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In This Section
Hitchens carries Zips to first victory
Zips' Porter creates culture of success
Bunbury helps push Zips soccer team forward
Zips get run over in second half
Zips get gobbled up by Wolfpack 66-45
Plenty of work waiting for Zips
Zips lose despite play of Murphy, Tamboue
Buckeyes' start fast in semifinal WNIT win
Bowling Green wide receiver might be tough for Zips to catch
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Hitchens leads Zips in second-half comeback
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
Headed For Disaster
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (68) Democrats Secure 60 Votes for Cloture
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
POSTED: 07:06 p.m. EDT, Mar 16, 2009
Young and dumb might not be a preferred label, but it's a label at least one of the University of Akron basketball players is proud to accept.
Dumb and dumber it is not, though.
Remember instead what Harry said to Lloyd in that movie: ''Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this ... and totally redeem yourself!''
Dumb like a fox perhaps?
Perhaps that's the UA basketball team, which plays in its first NCAA Tournament game in 23 years on Thursday.
When coach Keith Dambrot used the words ''young and dumb'' to describe his team during the MAC Tournament last week, he meant it in the most complimentary of ways.
The players, who have a ''we love him but the heck with him'' approach to their coach, seemed to embrace the notion.
''That's what we are,'' guard Steve McNees said Monday after the team practiced at Rhodes Arena. ''Young and dumb.''
In this instance, dumb does not equate to SAT scores, but to attitude. And it doesn't necessarily mean lack of intelligence, it means too inexperienced to know better.
The thinking goes this way: Because the Zips are so young — six freshmen and sophomores are part of the rotation — and ... well ... unaware, they are not as affected as some teams might be.
''Being young, we don't understand the magnitude of it all,'' McNees said. ''We're just having fun playing ball, and we might not have as many nerves as an experienced team.''
UA was supposed to have a transition season. Hasn't happened.
The Zips should have lost to Toledo in the first round of the MAC Tournament. Didn't happen.
They weren't supposed to beat Miami, Bowling Green and Buffalo to win the title. They did.
Call it what you will ... oblivious, unaware, unaffected, dumb ... it's worked. A team without a star has put together a stretch to carry them to a first-round tournament game in Portland.
''I don't know if it's oblivious or maybe they just don't let stuff bother them,'' Dambrot said. ''I don't know if they're young and dumb, or young and blinded.''
A corollary might be when a child breaks an arm.
Said child doesn't know he or she is supposed to be slowed, so he or she is not. An adult might moan and groan — because an adult knows it's supposed to hurt. A child just goes about his or her business.
The Zips are a decided underdog. They will play hard. They will defend. They might win. They might not win. But they will not be scared. And they will not play scared.
It's the only attitude an underdog can take to the tournament.
Because if the Zips start to think about who they are playing, they might be a bit awed.
UA will fly cross-country to play Gonzaga, a school making its 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The game will be in Portland, a city just a few hours from Gonzaga's campus.
The Zags line up 6-foot-11, 6-11 and 6-8. UA is not that tall.
''That's probably our biggest weakness as a team — our overall size at all spots is small,'' Dambrot said.
Gonzaga has only lost once in the past 17 games, and in 10 of those games they topped 80 points. The Zags are double-digit favorites.
But the one unquestioned truth in sports is that a successful team feeds off the personality of its coach, so UA will go West and fight and scrap and play any way it has to to win.
It might be pretty, it might be ugly, but it will be with effort and desire.
''I told them,'' Dambrot said, '' 'If you think I'm the type of person to go out there and have fun ... ' ''
Dambrot didn't really need to finish.
He's also very aware of other realities that help his team.
UA has played 35 games this season, 14 at home. That's plenty of experience on hostile and neutral courts.
''At times they've played better on the road than they have at home,'' Dambrot said.
Gonzaga can score, but UA defends extremely well. And if the Zips play defense the way they did in the MAC Tournament, they will be in any game.
Gonzaga at one point was UA — the underdog everyone loves. Now UA gets to relish that role.
And the Zips come off a week that was the most successful of the season, a week that featured five games in seven days and four wins in five games.
''We played with very little nerves in the MAC Tournament,'' Dambrot said. ''Which I really don't understand.''
Perhaps it's best not to understand it. Perhaps it's best to just keep doing whatever they were doing to continue it. Because if UA is going to win, it's got to shrug off the trip, the crowd, the seedings.
