Quickzips

Great news. Certainly much better than last weeks big hoops news, although I agree that it is going to hurt at times this year thinking of just how deep this team would have been with Q in the fold.

I have no clue what Q did, but I'm pretty sure the answer lies somewhere in here (not to try to fuel speculation): http://www.uakron.edu/ogc/UniversityRules/pdf/41-01.pdf

I think you are understating the importance of Quincy to this years roster. There isn't another player on this team with his combination of size, length, skill set and ability to play multiple positions. It is what made him so valuable to us a year ago, and it is why he was named 6th man of the year. Without him the Zips will have to have Betancourt ready to play the backup PG role that Q played last year (most assumed that he would anyway, but it is now a must), they will also need to find someone who they can insert into the lineup and take on the challenge of defending the other teams best perimeter player (Walsh is a good defender but lacks Q's length, Chauncey has had moments of good defense but lacks consistency, Deji is completely unproven as are Justice, McAdams and Kretzer). Not to mention losing the diversity he brings as a scorer (one of our better 3 point shooters, a guy who can create his own shot off the dribble and arguably our best mid-range shooter). This is a big loss for the Zips no matter which way you slice it.

Unreal. Just like that the Zips go from a MAC favorite with depth at every position and no significant holes to speak of to a team with depth issues on the wings and a significant hole to fill. Any question as to whether OU or Akron should be considered the front runner headed into the season is now definitively answered in favor of the Bobcats. Our depth on the wings is gone at this point, and we are left without a proven, versatile defender who can guard multiple positions. Huge loss for the Zips. Just unreal. I hope whatever Q did he learned his lesson. Time to grow up young man. Welcome to the real world. In the short term I think we are going to see a lot more of Chauncey Gilliam this year as he will not only be looked at to start, but also to play a major role as one of only two experienced wings on the roster. I think we will also see a good deal of Deji Ibitayo this year as his physical tools make him the most likely candidate to take over some of Q's defensive responsibilities. Could we see the redshirt burned for McAdams and/or Kretzer?

Diggs won't be back after this season one way or another. Unless he becomes eligible for a medical redshirt (I hope not), he will run out of eligibility at the end of this coming season. To my mind (no insider info here, just pure, unadulterated speculation) the most likely scenario has Josh Egner transferring out in search of playing time. He hasn't seen a lot of playing time in two years here. He will likely enter this season behind Tree and Harney on the depth chart at PF and Zeke and possibly Pat F. at C (e.g., there likely won't be much playing time for him again next year). Then you look at next season and you have Tree, Harney, Pat. F, Cheatham and Big Ike that will be competing with him for playing time. Next most likely scenario to me is Blake Justice leaving in search of playing time, but that is much more difficult for me to predict as we haven't seen Blake play at all yet, and there will be quite a bit of playing time available on the wings after this season with Walsh, Q and Chauncey all graduating.

I had no idea one little comment was going to cause such a stir around here. Back to the topic at hand, I'm glad to see that Ike is dropping weight to get in basketball shape. 275 is pretty heavy, even for a guy who is 6'9". 250-260 would be a good playing weight for him in my mind. I could honestly care less if he dunks the ball a lot or not. My bigger concern is whether or not he will be able to get up and down the floor. The Zips have been clearly recruiting for a faster more up-tempo team the last few years. Putting a guy in place who labors to get up and down the floor would be like putting a square peg in a round hole. Think Matt Stainbrook on last years squad instead of Zeke. Better yet, think Shaq with the Cavs. In the end, I'm looking forward to seeing Ike in the blue and gold. Now to distract us again. If, IF KD plans on over-recruiting this year, Jack Gibbs would certainly be a good addition. Although I'm also curious about this young man whom the Zips are reported as checking out at an open gym (along with a number of other schools) recently http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/re...lannigan-113736 . Either one would be a nice cherry on the top of what is already looking like one of the best recruiting classes in not only Zips history, but MAC history as well.

