Blue & Gold

Thanks UMassFan! Nice post! It should be an exciting game! Like someone said before, we really seem to live by the three, die by the three. If we're hitting from the outside we're a very tough team, but if we're cold from behind the arc our offense really stalls. Also, we're running the show this year without a true point guard. Nick Dials, the blonde-headed guy you'll see running our point is last year's shooting guard. He's a much more natural shooter than disher. He also lacks the quickness one would like to have from a PG. He's taking one for the team this year.Enjoy the game!P.s. I guess you're probably thrilled that UConn was knocked out by San Diego last night?!

I like the move to RB for Williams. He's going to likely be an All-MAC corner and NFL prospect (probably not a prospect at RB), and Andrew Johnson will be the most talented RB in the MAC and also an NFL prospect. That being said, the game is won and lost @ the line of scrimmage, so hopefully the D-Line can stuff some people and hopefully our O-Line can open some holes! Additionally, I'm hoping against hope that Matt Rogers is head-and-shoulders above CJ at the QB spot. CJ was AWFUL last year. IMHO Rogers had better be MUCH, MUCH better than CJ was last year if we want to have a winning record this year.

I think we're going to be more than fine against Can't State next year. 1- they are losing both Q and Mike Scott, 2- we're adding Steven Sweich (he'll be the biggest player in the MAC) and 3- we're adding super athlets at the guard positions: Steward, Humpty & Brooks, that along w/ Darryl Roberts, which gives us an incredibly quick assortment of guards to both run the point & lock down Al Fisher. (I think we'll probably red shirt Alex Sullivan. Just looking ahead, I don't think KD would want Steward, Humpty & Sullivan to all graduate the same year.)

There is no way we lose to UNLV like that. We would have beat UNLV & made the 2nd round. That was UGLY.And yeah, I hope KD took a lot of notes while watching that debacle.

I honestly don't think UNLV looks any better than FSU did at all. I just think Can't's playing that bad. I wish we could play UNLV. This is pathetic. I hate this because I'm always trying to get my friends to follow MAC b-ball and I know their all watching this thinking MAC B-BALL MUST REALLY SUCK!!!

This is horrible! UNLV doesn't even look that good - Can't just looks absolutely HORRIBLE! What on earth?! they've really let UNLV get comfortable in this game. They'd better tighten things up real quick, 'cause this is making us and the rest of the MAC look pathetic.

Have you forgotten McClanahan @ 6-5? He's a SG .. nominated for McDonald's game ..Very true! That's a great SG height! Actually, I thought Jimmy Conyers was going to play SG for us, but KD seems to like to play him at the 3-spot. Do you think he'll do the same w/ McClanahan? It's hard to image McClanahan being as naturally athletic as Jimmy is.We also have another walk-on named Eric Coblentz who was 2nd Team All-Ohio D-II last year (from Lake High School). He's 6-2 as well. Maybe 6-3. But I'm not sure he's quite athletic enough to get a lot of minutes at this level though. But he can really shoot the ball.

Isn't this guy good enough that he'll get a ride somewhere? Hard to imagine a D1 first teamer not getting some looks for NCAA D1 scholies .. even low major.Not sure that walking on here is the best thing for him. Lots of talent in the backcourt .. on scholie.I've heard that he had some discipline issues last season - and may have been kicked off the McKinley team, thus the transfer to Timken. So, not knowing what the discipline issues were, they may have been rather severe for him not to have any offers on the table.The reason I'm following Johnie Davis' recruiting (or lack thereof?) is that he's a 6-2 shooting guard. I'm really excited about the guys we're gonna have in the backcourt over the next few years, but they may be a little on the short side: Humpty @ 5-9, Sullivan @ 5-11, Roberts @ 5-11 and Steward @ 5-10. We're gonna have McNees @ 6-2 and Rydell Brooks (walk-on) @ 6-2, but I'm just thinking maybe we could really use another D-1 All-Ohio 6-2 SG, especially if we could happen to bring him into the fold as a mere walk-on w/ the potential of a future scholly?

