Upgrading the Zips' Schedule

[Zipsrifle]

And as for the Toledo game, yes we had to hit a couple of last-second shots, but we hit them! When we should have won a game but lost it, we label them as crapping down their legs. When they win a game they had no chance of coming back and winning, we go the "could have lost it there" route. Don't miss the significance of that Toledo game! Their legs came out clean! They found the Imodium, took it, and while their tummies may have been a little rumbly, they didn't implode. These are freshman and sophomores and toward the end they started winning the games where they were buried. They didn't fold, they rallied. Turning point?!?!?

Yes, I am the first call us out for losing when we seem to find a way to come from ahead and find a way to lose. And yes I pointed out that it took several miracles to beat Toledo and therefore we could have lost. The point I was attempting to make (and did a poor job) was that I am just not a firm believer in the 2004-2009 "trend" that was posted earlier.Sure, steps have been taken to win the MAC championship in 2009. But when the 2007 and 2009 titles basically come down to one or two plays, I'm not buying in on a trend. If we win in 2007 and lose in 2009, where is the trend? As for the significance of the Toledo game? It was huge. Freshman and sophmores, making big plays and hitting big shots while getting invaluable experience. We finally proved that we can break through and win a big game. How will this impact 2009-10? Not real sure, but with everyone except Nate returning, I hope it pays dividends. As others have posted, the schedule needs to be upgraded and the team needs to come back with the understanding that the MACC will have to be earned again. Winning a championship in 2009 doesn't guarantee one in 2010.

Very good points. I believe in the trend if for no other fact that given the experience of our team this year, we did pretty darn good! We can't take the MACC for granted, but I hope these guys come out with the mentality that they are the MAC Champs, they will be the MAC Champs again and they are working for bigger and better things.

[skip-zip]

Zips Win....BINGOSo, if Gonzaga beats UNC, we in some way benefit since we were the team that "earilier in the tournament kinda, sorta, gave them a game, but lost by double digits"?As much as we all enjoyed our run, and the party at the OBC, and the tournament game at the OBC (you betcha I participated in all of it...way too long since I've gotten to enjoy a title)....I'm sorry folks...UNC win, or Gonzaga win.....no benefit at all to the Zips. Unless of course, you just want to see the Akron name come up on the screen if Gonzaga happens to get to the championship game, and they get to show us on the screen for 2 seconds as the team Gonzaga beat 6 rounds ago. Actually, I personally would enjoy that for the few seconds it lasts too, and I would toast our team, but will it really have any impact on anyone outside of existing Akron fans?

[meatwad]

Zips Win....BINGOSo, if Gonzaga beats UNC, we in some way benefit since we were the team that "earilier in the tournament kinda, sorta, gave them a game, but lost by double digits"?As much as we all enjoyed our run, and the party at the OBC, and the tournament game at the OBC (you betcha I participated in all of it...way too long since I've gotten to enjoy a title)....I'm sorry folks...UNC win, or Gonzaga win.....no benefit at all to the Zips. Unless of course, you just want to see the Akron name come up on the screen if Gonzaga happens to get to the championship game, and they get to show us on the screen for 2 seconds as the team Gonzaga beat 6 rounds ago.

I agree that the impact on the Zips is minimal. But whether you think Gonzaga is "mid-major" enough for you or not is not really the point. They play in the freaking West Coast Conference. You cannot possibly tell me that they are not "mid major" anymore. They still are, they're just good every year. You sure as heck were rooting for George Mason when they got to the final four right? This really has digressed from the point of the thread but I'm not letting this go that no one here should be cheering for Carolina over Gonzaga. I thought this was a no brainer.

[Blue & Gold]

Down with UNC! Down with the system! Down with the Good Ol' Boys Club! Down with the BCS! Go Bulldogs!

