Zips sports: Twitter mailbag - hoops and football

New weekly feature.  Hit me up on Twitter @GeorgeThomasABJ with your questions related to University of Akron sports and I’ll choose some to answer here:

Is there a solid number for just how many scholarships the football team will be able to give out for the 2013 class? - Alex Opatrny‏ @AlexOpats15

I was told with someone with knowledge of the situation that the Zips have 15 scholarships for this recruiting season.  I do know that they redshirted a lot of talent from last year.  I also know that the number may be in flux.  Throughout the season I heard as few as 13 scholarships were available and 15 is the high watermark.  I suspect that there will be a couple of non-scholarship players who will make an impact for the Zips at some point.  I haven’t heard which position he’ll play, but Marlon Oden is on the Zips roster and if he still plays as fast and hits as hard as he did at Buchtel High School, he will be an asset.  He, for instance, isn’t a scholarship player.  As he said to me during a recent Facebook exchange:  “I have to earn it.”  That is a good attitude to possess. 

Will Quincy Diggs wear an Akron uniform next season?  Timothy Spencer:‏ @TPSjugglerdude

I am so not Nostradamus on this one, dude. I wish I could say “yes”.  I wish I knew.  Coach Keith Dambrot hasn’t said one way or the other whether  Diggs, last year's MAC Sixth Man of hte Year,  will ultimately return to the Zips. What he has said on more than on occasion is that Diggs was without a doubt missed.  If you looked at the way the Zips played earlier in the season that was quite evident.  Right now, just in time for the first meeting with the Ohio Bobcats, they do appear to finally be comfortable with who they are, that being a team that can rely on big men on any given night. Because of Diggs’ absence it certainly took a while for them to evolve into who they are.   If they can get over their sluggish starts and starting shooting from the outside in the first half, they will be formidable coming down the stretch.

Any word on Akron’s Bracketbuster game? Saw one report an announcement was today while another said Feb. 4. Luther Matthew: @luther16matthew.

Word may start trickling out prior to then, but everything I’ve been told said that this year’s Bracketbuster matchups won’t be announced until Feb. 4.  FYI:  It’s the final year of the ESPN sponsored event.  Earlier this season coach Dambrot said that he had hopes that it would continue in a smaller format.  We shall see.