Blue & Gold

When I initially heard they were thinking about expanding the tourney, I was skeptical; thinking the NCAA was simply looking to include the 10th place Big Ten school, etc. But this setup sounds great. I'm all for any setup which makes the regular season meaningful. All the talk about "the only games which matter are the 3 @ the Q," was really starting to get to me. I wanna have adrenaline rushes during the regular season too!

I went to the annual (22nd annual?) Stark/Summit Rotary Club All-Star Classic @ Malone last night. Summit beat Stark 140-111. Saw some very good players. Charles Hearn (Kenmore) - only scored 10 points; wasn't hitting from the outside. But he's a natural baller. Monte Woods (East) - 6'4" guard who is more explosive than any guard currently on our roster. Can hit from the outside, handle the ball & drive to the hoop. Elvin Butler (East) - 6'1" guard. Again, more explosive than any of our D-1 college guards. Unacceptable in my opinion. Jacob North (Barberton) - This guy has an absolutely SICK outside shot. He is a Steve McNees type of player (not as quick as Steve). He's going to Toledo on a baseball scholly. Jacob was named Summit MVP (the award could have gone to a number of players but someone had to win it). He finished w/ 22 points & hit 6 3-pointers, one of which was closer to half court than the 3-point arc (and this was with proper shooting form. Quite crazy.) Jon Harris (Twinsburg) - for the life of me I can't figure out why we weren't ALL OVER this guy! He's 6'8" and smooth! Can handle the ball, fly out of the rafters and stop and pop from the 3!!! Best player on the floor IMHO (though, of course, all-star games aren't the best venue for rating talent) He's going to Miami for b-ball. Cameron Black (Roosevelt) - Okay, here's another instance where I'm going to just have to blindly trust KD. I know Cameron wanted to be a Zip, but we chose to give our schollies to other players (Cameron's going to BGSU). Cameron looked excellent. He's a good 6'8" and can handle the ball - he repeatedly brought the ball up the floor on fast breaks! He's got good post moves to boot. Negatives would be that he's not a great outside shooter and is not the most explosive player. Kinda reminds me of a typical UA forward, skilled but not explosive. So I hope that's why KD wanted to bring in the much more athletic Josh Egner. Josh Egner (Jackson) - Though I thought both Jon Harris and Cameron Black looked like more dangerous players, Josh was the most explosive player on the floor. Hit a 3 to boot. Has the potential to be great; or might just disappear on offense - sometimes it seems like if he can't simply dunk the ball he can't do much. Idk, first time I've seen him play (other than STO state championship game.) Storm Sanders (GlenOak) - can really handle the ball and penetrate to the basket. Liked to penetrate & then kick the ball out. Was kind of a natural ball hog, but he's obviously used to being "the man" but was struggling w/ his outside shot last night. Though he took a couple 3's from about 6 feet behind the arc. Isaiah Elliot (McKinley) - I only list him because he was named Stark MVP & ended up w/ 22 points. But quite honestly, as compared to much of the other talent on the floor last night he's not much to write home about. He's going to Malone & I'm sure will have a very fine career there. From watching one all-star game (this & $1 will get you a cup of coffee) I would rank the players thusly: Backcourt: 1. Montazine Woods (East) 2. Jacob North (Barberton) 3. Charles Hearn (Kenmore) 4. Elvin Butler (East) 5. Storm Sanders (GlenOak) Frontcourt: 1. Jon Harris (Twinsburg) 2. Cameron Black (Roosevelt) 3. Josh Egner (Jackson) All the players were very, very good and the game was a lot of fun to watch. You could tell all the players were having a really great time, which is what it was all about. All of their parents should be proud. P.s. For some reason Henniger didn't play.

I'm glad he said it and I'm glad it made print. I think we might need a little media-applied external pressure put on the program in order for us to be dead serious about our need to ratchet things up a little bit. Thanks Elton!

I hope his family is/will be well cared for, but on a selfish note, I do hope he returns for another season. It's good for the MAC.

