Grass root campaign for Steve Swiech

[w00t]

Word is Steve is transferring...can anyone else confirm this?

He may be trying to elude a stalker. Has anyone seen nbs95?

Wow that was uncalled for. Just goes to show what kind of people post here. Very dissapointing.

Sports messageboards are the place to go for "unpolished" comments and opinions. Sometimes I feel bad knowing that players, coaches, and family members are reading them... but if you really want to know how people feel about something (not to speak of how accurate or properly directed those feelings are), this is the place to find it.

I think Steve is very well liked, but he's three years into the program now and hasn't cracked a rotation that already probably goes deeper than it should. It's just not a good sign and I don't think facebook awareness is going to do much to change it.

[mes102]

Stay tuned. It's going to be a VERY interesting off-season ...

From what I have heard from an inside source, interesting is an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet. There are 3 players that confirmed last tuesday to Dambrot that they are transferring. There is also one player who is debating to stay on the team or to transfer. I'll let you guys guess who since I don't want to be the spoiler

[g-mann17]

Stay tuned. It's going to be a VERY interesting off-season ...

From what I have heard from an inside source, interesting is an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet. There are 3 players that confirmed last tuesday to Dambrot that they are transferring. There is also one player who is debating to stay on the team or to transfer. I'll let you guys guess who since I don't want to be the spoiler

We don't take too kindly to your type round here.

[ZachTheZip]

Stay tuned. It's going to be a VERY interesting off-season ...

From what I have heard from an inside source, interesting is an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet. There are 3 players that confirmed last tuesday to Dambrot that they are transferring. There is also one player who is debating to stay on the team or to transfer. I'll let you guys guess who since I don't want to be the spoiler

It's not too surprising. The team was too deep for its own good. Too many players of similar talent level. Somebody had to end up on the outside looking in. And then you have the players who were lucky enough to actually get playing time but still aren't happy, how would it feel if you were benched all year but the people who got to play were mouthing off and couldn't be content. It's just a bad combination.

[Dr Z]

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet.

You should respect that request. People change their mind. The minute somebody isn't on their team anymore the bashing will begin. Example, any player that has ever left the Browns. Fan: "if this, this and this happened, Player A would be great" Player A leaves the team, same fan "Player A sux, he won't do anything with his new team" I've heard it more times than I care to detail.

[mes102]

Stay tuned. It's going to be a VERY interesting off-season ...

From what I have heard from an inside source, interesting is an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet. There are 3 players that confirmed last tuesday to Dambrot that they are transferring. There is also one player who is debating to stay on the team or to transfer. I'll let you guys guess who since I don't want to be the spoiler

We don't take too kindly to your type round here.

I'll tell you this much...3 out of the 4 i mentioned are backcourt players...that's all i'll say...

[ZachTheZip]

Stay tuned. It's going to be a VERY interesting off-season ...

From what I have heard from an inside source, interesting is an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet. There are 3 players that confirmed last tuesday to Dambrot that they are transferring. There is also one player who is debating to stay on the team or to transfer. I'll let you guys guess who since I don't want to be the spoiler

We don't take too kindly to your type round here.

I'll tell you this much...3 out of the 4 i mentioned are backcourt players...

But you didn't mention anybody. And I would keep it that way until an official announcement is made.

[Z.I.P.]

Stay tuned. It's going to be a VERY interesting off-season ...

From what I have heard from an inside source, interesting is an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet. There are 3 players that confirmed last tuesday to Dambrot that they are transferring. There is also one player who is debating to stay on the team or to transfer. I'll let you guys guess who since I don't want to be the spoiler

It's not too surprising. The team was too deep for its own good. Too many players of similar talent level. Somebody had to end up on the outside looking in. And then you have the players who were lucky enough to actually get playing time but still aren't happy, how would it feel if you were benched all year but the people who got to play were mouthing off and couldn't be content. It's just a bad combination.

I find one thing pretty interesting: When players from the men's basketball team seek their option to transfer to another university, where they would have a better chance of playing, they are generally thanked for considering the overall welfare of the team, and basically wished well at their destination. BUT, when women's basketball players do the same thing, they are considered troublemakers, and told "good riddance, we never needed your type to begin with." Now is this just a difference between a successful program and one which has had less than a handlfull of winning seasons, or is it a more basic display of sexism?

Just wondering in HI.

