[Captain Kangaroo]

Nick dunking on Jakkar Simpson

PD Column

Recruiting news: Even though major-college coaches are not here, at least one local school can expect some news. Benedictine's Nick Harney scored 23 points for the Ohio Basketball Club in a victory over the King James All-Stars. The 6-7 senior then said he would be playing his college basketball in the Mid-American Conference.

"I'm going to be at Akron," he said. "We're going to announce it pretty soon."

Seems like he already did.

Rivals Bio

[johnnyzip84]

He looks like the kind of forward we've been wanting for some time

I don't know that I've seen much discussion here about the new rules that prevented UA from hosting these games again. We all knew the big schools would eventually do whatever they could to minimize KD's ability to use his Lebron ties.

[ZachTheZip]

So where does this scholarship come from?? We've reached the maximum number of recruits allowed by the NCAA for a single year with this kid. Does this mean three players this season and three redshirts? We know that Diggs and Abreu will certainly play, and one freshman. That's all the playing time we have to give.

http://ncstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1077950

Class of 2010 unsigned senior Nick Harney is a great looking combo forward. He suited up with Ohio Basketball Club for their win over the King James Shooting Stars. Harney was a dominant force with his athleticism and strength. Also he hit from the mid-range, and at 6-foot-7 showed everything he is capable of doing.

Harney says he hopes to sign with Akron, but he might be forced to go the junior college route.

[Quickzips]

Walk-on? Is Humpty gone? I dunno, this is really weird. It is starting to seem like we are just starting over from scratch.

[Dave in Green]

According to Rasor, Harney won't be eligible for the Zips next season due to grades, but could be a nice addition for 2011.

rasor blog link

From the following article, Harney sounds like a classic late bloomer, just starting to show his stuff and with good upside:

Nick Harney: Harney hasn't played much basketball over the past few seasons, but now the unsigned senior combo forward is really emerging. At 6-foot-6 with long arms and a lot of athleticism, Harney will no doubt earn numerous mid-major offers. He led Benedictine with 20 points, and was a force inside and from the mid-range. He needs to improve his strength and his face up game, but he still has some upside left in him. Harney was the dominant player on the floor for Benedictine in their win.

rivals.com link

Harney is apparently showing well in this week's King James Tournament:

Class of 2010 unsigned senior Nick Harney is a great looking combo forward. He suited up with Ohio Basketball Club for their win over the King James Shooting Stars. Harney was a dominant force with his athleticism and strength. Also he hit from the mid-range, and at 6-foot-7 showed everything he is capable of doing.

iowa.rivals.com link

[Dave in Green]

Here's one I missed on Harney on my last search. Not bad for his final HS game, an all-star event:

Benedictine is new to The News-Herald coverage area this year, and the Bengals don't play many teams from Lake, Geauga or Eastern Cuyahoga counties.

So when Benedictine senior Nick Harney took the floor at Lakeland Community College for Saturday's 32nd News-Herald Classic, there was a lot of unfamiliarity.

What a first impression the 6-foot-7 forward made on his teammates, coaches and local basketball fans in his final high school game.

With 34 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and a key steal late to help put away a 139-136 victory for the West, Harney certainly no longer needs introductions in this area.

news-herald.com

[Dave in Green]

Some really good reports on Nick Harney from the King James Tournament. BuckeyePrep reports that Harney led his OBC team to a perfect 7-0 championship run, beating some AAU powerhouses along the way.

On their way to the championship, OBC (7-0) defeated the likes of the King James Shooting Stars, Hurricane Running Rebels, All-Ohio Force, CP3 All-Stars, Team Takeover, and The Family. In order to claim the championship of this tournament, OBC's needed solid guard play from PJ Boutte and Jehvon Clarke and superior post from Chane Behanan and unsigned senior Nick Harney, and that's exactly what they got. Harney and Behanan terrorized teams this weekend and should remain a force to be reckoned with all summer long. It should be noted, in their first two tournaments of the season, OBC has reached the championship game twice, and has established themselves as one of the top teams in the country.

buckeyeprep

And jjhuddle.com reports that while Harney lacks an outside game, his inside game more than makes up for it:

Unsigned senior Nick Harney of Cleveland Benedictine scored 18 points and yanked down nine boards. The 6-foot-7 Harney scored on several two-handed dunks off quality penetrations from guards P.J. Boutte and Jehvon Clarke. Harney ran the floor very well and showed his ability to finish above the cup. He plays with tons of energy, which lets him make up for an absent perimeter game.

jjhuddle.com

This recent flurry of good performances and good press may bring Harney on to the radar of some college teams that previously hadn't been aware of his apparently growing abilities. So let's hope he remains seriously committed to UA.

[ChristianZIP]

I've only read what's been posted on here but I'm officially excited about Harney. Sucks about the grades but maybe he would need to greyshirt for us to have him anyway. That pic of him dunking put me over the edge.

[ZachTheZip]

Never noticed ESPN's write-up back then. They have him rated as an 87, and the #68 PF in the country.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball...181/nick-harney

Strengths:
Nick is an athletic combo forward that has really improved his game over the past year. He has changed his game so much that he is almost a pure small forward now. He is great in transition. He is a very good slasher to the basket. He scores inside 17 feet.

Weaknesses:
He has continued to improve his jump shot but he is still better around the paint.

Bottom Line:
Nick is a solid to good rebounder who only needs to add strength and consistency in order to be exceptional. He should be an impact player at Akron.

