Quickzips

EA is the only one I've ever seen refer to Gilliam as a forward or as being 235lbs. Everyplace else I've ever seen has him as a guard at around 220lbs.

I know what you're thinking, but please note how I put "experienced" into that equation. In my opinion, that leaves only two true guards who are really capable of running the team, have had any real extensive playing time, and know the system. I hope the new guys step up really quick, and that we see more contribution from McClanahan. There is a certain experience factor that I admit will be a bit of an unknown. We are probably going to be relying heavily on McNees and Roberts until Abreu is ready to run the show. Alex is going to have to get to the point where he can give us 20-25 good minutes at the point relatively quickly. This is also something of a second chance for McClanahan. He'll presumably be going back to his natural SG position. I just hope we haven't bounced him around so much that we've wrecked any potential he might have had.

Are you sure? Gilliam will be on scholarship next year while he sits, unless the UMBC coach refuses to release him. With Humpty transfering out Gilliam will take over his scholarship. With four graduating seniors (McNees, Roberts, McKnight, Bardo) that means we will still have four scholarships to give next season. Three of those have already been taken (Ennis, Justice, Harney), leaving us with one left. It is entirely possible I am wrong on this, but that is how I figure it anyways.

I have to believe the Steward/Sullivan transfers had a lot more to do with the addition of Abreu than it did with any decision on the part of Humpty. As far as our guard depth, we still have McNees, Abreu, Roberts, McClanahan and Diggs who can play some SG. We've played with less guard depth before (think Dru, Dials, Middleton, who else did we have behind those guys?). I think we will be just fine for guard depth. As far as Gilliam's academic issues it looks like those were all resolved before last year. From what I saw he got an "incomplete" on one course and was initially ruled academically ineligible for last fall semester, but completed the course and was reinstated. Doesn't sound like a situation of a kid who is failing academically or anything like that. Twitter fanatics may be interested in Gilliams page. Looks like this decision was made at least as far back as April 30. http://twitter.com/CG005

Updated to include transfer of Chauncey Gilliam. By my calculations the Zips will still have one scholarship to give for next season.

Pretty happy with the Gilliam transfer, as I stated in the other thread. We are getting a kid who lead his team in scoring last year, shoots well from the free throw line, is a relatively consistent scorer and appears to have active hands on the defensive end. Whats more, with Roberts and McNees graduating this year we are going to need a SG who can come in and pick up the slack. We still have McClanahan, but he has been a pretty big disappointment at this venture. Outside of that we will have a true freshman trying to make a big jump from lower level high school play in Blake Justice as our only other SG. Gilliam should hopefully stabilize that situation a bit.

Gilliam has already played two years without a redshirt. After sitting one year he will have two year remaining. The Hitchens part of this story is certainly the worst kept secret in Zipsnation. The handwriting has been on the wall on this one for a long time. I think at this venture Humpty just needed a fresh start. I will be sad to see him go, as he was always a lot of fun to watch on the floor. But he needs a program that will give him a little more freedom to run the show his way, improvising and making high risk/high reward plays. That has never been, and will never be the Dambrot style. As far as Gilliam, I welcome the opportunity to have a bigger guard come into the program (presuming we don't pull a Diggs with him and intend to move him to SG). UMBC might not be a big name program, but the kid did average better than 13 points per game for them last year. That is three points per game better than anyone on the Zips. He's also a pretty consistent scorer, putting up double figure point totals in 12 of his last 13 last season. I worry about the significant dip in his FG% from his freshman year (51.4%) to his sophomore year (41.6%) but if the law of averages takes over you would expect him to average out around a nice reasonable 45%-47% shooting. He was the leading scorer on that team last year and also lead the team in steals at a very respectable 1.5 per game. Better yet, he shoots a solid 81% from the free throw line (something the Zips have desperatly lacked in recent years). I like the pickup, but we won't get a chance to see what this kid is truly made of for another year.

Winning and winning games that people care about is the only thing that is going to really get Joe Akron's attention. If the Zips ever put together a nice 9, 10, 11 win season where they went on the road and beat a Penn State or a Michigan or a <gasp> Ohio State you would see a significant uptick in attendance. Put two or three seasons like that together in a row, maybe get yourself ranked in the top 25 or even start hearing whispers about a BCS at large and we will be looking at having to expand the Info. Joe Akron will be out of his comatose state and showing up in droves. Now all of that said, nothing in the history of Zips football suggests that we are anywhere close, or that we even have the capability of putting a run like that together. Maybe some time in a far far away land in an alternate universe it might be possible, but in the physical universe we live in, today, not happening.

Disappointing news if it is indeed true (I'll usually hold out until I see something official). Humpty has a lot of talent, but I agree that he was never the best fit for KD's disciplined, half-court style offense. I wish the kid nothing but the best and I hope he can overcome the personal tragedies that he's suffered recently.

