Women’s basketball

It’s been 10 years since Akron (5-5) has boasted a .500 or better record this late in the season.

Niki McCoy played a huge role in her team’s 66-58 win today at Youngstown State. She scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

The Zips will return home Tuesday to play St. Francis (Pa.) at 5:30 p.m., which will precede the men’s game.

Men’s basketball

It looks like foul shooting will decide this game.

Both teams are at the bonus with more than 10 minutes to play.

Women’s basketball

Sarah Tokodi hit a game-winning shot with four seconds remaining in Akron’s 61-59 victory at Cleveland State.

With the program possibly gaining some respectability, this phrase might become worn out: "It is the first time since XXXX the Zips have accomplished XXXXXXXXX."

For example, it is the first time since 1999 Akron has notched a three-game winning streak. And the Zips had not won a nonconference road game in three seasons.

Looking at the stats, it was a pretty ugly game. The teams combined for 39 turnovers. Akron nearly blew a five-point lead with less than a minute to go. The Vikings scored on a three-point play and a steal off an inbounds pass. Tokodi drove for the winning field goal.

Akron (4-5) will attempt to return to .500 for the first time in who-knows-when on Saturday at Youngstown State.

Women’s basketball

When rebuilding a program from the depths of an abyss, you can’t take the little things for granted — like a winning streak.

Akron won its second-straight game for the first time since Jan. 26, 2005 tonight over Duquesne, 55-43.

Niki McCoy is making her case to become this team’s go-to player. She dropped 17 points and 12 rebounds. Weird stat of the night: Akron won without making one of its 15 3-point attempts.

Football

I just had a conversation today with Andy Alleman — a Zips lineman who quietly has snuck up the draft boards this season.

He has an agent and plans to train for the Pro Combine at Velocity Sports in Connecticut. A lot of scouting Web sites have him as a top-10 offensive guard in the 2007 NFL Draft. He will play in the Las Vegas All-American Classic, but declined an invitation to the Hula Bowl.

When Bill Polian, the Indianapolis Colts general manager, attended the Akron-Buffalo game, he was there to watch Alleman. Same goes for Buddy Nix, the assistant GM for the San Diego Chargers.

To give you a little background, Alleman was a defensive lineman at Pitt, who transferred to Akron with J.D. Brookhart and Luke Getsy.

In just two years as an offensive lineman, Alleman has the attention of scouts across the country. He should receive an invitation to the combine in February. His agent, Joe Linta, has heard some teams have pegged Alleman as a second-rounder.

Being somewhat slender for an offensive guard, Alleman wants to add about 10 pounds on his 295-pound, 6-foot-4 frame. Any less and teams might pigeon-hole him as a zone blocker.

I think it’s safe to say Alleman will be the highest Zips player drafted this year. Where? My guess is late third, but what do I know?

Women’s basketball

With a young team that went 5-23 last season and first-year coach, you can’t assume any victory, even a game against a 2-5 team.

So the Zips should celebrate their first home win in nearly a year over Lehigh, 62-61.

Niki McCoy scored 19 and had seven rebounds. Riana Miller and Sarah Tokodi also played well statistically.

Akron will invite Duquesne to Rhodes Arena for a Tuesday night game at 7.

Men’s basketball

I noticed a lot of people are upset the ABJ only had a wire story today on the Oral Roberts win and it was on page C10.

I see why you guys are ticked. It was a big win. The fact that Akron won deserved to be on C1.

However, the wire story was not the quality of article you want on a section front. If the ABJ sent beat writer Tom Gaffney to Tulsa, that story would have been on C1. But you really can’t justify spending so much money to do that in the midst of a budget crunch.

If you didn’t notice, the Beacon Journal didn’t send anyone to Columbus for the Buckeyes game either. Greg Oden’s debut shoved the story to the top of the page.

I’m not an ABJ apologist. I’m just trying to be realistic.

• I’ll have a preview for Wednesday’s game at Binghamton early in the week. Here are a few tidbits: The Bearcats focus on defense, lack offensive weapons and rely on a ton of junior college transfers. Edit: Game is Wednesday at 7, not Saturday.

Women’s basketball

The most quickly accelerating team on campus might be Jodi Kest’s squad.

Sure, Akron (1-5) lost 74-55 to Pittsburgh (7-0) tonight, but the attitude is right. Kest said the team is much, much better than it was three weeks ago.

The first-year coach also said Pitt is a team Akron aspires to be.

Solid young post players like Niki McCoy and Riana Miller are how the Zips will get there. Both scored in double figures tonight. I imagine Miller will replace Mandy Holzer in the starting lineup soon.

Yeah, I’m optimistic about this team’s prospects in the next few years. I’m quite concerned about the fan support, however. Only 223 fans showed up to see Akron’s biggest out-of-conference home game in a while.

Just like the volleyball and women’s soccer teams, we’ll see if the improvement is for real once the MAC schedule begins on Jan. 3. The Zips will invite Lehigh to Rhodes Arena for another one of those awesome Sunday 2 p.m. start times.

