What's our scholarship situation?? Gilliam counts toward the 2010 scholarship class. There were six scholarships open for 2010, so Walsh has to pay for the year he sits out? Does that happen often? I thought he got his release from Xavier.

We have 4 scholarships opening for 2011, assuming no more transfers. Harney, Justice, and Treadwell get three of them for certain. Walsh would seemingly get the fourth unless either Bardo (a grad student could get some other type of financial aid) or Roberts (went back to being a walk-on?) gave up a scholarship to open one up in 2010.

Timmy Knipp gives a verbal to EKU.

Cleveland State lands a big fish in Cleveland Central Catholic Three Star PF Anton Grady.

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index....09/post_15.html

Dambrot spotted watching 2011 SG Delbert Love and a few other potential recruits at Lakewood St. Eds

Updated to include Jakkar Sampson's commitment to St. Johns.

Also, Remy Abell to Bradley.

Updated. Cincinnati Aiken standout SG Aaron Thomas to Florida State.

Timken's Jehvon Clarke committed to Bowling Green.

http://www.cantonrep.com/sports/x145913925...r-Bowling-Green

Updates to include Jehvon Clarke to BG and Aaron White to Iowa.

PF George Fant spurns a lot of bigger programs to stay at home and play for WKU.

In keeping with the recent rush on commitments SF-Marcus Crider committed to Providence.

Apparently we had offered Brunswick's Pat Forsythe, but he's going to WVU.

If Rasor's source is correct, I think i figured out where at least one of the extra scholarships is coming from.

I would hate to see Nik leave after this year, but I can certainly understand why he would do it. Basketball was a tool for him to get stateside and receive a quality education. Unless he is looking to go to grad school, it sounds like that goal will have been complete. Heading back home where there will be opportunities for him to play professionally would make some sense. I hope it doesn't happen, but if it does I can certainly understand why.

Luckily for the Zips we are incredibly deep at the forward spots heading into next year with Euton, Egner, Treadwell, Harney, Diggs, Gilliam and Green.

I think he needs to become a better player, if he wants to complete professionally.

I don't care what the level of play is in Luxembourg, it's higher than what he's played at @ UA.

Dambrot qoute of the year;

Actually I think he's ready.
http://www.eurobasket.com/Luxembourg/basketball.asp

I heard the same rumor. I don't know what Rasor's source was either, but mine was me talking to Nik, so I feel like that is a pretty reliable source. I would really like to see him stay but I think he wants to go back home and start making some $$$

Is Brian Walsh (the Xavier transfer) eligible to play this year? Where does he fit in, PT-wise?

He is not eligible this year. He has to sit per NCAA rules. He can practice with the team.

Here’s my take on the possibility of Nik leaving after this year to give it a go in Europe. I know when I was pretty close to his age, if I had a concrete goal in front of me that made a world of difference in both my focus and motivation. This season’s early reports seem to indicate that his play has improved considerably. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that this improvement might largely be attributed to his having established a clear personal goal for this season. After all, his chances to catch on somewhere at the next level would be greatly enhanced by a standout final season at UA. Not that what I desire matters, but if we can really get one season of Nik playing to his full potential, I’m willing to surrender his 4th year of eligibility in return (because if he does reach it this year, the team has a chance to be outstanding). Plus, we have a lot of interesting prospects coming in at forward over the next few seasons.

Some updates on Blake Justice.

http://www.maysville-online.com/sports/art...1cc4c002e0.html



http://www.southeasternohiopreps.com/forum...298&start=0




http://www.southeasternohiopreps.com/forum...f=4&t=77207

Blake Justice for a double double last night. 30 points, 10 boards, 5 assists and 3 steals.

http://portsmouth-dailytimes.com/pages/ful...ge_right_column

Here is an update on our other HS recruit. Deji Ibitayo


Rich Central rebounds from McDipper defeats



Olympians survive techs, Stars in OT

Stark County POY Nyles Evans is considering going the Prop-48 route at Akron.

What is Prop 48?

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is the route that Demetrius Treadwell and Nick Harney have going right now. Basically if you have academic issues qualifying you come in for a year and pay your own way while trying to get your grades up. You aren't allowed to practice with the team or anything like that, but if you make the grades after one year then you still have your normal five years to play four.

On the plus side, Evans could be a very nice backup PG behind Abreu in a couple of years once he would be (hopefully) eligible.

From what I can find at the NCAA website, there is no such thing as Prop 48 any longer. You are either a qualifier or not. There used to be a category called partial qualifier, that doesn't exist any longer. Treadwell and Harney were not qualified to get scholarships, but they did have good enough grades to enroll at UA. They are paying their own way this year. Once they complete their freshman year, they would in theory, be eligible for a BB scholarship.

Guess we old timers need to get with the times. The NCAA quit using Prop 48 in 1995, when it was replaced with the even tougher Prop 16.

The NCAA’s eligibility requirements became even stricter when delegates to the 86th NCAA Annual Convention passed Proposition 16. Prop 16’s impact arrived in two phases—the first on August 1, 1995, and the second exactly one year later. Under the first phase, NCAA leaders bumped up the number of required core courses from 11 to 13, and added two elective courses to their new minimum standard. Left unchanged by prop 16 were the SAT/ACT and GPA requirements.

In the second phase, the NCAA replaced one of the two electives with English. With this decision, student-athletes were now required to complete four years of English instead of three. And if that wasn’t enough, new SAT/ACT and GPA requirements also changed in 1996. The NCAA instituted a sliding scale that combined SAT/ACT scores and GPA in a minimum of 13 core classes. Now, the student-athlete who earns a 2.0 GPA must combine it with a minimum 900 SAT score to be eligible for Division 1 competition. The student-athlete who earns a 2.5 GPA can score 700 and be eligible. With these changes, Proposition 16 effectively superseded Proposition 48.

NCAA's Clearinghouse Rules - Who's Looking Out for the Student-Athlete?

Well, if we have a spare scholarship to give, maybe we should offer this guy. He's guaranteed to have the "coolest name in the tournament" competition all locked up.

Also of note is that Zips target Marcus Crider, who had verballed to Providence last year, just re-opened his recruitment.

I'm a little concerned about team chemistry with this guy

Markus Crider will be visiting VCU next weekend.

Committed to St. Johns. http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/ncb/news/story?id=6443546

I was unaware of who I was dealing with until reading the linked article, but now I realize that two of God's Gift's siblings, Grace and Precious, have sent me emails offering substantial compensation to assist them in spiriting millions of dollars out of their country.