Today's Intra-Squad Scrimmage

[Blue & Gold]

Hey GoZips,I know you went to today's scrimmage. Can you give us a rundown?Thanks!

[Valpo Zip]

Hey GoZips,I know you went to today's scrimmage. Can you give us a rundown?Thanks!

I don't think he's back yet. But yeah... as soon as you come back GoZips, please be as detailed and long as possible.

[Zip Watcher]

I'm your Huckleberry ..I went down to the scrimmage this morning. Nice way to warm up and get the hoops energy flowing. Thanks to the coaches for allowing us to watch them work.Some brief thoughts:- I'll go so far as to say that never has there been a Zips team this deep. In thinking about rotations, I think there's a clear 10 guys who could contribute, with another 1 or 2 that might be able to step up if needed.- Sullivan was the only guy not playing. Appeared to be nursing a foot / ankle ailment. Was working on the side most of the time, and then came out in a walking boot.- Don't lose too much sleep on the PG spot. Entertaining to watch the two guys go at it. I'll say that one of them appears ahead of the other to me. Both are lightning quick compared to recent past PG's ... not ready to label either of them Rashon Brown Jr., but the upside of these 2 guys is clearly evident. I think it's safe to say we'll see a little more dribble drive than we have lately.- Conditioning appeared good .. I didn't see anyone sucking wind too bad .. Brett looks much slimmer, McNees looks thinner .. Conyers looks stronger, and Bardo is just a big Big BIG dude. Probably a full inch taller than Swiech.- It's a real treat to watch the staff coach this team. KD & co .. coach. They teach .. they encourage. There's not any element of embarassing a guy in front of the team. I like that. You can see in the energy of the players and how they respond that there's a good deal of mutual respect. Sure guys screwed up, it's early and they're 18 .. but they were coached through it, not berated about it.- I'm not going to speculate about redshirts specifically, though there's probably 3 that I see. Different than Rasor.Impressions of the new guys:- Humpty: as advertised .. very quick, good on the dribble. His decisions need to catch up to his athleticism, but he certainly can make a play.- Steward: I think things would have been very different last year if he hadn't gotten hurt. It's clear he's got a good grasp of the system. Super quick also.- Cvetinovic: I think he might drive the coaches nuts, but it's going to be hard not to play the guy. He has a nice game. Does lots of things really well, maybe nothing spectacularly, but lots of things well. Complete player, good ball sense & athleticism .. not afraid to mix it up. My favorite moment of the scrimmage: Nik has the ball near the line, gets bumped and does a side fadeaway & hits the shot with the foul. He pumps his fist as it goes down, only to turn around and be told by staff that it was a bad shot, and the decision should have been different.- Parrish: Farther along than I expected. About the size of Byron Thompson, maybe bigger, with the build and athleticism of George Phillips. Much stronger than Quade .. blocked a shot early, active on the glass. Not many minutes.- McClanahan: Smooth stroke, by my unofficial box score I think he was just under 50% from outside. Hit a nice leaner after splitting the double team. I disagree with Rasor on his size. He might be light (NOT skinny), but he's closer to Linharts's size than he is the PG's.- Swiech: Progressing nicely. Knows his spots, has some tenacity. I think he'll be able to help this year in spots. I'd be comfortable with him out there given the right situation. Lots of time, and he's big, and has touch .. keep at it big fella. A little bit more footspeed would go a long way with him.Good times .. nice to see the Zips in some action. I'm gonna put them on now .. B) B) Go Zips! Go Trevor! Go Zeke!

[Dr Z]

Thanks for the update ZW.

[GoZips]

Zip Watcher must have been able to see a lot more of the scrimmage than I got to. Work buzzedme and I had to leave around ten AM. To describe the first half an hour in a word ... sloppy.Sounds like a lot of the early rough edges came off as the scrimmage progressed. It is still way tooearly to make judgements about how well each player is doing. I hope to attend the second scrimmageand draw some conclusions.Right now these kids have to learn to play together as a team. KD loves having slick, inter changeableparts. Its a lack of timing issue. The floor speed is way up. The two big guys are just too slow forthe run, run, run we saw this morning. Bardo can hack it, but Swiech will struggle.Parrish might play himself into the rotation. He did not start, but he was the first sub in and he playedwell enough to be noticed. The guard play is excellent for this early in the season.Brett McClanahan is a lot taller than the six-four he is advertised as. A number of the players havegrown. Nate Linhart, Chris McKnight, Nikola Cvetinovic are all six-eight. McClanahan is at least six-six. "Small ball" will still sport a tall front line.I believe some of the Freshmen are playing their tails off to avoid being red shirted. They have grit.One of the referees was Mike Foote. I was tempted to boo him. But, kept my mouth shut. Footewas the official that screwed Nick Dials and the Zips down at Dayton.Elton Alexander was the only media person that I recognized in attendance. In fact, by ten therewas only a handful of people watching the scrimmage.

[Quickzips]

Thanks for the updates guys.From the sounds of it the redshirt issue is going to turn out to be quite interesting. It sounds like, based on past thinking and now the likely foot/ankle injury Sullivan is probably a good candidate for a redshirt. I assumed Parrish was as well, but if he was the first guy off the bench...kinda makes you wonder. Everything I've heard about Nic is sounding great as well and it doesn't sound like McClanahan is doing all that bad either.I'm psyched about the PG competition. Hopefully I can make it over to see these guys duke it out some time. It sounds like a real treat to watch. I've got a feeling that no matter who starts we're gonna have some good depth at the position that is going to make opposing players and coaches pull their hair out on the court.If I have one concern right now it would be the big guys up front. I hate the idea of playing another year up front with 3 forwards and no real centers. We've got the guys, but if they can't keep up with the run, run, run pace that this team seems built for...

