Men’s basketball

Although it was closed to the public, assistant coach Jeff Boals gave me the scoop about Akron’s exhibition against Robert Morris…

• The Zips won 86-62. The more impressive stat is Akron’s 25 assists on 33 field goals. The Zips shot pretty well.
• Cedrick Middleton is going to be good this year. He dropped 16 points and six assists against Robert Morris. He is a huge gym rat, working on his shooting all summer. Boals said, "The most talented is Rome(o Travis), but the player who has impressed me the most is Cedrick. He’s gotten a lot better since last year. He could probably play football too. He worked on his shooting and ball handling a lot. He’s so quick laterally and so strong. He works so hard, when he makes a mistake, it’s hard to yell at the kid."
• Mike Bardo played well, tallying 11 points and four rebounds. Although he looked sluggish a couple Saturdays ago, he has come along nicely. "It’s a huge jump from high school to college, especially for big guys," Boals said. "I think what happens is the game slows down to them. There were talks about redshirting him, but he’s done really well."
• Speaking of redshirting, Boals said the staff is still considering a possible redshirt. They still have Sunday’s exhibition against Hillsdale to make that decision. My take is that the backcourt is way to crowded.
• Chris McKnight does not appear to be heading for a redshirt. His greatest strength is post scoring. Hopefully he can learn from Romeo Travis, who seems to be his clone. "He’s very talented, really raw," Boals said. "He had a good high school program, but most times when freshmen come in, their biggest weakness is defense. He’s got unbelievably quick feet in the post. He can shoot the ball 15-17 feet. He’s got a knack to score the basketball around the hoop."
• Jimmy Conyers has shown indications of being a great scorer. In a couple intrasquad scrimmages, he scored in the teens. Conyers tweaked his ankle and did not play against Robert Morris. The injury isn’t serious. "He does some really good things," Boals said. "He shows flashes and he’s going to be a really good player here."
• The staff hasn’t set its starting lineup yet. Boals said the Zips basically have eight starters: Dru Joyce, Nick Dials, Nate Linhart, Travis and Jeremiah Wood seem likely to start, in my opinion. The other three would be Middleton, Quade Milum and McKnight. "What you worry about is having too many guys who can score," Boals said. "It’s never a bad thing, but coaches have instilled a pretty good we and us thing, instead of me and I." John Rybak, Conyers and Bardo also will see playing time.

Football

Defensive back Andre Jones nearly quit the team last year.

I think most of us would have in his situation. Read his story, told by the PD’s Elton Alexander.

• After the Zips’ loss to Toledo, the Buchtelite’s Dan Kadar suggests a transition to the spread offense, which requires four wide receivers, one back and no tight ends.

Miscellaneous

If you wondered what I was up to in St. Louis, I wrote about it a little…

ST. LOUIS: Until Friday, I never really knew what I desired as an ultimate end to a sports season.

Born in 1985, my closest brush has been the Buckeyes’ 2002 national championship.

My taste came Friday night, during the clinching game 5 of the World Series.

I stood atop a parking deck near Busch Stadium. A gap between metal posts and the center field scoreboard afforded me a pencil eraser-sized window of home plate.

The atmosphere was electrifying. Hundreds of Cardinals fans positioned themselves for a similar view.

Intoxicated by it all, I promised to celebrate this like it was the Indians about to bring home the world championship. Jose Mesa and Tony Fernandez stole our best chance in 1997. I’m still bitter about that.

The whole reason I was in St. Louis was for a journalism convention with a posse of five other Buchtelite employees. While there, I met up with my high school friend Steve Young and his brother Chris, who pitches in the Florida Marlins organization. Because of Chris’ ties, he and Steve scored tickets for games 3 through 5.

Steve and Chris grew up in St. Louis. Even during the Indians’ successful campaigns of the ’90s, the Youngs stayed true. The Cardinals belonged to Steve, Chris and, for the night, me.

So I put a full effort into this, starting chants, high-fiving fellow fans and discussing strategy, like Cardinals manager Tony La Russa’s questionable substitution of starting pitcher Jeff Weaver before the ninth inning.

As soon as closer Adam Wainwright finished the game, the streets were clogged with cars, and not one horn was silent. Fans rolled their windows down, screaming chants. One guy sat on his Escalade’s window ledge, and somehow still managed to drive it. In his hand was a bottle of champagne, which may or may not have been open.

We hit the streets with a case of beer. (St. Louis abolishes its open-container law on game days.) And when Case One was exhausted, we traded it in for Case Two.

Steve and I weaved through the cars, offering high fives and hugs to anyone in range. I carried the case of beer, but it seemed to become lighter each block. (By the way, if you ever crave attention, carry booze down a crowded street. Everybody - mostly automobile drivers - wanted a piece of the case carrier.)

Unfortunately, the end of the case was not ceremonious. The posse entered Busch Stadium for the post-game festival and to take a look at pro baseball’s newest gem. Perhaps unaware of the company that brews Budweiser beer, a Busch Stadium employee heisted our stash while the Buchteliter who temporarily carried it gasped in awe.

Don’t let the alcohol misguide you, however. This was sober joy, only punctuated by happy juice.

And some October, it will come to Cleveland. Instead of Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter leaping onto a pile of his teammates, it will be Travis Hafner and C.C. Sabathia.

