Well with the Zips 2011 class all but closed up, and 2012 names starting to pop up, I figure it is about time to start that 2012 thread. I'll try to keep this updated as best I can, same as the 2011 thread. Keep in mind that the Zips will have only two graduating seniors for 2012 (Brett McClanahan and Nikola Cvetinovic) and their spots MAY already be taken (depending upon the eligibility of 2011 prospects Demetrius Treadwell and Nick Harney).

Zips Verbals:

Carmelo Betancourt: 5'11" 170lb - PG - Montrose Christian High School - via San Juan Puerto Rico - Zips were his only known offer, although there was alleged interest from a number of high major programs - Not listed on any of the major recruiting services. Member of the Puerto Rican U19 National team.

Jake Kretzer: 6'6" 187lb - SF - Waverly High School - Waverly Ohio - Reported offers from the Zips, Albany, Gardner Webb, James Madison and Miami(OH) - Rivals.com no stars - Scout.com two stars - ESPN.com rating of 80. Member of the prestigious All-Ohio Red AAU basketball club.

Reggie McAdamas: 6'6" 195lb - SF - Elida High School - Elida Ohio - Only reported basketball offer was from the Zips. - Rivals.com unlisted, Scout.com unlisted, ESPN.com rating of 89. Two sport star who has received significant interest from a number of high major football programs as a quarterback.

Transfering to the Zips:

Offered by the Zips:
Myles Hamilton: 6'1"185lb - PG - SG - St. Edwards High School - Cleveland Ohio - Currently lists offers from the Zips and Can't State - Rivals.com no stars - Scout.com two stars - ESPN.com rating of 85. Plays on the same All-Ohio Red AAU basketball club as current Zips verbal Jake Kretzer.

Chris Harrison-Docks: 6'0" 155lb - PG - Okemos High School - Okemos Michigan - Currently lists offers from the Zips, Ball State, Bradley, Butler, Central Michigan, Drake, Duquesne, Sam Houston State, San Diego State, Utah, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan and William & Mary- Rivals.com no stars - Scout.com two stars - ESPN.com rating of 88.
Committed to Butler: April 27, 2011

Tamron Manning: 6'4" 188lb - SG - Scott County High School - Georgetown Kentucky - Currently lists offers from the Zips, Eastern Kentucky, James Madison, Marshall and Ohio - Rivals.com no stars - Scout.com no stars - ESPN.com unlisted. Former high-school teamate of Akron 2010 recruit Dakotah Euton.

Kyle Molock: 6'3" 180lb - PG - Coffman High School - Dublin Ohio - Currently ists offers from the Zips, Florida International, Ohio, Purdue and St. Joseph's. Rivals.com three stars - Scout.com three stars - ESPN.com rating of 88. Recently de-committed from Purdue, opening his recruitment back up.

William Moore: 6'0" 160lb - PG - Aiken High School - Cincinnati Ohio - Currently lists offers from the Zips, James Madison, Can't State, Miami(OH), Ohio and Xavier - Rivals.com no stars - Scout.com unlisted - ESPN.com unlisted.

Evan Payne: 6'1" 180lb - SG - Huntington Prep School - Walsh Jesuit High School - Cuyahoga Falls Ohio - Currently lists offers from the Zips, Cleveland State, TCU and USC. Rivals.com three stars - Scout.com unlisted - ESPN.com unlisted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thEUNxndr1s

Desmond Ridenour: 6'0" 170lb - PG - Benedictine High School - Cleveland Ohio - Currently lists offers from the Zips and TCU - Rivals.com no stars - Scout.com unlisted - ESPN.com ranking of 40.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfTQb3Cd-BA

Jalen Robinson: 6'7" 215lb - PF - Northland High School - Columbus Ohio - Currently lists offers from the Zips, Can't, Ohio and West Virginia. Originally committed to West Virginia but has since opened his recruitment back up. Rumor is that Huggins pulled his scholarship offer. Rivals.com three stars - Scout.com two stars - ESPN.com rating of 90.
Committed to Dayton: June 28, 2011

Terry Rozier: 6'0" 165lb - PG - Shaker Heights High School - Shaker Heights Ohio - Currently lists offers from the Zips, Cleveland State, Dayton, Illinois, and Can't. Rivals.com three stars - Scout.com no stars - ESPN.com rating of 89.

