GP1

Hard to say with the season being interrupted.

Respectfully, so what? You see youth. I see game experience and talent. Others may see a team that Dambrot is going to do his slow, year-by-year gradual development with players. I see a group that a coach making $500K a year should turn straight into a MAC Champion with a shot at winning a NCAA Tournament game with a huge growth in their ability between this year and next year. After nine years, shouldn't this be expected? Shouldn't it be demanded? Really good programs don't worry about the age of players. They expect young players with experience to contribute in a meaningful way when it is their turn to start and they expect their coaches to get them to that point. Hint: We are a really good program and should demand these things.

That's exactly how I felt when I saw them play UNCC. It is shocking how good their perimeter defense is and even more shocking to see it in person.

Why can't Dambrot be questioned? We are not talking about John Wooden here. How come the word "classy" gets thrown around so much on this board after we lose? I don't feel bad for Dambrot. The guy has a $500K a year job until he retires regardless of whether or not he ever wins a NCAA Tournament game. What is there to feel sorry about?

Transformative. Zeke coming to Akron did a lot for the program. Sometime you don't always see the results of a players time at a school until they leave. The big thing Zeke coming to Akron did was tell other really good players that it is OK to play at Akron. We are getting better players than ever and are winning more than ever. The program has been transformed in to a better program. The next to years are important as the impact of Zeke's years will start to give way to results on the court in coming years. We need to take these transformative years and make the program even better.

It was both a fluke and a call for a change in perspective. With Diggs, AA and no flu, the VCU is a better team than Akron in terms of player talent and coaching. They win last night no matter what. Coach Smart is a better coach than Dambrot not because he beat him last night, but because he is. He gets better players, his game performance is better, he is better at developing players, he is better in big games and he produces results in the post season. That's not opinion, it's fact. I've told you guys before I go to some UNCC games every year and it is a very, very good league. If all you go to are MAC games, you begin to think all of D-1 basketball is like the MAC. Most of it is better. A move to the A10 COULD turn Akron into a UNCC. Good program in a good league that wins more than it loses. Has a good coach that is not the best coach in his league. A team that may only make the NCAA Tournament once every 10 years or so, but will make the NIT a lot. There are a lot of Dambrots in the A10. There are few like Smart and the guy from Butler. That's a perspective fans should look at when thinking about a move to the A10. Allow me to look into my crystal ball to see the future of UNCC football. They joined one of the worse I-AA leagues and will proceed to win five games against I-AA teams over the next 2-3 years. People will scream the only way to improve the program is to join the ACC and upgrade the stadium to 40,000 seats. Year four they will go 3-9 and fans will think the only thing they need is a coaching "upgrade" to really get to 6-6 and move up to the ACC.

Good question. It's about paradigms. Ted Curtis advocates for building a practice facility because his job is building things. If buildings are going up, he doesn't have a job. Dambrot wants a practice facility because he works in college athletics and the answer to everything in college athletics is to build more facilities. A very wise man once told me..."No matter how cold it is outside...no matter how hot it is outside, it's always 72 degrees on a bar stool." Wise words. The same apples for basketball arenas. It's always the same temperature and to have a separate facility to practice when there is a perfectly good basketball floor sitting idle is a complete waste of money. In fact, it's vulgar at this point. Ohio State has a practice floor because their arena is used for hockey, concerts, etc. Akron has club hockey and they really don't have a lot of concerts, if any. Akron isn't a convention city. Building an arena with anything other than a permanent floor (unlike a removable floor like Gund Arena has) would be foolish. The reason the football team has a practice arena is it can rain or snow in NE Ohio so they need a dry place to practice. They needed a place to go sit on the bar stool.

Or, A10 players play against good centers all year long and Zeke was just another good center they were comfortable playing against. The MAC has absolutely terrible big men. Most of them aren't even very big, they are just the tallest guys their team has. VCU's aggressive play permeates every aspect of what they do. In the MAC, teams get the ball around Zeke and try to pump fake 50 times before getting a shot blocked. Or worse, the pump fake three times and try to pass it to a guy two feet away with a defense that has collapsed around the ball. Inside play is horrible in the MAC. VCU took it right to us in the paint and got quick shots up before Zeke could size it up. They attack. If you give Zeke a pump fake or two, he will size it up and send the ball into the stands. If you take it right to him, you have a better shot.

I don't know if it is a basketball or football discussion. It can be both. Why couldn't we do A10 for men's basketball and MAC for everything else? UMASS does it. Why couldn't we do the same thing? The discussion I don't like is, "Butler and VCU may leave, so let's join." We should want to join because Butler and VCU are in the league, not because we want them gone and we think it would be easier to win. We already get enough easy wins in the MAC and shouldn't want to duplicate that in the A10.

The announcers made a lot of comments that were factually inaccurate. Makes me think their interns spent five minutes researching Akron.

