Quickzips

Updated to include the recent transfer of Brian Walsh from Xavier. Zips are now down to one unaccounted for scholarship for next season by my calculations. KD definitly needs to find a PG to fill that last position. We can't go into 2011-12 with Alex Abreu as our only PG on the roster.

Appears I may have jumped the gun a little bit in calling him a PG. The original article I read called him a PG, most sites I'm seeing now have him as a SG/SF. Walsh was highly touted coming out of high school as a three star recruit with offers from Xavier, Duquesne, Maryland, Memphis, Penn State, Pittsburgh, St. Joe's and West Virginia. ESPN called him the best player in his class in Western Pennsylvania. From the Xavier boards it appears that injuries and the presence of Jordan Crawford held him back in his two years at Xavier. Hopefully their loss is our gain.

Former Xavier PG Brian Walsh appears to be transfering to the Zips. He will have to sit out the 2010-11 season, but will be eligible again in 2011-12 when he will have two years left to play. Walsh is a 6'4" 205lb who played just under 5 minutes per game last season for the Musketeers. More here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10217/1077619-450.stm

PG's are flying off the board. At this rate the KD better hope that Dylan Ennis swings back around. Nyles Evans is also still available. Outside of that the Zips PG board is looking pretty thin.

The PG's are dropping like flies right now. Can't really blame a kid for picking Michigan State, with Izzo's recent track record he's practically guaranteed a chance at a final four some time during his career.

Don't dismiss Moore so quickly. He's a solid player. His size is the only thing holding him back from garnering more attention from bigger programs, but he's plenty capable of running the point. In the MAC size isn't the be-all, end-all for PG's. You look at some of the best PG's in the conference over the last few years and they are all either under 6'0" or they are undersized SG's who are asked to play the point because their team has nobody else to. Though he wouldn't be my first choice of the PG's on our list for next year, I would certainly welcome the addition of Moore if we land him.

Added Jarrell McKinney from Cooley High School in Detroit.

Updated to include White, Wright and the verbal committment of Taylor to OU. Taylor to OU takes away one of my top choices to fill the gapping hole in our PG depth chart. Zips still have two available scholarships at this point. Still a lot of talent on the Zips radar including Sampson (unlikely), Abell, Crider, Ennis, Fant, Grady, Lewis, Moore, Thomas and Trice. Zips definitley need to land a quality PG from this class though. Ennis, Lewis, Moore and Trice are all still on the board. Any one of them would look great in Blue and Gold.

Definitly a puzzling and troubling move all in one. Puzzling in the fact that with D.J. Cooper entrenched as the starting PG, a talented kid like Taylor has pretty well relegated himself to bench duty for at least his first two years of college ball. Cooper and Taylor are very much the same kind of player, and I can't imagine having enough room to play each of them major minutes. Troubling in the fact that for the next six years Ohio should be VERY good at PG. Barring someone else landing a couple of real studs, OU will easily have the best PG combonation in the conference come 2011-12. You need more than just good PG's to win in the MAC, but having them does go a long way.

Also added Timmy Knipp from Elliott County in Kentucky. Reminds me a little of a Josh Egner athletically with better scoring ability. Averaged over 30 points per game last season. Found another youtube video on him after I posted that gives you a little better taste of his game. ! Edit: Have to say, the more I watch of this Knipp kid the more I like. He seems like he can do just about everything. Three point shooting, dribble drives, passing, finishing at the rim. Not to mention his shot blocking. Watching his highlight video I can't help but think of the defensive possibilities of having him, Egner and Zeke on the floor at the same time. I don't think an opponent would be able to get a shot off inside.

Added Moore to the list. Looks like KD is going hard after another point following the Ennis de-commit. PG is the biggest hole on the Zips 2011-12 roster with only Abreu on the roster at this point who has any capability of playing the position. Zips must find another PG out of this class who can step in right away and at least play backup minutes. Moore could fit the bill, although my preference would be Stevie Taylor (or getting Ennis to re-think things).

