Game On

[ZachTheZip]

Basketball season starts tomorrow. Are you prepared? It's finally time to turn away from last year and look ahead, but no matter what I try to think about in regards to this team and this year, one thing keeps coming back to me. It's etched in my mind and will likely never leave my memory. It's like a demon sitting on my shoulder and whispering in my ear every single time I think about Zips basketball. Nothing short of an NCAA berth will ease the pain. Last year was supposed to be THE year. Dru Joyce and Romeo Travis were supposed to go out in a blaze of glory in the Big Dance. Keith Dambrot was supposed to become a coaching god on the UA campus. He would have his face up there in the JAR next to Bob Huggins. But in the span of three seconds that took over ten minutes to complete, everything dissapeared. One shot, one answered prayer, one final whoosh of the net and it was gone, all gone. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. It has made the team stronger, the players more determined, the coach more mature, but it has also cast a shadow of doubt upon the hearts of the fans. Is it safe for us to support them? Will all we get in return for it be a broken heart? We've had too many broken hearts in the past and are weary. I don't want another one. I want to support them, but I can't take another dissapointment like that. Things seem more favorable this year, but you can't trust anything anymore. We are without last year's two greatest leaders. Now we have six of them. Nick Goddard, Jeremy Salee, Quade Milum, Nick Dials, Jeremiah Wood, and Cedrick Middleton are all seniors. They will carry the team. Perhaps a disproportionate amount of the weight will be on Middleton. Wood will physically will the team to win, but Middleton has taken on so much. I've never seen a guy with a work ethic like him, except for John Mackey. Those two athletes are capable of exerting a superhuman amount of willpower that makes up for any talent they might lack. We'll have to see just how this team performs. There was a solemn mood about them. An almost silence that spoke volumes. They are prepared. Are you?Some media clips on the eve of the season:http://media.www.buchtelite.com/media/stor...w-3101380.shtmlGame On 2007-2008 Basketball PreviewA season for redemptionVincent DorseyThe University of Akron men's basketball team opens the 2007 regular season in the first round of the BP Top of the World Classic against South Carolina Upstate in Fairbanks, Alaska Friday night.At tip-off, 251 days will have elapsed since the Zips' 2006 season came to a screeching halt last March.Not a day goes by that returning members on this year's squad don't remember Doug Penno's three-pointer at the buzzer to win the Mid-American Conference Championship securing the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for Miami University.Many of the players turned the disappointing end to the 2006 season into a positive start to 2007 by working tirelessly in the weight room and on the court during the offseason. Head coach Keith Dambrot said that the team responded in the right way to the adversity, and that the coaching staff has pushed the players to continue to improve since the end of last season."Our guys have done the right things in the spring, summer and fall," Dambrot said. "We've probably pushed this team harder than we've ever pushed a team. Kids are pretty resilient. They've kind of let last year go, but they want to do well."Preseason All-MAC selection senior forward Jeremiah Wood said that he is excited to get back on the basketball court and start another season, and is looking forward to building off of the success of last year's MAC East Division Championship."I'm just ready to be back out there," he said. "Last year's over. We had a good year. Now, it's time to make this year a better year."Preseason All-MAC senior guards Nick Dials and Cedrick Middleton return with Wood as the team's most experienced players. Senior Quade Milum will be counted on as an everyday starter for the first time in his career, replacing 2006 MAC Player of the Year Romeo Travis.The biggest question mark coming into the season for the Zips was who would become UA's starting point guard, after Dru Joyce completed his eligibility last season. Joyce had been a fixture at the position for the past two seasons.Dambrot said that before preseason practices began, the coaching staff had envisioned redshirt freshman Steve McNees and true freshman Ronnie Steward splitting time at the position while competing for minutes. That plan had to be adjusted when Ronnie Steward suffered a hip injury in practice. Steward will miss the start of the season, and the exact date of his return is not yet known.McNees has gotten the majority of the time as the team's starting point guard in practice and in the Zips' 79-55 exhibition win against Walsh University Nov. 8.While admitting that McNees still has a lot to learn about UA's system, Dambrot said that he is pleased with the progress of the young floor general. "He's shown he can shoot the ball," he said. "He's shown he can handle the ball and pass it. He's got some things he's gotta get better at, but if you consider he's a (redshirt) freshman, he's done a really good job."After the Zips posted a 26-7 record in 2006 and were not granted an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament or invited to participate in the National Invitational Tournament, some supporters of the program clamored for the Zips to travel and play high-major non-conference games at the start of each season in an attempt to raise the team's RPI and better their chances of postseason play.Dambrot, however, has decided to stick with his plan and only play non-conference road games