The A10 is a highly, highly competitive league. We saw it last night. The Zips would have to play the likes of St. Louis, VCU, Butler, etc. on a regular basis. The MAC isn't close to that league in terms of quality of teams. We could compete well, but we don't have the almost guaranteed game in the conference championship like we do in the MAC and post season play wouldn't be guaranteed by winning the regular season title. If you want better competition, the A10 is the place for you. If you want an easy trip in the NCAA Tournament and watching the Zips destroy a terrible league, stay in the MAC.

I see a new arena that will be complimented by a parking deck. Only on planet Athletic Director would a basketball team need a practice facility.

Interrupted. All in all it is hard to be disappointed with this season. How well we could have done was interrupted though. We had three major interruptions. First, the Diggs issue. We had a great team going into the season and his removal from the team probably interrupted the start of the season. Second, AA. In the end, the AA issue resulted in a loss against Can't and crippled any chances the Zips had against VCU. They win the league against a horrible MAC, but still only went 2-2 without him and were a disaster last night on national TV. Third, the flu. If losing AA wasn't bad enough, losing a senior leader against a defense like VCU really hurt. The AA interruption reminds me a lot of my college days. Think back. You are in a bar talking to a hot girl. Things are going great. It's getting late. You are certain you are about to close the deal and make a short walk back to your apartment with her for some fun. Then, right out of nowhere, your drunk roommate shows up, interrupts your mojo, makes a fool of himself and you. The next thing you know you are heading back to your apartment by yourself to listen to your roommate throw-up for the rest of the night. I'm sure most of us have been both the interrupted and the drunk roommate while in college so we understand how bad an interruption can go down. We never really know what would have happened in any circumstance if matter had changed. We'll never know how good this season could have been if it had not been interrupted. Go Zips!

I'll just say this about last night. Sometimes circumstances are against you and things can quickly get out of control. We had a lot going against us last night.

If by double digit win, EA means two points...I'm all in. Zips 69 VCU 67

Good advice. It isn't as much down town as when you get closer to AHills and I-696. If you are going, do yourself a favor and go early.

Diagram the sentences. The subject of a sentence is usually what it is about. Those with the greed are the subjects. Try harder.

I used to go to Metro Detroit a lot for work. Rush hour is extremely bad heading up to Auburn Hills out of Detroit and then where I-696 meets I-75. Give yourself plenty of time.

Money was never the problem. Greed was the problem. Money is just a product of greed. Greedy athletic directors. Greedy coaches. Greedy networks. The list goes on... Greed caused the survival problem we have now. Schools now have to sell their souls in order to pay for the stadiums, athletic directors and coaches. Schools have put themselves in a position that it is impossible to take enormous amounts of dollars out of athletics or it will collapse under its own weight. Too big to fail at this point.

Why does this guy still have a job?

There are universities putting out quarter of billion dollar bonds to fund stadium renovations that will cost taxpayers far more than a quarter of a billion dollars. There are coaches being paid millions of dollars. Coaches are being paid millions in endorsement money. Universities are being paid millions in endorsement money. There are hundreds of millions being made on TV revenue from networks such as ESPN and having their own TV networks. Entire towns bank on the revenues generated by home football games. The NCAA runs almost entirely on the money generated by the NCAA Tournament. Athletic directors are unwisely using public funds to build up their resumes so they can move on to other schools and make more money and unwisely use the public funds in that state. Conferences are jockeying for position to move from one conference to the next for money reasons. Many universities use winning programs to generate money for their Foundations. Universities build stadiums that sit half empty on game day because they have ADs who tell them the only way to compete is to spend money on "facilities upgrades". Don't you think we are a little past the "slippery slope" argument?

Article Looks like this thread didn't matter because before too long, the BCS schools will have to drop down to DIII if they pay their players. Maybe if they pay coaches less, they could pay players. BTW, Jim Delany is an idiot.

I respectfully disagree. My wildcard will be how our off guards and small forwards handle the perimeter pressure of VCU. More in terms of ball security than shooting.

Steals are important to look at. Points off of turnovers are important to look at as well. Measuring the impact of good perimeter defense is a bit more difficult. I don't think there are statistics for "bad shots", "hurried shots", etc. These results are analyzed in stats like FG percentage, but there are no direct relationship stats. I saw VCU force UNCC into horrible shots that had no chance at going in the basket. It also forces a team to put their center in a position where he is a safety valve. If the Zips guards are having trouble, placing Zeke away from the blocks in order to receive a pass from a frantic guard may be needed. I'd rather have Zeke by the basket to get offensive rebounds. "Rhythm" can't be measured as well. A good defense keeps you out of your rhythm. Rhythm when dancing is important. Rhythm in the big dance is important as well. The Zips need to find a way to get into an offensive flow against this very good defense. This is going to be a great college basketball game. I'm green with envy for those of you who will be there.