clarkwgriswold

As I recall, the Zips beat them in Puerto Rico. They used real hoops instead of peach baskets in that one!

I remember the Zips playing Penn State in Puerto Rico 6 or 7 years ago.

The Duquesne program is disintegrating before our eyes. 3 transfers, maybe 4? Inexcusable.

They deserve each other. They can share a cell with scumbags like Chuck Person. I read a book called "Sole Influence" nearly 20 years ago that saw all of this coming. It focused on how the shoe companies were corrupting the system through the AAU system.

St.John's was a top program in the era of Chris Mullin, Walter Berry and Bill Wennington.

Nobody has been very successful there since Louie Carneasecca. They are no longer the darlings of the NYC area and the Big East has continued to disintegrate. They play the majority of their games on campus not at MSG. Scholastic alums are starting to complain about the funds required to run the program and the costs of the limited MSG games. Not a great situation. A great chance to rescue a program and be a hero and a chance to go home and maybe make more money, but not what it once was.

Our old nemesis Bobby Hurley is reported to be at the top of St. John's wish list for a new coach. I guess that could potentially pay him more and would bring him closer to home but I am not sure it is a better job than the ASU job.

From your keyboard to the ears of the basketball gods.

That's been a fun series over the years. I'd love more Marshall type teams on the OOC schedule and fewer UT-Whatevers, Coppin States and Alabama States...

I understand 2 PCCC players are transferring out. Kain Harris, a transfer from Tulane that never played due to an injury, and BJ Duling.

The kid can sure get buckets. He seems like a little bit of a knucklehead, but he's talented enough that he'll be playing somewhere next year (not the NBA).

Sometimes we just can't help ourselves. Sigh.

They blew a decent lead to the Colonial League guys. They were really outsized. To get there, I think they had to beat the Big 10 and the MAAC teams.

Flipping through the channels today and came across the 3X3U National Championship on EPSN. The MAC team is Jaelan Sanford (Toledo), Tayler Persons (Ball St.), Jaylen Walker (PCCC) and Larry Austin (CMU). They are playing on a half court in a mall. They are playing the Colonial League in the semis.

You're welcome, Capt Oblivious!

Nope, we need only incoming freshman who are at least 6'10"!

I got the sense Utomi was slow to get in games as a freshman as KD wanted to see him play harder, especially on defense. When he did get in, he showed some real range. As I recall, he averaged 27 ppg and 14 rpg in high school so it had to be discouraging sitting out a year for a bad foot and seeing the floor so inconsistently as a redshirt freshman. As a sophomore here, he led the team in scoring and was a decent rebounder. This year, he fell off some. I thought going in we may be looking at an all-MAC type player, but he just never seemed to have the fire. Maybe it's just a personality thing. He did commit to remaking his body. Also, the offense occasionally seemed to screech to a halt when the ball went to him on the wing, with 4 guys watching while he went to iso.

Utomi is a good player and can play immediately, but if he thinks he's going to see any meaningful time at a place like UNC or UVA, he's delusional. He hasn't been dominant in the MAC. He certainly will not be a meaningful contributor at a top 5 program.

News flash- Zips point guard is short. GT's article this morning has Ivey in the transfer portal. Sigh.

Being tall is all important in the MAC. EMU had a huge front line this year (6'9"; 6'10"; 6'11") and it led them to...15-17. Oops. Sorry.

Did Tree grow before or after he was a Zip? I have only ever seen him listed at 6'7" and that was generous. I agree that height sure helps but coincidentally Treadwell is the perfect example of how a smaller guy with grit can play larger. Other examples are Romeo Travis and Jeremiah Wood.

You're forced to do that some with a lack of depth (like Utomi guarding bigs and playing in the post). Having a number of interchangeable athletic and long players like Buffalo makes tossing labels aside much easier too.

Banks is a shooter who lost his shot. If he regains it, he'll play meaningful minutes. One of the problems is that now, with Utomi and Ivey gone, they don't have a real 3.

I think he moves up in the pecking order with Utomi moving on. I could see them running a three guard starting lineup with LCJ, Cheese, Banks, Williams and Riak.

That's the beauty of the MAC- a long term as a head coach can only be sustained by consistent mediocrity. See Steve Hawkins. If you're awful, you get moved on. If you're successful, you move on. If you tread water, you hang on and on and on... The grand prize for mediocrity is being the all-time winningest coach in your school's history- i.e. Rob Senderoff. KD was the exception to all of these rules based in large part on his Mount Pleasant melt down.