Thanks Guys!

[apalmison]

Thank you, seniors for a season that exceeded all expectations. You demonstrated heart, grit, and determination in high pressure situations. I hope that that experience proves to be valuable in your future endeavors. KD thanked the seniors after the MACC for elevating the program from mediocrity. I think that hits the nail on the head. Their successes have started what I hope is a long-term strategy of building a solid mid-major program for years to come. Thanks for giving all of us games to be excited about, a team to be proud of, and plenty of material to banter about on this board.BTW - As a relatively new member who doesn't live in Akron - thank you moderators (and all you frequent posters) for dedicating your time and resources to this board. It's very hard to follow the Zips without this forum. To a good season and many more to come!

[Blue & Gold]

Thank you seniors, you all are fantastic people and had fantastic careers! I'm proud that you represented our community with such class & competitiveness! You have certainly turned this program into something I would only have dreamed of about 15 years ago! I remember watching my first Zips basketball games with crowds at the JAR that were probably only a couple hundred strong. I would sit in the end zone bleacher sections and literally have almost the entire section to myself; maybe 4 or 5 others up there. A SG from Barberton named Tron Jenkins was by FAR our best player. The second best player on that first team I watched @ the JAR was JASON TAYLOR! Yeah, of the Miami Dolphins! He was a 6-6 center/powerforward; very athletic and strong, but not really a basketball player. Man, has the program advanced TREMENDOUSLY with you guys and KD at the helm!!! Honestly, you probably don't realize all that you've done and all that you've accomplished! THANK YOU!

[Zip Watcher]

Nate is going to be a senior next year. He had better start developing into somthing soon. Nate goes through 3-4 minute periods in each game where he plays good and then disappears for the rest of the game. He must do better next year.

Spoken like a guy who hasn't seen this team play much this year .. by your own admission.Nate is a lock down defender. Simply put, probably the best on ball defender in the conference. Take a look at the averages of some of the guys he defended this year, and then compare to their games against the zips.l Start with the kids at Temple, Wyoming, UIC and UMass .. every one of them came in to the games against the Zips with guady numbers, and put up well short of their averages .. well short.Nate takes guys out of the game. And he'll do it again next year.

[ziplock]

Nate is going to be a senior next year. He had better start developing into somthing soon. Nate goes through 3-4 minute periods in each game where he plays good and then disappears for the rest of the game. He must do better next year.

Spoken like a guy who hasn't seen this team play much this year .. by your own admission.Nate is a lock down defender. Simply put, probably the best on ball defender in the conference. Take a look at the averages of some of the guys he defended this year, and then compare to their games against the zips.l Start with the kids at Temple, Wyoming, UIC and UMass .. every one of them came in to the games against the Zips with guady numbers, and put up well short of their averages .. well short.Nate takes guys out of the game. And he'll do it again next year.

I am very optimistic looking ahead to next year. Say what you will but since he arrived, as stated by one of you eloquent posters somewhere here, KD has continued to put us in a position to win. Next year should be no different. Of course we will miss Jeremiah, just like we missed Romeo and Dru this year but I am fully confident in KD's ability to "re-load".Thanks Zips for a fun and exciting season. Go Zips!!

[hoopla]

Here is why I will really miss Wood. Sometimes on this board I refer to "urban" and "suburban" players. Most of you probably look at that as a black/white comment. It really isn't and has nothing to do with race. Urban players are tough because growing up in a tough environment made them hungry. Suburban players, let's face it, are soft from a soft life. They play hard, but when you really need them, they disappear. Wood was as tough as you can get in the MAC. He didn't take crap off of anyone and provided a deterrent in the lane. He was not overly talented and had a bad wheel, but he still competed his butt off and was the toughness the Zips needed. Can you guys imagine what this year would have been like without Wood? ZERO lane presence. We need more players like Wood in this program. He was hungry and played hungry. As I scan the Zips roster, who is the next Wood? Nate L.? No way. McKnights (sp?) from the great farming community of Lancaster. Probably not. Bardo or McNeese...good kids, but probably not.The kind of toughness Wood has doesn't come from extra workouts or watching film. You guys will see next year how important that type of urban player is.