Sorry to leave you hanging. If you look back at the last few signing days starting with the 2010 class Dambrot has been recruiting at least 1 more player than he had expected scholarships to give (I base expected scholarships on number of players whose eligibility will run out at the end of the previous season). In 2010 we signed Josh Egner, Dakotah Euton and Michael Green despite having only Jimmy Conyers and Chris McKinght completing their eligibility. This ended up being a very odd year because by the end of it Humpty Hitchens had left the program (opening up the third scholarship) as had Ronnie Steward and Alex Sullivan (which allowed us to bring in Quincy Diggs and Alex Abreu). As a side note, where would that class have been without Q and Rico? I shudder to think. In 2011 we signed Blake Justice and Deji Ibitayo and also had Nick Harney and Demetrius Treadwell coming on scholarship. 2011 we didn't really over-sign as we had Steve McNees, Daryl Roberts, Brett McKnight and Mike Bardo completing their eligibility. 2012 signing day we signed Reggie McAdams, Jake Kretzer and Carmelo Betancourt despite having only two players on scholarship (Nik Cvetinovic and Brett McClanahan) who would be completing their eligibility. Now Michael Green left the program mid-season last year, which opened up the third scholarship we needed, but we were still over-committed as of signing day. So 2 out of the last 3 years we have "over-recruited" (I apologize if I am not using the correct terminology here). At first I really wasn't in favor of it, but it is starting to make sense. With how deep this roster has been over the last few years, it is highly likely that we are going to continue to have players transferring out of the program because they are getting lost in the numbers game. In this case you have 3 options. 1 - Over-recruit on the assumption that someone is going to leave. 2 - Wait until someone leaves and try to pick up a diamond in the rough during the late signing period (pretty difficult to do). 3 - Bank the scholarship and use it the following season (leaves you open to being short handed if injuries hit).

A few weeks back B.J. Gladden, Aaron Jackson, Jack Gibbs and Isaiah Johnson were all spotted on campus for a visit during the opening night for the football team. Today 3 of those 4 have committed to playing for the Zips. If I were KD I would find out a minute by minute itinerary of what happened during those visits and make sure it is followed in painstaking detail every time a recruit comes to campus. Great pickup for the Zips. With Zeke, Forsythe and now big Ike in the fold the Zips are set at C for the next 5 years. Unless KD decides to over-recruit (which has been his MO the last few years) this should wrap up the 2013 class for Akron. Here is a look at our scholarships for 2013-14. PG - Abreu PG - Betancourt SG - Ibitayo SG - Justice SG - McAdams SF - Kretzer SF - Gladden SF - Jackson PF - Harney PF - Treadwell PF - Egner C - Forsythe C - Johnson

As I think I hinted at in a previous thread, if Jackson works out nearly as well as our last wing from Gahanna Lincoln he should be a very nice addition to the Zips.

Gladden and Jackson sounds like a nice start on replacing Q, Walsh and Chauncey after this season. Add in McAdams and Kretzer who will already have a year under their belt and we are looking like we are in pretty good shape. One more scholarship to give for the 2013 class. Does KD look for another big to split some of the load with Pat F. or does he go smaller and look for a PG who he can be groomed under Abreu and Betancourt?

Zips have to hope that they can do some damage in San Juan, because this is FAR from a schedule that is built for getting at-large consideration. Very disappointing given the level of talent we have coming back this year. While MTSU, Creighton, CSU and Princeton are all nice solid mid-major programs, even if you win all 4 of those it won't be enough to get you there. John Carroll as a regular season game is just absolutely unacceptable. Outside of San Juan this schedule does absolutely nothing to challenge this years edition of the Zips. It will take minimum 28 wins during the regular season and a heck of a good bracket buster matchup for that schedule to even sniff a hint of bubble consideration. Two things holding this program back from gaining more of a fanbase in NEOhio: 1) The JAR 2) Going into every season treating it like the only chance you have at the dance is 4 days at the Q in March. If KD doesn't believe the regular season matters, why should I?

If LeBron really had a significant impact on his recruiting I will gladly thank him, but he still gets too much credit for not doing as much for the University as a lot of people think. As of right now our roster for 2013-14 likely looks something like this: PGs: Abreu, Betancourt Wings: Walsh*, Ibitayo, Justice, McAdams, Kretzer, Gladden Bigs: Harney, Treadwell, Egner, Forsythe *for Walsh because it is still uncertain if he will get an extra year of eligibility back from earlier in his career. That leaves us with either 1 or 2 more scholarships depending on Walsh's situation. If Walsh gets his extra year back I would love to see us use that 1 remaining scholarship on a big. Isaiah Johnson seems to have a lot of interest and I think he would look great in Blue and Gold. If Walsh is done after this year I would like to see us use the one scholarship on a wing forward type. Aaron Jackson from Gahanna Lincoln would be the most likely possibility there. The other scholarship I would either like to see used on a big (see Johnson) or bringing in another PG who could redshirt and be ready to take over some minutes after Abreu graduates. Jack Gibbs would be an excellent choice. I also think it would be interesting to pair BJ Gladden (LeBron's cousin) up with Elijah Brown (son of former Cavaliers coach Mike Brown).