Men’s basketball

In addition to what I wrote about Oral Roberts, the Buchtelite’s Michael Beaven points out the Golden Eagles play a strict man-to-man defense.

Because of it, coach Keith Dambrot says Akron must watch its turnover count closely.

It appears Dambrot will play Oral Roberts straight up on defense, rather than double teaming Caleb Green, like Kansas did. When the Jayhawks did that, Green still filled up the stats, and so did his teammates.

In the Buchtelite article, Dambrot said it will be important for Chris McKnight and Jimmy Conyers to have big games on Saturday. Overall, the coach seemed fairly confident the Zips can win.

• You have probably caught some of these ACC/Big 10 Challenge games. The Outsiders debated which conference the MAC should play if it made such a partnership. They agreed, however, they want Kent State to be a sacrificial lamb.

Women’s basketball

Dayton hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds left to crush the Zips’ hopes of winning over a quality team.

Akron lost 58-57 in front of 349 fans at Rhodes Arena this afternoon.

I am no expert in scheduling, but you’d assume the women would have a much greater shot at drawing a crowd if the game was played on a weekday night — when students are on campus. With a game this close, a few AK-Rowdies could’ve made the difference.

Anyhow, the Zips drew strong performances from Jessie Crooks, Sarah Tokodi, Niki McCoy and Riana Miller, all of whom scored in double figures. Tokodi added nine rebounds and six assists. McCoy pulled down eight rebounds with five assists.

The Zips (1-4) will host Pittsburgh (6-0) on Wednesday night at home. My guess is we’ll see more than a few hundred fans.

Football

All four above-.500 teams from the MAC will play in a bowl.

As I reported last week, Central Michigan has accepted a bid to play in the Motor City Bowl. Ohio will play in the GMAC Bowl. None of that has been announced yet.

Western Michigan will probably get the nod at the International Bowl, Dave Ruthenberg of MACReportOnline.com says. Northern Illinois is going to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego.

A few bowls basically had guaranteed the Flashes a spot if they had beaten Ball State on Saturday, a member of Kent State’s football staff told me last night. Instead, they were blown out.

Men’s basketball

To quell some of your depression about the above post, remember Akron will face Oral Roberts Saturday with gobs of RPI goodness at stake.

Women’s basketball

Akron played well defensively and received another outstanding game from freshman Sarah Tokodi, but lost its home opener 50-49 against Valparaiso.

The Zips rallied from 10 down in the second half, but a Valpo free throw iced the game with 37.8 seconds left.

Tokodi finished with 19 points and four rebounds.

Women’s basketball

I think I’ve already posted some of this, but here is the entire 2006-2007 schedule.

The biggest home game is against Pittsburgh. The rest of the schedule is pretty ho-hum.

Miscellaneous

The Varsity A club will induct seven members into its Hall of Fame on Nov. 3.

I’m too young to recognize any of the names.

Football

Three of CFN’s five experts picked Akron to beat Kent State on Saturday.

I’m sticking to my two touchdown spread. The real line is Akron - 2.5.

* Edit: One of the five "experts" is a chicken. An honest-to-goodness chicken that picks a team based on which bowl of food it approaches first. Clucko the Chicken chose Kent State. We’re screwed.

Men’s soccer

I hope you knew about the biggest home game of the year.

No. 20 Indiana will travel to Lee Jackson Field for tomorrow’s game against the Zips.

The Hoosiers are 3-3-1 this season. Akron is 6-1.

Indiana is a little better than its record. The Zips are a little worse than theirs.

With four of its first seven opponents being top-25 teams, the Hoosiers have actually fared pretty well this season. They rotate the goalkeeper duties and rely on a freshman and sophomore for most of the scoring.

Indiana leads the all-time series, 23-4-1. The most stinging victory, perhaps, was Indiana’s 1-0 win last year to break Akron’s unbeaten record. That game ultimately dropped the Zips way down the NCAA Tournament seedings.

The rematch will be absolutely critical if Akron hopes to have a decent seed in November.

• Students can show up an hour before the 7:30 gametime for a free tailgating session. (I assume it’s going to be a dry event.) Other fans can get in for $4, rather than the normal $6, if they wear an Akron blue shirt.

Women’s basketball

Six of Akron’s eight non-conference games will be at Rhodes Arena, the 2006-2007 schedule on GoZips.com says.

That includes a Nov. 29 matchup against Pittsburgh.

Miscellaneous

Today, while touring the UA law school (yes, I’m going to law school), I ran into athletic director Mack Rhoades.

Always the nice guy, he asked if I’d be at the Akron-North Texas game. I assured him I’ll be tailgating.

Women’s basketball

All I have for you is this: Jodi Kest named her third, and probably final, assistant coach.

Ebony Pegues is an Ohio native who played at UMass.

According to Kest, she is a great communicator, enthusiastic, blah, blah, blah.