Not too bad.

[Dave in Green]

SF, not PF. Don't know how much Harney has grown in height and weight, but he was 6-6, 195 back then, and was projected as a small or shooting forward in college.

Tree was a little taller and heavier than Harney in HS, and appeared to be the more natural PF. But Tree was so far under the radar that he isn't even listed by ESPN.

By the way, according to ESPN's rating system, Harney's 87 falls near the top of the following category:

83-88: Mid-major prospect. Player is a multi-year starter at the mid-major level.

A couple of more points and he would have made the next level:

89-91: Mid-major plus prospect. Player is a fringe high-major recruit who contributes or a standout mid-level recruit.

[ZachTheZip]

SF, not PF. Don't know how much Harney has grown in height and weight, but he was 6-6, 195 back then, and was projected as a small or shooting forward in college.

Tree was a little taller and heavier than Harney in HS, and appeared to be the more natural PF.

You're right. I got the positions mixed up while typing. I wonder how much he has grown over the last year.

[GoZips]

According to Nick Harney at this year's basketball banquet/celebration he expects to compete
for time at the small forward. Nick can also play the power forward when called upon.

Looking at his physique I would judge him as a pretty powerful and athletic forward who has
excellent athletic abilities. Learning the system and staying healthy will be his biggest
challenges. He is currently six-seven and muscular, oh, and still growing.

All in all; expect great things from Nick Harney.

[Zipmeister]

According to Nick Harney at this year's basketball banquet/celebration he expects to compete
for time at the small forward. Nick can also play the power forward when called upon.

Looking at his physique I would judge him as a pretty powerful and athletic forward who has
excellent athletic abilities. Learning the system and staying healthy will be his biggest
challenges. He is currently six-seven and muscular, oh, and still growing.

All in all; expect great things from Nick Harney.

Wow Go! You sure can tell a lot about a guy from just looking at his physique.
What physique attribute tipped you off that learning the system would be a challenge for Nick?

[GoZips]

According to Nick Harney at this year's basketball banquet/celebration he expects to compete
for time at the small forward. Nick can also play the power forward when called upon.

Looking at his physique I would judge him as a pretty powerful and athletic forward who has
excellent athletic abilities. Learning the system and staying healthy will be his biggest
challenges. He is currently six-seven and muscular, oh, and still growing.

All in all; expect great things from Nick Harney.

Wow Go! You sure can tell a lot about a guy from just looking at his physique.
What physique attribute tipped you off that learning the system would be a challenge for Nick?

Let's see. I'm six foot tall and in decent shape for a man of my age. Nick is standing next to me
and we are talking about his basketball interests. I can see that Nick is very tall, six-seven,
and has a rather muscular body as opposed to the baby fat build of Dakota Euton. Just an
observation, mind you. Note the nifty photo Cap'n K posted at the start of this thread.
Nick has the build of a young man, not the build of gawky teenager. I would need be blind
to not notice the excellent condition Nick was in.

What tipped me off? I'd say that Nick's muscular build that was not honed at McDonald's
tipped me off. Plus, I had the benefit of asking Nick several pointed questions about his
basketball interests. His responses quickly indicated that he has a personal plan to
achieve his goals. And, my questions included ones about his school work and career.

I apologize if my post sounded negative regarding Nick learning KD's system. It was not
intended that way. Frankly, I think Nick will have no problem learning the "system" and
will quickly get a sizeable amount of playing time. As for staying healthy, Nick faces the
same challenges all the other players have regarding injuries. What I stated was intended
as a positive remark leading to recognizing that Nick Harney will quickly become of the
Zip's new, highly regarded players.

That help?

[Zipmeister]

According to Nick Harney at this year's basketball banquet/celebration he expects to compete
for time at the small forward. Nick can also play the power forward when called upon.

Looking at his physique I would judge him as a pretty powerful and athletic forward who has
excellent athletic abilities. Learning the system and staying healthy will be his biggest
challenges. He is currently six-seven and muscular, oh, and still growing.

All in all; expect great things from Nick Harney.

Wow Go! You sure can tell a lot about a guy from just looking at his physique.
What physique attribute tipped you off that learning the system would be a challenge for Nick?

Let's see. I'm six foot tall and in decent shape for a man of my age. Nick is standing next to me
and we are talking about his basketball interests. I can see that Nick is very tall, six-seven,
and has a rather muscular body as opposed to the baby fat build of Dakota Euton. Just an
observation, mind you. Note the nifty photo [b]Cap'n K[/b} posted at the start of this thread.
Nick has the build of a young man, not the build of gawky teenager. I would need be blind
to not notice the excellent condition Nick was in.

What tipped me off? I'd say that Nick's muscular build that was not honed at McDonald's
tipped me off. Plus, I had the benefit of asking Nick several pointed questions about his
basketball interests. His responses quickly indicated that he has a personal plan to
achieve his goals. And, my questions included ones about his school work and career.

I apologize if my post sounded negative regarding Nick learning KD's system. It was not
intended that way. Frankly, I think Nick will have no problem learning the "system" and
will quickly get a sizeable amount of playing time. As for staying healthy, Nick faces the
same challenges all the other players have regarding injuries. What I stated was intended
as a positive remark leading to recognizing that Nick Harney will quickly become of the
Zip's new, highly regarded players.

That help?

Yes. I think what you are saying is you had a brain fart when you commented on his learning ability and proneness to injury.