Dave in Green

This was already discussed a little in the Basketball Banquet thread, but probably deserves its own thread. While CSU and YSU are not perennial powers, they aren't total losers, either. One of the nice things from my perspective is that when the Zips are playing away games at these two schools, they're both easy drives from Akron. So it offers two more good opportunities for Akron-based fans to see the Zips play on the road. Over the long haul, if UA schedules more away games with major programs that won't return the favor by playing at the JAR, at least we'll have these two road games close to home.

I really appreciate the way you're updating this list, Quickzips. One thing I see when searching for data on players is that some of the fan forums for other schools have really detailed info on many different potential recruits. It would be great if we could encourage more of that on ZN.O.

Special thanks to bearcat65 for posting a firsthand report after actually watching Justice play. Here's a little more data I found on Justice: According to maxpreps.com, Justice was the 39th ranked HS player in the country in number of 3-pointers made, and was #10 among juniors (class of 2011) with 81 made in 21 games. maxpreps.com There's only one short video on youtube to observe his shooting form: Of special note for those who think Division III Ohio HS players should be summarily rejected from consideration by UA, 6-1 guard Aaron Craft of D-III Liberty-Benton in Findlay, OH, was recruited by and has committed to Ohio State.

Wow, this thread blossomed into a true ZN.O classic in no time. It's obvious that none of us had much detailed information about Blake Justice before this thread started, so maybe we can work together to dig up enough information to make more informed opinions about him. Justice sounds a lot like the kind of student athlete KD said at the basketball banquet that he would continue to recruit. In addition to his great outside shooting, he's reportedly also a 3.9 GPA student. According to rivals.com, one of the schools showing interest in Justice should be of special note to Zips fans trying to evaluate just how much potential he might have: Blake Justice is hearing from Butler, Eastern Michigan, and numerous Mid-American Conference schools. rivals.com According to what jjhuddle.com posted last September, Justice was starting to draw a lot of interest from a lot of schools: Blake Justice (6'2/175) 2011 wing of Peebles High School has been offered by Albany. "They will be coming down this Thursday to watch me work out," Justice said. "Then I go there on the September twenty-fifth. I go to Akron on the twenty-fourth and Miami (OH) on October third. I have already visited Wright State, which all schools have said they are going to come to open gym. I have not scheduled a visit yet for Eastern Michigan or Ohio University and Notre Dame has been sending me a lot of stuff lately." jjhuddle.com According to ohshoops.com last September: He (Justice) has also been hearing from Elon, Davidson, and Can't State. ohshoops.com So it appears as if Justice was not only on the radar of every MAC team, but some bigger name schools such as Butler, Notre Dame and Davidson. If he was a "can't miss" star with obvious future NBA potential, he would likely be signing with Duke, Michigan State, Kansas or Kentucky, and UA would not even be in the running. Of course we won't know for sure how good he might be until he actually hits the court in a Zips uniform. But I'm sure that won't stop the flow of fearless predictions here.

According to Rasor, Harney won't be eligible for the Zips next season due to grades, but could be a nice addition for 2011. rasor blog link From the following article, Harney sounds like a classic late bloomer, just starting to show his stuff and with good upside: Nick Harney: Harney hasn't played much basketball over the past few seasons, but now the unsigned senior combo forward is really emerging. At 6-foot-6 with long arms and a lot of athleticism, Harney will no doubt earn numerous mid-major offers. He led Benedictine with 20 points, and was a force inside and from the mid-range. He needs to improve his strength and his face up game, but he still has some upside left in him. Harney was the dominant player on the floor for Benedictine in their win. rivals.com link Harney is apparently showing well in this week's King James Tournament: Class of 2010 unsigned senior Nick Harney is a great looking combo forward. He suited up with Ohio Basketball Club for their win over the King James Shooting Stars. Harney was a dominant force with his athleticism and strength. Also he hit from the mid-range, and at 6-foot-7 showed everything he is capable of doing. iowa.rivals.com link

