Humpty Out, Chauncey In...

[Zipmeister]

The kids probably hungry to win, UMBC went 4-26 last year.

4-26! We probably found out about this guy as we were trying to schedule them. I wonder if Eastern Shore has any decent players?

[Z.I.P.]

This could end up being a major steal for KD and Co. But only time will tell. I really like the comparison to the Vermont star, who led the Cats to the NCAA -- He is a HiMajor Stud. I can't figure out though, if Chauncey's as good as the press above, how did he become "odd-man-out" at a low major program like UMBC? I imagine Curtis Gilliam will find this site, if he hasn't already, and we are ready to welcome him to the Zips Legion.

As far as Humpty's future, I can tell you, that guy would be the best guard at Hawaii in the past decade if he showed up on O'ahu. However, I suspect he wants to stay closer to home and family, so will probably be at D-II. He should blow away the field there.

[Hilltopper]

I think its a sign that Dambrot is willing to make the needed changes to make the team better. I also think its an indictment of the recruiting abilitys of Jeff Boals. Other than Humpty, the other 3 would not have contributed to the Zips making it to the next level.

[Captain Kangaroo]

The kids probably hungry to win, UMBC went 4-26 last year.

4-26! We probably found out about this guy as we were trying to schedule them.

:lol:

[GP1]

I think its a sign that Dambrot is willing to make the needed changes to make the team better. I also think its an indictment of the recruiting abilitys of Jeff Boals. Other than Humpty, the other 3 would not have contributed to the Zips making it to the next level.

Interesting take. You say "willing to make the needed changes to make the team better", I say being a prick. Four players isn't just being a prick, it is being a huge prick (put your dirty thoughts away you bunch of perverts). Either way, it gets the Zips moving in the right direction as far as talent and I'm glad KD is a prick.

"indictment of the recruiting abilitys of Jeff Boals". Who made the final decision on handing out the scholarships? Maybe the case could be as follows....As I was one of the first to say, KD brings a lot of talented scorers into UofA and after a couple of years in his system, they can't seem to throw the ball into the ocean. Maybe they are good scorers when they get here, but the system destroys their ability. Will this kid be the next victim of the Mike Fratello of college basketball?

[RootforRoo44]

I think its a sign that Dambrot is willing to make the needed changes to make the team better. I also think its an indictment of the recruiting abilitys of Jeff Boals. Other than Humpty, the other 3 would not have contributed to the Zips making it to the next level.

I think you are forgetting the talent level that Ronnie Steward was/is on. If i remember correctly, Ronnie was the starting point guard OVER Humpty at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season.

[Zip Watcher]

I think its a sign that Dambrot is willing to make the needed changes to make the team better. I also think its an indictment of the recruiting abilitys of Jeff Boals. Other than Humpty, the other 3 would not have contributed to the Zips making it to the next level.

I think you are forgetting the talent level that Ronnie Steward was/is on. If i remember correctly, Ronnie was the starting point guard OVER Humpty at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season.

An important point. Also for much of 2009-10, Ronnie was the preferred PG backup. More often than not, Humpty was playing the off guard when Steve was on the bench. Seemed to me that Ronnie had a real opportunity to grab a big role going into his junior year with a healthy off season. I think it's unfortunate he's moving on. He had some upside that we didn't yet get to see. Bad luck affected it early, but he was largely healthy the last few months of the season.

Go Zips!

[Dr Z]

The kids probably hungry to win, UMBC went 4-26 last year.

...and one of those teams they lost to was TOLEDO!!

Looks like he had a PG that could penetrate and dish in that game.

[zip37]

The players leaving could be like this: Overseas I played 1st base because I could catch, but not a power hitter, had plenty of power hitters on the team 8 others to be specific.

Stateside, I went out for the team, the coach had everybody hit first. A guy about the size of Nik hit those long taters and high deep fly balls. Coach asked him what poaition he played he said 1st base.

I got up and hit my bleeders and bloopers, coach askes me what position I played I said; Coach, I'm a catcher

[Dave in Green]

This could end up being a major steal for KD and Co. But only time will tell. I really like the comparison to the Vermont star, who led the Cats to the NCAA -- He is a HiMajor Stud. I can't figure out though, if Chauncey's as good as the press above, how did he become "odd-man-out" at a low major program like UMBC? I imagine Curtis Gilliam will find this site, if he hasn't already, and we are ready to welcome him to the Zips Legion.

