Akron vs OU

[Valpo Zip]

Wow. What an ugly game that was.People would say that there is no ugly win, i agree but there are ugly performances. And this one was one of them IMHO.As much as i love the freshman backourt (McNeese and Roberts), what the hell is wrong with our other underclassmen. When is Conyers going to contribute on offense? can he hit a jumper? like ever. Bardo can still be excused for being a Freshman but how about C. McKnight? when is he going to contribute? he's almost halfway through his career. The FT problem is always going to hunt us down. J-wood and Ced 0/4, that's absolutely unacceptable from 2 seniors. Quade Milum, did he even play?I am glad this one is over and we have a win. Ohio is definitely a Mac East contender, a lot of work has to be done before the game @ Athens, Can't is rocking and rolling. KD and the boys have a lot of work.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Wow. What an ugly game that was.People would say that there is no ugly win, i agree but there are ugly performances. And this one was one of them IMHO.As much as i love the freshman backourt (McNeese and Roberts), what the hell is wrong with our other underclassmen. When is Conyers going to contribute on offense? can he hit a jumper? like ever. Bardo can still be excused for being a Freshman but how about C. McKnight? when is he going to contribute? he's almost halfway through his career. The FT problem is always going to hunt us down. J-wood and Ced 0/4, that's absolutely unacceptable from 2 seniors. Quade Milum, did he even play?I am glad this one is over and we have a win. Ohio is definitely a Mac East contender, a lot of work has to be done before the game @ Athens, Can't is rocking and rolling. KD and the boys have a lot of work.

I must have watched a different game than you. I thought it was a gritty performance by both teams. We got a little lucky...but give Linhart credit for making his own luck. He crashed the boards aggressively and good things happened. I could kiss him!I was also impressed with the crowd. Maybe the people of Akron are a couple weeks ahead of the schedule I'd predicted? Great crowd for a late, weekday TV game. Kudos to all involved!Bubba sucks a$$. He's so mentally weak I almost feel bad for him. Rowdies got in his head --

[zipsbandman]

I don't know....tonight is a big reality check for this zips team. We were riding kind of high after wiping Miami all over the court, but tonight I can say there are at least two teams in this conference that can beat us come March. Can't wins in Oxford and we know how tough that is no matter how bad they are playing. OU coulda beat us tonight on our court. We cannot take our home court for granted. Maybe this game gets us to buckle down more at home.

[OZoner]

I don't think it was an ugly game, I think it was solid defensive performance by both teams. Both squads ratcheted up the pressure when they got down. There were nerves, but it was a good game.Great play at the end by Linhart. I'd call it lucky, but I've seen enough of his ugly-but-effective play to know otherwise. Wow, he barely got that ball.Couldn't have worked out any better for you guys, huh? Anyway, good game, see you down in Athens.

[Z.I.P.]

If the teams on the floor had been Akron and Miami, everyone would have said, "What a great battle between two great defensive ballclubs. That Charlie Coles sure can coach!"Akron was able to hang in against an Ohio team that may have played their best game of the year -- Bubba notwithstanding, and win a crucial game to keep the win-streak intact. Man, that was about all the TV guys could talk about. Didn't even mention LBJ!

[plowerman78]

great effort by the zips tonight..just saw the final play on the news and MVP got so so high in the air it was unbelievable, and way to go rowdies as a rowdie hats off to you guys...love the way bubba cried at the end of the game and love the way we got in his head..bubba you scored 6 points and you scream at us when you finally scored yeah way to go and way to not call a timeout and try to be the hero..i love winning because its so delicous gotta love l love winning everyday and my mom says thats ok i love wiining because its so fafilling gotta love winning! BUBBA HAS 6 POINTS AND CRY'S!

[ZachTheZip]

Just got back. Some quick thoughts before I pass out: The crowd... WOW. Just WOW. The AK-Rowdies sold out both sections, and they all stood the whole time. The whole arena stood up for the final three minutes (good thinking grabbing that microphone, Will).It was LOUD. Very LOUD. Louder than I've ever heard it.Bubba: OU can keep him. He will be their downfall. Ballhogs always are.Linhart: Now you know why he's the MVP.OU's defense was stifling for a little while, but Akron couldn't hit any of their open shots to pull away.McNeese was the best ball handler. He may take over PG duties from Dials for the rest of the year.Where was Quade? He stood there every posession and waited for an alley-oop that never came. Hardly there on defense either.Conyers is the best defender we have. Hands down. Now, if only he could shoot the ball...Roberts has a great game while he was in.Everybody better show up this weekend for the Can't State women's game and the BG game.BG is better this year. We can't sleep on them. Hopefully last night's game was the wake-up call we needed at home.

[ZachTheZip]

Announced attendance: 4,557They were energetic, too. The terrible referees surely had something to do with that.So the AK-Rowdies filling up both sections is a result of classes resuming, I think. There will be a dropoff during the West games, but the final game against Can't will be sold out in advance.

