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Zips Live - KD comments last night


zipboy

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I was able to catch most of the show. Here is what I remember. Feel free to correct if you heard differently.

When asked about the new guys

Justice - good shooter, will need to work hard on defense, ball handling, and speed of the game. His Dad and Uncle played college ball and they will have him ready. He could be a big surprise next year.

Deiji - very athletic, will need to be coached and learn the system. We will try to develop him at the PG spot.

Walsh - a typical Akron kid, knows how to play, good shooter, big, very high on him

Gilliam - never saw a shot that he did not like, needs to learn the system, great body, can score

Prop kids - can't talk about them but seemed upbeat when they came up.

Guys returning when asked what they need to work on

Abreau - better conditioned so that he will be able to play at high level for more minutes. Defense greatly improved but needs to keep improving. Best we ever had for someone who can get to the rim

Q - early in the year would hold your breath when he came in. By the end of the year were running plays through him at crunch time. Showed great improvement but needs to become a better practice player and become tougher.

Zeke - special guy. Needs to add 25 LBS, that would solve a lot of the current issues. Made great improvement and is learning to not let the last play bother him. Showed that in the tourney.

Also mentioned Nik, McClanahan, and Egner when talking about returnees and the nucleaus. Bill did not ask specifics on those 3 just the 3 above unless I missed something. KD did not mention Dakotah or Michael Green. From what Gaffney and GoZips wrote today, Dakotah looks to be gone.

Talking about recruits for 2012 - We need a big center, I mean big center and a PG.

The schedule - we have CSU on the road and VCU and Detroit at home. We will buy 3 home games play at a high major and go to a tournament, not sure which one and still deciding how the rest plays out. He did not mention UIC or YSU but I would think we get UIC at home and are at YSU. No mention of Dayton so that looks to be a 1 for 0 game, bummer.

Overall, KD sounded excited. I think back to his year end address last year and we had so much uncertainty. Things have turned around remarkably quick. Can't wait until next year!

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A few thoughts...

- Cleveland State should be a staple on our schedule...could turn into a really good non-conference rivalry.

- Love playing VCU at home

- Am I the only one who thinks Walsh and McClanahan could end up being our starting guards?

- Good to hear him mention Cvetinovic when discussing the returning players

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I don't think you're the only one that's talked this way. And I'm just curious. What did you find so uncertain about this past season when we knew we'd be returning 7 starters or very experienced players, with 4 of them entering their senior season? And only two experienced players graduating?

Compare that to the off season ahead. Four players graduating, and if Nik leaves, we'll have ONE experienced senior going into next year.

I would unquestionably refer to 2010-2011 as a year where we were fairly well loaded, and should have been a major MAC contender. In fact, I'm looking at a year ahead where we'll really need to fill a lot of holes, very quickly. Replacing two 3-year starters at the two guard positions is merely one of the many challenges we'll face.

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..... - Am I the only one who thinks Walsh and McClanahan could end up being our starting guards? .....

If you're thinking it's possible that Walsh could beat out Rico for the starting PG position, I'd agree that's a possibility. But if Rico improves his game during the off-season as you'd expect a freshman to do, Walsh would have to be awfully good to bump a guy who was a solid backup to McNees in his freshman season. Let's hope that both players are so good at the point that they push each other to become even better, and that there is no drop in effectiveness when one subs for the other, regardless of who starts.

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I don't think you're the only one that's talked this way. And I'm just curious. What did you find so uncertain about this past season when we knew we'd be returning 7 starters or very experienced players, with 4 of them entering their senior season? And only two experienced players graduating?

Compare that to the off season ahead. Four players graduating, and if Nik leaves, we'll have ONE experienced senior going into next year.

I would unquestionably refer to 2010-2011 as a year where we were fairly well loaded, and should have been a major MAC contender. In fact, I'm looking at a year ahead where we'll really need to fill a lot of holes, very quickly. Replacing two 3-year starters at the two guard positions is merely one of the many challenges we'll face.