Big time get for the Zips. When you are getting a guy to come here over offers from respected ACC and SEC programs like Wake Forest and Tennessee you are doing something right. This should help fill a huge void left by the departure of Q and Chauncey at the end of this year.

Disagree on the quality of the write-up. Nik Cvetinovic might have hit a few 3's over the course of his career, and tried to re-mold himself into a stretch 4 his senior year, but to call him a player who could "step outside and knock down the long ball" is a stretch. Jake Kretzer as the most likely candidate to replace McClanahan's minutes over McAdams and Justice is another stretch. Everything I've heard is that McAdams is that he is much more than a "versatile defensive presence." They also completely forget about Deji Ibitayo in that portion of the conversation. Finally, and most importantly, this laughable notion that we will start Walsh, Gilliam and Q at the 2-4 spots. None of those guys are even remotely capable of playing significant minutes at the 4. The writer apparently hasn't heard of Demetrius Treadwell or Nick Harney. Heck, I would suspect KD would start Egner at the 4 before he would consider starting Walsh, Gilliam or Q there.

My guess is Big Ike would be Isaiah Johnson who has been widely reported to be visiting the Zips with a good amount of interest. He is a 6'9" 275lb C out of Cincinnati with offers from the Zips, Xavier, Ohio and Can't. IF he were to commit to the Zips the C position would seemingly be set for the next 5 years for the Zips between Zeke, Forsythe and Ike. BJ would likely be BJ Gladden, a 6'5" 185lb SF out of Charlotte NC. He has offers from Wake Forest and Xavier amongst others. Not a surprise in the least that we are going hard after guys like Gladden and Jackson. With Forsythe in the loop our seemingly largest hole headed into next offseason (a C to replace Zeke) would seem to be handled. Now the focus has to be on finding some talent at SF where we will be losing Diggs and Gilliam at the end of the year. That will leave Jake Kretzer as the only real 3 on the roster. Harney can play some 3 if needed, and I suspect that McAdams would be an option there if we really needed it, but you have to imagine that KD does not want to go into 2013-14 with only one 3 on the roster. On another note, those 4 players represent some very significant talent on campus. In addition to Ike and BJ, Jack Gibbs is a 3 star PG with a number of offers (Bowling Green, Ohio, Toledo, James Madison, Davidson included). Jackson is a 6'6" SF out of Gahanna Lincoln (the last SF we had from Gahanna Lincoln worked out pretty well for us if I recall correctly) with offers from Ohio and Toledo. If KD can get 2 or 3 of these guys to commit it would be a heck of a nice recruiting class for the Zips.

Not a whole lot of new information in here if you are a regular of the Zipsnation, but it is nice to see the Cleveland media giving a little bit of love to the Zips hoopsters, particularly this early in the summer. No doubt about the fact that the Zips are loaded this year. All you have to do is take a look at the OOC schedule for this year and you can tell that KD knows it too. This is not a schedule that you put together for a team that has a lot of question marks and is relying on a lof of youngsters to be key contributors. Of course, all eyes are going to continue to be on Zeke as this is his senior year and his last chance to make good on all the excitement that followed his commitment to the program. Although Zeke will garner most of the attention I think the two biggest keys to this season will be the progress of our two second year forwards and the impact of Carmelo Betancourt. Tree and Harney will have all of the load on them at the PF spot this year with Cvetinovic gone. If they are able to handle that the Zips will be in a much better position. Harney worries me more than Tree who really put things together quite well the final third of the season last year. Betancourt may be an even bigger key for this team. If he can spell Alex at PG for 10-12 minutes per night it will take all kinds of pressure off the team. Alex will stay healthier with less minutes on that cranky leg, Q will be able to play more of the wing guard/forward where he is better suited and we will (hopefully) have a true floor general on the court at all times who can set up his teamates. Ohio and Akron will almost assuredly be the class of the conference this year with EMU, Toledo, Can't, Buffalo and possibly BG all duking it out for third. At this point I don't know who has the clear edge, the Bobcats or the Zips. Based on last years results you have to go with OU, but that coaching change can have big implications for a veteran team returning all of their key contributors (see the 2011-12 Can't squad). At this point I think you have to call the Zips and the Bobcats 1a and 1b. Toledo looks primed to take that next step back to relevance in the MAC, but you have to wonder how that postseason ban is going to affect their psyche. If Can't were any other program I wouldn't put them in the conversation with all they have lost (Greene, Porrini, Manns, etc.), but this is Can't, and they always seem to find a way to scrounge up some unheralded JUCO who ends up as an all-conference performer. Buffalo has a lot of talent, but I think the loss of Watt is really going to hurt them, and will particularly have an impact on McCrae who will be expected to carry more of the load up front. BG returns a lot of their team from last year, but they were only a mid-pack team a year ago. Does another year together make that much of a difference for them or not? EMU is the team that is most puzzling to me. I just can't figure out if they are really a legit contender in the MAC overall or if they just caught a little lightning in a bottle last year with a new coaching staff and a new style of play against an abysml West division. I know I should be looking forward to football season with the new coaching staff and renewed excitement, but with everything the hoopsters have going for them coming into this year I am much more excited about the start of the hoops season.

