Dave in Green

@Hilltopper, wasn't that you sitting next to me when we were surprised to see KP16 appear to be locked in on the right side of the field and then suddenly turn and complete a nice pass to the left? Shows he can do it, but just needs to do it more often. Playing with an injury can affect almost everything you do to some degree. Doesn't mean KP16 would be great if he were playing unhurt, just that he'd likely be a little better. I expect there will be serious competition at QB for the Zips next season, and a healthy KP16 will need to show significant improvement in his overall game.

I remember Dick Barnett playing in the NBA. Tennessee State has had 17 players in the NBA and ABA -- really impressive for a small school.

Obviously, Dayton and YSU bring in a fair number of their own fans. Coastal Carolina? Not so much in Akron, OH. So it's going to take a big turnout of Zips fans to break the record. We can do it. Zips basketball is hot.

Big Dog is not going to redshirt. He is exactly the kind of center that Coach Dambrot expected. As a reminder, below is an example of the kind of HS scouting report that caused Coach Dambrot to recruit him even though it was obvious to everyone that he isn't fast and doesn't have hops: Big Dog went head-to-head in HS and AAU with a number of highly touted bigs who could outrun him and outjump him. The important point is that they couldn't outplay him.

@ZipsBurgh, here's what the NCAA says: The key word is "preseason." Once the formal NCAA basketball season begins, a freshman player can't play a single minute in any game, including exhibition games, without losing the ability to redshirt that season. The only way we see any of the Zips freshmen play again this season is if they give up their eligibility to redshirt.

@GameChngr44, I've tried every online translator I can find to translate these Chinese stories, and the translations range from mediocre to abysmal. I'm not sure that we will ever be able to communicate with the Chinese. But I'm sure your sources are better than the online story translations, so I'm glad to hear your translation. I hope you'll post here more often to keep Zeke's fans more up to date. I've done a little research on the SBL in Taiwan, and learned little bits and pieces from various sources. It seems that Taiwan's SBL was losing many of its best players to the CBL in China because the CBL was more open and paid higher salaries. Up until this season the SBL had salary caps in place that were pretty low, and they also had a height restriction of no players taller than 6-9. This season the SBL eliminated both the height restriction and the salary cap. So now SBL teams can recruit players of any height and pay them whatever they want. Yulon Luxgen was a major power in the early years of the SBL, winning four championships. But they slowly lost their competitiveness, falling to a final record last season of just 18-18. The Yulon Group is Taiwan's top domestic automobile manufacturer, and has a fair amount of resources at its disposal. If they put a priority on getting the Yulon Luxgen Dinos back on top of the SBL, they can afford to pay good wages for qualified players, including overseas players like Zeke. So I hope they are taking good care of him financially. By the way, in the Chinese translations, players from overseas come out in English as "ocean." That's why you frequently see "ocean" next to Zeke's name in these stories.

I think @Zipmeister had the player you're looking for in forward Leonard "Truck" Robinson. I remembered guard Ted "The Hound" McClain, perhaps because of the Big Dog connection. Truck was drafted #22 in the 1974 draft while The Hound was drafted #22 in the 1971 draft, so Hound would not have played in the 1972 game. Both players had solid professional careers. No wonder Tennessee State was such a power in those years.

The bad news is that Zeke's team lost their final tournament game by 3 points. The good news is that Zeke came close to another double-double with 18 points and 9 rebounds. The questionable news is trying to interpret what Zeke's coach was trying to say from this rough Chinese translation:

@Zipmeister, did you ever consider that others know how to pull chains?

Zips media guide says the Zips beat Tennessee State 71-69 in OT. Their star player was Ted "The Hound" McClain.

I remember thinking early in the game that Big Dog is not going to be getting anywhere near as many blocks as Pat this season because his feet barely leave the floor. Looking at the box score, Pat had 0 blocks and Big Dog had 4. I'm starting to think that Big Dog is one of the smartest players on the court. He understands his weaknesses, such as not having much elevation, and compensates with good positioning, anticipation and other fundamentals. It's worth keeping a really close eye on Big Dog every minute he's in the game to see exactly how he accomplishes the unexpected.

McCrea, Pearson and Whittington are all top performers. They're also all seniors who've had more time to develop their games than Tree, which is always a bonus in these preseason evaluations. I don't see any of them being so far ahead of the others that they're a virtual lock on being ranked the MAC's #1 player at the end of the season. I think that both Tree and Q have the ability to pass these three in overall performance ranking during the course of the season. I'd still rather see the Zips be so strong and balanced across the roster that there's no need for the team to lean on one player to produce the inflated stats that tend to move players higher in these kinds of rankings.

