Quickzips

The bigger question for tomorow is where is the mysterious third scholarship coming from. We've got two scholarship graduates this year, Jimmy Conyers and Chris McKnight. We have three recruits who have given verbal commitments, Green, Egner and Euton. The math doesn't work out. I'm very interested to see what will happen here.

That I know of Akron has not, and will not be playing CSU this year. Exhibition or otherwise. Other than the possible Bracketbuster or tournament game. Nice try though. As for the quote from Dambrot about not being very good right now, the Beacon Journal website has a preview of tomorows game up that contains such a quote. Dambrot is well known to be pretty critical of his teams. This isn't the first time we've heard tempered expectations from the coaching staff over the last few years. Keep on trolling though. Maybe you'll catch something.

Hadn't seen that one yet. Definitley a kid to keep an eye on if he's that highly rated by ESPN. With McNees and Roberts gone in 2011 a highly rated 6'3" shooting guard would certainly be nice.

Agreed on Sampson. Though it would be nice to see a high flying 6'8" PF from right down the road wearing the blue and gold, none of the articles I've read indicate that he's very high on us. Still, there's some very good prospects on the radar for that 2011 class. In addition to Ennis who we already have Markus Crider is a good looking SF from Huber Heights is a 3 star prospect on Scout with some nice offers (Dayton, Wisconsin and Wright State with others probably to follow). His teamate Travis Trice is another nice PG who has offers from Cleveland State, Butler, Dayton and Wright State. Presumably those two would go together. Anton Grady from Cleveland Central Catholic isn't quite on the level of Sampson, but he has a similar build (though 20 lbs. heavier) and is a 3 star prospect on Rivals with an offer from us and Dayton. There is also Stevie Taylor from Gahana Lincoln who has been discussed on these boards before. We've got 4 scholarships for 2011 and we need to make the best of them. Miami, Ohio and Buffalo in particular have really picked up their recruiting efforts of late. We're going to need to at least match their pace if we want to take the next step.As far as Euton and Ennis. Neither of these guys is on the level of Adreian Payne or JD Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon I don't think ever really seriously considered us. Payne may have when we still had coach Boals. It would have been a major coup to get either of them. Euton is a nice player who, if he were 2 or 3 inches taller would still be going to a Kentucky or another big school. Similar kind of player to what we've gotten in the past. Not saying he's a bad get, and I've said before that I think he's a perfect compliment for a guy like Zeke, but he clearly isn't in the Payne or Weatherspoon league. Ennis I'm not real sure about yet. I suspect we will know a lot more about him come spring/summer time after he's played some stateside and had a chance to get some attention on the AAU circuit.

Great pickup. Euton is the perfect compliment for a guy like Zeke. A guy who can stretch the floor and create space underneath for him to work. I don't know about you guys but I'm thrilled to have him on board. The only question I have now is where is the scholly coming from?

Honestly, not a very well researched article. They still have Andrew Parrish on the team (gone for months now) and Ronnie Steward healthy (reports of compartment syndrome in his other leg have been around at least a month). Other than that, they cover all the bases of every other pre-season article on the Zips. High optimism, coming off our first tourney appearance since '86, Zeke's entrance, Linhart's departure and who do we have that can replace him. Nothing really new.I'm getting kind of tired of all the talk, lets start playing some games.

Read this piece earlier. It really feels a lot like Elton just trying to be contrarian. It's hard to argue Buffalo being in good shape this year, but Miami lost their glue guy in Bramos. They are going to be rellying a lot on some freshman to make big contributions (nothing wrong with this, we did it last year, but it is a bit dangerous) and their top player has been off the court for almost a year. I don't buy that they are a better team than us, though I don't doubt Charlie will have them ready to play and competitive.