Devon Scott: 6'8" 205lb - PF - Northland High School - Columbus Ohio - Currently lists offers from the Zips, Cincinnati, Cleveland State, Georgia Southern, Indiana State, James Madison, Can't State and Miami Ohio. High School teamate of fellow Zips 2012 target Jalen Robinson. Rivals.com no stars - Scout.com no stars - ESPN.com unlisted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4DnPxtigog
Committed to Cincinnati: June 14, 2011

Eric Truog: 6'10" 235lb - PF - Kenston High School - Bainbridge Ohio - Currently lists offers from the Zips, Cornell, Eastern Michigan, Fairfield, Can't State, UNC-Greensboro, St. Joseph and Toledo. Rivals.com no stars - Scout.com unlisted - ESPN.com unlisted.

Also Dylan Kaufman from Hiland high school in Holmes county.

Many thanks for starting and maintaining these annual recruiting threads.

It seems to me that 2012 is the class where the Zips need to bring in their next center to play a season behind Zeke before he graduates. Skilled true centers are hard to come by at any level. There are NBA teams that don't have highly skilled true centers, let alone college teams at the MAC level. So while I'd like to think the Zips might find another Zeke out there, there's a good chance they may have to rely on one of their power forwards in the middle after Zeke graduates.

Have seen where we have interest in Dylan, but haven't seen where we have offered him yet. Until I find a credible news source that indicates and offer has been made, I generally don't post the player in these threads.

In general I agree with you, but we kind of need to see how the scholarship situation plays itself out. Looking at what we should have on the roster after next season another C and another PG seem to be big needs. Of course, as I said above, we may not even have a single scholarship to give out depending on how things go with Harney and Treadwell. In that case we would be very thin at PG and C while having logjams at SG, SF and PF.

Zips offer PG Willie Moore.

Columbus Northland standout PF Jalen Robinson has opened his recruiting back up after originally committing to Bob Huggins and West Virginia. He has an offer from the Zips.

Jalen Robinson Rivals Bio

It looks like he looking at Big 10 schools instead. He seems confused in this story

Updated to include an offer to Desmond Ridenour, 6'0" PG and former teamate to future Zip Nick Harney at Benedictine.

Seeing an early trend in our 2012 recruiting with three of the five known Zips offers being PGs.

Updated to include 6'10" PF Eric Truog from Bainbridge Ohio.

Offer: PF Devon Scott, Columbus Northland HS

Looks like another one to add. In a story on last night's Jackson HS game against Walsh Jesuit, the Canton Repository reports that Walsh Jesuit star Evan Payne (a junior) has been offered by UA as well as Southern Cal, TCU, Can't and Central Michigan. Payne is an extremely athletic 6-1 guard who plays above the rim. From the YouTube video, it appears that he has really nice looking form on his 3-pointer, as well as a really nasty slam in the paint. He can play both guard positions, but at his height most likely needs to focus on the point. If he chooses UA, perhaps Rico's heir apparent?

Canton Repository Story

BJ Story

Year Old SportsInk Story

YouTube Video

He looks promising. We have one advantage in that UA has an excellent Engineering school.

Looks like the Zips are after two local players, including a former Cavs legend son:

http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/

Larry Nance Jr has received an offer from Akron. He is a late bloomer, he really grew in his senior year and seems to be getting better and better. And you have to like his genes. I guess the father was also a late bloomer as well.

Also looks like we are showing interest in the Greater Akron Player of the Year Darius Carter. Put up over 23 PPG and 14 PPG. At 6'7'', 220, he seems like has a DI ready body. That is a great size for a wing/post player. Grades may be an issue if JUCOs are showing interest.

Zips haven't offered yet, but a player that looks like we should keep an eye on is Elijah Macon of Columbus Marion Franklin and who's AAU team is All-Ohio Red. Elijah is a 6-7, 200 lb. PF whom Rivals gives 4-stars and ranks as the #12 PF in the nation.

He's only received a single offer thus far, from USC, so grades must be an issue?

Here is Elijah Macon's Rivals.com bio.

Zips have offered G Terry Rosier of Shaker Heights.

Updated to include Rozier who looks to be a very intriguing prospect.

Already starting to see a trend with the offers for the 2012 class. Four of our eight known offers at this point are PG's (Harrison-Docks, Moore, Ridenour and Rozier).

If Nyles Evans decides to walk-on @ UA, do you think that would change our recruiting philosophy for next year?

I doubt we would want to be relying too much on a walk-on with grade issues to shore up our PG position. In 2012 Abreu will be a junior, Brian Walsh (who is supposed to be seeing minutes at PG next year) will be a senior. Your only other two guards will be Justice and Ibitayo who all reports have being more SG. If you can get a top level PG to come in for 2012 you have to jump at that opportunity. I for one don't want to go through any more season of watching us try to convert SG's over to PG.

Two updates. The Zips have offered Walsh Jesuit SG Evan Moore. Michigan PG Chris Harrison-Docks has committed to the Butler Bulldogs.

Evan Payne will be going the JUCO route at Huntington Prep.