BTW -- Did you see Keyla Snowden help her Kentucky Wildcats into the Elite Eight with 13 first half points, and all around hard-nosed play in upsetting one-loss Nebraska? You go girl!

[zippy5]

Stay tuned. It's going to be a VERY interesting off-season ...

From what I have heard from an inside source, interesting is an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet. There are 3 players that confirmed last tuesday to Dambrot that they are transferring. There is also one player who is debating to stay on the team or to transfer. I'll let you guys guess who since I don't want to be the spoiler

It's not too surprising. The team was too deep for its own good. Too many players of similar talent level. Somebody had to end up on the outside looking in. And then you have the players who were lucky enough to actually get playing time but still aren't happy, how would it feel if you were benched all year but the people who got to play were mouthing off and couldn't be content. It's just a bad combination.

I find one thing pretty interesting: When players from the men's basketball team seek their option to transfer to another university, where they would have a better chance of playing, they are generally thanked for considering the overall welfare of the team, and basically wished well at their destination. BUT, when women's basketball players do the same thing, they are considered troublemakers, and told "good riddance, we never needed your type to begin with." Now is this just a difference between a successful program and one which has had less than a handlfull of winning seasons, or is it a more basic display of sexism?

Just wondering in HI.

BTW -- Did you see Keysha Snowden help her Kentucky Wildcats into the Elite Eight with 13 first half points, and all around hard-nosed play in upsetting one-loss Nebraska? You go girl!

I thought the women were kicked off?

[ZachTheZip]

I find one thing pretty interesting: When players from the men's basketball team seek their option to transfer to another university, where they would have a better chance of playing, they are generally thanked for considering the overall welfare of the team, and basically wished well at their destination. BUT, when women's basketball players do the same thing, they are considered troublemakers, and told "good riddance, we never needed your type to begin with." Now is this just a difference between a successful program and one which has had less than a handlfull of winning seasons, or is it a more basic display of sexism?

Just wondering in HI.

BTW -- Did you see Keysha Snowden help her Kentucky Wildcats into the Elite Eight with 13 first half points, and all around hard-nosed play in upsetting one-loss Nebraska? You go girl!

Maybe it's because the men's players weren't constantly getting in trouble at parties.

[Zipmeister]

Stay tuned. It's going to be a VERY interesting off-season ...

From what I have heard from an inside source, interesting is an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

They told me to keep it private...someone heard from the inside and told me to keep it quiet. There are 3 players that confirmed last tuesday to Dambrot that they are transferring. There is also one player who is debating to stay on the team or to transfer. I'll let you guys guess who since I don't want to be the spoiler

We don't take too kindly to your type round here.

I'll tell you this much...3 out of the 4 i mentioned are backcourt players...that's all i'll say...

I'm not asking you to name names, but could you list the height and home town of each of the 4 players in question?

[zippy5]

Steve dunked on our team in the Croatian tournament when I was in 7th grade. Random fact of the day.

[OZoner]

Rumors have been flying in media circles that Hitchens is leaving.

[Dave in Green]

We know for sure that 3 new forwards are signed and expected to show up next season -- Josh Egner, Dakotah Euton and Mike Green. We know that with no player movement, the Zips had only 2 scholarships to give. It was expected that one of the scholarship players from this year would leave to open up the additional required scholarship.

Now KD has stated that another guard will be coming in, which means that 2 scholarships need to be opened up.

Let's look at all the names of this season's players who did not graduate, and would be eligible to return next season, separated into frontcourt and backcourt (* = scholarship).

FRONTCOURT

1. Bardo*

2. Cvetinovic*

3. McKnight*

4. Marshall*

5. Swiech*

6. Oldham

BACKCOURT

1. Hitchens*

2. McClanahan*

3. McNees*

4. Roberts*

5. Steward*

6. Sullivan*

7. Petersen

Now if this rumor of 3 backcourt players possibly leaving the program is true, that would leave the Zips with only 4 returning guards and 1 new incoming guard announced by KD. I would say that 5 guards is not enough backcourt depth. All it would take is a Steward-type season-ending injury to leave the Zips in big guard trouble. So you'd have to expect at least 2 new guards to be signed if 3 leave.

If just 1 frontcourt scholarship player leaves along with the 2 senior scholarship forwards who graduated, that would neatly cover the 3 incoming scholarship forwards.