Here's an article from today's ABJ (3/20). Malone College hosted last night's Summit vs. Stark County all-star game. Summit defeated Stark by a count of 108 - 101. But once again, Johnie Davis sounds like a hidden talent just begging to be asked to walk-on to the Zips' squad! Here's the quote about Johnie from the article:"Stark County was led by Johnie Davis of Timken, who was named the Stark MVP with a game-high 29 points and a handful of highlight dunks."We could have used an athlete like that in our backcourt THIS season! Give him a chance KD!!!http://www.ohio.com/sports/16844021.html?page=all&c=yThe article talks about the girl's game first, so you'll have to scroll 1/2 way down to see the boy's story.

Unfortunately our "local" media is not local.Fortunately (due to the internet?) I don't know of many people without gray hair that even watch the local tv news anymore.

Oh, and by the way, 2 years ago Darryl Roberts was ranked as the best PG/Lead Guard in the state of Ohio and KD signed him. Last year Ronnie Steward was considered the best PG in the state of Ohio and KD signed him. This year Humpty Hitchens is considered the best PG/Lead Guard in the state of Ohio and KD got him. Two years ago PF Chris McKnight was 1st Team D-I All-Ohio, as was his brother Brett @ SF last year. Additionally, Steve McNees was 1st Team All-Western Pennsylvania two years ago (I believe Pennsylvania gives out seperate honors for the western & eastern portions of the state) as was Steven Sweich last year.Additionally, current Zip recruit & high school senior Alex Sullivan was named to the D-I All-Ohio 2nd Team, but this is actually a huge accomplishment because Sullivan played on a team where he was generally the 1st, 2nd and 3rd option to put the ball in the basket, so every team that they played all year long was solely focussed on shutting down Mr. Sullivan and no one could ever really keep him from scoring the ball.Yeah, the elite-level high school talent that KD is loading up on is unprecedented in this programs history!

Quickzips is spot on. I am a paying member of Rivals.com, but it is ONLY for fun. Their basketball star rankings are absolutely awful. ESPECIALLY in basketball - there are just far, far, far too many players for these guys to have much of an idea of what they're talking about. For instance, Humpty Hitchens was 1st Team D-II All-Ohio and a finalist for Ohio's Mr. Basketball award. In the Ohio D-II championship game against Toledo Libbey he shined brighter than did 5-Star William Bufford, who won Ohio's Mr. Basketball award. Bufford's a beautiful player with tons of up side, but on this particular day I would have taken Humpty 10 times out of 10. Another example: a local player that I am intrigued by is Canton Timken's 6-2 SG Johnnie Davis. He was 1st-Team All-Ohio D-I, but neither Rivals nor Scouts even has a single word about him. So take those star rankings with the proverbial grain of salt. It's fun when a player that signs w/ your program has 3 stars next to his name, but it's really for fun; doesn't mean a lot. the recruiting info you'll get on this website is priceless compared to what you'll get on either Rivals or Scouts. And it's free!

Now that I read the article again, nowhere does it mention that Ray Chambers is awaiting his standardized test results. I must have read that elsewhere.