This is all I can really take issue with. McNees and Roberts, on their best days are combo guards. Neither is a great ballhandler or distributor. Though Humpty struggled with some Freshman mistakes last year, he's shown enough of an ability to "run the show" that he should absolutely have the ball in his hand at crunch time. Do I need to bring up the Toledo game again? Without his performance shooting and distributing, in crunch time, we don't even make it out of the first round. McNees is what he is. He's a streaky shooter who can light a team up from the outside if he gets hot, but if he's not he really doesn't offer much. Roberts offers a little more in terms of his FT shooting and is a little better at creating his own shot, but he's not a floor general. He's really an off guard in the sense of the word and the only time I want the ball in his hands at crunch time is on a catch and shoot or if we are trying to draw fouls and ice the game with his FT shooting. Humpty is a lot more than just a sparkplug off the bench for us. The only other player who has shown the ability to give us his ballhandling, distributing, shooting, slashing, scoring from the PG spot is maybe Ronnie Steward and he's always hurt. I want Humpty on the floor with the ball in his hands at the end of the game. He's our most dangerous player in those situations. He proved it in High School. He proved it a couple times last year and, given the opportunity he will prove it again this year.Are you referring to his first successful 3-pointer in something like his last 24 attempts?The biggest problem I have is with his carelessness with the ball, and I hope he grows and cleans that up. But, Roberts and McNees were starting to see the crucial late-game minutes in the 2nd half of the season, and I think it paid dividends for us.This argument would carry a lot more weight if you weren't arguing that McNees should be the one taking those shots instead of Humpty. McNees is the definition of a streaky shooter. Heck he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn the majority of last season. He heated up in the MAC tournament, but that was really about it. And really, outside of his streaky three point shooting, he doesn't offer us much. Last year he only took 47 shots that WEREN'T three's (compare that to Humpty who took 134 non-three point attempts and unlike McNees actually has a better shooting percentage when he isn't taking 3's) He's been known to make careless mistakes with the ball the same way Humpty has (68 turnovers in 21.5 minutes played last season to Humpty's 78 in 22.5 minutes played) and, unlike Humpty he's not really able to penetrate to the hoop and create his own shot (see 47 non-3 point shots to 134). If anyone, Steve should be playing that "sparkplug" off the bench role. When he does get hot it's a role that really fits him. Don't get me wrong, I like McNees. When he's hot from beyond that 3 point line he's probably the most exciting player on our team and he can single handedly win a game for you. I just don't think he's who a guy who we want to put the game in his hands when it is on the line (forgot to mention his puzzling 62.5 Free Throw percentage).

This is all I can really take issue with. McNees and Roberts, on their best days are combo guards. Neither is a great ballhandler or distributor. Though Humpty struggled with some Freshman mistakes last year, he's shown enough of an ability to "run the show" that he should absolutely have the ball in his hand at crunch time. Do I need to bring up the Toledo game again? Without his performance shooting and distributing, in crunch time, we don't even make it out of the first round. McNees is what he is. He's a streaky shooter who can light a team up from the outside if he gets hot, but if he's not he really doesn't offer much. Roberts offers a little more in terms of his FT shooting and is a little better at creating his own shot, but he's not a floor general. He's really an off guard in the sense of the word and the only time I want the ball in his hands at crunch time is on a catch and shoot or if we are trying to draw fouls and ice the game with his FT shooting. Humpty is a lot more than just a sparkplug off the bench for us. The only other player who has shown the ability to give us his ballhandling, distributing, shooting, slashing, scoring from the PG spot is maybe Ronnie Steward and he's always hurt. I want Humpty on the floor with the ball in his hands at the end of the game. He's our most dangerous player in those situations. He proved it in High School. He proved it a couple times last year and, given the opportunity he will prove it again this year.

One week until the exhibition opener! Can't wait to get basketball going and get the bad taste of another crappy football season out of my mouth.

Sorry to disagree but I believe Gonzaga is indeed a great program. A school of 6000 that has been in NCAAs countless times, advanced countless times, on natl tv countless times,put several players in NBA. And as for their schedule, they may not play in ACC or SEC, or Big 10 but they played and beat top 20 teams Tennessee (twice)and OK ST last year, as well as beating Maryland, Indiana, Washington St, Mt ST Marys, Tx Southern, and others. If thats not a great program what realistically is??Whatever the self proclaimed "Great GP1" says is a great program, is a great program. Actual empirical evidence be damned!

There is no doubt that winning game(s) in the tournament has to be the goal over the next couple of years. Going undefeated in the MAC would be nice and all, and would certainly give us the argument for a better seeding in the tournament and everything, but it does absolutely nothing for our national reputation. Everyone in the MAC right now knows who we are. They know we are good and that we will continue to be good year in and year out if for no other reason than great coaching. The next step is to build that national reputation so that getting recruits like Zeke stops becoming an outlier and starts becoming the norm. What do you think is going to do that more? Do you think a recruit is going to be more impressed if we go up to him and say, "hey, did you see us win all of our conference games in the MAC this year?" or if we go up to him and say, "hey, did you see us beat <insert overrated big conference team> in the Big Dance and make that Sweet 16 run this year?" It's a no brainer. You've got to make that run in the NCAA's to take the next step. Now that isn't to say that the two are mutually exclusive. Dominating the MAC is the only way to really ensure that we will even be in the tournament after all and we need to really take it to the rest of these teams in order to make an argument for higher seeding. But at the end of the day all that says is that we are still as good as we've been the last couple years. Winning in the NCAA's. That says were moving forward, get out of our way.