The rumor mill on Humpty transfering is starting to heat up again. http://www.miamihawktalk.com/discussion/vi...901&start=0 Bottom of the page there are rumors that he's looking at moving to Indiana or Fresno State. Not sure how reliable any of that is. If true I think it would be a mistake on his part. Neither of those programs seem like a place that would offer him a scholarship based on his body of work so far. Again, not sure of the source, but these kinds of rumors have been flying around for the better part of two months now, so it at least raises a little more concern. Then you have this quote from the above mentioned twitter account:

Update to include the Henry verbal to VCU. Also a new video of George Fant that you should really check out. Kid has a VERY nice game. Not sure if there is room for another PF on the roster, but the kid really seems to have it all. Post moves, athleticism, size, shot blocking, finishes above the rim. Would definitly be a nice add. I'm with Blue and Gold on being disappointed by the Henry news. He was definitly in my top three on the old wish list. I'm really starting to wonder with all the news on potential transfers if this thread isn't going to be a moot point very soon here.

I'd much rather have Gilliam than Irwin. Not only are his career numbers significantly better (though in a weaker conference and getting more playing time does have to be taken into account), but he fits what we need on this team come next year a lot better. If we bring in Irwin as the fourth scholarship we have only two real SG's on the roster, McClanahan who is dangerously close to being labeled a bust and a true Freshman in Blake Justice who is going to be making a big leap in terms of the talent he is facing. We would then be bursting at the seams with combo-forwards with Nik, Euton, Harney, Egner, Green and also Irwin. Total logjam. Someone is bound to get pissed in there about playing time. Bring in Gilliam and you can probably insert him as the starting SG, you can redshirt Justice and it makes it easier to find minutes for all the forwards.

Not going to get to worked up about this one until we see something official, but I'm puzzled by this. At 6'7" 218lbs he's in the same size range that guys like Cvetinovic, Euton, Egner, Green and Harney. Not sure we really need another kid like him. His numbers from St. Joe's are horrible. Seems like a big kid who likes to shoot the 3 but isn't very good at it. Last year nearly half of his shots were from 3 and he hit a blazing 17.6% of them. Apparently he was quite the scorer in high school in West Virginia, but it doesn't look like that has translated to the college game at all. For a big guy to be shooting under 38% for his career is pretty embarassing. I personally think we can do a lot better with that 4th scholarship.

For my time I still find Rivals to be the most helpful of the big three (ESPN, Scout, Rivals). They tend to update their database more frequently, they are on the trail more often and they have more in terms of actual insight into a lot of these kids than the other two. I still find star rankings and grades and all that to be kind of a sham. I mean, go back to those 2008 rankings. Jarrod Jones from Ball State has been one of the best players from that class and was ranked a 71. Lawrence Bridges from Central Michigan had the highest grade, a 90, averaged a little over a point and a rebound per game in his freshman year and is apparently now out of basketball all together.

Still far to early to judge the 2010 class and probably the 2009 class as well. Most of the kids from the 2009 class haven't even played yet and none of the 2010 kids have. As far as 2008 goes the Zips, Can't and Buffalo seem to be the only ones who have gotten multiple contributing players (although Can't has already graduated three of them). Multiple schools got one good contributor (Jarrod Jones of Ball State, Scott Thomas of BG, Mike Dinnuno of NIU, Steven Coleman of OU). All in all doesn't seem to be a great class for the MAC at this point. I think if this does teach us anything it is not to put too much value into the ESPN rankings. There are some early returns from the 2009 class particularly with Zeke and the dynamic duo of Keely and Cooper from OU. I do think it is interesting that 2010 has a lot more 80's and 90's than 2008 when we had mostly 40's - 70's. Don't know if this reflects an actual uptick in quality of recruits or just a shift in the rankings ability of ESPN.

Went back and took a little gander at some attendance numbers over the last five years. Don't know how much this really tells us, but I find it interesting. The Zips have only broken the 3,000 attendance barrier for a home OOC game seven times in the last five years. The two most attended games were both bracketbuster contests in February. Surprisingly the best attended OOC game of the last five years was the Austin Peay bracketbuster in 2007. Austin Peay - Saturday February 17, 2007 - 5pm tip - 4231 VCU - Saturday February 23, 2008 - 11am tip - 4098 Dayton - Saturday December 6, 2008 - 7pm tip - 4059 Youngstown St. - Saturday November 26, 2005 - 5pm tip - 3886 Malone - Saturday December 12, 2009 - 7pm tip - 3381 Nevada - Friday December 22, 2006 - 7pm tip - 3302 UIC - Saturday December 29, 2007 - 7pm tip - 3056 Interesting to note that outside of the bracketbusters the other five games were all during football season on Friday or Saturday night.

This is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. You are essentially saying that we shouldn't play any games until football season ends. Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday during the day. That is when people are looking to be entertained the most. They aren't nearly as likely to come out to a weeknight game because of work, school and other commitments the next morning. Look, if you are a bigger football fan than a basketball fan that is fine. But to say we shouldn't schedule games during the three "primetime" entertainment slots of the week is unreasonable.