Expanding a little on what others have already mentioned, I heard that it's not a big deal that Diggs is going to be listed as a forward at UA instead of a guard. There's not a big difference between wing forward and wing guard in the Zips system, and Diggs can and will play both roles depending on matchups. I also heard that the recruiting of Abreu and Ennis has put UA on the map for both Puerto Rico and Canada, and that it could lead to future players from these two areas giving more consideration to becoming Zips. This could help plug the hole of not being able to recruit the top players from Ohio. While UA has moved up in the basketball recruitment pecking order in Ohio, Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton and Cincinnati still get the cream of the crop. KD made a special point of emphasizing his and UA's commitment to academics for the basketball players. He noted that all of his players have either graduated or are on their way to graduating, and that all the players together had a 2.98 GPA in the most recent semester. He pointed out that basketball typically has the lowest graduation rate of any sport, but that he and UA would maintain their focus on recruiting true student athletes. KD also pointed out that the Zips have averaged about 23 wins a year over the last 6 years, and that only about 35 (10%) of all D1 schools have achieved that winning level. He said that reaching the next level of being able to consistently beat top level teams would be the hardest step, but that both he and UA were committed to doing their best to take that step. He was also highly complimentary of Tim Carroll's contributions to the team. I'm pretty sure I heard him say that Carroll would be sticking around in some capacity with the team, but I didn't catch any details. Maybe someone else can fill in here. As Hilltopper noted, Swiech is a great example of a student athlete, as he will graduate before what would have been his junior basketball season. Swiech gave the speech of the night. He was very emotional in saying he never considered not getting his degree from UA, even though he will be leaving the team. He said he will always consider himself to be a Zip even though he will finish his college basketball career at another school. Listening to Swiech pour his heart out about how much his teammates mean to him, you can understand why his teammates think so much of him. As Hilltopper said, what a great kid. KD cleverly passed a question about the Zips facilities to Tom Wistrcill, who was obviously enthusiastic about having the opportunity to address this. He basically said that before thinking about a new facility that there were changes that could be made to the JAR to improve the fan experience. He also mentioned how important it was to fill the JAR. And, finally, he emphasized how important he personally thought it was to have athletic facilities on campus for the true college campus experience. If I translated his comments correctly, he basically said the JAR would be improved, attendance would be monitored, and if required, a new facility would eventually be built on campus. Finally, my congratulations to ZW. It was great to be sitting at his table and see the expression on his face when he was announced as fan of the year. For me, he really sets a standard as a true Zips fan. He can point out what he thinks could be improved about the team without ripping on anyone. He can disagree without being disagreeable. He respects the opinions of others who may only have a fraction of his knowledge about the Zips. I can't think of a better person to be the primary moderator on a Zips basketball forum.

So the "opening round" (or preliminary) expands from 1 game between the 2 lowest-seeded teams to 4 games between the 8 lowest-seeded teams. That means that while 3 additional teams get into the tournament, the 61st-, 62nd-, and 63rd-seeded teams now have a preliminary round game they didn't have to play before, like the 64th-seeded team. I suppose that evens things out in that the 16th-seeded teams in each region are now on more equal footing as they prepare to do battle against the #1 seeds in each of the 4 regions. Who knows, once every 25 years or so that might even have an effect on the MAC.

If he were a Moderator, then you'd be dissing him. Poor Mike just can't win... Welcome back, CK. It just hasn't been the same around here without your unique commentary. For the record, I don't diss moderators, only immoderators.

How about making Bardo a paid moderator on ZN.O and letting him earn his money by deleting all the posts that diss him?

One of my concerns with any Zips lineup is rebounding, as they've lost their two leading rebounders from this season -- Conyers and C. McKnight. I hope there are players willing to step up, become more focused on rebounding, and fill the gap left by the departure of those two. B. McKnight was actually the 3rd leading rebounder for the Zips this season, slightly ahead of the taller Cvetinovic. If McKnight can be convinced that he will have greater value to the team as a rebounder than a shooter, he has the beef (245 pounds) to establish his presence closer to the basket. I'd really like to see more balanced shooting next season as opposed to having McKnight among the national leaders in percentage of his team's shots taken while he's on the floor.

I think it would be helpful in considering the 2011 recruits to list all the Zips we know will be leaving at the end of next season by position: Centers: Bardo Forwards: B. McKnight Guards: McNees, Roberts There might not be an immediate need for a replacement backup center, as Zeke should be gaining strength and endurance and playing longer minutes in his junior season. Also, Cvetinovic and Euton might be capable of handling Zeke's backup minutes at center. So perhaps 2012 is the time to be looking for Zeke's ultimate replacement at center. But the loss of McNees, Roberts and B. McKnight represents a good percentage of the Zips PT and firepower. I'm guessing the 2011 recruiting class will be either 2 forwards and 2 guards or 1 forward and 3 guards, depending on how the 2010 recruiting class pans out.