[Zipmeister]

Steve dunked on our team in the Croatian tournament when I was in 7th grade. Random fact of the day.

Yes, but when you think about it, that wasn't really all that impressive. How do you think he would have done this year against your 8th grade team?

[zippy5]

Steve dunked on our team in the Croatian tournament when I was in 7th grade. Random fact of the day.

Yes, but when you think about it, that wasn't really all that impressive. How do you think he would have done this year against your 8th grade team?

[Quickzips]

I find this all quite intriguing. I'm not completely sold yet that mes isn't just jerking everyone around. I have no idea who he is, or what connections, if any he has to the basketball program and the athletic department. If what he says is true we are looking at a substantially different team next year. We are almost certainly looking at losing more than just the two contributing players (C.McKnight and Conyers) that we thought we were going to be losing. If we are in for a backcourt exodus then it has to come from Humpty, McClanahan, Steward and Sullivan. It makes zero sense for McNees and Roberts to leave at this point because they only have one year of eligibility left. Unless they planned on transfering out of IA, they won't be able to sit out the mandatory year and still have any eligibility left. I also have a hard time seeing Steward walking away after the coaching staff has stuck with him this long and was still able to carve out some playing time for him this year as he tries to work back from all these injuries. I have thought from the beginning that Sullivan is the most likely candidate for a transfer. He simply got lost in the numbers game with our backcourt. I already addressed Humpty and McClanahan a little while ago and was promptly asked for the winning lottery numbers, won't make that mistake again.

Edit: Just thinking this over, I wonder if mes isn't trying to get us all worked up over a minor move. He hasn't told us that the three alleged transfers are all scholarship players. I wonder if Kyle Peterson might be one of the alleged three.

[Dave in Green]

Part of the intrigue of internet forums is separating the few ounces of gold nuggets from the tons of mucky sludge (yes, I once panned for gold at an Alaskan gold mine for touists). People do hear rumors from friends and acquaintances, and sometimes what they hear is dead wrong, or sometimes it's right and they hear and repeat it wrong, or sometimes it's partially right and ...... well, you get the picture.

Anyway, I take everything with a grain of salt until it's proven to have a basis in reality. I do think it's important not to get so far out on wild rumors that the discussion gets poisonous and destructive. But I haven't really seen much of that on ZN.O. There are some really good fans here who have the Zips best interests at heart.

Whatever happens with current Zips players, I hope that all of those who return take a solemn oath to play together as a team next season. For whatever reason, the team chemistry seemed to me to be just a little bit off this season, and some of the players appeared more irritated with each other than I've seen in the past.

I don't want to play this up too much and make a big deal out of it, because I don't think it was a major problem. A little competitive tension on a team is not all bad as long as it doesn't get to the point that it negatively impacts team chemistry. I do think it's possible that it may have reached the point this season where it was at least a minor problem. But that's just an impression from my observations, and I have no hard evidence to support that.

[ZachTheZip]

I think the tension came from the players being frustrated with themselves more than their teammates. They weren't performing to the best they could be.

Whatever happens, if any players transfer I wish them the best and don't hold any hard feelings.

[RootforRoo44]

I find this all quite intriguing. I'm not completely sold yet that mes isn't just jerking everyone around. I have no idea who he is, or what connections, if any he has to the basketball program and the athletic department. If what he says is true we are looking at a substantially different team next year. We are almost certainly looking at losing more than just the two contributing players (C.McKnight and Conyers) that we thought we were going to be losing. If we are in for a backcourt exodus then it has to come from Humpty, McClanahan, Steward and Sullivan. It makes zero sense for McNees and Roberts to leave at this point because they only have one year of eligibility left. Unless they planned on transfering out of IA, they won't be able to sit out the mandatory year and still have any eligibility left. I also have a hard time seeing Steward walking away after the coaching staff has stuck with him this long and was still able to carve out some playing time for him this year as he tries to work back from all these injuries. I have thought from the beginning that Sullivan is the most likely candidate for a transfer. He simply got lost in the numbers game with our backcourt. I already addressed Humpty and McClanahan a little while ago and was promptly asked for the winning lottery numbers, won't make that mistake again.

Edit: Just thinking this over, I wonder if mes isn't trying to get us all worked up over a minor move. He hasn't told us that the three alleged transfers are all scholarship players. I wonder if Kyle Peterson might be one of the alleged three.