Skip, at the end of last year, I saw Conyers and McKnight graduating and no one ready to step in for them. Nik played poorly in the tourney last year, Humpty had leveled out, McClanahan had an up and down season, we all hoped that Zeke would add 20 lbs and there was a lot of talk about relying on one or two of the true FR to be heavy contributors. The only established guys were McNees, McKnight, and Darryl. And even Darryl had an up and down season. Without knowing about the transfers and with who was back, I didn't see this team being better than last year. This offseason, I feel really good that Zeke will take his game to a new level, Nik and Brett are established and the upside from Abreau and Q is good. Maybe it is ending the season on a high note as well and seeing how close we were to Notre Dame. I like the momentum.

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had the pleasure of watching the akron game downtown (cleveland) and walked into a bar that was set up for xavier alumni. they were great and all were cheering for the zips! very knowledgeable and at least talked 10 people came up to me to talk about the triple ot game with j ball went off. i made sure to ask everyone i talked to about walsh and most said the same thing.

very good defender and very athletic. classic tweener/combo guard. sad to see him go but they all felt he'd never crack the starting 5 during his stay there. oh and a few mentioned a solid mid range game.

i also had a chance to see harney play when he was in high school. it was a showcase at the wolstien center. tons of talent there as warren harding, mentor, garfield hts, and st. ed's were also there. the top player for benedictine was cam wright who is at pitt. and he was a fast athletic guard. while he was the top player on the floor harney held his own and showed that he can play. he was very raw but showed tremendous athleticism and hops. didn't see him shoot too much as he played off ball and got a lot of his points running the floor and getting boards ala josh. if this team continues to play hard d with an offense that likes to push the ball he'll fit right in.

everyone that i've talked with that follows cleveland high school hoops raved about tree. some refer to him kinda like the script from the blind side. that troubled/lazy in the past...that talented. couldn't gone to a major program had he shown up for class at least half the time. haven't seen him play but that's what i heard.

looking forward to them plus the brett mcnight clone get in the mix. big big things next year for the zips!

:screwks::champs:

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Physically, the closest thing to a B. McKnight clone among the new Zips players would be Chauncey Gilliam, who's 6-5, 235 compared with McKnight's 6-6, 245. From everything I've heard about Gilliam, he's quicker and can jump higher than McKnight. Hopefully he has McKnight's shooting eye, but with perhaps a little more consistency.

If Gilliam is a B. McKnight clone, that might be another reason why Dakotah Euton is considering transferring, presuming that rumor is true.

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Physically, the closest thing to a B. McKnight clone among the new Zips players would be Chancey Gilliam, who's 6-5, 235 compared with McKnight's 6-6, 245. From everything I've heard about Gilliam, he's quicker and can jump higher than McKnight. Hopefully he has McKnight's shooting eye, but with perhaps a little more consistency.

If Gilliam is a B. McKnight clone, that might be another reason why Dakotah Euton is considering transferring, presuming that rumor is true.

i referred to him as a bmac clone due to size, the fact that he hasn't seen a shot he doesn't like, and he's not a big fan of d. could fill that bench instant offense role that mcnight had.

Tree is every bit a 4 but is super athletic and very long

:champs::screwks:

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..... - Am I the only one who thinks Walsh and McClanahan could end up being our starting guards? .....

If you're thinking it's possible that Walsh could beat out Rico for the starting PG position, I'd agree that's a possibility. But if Rico improves his game during the off-season as you'd expect a freshman to do, Walsh would have to be awfully good to bump a guy who was a solid backup to McNees in his freshman season. Let's hope that both players are so good at the point that they push each other to become even better, and that there is no drop in effectiveness when one subs for the other, regardless of who starts.

Why are you guys doubting AA's abilities? I don't even want to compare a true PG who's coming up from a record breaking freshman year to a guy that bench warmed through his firs two years at Xavier. We know Abreu will get better...and if Zeke keeps improving that pick and roll will be lethal!

Abreu-McCl-Diggs would be something good to watch!

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