Men's basketball

Keith Dambrot has used a three-guard lineup at times during this season.

The Buchtelite's Vincent Dorsey breaks down the concept.

Here are some game stories from today…

• The Buchtelite
• Akron Beacon Journal
• The Northern Star
• Aurora Beacon News
• GoZips.com

I would love to give my usual snotty two cents on the game, but I was busy putting out the semester's first Buchtelite issue during the game.

Track

Last year, I said track is boring.

That irritated coach Dennis Mitchell. He invited me to attend a meet. And, I must say, it entertained me.

Mitchell is promising the best presentation of a track event yet Friday at 7 p.m. against Kent State in the UA Field House. That includes the use of a new video board and a condensed format.

"We are also trying to make sure that the presentation of the meet is the best ever," Mitchell said. "We will make this a meet no one should miss."

As always the women are expected to be great. Mitchell said the men, however, may match those accomplishments.

They need to start by finally beating Kent. The Golden Flashes men have won this contest the last three years. Mitchell told me the team's are evenly matched.

Another streak to watch: UA's women have never lost in their field house.

Men's basketball

Akron laid a 87-64 beating on Northern Illinois, perhaps giving an early indication of MAC West's strength.

It was a close game for the first 15 minutes of game. Then Keith Dambrot realized how to crack Rob Judson's zone: Just move the ball around until you can isolate on the block, the Buchtelite's Adam Ferrise reports.

Dru Joyce (18 points) led a total of five Zips who scored in double figures.

Despite the big win, Dambrot said he was unhappy with the second-half defense. That's coach talk. The Zips did exactly what they needed tonight.

Western Michigan is a good team, and we'll see if Akron can keep up this pace on Saturday. The Broncos beat Bowling Green tonight on the road.

Men's basketball

Sorry about the delay, but here are some things to read between breaks in the action tonight…

¥ Tom Gaffney discusses several different issues regarding the crossover games and Northern Illinois.
¥ Danny Sheridan says Akron will win by nine.
¥ So do oddsmakers.

Akron minus nine is exactly what I predicted the line at yesterday. Therefore, I can't really make a guess either way.

You can watch the game through NIU's site by clicking here. Then click the Akron game. Then click "watch" on the right side of the screen. It should work as long as you have a new version of Internet Explorer.

Men's basketball

Akron will face several unfamiliar opponents in the next few weeks.

Even coach Keith Dambrot admitted to only having seen a couple of the MAC West teams play this year.

If there was ever a deceptive 4-13 record, it belongs to NIU, the defending MAC West regular season champs and Akron's opponent on Wednesday. The Huskies have played eight of their last 10 games on the road, where the team has barely put up a fight.

But the Zips will travel to DeKalb, Ill., for this contest. At home, things are different for Rob Judson's team. They still have a losing record of 2-4 at home, but every defeat but one has been close.

Perhaps most impressive was a 70-68 win over Western Michigan, who boasts a win this year over Virginia Tech. They also lost by one against Eastern Michigan.

So, yeah, Northern Illinois might be the worst team in the MAC, but the team can compete with conference favorites at home.

Here are NIU's strengths…

The Huskies are second in the MAC in field goal shooting at 48.1 percent. Only Akron is better at 48.6 percent.

NIU has a rebounding margin of +1.9 per game. That's good for fifth in the conference. Akron is fourth-best.

The Huskies play decent interior defense. They average 3.47 blocks per game, fourth-best in the MAC. Akron is tops at 3.82.

The team is third in the MAC in assists at 14.76 a game. Akron is first at 15.94.

Here are the weaknesses…

Although they dish out plenty of assists, they have the worst turnover margin in the MAC at -5.41. In short, they make a lot of risky passes and don't bother to force turnovers.

The Huskies give up the most points per game in the MAC at 72.9.

While NIU's field goal percentage is high, most shots come from inside the arc. The Huskies are last in the MAC in 3-pointers attempted.

Who contributes?

Without 6-foot-10 James Hughes, the Huskies would be incredibly bad. He is the only reason the Huskies have a high field goal percentage and a respectable interior defense. He averages 12.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. His blocked shots total is best in the MAC.

Senior guard Mike McKinney loves to slash and dunk. He leads the Huskies with 13.2 points per game.

Junior swingman Zach Pancratz is NIU's only option for a 3-pointer with the graduation of three key shooters. He shoots 33 percent from long range.

The game starts at 8 p.m. Wednesday. I'll have my prediction tomorrow. My first inclination is to predict a line around Akron minus nine.

• Akron moved up four spots to 11th in the Mid-Major Top 25.
• The Zips received two votes in this week's AP top 25 poll.

Football

After finishing his high school career with a 12-0 record and New Jersey state title, Dan Marcoux told Rivals.com he wants to attend a successful college program.

It should be no surprise, then, Marcoux canceled a scheduled visit to Kent State and verballed with Akron on Friday.

The 6-foot-4, 250 pound defensive tackle also had a scholarship offer from Delaware. Michigan State, Rutgers and Maine were interested.

