Dave in Green

There's now even a Huggy connection to the Binghamton story by way of Nancy Zimpher:CBS Sports Link

Just finished checking some other Kentucky college sports forums. Apparently the negatives from the UK boards have spread across the state, as there is a lot of disrespect for Mr. Euton among Kentucky BB fans. There's not much enthusiasm at all for him even on the EKU forum.My best guess is Dakotah was an early bloomer in both size and talent, and fans developed high expectations that he just couldn't meet. Sports fans being a fickle bunch, they turned on him after he couldn't live up to early expectations of being the next Larry Bird by his senior year in HS. So I think it's important if he chooses UA for Zips fans not to have unrealistic expectations. He's a solid team player, not a superstar.But we're used to that, right? KD is a team coach who stresses team play and not individual stardom. Dakotah wouldn't be expected to carry the rest of the team on his shoulders any more than Zeke is expected to. It's how all the players mesh together that will determine how far the Zips can go.After reading some of those comments, I can understand why Dakotah's father quit reading sports forums. I hope the family comes to the decision that playing outside of the state of Kentucky away from all those negative fans might be the healthiest move for Dakotah.

I just spent some time watching all of the YouTube videos on Euton, and now have a better understanding of where both the compliments and critiques are coming from.He's not athletic in the sense that he doesn't have great vertical leap or dazzling speed.But he makes up for that with heart and effort. He reacts quickly, and he's always running at full speed, so he's often the first or second player down the court on an offensive or defensive fast break. He gets good position and has good timing to get rebounds over players who can jump higher. His ball-handling and passing are above average for a big man, and he's always looking for the open man. He can mix it up inside or pop it in from mid-to-long range.I'm guessing he has a heart like Linhart, but more size and better all-around skills. From all I can find out, he's a true team player with strong family ties and personal values. I think he would be a big asset to the Zips team, and that he would benefit from playing in the UA program under KD.I like him a lot, and would love to see him in the frontcourt alongside Zeke.

Earl Boykins Wikipedia Link

That's what is for.

There's all kinds of levity on ZN. It's just masquerading as serious commentary.

The link to the Jerry Tipton column in my post # 14 in this thread takes you to a quote from Dakotah's father saying his son planned to visit five schools in September and October, and then make his decision in November.The link in post #27 leads to a story quoting Dakotah as saying he is going to make his decision early after visiting UA and EKU, and will not take any other visits.

Gary Parrish has an excellent CBS Sports column on this that was posted before the AD resigned:CBS Sports Link

Yeah, the sports pages are full of stories about Tim Tebow's "bad throwing motion." Wonder how he ever made it to D1?

Every QB has a different mix of strengths and weaknesses, and the coaching staff is responsible for designing plays that best suit the QB's strengths and avoid his weaknesses. Jacquemain was not much of a runner, and the Zips offense had been built around that fact. I think everyone agrees that Rodgers is a bigger running threat than Jacq. In the two weeks between games, if the coaching staff doesn't add good plays that take advantage of Rodgers' running ability, then for sure all the blame cannot be dumped on the QB.

I suppose those who are interested only in the most athletic players would have also taken a pass on Larry Bird.EKU appears to have no major advantages over UA. The team only averaged about 2,000 per home game in a 6,500-seat arena, and the OVC is certainly not superior to the MAC. I think a lot will depend on how Euton connected with KD and the rest of the coaching staff. He seems like a perfect fit for KD's system, and I hope he arrived at the same conclusion during his visit.I think it's a good sign that he was originally going to visit five campuses, and then said right after visiting UA that he was going to choose between UA and EKU without visiting other campuses. The wild card is how badly he wants to stay close to home. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I'm sorry to have to report that the CBS Sports Top 120 currently ranks 5 MAC East (*) teams ahead of the Zips, along with 4 from the MAC West:46. Central Michigan74. Western Michigan *80. Bowling Green84. Northern Illinois *87. Ohio94. Toledo *96. Temple *98. Buffalo *101. Can't State *110. Akron117. Ball State*118. Miami (Ohio)119. Eastern Michigan As always, this is a snapshot of someone's best estimate based on season performance to date. The Zips may be better than some or all of the East teams currently ranked ahead of them. But starting with the next game, they're going to have to prove it on the field. We'll see what the final records and final season rankings are in a few months. CBS Sports Poll

