UAZippers

My early guess at the theme of this season is that this year will have a decrease in top end talent, but a large increase in depth at key positions. The QB competition is going to be great fun. Bowden has shown in the past that he does not just give the job to the incumbent. I can easily see it not being settled as the season starts. I would not be surprised if we had a scenario like the tine were we never knew if Pohl, Woodson, or Chapman would be on the field each drive, let alone each game. At WR we lose potentially the best 1-2 punch that the Zips have had. However, we have a lot of talent remaining and coming into the program. I expect great things from Nate Stewart and I believe that Dre Williams can make an impact as a freshman. Chapman is a wildcard that could be an x factor, or a complete dud. Running back moves from the weakness of the offense to a potential strength. If Ball stays healthy, he showed enough last year that I am excited to see what he can do in the MAC. Even if he does get hurt again, we have the Oregon State transfer and the 2 incoming freshman along with multiple backs who saw significant time last year. On defense, losing Scott and Marcus hurt. My biggest fear for this team is the d line. I think that is the one area that the Zips have not showed anything to excite me in the off season. The linebacking corps can't be much worse then last season and there are a few transfers that could really bring the talent level up. I apologize for the long post. I am incredibly bored at work at the moment.

My argument is that playing for the tournament is the only thing saving attendance towards the end of the season. Imagine the roles were reversed and OU or Kent gained a huge lead in the conference standings early in the season. Do you think anyone at all will show up to watch Akron play Toledo or Miami late in the year if the only hope was to get a higher seed in a meaningless tournament? There is a reason that the JAR always has a bit more of a buzz during games late in the year. Right now every team has a chance to make a run and that is keeping interest alive, even if it is only on life support anyway, for the majority of MAC schools.

I strongly believe in the winner of a conference tournament getting the bid to the big dance. If the favorite can't even beat the teams that they have been facing all year, how can you expect them to perform well in a tournament with much better teams. Give the hot team the bid. Us Zips fans are obviously biased, as Akron has had some incredible success in the regular season, but it is good that a team that had a rough year still has something to play for throughout. How boring would this season have been if Akron had already locked up the bid in mid-January when they had a 4 game lead about 7 games into the conference season? I actually really like that Miami always seems to make a little run at a better seed in the last few weeks and that everyone hates playing Buffalo in the tournament because of what they did in the 2 seasons prior to this one. It is these kinds of story lines that make college sports exciting.

We have declined the postseason as recently as 2015. http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2015/03/akron_declines_postseason_bid.html

Remember that there is the new rule that you can declare and then rescind the declaration before the draft. It allows players to get a feel for the pre-draft process and still have their senior season if their chances to be drafted don't look great. Campbell from OU did that just last year.

A ball state fan on MACBBS just posted that Persons received a concussion on the play and needed 9 stitches to close a head wound. Really sad turn of events if that is correct. I'm sure that means that his tournament is finished.

I have seen WMU as Akron-lite the last few years. You always know what you are going to get, a well coached team that plays group basketball. There is a reason that Hawkins and Dambrot have both been around forever. I am comfortable in knowing the the Zips are the better team this year though. With Ball State, you don't know what team is going to show up. They could win by 20 or lose by 30 any given night. I much prefer the known quantity in WMU.

I bought my ticket last week only to realize yesterday that I have a prior commitment in Cleveland tonight, so I won't be attending. I suppose I just made a small donation to KSU. Everyone that does go, give Kent a little extra hell for me.

I guess it is not a big deal that Lane declared early, since he apparently never even played for the Zips.

I really respect Dambrot's comments in the post-game. You can tell he is not willing to beat around the bush anymore, its time for this team to perform.

Noble absolutely is a senior. I know Aaron isn't, that was part of my argument. I don't think Aaron has ever played well. He used to be a player that occasionally made something happen cause he was pure energy, but he is not even doing that this year.

Any minute that Aaron Jackson is on the court is a minute wasted. I would have much preferred those minutes went to Noble tonight. He can give just as much nothingness and it was his senior night.

Raven Lee threatening to outscore CMU by himself. Currently tied at 45.

I have to admit that I have not been an Olojakpoke believer all year, but he is having one heck of a game today. He is really showing up on both ends of the court.

That is about as bad of an end of a first half as you can possibly have.

I'll put this here, even though it covers multiple teams. Pretty great day to be a Zip!

Now comes the fun part..

How has the rebounding not gotten better throughout the game? At some point it has to become a point of pride.

I think he has realized that every time he touches the ball, defenders sprint full speed to the 3-line. A drive or two should give him some better shots down the line.

We can all talk about how Noah is not performing, but KD consistently talks about how much he loves Noah's game. I don't see him leaving his major role in the rotation any time soon.

I can't even imagine how awful it must be to be around Dambrot right now.

He was not even close to straight up. That was at least a 45 degree angle.

Big Dog honestly looks like he isn't trying for the second straight game. Last time, he got pissed off and started to take over the game in the second half. We really need him to do that again here.

One thing to watch for the next couple of games is Antino's health. He mentioned in the post game radio interview that he almost sat out this game because of a bad toe. I never would have guessed that he was hurt from his game today, but a toe injury could really mess up a player that relies on his quickness as much as Antino.