To be fair, I think a lot of those schools are schools HE'S looking at. Not necessarily that are looking at him. Often times these kids will go take "visits" to schools that haven't expressed much if any interest in them, hoping to convince the coach to offer them. He might claim they are "showing interest", but more than likely his idea of showing interest goes something like this: Willie: "Hey <insert coaches name>, this is Willie Moore" Coach: "Who?" Willie: "I play basketball for Cincinnati Aiken High School, Class of 2012" Coach: "Ohh, yeah, Willie Moore, right..." hold hand over the phone, whisper to assistant coach "Did we offer a kid named Willie Moore from Cincinnati?" Willie: "Yeah, well coach, I really wanted to come down and check out your program some time, ya know, take a look around, talk to ya some." Coach: "Hey, great, well...let me know when your gonna be in town and we'll see if we can arrange some time for ya, and if you want to send us some game film, feel free, we'll try and take a look at it." Willie: "GREAT!" To be fair though, it does appear that Xavier has offered him. I'd love to see a 6'3" PG on the Zips.

By my calculations you are indeed correct. Of course, as we saw this year, nothing is ever for certain in number of scholarships open. Still have not heard anything heads or tails on Storm Sanders. As far as what we should be focusing on with the remaining spots we REALLY need another PG (if Ennis isn't coming in and the rumors on Storm are false, then our only PG on the roster next year would be Abreu) and another C to start grooming behind Zeke would be nice. Of course if you can land a stud like Sampson you take him regardless of position, but I don't realistically think we are in the running for Sampson at all at this point. I know people will point to Zeke and say, "highly touted guy, came to Akron anyways," but Zeke is the exception, not the rule. Everything you read on Sampson points to him being more interested in the bigger programs.

I think you have it nailed down. Maybe Ennis is heading somewhere else. Sanders missed most of his senior season of high school ball with health problems, so that might be why other schools backed off. True. He had a blood clot in his heart in early October 2009, soon after having knee surgery. Sad to hear that. Sounds like a Ronnie Steward kind of situation. Kid who has talent but is just hamstrung (in some cases literally) by bad luck in the injury department. Wherever he ends up, I wish the kid the best.

Just taking a wild guess out of left field with no first hand information here. Maybe another greyshirt for 2011? We've already got one greyshirt in forward Nick Harney from Benedictine, maybe the writing is on the wall for Ennis going elsewhere and KD is covering his bases by having Sanders waiting in the wings. From what I've read about him it sounds like he exploded on the scene early in his high school career, but not a lot of information on him since then. Can anyone confirm what the deal is with this kid?

Yes indeed, very fun to watch...however If I remember correctly, we primarily ran out of a running formation with a fullback when Biggs was here most of the time, not this crap Shotgun-run nonsense of the past few years right? Hopefully going back to a proper running attack will allow our backs to get back to the Payne/Hendry/Biggs days. Correct, the running game had changed to a more shotgun, read oriented system the past few years. Our backs were being asked to take the ball practically from a standing start after the quarterback had made a read on the defense and turn it into something. It was an offensive scheme that put the back at a disadvantage from the get go. I to hope we can get back to a more traditional style offense this year. Put the QB under center and let the RB get a head of steam going when he takes the ball. Please, you're leaving out the intimidating "ten second stare at the sideline" before the snap. Man was our offense pathetic or what. Consistently handing the ball off to a stationary back absolutely sucks. I don't ever, ever want to have to watch that again. Well who can forget that sideline stare. Really threw the defense off. I mean, we were an offensive juggernaut. Seriously, the shotgun draw play can be effective if used sparingly in proper situations, but to make it your primary running play, and at times your only running play, is just foolish.

For anyone who is interested, the end of the 2010 RPI's for our confirmed 2010-2011 OOC Opponents: Cleveland State-156 Youngstown State-269 Oral Roberts-130 Dayton-35 Minnesota-64 Temple-11 Oakland-53 UIC-288 Miami(FL)-98 Indiana State-90 Not a bad mix in there. The only really bad games are Youngstown State and UIC. Youngstown State I'm willing to give a pass on because the geographic issues and potential for increased attendance outweigh some of the negatives of that crummy RPI number. I'm rather surprised by the Oakland number, wouldn't have expected them to be that high. A few more top-50 and top-100 RPI teams to fill things out and MAYBE that schedule is capable of getting us some at large consideration. Still have to win some of those big games, and you can't lose to Youngstown State or UIC really, but the potential is at least there this year as opposed to years past.

