck. You can give a POY award to a one-dimensional player on a .500 team. I wouldn't. If scoring the most points won POY awards, there wouldn't be any reason for these debates. You honestly have to ask yourself ....who's the best player in this league? But the other point is that there's still plenty of season left to be played.

I don't think you can consider a .500 team in league play "relevant". Maybe you can make the point that this isn't a "best player on best team" award, and that it should simply go to the best player. But, we're talking about a guy who chucks up the ball all night on an average team. We have a great team that would not be great without Big Dog.

This seems like a No Brainer for the Athletic Dept. to put a package together to include all Football Alums, Boosters, Sponsors, Fans, etc.

Cool. I didn't realize we had a Trio. Antino, Austin, and Aaron. Or, we'll just call them the Jackson 3

That's surprising. But I will take it. I read it. So lets do the numbers. I think our ceiling right now is 29 without the MAC tournament title, and 30 with the MAC tournament title. Is that correct? Kent's last really good team, as I've pointed out, got a #9 Seed with 28 wins. I hope they'd be as kind to us if we can get to 28. You never know what they are going to do.

Thanks Guys. Keep the information coming. I hope we can find a way to make a noticeable AKRON PRESENCE in Canton this summer. Maybe it will also send a signal to Mr. Taylor that we've never forgotten about him, so please don't ever forget about us.

Hey Joe, I read an article the other day about the lack of NFL attendance, and they made a reference to "Joe NFL Fan". Are you two related?

If Keith was the one who said 7, then I think it's probably referring to Dog, Kwan, and Poke rotating at the post spots, and Ivey, Noah, Josh and Antino rotating on the perimeter? I hope that this new plan gets us back to where we've been in the past. The only thing that's been different is that it took us a bit longer to get the young/new guys to the point where they can contribute. And again, I really think the key right now is a healthy Hughes. He helps our post depth tremendously. GT obviously doesn't see those remaining guys as "play regularly", as you describe them. Maybe because of their minutes? But I think I see your point. It made it sound like we are only playing 7 guys.

I like the emphasis on improving the defense. But I also wonder, if we are going to use more of our bench to get fresher people (and hopefully more defensive energy), are we going to sacrifice too many points? Trust our coach and see what happens. I think our depth improves dramatically when Hughes is ready to go more than a few minutes. Then we just have to hope that Aaron, Poke, Daniel, and Tavian have learned enough and played enough to contribute more.

Miami has been doing it forever. They talk about people who were there darn near a Century ago. Too bad their potential recruits wouldn't have been old enough to see those people while they were actually there. I actually took a look back at Miami's history for a minute as a refresher, and I accidentally found one of the most interesting football team names ever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Balmy_Beach_Beachers

The fact that a 12 year old kid who idolized Jason in S. Florida is now 17 years old and being recruited by the same school that produced Jason is what's important. It's irrelevant that they are not old enough to remember him playing here. When I was a kid playing basketball, I idolized Pete Maravich's NBA career. I never saw him play at LSU, and really never paid much attention to where he went to college. But if LSU would have recruited me, I would have been ecstatic that the same school that catapulted his career wanted me to play for them.

It makes it harder on everyone. Both my wife and I have had to alter work schedules and appointments for some of this. It's not easy. Speaking of easy..... we've LONG overdue for an easy game. Let it be this one.

I found it interesting this morning that the "Greatest Ever" poll was on Channel 3 morning news. And the initial results were 60-some percent said NO. And my wife immediately said to me, "How would you expect Browns and Suckeye fans in NE Ohio to respond to that?" She's right. They hate Belichick and hate Brady's alma mater. I'm sure a poll in Michigan would overwhelmingly show the opposite results. But I would be intrigued at how the national polls see this. I don't tend to give individual players the Greatness label only because they played on great teams, but winning 5 Super Bowls and 4 MVP awards still has to put him at or near the top. And last night had to be one of his greatest in-game changes ever. He and his team could have easily wilted in that game. Someone asked me an interesting question the other day: What if Brady had played for the Browns over these last 15 years or so? Would he even be getting talked about as anything special at all today?

The right way to handle this situation is for Akron to lobby with the league officials once they review the film. I'm sure they do that with other situations. You might also want to know that the head of MAC officials was at that game yesterday. The technicals are so incredibly subjective that there might not be much you can do. But that 4th foul is the one that got my attention, and not just because it was critical to the outcome of the game. And I think we may have seen that a little differently. It appeared that they called him for moving and pushing on a screen that they apparently thought he was setting for Kwan. But it was Kwan who was setting the screen, and Big Dog was running past the screen. That should have given him the freedom to pass through, and I do agree that it was the defender who got in his way that initiated the contact. One call didn't determine the outcome of this game. But collectively, they really did take him out of the game.