Cvetinovic and Euton are both listed at 6-8, 230 pounds, so they couldn't be any closer in size. As far as backup time for Zeke, it really depends on which one of them is more skilled at playing the center position, and it may even change depending on who they're matching up against. Many teams don't even have true centers listed on their rosters, just forwards and guards. So many teams simply play 3 forwards and 2 guards or 2 forwards and 3 guards. While it isn't absolutely necessary for the Zips to have a true center on the floor at all times, sometimes it can be an advantage depending on matchups. At 6-10, 240, Bardo has a little extra beef to handle big opposing centers, while Cvetinovic and Euton may match up better against smaller opposing centers or big forwards playing the center position. Personally, I'd like to see KD experiment in certain situations with a single guard playing the point and 4 frontcourt players 6-6 or taller. We already know that the 6-6 Diggs can play wing guard, and perhaps the 6-6 Green might also be able to swing from wing forward to wing guard. This big Zips lineup would require either that Abreu turns out to be really good at bringing the ball upcourt by himself as well as distributing the ball, or one of the returning point guards makes major improvements in the area of ball handling and distribution. In that case, having the other 4 Zips on the court all being 6-6 or taller could cause a lot of matchup problems for opposing teams, especially if all the taller Zips players on the floor are capable of attacking the basket. I'm really looking forward to next season because there are so many new players with interesting possibilities, because Zeke should be closer to showing his full true potential, and because KD appears to be open to change.

I'm perplexed by Mike Rasor's latest blog comments about the Zips 2010-11 roster. He suggests that Michael Green may back up Zeke Marshall and Mike Bardo at center. Green is 6-6 and 200 pounds. I believe most everyone else sees 6-8, 230-pound Dakotah Euton as more likely to fill this role if needed than the smaller, thinner Green. In the past, I might have thought that Rasor had some special insight on this. But after his recent blog statement about Darryl Roberts playing as a walk-on this past season when he was actually a scholarship player, I wondered if maybe Rasor's mind was more on politics these days than basketball. His latest statement putting Green at center next season makes me wonder even more. Rasor's Blog Link

The answer is....not very. Few guys with a ton of talent rarely turn into stars in KDs system. I doubt this guy has much talent or he would have seen more time at UNO. Yeah, we all heard what a dog Jimmy Conyers was, and he ultimately blossomed into an All-MAC First Team player and MAC Defensive Player of the Year.

I'm pretty sure that KD got the best available player that he thought he could get on short notice, and that he did not reject superior players and deliberately go after a dog. Anyone can look at Diggs' freshman stats and see that he's no superstar. If he was, he wouldn't have been at UNO putting up modest numbers. The question is just how good can Diggs become in the KD team system. This is the point where we enter the realm of the optimists and pessimists. The pessimists will look only at his numbers to date and write him off before he ever sets foot in the JAR. The optimists will hope that Diggs is a late bloomer who didn't start playing BB at an early age, and has a lot of upside potential to become a major contributor to the Zips. At this point no one really knows for sure just how good Diggs might be over the next three years. The one thing I do like is that he's 6-6 and has been listed as a guard throughout his BB career. I like the idea of the Zips having the option of playing a tall guard, even if KD wants to call him a forward. Anyway, there's not a huge difference between a small forward and a big guard, or wing forward and wing guard, or whatever you want to call them. Each of the five incoming players played specific roles on their previous teams depending on their own skills and their previous teams' needs. The deck will be reshuffled at UA, and each of the incoming players will have an opportunity to show how they can best contribute to a Zips team that has many needs if it wants to take the next step and become dominant in the MAC.

I'll repeat what I said in the 2010-11 roster thread: I've seen no explanation yet about how a 6-6, 195-lb guard at UNO suddenly becomes a forward at UA. Quincy Diggs has been listed as a guard in every reference from his high school days through prep school through college.