Clearly you and I have a different idea of what a pure point guard is. I look at a pure point guard as a guy who can set up the offense and make the players around him better by using his dribble effectively, making good passes and getting his teamates better shots. That isn't Steve McNees. Maybe I'm wrong in calling Steve limited (I don't think I am, but for the sake of argument...) but he has strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else. His biggest strength is his quick release and his ability to light a team up from downtown. You can turn that into an even bigger strength if you play him next to what I call a pure point guard who can get him more wide open looks. Thats where Abreu comes in. Alex Abreu was brought in here to help mask Steve's weaknesses (setting up the offense and getting quality shots for others) and to accentuate his strengths (knocking down shots).

The reality for the Zips is that the idea of doing nothing but home/home series with teams is never going to work. The only way you can do it is if you don't mind the majority of your OOC schedule consisting of teams in the 175+ RPI range. If I were Dan Peters...I'm telling KD we are going on the road for four big games this year. I'm not having him play Duke, Kansas, Syracuse and Michigan State, but we are going to play on the road against four teams in the Minnesota, Miami(FL), NC State, Texas A&M mold. The Zips have pretty well maxed out the last couple years as far as far RPI goes with the current scheduling philosophy. Time to make some adjustments.

OU (maybe, maybe not?) guard Armon Bassett was arrested in Athens last night for assault. He's declared for the NBA draft but has not hired an agent and is still eligible to come back to school. This incident can't help his already slim chances of being drafted. Have to wonder if this makes it more likely that he returns to OU and if so what kind of disciplinary action he might be looking at from the bobcats. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/woub/new...assett.arrested

Just my opinions: #1: Yes, I think 2010-2011 is when Zeke will start to make a bigger impact for the Zips. By the 2011-2012 season he should be ready to be a dominant force inside for us. #2: Sadly, no. I think the Zips at this point are probably just a bad fit for Humpty. He needs a program that will let him be the primary ball handler and will let him push the tempo with a coach who doesn't mind the occassional turnover. Though I think KD is going to make some adjustments to his coaching next year, I don't think we will see that big of a change. #3: Yes and no. I don't think Nik has much higher of a ceiling than where he already is in terms of physical capabilities. I think if you are going to see improvements from Nik it will come from playing smarter, particularly on the offensive end. As teams learned his moves (head fake/dribble drive from the top of the key, baseline spin move) this year it really started to frustrate him. Nik is a smart kid, with a year off I think you will see him learn to adjust to defenses the way defenses have adjusted to him. #4: Doubtful. Brett's best opportunity is going to come in 2011-12 when McNees and Roberts aren't in the picture anymore and there is a big, gaping hole at SG. At this point I haven't seen enough from him to warrant a lot more playing time. I think the switch over to SF this past year really hurt his development and I have my doubts as to his ability to bounce back.

Update to include an ESPN.com ranking for Henry as well as two more offers I found while browsing around.

On the Can't board it is going around that YSU has backed out of playing in a series that was to involve Akron, Can't, Cleveland St. and YSU. Anyone heard anything on this and how it might affect the Zips?

As of right now (there could always be transfers) we have four scholarships to give for the 2011-2012 season and three verbal commits (Dylan Ennis, Nick Harney, Blake Justice). That leaves us with one more scholarship to be spoken for. Our current 2011-12 roster should look like this. PG-Humpty Hitchens-Senior PG-Alex Abreu-Sophomore/Redshirt Freshman PG-Dylan Ennis-Freshman SG-Brett McClanahan-Senior SG-Blake Justice-Freshman SG/SF-Quincy Diggs-Junior SF-Michael Green-Sophomore/Redshirt Freshman SF/PF-Josh Egner-Sophomore/Redshirt Freshman SF/PF-Nick Harney-Freshman PF-Nikola Cvetinovic-Senior PF-Dakotah Euton-Sophomore/Redshirt Freshman C-Zeke Marshall-Junior A list of 2011 scholarship offers can be found here: http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?showtopic=17865 So lets here it Zipsnation, who do you want to see fill that final spot. For me: Dream: George Fant-PF-Bowling Green Kentucky: Normally in a dream scenario I would say Mr. Sampson from down the road at St.V, but looking at our roster we would then be getting a log jam of athletic combo-forwards with Sampson, Harney and Egner. Fant is more of a true post player with the ability to play with his back to the basket. Most consider him to be among the top 5 prospects in Kentucky for 2011. Realistic: Remy Abell-SG-Louisville Kentucky: The Zips are going to be short on SG's in 2011-12, even with the addition of Blake Justice. Abell is a likely answer to that. The Zips have jumped on him early and should hopefully have the inside track as one of the first programs to offer him (there has been interest from programs such as Xavier and Louisville). At 6'4", 197lbs Abell is described as a do it all SG who can score in multiple ways with good defense to boot.

He also would make a poor center or power forward...because he's limited? You know what Captain. You are right. Steve is the perfect PG for this team. He is absolutely without limitation. There is nothing he can't do. Abreu should redshirt this season. We don't need him. In fact, I think Steve might just be NBA PG material. He is that good.