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He doesn't look happy. Nice job.

Not just mid majors. And not just Akron. Mid-major, high majors, everyone. So if everyone was seeing a low probability at the time that this kid would develop into the player he became, how could you have expected that Akron should have somehow had the magic crystal ball that should have seen it any differently?

This is probably both a comment and a question, considering that I don't follow our basketball recruiting as closely as some of you. I know the older Nance's situation, and why he went to Wyoming. But regardless, I see above that we're referencing 2 players from the area who LEFT THE STATE to play college basketball. So, why are there some people on this site that continue to call it Akron's Failure that these guys didn't stay local? I believe there's about a dozen D-1 basketball colleges in Ohio? If these guys were highly recruited, and left the state anyway, didn't everyone fail to lure them in? Why are some people placing the blame on Akron?

Yep. The type of win we've been seeking for years. I have no love for Shaka, but I don't like seeing Kent show that they are capable of winning a game like this on the road.

Lets just all at least get on the same page about this situation. This was a guy with a ton of athletic ability who's played very little basketball. Does he have a lot to learn? Absolutely. And we have to accept that. But can he still help us immensely even without becoming a highly skilled basketball player? Absolutely. I said this previously, but we've literally been begging for years to bring some guys in here like him. Maybe with more work, he'll become that super-athletic presence in the pant that we've always wanted.

I can't think of a time during the Dambrot era where we lost 2 starting post players at the same time. This will be an interesting challenge to develop Hughes very quickly (who will now certainly need to be a 3 year starter), get Aaron ready to take on starter minutes, And turn Poke into a much bigger contributor during the course of this season and the 6 months between seasons. One suggestion: I think we should have Poke hang out with our football OL's for a few months and go on one of those 10,000 calorie diets. At the same time, maybe our OL's can learn something from him and increase their agility.

I almost forgot about this one.... On the Browns Pregame Show on TV 19 on Saturday, Bernie was talking about Philip Rivers being coached by Chuck Amato, who is now the DC at The University of Akron.......and then added that this is also where his old Browns teammate Larry Williams is now the Athletic Director.

I'd take that to the bank. And that's one of the many benefits of playing games like that.

It's possible. Miami is up 2 at the half. I've never thought that a conference's bowl results matter at all. Too many different variables in the matchups, etc. This year, I think the only thing that has any impact on our conference is that WMU game. This league needs a high profile breakthrough to give us all a lift in national recognition.

Please, report back to us with a picture of your nephew in his Zips jersey.

Good memory. And until I went and looked, I had forgotten that he was also a future 1st Round Draft Pick by the old Seattle Supersonics.

For what it's worth, I had a teammate who was dunking in 8th grade also. We marveled at him (especially since I was well under 6' at the time, and could barely touch the net). He was a two-sport star in the making. Well, by our senior year of high school, he sucked at football and basketball. He peaked way too early, and everyone had passed him by.

Exactly. That was precisely what I pointed out. Home field means a lot, regardless of the projected attendance, when determining the favorite in a college football game. That's exactly why I prefaced my remarks that way, assuming that the I-A teams would always be the home team.

I don't think that's anyone's intention at all. People were "overplaying" the history, legacy and recognition of UTEP in response to those who are failing to recognize the difference between UTEP and Maryland Eastern Shore. It actually seems quite appropriate that they are being referred to here as MES.

Correct. That's all I am thinking about right now. And the previous tournament too. And I hope they all matter, to some extent, because they were all non-home wins . Haskins was a legendary coach with a legendary story. The program had a cinderalla era and won a national title. It was a story big enough to eventually inspire a recent Hollywood movie, shown in theaters throughout the country. I'd say that's a connection that would garner more attention from basketball fans, if we win his tournament....against his team...on their home floor, than most of the wins we rack up during the course of a year.

If you're trying to say that YSU is better than more than half of the teams in I-A, I would disagree. Akron didn't have a 139 in October. See post. And I also based it on the I-A team having the home field.

??? So, you choose to judge our strength, speed, talent, etc., based on the where we stood in the division we played in 30 years ago?

Lets assume that the games would obviously always be a road game for the I-AA team. 1) I would expect a high level MAC team to be a heavy favorite against a I-AA playoff-level team. 2) And I would expect a mid-level MAC team to still at least be favored against a playoff-level I-AA team in almost every case. That's not a prediction of game results. Just who would be favored. Anyone but the poorest level in I-A would generally have better talent, more size and speed, better facilities for talent development, a higher level of coaching, etc. I would apply the same thing to the Zips. Our weakest teams would have certainly been vulnerable to a good I-AA team (unfortunately, we found that out a few years back). But I am sure there was no I-AA team in the country that could have come to Akron in September or October (pre late season collapse) of this year, and be favored to win.

By far. And older folks know Don Haskins, and most who follow college basketball also know that Texas Western and UTEP are the same school. Just a name change.

So, I'm watching SportsCenter this morning. And they are showing the Dancing Potato at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl yesterday. And the girl narrating the clip says, ".....as Akron takes on Utah State......" I think she's a year off

Yeah, that's a shocker that makes us look good. But, Marshall is going to be a dangerous opponent for ANYONE who does not want to play defense. That's not a problem for us.

A couple of good points here. Yep, a real SF is definitely a hole that needs to be filled. And no help for Dog and Kwan in foul situations is probably going to cost us a game at some point. I wonder....going back to my point about Keith trusting his most experienced players, I suppose we might even see ONE post player and 4 perimeter players at times during conference play, IF the match-up situation allows? I think it's possible. We have 4 guards who are certainly much higher on the productivity scale than any of the bench post players right now. Regardless, there's probably no answer that's going to develop this year where we don't have AT LEAST 3 guard on the floor all the time.

I'm not going to speak for the coach, but I don't think anyone would expect to be ready to rely on 10 guys at any point this season. They are spending as much time as they can afford right now to find out what we have. You just have to get as many people as possible ready to fill quality minutes. For instance, if Aaron, Tavian and Michael (the most likely candidates) can contribute 10 or more good minutes starting next month, I think that's good news for us. If Daniel or Emmanuel end up being capable of doing the same soon, I'd consider that a real bonus, but I don't think see those two guys doing much more this season beyond being situational players who might be inserted at times to contribute the greatest skills they have right now when a situation might warrant. Or, very short stints in a foul trouble or rotation rest situation. If we've learned anything in the Dambrot era, he's going to play the guys he can trust to do what he needs out there. You won't see people out there for every long if they aren't doing what he expects. This year, I'm clearly seeing 6 guys solid, and 3 more guys in limited minutes. I think that's the way it will play out.

I hope your analysis is correct. I think the biggest factor we've seen this year so far in our ability to succeed is probably whether someone can guard the Big Dog. For a time last night, UC-Irvine has even able to control us because they had two huge post players that they could rotate in and out. The teams that need help to keep him away from easy baskets is likely going to struggle. I see OU as a team with the potential to go one-on-one on him too. For that reason, I may want to consider them a threat. On the other hand, it looks like WMU likely would be unable to do that, putting them at a big disadvantage.

Now we're talking. Go and try to win 30 games, or close to it. Enough of this talk of just positioning ourselves for the Anything-Can-Happen MAC tournament. This could be another repeat of the 2012-2013 conference run, and maybe we won't get a player suspended right before the final league game this time. I think we're far from hitting any peak with this team. We're not even playing our best lineups all the time yet. Keith has been trying to work in the bench guys in hopes of developing those 7 thru 10 guys this year. If we can get to the point where some of these guys can really contribute some productive minutes before we risk any losses in the process, this team could potentially get close to running the table in conference play.