Apples and oranges. Not all freshman are automatically redshirted. If a player is obviously good enough to contribute immediately, the player is rarely redshirted. If not, the redshirt option is available to develop the player without burning up a year of eligibility. Burning a redshirt is deviating from original plans due to unforeseen circumstances. There was never any consideration to redshirt the highest-rated men's basketball recruit in MAC history, so he never had a redshirt to burn.Nicely is far from the highest-rated football recruit in MAC history. He was originally evaluated as the 3rd best QB option for this season, and they wanted to maintain four years of eligibility in the future after option #1 graduated. After option #1 screwed up, #3 moves up to #2. He may eventually become #1 this season, or maybe not.

I lost all respect for LeFevour when he couldn't bring himself to face up to CK directly, but had to channel through a stooge.

Sure it does, it's a great indicator of how they will perform in the future if things continue the way they have in the past.You only quoted half of my point. The second half completes the thought: It only matters if that level of play becomes the norm for the remainder of the season.Many decades of following sports have taught me that some teams play roughly the same pace all season, some bounce back and forth between good and bad, some start fast and fold at the end, and some start slow and finish fast. We won't know which profile this year's Zips fit until the end of the season.You are correct that it's a great indicator of how they will perform in the future if things continue the way they have in the past. In fact, anything that continues the way it has in the past will remain about the same. But things don't always continue the way they have in the past.Wading through all of the semantics, I believe that you and I are in total agreement on this point.

I did not say that I was against burning Nicely's redshirt under any circumstances. I've been pretty consistent in saying that Rodgers should be given a fair chance. I do not think the situation Rodgers was thrown into with IU and CMU can reasonably be defined as a "fair chance." It was pretty much a worst case scenario of being thrown into the fire with no warning.The next couple of games will make my determination. Based on his performance in these games, if it appears to me as if Rodgers cannot consistently lead the team to good performances over the remainder of the season, then I would agree that giving Nicely a shot is the smart thing to do. Even if it didn't produce more wins this year, it would allow Nicely to begin next season with more experience and a better shot at winning more games next season.But I don't think that either QB can carry the rest of the team and the coaching staff on their shoulders.

Who cares what a baseball coach thinks is wrong with a football team? I want to hear something authoritative from a swimming coach.

Are you sure it isn't that there are a bunch of lazy people working at Sporting News, who really don't know about the teams they are ranking because they don't have time to research 50 teams, looking at the field of 64 from last year and placing them somewhere between 1 and 64?Grow that....No, I'm not sure. Are you sure it is?

Don't panic. Everyone who's watched them is painfully aware that the Zips haven't looked good overall. But a cold, hard analysis of their record so far is that 1-3 is only one win less than most of us realistically expected. At this point it really doesn't matter how bad they looked in those losses. It only matters if that level of play becomes the norm for the remainder of the season.* The road losses to PSU and CMU were probabilities all along, regardless of who QBed.* The home win over MSU was a given, regardless of who QBed.* The home loss to IU is the only game so far where they lost one that they had a decent chance to win, especially if the QB situation hadn't imploded days before the game. The QB situation definitely impacted the outcome of this game, and the situation certainly cannot be blamed on Rodgers.So we now enter the part of the season that will determine whether or not the team can jell under the new QB and put the first third of the season out of their minds, or whether they are snake-bit and fold. In other words, it's time to see what kind of character this team and its coaches have.If they look bad against weaker competition, then it's time for a cold, hard analysis of where the problems lie, and what corrective action needs to be taken. If they (including Rodgers) start performing better and consistently beat weaker teams, then hang on to Nicely's redshirt and give him a chance next year to compete for becoming the starting QB for the next four seasons.The absolute worst case scenario is to burn a redshirt in a panic, throw a true freshman QB into a bad team situation and destroy his confidence. That can potentially take a long time to recover from, if ever. If Nicely respresents the long-term future of Zips football, it's not worth the risk of throwing him into the fire for a possible but far from guaranteed short-term gain.

