Blue & Gold

I'm still upset that there is absolutely zero mention online about the Zips recruiting Henry Baddley. He's an athletic freak right in our own backyard and now Buffalo and Ohio have both offered him, along with the offers he already holds from Toledo & Middle Tennessee State. His dad may have higher aspirations than the MAC, but on Henry's twitter feed, he seems genuinely proud to be receiving these offers. Hilltopper, or anyone, do you know if the Zips are going after Henry and there just, for some reason, has been absolutely no mention of it on any of the recruiting websites or twitter?

Emmanuel Olojakapoke is 6'8" and Peter Agba is 6'7". I do agree we need to be looking at a 5 to fill Pat's shoes after graduation. I've gotten used to having 7'0" Zeke, 6'11" Pat & 6'10" 300 lb. Big Dog.

http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20150625/SPORTS/150629631

https://twitter.com/rick_hairston/status/614103773426909184 Saw this guy play versus Medina & he really held his own against Medina's 7'0" Michigan recruit (who's name escapes me). Not a high-flier, but can get his shot off, has a mid-range jumper & is as strong as an ox.

UA for UA!

Seems like a good kid.

http://akron.scout.com/player/7316799n-kato-nelson/recruiting

Game is on ESPN3.

I like it. Akron is a great science and engineering school but most people don't know it. http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/university-of-akron-rebrands-itself-as-ohio-s-polytechnic-university-1.592192# http://www.uakron.edu

I love the Z. I never really liked the A-Roo logo much.

Love it! Well done.

I've been a part of ZN.o for over 10 years now and, IMO, this is the strangest ongoing story I've seen.

Meh. I was hoping we weren't recruiting him awfully hard. He's good, not great. I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me as he's playing for Can't, but we can recruit at a higher level than Mitch Peterson. He's a poor-man's Reggie and/or Jake, and a few inches shorter. Give me LePear Toles seven days a week over MP.

I know of one. Jerome Lane. He was in class.

Evaluation from PrepHoopsOhio on 2016 Zips' verbal Isaiah Williams of Dayton Stivers. "Williams might have been frustrated with the final score on Monday night, however the 6'7 junior forward shouldn't blame himself as he was efficient in scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Doing most of his work as a slasher attacking from the wing or the high post, Williams handles the ball very well for a face-up forward, and thrives on taking advantages of mismatches. He's very right-hand dominant at this point, but he has the agility to find his way to the rim to finish, and is big and strong enough to absorb contact as well. Williams still gets caught trying to do too much at times, but his attitude has really improved and he's a kid who is highly motivated to try and win. We like his overall progress, and still believe that he is one of the top talents in the entire state in Ohio's 2016 class." https://prephoopsohio.sportngin.com/news_article/show/461155?referrer_id=1412855

He put up numbers like a stud. If we had him along with our improved D the last 2 years...

This is what stuck out to me from the article. This is odd. Are our quarterbacks idiots? What kind of offense is that? Definitely not Dalton Williams-esque "Air Raid." This doesn't just tip the scale in the favor of Tra'Von Chapman, this drops the starter's job into his lap. It sounds like Bowden's found a stud he's putting his chips on. That's cool, we haven't had a stud on offense since DW in Bowden's first year. It doesn't take a lot to win in the MAC - a lot of average players and a handful of studs. We've got the studs on D.

https://texashoops.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1755567 Update on Utomi from Rivals.com. By the picture you can tell Daniel's a strong dude. Article says Tulsa, Butler & TCU all "flirted" with Daniel. Says he made his decision on Akron because of the winning tradition & already knowing Antino & Olojakapoke.

Chapman only played one series in last year's Spring Game, but besides him displaying a nice arm, what I vividly remember is how explosive a runner he his. The pocket was collapsing and he took off and left the pursuing DE so far behind it looked like the DE was running in sand. It really almost dropped my jaw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vVq6nR7l0I Another brief video.

+1. Loved having him in the MAC. Made the Buffalo games a lot of fun. Hopefully they can remain competitive.

What's up with the Texas connection?

I liked BJ and I think he has a potentially high ceiling, but to say he was underwhelming last year would be putting it mildly. KD did everything he could to give BJ confidence last season, including moving him into the starting lineup for a bit. But, BJ never could get it jumpstarted. Honestly, I'm kinda glad we've now got that scholarship freed up.

I watched the replay on ESPN3. The team they played (Montverde Academy, IIRC) had the #1 ranked PF in the nation, who also happens the be the #1-ranked prospect in the nation regardless of position. They also had two other Power-5 Conference recruited players, I believe all of whom were ranked in the ESPN Top 150. In the first quarter, Peter Agba looked like the best player on the floor. He scored 6 points while Montverde was still having trouble finding any rhythm on offense. In the 2nd quarter Greensboro Academy only scored 2 points. One basket, again by Peter. I fell asleep at halftime, but Peter ended the game with 12 points, so he only scored 4 in the 2nd half. Monteverde obviously made some halftime adjustment to focus on stopping Agba. Before watching I knew that Peter only scored 12 points, so I was kinda surprised at how good he looked scoring 6 in the 1st quarter. He's going to be a good one. He was really the only player Greensboro had who could hang with Montverde's size & athleticism.

Ha ha, I know KD & the Zips love the 3-ball. Lillard's got a consistent & smooth stroke from, I'd say, 3 feet behind the high school arc. If defenders didn't come out on him he'd not hesitate to stroke it. His release isn't as quick as LePear Toles', but Lillard has a nasty jab step that gets defenders on their heals (since he loves to drive the ball to the rim) & opens up space for his jumper. IMHO, LePear Toles is more of a pure shooter. I don't know how Lillard's game will translate on the next level when he's consistently going to have to deal with a 6-8ish PF and a 6-10ish C inside protecting the rim. But he is a natural slasher who set the tone for the game against STVM by hitting two 3-balls & a layup in the first quarter.