True...if your goal is to lose in the 1st round of the NCAA tourney.If the Zips are to continue their progression, they need Zeke to contribute meaningful minutes.If Jimmy Conyers contributes anything this season, it is gravy. If Zeke contributes it is not "gravy," it is HUGE.I absolutely disagree with the implication that the Zips can't make it out of the first round of the tourney w/out a major contribution from Zeke. Last years team was an incredibly young team. I don't have the numbers available, but they were probably one of the youngest teams in the NCAA's. Yet they went toe to toe with a very good Gonzaga team for 30 minutes. Experience alone says we should be improved this year. I don't think it is at all out of the question that we could make it out of the first round without a major contribution from Zeke. You look at the mid-majors that make runs in the tournament and you will rarely find one that has a true C making a big contribution, particularly a true C who is a freshman. It isn't a necessity at all. Don't get me wrong, if Zeke can come in here and give us 20 minutes a game with 8-12 points and 6-8 rebounds and 2-4 blocks, or even 15 minutes with around 6 points and 5 rebounds and a couple blocks I'm going to be ecstatic. I just don't think it is an absolute necessity for our program to progress. Its gravy.I also disagree on the comment about Conyers. With Nate out of the picture I really think we DO need Conyers to step up. Nate was our best wing defender on the team the last few years. Losing him creates a major void. B.McKnight is likely to take over a lot of Nate's minutes, but the worst part of Brett's game has always been and will always be his defense. Now you can say that McClanahan is being groomed to take over that role, but I never looked at him last year and said, "this kid can be an elite defender." Maybe I'm wrong on that, but I just don't see it. The fact is that we are going to need contributions from Conyers, who at this moment IS our best wing defender. A lot more teams in the MAC and across the country have good wing scorers that can put pressure on your defense than teams that have great big men. We will need Conyers to step up and guard those guys more than we need Zeke to match up with the couple of 7 footers we might see this year.

Does anyone know if/where I might be able to find a feed for FSN Southwest during the Texas A&M game? Really interested to see how we match up against what should be our toughest test on the OOC schedule. I have to imagine that we will see at least 2 or 3 more games added to the Zips TV schedule. I would say we have a pretty good shot to land a bracketbuster TV game, then you have to figure we will land a few more games on TV from the tournaments.

I wouldn't read too much into that. Personally I think all it is doing is stating the obvious. We've returned 4 starters and our entire bench from a team that won the conference tourney and went to the NCAA's last year. We don't necessarily "need" Zeke to play big minutes with lots of stats in order to win ballgames. Anything he can add this year is just gravy.

Did they have a Newcomer of the Year vote? I guess not. (Foregone conclusion? -- not per our favorite Cleveland State beat writer).The more I look at it, I don't think it ever was a foregone conclusion anyways. There's a lot of talent coming into the MAC this year. Zeke is obviously the guy everyone will have their eye on, but Miami has a lot of talent coming in, OU has a PG coming in who was the everyday starter for Indiana before the whole recruiting violations mess went down. The MAC is going to be tough over the next couple years.

Okay, it was a dirty thing he did, and he got ejected for it.Maybe he should have been punished more, but let's not get crazy.It isn't just the punch that should have earned Singletary a longer suspension (though I'm not sure being booted from the team is entirely warranted). The kid has a LOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG history of poor behavior. DUI's, disorderly conducts, noise violations, driving with a suspended license. Can't has coddled him his entire career and everything I've seen and heard about him paints a picture of a kid who still doesn't, and probably never will get it.

I noticed the same thing, but I'm just not sure which of the guards wouldn't get more minutes and/or which of our remaining frontcourt players would get more minutes. As it is Ronnie Steward's injury makes things a little easier in terms of the backcourt rotation. I assume based on history and what I've heard from this offseason that Humpty, Sullivan, Roberts, McNees and McClanahan will all get playing time in the backcourt. I also assume that the McKnights, Cvetinovic, Conyers and Zeke will get them in the backcourt. I guess Bardo will still get minutes as well so maybe that helps equal things out. Noone has really said anything about Sweich's progress so for the moment I have to assume that he still won't be seeing many minutes. As far as the guard who do you cut out? The first name that comes to mind is Sullivan, but he's supposedly been looking good in practices. I don't know. Maybe we do play more small and have McClanahan as our biggest guard playing the 3? I don't really know. All just speculation on my part.

