Originally published March 16, 2009 at 12:00 AM | Page modified March 18, 2009 at 7:28 PM

Gonzaga vs. Akron

Scouting Gonzaga's first-round matchup

4:25 p.m. Thursday in Portland

TV: Channel 7.

Records: Gonzaga is 26-5 overall and won the West Coast Conference with a 14-0 record, capped by a WCC tournament victory. Akron is 23-12 overall, having won the Mid-American Conference tournament with a 65-53 triumph over Buffalo. In the regular season, it finished in a four-way tie in the MAC East with a 10-5 mark.


Bulldogs
Player	Ht	Yr	ppg
F Austin Daye	6-10	So.	12.9
F Micah Downs	6-8	Sr.	9.2
C Josh Heytvelt	6-11	Sr.	14.9
G Matt Bouldin	6-5	Jr.	13.7
G Jeremy Pargo	6-1	Sr.	9.8


Zips
Player	Ht	Yr	ppg
F Chris McKnight	6-7	Jr.	9.2
F N. Cvetinovich	6-8	Fr.	4.4
C Nate Linhart	6-8	Sr.	10.1
G A. Hitchens	5-9	Fr.	8.9
G Darryl Roberts	6-0	Jr.	8.0

About Akron

Seed: 13

RPI: 99

Vs. Gonzaga: The teams have never met.

Common opponents: None.

Coach: Keith Dambrot (5th year at Akron, 115-50).

Local connections: None.

Noteworthy

• This is Akron's second trip to the NCAA tournament; the first was in 1986, when it was coached by Bob Huggins, the longtime Cincinnati coach now at West Virginia.

• The Zips beat Toledo 93-92 in overtime in the first round of the MAC tournament, but averaged 67 points in three other tournament games.

• Dambrot, an Akron grad who had an unsuccessful two-year stint at Central Michigan (20-34) in the early 1990s, coached LeBron James at St. Vincent-St. Mary High in Akron in 2000-01 before taking an assistant's job with the Zips.

• Akron doesn't knock you over statistically, shooting .419 from the field and .329 from three-point range, with a .89 assist-turnover ratio. The Zips shoot the three with abandon — they fired 753 overall and launched 37 against Toledo in the MAC tournament — and they defend it well, at .289 for the year.

• Linhart, reserve forward and leading scorer Brett McKnight and sub guard Steve McNees were named to the all-MAC tournament team.

Bud Withers


Zags schedule
83	Montana St.-Billings	52
80	Idaho	46
83	Oklahoma St.-x	71
81	at Maryland-x	59
83	at Tennessee-x	74
70	at Indiana	54
74	at Washington St.	52
64	at Arizona	69
84	Texas Southern	42
83	Connecticut, OT	88
70	Portland St.	77
65	at Utah	66
89	at Tennessee, OT	79
67	Portland	50
95	Santa Clara	53
85	San Francisco	50
83	at Pepperdine	69
93	at Loyola Marymount	60
69	Saint Mary's, Calif.	62
64	San Diego	47
93	at Portland	78
50	Memphis	68
72	at Saint Mary's, Calif.	70
78	at San Francisco	73
91	Loyola Marymount	54
92	Pepperdine	58
81	at Santa Clara	73
58	at San Diego	47
90	S.C.-Upstate	40
94	Santa Clara-y	59
83	Saint Mary's, Calif.-y	58
x-Old Spice Classic
y-West Coast Conference


Zips schedule
56	Canisius	46
72	Winthrop	58
67	at Pittsburgh	86
81	Urbana	31
57	at E. Kentucky	69
85	at Fairleigh Dickinson	41
63	at Niagara	59
50	Dayton	54
78	N. Carolina A&T	61
69	at Va. Commonwealth	73
77	St. Francis, NY	70
75	at UNC Greensboro	53
50	at Rhode Island	79
51	at Miami (Ohio), OT	64
61	Buffalo	63
62	at Bowling Green	52
65	at Ohio, OT	70
68	Kent St.	54
67	at Youngstown St.	53
70	at Toledo	61
64	Cent. Michigan	43
78	at E. Michigan	41
87	W. Michigan	63
63	Ball St.	55
79	at N. Illinois	83
53	Miami (Ohio)	44
66	at Valparaiso	74
62	at Buffalo	57
46	Bowling Green	50
60	Ohio	51
63	at Kent St.	67
93	Toledo, OT-x	92
73	Miami (Ohio)-x	63
63	Bowling Green-x	55
65	Buffalo-x	53
x-Mid-American Conference