In retrospect the ABJ article on Pohl was remiss in not making any mention of his injury and need for surgery, and the affect that may be having on his performance. I'm sure that Pohl is playing his heart out and doesn't want to talk about his injury or try to use it as an excuse. But the bottom line is that injured players cannot be held to the same high performance standard as healthy players.

@GoZips, I said in the other thread that I thought Deji looked good, but that was comparing a veteran D1 player with great athleticism to D3 athletes. I said if Deji can play effectively and under control like that against tougher opponents, he could provide some important quality backup minutes. Bigger tests are coming up for Deji. If he can deliver, it reduces playing time available for the freshmen.

Great defensive effort by the Zips.

Kwan Cheatham is a unique talent. He made some jaw-dropping moves tonight. If you look at the box score, Kwan played 20 minutes, second only to Tree's 22. That's a sure sign that Coach Dambrot is intrigued by his potential. But Kwan is still pretty raw in some ways, and there's no question that he would be a much more complete player next season. If Coach Dambrot believes that his veteran frontcourt players aren't getting the job done, I have no doubt that he would insert Kwan into the rotation without hesitation. Pat Forsythe is capable of performing at a much higher level than he showed tonight, and he's going to have to do so to maintain his starting center position over Big Dog.

@MDZip, thanks. I just heard that from a different source and was going to post it. I guess in the overall scheme of things I just don't see it as a big deal. The bigger deal to me is that UA is gaining traction with ESPN as a desirable partner for tournaments and other televised games with big name opponents. The Zips could have scheduled an exhibition game in January and I probably wouldn't have noticed.

@ZZZips, sorry I wasn't clearer about that. Zeke is playing for a team in Taiwan's SBL and not in the mainland China CBA. Teams from both leagues are currently playing against each other in an annual tournament in Taipei. The coach of the CBA team with NBA players Bobby Brown and Donte Greene referred to Zeke's team as the best in Taiwan. The SBL salaries may be lower than the CBA. But Taiwan has a robust economy like mainland China, and their pro teams may be more economically stable than European teams right now. So while it would be even better if Zeke were playing in the CBA, playing in the SBL is not a bad place to make a decent living while building and showcasing your talents, as Zeke did so well today against a top CBA team.

I just posted about the freshmen and the redshirt situation in the redshirt thread. As for Pat and Big Dog in tonight's game, I think it's hard to measure big centers when they're playing against a team of midgets. Zeke never looked that great against the midget teams, but performed at his best against other big centers. I want to see how Pat and Big Dog perform against real teams with real centers. Neither one of them look like all-star centers right now. But they don't have to be. They're part of a team, and they have roles to play that will become more critical against better opponents. Coach Dambrot said he had tears in his eyes when he saw Q on the floor because he knows what Q has been through to get here. I felt the same way. I just have this feeling in my gut that Q is going to be a major force in the big games that the Zips really need to win. Most of us already had that feeling about Tree, and I saw nothing tonight to change that. He's a lot like the Tree from last season, but a little more in control and with a nicer looking mid-range jumper. Harney looked fantastic, but he always does against the weaker teams on the schedule. He's just so smooth and athletic taking the ball to the hoop. But he's struggled in the past against tougher competition, and that's where I'm looking for him to show better this season. That will be a major key to how far the Zips can go. Similarly, I thought Deji looked good tonight. But, again, it was a case of a D1 player with great athleticism against D3 athletes. If Deji can play under control like he did tonight against tougher opponents, he'll provide some important quality backup minutes. Nyles looked pretty good in his first outing. I was concerned that he might be more of a shoot first PG. But Coach Dambrot said in the postgame interview that Nyles' shooting was one of the reasons why they recruited him. He wants a PG who can nail 3s when needed, and that's Melo's weak spot. After seeing Melo, Nyles and Q run the point tonight, I can see situations where all three could be effective. This may be the most interesting situation to watch develop as the season progresses. Kretzer and McAdams had fairly quiet nights, and it remains to be seen how much they've improved their games over last season.

