Basketball Banquet

[GoZips]

I'll leave the bulk of what went on to others. Just thought I would start the thread.

One, heard tonight that Akron is playing at Minnesota December 15th. Thanks, Uncle Tom.

Two, you have got to see Zeke Marshall. His maturation process has kicked in. He is huge.

Zeke is now seven-one and put on at least twenty pounds. Zeke has been living in the weight

room according to his mother (she and hubby sat at our table). Zeke was poised and outgoing,

not the shy wallflower he was last Fall. Frankly, Zeke was very favorably impressive.

Three, look for Steve McNees to play the "two guard" as a secondary point guard. Alex Abreu

will slide into the starting point role from the get go. A lot of NBA teams and some college

teams are running with two point guards. Look for the Zips to join that club this Fall.

The rest is up to the rest of you folks who attended.

[Blue & Gold]

I wasn't able to make the banquet. More info from the 'Nation, please!

[Quickzips]

Good to hear that the light is turning on for Zeke. If what you said is true he should be up to about 7'1" 240lbs which is doing pretty well. The only thing you have to worry about is the Greg Oden effect. Oden put on 25lbs. between his one year in college and going pro. His legs couldn't handle it and he's blown his knees out so bad at this point that he's talked about as probably being a total bust. You never want to see a kid put on weight that his lower body can't handle. I'm sure the Zips staff is well aware of this and will be monitoring Zeke closely.

I think most presumed that Abreu would start at PG. You don't bring a kid with that much prep and international experience in when you have no true starting PG and then sit him. I think making him the starting PG and moving McNees to SG is a good move. Put Steve out there with a creative ballhandler who can get him more open looks and it makes him more effective too.

[skip-zip]

OK...I just heard something twice that I would put in the "I'll believe it when I see it" category.

With Steve's experience running our offense, and entering his 5th year in the program, I find it very unlikely that a coach like ours would insert a newcomer into that roll.

[Hilltopper]

Some more tidbits. Wyoming and Niagara are not going to be on this season's schedule. Niagara's coach is upset over the outcome of the last 2 meetings with the Zips, including his ejection from last years game at the JAR. Wyoming can see the handwriting on the wall and see's no benefit in getting the asses handed to them at the JAR this season. Both teams will owe the Zips $50k for breaking the contracts. As Go Zips said in his post, Abreu is coming here to play right away. Dambrot says he can play point guard and brings things to the table that none of our existing guards have shown to date. IE the ability to run the offense, penetrate and dish the ball to open teammates. Quincy Diggs will be at the 3 spot. Coach says we need a shutdown defender at that position and Diggs is the man to get that done. He will also play the 2 when the match ups are right. Of the three high school recruits, Egner is the most likely to see playing time next season. His attitude and ability to defend gives him a good shot at significant minutes. Dakota Euton will be a "stretch 4" and be able to see some minutes if his defense will allow. Green is a great shooter, but might see a redshirt to work on his overall game.

The team hasn't heard from Humpty since his fathers funeral. He is devastated by the loss of his father, who raised him and was his best friend. Right now, Humpty is not sure where his future lies. Steve Swiech is set to graduate this spring and will finish out his playing career at the University of California/Pennsylvania. Steve made a great speech about how much he loved his time at Akron and will always be a Zip first. What a great kid.

The team gives out awards for alumni of the year and fan of the year. I'm proud to say the Zipsnation.org member and moderator, Zipwatcher was awarded the Fan of the Year. I can't think of a more deserving fan to get this award. ZW is the definition of a true fan who is always there to support the team through good and bad.

[Dave in Green]

Expanding a little on what others have already mentioned, I heard that it's not a big deal that Diggs is going to be listed as a forward at UA instead of a guard. There's not a big difference between wing forward and wing guard in the Zips system, and Diggs can and will play both roles depending on matchups.

I also heard that the recruiting of Abreu and Ennis has put UA on the map for both Puerto Rico and Canada, and that it could lead to future players from these two areas giving more consideration to becoming Zips. This could help plug the hole of not being able to recruit the top players from Ohio. While UA has moved up in the basketball recruitment pecking order in Ohio, Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton and Cincinnati still get the cream of the crop.

KD made a special point of emphasizing his and UA's commitment to academics for the basketball players. He noted that all of his players have either graduated or are on their way to graduating, and that all the players together had a 2.98 GPA in the most recent semester. He pointed out that basketball typically has the lowest graduation rate of any sport, but that he and UA would maintain their focus on recruiting true student athletes.

KD also pointed out that the Zips have averaged about 23 wins a year over the last 6 years, and that only about 35 (10%) of all D1 schools have achieved that winning level. He said that reaching the next level of being able to consistently beat top level teams would be the hardest step, but that both he and UA were committed to doing their best to take that step. He was also highly complimentary of Tim Carroll's contributions to the team. I'm pretty sure I heard him say that Carroll would be sticking around in some capacity with the team, but I didn't catch any details. Maybe someone else can fill in here.

As Hilltopper noted, Swiech is a great example of a student athlete, as he will graduate before what would have been his junior basketball season. Swiech gave the speech of the night. He was very emotional in saying he never considered not getting his degree from UA, even though he will be leaving the team. He said he will always consider himself to be a Zip even though he will finish his college basketball career at another school. Listening to Swiech pour his heart out about how much his teammates mean to him, you can understand why his teammates think so much of him. As Hilltopper said, what a great kid.

KD cleverly passed a question about the Zips facilities to Tom Wistrcill, who was obviously enthusiastic about having the opportunity to address this. He basically said that before thinking about a new facility that there were changes that could be made to the JAR to improve the fan experience. He also mentioned how important it was to fill the JAR. And, finally, he emphasized how important he personally thought it was to have athletic facilities on campus for the true college campus experience. If I translated his comments correctly, he basically said the JAR would be improved, attendance would be monitored, and if required, a new facility would eventually be built on campus.

