Roo News 1/8/11

1) My moving is all done. Classes are starting again. Zips Sports Blog is back up and running. Oh yeah.

2) The men's basketball team has been rambling through the non-conference schedule while I've been gone. Of the last 6 games, the only loss has come to Miami (FL). The Zips now are 9-5. Their five losses have come to aforementioned Miami, #20 Minnesota, Temple, Cleveland State, and Dayton. If I (or anybody) had to pick the five games on the schedule that I would rather have the team lose, there's no doubt that those five would come to mind. Every single one of them is a tournament-quality team.

3) The women's basketball team is 7-6. They dropped their MAC opener to Buffalo, but take on 4-10 Ohio at noon today. The game can be seen on SportsTime Ohio.

4) The big game is today; so naturally I am going to miss it thanks to a poorly-timed soccer game. The men's team takes on Kent State at home later today at 7pm (Also on SportsTime Ohio). Kent State has a good team this year, similar to the team that drubbed us twice last year. Also, Dambrot doesn't do well against the Golden Flashes; his all-time record against them is 5-9. Look for tomorrow's celebratory recap.

Men's Basketball 2-1 In Las Vegas Classic

Hopefully everybody had/is having a great Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Another-Made-Up-Holiday-Because-I'm-Too-Cool-For-Christmas-Or-Hanukkah and is ready for a new year.

We didn't miss much over the break; the women's game tomorrow is cancelled, and the men played three games in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic, finishing 2-1. The men also play at home on Wednesday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Here's a short recap of the Las Vegas Classic games. Regular posting will resume after New Years. Thanks to those that are still reading.

UALR (W) 75-61

- Good game all around. Darryl Roberts led the team with 16 points, Zeke Marshall avoids being called a marshmallow by finally playing his size and grabbing 14 rebounds, and Alex Abreu does his job as well by getting 6 assists.

Stetson (W) 72-56

- Steve McNees shot 4/9 from behind the arc to lead the team with 16 points, Alex Abreu had 7 assists, but nobody stood out in rebounding; Brett McClanahan led with 6.

Miami (FL) (L) 69-61

- Other than the strange blowout loss to Temple earlier this year, the Zips tend to play one of two ways against big-time teams. They either lead at halftime then fall apart in the last 10 minutes, or they fall behind early, then play their butts off only to lose by single digits. The Miami game falls into the latter category. The Zips were down 22-9 early on.

- Brett McKnight woke up for this one. He's only been getting 15-20 minutes so far this year, and got 19 in this game, but shot 8-12 and finished with 20 points.

Roo News 12/19/10

1) Head men's soccer coach Caleb Porter has been wrapped up through 2020 after it was announced Friday. Hear that? It's a sigh of relief.

In a conference known as a stepping stone for coaches, it's a breath of fresh air to see some stinkin' loyalty. To quote Mr. Porter:

"I am loyal to Akron and I want to leave a legacy for Akron Soccer. I am proud of our program and the success we have had. Over the last five years, the friendships I have made and the support we have received from our alumni, fans and the AK-Rowdies brings meaning to what we do. I look forward to building on our tradition of excellence for many years to come."

2) The men's basketball team completed a heck of a comeback to defeat Bethune-Cookman 77-66 in overtime yesterday. Recap time! (Courtesy of ZipsAthletics)

The Great:

- Nikola Cvetinovic. He led the team in points (17, 4/6 from the field, 9/12 free throws), rebounds (11), AND assists (4).

- The bench. This was the first game in which they made a sizeable contribution. Quincy Diggs made 5/6 free throws and knocked down a trey for 8 points, 6 rebounds and an assist. Wait...is that a bird? A plane? No, it's Brett McKnight returning from suspension, getting 6 points, 2 rebounds and a steal!

The Good:

- Brett McClanahan, who played 24 minutes, knocked down 3/6 three-pointers and finished with 10 points, 2 rebounds and an assist.

The Would Be Awful Were It Not For Some Outstanding Category:

- Steve McNees, who only made 1/9 three pointers and 1/12 overall, yet finished with 9 points thanks making 6 free throws, and 6 rebounds, which tied for second on the team.

- Zeke Marshallmallow. Where to begin....first of all, the 7-footer grabbed just 4 rebounds in 26 minutes. He also shot a magnificent 33.333333% (3/9) from the free throw line. However, he DID shoot 5/7 from the floor and ended with 13 points and 2 blocks.

The Awful:

- Alex Abreu. The pass-first point guard played 21 minutes with this statline: 4 points (1/3 shooting, 1/2 free throw), 4 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists (offset by 2 turnovers).

However:

- The team finished the game. It's a step. After blowing a halftime lead against top-25 Minnesota last week, at least we're seeing some close wins against not-so-top-25 teams.

3) The women's basketball team put a 102-45 hurtin' on the Ursuline College Arrows, improving to 7-4. Sina King grabbed a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in only 18 minutes. Rachel Tecca led the scoring with 14 points. Every single Zip on the ladies' roster saw playing time.

Roo News 12/13/10

1) The men's soccer team outfought Louisville 1-0 yesterday to bring home Akron's (and the MAC Conference's) first team national title.

The first half was a flurry of Akron passes, as the Zips were outpossessing the Cardinals 61-41 at one point; however, Louisville came out of the first half with more opportunities, and seemingly most of the momentum.