So lets compare "urban" and "suburban" players then... everyone knows that Dials is a "suburban" kid. Heck, I think his neck stays red year around. But you are talking about a kid that comes back from an ACL injury in 3 months. That is unheard of in this present day. Not only does he play, he was our 2nd leading scorer and atop many other categories. (for those who care about numbers). And at a DI level. Comes in and backs Dru up at the point, which has been stated that he has never played before. and he does it on one leg. So you mean to tell me that the "urban" Wood is tougher when he couldnt come back from an ACL in 10 or 11 months to participate in the following season, which was a NIT year and the first ever postseason win for this program? Now that is 1 or 2 months extra past the "traditional 9 month" rehab period. But he did have a, and quote me on this, "minor" surgury during the year. ( and yes that was a minor surgury. even NBA players on contract come back within 2 weeks for that surgury. cmon, get real). and the reality after all that is that wood only played when he had the ball. he had no grit on the court. he gave up many baskets on D, especially the Can't games, but not limited to just those 3. So I guess toughness only comes when you play the part of the game that gets your name in the papers right? haha. If that is the attitude we have been having as a program, it is no wonder that we have only had 2 postseason wins in our history. but I hope this poor @$$ post doesnt reflect the attitude of the whole program/city. I havent seen it in all my years here, but I could of had blinders over my eyes for the past some 35 odd years. Maybe since the "urban" player is so much tougher than anyone else that he only leads the team 16 times (out of 35 games) in rebounds while playing almost 30min a game. This might be the dumbest post ever on this site, or just plain ever. So now on a topic that is suppose to be about these seniors you bring up "urban" and "suburban" players? That is the most idiotic thing I have ever seen/read. Ya know, I bet Romeo was tough too right? haha. he fell everytime he was touched. but he was "urban". ya know, Dru was tough as nails though. Ill give that too ya. He was one of the toughest guys to play in this program (how do they say that now-a-days? 4real). but he was "urban" so we got 2 guys that are "tough" and 2 that arent "tough". 3 "urban" and 1 "suburban". huh, ya know, maybe we should recruit all guards. ya thats right. 2 "tough" guards to 2 "non-tough" post players. There is an idea KD. go get 6' and under recruits. <<<<<<<< that makes just about as much, if not more, scense than your reasoning. And the sad thing about this is, Ive been in Akron my whole life... city from head to toe... and this still makes no scense to me, at all... I hate to even take note (or bring attention) to such a dumb comment, but it needed to be confronted.

Well...I guess anyone can criticize all they want. It's their right. But, all 3 of these guys were MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS to this season, in different ways. As much as I think guys like the McKnights, and Nate are developing, we are going to have to replace 3 MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS. And that is not easy. Dambrot has his work cut out for him. The "everyone except Jeremiah craps down their leg" comment is ridiculous. First of all, Dials and Middleton are the guys who even put us in that position to begin with, and Dials is the only reason we even made it to this game. And secondly, if you want to look closely at the last few minutes, it was Jeremiah's late turnovers that were the most costly.

all i have to say is look at what game we won and what game we lost... now tell me who is the only one that takes over a game... enough said...

Nate is going to be a senior next year. He had better start developing into somthing soon. Nate goes through 3-4 minute periods in each game where he plays good and then disappears for the rest of the game. He must do better next year.

Spoken like a guy who hasn't seen this team play much this year .. by your own admission.Nate is a lock down defender. Simply put, probably the best on ball defender in the conference. Take a look at the averages of some of the guys he defended this year, and then compare to their games against the zips.l Start with the kids at Temple, Wyoming, UIC and UMass .. every one of them came in to the games against the Zips with guady numbers, and put up well short of their averages .. well short.Nate takes guys out of the game. And he'll do it again next year.

At the beginning of the year it was Nate, Dials, and Conyers that were our defenders guarding the opponents best players... but at the end, it was Linhart. I think a lot of that had to do with he became less of an offensive threat so all of his legs could be geared towards D. (i am guessing). but your are right, he was our best on-ball defender and perhaps the league. and we are going to need that out of him, and conyers (if he ever gets out of the dog house) next year if we are going to be any good. and before judging on the productivity of Nate by #s like so many on here do, he played GREAT floor games nearly every night. so just because there wasnt 20s under the points column for Nate, he played just as well as anyone else. and without him we wouldnt have been as good as we were. the point ZipWatcher was making (i think), was that we are going to need more productivity from him in the scoring column next year. I think that is correct. As the only guy back with much expierience, he is going to be a "go to" guy... along with C.McKnight and B.McKnight. I look for KD to bring back the old offense he ran his first year at the helm. he had Rome, Wood, and Peterson working down low with 2 guards keeping their space up top. To me this is a simular lineup. versitile, quick, and strong. our weak spot, in my mind is going to be the guards. i think it depends on steward. i really dont know what he is going to bring to the table (sat out because of injury this season), but he seemed to bring in some promise. hopefully he was able to sit back and learn from our 2 veteran guards this season. but with that said, i think we will struggle to make another 20 win season. i hope i am wrong, but i dont see it with a very young team and, i hope, a stronger schedule. --------------------------------------------------------But on the the original reason i got on this topic.... Thank you seniors (if you even read this garbage) for all you have done for this program. When it seemed as if we were going to take a step back from a 26 win season, you showed heart and actually took us a step forward to having an even more success. So to the 5 fan favorite seniors, I give my final thank you and best of luck to your future endevors.