Here's a fact, not an opinion. Many of the problems with internet forums are not from trolls, but from people who are unable to resist being provoked into responding to trolls. It's a well-known fact that the best way to get rid of trolls is to ignore them.Now I'm not saying you're a troll, because I think a lot of what you post is fair and honest opinion that's worth consideration and discussion. But it's sprinkled with a pattern of troll-like language that, intentionally or not, continually provokes people into responding in kind. Some people just can't resist responding to provocation even when the point of the provocation is to push their buttons and draw them into a round of mud rasslin.You label yourself the "Great GP1," while it appears some consider you the "Grate GP1," as in grating on other people's nerves. You seem to enjoy the theatre, and maybe some of the others do, too. It all sounds something like your description in another thread of how people in the construction business converse.I suppose that as long as there's more than one person willing to play, and the moderators think it's all within the rules of ZN, this sideshow will have a long run.

Rankings mean nothing. It is what goes on on the court that makes a team a national power. Winning the MAC is a good start, but they need to win an NCAA game. Right now, they are not even close to becoming a national power. I go to ACC basketball games....they have national powers playing. I can assure you UofA basketball is many years away from getting to that point. I do enjoy their success, but I can't kid myself.Of course rankings mean something. They represent someone's best estimate of where teams rank relative to each other. Most folks generally rank Sporting News' rankings above those of sports forum pontificators. So having Sporting News rank the Zips 50th out of several hundred teams certainly does have significance. It's based on what they've done on court in the previous season, and factoring in how that should project into this season's performance. Obviously the ratings will shuffle around all year long until the final records are in the books.No one here, least of all me, would say the Zips are ready to take on the ACC yet (well, maybe NC State ), and no one knows how long that would take to achieve in the best case scenario. The point is that the Zips have clawed their way out of the depths of mediocrity to growing recognition as a rising power, and that investment should not have to be thrown away in order to focus on another sport.There's no reason for anyone to kid themselves about Zips men's basketball. It is what it is, regardless of how many sports forum pontificators try to build it up or tear it down.

Men's basketball has a big head start over football. Over the past few years it has grown into a consistent 20+ wins per season program. Last year it made the NCAA Tournament. It also got a commitment from the highest-rated HS player ever to come to the MAC -- and not a guard or forward, but that rarest of all basketball players, a true, quality 7-foot center who can run like a gazelle. How much would the Zips football team have to grow to successfully recruit the 6th highest-ranked HS quarterback or running back in the country?With Sporting News rating the Zips the 50th best men's basketball team in the country heading into this season, the team is tantalizingly close to being recognized as a national power. It would be a tragedy to lose focus on this just as the years of investment are starting to pay off.As much as I'd like to see the football team follow that same trajectory of success, I would be immensely disappointed if it was done at the cost of sacrificing men's basketball.

Primal scream therapy (n): Psychotherapy in which the patient recalls and reenacts a particularly disturbing past experience usually occurring early in life and expresses normally repressed anger or frustration especially through spontaneous and unrestrained screams, hysteria, or violence — called also primal therapy.

It's that level of care that makes ZN such a special place. Freedom of speech is something we all hold dear. But we should all be accountable for what we say. If someone falsely and maliciously yells "Fire!" in a crowded theatre and people are injured or even killed in a stampede to the exits, that person should be prosecuted and punished if found guilty. Anonymous people on internet forums often feel liberated to say whatever comes to mind with no fear of being held accountable. Thoughtful moderating is sometimes the only thing that stands between responsible freedom of speech and total anarchy.

Tom Wistrcill had some good advice for all of us:''Adversity is part of life. How you respond to it is what is important.''