Chillicothe 59, Newark 53 OhioVarsity.com Chillicothe took on Newark in the second game of the Play By Play Classic, matching Akron recruit Anthony Hitchens and athletic forward Ray Chambers against Newark's tandem of 6-foot-9 junior Dane Kopp and guard Cody Dennison. Ultimately the scoring of Hitchens and Chambers proved to be too much for Newark to handle, as their late surges throughout the second half were never quite enough to give them the lead and Chillicothe was able to walk away with a 6-point victory.Hitchens paced Chillicothe with 24 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. He was able to get his shot off on virtually anyone that Newark threw at him, whether it was via his dribble drive or deep outside jumpers. The diminutive guard struggled shooting the ball however, as he was just 8 for 24 in field goal attempts. The future Zip made an impact on the defensive end as well, gathering three steals en route to being named his team's MVP.Chambers, an athletic forward, also contributed with 17 points and 7 rebounds. He was a bit too much for Newark to handle inside, proving to be far more athletic then anyone they had to offer. Not overly skilled, the 6-foot-7 senior does the majority of his damage within five feet of the basket, using his strength to overpower most defenders. Chambers has reportedly given a soft verbal commitment to Ohio University, but is still fielding offers from other programs according to those close to the situation.Kopp, a 6-foot-9 junior, had a strong performance for Newark, posting 14 points and 8 rebounds in defeat. The lengthy forward showed off a soft touch from mid-range and finished well inside, despite his slender frame. He mentioned that he is hearing from a ton of MAC schools and Bowling Green has already offered him a scholarship for 2009.Toledo Libbey 72, Lakewood St. Edward 58 St. Edward was able to stay in the game early due to the strong shooting of their wing players, but Libbey's stable of athletic players ultimately proved to be too much to handle for the Eagles' guards, who committed 16 turnovers in the game. The game MVP awards went out to Libbey's William Buford (26 points and 11 rebounds) and St. Edward's 6-foot-6 senior Conor Tilow (22 points).Buford's 26 points came in impressive fashion, as he showed Ohio State fans what they have to look forward to once he steps on campus next fall. He scored via a variety of pull-up jumpers and athletic dribble drives to the basket, while also throwing down a couple of impressive dunks in the victory. The 6-foot-5 senior showed why he is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 4 shooting guard in the class of 2008 and he is going to be the main reason why Libbey is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Division II state tournament this year.St. Edward senior Tom Pritchard had issues with foul trouble on Saturday, allowing him to only play 20 minutes before fouling out. He finished with 9 points and 6 rebounds on the day facing constant double teams, while struggling to get touches on the offensive end. The absence of Delvon Roe to a knee injury has made things noticeably more difficult for the Indiana recruit, who now faces two defenders virtually every time he steps on the court.

I was thinking the same. Let him run off screens and launch it from deep. He's got ice water in his veins and a lightning quick release. At 6-2 I think he'll make a great deep-threat shooting guard.

nbs, none of us were dissing Steven at all. GoZips did mention that he had heard that Steven needs a bit of work on his D, but who doesn't, eh? Then the topic was changed to "Coach LeBron James" for a bit.I think we're all very excited to see Steven out on the court. Honestly, I believe that Steven will be the first truly skilled center we've had since I've been following Zips basketball. I love Jeremiah Wood, but he's only 6-6, so I actually consider him more of a power forward playing out of necessity at the 5-spot. And, skhorbotly, here's how I'm thinking the lineup will shake down if Zeke commits to UA:PG: Steward, HumptySG: Sullivan, Mcneese, Roberts, Brooks (good grief where do we find minutes here?)SF: Brett, MclanahanPF: Chris, Cventivovic (I just call him Nic!)C: Steve, Zeke, Bardo in mop-up minutesI moved Mclanahan to SF, Nic to PF and Bardo to mop up duty at the 5-spot. Wow, what a roster; what versatility! If Can't State doesn't strike gold w/ another JUCO recruit next year, then after Al Fisher graduates we should be ahead of the Golden Flushes for the following 3 years.