Finally, my congratulations to ZW. It was great to be sitting at his table and see the expression on his face when he was announced as fan of the year. For me, he really sets a standard as a true Zips fan. He can point out what he thinks could be improved about the team without ripping on anyone. He can disagree without being disagreeable. He respects the opinions of others who may only have a fraction of his knowledge about the Zips. I can't think of a better person to be the primary moderator on a Zips basketball forum.

[johnnyzip84]

Congrats ZW!

Here's a Gaffney article that provides some more information. Glad to see the CSU series finally being renewed.

Leakin' Urinal

[Blue & Gold]

I also like having YSU on the schedule. I really enjoy the NE Ohio rivalries.

[Quickzips]

So at this point our schedule looks like:

Home:

Cleveland State

Youngstown State

Oral Roberts

VCU

Away:

Minnesota

Temple

Oakland

UIC

Neutral:

Miami(FL)

Indiana State

Four dates outstanding.

Is this correct?

[Valpo Zip]

Which tournament are the zips scheduled to be in? and where at please? never too early to start travel plans.

[zip37]

Tim Carroll wwill be GA next year. You're welcome!

[Zip Watcher]

Which tournament are the zips scheduled to be in? and where at please? never too early to start travel plans.

I'm pretty sure it's in Vegas. Not sure the details.

[vmd9]

teammates mean to him, you can understand why his teammates think so much of him. As Hilltopper said, what a great kid.

KD cleverly passed a question about the Zips facilities to Tom Wistrcill, who was obviously enthusiastic about having the opportunity to address this. He basically said that before thinking about a new facility that there were changes that could be made to the JAR to improve the fan experience. He also mentioned how important it was to fill the JAR. And, finally, he emphasized how important he personally thought it was to have athletic facilities on campus for the true college campus experience. If I translated his comments correctly, he basically said the JAR would be improved, attendance would be monitored, and if required, a new facility would eventually be built on campus.

it is required right now! we need a new facility. No reason to spend another penny fixing up the JAR

denial isn't just a river in egypt TW

[GP1]

KD cleverly passed a question about the Zips facilities to Tom Wistrcill, who was obviously enthusiastic about having the opportunity to address this. He basically said that before thinking about a new facility that there were changes that could be made to the JAR to improve the fan experience. He also mentioned how important it was to fill the JAR. And, finally, he emphasized how important he personally thought it was to have athletic facilities on campus for the true college campus experience. If I translated his comments correctly, he basically said the JAR would be improved, attendance would be monitored, and if required, a new facility would eventually be built on campus.

Very responsible response by TW. There is no reason to build a bigger arena if only 3,500 are going to show up. A new arena is a want, not a need.

[Zip_ME87]

Which tournament are the zips scheduled to be in? and where at please? never too early to start travel plans.

I'm pretty sure it's in Vegas. Not sure the details.

ZW is correct. KD told me last night it is the Las Vegas Tournament, just before Christmas.

[ZachTheZip]

KD cleverly passed a question about the Zips facilities to Tom Wistrcill, who was obviously enthusiastic about having the opportunity to address this. He basically said that before thinking about a new facility that there were changes that could be made to the JAR to improve the fan experience. He also mentioned how important it was to fill the JAR. And, finally, he emphasized how important he personally thought it was to have athletic facilities on campus for the true college campus experience. If I translated his comments correctly, he basically said the JAR would be improved, attendance would be monitored, and if required, a new facility would eventually be built on campus.

Very responsible response by TW. There is no reason to build a bigger arena if only 3,500 are going to show up. A new arena is a want, not a need.

True. But then fixing up the JAR becomes a need, not a want.

Getting rid of the track and moving the upper seats forward and adding a few rows behind them is important. Allowing entry to some of the lower seats from the ground floor is also something to look into, so the blue hairs aren't forced to climb stairs. Upgrading the concession stand to feature a cash register instead of a hand calculator or maybe adding a few staffers would be smart. Making a consolidated student section would be huge if you're trying to create atmosphere. Upgrading the lights to allow them to turn off for the player introductions is something to consider. There are lots of small things that could be done better that would add up to a nicer experience, too.

[GP1]

KD cleverly passed a question about the Zips facilities to Tom Wistrcill, who was obviously enthusiastic about having the opportunity to address this. He basically said that before thinking about a new facility that there were changes that could be made to the JAR to improve the fan experience. He also mentioned how important it was to fill the JAR. And, finally, he emphasized how important he personally thought it was to have athletic facilities on campus for the true college campus experience. If I translated his comments correctly, he basically said the JAR would be improved, attendance would be monitored, and if required, a new facility would eventually be built on campus.

Very responsible response by TW. There is no reason to build a bigger arena if only 3,500 are going to show up. A new arena is a want, not a need.

True. But then fixing up the JAR becomes a need, not a want.

I agree. There is no need for people who buy GA tickets to have to visit a doctor for back pain the day after going to a Zips game. Less potential crowd size, more comfortable seats is what I'm talking about. Make the game day experience one that at least doesn't result in physical pain.

[nbs95]

Some more tidbits.

The team hasn't heard from Humpty since his fathers funeral. He is devastated by the loss of his father, who raised him and was his best friend. Right now, Humpty is not sure where his future lies. Steve Swiech is set to graduate this spring and will finish out his playing career at the University of California/Pennsylvania. Steve made a great speech about how much he loved his time at Akron and will always be a Zip first. What a great kid.

Thanks for the nice words about Steve.

[Hilltopper]

Your welcome. I'm sure Steve will do well in life , he has a great attitude. I look forward to seeing how his BB career ends up at UC/PA.