GP1

It's too bad you made that wish out loud. I think Miami is on the down swing and Akron is on the up swing. You don't need to trade a win against Can't to beat them. I predict Akron will beat them next year at the RB.

For Akron, it just shows that the theory of recruiting local talent does nothing to draw people to games in either basketball or football. CK is correct. Winning will draw a crowd.

Really good post. I don't know much about basketball, but I do think I know a little about athletic talent and effort. KD is getting 100% effort out of the players he has. I think the second half problems (in games) are a result of teams making adjustments to our game plan and picking up their tempo. Akron is a team that is difficult to out coach and out effort on game day. I do think they are an easy team to out athlete. Linhart had difficulty Saturday because he is slow and each time he tried to make a move, a Can't defender was able to defend against him using superior athletic ability. I don't want to single out Linhart though because they were doing it to every player on our team on both ends of the floor. When Can't decided to pick up their tempo, Akron did not have the athletic talent to respond.If Akron does lack athletic talent, it will make the second half of the season much more difficult because everyone will have figured out how to beat Akron using quickness. Athletic talent is not something you can coach, most are born with it and you either have it or you don't.I think Akron will continue to do well though because the overall talent in the MAC is declining rapidly (in football also). I still believe Akron is a MAC semi-final team at least. After that, their athletic talent is going to hurt them, but maybe not doom them. There are still a lot of games between now and then though.

Ben is a winner. Nothing more needs to be said.I'm feeling very magnanimous after my beloved Steelers victory yesterday. So I will say this to all of you Browns fans. You should be optimistic. If you eat your vitamins, study hard and say your prayers...........................one day you may have a team as good as the Arizona Cardinals.

Hixon will not be drafted. The best he can hope for is to get with a team as a free agent and then make the team on special teams. This is a really hard way to make the NFL. I give him a 50/50 chance.

Have you looked at this class? Size and speed. Depth is key and with these quality recruits that's exactly what the staff has brought into the program. At least Coach Brookhart said depth was key. Maybe he was wrong? I don't think so! :macc: I actually agree with you. We need both size and speed. My point was not that we just need more good players, we need size on the team. I assumed that you meant "bigger" as in Penn State, OSU, etc. Without size, we will never be able to compete against those teams because if all we do is run out one undersized player after another, we can't win. Depth wouldn't matter at that point.

It always seems to me that good basketball teams have a fifth gear in the second half of a game. K-ent had a fifth gear today and Akron did not. I'm not certain that Akron does have a fifth gear. KD is getting all he can out of this team the entire game. I hope I'm wrong.

I have to respectfully disagree. What makes us different from our "bigger" opponents is our size. Akron needs bigger players, not just more of the same.

http://www.miamihawktalk.com/discussion/vi...pic.php?t=27150Someone on another MAC board posted this. It is an interesting analysis. Any thoughts? My initial thought is that Akron looks good in the analysis.

Nate Gerwig? Is he in his 15th year or something like that?

Thank you.

I'm out of town. Would someone please update the bb score. It should be over by now.

This has to be the answer. $20 million doesn't build much. Goodyear sponsors NASCAR and that has to be a huge outpouring of money for them. I really don't think they will spend much for a stadium for UofA.

I don't believe that will happen. The best opportunity was during the Motor City Bowl when everyone was thinking about football and recruiting season was starting.

This is EXACTLY the spirit Akron needs in the fan base. Akron fans have been conditioned to lose for so long, they don't see the possibility of success. There are some fans of different schools out there who can't fathom their school ever losing.Buffalo, Miami, OU and Can't State were all on TV here yesterday. I may not know much about basketball, but I know enough to see that Akron is just as good as, if not better than, each of those teams. Don't hope to win, expect to win. I'm with InTheZone and King Zip, Akron wins out.Stop thinking like Browns fans and Eeyore!

A very well thought out post. Well done. I totally forgot about the Getsy hand injury during the CMU game. It could explain a lot about the mid season misery.

