GP1

All the internet photos of the campus show it is on the coast of a lake.

I was reading my alumni magazine and I see the three non-student members of the Board of Trustees are UofA graduates. It rubs me the wrong way when I see people appointed to the Board of Trustees who do not have a degree from the University and it made me happy to see the direction the Governor took with this group. Congratulations to Trustees Jennifer Blickle, Olivia Demas and Sandra Pianalto. In addition, congratulations to student trustee Ryan Thompson. Good luck and thanks for giving back.

I think a game a year at Gund Arena is a good idea. It doesn't look like a new arena is coming any time soon, so they need to try something else to create a big time atmosphere. Once a new arena is built though, no more games in Cleveland.

They do have some recruiting advantages. However, there are many good high school basketball players in the north. Enough that climate, etc. shouldn't impact a college program.

All without a 10,000 seat arena and separate practice facility. Shocking. They do have a lake on campus with a beach around it and some dorms around that. What's more important in drawing a player to your school? 1. Hot girls laying around a lake in bikinis year around on a lake in the middle of campus? or.. 2. A new arena and practice facility. Here is an idea as long as we are throwing things out there. Take off their uniform and put on one of a known school like say Pittsburgh or Wisconsin or Texas. Would anyone be surprised that talent made the Sweet 16? Of course not. Their success comes from the things that matter: talent and coaching.

I wasn't over the edge. Pointing out the stupidity that permeates Twitter takes longer than a usual post. It can cause dead fingers.

This isn't directed at you BZ, just Twitter. This is what I learned from that great medium, Twitter. VCU lost because they had dead legs? Or, did they lose because Michigan is a national championship contender and they had better players than them at every position? Box Score Michigan's starters played almost the entire game against SDSU, yet they didn't have "tired legs" against VCU. VCU vs Akron Box Score VCU had a greater distribution of minutes against UofA than Michigan vs. SDSU, but they had dead legs? How can they play so few minutes that they have dead legs? Aren't kids between the ages of 18 and 23 supposed to be able to run all day without getting tired? Thanks for giving me yet another reason not to read Twitter or even know how it works. That which I do see is absolute garbage. The idea that VCU's pressure of Akron late in the game caused "dead legs" against Michigan simply isn't supported by the facts. VCU plays loads of players so players are always competing for playing time. I admire a back up player who, when given the opportunity, gives 100% to prove he deserves more minutes. It's called competition. When did trying hard become poor sportsmanship? Why weren't our back-ups, who were playing as starters, do more? If I was any of the young Zips who were thrown into heavy minutes Thursday unexpectedly, I would take a long look at my performance and my current abilities. After some reflection and critical evaluation, I would get my ass of to the gym for some personal improvement because what I showed got my team blown out of the gym Thursday evening. That's the lesson from Thursday. If this program is to get to the next level, those kids have some work to do.

We could build both practice facilities on campus because the use of the arena will be so great nobody will be able to fit practice time into the main arena hall. We just can't assume a dog knows how to trot between orange cones and not to crap in the middle of the competition.

So, you are saying Smart should have left his starters in the entire 40 minutes to practice a half court defense? I call preparing for your next opponent by getting sharp at what you do best is how you win big games. Never play the other team's game. Play your game and play your best. If you lose, you lose. It's called putting your best foot forward. VCU didn't lose to Michigan because they didn't practice their half court defense against Akron. They lost because Michigan has better players at just about every position and they play against better teams than VCU on a regular basis. They could have practiced their half court defense for a month and still lost that game. This whole idea that ten minutes against Akron had anything to do with what happened to them is just silly. One of the things I like to do is put myself in another person's position. Smart was playing against his good friend who is completely secure in his job for...well, forever and he kicked the crap out of him. I would probably do the same thing in his position. Coaches at that level are competitive in a way that most people can't understand. Smart kicked Dambrot's ass because he could. Dambrot took it so well because he can. Who was harmed? UofA basketball will not be impacted long term by what happened. It might actually be a good thing for them.

These teams are playing in the NCAA Tournament, not an OOC game in December. Experimentation is over. Teams live and die with what they do best in big games and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. VCU would have gotten noting out of "working on their half court defense" for 10 minutes against Akron. That's a foolish idea. It was more important to continue with what they do best and stay sharp for the next game. That's why we got our asses beaten so bad Thursday, not because Smart is a poor sportsman. Some see the beat down we took as negative. I see it as an opportunity for improvement.