[ziptrumpet87]

Defensively, I thought Bardo did a pretty good job when he was in. He needed to be a bit more agressive on the offensive end though. Nice minutes for Roberts too. Ced's knees must really be catching up with him. Thought they did a bit better when they were able to get the tempo up. Conyers should stick to driving the lane vs shooting j's - at least he'd have a chance to draw a foul. Crowd was loud, but still too many empty seats in the lower bowl - why do they continue to go unused?

[bigzipguy]

Very late last night, ESPN had Linhart's tip-in as one of their "gym jems"

[GP1]

Any win against someone in the division is a big win regardless of how it looked. Great job Zips!

[Hilltopper]

Wow. What an ugly game that was.People would say that there is no ugly win, i agree but there are ugly performances. And this one was one of them IMHO.As much as i love the freshman backourt (McNeese and Roberts), what the hell is wrong with our other underclassmen. When is Conyers going to contribute on offense? can he hit a jumper? like ever. Bardo can still be excused for being a Freshman but how about C. McKnight? when is he going to contribute? he's almost halfway through his career. The FT problem is always going to hunt us down. J-wood and Ced 0/4, that's absolutely unacceptable from 2 seniors. Quade Milum, did he even play?I am glad this one is over and we have a win. Ohio is definitely a Mac East contender, a lot of work has to be done before the game @ Athens, Can't is rocking and rolling. KD and the boys have a lot of work.

I thought OU gave us their best shot and we were still able to get the W. The Bobcats put on quite a defensive performance to make the game so close. Good win Zips!

[skip-zip]

Captain...I'll agree with you. The stats show that we actually shot the ball well. We may have had a couple of silly turnovers, but overall we didn't play badly, except for our lack of rebounding. And that's the best I have seen an OU team play perimeter defense in quite some time. Other Observations.....Bubba....now has made a grand total of 2 FIELD GOALS in two games at Akron as a Bobcat. Bubba....Has the ball in his hands, with 9 seconds left, one timeout, and launches a 30 foot jumper?, when you only need a 2-pointer? When you have two of the conferences best post players? I think that says it all. Bubba....it was priceless seeing him laying on the court crying.Jeremiah....I've said it before, and I will say it again. He will WEAR DOWN if we make him have to do what he did last night for another 20 games.Rebounding....The way OUs big men dominated the glass has me scared when we have to play them again. But once again, it goes back to us having only one legitimate force inside.Crowd....into the game more than I have seen in some time. Kudos to the guy with the microphone getting out there at one of the last breaks and getting us going.OU....lets hope that they played the game of the season. If not, they will get back in the race with that kind of dominance in the paint.

[ziptrumpet87]

Kudos to the guy with the microphone getting out there at one of the last breaks and getting us going.

Ditto! I think it was great that he let everyone there know about the streak. I'm sure many of the freshmen and visitors were unaware of it.

[GP1]

I don't know how many watched the game on TV, but it looked really good. I could tell there were empty seats at the end, but the average person across the country probably couldn't tell. Let's hope good crowds continue.

[GoZips]

The only "ugly" part of the game that I saw was the uneven foul calling by the officials. No one has mentioned the numerous, well, way too numerous times the crowdexpressed its manifest displeasure about the bad calls or "no calls". Odd that people praise OU for their defense when it was mostly a group mugging. It quicklyreminded me of the days of Larry "let's kill them" Hunter (former OU head coach). While Elton Alexander mentioned coach Dambrot's tirade in his article, Elton failedto explain why KD exploded.Frankly, the first half was an officiating travesty. The three officials need to be reviewed and warned. The second half they called a much more fair game. But, thedamage had largely been done. You just can not allow all that hand and body checking.Let us face the fact that we, the Zips, are the bastard, orphan step child of the MAC. We are the least liked, most dissed and unwanted program in the conference.It is high time to become the Broad Street, or is it the Brown Street Bullies.I support KD all the way. I wanted to see Dials, McNees or Linhart lay a body on the OU guards like our guys were being hacked. I am sure the whistles would havecome fast and furious. The officiating was, in a word, UGLY. That the Zips survived with a win is a testament to just how good they are becoming.

[bigzipguy]

Have to agree with skip_zip concerning J. Wood. HE WILL WEAR DOWN. It is imperative that Chris Mstart scoring down low!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr Z]

The only "ugly" part of the game that I saw was the uneven foul calling by the officials. No one has mentioned the numerous, well, way too numerous times the crowdexpressed its manifest displeasure about the bad calls or "no calls".

What part of bad MAC officiating surprised you? The officials in the MAC have been awful ever since I watched my first game at the JAR.I have grown to expect bad officiating in the MAC, if there is a game that is officiated good, that surprises me.

[jeaglet1]

The only "ugly" part of the game that I saw was the uneven foul calling by the officials. No one has mentioned the numerous, well, way too numerous times the crowdexpressed its manifest displeasure about the bad calls or "no calls". Odd that people praise OU for their defense when it was mostly a group mugging. It quicklyreminded me of the days of Larry "let's kill them" Hunter (former OU head coach). While Elton Alexander mentioned coach Dambrot's tirade in his article, Elton failedto explain why KD exploded.Frankly, the first half was an officiating travesty. The three officials need to be reviewed and warned. The second half they called a much more fair game. But, thedamage had largely been done. You just can not allow all that hand and body checking.Let us face the fact that we, the Zips, are the bastard, orphan step child of the MAC. We are the least liked, most dissed and unwanted program in the conference.It is high time to become the Broad Street, or is it the Brown Street Bullies.I support KD all the way. I wanted to see Dials, McNees or Linhart lay a body on the OU guards like our guys were being hacked. I am sure the whistles would havecome fast and furious. The officiating was, in a word, UGLY. That the Zips survived with a win is a testament to just how good they are becoming.