Are there any rumors of development along Exchange St.? Though the economy is admittedly in the tank, I was still hoping for more by now. Exchange Street is not only a blighted embarrassment, it's dangerous. Gotta... keep... beating... the... ghetto... back!

I would guess that if Humpty is unhappy, it would have more to do with the Zips' slow style of play and KD moving him to the 2-guard spot rather than a lack of minutes on the floor. Humpty's a PG who is FAST. His talents are best utilized running up & down the floor, not walking the ball up for a half-court set. I hope KD swallows his pride and simply turns Humpty loose next year. Humpty & Egner would be murder running the floor. Also, Zeke can really run for a 7-footer. Turn them loose, KD. They're the show, not you.

How was the turn out?

Has there been any word on where he is transferring to? I saw Devo run in high school and was honestly pretty underwhelmed. But, then again, I saw Beanie run in high school and wasn't particularly blown away either. Shows what I know.

Did anyone act on GoZips' enigmatic charge to "Do some homework"? Is Dylan Ennis graduating early and joining the team next year?

Henniger looks like the typical forward we've had since Romeo graduated - 6'7-8" and a very solid high school performer but doesn't have any hops and actually lays the ball up quite a ways below the rim. Egner is a higher risk / higher ceiling player who has a mean streak and lives to take it strong to the hole and hopes you try to block it so he can break your hand while he gets an and-one. Great looking athlete. If he improves his jumpshot a little bit he may be a special player for us. Tonight he also had a couple very sweet no-look passes to Henniger down low.

Egner didn't have as dominant a performance tonight as he did against either St. John's or Gahanna-Lincoln and HE LOOKS PISSED right now even though they just won state! I LOVE IT!!!

I also love how he loves swinging his elbows @ head level after getting a rebound. Mean, competitive streak in him! Me like!!!

UTTER paint domination. Moeller look like the proverbial deer in headlights anywhere inside the 3-point arc. The boys are REALLY making Akron & Can't look good.

Dude, Moeller blows. They would have finished 5th in the City Series this year. They're not sniffing the paint w/ Egner & Henniger down there. They're just crappin' their pants against those two.

Actually, I can't be the only one thinking Moeller doesn't look very impressive, no? They're rather slow & are looking to milk the clock. I was expecting more. Frankly, I'd take Buchtel, Kenmore, St.V or even East over these stiffs. But they have been successful in slowing the pace, which seems to be the only chance they have. The slow pace won't likely play to Egner's strength. Henniger seems to be more of the half-court-set kinda guy.

Egner's 3 was a little short. But it was on-line and he's got good, smooth form on the J.

Egner likes to block shots like Bron-Bron!

Hilltopper, thanks for the above link! I had completely missed that conversation! That actually clears a lot up. Doesn't get anything accomplished, but clears it up for me.

Lee, I'm not sure what you're getting at with this post. Come again?

Now that is one poorly constructed sentence. The 'Meister is gonna have a stroke! Lol

Yeah. I wasn't able to watch the game, but during pregame I believe the announcer said Payne didn't start during the semi-final due to being banged up.

Oops. Sorry about the above post. K...S...U (Kansas State University) gets translated to "Can't State.". I'm sure you guys could figure that much though.

Well, it's halftime and Butler is beating Kansas State using strong... Defense! Lol. They actually held Can't State to 20 1st half points. I guess it's Can't State's lowest scoring 1st half of the season. Butler can put the rock in the hoop too though. But it's a low scoring 1st half. Butler up 27-20. Go Bulldogs!

If anyone is curious, former Zips recruit Adrian Payne - who signed with Michigan State - is playing on STO right now. He's #33 in blue (Dayton Jefferson). He just scored the 1st 2 points of the game.

Now I'm the one who was totally wrong! Lol. Yeah, that's really weird. Can we sue for breach of contract? Not having the Info Team Shop open by now is shameful. It's embarrassing really. Is our athletics department demanding enough excellence to be equally appalled and embarrassed? Or are they content with incompetence? Knowing the less-than-brilliant history of the department, I'm afraid I know what the answer is.