To answer this would require Faustian logic and I'm not ready to go down that road on a Sunday morning.

I go away from this topic for less than 24 hours and I see it has come around to building a new arena taking monster truck shows, indoor soccer and ice shows into consideration. What about dog shows? I hope anyone involved in thinking about how it should be built is a little more focused than that.

My guess is getting enrollment up is a little more complicated than that.

He's getting one.

$1.2 million for a guy who leads his team to an A10 runner up and second round loss seems a bit steep to me. It would be really funny if they paid him all of that money for going to the Final Four and he didn't make it past the round of 32 again at VCU in his career.

Did everyone see that game today? Michigan would have beaten us by 71...

Great point JZ. One of the Zips should have sent one of the Rams into the stands/ended his night, then walk by Shaka and say, "Call off the dogs or it won't be the last." The problem is the Zips never find themselves in that type of position so they don't know how to handle it so the coach needs to remind the players of the obligations to the program.

This is kind of bad new/good new. The bad news was the Zips were humiliated on national TV. The good news is nobody in their right mind would have still been watching so I doubt many saw it. I know I turned in before the last person left the arena while the game was still going on. The real question isn't, why did he take a dump all over UofA? The real question is, why are his players so superior in talent?

That's not what I said. Please read it again.

Good post. I'd like to see it start up front with a solid pass rush from four people staying in their rush lanes and forcing a rushed pass into a heavily covered field. Better yet, get a deflection at the line that results in an INT. Sacks are good, but you still don't have the ball. Ints are better because they frequently result in better field position than a sack that results in a punt. It's harder to return a punt for a TD than an INT because once the int is made, it become 11 vs 6 because the five fat slobs on the offensive line can't move quickly enough against the returner to tackle him. You're right though Lee. We need some big plays that result in quick points from the defense this year. I've seen enough of the pressure being put on us. Let's put the pressure on them for a change.

It's not the starting point. It's the icing on the cake that separates good teams from great teams. There have been great MAC teams in the past. There hasn't been a Zips team yet to distinguish themselves as a great team. Lots of good Zips teams, but the greatness is lacking.

I'm totally positive about our University. I just think the leadership of our Athletic Department is lacking and I don't trust him to be a responsible decision maker of big decisions.

No, they weren't put in that position last night. Dambrot does a lot of things slowly by design. Last night was not a night to make adjustments slowly. By the time they were made, the game was out of control. Recruiting? Let's look at this. Actually, let's look back at the game last night. Remove the score from the screen and what did we see. I saw a team much more athletic with better developed basketball skills. Faster, quicker, better shooters, etc. Put Diggs and AA on the court with a healthy Walsh and does that go away. Maybe with Diggs, but not with AA or Walsh. Heck, Walsh washed out of an A10 program. Dambrot is recruiting top notch MAC players. These players would finish in the middle of the A10. I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything when I say that. If we want to get better, we have to know where we are and why we haven't gotten there yet. Are we not getting the players or are players not being developed? If the answer is yes to either one of those questions, then the first place to criticize is the head coach. My opinion...the team has talent that isn't getting properly developed. It's been going on for years but since the MAC is so bad, we can continue to win 20 games a year. Since we now have an untouchable coach, I can only assume it will continue because there is no incentive to change. The guy who owns my wife's company always says, "Nothing good comes from people being completely comfortable." Dambrot is too comfortable at Akron. He needs to challenge himself to reach outside his comfort zone and make changes to the program that need to be made. He has two assistants who have been with the program for at least 8 years. If you are an assistant at Akron for eight years, you don't have any ambition so you aren't an asset to the program. Start with changing the dynamics of the program by changing an assistant or two. It sounds harsh, but change is necessary. Different ideas would be good for the program and a different location might be good for some of those assistants. Move your cheese Keith.

I have no problem with them spending money. If they have it, spend it wisely. A basketball practice facility beyond stupid and I can't believe taxpayers put up with such nonsense. I don't need to see something every day to sniff out stupidity.

Other than Nora Jones, are any of those other people still alive?