ZW, I really like your starting line up. It puts four proven players on the floor to start the game/season. Abreu needs to be backed up by an under class man. Putting Steve back on the point will eventually lead to the same break down the Zips suffered last year. You do not develop players by letting them sit. One or two incoming players are likely to be red shirted. Problem being that we don't have another underclassman that is capable of running the point when Abreu is out. Our guard situation looks like this: Abreu: Underclassman PG McNees: Senior Combo-Guard Roberts: Senior SG who can play emergency minutes at PG if needed McClanahan: Junior SG who can play SF at times but by no means should be playing PG Diggs: Sophomore SG/SF who probably isn't equipped to play SG Peterson: Sophomore walk-on SG Unless you are going to play Peterson the backup minutes at PG which I doubt is a good idea you are going to have an upper classman playing those minutes and the most likely candidate is McNees.

Can McNees play point guard? Yes. He can. We all know he can. But he does it as a shoot first point guard and his assist numbers over his career back that up. Now that is fine if you are playing with a few other guys on the floor who can create their own shot, but the Zips don't have that luxury. About the only other guy on this team that can create his own shot is Brett McKnight. So McNees becomes a little bit of a liability at times because his strength isn't getting his teamates involved. Defenses can key in on him and McKnight and force those two to try and beat us. Now you put McNees at SG with a PG whose strength is creating good looks for his teamates and not only does McNees become more effective, but there is a trickle down effect to the rest of the team. It is why Abreu was brought in this summer and it is what I expect to see a lot more of next season.

I still think this topic has only been started, and has continued to this point as just another outlet for people to complain about LeBron and his decisions and I don't think that is the purpose of this forum, nor do I agree with the manner it has gone about. In an attempt to actually discuss something that is at least relevant to Zips basketball, I will say this. I don't think now is the time nor the place to be making a decision about the future of the LeBron/UA connection. Emotions are too high right now, the wounds too fresh. Classes aren't in session right now, none of our athletic teams are playing and media attention to College Athletics in general is at its lowest point of the year. It isn't going to harm us in any way to sit back, take a few weeks to let things calm down and then sit down and weigh the pros and cons of our connection to LeBron and decide what to do. I don't personally know what that decision will be or should be, but I know that the people who make that decision are not going to sit down today and have a big meeting calling LeBron every name in the book, insulting his family and deciding based on pure emotion. I am sure that Proenza, Wistricil, Dambrot and Company will sit down in the coming weeks and have a rational discussion about this. There is more that goes into it then, "LeBron is such a bad guy, we need to cut ties with him."

Oh for God's sake ZW what is your problem? Is it possible for you not to come across as a prude old scold? I've seen far more objectionable material on these boards than I included in any of the posts here. Ban me if it will unbunch your underpants, but the LBJ-UA connectivity issue is something that will have to be addressed, and soon. If some take offense to questions about LeQuit and his weird and unseemly connection(s) to UA, tough. It is completely germain to ask whether his betrayal, and the obvious now-brewing aftermath and blowback in NE Ohio, are things that the university wants to be connected to. Being cozy with the new Art Modell would be a huge mistake for the university from here on out. Also, how can it be that 2 full days after "The Decision" no supposed Zips BB fans on these boards have even thought to post about this issue? Can you not see the potential problems to come regarding the cozy BB-program relationship that UA has forged with the Chosen One? You can't see that UA stands to suffer mightily in blowback and being stained by their connections to LBJ as the ugly stories about him start to leak out now that he's gone? I know you fancy yourself as a huge Zips BB fan and booster, but I have to question the motive behind your post trying to slap me down ZW. First off you might want to check out: http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?showtopic=18777 and http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?showtopic=18782 and http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?showtopic=18784 and http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?showtopic=18776 If your wondering where I found these threads go ahead and scroll down just a little bit to the "Off Topic, Smack & Jokes" Forum below. Second off, nice knowing you. With the way you are coming off in this thread it won't be too long before your no longer welcome on these forums.

