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Sure, I'd say that's very optimistic. I think we all know we have some good players remaining. But with Antino gone, that officially removes everyone that was in the Starting 5 at the beginning of the 2016-2017 season. That's a devastating hit. However, I don't think we'll be bad enough to finish 10th, as someone earlier predicted. I'm still going hope that the remaining guys really improve, and we can still somehow call this "retooling".

MD Zip is a happy man.

And I'll add to that: 4-Star Recruit who chose East Carolina?

Noooooo. Are you trying to say that looks is a factor in getting hired as a female sideline reporter?

A point that can't be ignored. I think we'd all sacrifice personal character and actual talent for the view, right?

Didn't he already send out a "goodbye/thank you" letter to Zips fans before all of that? Yes, we were all pretty sure he was transferring. His coach left, his entire staff left, and at last count....6 of his teammates from last year are no longer here between graduation and other transfers. I've felt compelled to say this before on this board, but I feel like I'm seeing behavior that's reminiscent of the Clevelanders when LeBron went to Miami. All kinds of accusations that someone is just "playing games" with us, or that their decision was done with malicious intent. Or at the very least, I see the standard "no big loss" or "don't let the door hit you in the a$$" (which followed a statement about how much he would have thrived next year). I know. A lot of people are just pissed about our situation. I expect some of that frustration to show. But I hope I don't see us drag this down to the July 2010 Cleveland mentality. Zach, You can be pretty brash sometimes. But I have to admit that you have a point.

Here you go. http://www.scoopnest.com/user/JonRothstein/857382234000678913

Have you ever seen that video of her chewing out the clerk in the car rental place? Classic. She really thinks she's a big shot. Other than the way she looks, I don't agree.

A definite upgrade to Tampa for a guy who was once going to spend college in Youngstown.

Just to keep the names, schools, and situations straight, since some of them have been talked about at length: Potter was 1st team all-state at Mentor as a Jr., and decided to spend his Sr. year at Montverde Academy, not IMG. Kostelac went to IMG after high school, and skipped his would-be freshman year of college. Valentin shows he went down to IMG Acedemy when he would have been about 15 yrs. old. Can't see if he went there in lieu of a year in traditional high school, or possibly for a summer, etc.? That is correct. Actually, my earliest memory of IMG was when I was in college in the 80's and read the now-legendary business book "What They Don't Teach At Harvard Business School", which was written by Mark McCormack, the founder of IMG. Their first sports client was actually Arnold Palmer. Nothing like starting at the top, I guess.

Thanks for chiming in. I was actually just trying to define what it was, but certainly could have added more about the accommodations. I actually saw some pricing That's why I commented earlier that the money may not have been an issue for a private school kid.

I'm glad you picked up on that "clean slate" idea. That's why I brought that up as something that could be helping us, a few posts before the one you replied to. Of course, having so many spots available is probably never really a good thing in the short term, but it surely could have its pluses when you are retooling (that's right...I still hate the idea of using "rebuilding") And I've been saying all along that Keith might be hurting himself by filling up some of those spots on his roster so quickly. Unfortunately for us, the way he sees it is the only one that counts.

Or, does he go somewhere else BECAUSE another quality Guard just picked a school he might be considering? That can work both ways.

Sometimes, when your roster is depleted with transfers it's viewed by potential recruits as an opportunity to get playing time earlier. So, I hope that this unfortunate situation might now be our blessing on the other end. I'm really happy to land someone of some significance. It's been a tough few weeks waiting to see if anything good would happen for us.

Despite my bias when it comes to Trubisky, I don't see a #1 chance here at all. Since I obviously have been following the story non-stop, I think realistically he might go at #6 to the Jets, at the highest. If not, the Bills could possibly go after him at #10, or the Browns will get a 2nd shot at him at #12. A lot could happen with trades, etc. But this is how it's looking to me right now.

The last time I saw Dave (his father) he was proudly wearing his NC gear in support of his son. But things have really escalated over the last year. I probably won't believe this is all happening until I see him and Mitchell sitting in front of the podium at the Draft Show. It's still so hard for me to believe that someone I've known for so long has a son who is about to become a Multi-Millionaire at 21 yrs. old.

I can't say I'm sad to see him go.

We'll see what happens this year. I had this conversation with Chuck at a luncheon. There is only so much that any coach can do with that group of positions if age, maturity, size, strength, etc., to be productive at the D-I level just isn't there yet, as Blue and Gold points out above. But to the contrary, I do expect guys like Moore and Boxen to really start to assert themselves this year. Maybe that will produce some of the difference we're hoping to see this year.

100% agree with you on that point. I actually think we unfortunately ventured away from seeking those kinds of guys over the course of KD's tenure as we sought players with higher levels of athletic talent. I also would not put Pittis in the category of being an "Akron Boy" either, just because he was a low level assistant here for a short time. At the same time, I also don't think that his light and brief connection should bother those on the other side looking for a "clean break from the old staff" either.

I was just about to say the same thing when I saw that graphic.

Don't get your feelings hurt. I saw it, which is why I asked if those are guys that went to IMG at some point, or chose to forego their freshman year of college to go to IMG? That's what I was trying to find out. Thanks. That's what I was looking for. I went and read the article on him. I'm obviously way too old to fathom why a "prep school" route would be chosen for anything else other than academic issues. Looks like Toles' decision was questioned for the same reason. To each his own, I guess. Thanks to everyone else for the additional articles/info. as well.

It's a camp/boarding school for basketball players. I DO know what's hard to understand. I'm talking about going to a place like IMG Academy AFTER high school, instead of going to your freshman year of college. Find me some examples of guys who are going that route. Unless....like in his case....he wasn't getting any college offers. Just trying to figure out this unusual story, my friend. I'll stick with my assumption that guys don't skip college ball to go to a basketball school for a year, unless I see differently.

This guy really played with some fire. We noticed him.

Here's my problem, for the most part, with evaluation Spring games: First, I spend way too much time reuniting with Akron-fan friends, and chatting. Especially with so much to talk about with what's happened with basketball over the last month. Secondly, there are so many things that have no clear explanation since it's head-to-heard on our own team. Did a guy have a great block? Or was he just blocking an inferior defender? Did a guy have a great ball carry? Or, was the tackler the problem? etc. etc. etc. I tended to focus on ball flight towards receivers because that's the kind of thing that you can see that's mostly unaffected by the player matchups at the individual positions. In my opinion, Kato throws the best ball, and appears to get them where they needed to be pretty consistently compared to the others we saw, I was happy to finally see his potential after all of this time. And of course, I couldn't help but to have 20/20 hindsight and wonder how we might have been able to close the last 4 games of last year by pulling his redshirt instead of resorting to a WR at QB.

That might explain some things. That's what I've been trying to get at. Thanks for the info. Nobody's talking about guys who attended IMG Academy. I'm sure there's plenty of them who reached major success. We're talking about someone who's already done with high school, gets no offers, and skips their would-be freshman year of college to go to IMG Academy. I have a great belief in JUCOs. I agree. If you choose the right one, it's great competitive basketball, and full of guys who were good enough to go D-I, but might have academic issues, etc. And those guys work hard and have a lot to prove, because they are usually still being pursued by many of the same schools. I also have my own first-hand knowledge. I myself went to a JUCO with a guy who got a scholarship to a Major after playing two years there, and a couple others got their last 2 years of school paid for at some smaller schools.