Devon Scott comes off the board. Headed to Cincinnati.

Just because.

Just because, my butt! This is must-have chart. It shouldn't be buried in the middle of any one thread, but should be pinned by itself where it's easily accessible for reference. This will save hundreds of wasted posts over the years where people try to sum up what's shown here at a single glance.

My only question is the way that Green, Harney and Treadwell are shown. I think it makes sense to use a consistent Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior to reflect expected athletic eligibility.

For redshirts like Green, I think it would read a little easier to use something like Freshman*, Sophomore*, etc., with * identified as redshirt in a table at the bottom of the chart.

For players like Harney and Treadwell, I think it would also read a little easier if they were shown as Freshman**, Sophomore**, etc., with ** identified as academic exemption or some term like that in the table.

Having a table with asterisks would also allow other comments for players with extenuating circumstances.

Nice work!

We got a verbal!!

6'/2012/PG/Carmelo Betancourt via San Juan, Puerto Rico has committed to the University of Akron. Betancourt plays on the 19U National team. Was seeing interest from UCF, Georgetown, Villanova, Miami FL, and Virginia...

Is this the start of a Puerto-Rican Pointguard Pipeline?

Doesn't Gilliam have only one year of eligibility?

Gilliam has 2 years remaining. But Walsh has 3.

Walsh played 2 at Xavier IIRC.

Don't make me post an endzone gnome pic! ;)

En español, tres años?

Wow. That wasn't my understanding at all. He must have gotten a medical hardship for his Freshman year at Xavier. It's pretty clear he was at Xavier for 2 seasons (even refers to his red-shirt Frosh year). That's great he'll have a full 4 years in the program here. I'll update the graphic sometime soon.

Updated to include Betancourt's commitment, plus the commitment of Jalen Robinson to Dayton. Also, three star PG Kyle Molock has opened his recruitment back up after initially commiting to Purdue. He reports a previous offer from the Zips.

Lots of edits today. Sorry I haven't been keeping up on this as much, still getting settled in from moving a couple of weeks ago.

Good luck to the newest Zips commits, Jake Kretzer and Reggie McAdams.

Does anyone know if Reggie intends to play both football and basketball?

Here is a little update on what our recruits are up to this season.

Kretzer sets gym record to lead Waverly's boys basketball team to Classic title



Reggie McAdams




Germany proves too big for Puerto Rico at the Nike Global Challenge (live chat recap)

Any updates on Eric Truog? Any chance he could be a Zips walk-on? We really need another big body next year.

[edit:] He's commited to Marist. (Lame.)
Our lack of a big to supplement Zeke & Tree is going to bite us next year.

Wrong thread.

I got the chance to see Future Zip Reggie McAdams (#21) in action today and here are some pictures I could snap from my seat.

The kid is a KD dream. He does all the right things coaches want. Play defense without fouling, team first mentality, amazing inside out game, great FT shooting, and a great overall vision of the court. The most impressive stat of the game:
a 6-6 guy handling and distributing the ball for long stretches of time, 0 turnovers.
The only negative thing i saw is that he did not do a great job boxing out and fighting for rebounds.

Reggie was playing the 5 on the defensive end guarding the paint. On offense, he was everywhere, he shot a couple of threes and made 1 iirc, he slashed and posted up but he was always doubled in the post and ended up passing the ball to the open guy.
The guy can flat out play multiple positions. He's not as athletic as Q or Harney so don't expect that. His body reminds me of Romeo Travis (6-6, strong, but not that wide) and his skill set is very similar to what I've seen from Chauncey Gilliam so far (Driving, speed, and 3 point shooting).

Although very impressed with what I saw, I feel that all 3 incomers will redshirt next year because of the lack of available PT.

On a final note, the kid (#31) that appears in some of the pictures below is a 6-4 sophomore, his name I believe is Dakotah Matthias (sp?). And the kid can also play. One of the parents was telling me that he played sparse minutes of varsity last year as he was a 6-1 freshman. Now he starts for the varsity team at 6-4. I believe that our staff members are probably aware of him and I hope to see him in blue and gold in 2015.

I'm excited about McAdams. But I really must say, besides Melo, the other two seem more like KD recruits, as opposed to KD2.0 recruits.

McAdams has an ESPN scout grade of 89, and is ranked the 5th best HS senior in Ohio. The only current Zips player who had a higher rating out of HS than McAdams was Zeke with a 92.

Of all the current Zips players, Brian Walsh had the second highest rating behind Zeke with a grade of 88.

If McAdams performs at a similar level to Walsh, he's an Xavier-level player who would comfortably fit into the Zips current lineup, considering that the other current Zips players outside of Zeke all graded lower than 89.