Let me just say that what impresses me most about the Zips fans that Zeke would be playing in front of, and what I am most proud about when I tell people that I am a Zips fan, is that we honestly care about our players as individual human beings. By far our biggest concern is the personal development of our young men. Of course we love to win and we love it when one of our players has a great game - that's just a whole lot more fun than losing. But win or lose, we cheer, pull & root for the fellas 'cause we care about them and love them as young people - young people who are going to have bad games right along with good games; young people who are going to make bad decisions right along with good decisions. Also, the team chemistry that the Zips' squad has is really something special. I attribute that to coach KD's personality and recruiting philosophy and the type of person (not player) that he recruits. These young men on the Zips' basketball team are elite athletes to be sure (All-Ohio and All-Pennsylvania caliber players), but more importantly - much more importantly - they are the nicest, friendliest, and sincerely humble group of guys you'd ever hope for your son to be associated with. I don't know Zeke, but apparently KD feels that his personality would blend naturally with the other people he's brought in to be a part of this rising program - so that speaks volumes of Zeke's character. So, as apparently Zeke is a high-quality young man - not just a tall young man - I sincerely wish him the absolute best in his future, where ever that may be!GO ZIPS!

That's too bad. I appreciate African-American coaches and Stan really seemed like a very classy individual; a good role model for his players.

Here's an interesting article mentioning a Play-By-Play Classic (in Columbus?) in January. Humpty gets a good write up. But what I found most interesting is that in this tourney Chillicothe, which won Ohio's D-II title, beat Newark, who won Ohio's D-I title. Also, as you'll read, in this same tourney, Toledo Libbey, who finished as Ohio's D-II runner-up, and has Ohio's Mr. Basketball William Bufford, beat Lakewood St. Edward, who finished as Ohio's D-I runner-up. Ironic. And man, what a good tourney!http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?cid=762441P.s. The article also mentions that Ray Chambers had given a soft verbal to Ohio but was awaiting test results. Good luck to him! But the article also politely mentions that Ray isn't an incredibly skilled big man, and by watching his game, I don't know if his game will translate very well to D-1 college ball. He just uses his 6-7 length to physically dominate high school opponents, but he won't be able to do that in college.

I drove by the stadium sight today and the hole in the ground is actually much deeper than it appears to be via the camera. The entire backhoe(sp?) was down in the hole; I could only see the peak of it's arm.

Good post. And true! It's really something that our plight last year is directly responsible for not merely causing a national ruckus amongst "mid-major" athletics directors, but actually intstigating the creation of a third post-season tournament! Perhaps a greater good has come out of last years tragedy? Don't get me wrong, it absolutely broke my heart for Dru and Rome not to be able to experience the Big Dance - I've been watching those guys since high school, when Dru looked like he was 3 feet tall! But now Dru and Rome can tell people, "See that tourney you're watching on t.v. right now? That actually exists because of the injustice my team experienced my senior year at UA." It's actually a rather profound story. What an impact those events have had.

That incident was likely the icing on the cake. LBJ is now friends with Warren Buffet - the world's richest man - and receives investment advice directly from Warren himself. I'm sure that the ingenious and financially savvy Mr. Buffet had already warned Bron-Bron that any monetary investment in Can't State would be the financial equivalent of pissing down one's leg!

Jimmy certainly passes the eyeball test - he's a dead-ringer for Michael Jordan, only about 1 inch shorter. I wish all our Zips players looked as much like a baller as Jimmy does. But he just really doesn't get it done. He's got the proverbial deer-in-the-headlights look when he's out there. Man, I don't understand that. If I were 6-5 and as athletic as Jimmy I'd be flying all around out there. But alas, I'm a 5-8 white boy.

Ha! Coach James! Go LBJ! He's a true homeboy! I love that guy; he's really "kept it real," and still loves his hometown of Akron! Gotta love Bron-Bron.

It's interesting that you post this, because I've been perplexed by this coaching strategy all year. I even started a thread about 1 or 2 months ago entitled something like, "KD's coaching strategy" and asked for someone to explain to me why KD seems to, instead of feeding the hot man (which is a b-ball 101 maxim), he actually tends to pull the hot man from the game and sit him down on the bench. I honestly am dumbfounded by this. Just when a player makes a good play, and his eyes start lighting up, KD yanks him. I love KD, I think he's a great recruiter, but I don't get this at all.