I would make a couple of tweeks: PG: Alex Abreu, Steve McNees, Daryl Roberts, Kyle Peterson No real argument there. To me, the late recruitment of Abreu represents KD recognizing that he needs a PG on the floor who can create good shots for others. Abreu is that kind of PG. McNees has done an admirable job under the circumstances the last couple of years, but his talents are better suited for the SG position and I think KD realizes this. McNees at SG + Abreu at PG getting him some better looks > McNees at PG and anyone else we have on our roster at SG. Roberts and Peterson should only see time at PG in extreme emergency's. SG: Steve McNees, Daryl Roberts, Quincy Diggs, Brett McClanahan, Kyle Peterson Nothing major here, just don't think McClanahan is going to get much playing time at all. I think McNees will be a lot more effective next year playing at SG with a pass first PG next to him. Roberts will be the first guard and probably the first player over all off the bench. I think you will see some lineups with Diggs at SG as well, particularly against teams featuring longer, more athletic SG's. Again, I think McClanahan is going to continue to see his minutes drop. He's never really put it together and save a Conyers like breakout season I don't think he ever will. Peterson will be in there for garbage time and emergency situations. SF: Quincy Diggs, Josh Egner, Brett McKnight, Brett McClanahan, CJ Oldham, Michael Green(Redshirt) Diggs was recruited here specifically because of our lack of a SF. I know he played SG most of his career up until now, but in KD's system it looks like he is going to be primarily a SF. I think he will be given the first opportunity at the starting job. I have yet to see Egner play in person, but from what I have heard it sounds like he has all the necessary tools to be a SF for us except for a little more reliable jump shot. I think you will see him split time between SF and PF. McKnight has been tried at SF before on multiple occassions and it really isn't the best place for him. He's more of a PF who can step out and knock down the long J. He might get a few minutes at SF here and there depending on matchups, but I think he will spend most of his time at PF. McClanahan and Oldham are emergency situations. I expect Michael Green to see a redshirt year. PF: Brett McKnight, Nikola Cvetinovic, Josh Egner, Dakotah Euton(Redshirt) Again, I think McKnight gets the majority of the minutes at PF. He's a senior, and he's pretty much the best returning scorer on our roster. Nikola will see a lot of minutes as well, but will split them between PF and C. As has been the case with him the last couple of years, his minutes will depend a lot on how well he is harnessing his emotions. If his emotions start getting the best of him, his minutes will go down. If he is playing controlled yet passionate, he will get more of a run. Egner will take some minutes here as well. I would like to see what Euton can do, but right now he kind of looks like an odd man out as far as minutes go this year. C: Mike Bardo, Nikola Cvetinovic, Zeke Marshall Just kidding C: Zeke Marshall, Nikola Cvetinovic, Mike Bardo, Dakotah Euton(Redshirt) Of course Zeke will be starting here. This is probably the easiest starting spot on the team to pencil in. Zeke has been working hard all summer, has added muscle and looks to be ready for a breakout year after getting his feet wet last season. Nikola should see the majority of the backup minutes here, but I expect that KD will carve out a few minutes for the senior Bardo. Mike isn't going to give you a lot, but he's good for 5-10 minutes a game throwing his body around and taking a couple fouls.

Question SeeTeeZip, are you really that concerned about the future of Akron Basketball based on the connection to LeBron, or are you just looking for another outlet to vent your frustration with the man? To me it seems like the latter. Don't get me wrong, I'm upset about his decision as well. I don't like the decision itself and I don't like the way he went about it. But this is the Akron Zips Basketball forum, and if all you are trying to do is rile up more anger about LeBron then this doesn't really belong here. Particularly some of the name calling you are partaking in that is rather inappropriate for our younger crowd. If you would like, I can give you the links to a couple of large Cleveland Cavaliers fan forums where this kind of stuff is a lot more welcome right now, or maybe just move this stuff on over to the off topic board.

Yes indeed, very fun to watch...however If I remember correctly, we primarily ran out of a running formation with a fullback when Biggs was here most of the time, not this crap Shotgun-run nonsense of the past few years right? Hopefully going back to a proper running attack will allow our backs to get back to the Payne/Hendry/Biggs days. Correct, the running game had changed to a more shotgun, read oriented system the past few years. Our backs were being asked to take the ball practically from a standing start after the quarterback had made a read on the defense and turn it into something. It was an offensive scheme that put the back at a disadvantage from the get go. I to hope we can get back to a more traditional style offense this year. Put the QB under center and let the RB get a head of steam going when he takes the ball.

Biggs played the running back position like it was supposed to be played. One cut, and head downhill. None of this pitter patter, dancing around looking for a hole stuff that so many backs think they can get away with now days. Wish we had a back like him on the current roster. Would definitly take a lot of pressure off the young QB's.