OK, so King James is now gone from UA. Any bets on what may happen in the future to UA's big AAU tournaments? I'm generally not a cynical person. But experience has taught me over many decades that cynicism is appropriate under certain circumstances.

I've seen no explanation yet about how a 6-6, 195-lb guard at UNO suddenly becomes a forward at UA. Quincy Diggs has been listed as a guard in every reference from his high school days through prep school through college.

Billy Humphrey, mentioned in my previous post as Diggs' teammate at UNO, might be considered a good example of a kid with problems that got him kicked off the Georgia Bulldogs team, but who was apparently a good citizen when given a second chance at UNO. He's also a graduating senior with enough shooting ability to perhaps get an NBA tryout. It's always hard to say when a good kid from a good family might go bad, or a previously bad kid from a bad family might go good. But I do think it's important to emphasize getting players who are less likely to disrupt team chemistry than some of the true bad boys who can't separate college basketball teams from street gangs. I have no problem at all with KD repeating this every time he signs a new player with good character. Link to Billy Humphrey Story in New Orleans Newspaper

As always, appreciate your thoughtful analysis, Quickzips. The only thing I'll say about your redshirt scenario is that the Zips graduated 2 key forwards who between them played lots of minutes. The team is not deep in forwards, and redshirting 2 of the 3 incoming forwards leaves the Zips a little thin up front. Conyers and C McKnight were not just scorers, but were strong rebounders as well. I just can't see the Zips relying on a tall but skinny incoming guard (Quincy Diggs) to be an adequate replacement for either of those 2 graduating senior forwards. I think they can only afford to redshirt 1 of the 3 incoming forwards, and my guess would be Green, not Egner.

Had to dig pretty hard to find anything interesting about Quincy Diggs. Not much available about his early years, so I suppose we can all hope that he's a late bloomer who took up basketball late in his youth and possibly has a big upside. From his stats at New Orleans, it looked as if he slowly built up his minutes as his freshman season went on, and his best games were toward the end of the season. Here's an interesting Feb. 24, 2009, item from the The Hoopscoop Online on the National Prep Alliance National Invitational Tourney: From there University Park, which once again was led by Moore with 18 points, went on to beat Denver (Southwest Academy) CO, 68-57, in the championship game of the Prep Division. And, believe it or not, Southwest Academy got this far with only five players and without its coach who did not make the trip due to a near death experience by a member of his immediate family. Southwest Academy's best player was 6'7 Quincy Diggs, who is multi-dimensional wing player with excellent skills and big time athleticism. The Hoopscoop Online Link Now here's a really intriguing recent Twitter exchange between @highmajorscoop and @JeffBoals mentioning Diggs and his NO teammate Billy Humphrey: @JeffBoals are you just tweeting the rest night? 8:47 PM Apr 9th via UberTwitter @JeffBoals Retweet War! I'm with @coachtriggs heading back from Cincy. Kids are working out at the Nike clinic at RMU tomorrow and Sunday. 8:51 PM Apr 9th via UberTwitter @highmajorscoop Quincy Diggs & Billy Humphrey. Bring the camp back! 8:55 PM Apr 9th via UberTwitter Twitter link

Correct on Roberts' scholarship, which he received this past season after playing his first 2 (not 3) sesons as a walk-on.

Boy are we slow around here or what? Inside Puerto Rico Basketball had the scoop on Abreu coming to UA way back on March 24. Not only that, he selected UA over Utah and Nebraska, following "the path that Puerto Rico greats JJ Barea and Carlos Arroyo took selecting a "mid major" over a "major"." Berea and Arroyo are both in the NBA. Obviously, no guarantees on Abreu being NBA material. But if Utah and Nebraska were after him, I'd say Abreu deserves a little respect on ZN.O. Inside Puerto Rico Basketball Link

Rasor even confirms something he shouldn't be confirming because it's dead wrong. Maybe it's a sign that his head is more into politics these days than basketball. With the departure of the three transfers and two seniors (Jimmy Conyers and Chris McKnight), Akron has five open scholarships. Abreu and the other three recruits will account for four of them. Barring another signee, guard Darryl Roberts will use the fifth scholarship, after playing his prior three years as one of the most productive walk-ons in the country.

Coincidentally coach Ziegler just signed a new 4-year contract with CMU. Trey Ziegler would be a good test for the defensive abilities of Josh Egner.