Dave in Green

I personally happen to agree with you that PN7 gives the Zips the best chance to win both now and in the future, especially in the pro-style offense. But I'm also interested in hearing opposing views and rationale.

It's funny, but Ianello's decision to select Nicely over Rodgers may or may not have been based on the fact that he believes Nicely is the better of the two right now. Going back to what Rasor recently wrote: Word among current players is that Ianello has not hid his desire to start a rebuilding process. That means that contributors from last year won't necessarily be contributors in 2010 if Ianello believes there is a younger guy with more upside. If the above is true -- and it should be noted that this is what a sports blogger thought the players thought and not a definitive statement from Ianello -- it's possible that starting Nicely over Rodgers now may be more related to Ianello considering Nicely to be "a younger guy with more upside" as opposed to being clearly superior to Rodgers today. Then again, it could mean that Ianello thinks that Nicely is ahead of Rodgers today and also has more upside for the future. It could mean a lot of things. As always, just conjecturing in the absence of cold, hard facts. Let's just hope this is the end of any QB controversy at UA, because that would mean that Nicely is performing so well that there is no consideration of replacing him with Rodgers.

As Mr. Spock would say: Fascinating. It's just one of those amazing and inexplicable quirks of human nature that anyone who self-proclaims their greatness long enough and loudly enough will develop a following. It must be intoxicating to have that much persuasive power over others, deserved or not. Unfortunately, power tends to corrupt, and it requires a truly great person to appropriately exercise power over others.

Any clown can try to do anything. Whatever anyone tries to do, some do it better than others. Some are better at forecasting. Some are better at observing and reporting. Some are better at understanding and respecting the effect of universal truths on everything. One universal truth is that what we say about others says a lot about us. There's a natural tendency to build up that which we most value and dismiss that which matters less to us. But we all have different value priorities, and we all express our respect and disrespect a little differently. We come to forums with a common interest -- Zips sports in the case of ZN.O -- but for different reasons and with different attitudes. Each of us has something to teach and each of us has something to learn. The magic of a good forum, or any gathering of people with diverse backgrounds, is when we overcome our prejudices and open our minds to learning something from everyone.

I always look at the source before clicking on a new thread, and am rarely surprised. It was officially stated that the official announcement was to be made tomorrow. So anything tonight had to either be from someone with really good connections, or someone challenging Zipmeister for "Every Day Is April Fool's Day" honors.

Nice thought, but how many college teams in the country regularly get an NFL-caliber QB every 5 years? Hard to say how polished Nicely will become over the course of the next three seasons. But at least he has the size and arm strength to be a potential NFL QB, and those are two things that can't be taught. All the areas of criticism where Nicely could stand improvement are things that can be learned. It remains to be seen how much he will learn and how well he can consistently execute. The same situation exists on the basketball team with Zeke Marshall. He has the size and speed to be a potential NBA player someday. But he also displayed areas of weakness in his freshman season. No one really knows how advanced either of these players will be by the time they graduate. We know where they've been, but we don't know where they're going.

It was discussed here earlier that Black was a skinny shooting guard popping away from 3-point land in his first two seasons of HS, and overnight sprouted up and filled in to become a 6-9 center/power forward banger in the paint. That's a pretty huge transition, and I wouldn't have expected to see his full potential at the new position in HS. I never saw him play, but I'm not surprised that he looked a little rough. The real question is how good he can become if he realizes his full potential as a college big. Since he didn't draw a lot of recruiting attention, you'd have to think he's a longshot to become a big contributor at the college level.

There was concern expressed last season when Nicely was thrown into the fire due to problems with the two QBs ahead of him that perhaps he was being redshirted for good reason. It was suggested that he might not quite be ready for prime time as a true freshman, and may have benefitted from being brought along more slowly. So last year's game experience may not have been indicative of how Nicely would have performed if brought along on schedule. In that light, last year's game experience may not necessarily have been a plus, but may have hurt his confidence. Each player has a different psyche that the coaches have to try to understand and nurture, and we can only guess here based on what we see and what we hear from others. Some players respond well to being thrown into the fire, and some do better when brought along more slowly. I don't have the definitive answer on Nicely, but it never hurts to try to understand all the possibilities.

Honestly, if you're driving in from out of town and don't have a good parking pass close to the stadium, downtown Akron is an easy walk from the stadium -- 15-20 minutes. Check it out online on Google or Bing Maps. There are quite a few nice places downtown. Just park in a downtown deck, visit a downtown joint or two, walk 15-20 minutes to the stadium, walk back to the parking deck after the game, and you won't have to worry about traffic jams or lack of cool places to hang close to the stadium.

The original request was for hot spots "near the stadium." If "near" means walking distance, that narrows it down quite a bit to a matter of blocks. If driving distance, it depends -- 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes? There are many nice places in the Akron region, but many fewer within blocks of the stadium.

"We" would of course not include those who have expressed a strong desire not to be associated with Cleveland in any way, shape or form.

As best I can recall from all the Zips teams I've personally seen play since the mid-80s, Eric McLaughlin and Anthony Buford, when they were both on the floor, represented the most talented backcourt I've ever seen play for the Zips.

We always hope that the player we just missed getting does not turn out to be a better player than the one we got in his place. That takes on added significance when the player we just missed ends up playing for one of our conference rivals.