Coach Dambrot addressed the redshirt situation on the postgame show. As everyone knows, Big Dog is going to play. Asked about the other three, he said circumstances with veteran players may dictate that. He mentioned the question about Kretzer's back problem and the possibility that another veteran player might for some reason develop a problem. He said that all the freshmen are really talented and that they all might be able to contribute under certain conditions. But he used Aaron Jackson as an example of why the other three might need to redshirt. He said that Jackson is similar in talent level to Nate Linhart, and that while Linhart didn't redshirt, the Zips didn't have near the overall talent level at that time that they have now. Coach Dambrot went on to say that he's talked with all of the freshmen about the concept of trading your worst year for your best year. That is, with the current roster the likelihood of getting significant playing time as a true freshman is not good. But by redshirting and working on your strength, endurance and skills, the odds of having a great senior season and better overall career is much better. He's brought Steve McNees in to speak with the freshmen, as McNees believes his redshirting was really good for his career. After hearing this, I'm going to stick by my previous guess that BJ, Aaron and Kwan are all redshirted unless a problem develops with one of the veterans. In that case, one or more redshirts can be burned at any time after the season starts. But when you think of the modest talent of some of the players at the end of the bench just a few seasons ago, it's just mind-boggling to think that players of this caliber can now be redshirted at UA.

@Quickzips, I really didn't think that anyone would imagine that I was trying to point out anything other than the fact that speed up and down the court is not an absolute requirement to be an effective center. Shaq is just the most obvious example of a number of big but not fast centers who've had effective careers at the college and professional level. Big Dog actually has fairly quick and smooth moves around the basket for a 300+ pound center. But it's true that he won't be leading any fast breaks.

Just last season the Zips played D3 John Carroll University in the 4th game of the season after playing D1 Coastal Carolina.

Well, I can see that all the Big Dog talk here hasn't raised unrealistic expectations among all forum members. Point #1 -- Here's what George Thomas had to say about Big Dog after observing his play at multiple practices and scrimmages and after talking with Coach Dambrot: Point #2 -- Some thought that Shaquille O'Neal was too slow to play in the NBA.

How smart is the Momager? How the Chinese Basketball Association Became the Hot Destination for NBA Talent ... This season, the CBA has its biggest and most talented American roster across the board, for one because the league added an 18th team, the Sichuan Blue Whales. In addition to Marbury, who recently signed a three-year deal with the Beijing Ducks, the top imports include Earl Barron, Bobby Brown, Donte Greene, Hamed Haddadi, Ivan Johnson, Darius Johnson-Odom, Johan Petro, Shavlik Randolph, Josh Selby, Sebastian Telfair (Marbury's cousin), Von Wafer, Delonte West and Shelden Williams. They're all earning between high six figures and $2 million net this season, according to Curtin and Haylett. For the other lesser-known players, the minimum pay is around $350,000 net. "(The CBA) is getting bigger every year," Brown said before he left for China. "I was keeping up with it when I was in Europe. My boy Pooh Jeter played in it last year, and he said it's better, the market is great, basketball is great, the money is good—and you get to come home earlier than Europe." Increasingly Attractive Alternative The salary and the early return to the U.S. are key reasons why the CBA has emerged as the hottest foreign destination for Americans. While nine out of 10 American players would rather live and play in Europe because of the lifestyle and linguistic flexibility, according to Curtin, because the European financial climate has gotten worse due to the suffering global economy in the past five years, it subsequently affected the basketball market. There were situations in Europe where sponsors dropped off and teams' payrolls became a mess. According to Curtin, only a few European clubs are still doing well, such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and CSKA Moscow. In China, however, most of the CBA teams pay, and pay on time. There's also no salary cap in effect. The CBA has also become a bigger attraction in NBA circles because in the new collective bargaining agreement, ratified in December 2011, lower salaries for most players became the norm. With the veteran's minimum and mini mid-level exception of $3.18 million arguably becoming the two most demanding and competitive salary levels this past offseason, NBA opportunities grew thinner. And the closest rival contracts were in the CBA. Then there's the luxury of the CBA season's length, which goes from November to mid-February. Unlike European leagues that run from the fall to usually April, the CBA enables Americans to return to the NBA in the same season for a prorated minimum deal, or showcase their skills in the D-League to get called up. "For an NBA guy on the borderline, China can be really attractive," Curtin said. "You're making potentially more money, and then you're also able to come back and double dip and play in the NBA, and still keep your name fresh in peoples' memories." ...

Correction: It's really hard to make sense of the Chinese translations. Further investigation reveals that Donte Greene is on the same team as Bobby Brown, so Zeke's 17-point, 13-rebound, 2-steal performance today came against Greene. It's unfortunate that they don't give enough details to show how much Zeke may have shut down Greene, but Greene certainly didn't shut down Zeke. Here's an alternate translation of what Zeke's coach said about his performance today: "today some hope, Marshall this positive has revealed itself, will look to this Sunday (3) channel Cup."