Zip Watcher

Good news Cap'n!I got your text message looking for those photos of you at your wedding. I was able to scare this one up. I think that orange might be a better color for the big fella. I'm told by those who know that orange is the color for next spring. Unfortunately NCAA regs prohibit him from borrowing Z-P's pinto .. isn't that orange?Besides, my Willy Wonka hat would fall off every time he walks through a door.

Lolla was on the search committee that hired Mack .. so the overlap was pretty minor. I don't recall how long after the presser that Mack actually started.

I'm not sure if that goes down .. didn't WKU already sign some deal to be I-A as a full member of the Sun Belt?I'd rather join WKU in C-USA as the replacements for ECU & Memphis.If Temple & WKU actually join the MAC, the decision gets a little more difficult.Hoops vs: UAB, Tulsa, UTEP, Houston, Tulaneor Hoops vs: WKU, Temple, Miami, Ball St.That's a toughie, especially since FB will drive the decision anyway.

Mmmmm ... Dinosaur!

Anyone check the math on the end stats? How do they get to that winning %?

At the moment, it would appear that all scholarships are full for 2009-2010. One becomes available at the end of 08-09 (Linhart's), and it will be filled by Zeke Marshall.At least one former player is known to peruse the site ..

If memory serves, I think that Juby Johnson was a HIGHLY regarded recruit when Miami signed him. I'm sure it's only a matter of days before mollaut stops in to verify. But I think he was among the highest profile conference hoops recruits of the past several years.

In a recent update of the Scout top 100 for the class of 2009, our man Zeke has risen to be the #8 Center in the class, and #55 rated prospect overall.Click here to see for yourself.Go Zips. Go Zeke. Go Trevor.

From a size of the school perspective, they're similar. UConn isn't a huge school .. it's closer in size to a MAC school than a Big 10 school (Storrs). CT's a small state too. But being one of the few DI schools in the state .. there was little or NO interested in UC football before they made the jump. They weren't beating everyone in sight, and turning fans away at the ticket window. In a lot of ways .. the athletic departments were similar. Greer Fieldhouse wasn't much different from the JAR or Fitzgerald at Pitt. There's more parallels than one might think.Catching lightning with Lew Perkins (AD), Calhoun and Auriemma had more to do with the leap forward than did the setting.

The infusion of resources (cash) gained from a better conference bowl & TV situation can be a contributor to the rise. It won't solve all problems (see Duke, Indiana), but as a component of a broad well thought out plan for improvement, the resources gained from a move up can directly impact the competition on the field.Also, recruiting will immediately see an impact. The day our coaches are knocking on doors with a schedule including Pitt, WVU .. etc .. we're immediately in a world where JD is getting mostly 3 star recruits and some 4, rather than mostly 2, some three and the rare 4 star guy.I disagree with the notion that you need to be dominant on one level before moving to the next. I think you do have to have adequate facilities and support structures in place to make a move. This means academic support, training and game facilities, and the like. Hoops arena is an area where we fall a bit short. But we're already dealing with 85 FB players .. that doesn't change with a vertical move like this.Hoops is closer than many realize to being competitive on that level. And a change in conferences will only help the situation. Recruiting a guy like Zeke would be the norm, not the exception. There would probably be a 2 year wait for the move to take place, in which KD & JD would have 2 classes of recruits that could be BCS level. They wouldn't be starting from a standstill .. the process could be followed.This isn't English Premier League Foo(u)tball .. moving up is a decision based on strategy, planning and execution. We don't need to have 5 straight MAC titles in all sports to consider a move upstream in competition. Marshall dominated the MAC in football .. and due to several factors, they're a doormat in C-USA. So this isn't a sure fire thing either way. A dominant team is not guaranteed to perform well with an upgrade, and a doormat is not guaranteed to remain so. It's all in the leadership, commitment and execution.UConn is a good example here. Now the school is a state flagship, so I'm well aware of underlying institutional differences, but just for arguments sake: They were a doormat for the first 8-9 years of the Big East. A doormat. They catch lightning and hire a good coach in 86 or 87 .. make a miracle shot in 89 or 90 .. get a couple of big recruits in Marshall and Allen, and now they're one of the elite major hoops teams. But they WERE a doormat .. for a long time. Their football team recently transitioned from I-AA to I-A .. a transition that involves more than jumping between conferences. In the early 90's, they never even smelled the I-AA playoffs. They weren't Marshall or YSU rolling over the competition in the Yankee conference .. they were a mediocre I-AA team that couldn't draw flies to it's 15K seat bleacher stadium. That was true less than 10 years ago.Programs are not locked into their current situation by anything other than small minded thinking and "doing things the way we do them around here." Sometimes we need to look beyond the current situation and see the alternatives.Things can be made to happen. It takes vision, execution, and sometimes .. some balls to dream big and make the dream a reality.Go Zips! Go Mack! Go Trevor.