I'm more concerned about having a couple of players who can consistently get the ball upcourt under pressure than I am about having a PG who single-handedly quarterbacks every move on offense. While it would be great to have a stud PG who can do it all, they are a rare commodity in basketball at any level (HS, college, pros). Fortunately, there are other options that can work pretty well. As we've discussed here in the past, a "point center" can be pretty effective at triggering the offense. All you have to do is safely get the ball to the offensive end, feed it to the center near the basket, and when the defense collapses on him, have him be able to consistently find and pass to an open player. Surround that center with some good-sized wings who can hit the open jumper or drive to the bucket and you have an effective scoring offense without relying on a PG to run everything. Zeke's height obviously gives him an advantage for seeing the whole floor, and he already has an unselfish ball distributor mentality. In time he could develop into an effective point center.

Ennis may find that UA is not such a bad choice after all. As we've all seen, the Zips future is looking much better that it did way back when Ennis verbaled. Then again, maybe the Zips future has gotten so bright that a PG with more upside than Ennis might be attracted. This is just a wild and crazy time for Zips basketball with so many changes happening so fast. I don't have any inside info on what's going on, so I really have no clue as to how the PG situation will shake out. But based on all the recent good news about incoming talent, I'm optimistic that KD will find a PG with talent to match the other new players.

And round two will beget round three, and round three will beget round four ..... etc.

OK, gczip22, you earned credibility by breaking the news on Treadwell. Now you offer up a really interesting and different perspective on other Zips players and potential lineups. You clearly have some good insight into the sport of basketball. Glad to have you here, and looking forward to your future posts.

It's awfully tough to make informed estimates about so many different players we haven't even seen play yet at any level. Some of these guys are going to show up looking like college players, and some are going to look like they're still in HS. We just don't know how fast they're going to mature, and how they'll fit into KD's system versus the systems they've been playing under with other coaches. As far as redshirting Treadwell, all reports indicate that he's already physically mature, and will be more so in another year. When you think about it, it's absolutely stunning that a guy who was ineligible to play basketball for his first three years in HS was dominant in shooting, rebounding and blocked shots from the first game of his only season. How many HS players in Ohio history have played only one season of HS basketball and made D1 second team all-state? As long as his grades and behavior permit, I see him as having potential to be a major force at UA from his first day of sports eligibility, and not likely to redshirt. I really don't know where that leaves everyone else. I think there are a lot of tall, talented players in UA's near future, and some are going to end up executing better under KD's system and earn more minutes. If they all stick with the program, the guys who play longer minutes in games will not have an easy time in scrimmages against a talented group of subs! It may be the perfect group of players for a 10-deep regular rotation.

Good perspective, CK. The Zips have gone from an abundance of smaller players to an apparent future abundance of larger ones. That's definitely not a bad thing in the basketball world! In fact, it just may make the Zips more attractive to a good PG recruit, and I'm sure that KD will find a way to loosen up a scholarship for the right PG if needed. I personally don't spend much time worrying about the fine details. But I do enjoy the casual discussions and getting other people's viewpoints on ZN.O. For example, I think it's worth noting that a PG becomes somewhat less critical if the bigs are all above average ball handlers. I don't know if that's the case with all of the bigs coming in. But I have seen it mentioned in various reviews that most of them are pretty good at handling the ball.

If all the scholarships have been committed and the Zips are still offering, something's got to give somewhere.

Some conflict here as to whether Treadwell is guaranteed the last scholarship for 2011-12 or is a walk-on. I'm not sure that someone can be guaranteed an athletic scholarship until they are actually academically qualified.

A little more info. It was previously discussed on ZN.O that 6-7 forward Allen Payne would have been a great addition to the Zips. But Payne ended up choosing between VCU and Auburn, and ultimately committed to Auburn. Payne was second team D1 HS All-Ohio this season alongside another 6-7 forward, Demetrius Treadwell.

Great find, Hilltopper. From Demetrius Treadwell's Twitter account (Tall_ass_tree): On my way to Akron for this orientation And gczip22 wasn't kidding about the potential talent level: High Major Scoop Link Willoughby News-Herald Link No wonder he was off the radar with his poor academic record that kept him from playing basketball for his first three years of HS. But what a turnaround in attitude, and what a work ethic. He has turned around his life from being a high risk character to someone who really has a chance to succeed in life. He'll get all the support he needs at UA from KD, his staff, and the team. Great story. This could be a big one for the Zips.

Don't go away upset, gczip22. If you frequent internet forums, you know it's full of both inadvertent and deliberate misinformation. I seriously doubt that you believe rumors posted by people you don't know when there's no credible independent verification. Likewise I'm sure you aren't so naive as to expect everyone to accept your first post on ZN.O as gospel. You might have posted some really good info. But there's no way of knowing just yet, so everyone has to analyze what you've posted and make their best estimate as to how accurate it is. You probably do the same every day on other forums. Natually we all hope you're right. Big East quality players rarely make it to the MAC, and all Zips fans would welcome one at UA. But there is also cause for skepticism as a Big East quality HS player from Cleveland would not likely be totally unknown to everyone here. Anyway, most of the current forum members appreciate new forum members who try to contribute good information.

I voted for "other" because I don't want any of the regular ZN.O color commentators to be distracted by obligations to do a radio broadcast and dilute their colorful contributions to ZN.O.