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I'm wondering how someone who was placed in the 7-9 range in the MAC (3rd team) is rated by someone as 12 in the nation? Maybe the MAC had nearly all of the nation's best receivers this year?

You're thinking of that huge last-minute comeback at home when Wood hit the 3-pointer to tie the game with seconds left, and then Fisher ran down and launched the running 3 from the corner and nailed it to win it for Kent. That was March of 08. You're right. That was crazy. It could have been one of the greatest moments ever in the JAR, and thankfully was soon forgotten. I will tell you this. That's the ONLY game I can ever remember at the JAR when I put on my coat to exit the building, and then took it off again. My wife has never let me forget that I gave up on any possibility that we could come back in that game. http://www.gozips.com/sports/mbkb/2007-08/releases/1408965_1

Central Michigan during the Majerle days was famous for this also, although we didn't play them back then. Something makes me think that the rule had been a warning, followed by a Technical. And then they just changed it to a Technical since obviously fans didn't do it twice during the course of a game. Someone would have to look that up.

I'm well aware of that, and considered everything in my comments. I was responding to a post about comparing an elite receiver in a national championship caliber team to a 3rd team MAC receiver, even when both appear similar in size and stats.

Let me add another game as well. How about the end-of-season Overtime win at Kent in 2007? So much happened in that game. LeBron was in attendance and cheering on the Zips, and the Kent fans were booing him. Joyce fouled out in regulation, and Dials was playing the Point through the entire overtime. Wood made a ton of critical Free Throws, and he was a horrible FT shooter. And a drive by Dials, and dish to Wood for an easy basket won the game. AND 5 days later, we played Kent again in the MAC semifinal, and trailed by 14 at the half. We started the 2nd half on a 13-3 run, and we were actually leading by the 10 minute mark. That might be the most exciting 10 minute stretch of Zips basketball that I have ever witnessed.

Lane is going almost unnoticed playing in the MAC, and Williams is playing yearly for national titles out of the ACC ? That might sound condescending, and I don't mean it that way. But guys who are extremely battle tested have an almost insurmountable advantage over everyone else, unless you're truly special. Guys like Khalil Mack and Roethlisberger who slip ahead of the pack to be in a position like Mike Williams happens maybe once a year to the best of MAC players. Come on folks. We're not talking talking about a first team selection here. We're talking about a Junior, who's played WR for 2 years, and was only a 3rd team selection in a bottom league. That leaves him regarded as maybe in the 7-9 range in ranking just among other MAC receivers, Yes, I understand that many other factors can come into play that could make someone's stock rise. But just the fact that he's likely not even on any team's distant radar really creates very long odds of this working out.

After the Toledo video plays, a couple other classic Zips Basketball videos come up in the box of related videos to watch. 1) The 09 game at Kent where Singletary punches Linhart, and continues to insist that he hit him with his hand. In fact, I would like to nominate all of the ".19" chants that we directed at him while he stood at the foul line as some of the funniest JAR moments in recent memory. 2) And the game in 08(?) when we almost knocked off #20 Dayton on the road, which went to Double OT, and Dials gets fouled heaving a long shot at the end, and should have gotten 3 FTs, and only got two. (He was a 90+ FT shooter, and that certainly would have sent the game to Triple OT).

All that matters to me is that I can still make just as much noise as I did back then. My voice just seems to take longer to recover. Just like everything else that takes longer to recover when you get old. But I really am worried about what might happen if I try to hurl a roll of toilet paper.

YES, the early Huggins OVC years was the last time I remember seeing that. And Since I was still a student, I was one of the guilty ones. The problem is, I was way up in the bleachers back then, and could hit the floor with my 25 year old arm. Today, I'm afraid that I might dislocate my shoulder from 10 feet away (Insert toilet paper emoticon here). Will this actually get some students to attend? I see weak student turnout for a game like this, and I am actually going to be pretty disappointed when I only see 10 rolls of TP being thrown.

I only wish that the other 3 NCAA tournament 1st round games had been even HALF as exciting as that Michigan game.

zipsoutsider, I am going to hope that we just played a great defensive game down there in Athens. But, it's probably a little more likely that we just didn't face a very good OU offense on that day either. I 100% agree that anyone in this league can win or lose on any given day.

Yes, it does say UNUSED. That's pretty funny.

I think that the rule used to be that you get a Technical for doing it. But, we haven't tested that for awhile. I can't remember this happening at a Zips game since the mid-80s.