[GP1]

I think KD is a good coach. I don't think he is a great coach or some great visionary that saw the path to success at Akron (Akron has been good in the past before he got here, let's not kid ourselves). I think the last two games of the year were an eye opener for him as he realized offense wins big games and defense beats average to bad teams. Trust me, I watched Bill Cowher do it for years with the Steelers. He won a lot of games with defense and a good running game in low scoring games, but couldn't get over the hump in the big games until he had an offense that could score a lot of points in big games. Not only did he have the offense, but he took the chains off of the offense and let them score. To KD's credit, he did that in the Championship game. Hats off.

I think that is a pretty good observation. The one thing that I would add is that sometimes a "good" coach gets a great player and that is what helps him win the big one. Cowher never won the big one w/o Ben. Will Zeke be KD's Ben? I hope so.

Keep in mind that Cowher did lose an AFC Championship game Ben's first year, and they lost badly. Blasting Bettis into the line for he entire first quarter hoping to win a low scoring game did nothing. Offense scoring in bunches wins championships. Cowher finally realized it after 15 years and now I think it has only taken KD 5 years to realize what it took Cowher 15 to realize. Actually, this is proof that a degree from UofA is more valuable than a degree from NC State. As far as talent, you are correct. Good players make coaches good. Akron has a lot of good players on the team right now and they are good. Surprise!!!!! KD is somehow a genious with a great plan for the future all of the sudden. He had Lebron Freaking James at St. V and he became a great coach. Hell, I could have won coaching St. V with the greatest BB player on the planet. The best thing KD is doing right now is getting good players to come to Akron. If he keeps it up, my prediction is he will continue to be a genious. If he doesn't, he will just be another mid major coach. I hope he is on a recruiting trip today. "You don't win with X's and O's, you win with Jimmies and Joes."

[Dave in Green]

There are two ways for Zips fans to look at the issue of how far Gonzaga goes in the NCAA tournament:For those who believe the tournament is nothing more than a single winner and 64 losers, it doesn't matter what happens to Gonzaga.For those who believe there is value in trying to leverage minor points, there are at least minor benefits to having Gonzaga make a deep run in the tournament -- ideally all the way to the National Championship. While this would have no effect on the cynics, it would have value when talking up the Zips to casual fans and recruits that the Zips played the eventual National Champion dead even for 30 minutes before being eliminated from the tourney. That just might convince a few casual fans that the Zips team is worth paying to see next year, or a top recruit that he might be the difference the Zips need to beat a potential National Champion. And it would certainly be a talking point the next time the selection committee is making its final decisions on bubble teams, and the Zips team has worked its way up into a position where it could be considered a bubble team despite not winning the MAC tournament. A large bottom line is often made up of many small increments that, taken by themselves, may seem insignificant.For those who choose to believe the former, I'm not going to argue it endlessly and try to change your minds. This is the classic optimist-pessimist debate in which the pessimists see no value in trying to make something out of a minor point and the optimists do. Minds are rarely changed. We are what we are.

[Roo]

I don't think there is any doubt for the need to upgrade the schedule. Nobody is saying to go out there and try to schedule the ACC teams like Duke or powerhouse programs. But what would be wrong with trying to get a Northwestern, Dayton (I know they declined), Creighton, Butler, type team on the schedule? Get a program with a little name recognition, that helps us look better. I liked that we scheduled Pittsburgh last year, we need those type of games. CSU pulled off a big one by beating Syracuse. Those could be huge for our program. I would like to see us aim for schools that would come to Akron though, which is why I mentioned the schools I did. I also feel we can compete with the that type of program, instead of scheduling a loss like Duke etc. That type of experience will help, especially come tourney time. It is good to be tested throughout the season. No matter what anybody thinks, nobody from the MAC is going to get an at-large bid. It just isn't going to happen. We can't even get a program ranked in the top 25, let alone thinking about an at-large bid. Toughening up our schedule to get us tested to win the MAC tourney should be ideal. We can still get 20 wins with that type of schedule.