[RootforRoo44]

One of the referees was Mike Foote. I was tempted to boo him. But, kept my mouth shut. Footewas the official that screwed Nick Dials and the Zips down at Dayton.

man if i would have known that i would have been there booing him myself.

[Z.I.P.]

One of the referees was Mike Foote. I was tempted to boo him. But, kept my mouth shut. Footewas the official that screwed Nick Dials and the Zips down at Dayton.

man if i would have known that i would have been there booing him myself.

Two questions: First off: GZ -- or anyone. Is this Foote guy the same guy who played baseball (catcher) at K-ent and for the Montreal Expos? I'm thinking his name was "Jim". I remember him as the student P.E. teacher at Green JHS about 1972, making us run wind sprints in the gym immediately after lunch. Mine didn't last long!More importantly: Do you see KD running much more backcourt pressure than he has in any year previous? And will that be a necessity to be competitive, given the lack of frontcourt prowess? It sounds like there will be a lot of teams in the MAC similar to us -- excellent backcourts, but as usual, not a team with a post player that could elevate them near the top-25. That will change in exactly one year.

[zipboy]

Thanks for the updates. A few comments that I heard from KD on Zips Live Thursday.1. Sullivan sprained his ankle the 2nd day of camp. He is the strongest guard that we ever had, benched 300 lbs. 2. KD wants no more than a 10 maybe 11 man rotation. That tells me we redshirt 2 or 3 guys.3. From the way KD talked without saying it, Humpty and Nic seem to be in the 10 to 11 deep. Sullivan will probably redshirt as he will have to play catch up now. KD said if McClenahan is the best shooter in the program, he needs to get minutes and Parris was working very well as well. My feeling is they redshirt 1 or both of those guys but that is up in the air.4. Nate Linhart was the guest and Joe Dunn asked him what he thought of the new guys. He was pretty high on Humpty and felt he would have the most impact of the 5 early on.

[GoZips]

One of the referees was Mike Foote. I was tempted to boo him. But, kept my mouth shut. Footewas the official that screwed Nick Dials and the Zips down at Dayton.

man if i would have known that i would have been there booing him myself.

Two questions: First off: GZ -- or anyone. Is this Foote guy the same guy who played baseball (catcher) at K-ent and for the Montreal Expos? I'm thinking his name was "Jim". I remember him as the student P.E. teacher at Green JHS about 1972, making us run wind sprints in the gym immediately after lunch. Mine didn't last long!More importantly: Do you see KD running much more backcourt pressure than he has in any year previous? And will that be a necessity to be competitive, given the lack of frontcourt prowess? It sounds like there will be a lot of teams in the MAC similar to us -- excellent backcourts, but as usual, not a team with a post player that could elevate them near the top-25. That will change in exactly one year.

Overly lucky Hawai'ian Z.I.P., yes it is the same Mike Foote. He has a shock of unruly blonde hair.You can spot him in a crowd of millions (wish they were piranha).For the first scrimmage the game was picked up at half court. Remember, I only got to see the first 30 minutes. Perhaps Zip Watcher saw some extended floor activity. I may have left too early.Interesting about Zips Live. I would like to have heard KD's comments.Purely from a logistics stand point, it seems the redshirting three of the incoming Freshman bestserves future Zips needs. With a ten man rotation there just are not enough minutes to go around.I stated previously that my early impression is that McClanahan, Sullivan, and Parrish would bethe redshirts. I still think this is going to be correct barring an injury to Humpty or Nik.If McClanahan's shooting skills are that good, he just might be the small forward that the coachesbelieve is needed to make a Final Four run with.Kyle Peterson, the walk on freshman, is also going to be redshirted. Kyle has shown that he is apretty good player. He might figure in future seasons as a floor regular. I like what I see.Heard, too, that Nik, prefers to be called by his full name, Nikola. Here's a tip young man, thatis not going to happen. Nik sounds American and it conjures up visions of Nicky Dials. Hey, Nikola,would you settle for "Nikky"?

[Blue & Gold]

Hey ZW or GZ, how did the McKnight brothers look?Thanks!

[GoZips]

Blue & Gold, they played like the starters that they are. They looked improved. Looked to me thatthey knew what was expected and played well. They were on the same team along with Nate and Humpty.

[Quickzips]

Anyone up for bringing some Tesla coils in in support of Nikola?

[Zip Watcher]

Some followup comments:- I would say I liked what I saw .. to call things smooth or polished would be a stretch. But the energy and intensity was good on all parts. There's a boatload of upper level D1 guys on the roster.- They did pick up full court for most of what I saw. There was some running of inbounds stuff .. but for the most part, they did run the length.- Some fretting above about the front court. Nate will play 30+ minutes a game .. top returning player. I'd expect 20+ from both of the McKnights .. that leaves 40-50 minutes to be divided by Conyers, Bardo, Civetinovic, Swiech. Conyers and Bardo have experience .. Only 1/3 of the minutes in the front court are uncertain or inexperienced guys. 1/2 the backcourt will be first year guys.- Bardo's a center. A big center. Maybe the biggest in the conference aside from Polk @ BG. Mike's going to help the Zips this year. Ultimately, after seeing a grand total of 1 1/2 hours of intrasquad scrimmage .. I think I have to agree with KD's comments earlier: if 1 new guy contributes, they'll be ok. 2 contribute .. they'll be pretty good. If 3 step in and help .. look out.Go Zips! Go Zeke! Go Trevor! B) Keep in mind how hard it is to judge a team against itself .. long way to go here.