As far as Humpty's future, I can tell you, that guy would be the best guard at Hawaii in the past decade if he showed up on O'ahu. However, I suspect he wants to stay closer to home and family, so will probably be at D-II. He should blow away the field there.

I believe the reason why Gilliam was the "odd-man-out" at UMBC is because he was the only talented player left. UMBC was actually pretty good the previous two seasons, and qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2008. But they lost all their best players to graduation, and Gilliam was the best of what was left even though only a sophomore. I suspect the reason he's transferring is because he has higher aspirations than the mediocrity to which the UMBC program fell with only one quality player.

[GP1]

I think it's unfortunate he's moving on.

Let's not sugar coat it...we get enough of that on this portion of the board.

Saying he is "moving on" is like saying someone who gets fired is "let go" as if it is voluntary. This guy got KDs boot and is out the door. I don't have a problem with that, but let's call it what it is.

[Dave in Green]

I'll conceed that I'm probably wrong about Gilliam being in the 220 range. Although his official bio from UMBC still has him listed there

http://www.umbcretrievers.com/sports/mbbal...?PLAYER_ID=3997 .....

You found a link to his old freshman bio on the UMBC site, when he was listed at 220. The sports websites mostly have him at 230. But the latest, official UMBC bio shows 235. Sounds like a Charles Barkley type who's still growing -- a wide body who's not too tall for his weight, but can still elevate.

[Dave in Green]

I think it's unfortunate he's moving on.

Let's not sugar coat it...we get enough of that on this portion of the board.

Saying he is "moving on" is like saying someone who gets fired is "let go" as if it is voluntary. This guy got KDs boot and is out the door. I don't have a problem with that, but let's call it what it is.

Why do you act as if you "know" that when we all know that you don't?

[skip-zip]

I think its a sign that Dambrot is willing to make the needed changes to make the team better. I also think its an indictment of the recruiting abilitys of Jeff Boals. Other than Humpty, the other 3 would not have contributed to the Zips making it to the next level.

I think you are forgetting the talent level that Ronnie Steward was/is on. If i remember correctly, Ronnie was the starting point guard OVER Humpty at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season.

I was also led to believe that Ronnie would be our "offensive quarterback" after the departure of Dru. I think that only the injuries sidelined those plans. And he was quite the decorated HS player. But looking ahead, even with Humpty gone, he still would have likely been playing minimal minutes compared to Darryl and Steve again, and possibly a newly acquired PG...and maybe that was enough for him.

Lets not forget Sullivan also. This was a guy who was a decorated and solid mid-20s per game scorer both of his last two years of high school....for a big school. In my opinion, when you have a situation like that....where that kind of talent sits for 2 full years...without even a chance to prove himself besides his impressive play during a scrimmage before last season, you are going to have little chance of keeping him around. I wish he could have had the patience to stick around until after Steve and Darryl graduated...but I'm guessing he just wanted to play, and play as quickly as possible.

Humpty? I never made it a secret that I was never sold on him ever developing into much more than what we saw.....a spark-plug kind of player who could generate some offense on some nights, but also quite frequently could do the types of ill advised things that put you right back on the bench.

[Zip Watcher]

I think it's unfortunate he's moving on.

Let's not sugar coat it...we get enough of that on this portion of the board.

Saying he is "moving on" is like saying someone who gets fired is "let go" as if it is voluntary. This guy got KDs boot and is out the door. I don't have a problem with that, but let's call it what it is.

Pure speculation from someone with absolutely no knowledge of anything whatsoever. You're not close on this one.

[zippy5]

Hate to see Humpty go, but face it, it was a problem having 11 guys on a pretty even talent level. Maybe we can stick to an 8 man rotation with our 2 studs.

[Dr Z]

Maybe we can stick to an 8 man rotation with our 2 studs.

You know Dambrot is still coaching next year right?

[Dave in Green]

Hate to see Humpty go, but face it, it was a problem having 11 guys on a pretty even talent level. Maybe we can stick to an 8 man rotation with our 2 studs.

Just to put the Zips rotation into some perspective, 9 players averaged double digit minutes per game this season. The average number of players with double digit minutes of playing time for the top 10 teams in the final regular season AP poll was about 8.5. So the Zips rotation is not really significantly different from what the top teams average, and there's no reason to expect much change in the coming season.