Having two 7 footers on the floor at the same time sounds all fine and dandy until you realize that one of them has to defend your opponents 4. With the proliferation of the "stretch 4" throughout the college and pro game you almost have to have one big on the floor who can defend out to the 3 point line. We all know this is not Zeke's specialty, and it really isn't where you want to see him defending anyways. Unless Forsythe has the lateral quickness necessary to get the job done out there all we would be doing would be creating a huge liability on the defensive end. The other part of the equation here is, lets say Forsythe starts and plays 15 minutes at PF and plays another 10 or so at C while Zeke is out of the game. Now what do you do with Harney and Tree. Those are two talented 6'8" forwards that you only have 25 minutes to divide between. Sure you can probably play Harney a bit at SF (probably can't do so with Tree) but then you are taking minutes away from Chauncey and Q. I know everyone loves the idea of two 7 footers on the floor at the same time, but I don't think we should be expecting to see very much of it. I think what we should be more excited about, at least for the time being, is having at least one 7 footer on the floor at all times.

My guess would be that we will see Egner transfer out. No real inside information here, just pure speculation. After two years and not much playing time, injuries and with Tree, Harney, Zeke and Pat F. in town there won't be much playing time for him. He could transfer somewhere else this year, use the redshirt and still have two years of eligibility left. If not Egner my second guess would be either Deji or Justice depending upon which one feels they are least likely to see playing time this year.

Neither will probably get much consideration. Both will be playing relatively limited minutes behind established, veteran starters. Newcomer of the Year will likely go to someone on a MAC West team or on a team like Can't that lost a significant number of seniors this past year.

Huge, HUGE get for the Zips if this pans out and he can play next year. Akron was after Forsythe a year ago before he committed to WVU. To get him now after a year in Huggins program is a big get for the Zips. Having two athletic 7 footers who can run the floor gives us an advantage over pretty much any team we will play this year. PG: Abreu, Betancourt SG: Walsh, Deji SF: Gilliam, Diggs PF: Tree, Harney C: Zeke, Forsythe

The problem with Christian's recruiting is a matter of the type of kids he recruits. The majority of kids that saw time under him at Can't were 2 year JUCO kids and/or kids with checkered pasts. Look for OU to spend a lot more time in the police blotter with Christian in town.

This can't be welcome news for the OU faithful. He was a fairly average coach by Can't standards when he was there and flammed out big-time at TCU. Best they can hope for is that he is coming home to Ohio to lick his wounds and ends up having a Gary Waters like impact, but this has to be a pretty big disappointment for them. Jeff Boals would have been a far better option.

All this KD to Duquesne talk is starting to make me nervous. At first I just dismissed it as pie in the sky dreaming by one or two random Duke fans, but this thing seems to have a little momentum. No idea why KD would do it, but the rumor just doesn't seem to want to go away. I'll be happy when DU announces a new head coach not named Keith Dambrot.

At this point I'll take Demetrius Treadwell and Nick Harney over what I saw out of Euton. That was basically the trade off we made, and I think we ended up on the good side of that one.

Most likely scenarios are that Cooper either stays for his senior year at OU under a new coach or follows Groce to Illinois. The NBA is never going to seriously consider him. He's 5'8", rail thin, is only an average passer by NBA standards, has no concept of shot selection and has pretty well already hit his ceiling. Overseas is generally looked at as a last resort option for most U.S. born players. You usually only see them go that route if they have graduated and can't find a spot in the league or if they are unable to qualify for the NCAA out of high school. I don't know that I buy that Cooper is leaving. I guess I'll believe it when I see it. It would certainly be a blow to the Bobcats, but let's not forget that they have another pretty good PG in the same mold is Cooper waiting on the bench in Stevie Taylor. I'm not saying there wouldn't be a drop-off, but OU would not be left with a huge, un-fillable void at PG if Coop decided to bolt with Groce.