14 Days to 1st Official Practice

[dboze]

With 14 more days to the 1st Official Practice for the Zips 2010 - 2011 season, is it too early to begin talking about the upcoming season?

[Dave in Green]

I'd like to know if there will be any practices open to fans. I'd like to see some of the new players in action.

[Quickzips]

With 14 more days to the 1st Official Practice for the Zips 2010 - 2011 season, is it too early to begin talking about the upcoming season?

With practice opening in less than 2 weeks, the exhibition opener in a month and the football team officially anchored in irrelevance, I think it is safe to start talking about hoops now.

I've got a lot of questions heading into this season, as I'm sure many others do. We haven't seen the kind of roster turnover we are faced with in quite a while, but at the same time, we have a lot of key veterans to lean on. My questions headed into the season include:

How much progress can we expect to see out of Zeke? I'm particularly interested in his progress on the offensive side of the ball.

Who fills the void at SF left by Jimmy Conyers? Do we play Brett McKnight there and try to deal with his defensive problems? Will we continue to try and hammer the square peg that is Brett McClanahan into that round hole and leave ourselves even thinner at the guard spots? Will we see one of the newcomers (Diggs? Egner? Green?) take significant minutes there?

How will the PG minutes get broke down? This one has been hashed to death all offseason, but it bears repeating.

Can little brother Brett save the McKnight legacy? The brothers came in here hyped as the heirs apparent to Romeo Travis and Jeremiah Wood. Chris never really lived up to the hype and graduated as little more than a solid roleplayer on a team that could have really used some star talent. Brett has shown glimpses of greatness, but has never consistently put it all together. Brett's got one more year to make good on the promise that the McKnight brothers showed when they first arrived on campus. I hope he makes it count.

What do we make of the newcomers? Who (if anyone) do we redshirt? Is Alex Abreu ready to come in and play significant minutes for us (we really need him to with the lack of depth we have at G)? Can Josh Egner's athleticism translate from high-school glue guy to D-I player? Is Dakotah Euton a polished, ready to step in and contribute right away kind of prospect or is he another in a line of big guys who have reached their ceiling without quite being a D-I player? Does a year of D-I ball in the big-easy give Quincy Diggs a leg up? What about the seemingly forgotten man of our recruiting class, Michael Green?

Can Nik Cvetinovic get back to harnessing his emotions into a positive contribution on the floor or will he continue down the out of control path that we saw at the end of last year?

Can Brett McClanahan pull a Conyers and remove the "bust" label from his recruitment or has the damage already been done?

How much, and in what way, will all of the transfers (Hitchens, Steward, Sullivan, Swiech) affect this team?

Is this the year the Zips finally get over the hump and score that big OOC win that has eluded them for so long? The opportunities are there with teams like Minnesota, Miami(FL), Temple and Dayton. In order to continue the progression of the program, the Zips really need to knock off one or two of them.

Is this the year we get back to being competitive against Can't? The last couple seasons the athletic flushes have been a matchup nightmare for the slower, more calculated Zips. This year both teams feature a lot of new faces. Will the turnover make a difference for the good guys?

Will Dambrot's apparent change in philosophy (see recruiting, scheduling) include a change in on the floor strategy?

[Dr Z]

Will the staff get the most out of the talent that is on the team? It seems as though the staff has adjusted it's recruiting strategy, will this new found ability to adjust carry over on the court?

[Quickzips]

Practice opens tomorow and it is disturbingly quiet on here. Guess everyone is still too wrapped up in calling for Ianello's head. Anyways thought there was some good information out there for those of you who might be interested.

October 29th at 6:30pm the team will host a "Halloween Hoops" for both the men's and women's teams. The event is free to the public.

Our newcomers have apparently chosen numbers. Gozips.com lists Alex Abreu as wearing #11, Quincy Diggs in #22, Michael Green picking up the #32 from Jimmy Conyers, Josh Egner will go with #33 while Dakotah Euton will go with #45. Chauncey Gilliam and Brian Walsh are also both listed on the roster, but have not picked numbers as both will sit out the year due to transfer rules.

I for one could care less about football right now. It's officially basketball season for me and I'm certainly looking forward to it.

[ZachTheZip]

Here's an article from the ABJ on the eve of practice.

I liked this quote: "We need to make certain guys better winners,'' Dambrot said. ''We have to teach them how to be competitive and win big games. That's part of growing as a player."

If Dambrot has figured out a formula to transform underachieving players into "better winners", he should become the AD and start teaching it to all his coaches starting with football. Winners win and losers lose. Transforming a loser into a winner is a tricky process with with lots of subtlety involving the balance between attitude, work ethic, skill, and determination.

[Dr Z]

Many changes for Zips basketball team

Of all the photos to use, Tom picks this one to start the season? Is he just being funny, intuitive, or just random?

''We don't think this is going to be our very best team, but we still think we can make good strides with this team.'' -KD

Damn, KD's not getting me very excited about this year. Can't wait to "make good strides", maybe the Rowdies can come up with a chant or something.

[Quickzips]

''We don't think this is going to be our very best team, but we still think we can make good strides with this team.'' -KD

Damn, KD's not getting me very excited about this year. Can't wait to "make good strides", maybe the Rowdies can come up with a chant or something.

KD is notoriously pessimistic with his predictions for his teams. Especially early in the season. I'll be the first to admit that there are quite a few question marks for us right now, but I'm still pretty amped up about this season. We've got a full year on our blue-chip center, senior leadership and some exciting young pieces to add to the puzzle. Should be another interesting year at the JAR. I can't wait.

[ZachTheZip]

Is it basketball season yet?