[Quickzips]

Hate to see Humpty go, but face it, it was a problem having 11 guys on a pretty even talent level. Maybe we can stick to an 8 man rotation with our 2 studs.

Just to put the Zips rotation into some perspective, 9 players averaged double digit minutes per game this season. The average number of players with double digit minutes of playing time for the top 10 teams in the final regular season AP poll was about 8.5. So the Zips rotation is not really significantly different from what the top teams average, and there's no reason to expect much change in the coming season.

I don't think minutes really shows the parity on this past years team, but scoring certainly does. Don't have the numbers available right now, and not really sure I care to look them up, but I doubt that you would find another team in the country with only two players averaging in double digits in points and both of them only averaging 10 points per game. Then on top of it having eight players averaging 5 points per game or better. Our minutes distributuion might not be that far out of line from the rest of basketball, but our scoring distribution almost certainly is.

[Dave in Green]

It's true that other teams with similar PT distribution get much different scoring distribution from what the Zips had. The only point I was trying to make is that focusing on trying to have fewer players in the rotation would not necessarily be the best way to improve as long as there are more players on the team who are capable of contributing. It's up to each coach to make the most of what he has to work with, and if the Zips have 10 or 11 players capable of contributing, find a way to make all those contributions pay off with more wins.

[Dr Z]

The only point I was trying to make is that focusing on trying to have fewer players in the rotation would not necessarily be the best way to improve

How would anybody ever know that since it hasn't happened? Unless we go back and replay the season with a shorter bench, there is nothing to give a fair comparison. What if Jimmy was one of the guys in a short rotation and he got to see more pt earlier in his career, would we have to wait 5 years to see him finally reach his potential, or would he have reached his potential earlier? We'll never know. One thing I'm pretty sure of, right or wrong, not much is going to change with our rotations....unless four more kids transfer out.

[Dave in Green]

We are in agreement on this: No one can really know that which hasn't happened. We all just make our best estimation based on our analysis of the data available.

Here's an interesting example. Villanova, which finished the regular season ranked #9 in the country, had more players averaging double digit minutes than either the Zips or any other highly ranked team -- 11. Only 3 Villanova players averaged double digit scoring -- 18.2, 13.3, and 11.5. The next 6 averaged from 9.5 to 4.4.

So from this example we can see that under certain circumstances -- the right players and the right coaching -- a really deep rotation with lots of different people scoring can be successful.

There are other examples of successful teams with much shorter rotations and much less balanced scoring. Point is, different systems can be successful given the right circumstances.

The question of what would work best for the Zips next season is a mystery. We don't yet know just how good all the incoming players will be or how they will interact with the veterans, and we don't yet know how much change the coach is willing to make to take the next step.

KD's system has worked to measurably improve the Zips' average performance and record over the last 6 years from that of at least the previous 6 years before his arrival. He seems to be trying to take the next step by changing some, but not all, of his previous practices. Whether that will involve changing the depth of the player rotation or the balance of scoring, I don't think any of us really knows what to expect next season. I don't think KD will know, either, until he has a chance to see all of next season's players in action together.

That's what makes next season one of the most interesting to me in the 30 years I've been following the Zips.

[Dr Z]

That's what makes next season one of the most interesting to me in the 30 years I've been following the Zips.

I have to think that somebody that has watched Zips basketball for 30 years can form some kind of opinion without reverting to irrelevant stats all the time. Seriously, your trying to prove something about the Zips basketball program by comparing numbers with Villanova's basketball program!?!? Apples and oranges once again. Trust your eyes more. You would have to have the exact same games with the same players and play a shorter rotation to see the results. That ain't happening.

Without any "stats", what would indicate a change in use of KD's typical deep rotation next year? I'm guessing he continues to rotate the exact same way he has since he got here. I'm hoping for different, but expecting nothing but the same because I've heard him explain why he does it.

[The Hip Zip]

I'll miss Humpty's spark and personality and I'll miss Ronnie's smoothness in running the offense. As his minutes increased, he really looked comfortable out there and the offense was a couple of steps quicker. I am sure that he would have been a nice asset to have going forward. I just hope we are getting some good speed at the guard spots because we have none now.

Data Shmata, its just a game. Enjoy it !!

[zippy5]

I don't feel like anything "happened," just too many players, and not enough minutes. There were going to be a few players bound to be unhappy sooner or later. I'll cal this the weeding out process. We have the guys that want to be here and buy into KD's system now.