in which the home team agrees to come play in Akron in a future season.The Zips' head coach said that he sees the method as the best way to build a consistently competitive program."If you look at the history of our school since it has been Division I, we haven't had very many winning seasons," Dambrot said. "My job when I started this program was to build a program that could maintain over a long period of time. "My thing is if you play those high-majors on the road for money, you're not gonna win, and if you're not gonna win, you can't develop your program."Dambrot cited the fact that wins are an important factor in determining a team's RPI, and reiterated that the MAC was simply not strong enough last season to enable the Zips to get a postseason invite.Dambrot is fully aware that each decision he makes will be scrutinized and second-guessed, but said that he's comfortable with the team's scheduling practices."I'll look everybody in the eye," he said. "My job is to build the program. There's always going to be people that second-guess you and are skeptical, but I still think the way we did it was good. I think this year's even better than last year."Highlights from this year's non-conference schedule include home contests against Temple and Wyoming, and road contests at Winthrop, Austin Peay and Dayton. The Zips' eight non-conference home games this season are the most UA has had in Dambrot's tenure as coach.Dials said that while the team's non-conference schedule may lack big-name appeal, it is comprised of quality opponents that will prepare the team well for MAC play."I think our non-conference schedule is pretty tough," Dials said. "You don't have the big names like North Carolina, Louisville (and) Kentucky, but you've got solid teams that play well together."The Zips' spot-up shooter also said that he appreciates the increase in home games during his final collegiate season."Being a senior closing a career, you want to play as many home games as you can," Dials said. "That's one thing that I like and will appreciate after the season."The Zips were picked to finish fourth in the MAC East in a MAC News Media poll released Oct. 15, but were ranked 14th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Preseason Top 25, released Oct. 21.http://media.www.buchtelite.com/media/stor...k-3101396.shtmlMiddleton bounces backWork ethic unmatched on ZipsAdam FerriseCedrick Middleton's offseason started at the free-throw line at Quicken Loans Arena in front of a national audience. Middleton walked to the foul line with 12 seconds left in the game and the Zips ahead two points in the Mid-American Conference tournament championship game. There were 10,000 fans and an ESPN audience waiting to see the University of Akron advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1986. Middleton missed the front end of the one-and-one and watched Miami University's Doug Penno bank in a 3-pointer with less than one second left, stripping the Zips of their tourney birth. To make matters worse, Penno's heroics were replayed countless times on national sports highlight shows."I didn't watch TV for a while after," Middleton said. "It was tough."Since Middleton missed the free-throw that preceded the game-winnner, a lot of fans placed the blame on him, which head coach Keith Dambrot said made it especially tough because Middleton is so dedicated. Middleton, who is well known for his workout habits, implemented a stringent workout routine in the offseason. Already one of the quickest guards in the conference, the 6-footer said he woke up around 5 a.m. during the summer to condition himself for his senior season. His ultimate goal was to never feel tired throughout any given game."He goes to the Rec Center and shoots before practice," Dambrot said. "And he stays after practice to work on his game."Although he's soft-spoken, Middleton's attitude makes him the prototypical lead-by-example senior. It also helps that he's the perfect fit for Dambrot's system. He's one of the Zips' best on-the-ball defenders and his quickness allows the offense to play uptempo and is one of the MAC's most dangerous offensive players in the open court. He has the speed and strength to finish around the basket and is one of the better 3-point shooters in the conference, connecting on 39.4 percent of his threes,good for eighth in the MAC last season.His 3-point percentage is a testament to his hard work. Never a bad shooter, Middleton's percentage has risen every year. As a freshman, he shot 35 percent from behind the arc and 38 as a sophomore.It's no surprise that his points-per-game average has jumped accordingly, from five in his freshman season to 11 last year when he was named MAC Sixth Man of the Year. "We can't win games without him," Dambrot said.Middleton, however, may no be in the same role this year, at least to start the season. Dambrot has indicated that since freshman Ronnie Steward's hip injury may take up to six weeks to heal, Middleton will probably be starting the season alongside Nick Dials in the Zips' backcourt, even though Dambrot prefers to utilize Middleton's energy by bringing him off the bench, if he's healthy enough.Middleton was forced to sit out the Zips' exhibition game against Walsh College two Saturdays ago because the arthritis in his knee, which he has battled for the last two years, was bothering him. Dambrot said it was precautionary and that he would more than likely be fine for the season opener Friday at the Top of the World Classic in Alaska against South Carolina Upstate. Middleton was so eager, he dressed and went through warm-ups even though he knew he wasn't going to play. "He's the hardest worker I've ever had," Dambrot said. "And I've had a lot of hard workers over the years."