I will tell you right now that Mes obviously IS in the know and knows the facts.

I have spoken to 2 of the 4 players in question (3 supposed "for sures" and one "maybe") and i can tell you that 1 is for sure transferring and one is thinking about it. I know these guys very well and feel free to believe it or not but everyone will find out for sure soon enough.

edit* Let me add that it's probably better that we all dont know who they are yet. Let them have some privacy with such a tough decision.

[vmd9]

I think the tension came from the players being frustrated with themselves more than their teammates. They weren't performing to the best they could be.

Whatever happens, if any players transfer I wish them the best and don't hold any hard feelings.

I'm telling you right now if someone like Zeke, Humpty, or Nik transfered I would have hard feelings. If you chose to go here, try your best, don't give up because of one bad season. Anyone else honestly can leave, but I really hope at least those three stay!! and KD better find some replacements or transfers fast, or this team will fall apart with a key player leaving.

[mes102]

I find this all quite intriguing. I'm not completely sold yet that mes isn't just jerking everyone around. I have no idea who he is, or what connections, if any he has to the basketball program and the athletic department. If what he says is true we are looking at a substantially different team next year. We are almost certainly looking at losing more than just the two contributing players (C.McKnight and Conyers) that we thought we were going to be losing. If we are in for a backcourt exodus then it has to come from Humpty, McClanahan, Steward and Sullivan. It makes zero sense for McNees and Roberts to leave at this point because they only have one year of eligibility left. Unless they planned on transfering out of IA, they won't be able to sit out the mandatory year and still have any eligibility left. I also have a hard time seeing Steward walking away after the coaching staff has stuck with him this long and was still able to carve out some playing time for him this year as he tries to work back from all these injuries. I have thought from the beginning that Sullivan is the most likely candidate for a transfer. He simply got lost in the numbers game with our backcourt. I already addressed Humpty and McClanahan a little while ago and was promptly asked for the winning lottery numbers, won't make that mistake again.

Edit: Just thinking this over, I wonder if mes isn't trying to get us all worked up over a minor move. He hasn't told us that the three alleged transfers are all scholarship players. I wonder if Kyle Peterson might be one of the alleged three.

According to Dave in Green's scholarship/walk-on list, the 3 players are scholarship players and the one maybe is a scholarship player and has had more PT this year than the 3 confirmed combined all year.

I'm not trying to be a troll. I heard something, and saw someone say "very interesting offseason" and i was putting my take on it. You asked, I answered with what I know without giving out the names. If the moderators think I'm being a troll, fine...I'll delete my account from ZN and just read as a guest and never comment on here again. I'm a student at U of Akron so this is how I find out my information. My major is sports-related and I have friends in my classes that are even closer friends to the players. I talk to a football player 3 times out of the week about their practices and workouts and he told me what he thinks about Coach Ianello and the rest of the coaching staff. Do I expect you to believe me, of course not. Can you respect that I tried to give you some info(even if it's not the players' names) while being told not even to mention it to anyone? Well, that's up to you, but I hope so. We are all fans of our Zips and I know that everyone that write on here is to talk about Zips(well, we have the occasional Can't, ohio, and buffalo fan comment), and the last thing I would do is give some false information that once the official report comes out, would embarass me and ruin my little reputation already as a fan. All I ask is just please give me a chance, and if I fail, ignore all my posts or just burn my account away...I'll leave that up to the moderators.

In one of my classes alone, I have a softball player, a baseball player, a soccer player, and a women's basketball player in my one class along with someone that works in the AD's secretary office as an aide...that's all i have to say...see you all at the baseball game today...cause that's where i'll be at when 3pm gets here.

[Dave in Green]

I suspect that the number of players on college basketball teams across the country who consider transferring out of their respective programs is larger than we might suspect. Some might just think about it to themselves, and some might share some of their thoughts with friends and acquaintances. But it just doesn't often show up on sports forums, so we don't really know how many there are.

Not naming names is a good thing, because some of these players are likely to decide after thinking it over that they really want to play for the Zips, and it does no good for any of us fans to think anything less of these players simply because they had some doubts about staying with the program.

[ZachTheZip]

Is there a timeline for transferring? Like if they don't decide by April 15th then they don't get their paperwork signed? I would think that the staff has some kind of deadline set up, so they can devise a plan going forward without having to worry about any more players leaving.

[zippy5]

Please not Zeke.