[zipboy]

Here is why I will really miss Wood. Sometimes on this board I refer to "urban" and "suburban" players. Most of you probably look at that as a black/white comment. It really isn't and has nothing to do with race. Urban players are tough because growing up in a tough environment made them hungry. Suburban players, let's face it, are soft from a soft life. They play hard, but when you really need them, they disappear. Wood was as tough as you can get in the MAC. He didn't take crap off of anyone and provided a deterrent in the lane. He was not overly talented and had a bad wheel, but he still competed his butt off and was the toughness the Zips needed. Can you guys imagine what this year would have been like without Wood? ZERO lane presence. We need more players like Wood in this program. He was hungry and played hungry. As I scan the Zips roster, who is the next Wood? Nate L.? No way. McKnights (sp?) from the great farming community of Lancaster. Probably not. Bardo or McNeese...good kids, but probably not.The kind of toughness Wood has doesn't come from extra workouts or watching film. You guys will see next year how important that type of urban player is.

That is a pretty broad brushstroke. The hungriest player that I ever saw was Michael Jordan and that guy grew up pretty middle class. John Mackey was the toughest Zips football player that I have seen and he went to Walsh. I agree whole heartedly that Wood was a tough guy and that will be missed tremendously.

[masszip]

Clearing up an earlier post about this class.Wood and Goddard were here for the last year of the Hipsher regime with Goddard redshirting and Wood having a tremendous freshmen year.Quade was recruited during the Hipsher regime (although Coach Dambrot certainly was one of the primary recruiters)Ced was added to the class after Dambrot got the job after Allen Hanson (anyone remember that name?) backed out of his commitmentDials transfered in from OSU around that time as well.The other member of that class... Bubba Walther...yikes

[GoZips88]

Clearing up an earlier post about this class.Wood and Goddard were here for the last year of the Hipsher regime with Goddard redshirting and Wood having a tremendous freshmen year.Quade was recruited during the Hipsher regime (although Coach Dambrot certainly was one of the primary recruiters)Ced was added to the class after Dambrot got the job after Allen Hanson (anyone remember that name?) backed out of his commitmentDials transfered in from OSU around that time as well.The other member of that class... Bubba Walther...yikes

Nope, name (Allan Hanson) doesn't ring a bell although I was still in my "Hipsher protest" funk at that time and wasn't following the team very closely. Doesn't look like the Wisconsin-Milwaukee folks will remember him for very long either (assuming I've got the right guy here) ... Allan Hanson stats

[Zips Win!]

As a final note, considering that we were picked to finish 4th in the MAC East, I would say that this team easily overachieved. And the fact that we saved our season with a few wins while Jeremiah was out was a remarkable achievement. These guys willed themselves to many, many wins this year with true grit and determination. They were fun to watch. I thank all of them for what they gave to the fans.

Please get over the "considering that we were picked 4th bs" and the "team easily overchieved" nonsense.....Sure, we were picked 4th, but the top 4 teams were more like 1, 1A, 1B and 1C. We ended right where we should have during the regular season and so I have no idea how we overachieved. Everyone just wants to make excues....we really do need to change our nickname to the Akron Excuses... As for overachieving? This roster had three 1000 point career scorers on it.... and they all had tons of experience. Yes, we had some injuries to overcome, but so did several other teams. Huggins' team in 85-86 overachieved....picked last in the OVC and a roster full of unknowns....This was not the case in 2007-08....

[skip-zip]

Huh?ZipsWin....why would "this team did better than most people thought they would" be an excuse??Secondly, unfortunately, Can't was clearly the best team in the East this year. So, the 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D theory is pretty much out the window. I only wish you were right about that.And yes, I agree with you, the Huggins team of 86 was the ultimate overachieving team. But, the point was simply that this team did a lot more than anyone thought they would at the start of the season.

[Quickzips]

Here is why I will really miss Wood. Sometimes on this board I refer to "urban" and "suburban" players. Most of you probably look at that as a black/white comment. It really isn't and has nothing to do with race. Urban players are tough because growing up in a tough environment made them hungry. Suburban players, let's face it, are soft from a soft life. They play hard, but when you really need them, they disappear. Wood was as tough as you can get in the MAC. He didn't take crap off of anyone and provided a deterrent in the lane. He was not overly talented and had a bad wheel, but he still competed his butt off and was the toughness the Zips needed. Can you guys imagine what this year would have been like without Wood? ZERO lane presence. We need more players like Wood in this program. He was hungry and played hungry. As I scan the Zips roster, who is the next Wood? Nate L.? No way. McKnights (sp?) from the great farming community of Lancaster. Probably not. Bardo or McNeese...good kids, but probably not.The kind of toughness Wood has doesn't come from extra workouts or watching film. You guys will see next year how important that type of urban player is.

He's just a freshman next year, but if you're looking for guys who is hungry and plays with a chip on their shoulders based on past childhood experiences I think you'd have a hard time finding a better guy to play that role than Nik Cvetinovic. The kid grew up in war-torn Serbia.