Think for a moment that Nick Harney had a scout grade of 87 out of HS. We should have high expectations for McAdams.

Kretzer is more of a question mark. His current ESPN scout grade is 80, and they rank him the 26th best HS senior in Ohio. For comparison, Josh Egner was graded an 84 out of HS.

The good news about Kretzer is that his stock is going up in his senior season. Some of the HS talent rating services have moved Kretzer up in their rankings to the second best senior small/wing forward in Ohio behind only McAdams. Hopefully this is a sign that Kretzer is more of a late bloomer with a big upside.

This just proves ratings are meaningless.

Do you remember what Dakotah Euton was rated? Look I loved the guy, but these grades reflect far more than the swagger factor we drool over. I like to see a team made up of super athletic forwards who can jump over the JAR in a single bound. Shooting guards with high basketball IQs, who hit nothing but net (even in carnival sized hoops). Point guards who are lightning quick and can handle the ball as if they were on the Harlem Globetrotters. Centers who live to destroy anything that comes into their house, finishing around the hoop with precision and power.

Maybe this is the type of player we'll get...who knows, but it's pretty cool to have such high expectations as a Zips fan!

Euton had an ESPN scout grade of 85, 1 point higher than Egner.

Of course these scouting service grades aren't perfect. They're someone's best estimates of a player's skills at a certain point in his career. Some HS players peak early and some continue to grow at a high rate. Some reach their full potential in college and some never do.

But when you go through and look at the list on ESPN, for example, you see that the players with the higher scout grades generally end up with the better college programs, and the players with the lower grades generally end up with the lesser college programs. So obviously most college coaches are believers in the general validity of the scout grades.

Like every other team, the Zips are more likely to have success with more players from the higher end of the scout grade scale than the lower end.

I'll throw my .02 in here on the Zips 2012 class:

Betancourt was a must get, or at least a player like him. Abreu has already had to deal with some injury issues, and we don't have another player on the roster who can regularly handle 25-30 minutes a night at the point. We needed another pass first, floor general PG type on the roster and by all reports Melo is exactly that. He is the only guy that I will say for certain will see minutes unless he gets injured or is just a complete bust his freshman year.

I don't get where the idea comes from that McAdams doesn't fit the KD2.0 recruiting philosophy. I've heard him compared favorbly to Gilliam, who is certainly within the mold of a KD2.0 recruit. All the reports say the kid is a talented athlete with a diverse offensive repitoire. Certainly sounds like a KD2.0 recruit to me. I hate to play the race card here, but I wonder if we would be having this same conversation if Reggie was a black kid from downtown Cleveland?

Kretzer is a mystery to me. You look at photos of him and he is a ripped 6'7", but the reports I've heard on him say he prefers to play on the perimeter as opposed to banging inside like you would expect from the pictures of him. If I were going to make comparisons I think his ceiling would be around a Nate Linhart while his basement would be a Michael Green kind of player. I just don't know where to peg him yet.

So if Deji is not a point guard than what is he? Judging by the shots i saw him take and the quality of his 3 points stroke, he definitely isn't a shooting guard.

Yeah, he's kind of like a football recruit who is labeled an "athlete."

Deji's ideal development is as a defensive minded 2 guard. That 6'9" wingspan could make him a lock down perimeter defender. He has a long way to go to be any kind of significant offensive threat, but he could be a nice role player coming off the bench to defend the other teams best guard.

I saw Reggie McAdams today as his Elida HS had their district game right here in Ada. In this game, Elida beat Willard 72-46. Are you ready for Reggie's stat line?
Here we go:

30 pts (including 6-11 from behind the arc)
5 rebounds
3 Assists
0 Turnovers
6 FREAKING blocks
4 steals

A journalist at the media table was saying that the last time anyone had a stat line better than that in D2 OHSSA was a kid from Akron's STVM in 2002.

Heading to the game, I was debating whether or not I should wear my zips colors since I sit at the officials table and I should be "unbiased". Unbiased shmunbiased - I eventually made the right decision to get all decked out in my blue and gold which earned me a smile and what could be an eye wink from Reggie as he came to the table to check in. After the game, I congratulated him and told him that I can't wait to see him in B&G. He said that he was very excited about it too.

I really hope that KD made friends in Elida, that team has another (younger) D1 talent that he should keep an eye on. Dakotah Mathias a 6-3 sphomore (wow) had a 20 pts, 4 rebs, and 4 assists.

Chillicothe's London, Waverly's Kretzer lead District 14 coaches' selections



Waverly stiffens in fourth quarter of boys basketball win against Fairfield Union

Nice picture of Kretzer in the second link. It's the second picture down. He's got a strong, muscular build.