The fans blew up at some calls I thought were clearly called right (i.e. the 5 second call and offensive hook, which they dont call enough in general, but thats another rant). There were some missed calls, but the refs more than made up for them in the second half (7 OU fouls vs. 1 Zip foul in the first 10 minutes I believe). The fouls for the game ended 16 called against Akron 15 against OU, hardly uneven. I saw some hand checks holds on the Zips gaurds go uncalled, and I also saw some holds on Williams/Tillman in the post go uncalled. It ended up being an evenly called game when all was said and done. They let the players play and decide the game. I agree there are times to complain about the officials, but I didnt think it was that bad last night, relativly speaking. I guess I just dont buy the "everyone in the world hates Akron and tries to screw the Zips" argument. Maybe I just dont have the Zip colored glasses on?I will say I was very disspointed in the majority of the fans in my section. I've never heard so many f-bombs dropped towards opposing fans. I think the most telling quote came from a buddy of mine from work (who is neither an Akron or OHio alum or supporter) after hearing some of the comments coming from our section... "Typical Akron fans". It's always the bad apples that spoils the bunch...

[Zippysgotagun]

I don't know how many watched the game on TV, but it looked really good. I could tell there were empty seats at the end, but the average person across the country probably couldn't tell. Let's hope good crowds continue.

When Reghi said something about the 5000 fans in the JAR, I thought he was joking! I could hardly see an empty seat during the timeouts, though. I, unfortunately had to go to work (boo 3rd shift), but came home for my lunch break and watched the end of the game. I must have been quite a site jumping around my living room like an idiot at 3:30 in the morning, but what a freakin' finish!

[zipdiehard]

"Typical Akron fans". It's always the bad apples that spoils the bunch...I think "Typical Fans" fits better here. I have been to many an arena or stadium at all levels and idiots like this are the norm. Go on any team's board and their fans are headed for sainthood and the opposing team's fans are Hitler worshippers. Someone had posted a link to Ohio's board about the OSU fans blasting them. What a joke that was with them blasting the Ohio fans (and even a few jabs at Zips fans). How the heck would they know what their fans are like? When's the last time OSU was in Athens playing? This isn't to start a "hate OSU" thread, it's just an example!

[bUAkronG]

Here's my .02 at the game.First off, great attendance for a 9PM start. I've only seen it more packed once or twice before. Crowd was awesome. Loved the enthusiasm.Refereeing was poor at times but overall they did an "alright" job I'd say. When they missed a call the crowd sure let them hear it, but where were the "Bulls**t" chants? I know a few of you bring your kids to the game but a good, loud BS chant is great sometimes :)Anyone got any info on Ced? I saw him get up limping going to shoot some FTs late and he did not come back in the game after that. Hopefully he didn't tweak his knee too bad.I was feeling confident when we were up 9 but congrats to OU for fighting back and scaring the s**t out of me lolAll in all a tough win with a great crowd. I'd like to see the same come sunday.*oh, and I also wanted to mention McNees. Someone in this thread earlier said something about him being the best ball handler for us today. I'm sorry but I just don't buy into that. He seemed very sporadic with the ball in his hands and didn't seem to want to give up the ball much. Something about him worries me. Maybe it's the fact that after tonight I'm not 100% positive he can run an offense. I know he's a good player but I didn't see it tonight.

[Hilltopper]

*oh, and I also wanted to mention McNees. Someone in this thread earlier said something about him being the best ball handler for us today. I'm sorry but I just don't buy into that. He seemed very sporadic with the ball in his hands and didn't seem to want to give up the ball much. Something about him worries me. Maybe it's the fact that after tonight I'm not 100% positive he can run an offense. I know he's a good player but I didn't see it tonight.

I'm not ready to call him our "Best Balhandler" just yet, but he is only a Freshman and has only played in 15 games to this point. I see ALOT of potential in this kid. The greatest attribute that KD has as a coach is the ability to get improvement from his players. Just let McNees get some more games under his belt.

[skip-zip]

Let's face it. OU forced us to win that game from 3-point range, and we almost didn't get it done. J. Wood needs some help down low, and we better find it....FAST. If not, more teams will copy OUs strategy, and will beat-up Wood all night, and force us to win from the perimeter. About McNees....I think he is a great ball player, but still needs work to "run the offense". He's getting better, but still looks a little shaky at times.

[ZachTheZip]

What stood out is how effective the 1-3-1 zone is against us. We can't do anything when the other team uses it. You can bet that's what BG will bring to the JAR. Can't will also use it on us unless we find a way to beat on Sunday.