As far as Zeke goes. It is far from time to push the panic button. The kids been in practice for 1 week. He's got a lot of information being thrown his way for sure and you can imagine he's doing a little more thinking right now than just playing naturally. If he's still struggling at midseason it might be time to worry, but not one week into practice. Still 2 more weeks until the first exhibition game.Any early guesses on what the starting lineup is going to look like?My guess:PG-Hitchens SG-McClanahanSF-ConyersPF-C.McKnightC-CvetinovicFirst Five off the Bench (in alpha order)MarshallB.McKnightMcNeesRobertsSullivan

So sorry to hear about Ronnie's situation. You start to wonder with him if/when the point will come that he starts thinking less about getting back to playing basketball and more about just getting healthy, getting his degree and making something out of his life. So tough to see a kid who had so much potential have this many problems.Great news to hear about Conyers. It sounds like the light may really be starting to turn on. I know some on here are going to disagree with me, but if Jimmy can start to live up to his pre-Zips hype I think he should start this year over B.McKnight. Brett has always seemed more effective coming off the bench for us, and having Conyers defense in there would go a long way towards easing the blow from losing Linhart.Also very good to hear about Alex Sullivan. Especially with Ronnie going down, again, it would be nice to have Alex in there to back up Humpty at PG. Having another weapon like him on the floor is a big plus.

Really Elton? Kenneth Van Kempen and Brandon Parks? Really? Van Kempen is horrible. He's clearly the worst starting C in the league (not including teams that don't start a true C) and is clearly in the lower 1/4 of DI. Parks is Can't's equivalent to Mike Bardo. He's big, and....he's big. He's there to come in 10-15 minutes a game and take up space. Beyond that he does little more. Fletcher and Boudreau are nice complimentary pieces, but lets be honest here, neither of these guys are top level talent. Polk is about the only guy who should provide any sort of test for an athlete of Zeke's caliber. It's the friggin first week of practice and Elton is already calling Zeke a bust. Quite frankly, Cleveland St. can have him as a beat writer.

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/conten...amp;CID=1004624Not a whole lot of info in there. Akron is their "Program on the Rise." It is implied that this title means more than just rising to the top of the MAC. The McKnight Bros. are listed as 2nd Team All-Conference. Interesting that there is no mention of Zeke anywhere. Ohio's Transfer G Armon Bassett is listed as their Newcomer of the Year. Loving that Can't's Thug G Tyree Evans is considered the conferences most overrated player. He's nothing more than a bulk shooter that doesn't get hot nearly enough to justify giving him the amount of shots he needs. Also nice that Akron is (as is the norm for the preseason rags) picked first in the East and listed as having the best frontcourt in the confrence. I also find it curious that 4 of 5 first team all conference players are from the West.

Zeke is what folks call has a high side, please do not think you out recruited Penn State and Pitt. Zeke is who he is, if he starts, he will get pushed around like a little kid, his up side is in his junior senior year.The Green of Envy certainly looks good paired up with your Red. Kind of reminds me of Christmas.Is Zeke going to come in here and light up the world from the moment he steps on the floor? Probably not. I'm realistic enough to know that he's probably not going to be giving us 18 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks right from the get go. I agree that he is far from a finished product. But to imply that Penn State and Pitt didn't really want him, or that he isn't going to have an impact for us until his junior and senior years is plain old, simple, unadulterated, jealous ignorance.

Most likely. A majority of kids will still have an inch or two left to grow when they are Juniors. Either way, if only remains 6'0" he's already taller than all of the true PG's currently on our roster. It would be nice to have a PG in the 6'2"-6'4" range, but we've been playing for years without one. I don't think it is entirely necessary to the success of this team.

Not a bad idea to pick up a PG for 2011. McNees will already be graduated (though he is more of a combo guard). Humpty and Ronnie will both be seniors. This will give Ennis a chance to redshirt, then presumably see significant playing time in his RFresh season behind Sullivan. A quick search on him doesn't reveal a whole lot. Apparently he is originally from Canada and just recently moved to the Illinois area. That is about all I'm able to find right now.