In the longest coaching search I can ever remember, DHip is apparently one of the finalists for the FAU head spot. Mike Jarvis is the other, and it's widely reported that Jarvis will get the job.Here's a YouTube clip of the General's endorsement of DHip for the FAU job:

Put me squarely in Ryno's camp on this one. Our current conference situation is not ideal.I'm surprised at the amount of "we have nothing to offer" posting here. At first, I thought about ignoring it, but I think it should be addressed:1. We're in a significant population area with a large TV market. From its conception, this has been a significant factor in all Big East expansions / membership decisions.2. Our facilities are approaching the levels of some BCS schools, let alone C-USA. The baskeball arena would stand as the only big deficit in this regard, but concepts are already floating on a solution to that problem.2a. The Big East HOSTS THEIR INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS on UA's campus, in a UA facility. NOW.3. We have teams that would compete for championships in year 1. Men's soccer could probably win any of these leagues.4. Men's hoops would be competitive right out of the gate.5. UA is a good sized school with Engineering and Law Colleges among the best in the nation. I did type that. Not a typo.Let's not concentrate on how bad the troughs look at the Rubber Bowl, and instead on the reality that is the U today.Aside from speculation about C-USA, my first thought when reading the first link was:I sure hope Mack is on the horn calling every AD in the Big East to explain the above. He doesn't need to sell them on UA over Memphis .. he's got to sell them on UA over ECU. I know nothing about ECU, but isn't that a fair fight?Go Zips! Go Trevor.

We do have a 6'-4" shooting guard coming in this season.

ATM, the 2009 class is full. --> Zeke MarshallI believe the speculation about Conyers was just that .. internet board speculation with no real information behind it. People assuming he would leave given his minutes late in the preceding season. If you saw him at the "celebration" or heard KD's comments, you'd believe he's in the plans. Good defenders his size don't grow on trees.Jimmy's on track to get his 4th year back at the moment, and that leaves us with 1 scholi for 2009.Assuming Jimmy has 2 to play:2009 openings: 1 - Nate Linhart's spot2010 openings: 2 - Jimmy & C. McKnight2011 openings: X - McNees, B. McKnight, Bardo, Roberts (same scenario as Jimmy)

They may need to consider opening up the whole top portion of the structure entirely.

Right, the LAST thing we need here is a repeat of the fiasco the last time we had a MBB coach with big plans and success. A sure fire way to lose KD would be to pull the rug out from him (eliminate the chance of automatic bids) in an effort to boost a struggling football program / budget.We did that once .. didn't work out that well.

That's an interesting concept that no one would have considered until recently. But now with so many bowl games out there, all you'd have to do is go one game over .500 and you'd probably go bowling every year .. and keep the coin to yourself. Clearly, the guidelines on scheduling would need to be abided by (limiting 1-AA teams). The challenge might be finding 12 games especially once conference season starts. It could be done though .. but you'll never be on TV.I think it was NIU that tried the independent route in the late 80's early 90's and it didn't go so well. But with so many bowls that there's a risk of needing waivers to have enough teams each year .. this might not be as insane as everyone's initial reaction may be .. interesting.Of course, this approach mandates that all other sports have a safe home in a conference (A10, MVC, Horizon?) .. but it could be considered.

Nothing directly .. only that I don't think he'll play 4 seasons in the MAC.

Hadn't yet heard that about 2010 .. I have to believe that Roberts will find his way to scholi sooner or later. He's a big time player in the making as he showed at FSU .. so it's hard to imagine he wouldn't get help at some point. 3 more years of him provided he stays on top of the books.

Zeke is the recipient of the Zips' lone scholarship for 2009. This will be Nate Linehart's spot.KD has 2 to give for 2010-11. The seniors in 09-10 will be Conyers & C. McKnight. It's expected that Jimmy will regain his 4th year of eligibility due to his academic progress.So they can start looking at HS sophomores this summer. They're way ahead in the recruiting game .. while most of the conference spent this April filling their 08-09 rosters with unsigned guys .. the Zips have secured a verbal from a top 100 player, 4 star guy .. and the #11 center. Huge recruiting spring. It has to help them move forward and upwards.

The great thing here is that Zeke knows where he's going to play and can get back to his life and moving forward. There's a long summer of AAU ball in front of him where he will play top flight competition, and then a senior season. He's got a lot of time to add some strength, grow 3 more inches, and polish his game.I think of 08-09 as his redshirt year. No need to worry about the recruiting angles .. he can start working towards the UA style of play, conditioning .. etc without being pulled in multiple directions.Go Zips.

Having seen the big fella play a few games, I can not tell the Nation how pleased I am to read Gaffney's article.This is really, really a big deal. A potentially program changing event.Great job KD & staff .. great job Jeff.Congrats to Zeke on navigating the recruiting process to a place where he feels comfortable.Praise be to God, Allah, Yaweh, Jehova & Jobu that Zeke is headed to UA.I feel like it's my birthday. This is tremendous.Go Zips! Go Zeke!

The conference missed the opportunity a few years back when they could have aggressively pursued WKY & MTSU. Get them both, and you're up to 14 teams, you bring in 2 schools who already have a healthy dislike of each other, and the footprint is kept stable.I suspect that Rhoades & Proenza will solve the conference's problem before Zeke Marshall's junior year w/ the Zips. I don't know any inside info .. just a hunch.Go Zips!

It's also an NCAA quiet period until early July. So there's no direct contact w/ Zeke by ANY schools until that time .. Boals being in the gym on 30 April probably was not a coincidence.So we wait and hope. Go Zips .. Go Zeke.

You're not God, Nickerson. You're just a typing teacher.