That day, you will be proud to have stuck with your team through the disappointing years, like 2006.

You can identify me as the guy outside Jacobs Field working on Case Three.

Men’s soccer

With a crucial win over Buffalo, Akron earned a share of the MAC crown this weekend.

Also 4-1 in conference play is Northern Illinois, who is on the other side of the bracket and will host the MAC tourney.

The Zips will play either Western Michigan or Bowling Green on Friday.

• With three goals in the first half against UNC-Greensboro, Steve Kalan earned a spot on College Soccer News’ National Team of the Week.

Rifle

The Zips used a team-record score to beat the Coast Guard Academy this weekend.

Football

I’ll admit, I only saw the first half because ESPN 360 was driving everyone nuts with its constant buffering from our hotel room in St. Louis.

Here are my impressions regardless…

• Just when Kent State opened the door for the Zips re-entering the conference race, the Zips slammed it. That is disappointing. Still, as Mike Waddell used to tell me, if this team goes 7-5 this season, a bowl will be waiting. Akron sold out its allotment of tickets to the Motor City Bowl. Selection committees won’t forget that.
• It’s time for Carlton Jackson to get some serious playing time. I don’t think he deserves to start over Luke Getsy, but he is certainly more mobile, and that might help him avoid sacks better. Next week, I would prescribe at least three series to see what Jackson can do.
• Jackson must be impressing some people. J.D. Brookhart recently said that he clearly overtook Chris Jacquemain as the No. 2 QB.
• Akron has two studs on offense, and not much more. Dennis Kennedy and David Harvey will be really exciting to watch the next couple seasons. Both had good games against Toledo.
• The Zips run defense struggled, surrendering 175 yards.
• This was just another game the Zips allowed to slip due to inconsistency and mistakes. I still hesitate to say the season is over. I certainly warn against anyone who thinks Brookhart is a bad coach.
• I’ll preview the Bowling Green game either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Football

As I wrote earlier, I have been out of town all weekend.

If you are new to the blog, I typically write a few posts per day.

I will have some thoughts about Toledo’s win over Akron and the men’s soccer team’s victory over Buffalo asap this afternoon.

Football

As we all know, the Zips offense depends on its running attack. The ABJ’s David Lee Morgan says that’s the key to beating Toledo today.

Toledo, too, has seen a surge in rushing production. Three Rocket running backs share the job.

• The Zips are a 3.5-point favorite.
• Danny Sheridan says 4.5 points is a better spread.
• Here is the link for ESPN 360. I’m going to push back plans of riverboat gambling to watch.

I believe the Zips offense will play similarly to last week. Without a passing game, Toledo shouldn’t put up many points. I’m fairly confident Akron will win comfortably. Akron 20, Toledo 10.

Miscellaneous

Sorry I haven’t been able to keep up with the blog lately.

I’ve been at a journalism convention at St. Louis. It’s been a lot of fun, seeing the Detroit Tigers who are lodging in our hotel.

There’s an outside shot I’ll have Game 5 tickets. Cross your fingers for me.

I’ll try to have some stuff previewing the Akron-Toledo game.

Football

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote an interesting story about how 17 MAC starters are from that area.

That list includes Luke Getsy, David Harvey and Kris Kasperek.

Men’s basketball

Ray Mernagh of Hoopwise.com wrote about each MAC team following media day.

Like many of his fellow members of the media, he believes the Zips are a huge favorite to win the conference championship.

Football

The PD’s Elton Alexander wrote about the method to Phil Steele’s college football predictions, which correctly pegged Kent State and Arkansas as decent teams.

Not to bash Pizza Hut managers, but I had no idea that Steele’s full-time job was in the restaurant industry. From the sounds of his reasoning, he’s pretty intelligent about football. And if you’re reading this Phil, you have my apology for me questioning your sanity.

Football

If only Toledo could play in the Big 12…

The Rockets beat Kansas and took Iowa State to triple overtime.

Of course, Toledo can’t beat anyone else. In fact, It hasn’t played many teams close. The Rockets suffered blow-out losses to Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Pittsburgh and Kent State.

Statistically, Toledo …

• gives up the second-most points in the MAC (Akron gives up the fourth-least).
• has the MAC’s worst turnover margin (third-best).
• is last in passing efficiency (middle of the pack).
• is third in first downs (eighth).
• racks up the second-most penalties (dead last).
• has the third-best red-zone offense (second to last).
• converts third downs better than all but one team (second to last).
• allows the third-most sacks (middle of the pack).

Individually…

• Jalen Parmele is seventh in the MAC in rushing.
• Chris Hopkins is among the league leaders in receiving categories.
• At quarterback, Toledo shuffles between Clint Cochran and Aaron Opelt, who is more of a threat to run. Neither has played well enough to emerge as the clear-cut starter.
• No Rocket is among the top 25 in tackles.
• Linebacker Mike Alston is third in sacks and tackles for loss. He seems to be the defense’s strongest player.

Predictions…

• VanDelay Sports says the Zips will win 28-16.
• The Zips will win by five points, oddsmakers say.

Men’s basketball

It shouldn’t be to anyone’s surprised that the writers picked Akron to win the MAC.

Toledo is expected to earn the MAC West crown. Ohio, Kent State, Miami, Buffalo and Bowling Green round out the East.