I'm going to post a few facts about the 2004 and 2005 schedules, make a few comments and ask for your input. Below are the win loss records for the teams we have played the past two seasons. (Sorry about the look below, I can't get the two season to break out in columns. It is supposed to be a side by side comparison of the two seasons.)2004 2005Penn State 4-7 Purdue 5-6Middle Tenn. SU 5-6 Middle Tenn SU 4-7Virginia 8-3 Northern Illinois 7-4Can't State 5-6 Central Michigan 6-5Northern Illinois 8-3 Buffalo 1-10Buffalo 2-9 Miami 7-4UCF 0-11 Army 4-7Ball State 2-9 BGSU 6-5Marshall 6-5 Ball State 4-7Ohio 4-7 Ohio 4-7Miami 8-3 Can't State 1-10Total 52-69 (42%) Total 49-72 (40.5%)Wins/team 4.72 Wins/team 4.45The real question is, Why 6-5 both seasons? Most on this board would say that the talent level of the 2004 season was better than 2005, I'll reluctantly concede that point.. I really don't see much of a drop off in production at any position between the two seasons. I actually think the two teams would be evenly matched in a game and the 2005 team would beat the 2004 team the majority of the time because they had more winners on the team.Someone also wrote that the leadership on the 2004 team "pulled the team up by the scruff of their necks" to turn the season around after the first five games. That is laughable at best. The reason the 2004 team pulled the season together after the first five games when they went 1-4 is the schedule was easier the last six games. The first five games, our opponents finished at 30-25 (54.5%) and the final six games our opponents finished at 22-44 (33.3%). Only two of the six had winning records and the four losers only had four wins tops. Let's not forget also that the insertion of Biggs into the starting line up was the impetus for turning that season around. As bad as most on this board want to, don't kid yourself about "leadership" from the players that season.The first five teams we played in 2005 had a total record of 23-32 (41.8%) and the Zips went 3-2 against them. A simple ratio would tell you even though their opponents finished at a lesser winning percentage than the previous season, the percent increase in the Zips winning outweighs the opponents winning percentages. The last six had a total record of 26-40 (39.4%) and the Zips went 3-3 against them.I think we can all agree that there were a couple of game here or there both seasons that could have gone the other way if things worked out differently, but it is what it is.We all know my opinion on the seniors from the 2004 team. I believe they were all a bunch of underachieving losers. The only reason that season seemed like a success at the end was the long winning streak, but when they played an above average team at the end of the year for the divisional championship, they pooped down their legs.We all had a lot of frustration with the 2005 team, IMHO, because the losing was so spread out. It made the team seem worse than what it really was. Some of you were even calling for the usually program killing move of replacing the starting QB with a D-II QB. I think we are all gald that didn't happen now. In all fairness though, I think the 2005 team also underachieved in losing to Army and Ball State.Getting back to the question of the role of scheduling. In 2005, there was not a week off and I think that killed the team mid season. We were able to get our feet in the last two games with the week day games giving them a little break. I would hope that as the new schedules are formulated, some consideration would be given to having a week off during the season.I'll open it up for comments now. How important is scheduling? What were the differences in two seasons with identical records? Did leadership play a role? How should Akron set up future schedules to allow for rest? Am I missing something in the statistics above? Let's get some discussion going on this football page. It doesn't seem like there is much interest in the basketball team the way there is in the football program right now. That's too bad because the basketball team is playing great.That's it....the wife is spending the night in Cleveland with three of her friends and I was feeling a little bored. Time to get some Donatos (sp?).

Please ask about how much money has been raised for a football stadium. That will tell us how long till another is built.

If anyone knows this information, I would like to know if JD has any bonus opportunities for winning the MAC and/or making a bowl game and/or winning the bowl game. Did he make a bonus last year for what happened? I would hope so. This is public information so if you work at UA and you are reading this, please respond.

Z-P, With you as my loyal bitch, I could take over the world.

Please don't tell me we are slipping back into our humorless stage. I thought those days were behind this board.

WOW! I had no idea OU had degrees that difficult.

I agree, just having some early morning fun.

Great game last night.

Nice work getting Chuggy in the rafters.