Despite his lackluster list of offers, Rivals gives Marcoux a 5.4 rating, which is just one tick below a three-star status.

Football

Junior college safety/running back Bryan Williams chose Akron over the Big 10 and Big East today.

He turned down scholarship offers from Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Temple. It may have come down to the position each school wanted him to play, Rivals.com reports.

"Akron wants me to play running back," he told the recruiting Web site. "I have always thought of myself as a running back."

Williams earned all-state honors at Buchtel High School his senior year as the feature back. He verballed with Pitt, but did not qualify. Williams spent the past two years at a military academy, where he worked on his academics.

The story is a bit unclear, but it appears Williams would be eligible for two seasons at Akron.

With 19 recruits having committed, Signing Day should have few surprises on Feb. 6.

• Speaking of surprises, wide receiver Vincent Hill changed his mind … again. He gave his verbal commitment to Virginia today, after saying this weekend he intended to keep his word with Akron. Don't be too upset, Zips fans. Not only is Akron stacked with young receivers, but Hill might not even qualify academically to play his first year.

Football

Vincent Hill will keep his verbal commitment to Akron if he qualifies, the three-star receiver told Rivals.com this weekend.

If his SAT scores are not high enough, Hill will attend prep school next year, then enroll at Virginia in 2008.

• Take that, ACC. The Zips also stuck it to the SEC this weekend with the commitment of two-star linebacker Matt Little. Mississippi State also had offered Little a scholarship. NC State was in the running as well. He recorded 139 tackles as a junior at C.E. Jordan High School in Durham, N.C. Scout.com gives him one star.

Men's basketball

Just how huge is Akron's home-court advantage?

With a 66-59 win over Buffalo today, the Zips showed they can be victorious even when none of them plays well, the opposition manhandles them on the boards, they shoot foul shots like the God-forsaken offspring of Chris Dudley and Shaquille O'Neal, and they deal with referees who seemed oblivious to the rules of basketball.

Yeah. The game was really that awful. And boring.

But the Zips won the ugly duckling contest, as all good teams do throughout a 40-game season.

Buffalo outrebounded Akron 40-25. The more devastating stat is how the Bulls pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, compared to the Zips' eight.

If you asked me who shined for Akron, I'd have to say Keith Dambrot. No player impressed me at all, but the coaching staff still found a way to ole the hungry Bulls.

Akron also reverted to its poor foul shooting, going 20 for 33 at the line. Buffalo took advantage by making 18 of 20.

As bad as Akron played, the officiating was much worse. To call some of those whistles "ticky-tack" would be an understatement. And with a few minutes to go in the second half, they awarded Buffalo foul shots after a Dru Joyce offensive foul. Someone please explain how that works.

As I expected Yassin Idbihi (18 points) and Eric Moore (15) enjoyed success offensively. Moore has a lightning-fast release on his jumper. He made three 3-pointers. Idbihi, conversely, has one of the ugliest jump shots this side of Jeremiah Wood. He still got a lot of his post shots to fall.

For Akron, Cedrick Middleton (12 points), Nick Dials (12), Romeo Travis (11) and Nate Linhart (11) finished in double figures. For the most part, the offense looked stale.

Akron plays next at Northern Illinois Wednesday night. I'll have more on the game either tonight or tomorrow.

Men's basketball

Oddsmakers are starting to realize how dominant Akron plays at home.

The Zips are a 15-point favorite over Buffalo for today's 2 p.m. game at Rhodes Arena. This is a pretty good spread.

• The over-under is 137. Go with the over.
• Danny Sheridan agrees with the spread.
• Akron holds the all-time advantage 17-16.
• Buffalo's press release contains some depressing facts for the Bulls: Only five teams average more turnovers than Buffalo (19.9). Also, Buffalo has only shot better than 50 percent from the field once this season.

On defense, the Zips will need to focus on two players: Yassin Idbihi and Eric Moore. Moore jacks up more 3-pointers than anyone in the conference. When he's on, Moore will put up huge numbers, like 35 against Bowling Green.

Idbihi is a great rebounder, who the Zips must body up after a Bulls bricked shot. Parnell Smith also has been great on the boards, despite a dropoff in scoring.

Overall, this should be a stressless victory as long as Akron plays hard, which has never been a problem during the Keith Dambrot era.

Prediction: Akron 81, Buffalo 68

Women's basketball

Akron played well offensively, but allowed Northern Illinois to score 81 this afternoon.

The Zips lost on the road 81-70.

At 0-6, Akron is searching for its first MAC win. The Huskies (12-5, 4-2 MAC) were a tough opponent and West Division leader Ball State will be, too. The Cardinals will visit Rhodes Arena on Tuesday.

Track

Although no one tallied team scores from the Simmons/Harvey Invitational this weekend, it appears the Zips fared well.

Event winners include Corine Gavin-Hall (200 meter), Cadeau Kelley (triple jump) and James Howell (200 meter).

Swimming and diving

Defending MAC champion Eastern Michigan broke Akron's six-meet home winning streak this afternoon.

The Zips will get one more warmup before the MAC Championships. Toledo will come to the ONAT next Saturday.