The Zips didn't join their fans to chant ''I Believe That We Will Win'' at the bracket party on Sunday because they want to keep the score close.
In this case being young and whatever helps. Because the Zips believe they can win.
And that by itself gives them a chance.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/
Young and dumb might not be a preferred label, but it's a label at least one of the University of Akron basketball players is proud to accept.
Dumb and dumber it is not, though.
Remember instead what Harry said to Lloyd in that movie: ''Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this ... and totally redeem yourself!''
Dumb like a fox perhaps?
Perhaps that's the UA basketball team, which plays in its first NCAA Tournament game in 23 years on Thursday.
When coach Keith Dambrot used the words ''young and dumb'' to describe his team during the MAC Tournament last week, he meant it in the most complimentary of ways.
The players, who have a ''we love him but the heck with him'' approach to their coach, seemed to embrace the notion.
''That's what we are,'' guard Steve McNees said Monday after the team practiced at Rhodes Arena. ''Young and dumb.''
In this instance, dumb does not equate to SAT scores, but to attitude. And it doesn't necessarily mean lack of intelligence, it means too inexperienced to know better.
The thinking goes this way: Because the Zips are so young — six freshmen and sophomores are part of the rotation — and ... well ... unaware, they are not as affected as some teams might be.
''Being young, we don't understand the magnitude of it all,'' McNees said. ''We're just having fun playing ball, and we might not have as many nerves as an experienced team.''
UA was supposed to have a transition season. Hasn't happened.
The Zips should have lost to Toledo in the first round of the MAC Tournament. Didn't happen.
They weren't supposed to beat Miami, Bowling Green and Buffalo to win the title. They did.
Call it what you will ... oblivious, unaware, unaffected, dumb ... it's worked. A team without a star has put together a stretch to carry them to a first-round tournament game in Portland.
''I don't know if it's oblivious or maybe they just don't let stuff bother them,'' Dambrot said. ''I don't know if they're young and dumb, or young and blinded.''
A corollary might be when a child breaks an arm.
Said child doesn't know he or she is supposed to be slowed, so he or she is not. An adult might moan and groan — because an adult knows it's supposed to hurt. A child just goes about his or her business.
The Zips are a decided underdog. They will play hard. They will defend. They might win. They might not win. But they will not be scared. And they will not play scared.
It's the only attitude an underdog can take to the tournament.
Because if the Zips start to think about who they are playing, they might be a bit awed.
UA will fly cross-country to play Gonzaga, a school making its 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The game will be in Portland, a city just a few hours from Gonzaga's campus.
The Zags line up 6-foot-11, 6-11 and 6-8. UA is not that tall.
''That's probably our biggest weakness as a team — our overall size at all spots is small,'' Dambrot said.
Gonzaga has only lost once in the past 17 games, and in 10 of those games they topped 80 points. The Zags are double-digit favorites.
But the one unquestioned truth in sports is that a successful team feeds off the personality of its coach, so UA will go West and fight and scrap and play any way it has to to win.
It might be pretty, it might be ugly, but it will be with effort and desire.
''I told them,'' Dambrot said, '' 'If you think I'm the type of person to go out there and have fun ... ' ''
Dambrot didn't really need to finish.
He's also very aware of other realities that help his team.
UA has played 35 games this season, 14 at home. That's plenty of experience on hostile and neutral courts.
''At times they've played better on the road than they have at home,'' Dambrot said.
Gonzaga can score, but UA defends extremely well. And if the Zips play defense the way they did in the MAC Tournament, they will be in any game.
Gonzaga at one point was UA — the underdog everyone loves. Now UA gets to relish that role.
And the Zips come off a week that was the most successful of the season, a week that featured five games in seven days and four wins in five games.
''We played with very little nerves in the MAC Tournament,'' Dambrot said. ''Which I really don't understand.''
Perhaps it's best not to understand it. Perhaps it's best to just keep doing whatever they were doing to continue it. Because if UA is going to win, it's got to shrug off the trip, the crowd, the seedings.
The Zips didn't join their fans to chant ''I Believe That We Will Win'' at the bracket party on Sunday because they want to keep the score close.
In this case being young and whatever helps. Because the Zips believe they can win.
And that by itself gives them a chance.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/
Comments
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_________, OH
Posted 11:24 AM, 03/17/2009
Go Zips!