The first 43 minutes of the second half were a different story. Akron continued to dominate possession, but also kept the ball in Lousville's half much longer than the first 45 minutes. The lone goal of the game came from Scott Caldwell off an an Anthony Ampaipatakwong cross in the 79th minute. Caldwell's first shot was blocked, but he quickly found it again and drilled it through the top of the net.

What ensued next was the most bizarre final two minutes of a soccer game I've ever seen. Louisville pushed the ball forward and kept it there, firing shot after cross after cross after shot into the box. At one point, David Meves came off the line to punch a ball but missed it, leaving him out of the goal, but Chad Barson stepped in to deflect the next shot, and then after about 10 more seconds of city-wide heart attack, the ball rolled safely out of bounds.

Needless to say, this win is huge for Akron. This men's soccer program has been building up for years, and after last year's disappointing finals loss in penalty kicks to Virginia, another runner-up finish would have only proven to the naysayers that mid-major programs aren't capable of winning it all. With great head coaches like Caleb Porter and Keith Dambrot, and a (good?) hire of Rob Ianello for football, the Zips athletic program is skyrocketing.

2) In much less exciting news, the men's basketball team was trounced, pummeled, steamrolled, and then curb-stomped for good measure by the Temple Owls. The final score was 82-47. The Zips scored a grand total of 5 points in the final 14:27 of the 1st half, shooting 6/30 in the entirety of the half.

Alex Abreu and Steve McNees each scored 11 to lead the team.

It won't get any easier. The next game is away at Minnesota on Wednesday. Tune into the Big Ten Network at 8:30pm for coverage.

Let's. Go. Zips.

Here it is, folks.

This is what every Zip fan has been anticipating.

Heck, this is what every MAC fan has been anticipating.

The Zips men's soccer team has a chance to bring home the MAC Conference's very first national title. After badly outplaying Michigan to a 2-1 victory, the Zips play Louisville in the NCAA finals today at 4. The game can be seen on ESPN2. Louisville is the only undefeated team left, at 20-0-3.

Interesting stat: The last team to make it to consecutive NCAA finals was Indiana in 2003-2004. Caleb Porter was an assistant coach on those teams.

Cardiac Saturday

First things first, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Now that that's settled, I'll get to writing a stinkin' post.

The men's soccer team won an absolute thriller over California in the Elite 8 to advance to the College Cup for the second consecutive season. They face Michigan, the team that they beat 7-1 earlier in the season. The game was 3-3 at the end of regulation. Nobody scored in OT. The Zips won 3-2 in PK's thanks to three penalty saves from goalkeeper David Meves. Where's the box score, you say? Why, it's right here!

The NCAA semifinals are Friday, time TBA and the finals are Sunday, time also TBA.

In baksitball news, the men won another thriller over UIC at the Flames' home court. The Zips were down by 13 with 16:24 to go in the game, but came back to win 54-52. Cvetinovic gave the flames a chance by missing two free throws, but Robo Kreps couldn't put in the half court shot to win the game. It's the first come from behind (from the last 5 minutes) win for Akron this year, and it moves them to 4-2.

Thanks for bearing with me, folk (Ha! Singular reader joke!)

Roo News 12/2/10

Happy LeBron-Returns-To-Cleveland-On-National-Television-And-Every-Cleveland-Fan-Gets-To-Vent-Their-Frustration-But-Hopefully-Nobody-Does-Anything-Stupid-To-Make-The-City-Look-Worse-Than-It-Already-Looks Day, everybody!

I have to make this quick (thank you, Finals Week!), so here we go.

1) The men's basketball team defeated the Detroit Titans yesterday, by a final score of 77-69. The Zips jumped to a lead early, the Titans closed the gap before halftime, and then the Zips pulled away again.

Thank you, Horizon League Television, for having a free stream of the game online. Hear that, All MACcess? You can stop charging $49.95 a season for technology that was outdated in 1965.

- The Zips looked a lot more balanced yesterday, with 17 of their 61 shots coming from behind the arc.

- We finally had a big man pull down some rebounds. Nik Cvetinovic grabbed 7 to lead the team.

- This game was the equivalent of playing against a team with 2 red cards in soccer, and the Titans didn't jump on the opportunity. Zeke Marshall had 18 minutes and Mike Bardo had 10, as both were in foul trouble throughout the game and eventually fouled out.

- Cvetinovic led the scoring with 18 (9/15 shooting). Brett McClanahan had 11 (4/10, 3/7 from 3-PT range) and Steve McNees had 10 (2/4 from 3-PT range, 4/6 free throws).

- Alex Abreu put up 8 points with 4 assists in 22 minutes of playing time, including a razzle-dazzle spinning layup.

- Dakotah Euton, Josh Egner and Quincy Diggs all got between 6-10 minutes of playing time, but totaled 5 points, a rebound, a foul, and a turnover between them.

The next game is Saturday at UIC, which should be another good one.

2) The women's basketball team lost to Duquesne yesterday, but have a decent 4-3 record and have two more games at home before the next road game. The next is Saturday against Wright State.

3) Snatching the Saturday spotlight is the men's soccer team, who face #6 California at 4 PM in the Elite 8, also the final home game of the year. The Cal Golden Bears have not trailed in an away game at any point during the year. Luckily, we have the weather (not to mention a 20-1-1 record) on our side. Hopefully this snow sticks around.