If we had ESPN Gameday on our campus, and got this bowl bid, all in the same couple of week period, I'd be so overwhelmed with excitement that I'd probably have to be hospitalized.

Please, I hope this doesn't turn into another lengthy "lets drop down" discussion. I think that's been put to bed before, and some of it is repeated here. As someone who's been involved for decades with our athletic programs in a number of capacities, including being a donor, I would personally be angry if we ever talked about dropping down. Most of us who contributed to our growth would feel the same way, and there's people who have invested far more than me. We apparently have long ago forgotten what a lot of us did back in 1985-87 just to make the move up. Those who are too young to remember might be inclined to disregard it even more. And a lot of effort and a lot of money has been needed to continue that growth, especially in facilities. There's no turning back now. Not for me. Too much invested.

I was at both the Xavier game and the 1986 Cleveland State game. The reason I rate the Cleveland State game higher is because of the crowd, the atmosphere, and the fact that it was a WIN over a highly ranked team. But, the amazing thing that many people don't know about the Xavier game is that this was a bad Akron team. They had won only once before that Dec. 21st game, and that was a win against the College of Wooster. Pretty unbelievable. This was definitely one of those games where super human performances came to the surface for one game. I just wish that a packed house was there to see it.

I agree Balsy. He won't get drafted. But I will hold out hope that he somehow can make a squad. I really don't understand the move. One more year of college could make a huge difference, vs. how I believe this will turn out for him right now.

Sorry, this is ridiculous. If only we had dropped 3 more 3 pointers at ANY part of the game, and this game would have been different. And you can apply that rule to just about every game on any given day in D-1 college basketball. It didn't happen. At minimum, the final outcome of this game was decided about half way through the 2nd half, same as Villanova, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Gonzaga, etc.

No, not on its own, necessarily. I referenced a frustrating pattern where we don't seem to get any closer to winning any of these types of games. And this game was over with about 13 min. left, and Creighton went into cruise control. Maybe next week in Spokane will finally be the breakthrough. Don't get me wrong. For our OWN purposes, we need to play these games, and more of them. But nobody in the country today outside of Akron fans cares that Kwan showed leadership. or Jimond looked good, or that the loss may not have looked as bad as a loss against another highly ranked team a year ago. Nobody is going to view Akron any differently until we start pushing some of these teams to the wire and winning some of these games. And regardless of what positives WE might pull out of a game like this, it's still more of the same in terms of Akron vs. the higher echelon of college basketball.

I think it should be enough to convince some people on here that we must play these games more often. They have plenty of benefits, as some people have pointed out in this thread, and has been discussed many time in the past. And it's also proof that there's not a mountain of separation between us and the top teams in the country. However, when you consider that the lead went to double digits fairly early in the 2nd half, and stayed in double digits the rest of the way with the exception of a brief time near the 2 or 3 minute mark when it dipped to 8 or 9, the loss is still pretty decisive. As I said earlier, the frustration comes from the fact that we are not getting closer to winning these games. And we were never close to being in a position to win this one.

I believe a game in which he takes 9 attempts from 3-point range is not going to turn out well most of the time. Don't get me wrong. I love the way he plays. I just don't think he's an effective jump shooter.

Yes, it does give you a little hope that we can compete against Gonzaga. But, it's still frustrating that we never seem to ever get any closer to beating a top team.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. Characterizing MAC teams seems like a fun thing for fans. But, too often, this is such an unpredictable league.

I still think my favorite JAR game was the Cleveland State matchup in December 1986. Both teams had just come off of NCAA tournaments, and both teams returned most of their arsenals. We won in overtime, in the most packed JAR I have ever seen. The students packed the bleachers on the West side while the Girls game was still being played beforehand. By the time the game started, they began letting people sit on the stairs. Then, they started letting them sit in front of the glass on the walking track. I don't remember any of us in those West stands sitting down the entire game. I've also gotten some clarity on the ongoing debate about whether that Cleveland State team was ranked. They WERE ranked at the start of that season (#20 AP), but had a loss against Memphis that knocked them out of the rankings before they came to the JAR. This source finally provided that info. for me. http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/cleveland-state/1987-schedule.html

It was TRIPLE overtime. This was the first round game at home during the our first MAC tournament win in 2009 that I referenced above. Brett's basket was actually a catch-and-shoot in the paint, all in one motion. It was a pretty unbelievable play. The audio of Steve French's call on those two plays is classic.