Early Summer Update

[Doug Snyder]

Honestly I don't think the 4 players we lost will hurt us too much. The players we have coming will probably be better, and I am not worried.

Let's take a look at the four we lost.

McKnight was a strong presence off the bench but had his ups and downs, with a bit of an off the court issue. Not saying he's a bad person or player I just don't feel like we'll be hurting. McNees was clutch shooting and a decent pg, but I think Abreu will be able to take his place easily. Bardo hurt us more than he helped. Roberts was a good veteran presence.

I know everyone wishes for these kinds of scenarios to take place. I think we do it because we have no other options. We can't wish for the veteran players to extend their eligibility any longer, and this year presented us with a number of significant losses at the same time.

It's like the Cavs fans who are trying to justify that they are better off now without LeBron because some rookie with no experience must surely be coming in that will dominate the NBA. They do it because they have no other options on which to rest their hopes.

I wish I could line up all the posts I've seen in the last few years that talked about how Sweich was going to come in as a freshman and become our answer to our losses in the post. Losing Dru as our all time assist leader wasn't a big deal either, because Steward was an incoming freshman. And where was our season headed last year if we had done what some of you suggested, and handed the reigns of our backcourt over to Alex, instead of returning heavily to the senior leadership of Steve and Darryl?

I've said it many times. In college basketball, counting on incoming freshmen to fill the shoes of these kinds of players is VERY wishful.

If you want to play the more dependable odds, you'll want to tell me how much we're going to improve this year because there will be significant further development from guys who have already seen a college basketball floor.

Don't tell Michigan. They believe they almost won it all with 5 incoming freshman. Ahh...what the heck. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.

[Doug Snyder]

Honestly I don't think the 4 players we lost will hurt us too much. The players we have coming will probably be better, and I am not worried.

Let's take a look at the four we lost.

McKnight was a strong presence off the bench but had his ups and downs, with a bit of an off the court issue. Not saying he's a bad person or player I just don't feel like we'll be hurting. McNees was clutch shooting and a decent pg, but I think Abreu will be able to take his place easily. Bardo hurt us more than he helped. Roberts was a good veteran presence.

I think the losses are going to hurt us, but I think the Zips do still have enough coming back for everyone to be optimistic. GoZips level optimistic? I'm not sure yet. But with a nice core of Alex, Nitro, Quincy, the Serb and Zeke coming back there is still plenty enough in terms of experience and talent to think that this team will be just fine. However, it will be another year in which the Zips will play a certain amount of the "who's going to step up" game with the incoming players. There are at least five players that I think everyone is going to be looking at as having a reasonable opportunity to step up and play a major role for us next year. Walsh, Gilliam, Harney, Tree and Egner. Realistically we are probably going to need at least two of them to step up and be significant contributors. The good news is that for the most part these aren't 18 year old kids fresh out of high school. Walsh has two years in at one of the top mid-majors in the country. Gilliam was the leading scorer for two years with his UMBC team. Egner got a little bit of playing time last season and if you believe KD's comments towards the end of the year he was ready to see some more. In the end though, the biggest reason I think the Zips will be just fine is KD. When you have a coach who has proven that he knows how to manage his team and put his guys in a position to succeed you have to have faith that he will continue to do so.

For me...the biggest risk/reward is the PG position. All of the other of the other non-returning positions can be replaced. I think we all agree that Zeke will be better and any improvement from the Serb will make him one of the league’s best players. I think our defense will be greatly improved at all positions...except PG. Abreu needs to dramatically improve his defense and take better care of the ball. If Walsh can play strong defense, he will see plenty of minutes at PG and I think the Zips will have a great year. And I think the learning curve will be much shorter this year.

Like most here…I am not counting on any of the incoming freshman. But Walsh and Gilliam are different and should help immediately. And I am still hopefuh for Egner.

[skip-zip]

Yeah, I was a little too optimistic last season that Dakotah Euton's 3-point shooting was going to make up for the loss of Brett McKnight's offense when it appeared he would be gone for the whole season. That didn't work out so well other than to remind me of the lesson that potential is meaningless unless realized.

While I believe the incoming replacements have the potential to be better players than the departing veterans, it's not guaranteed, so I'm not counting on it until they prove it on the court.

Ahh. Dave, I almost forgot about all of the Euton posts.

There's certainly reason for optimism about our basketball team's future. Nobody needs to feel down about our potential next year. I'm merely pointing out again that it's far more dependable to rest hopes for the near future on the development of guys that have already played college basketball, rather than the potential of guys who just walked out of high school.

Someone brought up the Michigan Fab 5 freshman season. Although that was a truly amazing situation, and something we may never see again, lets hope something remotely reminiscent of that magic hits our program at some point as well.

[GoZips]

Honestly I don't think the 4 players we lost will hurt us too much. The players we have coming will probably be better, and I am not worried.

Let's take a look at the four we lost.

McKnight was a strong presence off the bench but had his ups and downs, with a bit of an off the court issue. Not saying he's a bad person or player I just don't feel like we'll be hurting. McNees was clutch shooting and a decent pg, but I think Abreu will be able to take his place easily. Bardo hurt us more than he helped. Roberts was a good veteran presence.

I think the losses are going to hurt us, but I think the Zips do still have enough coming back for everyone to be optimistic. GoZips level optimistic? I'm not sure yet. But with a nice core of Alex, Nitro, Quincy, the Serb and Zeke coming back there is still plenty enough in terms of experience and talent to think that this team will be just fine. However, it will be another year in which the Zips will play a certain amount of the "who's going to step up" game with the incoming players. There are at least five players that I think everyone is going to be looking at as having a reasonable opportunity to step up and play a major role for us next year. Walsh, Gilliam, Harney, Tree and Egner. Realistically we are probably going to need at least two of them to step up and be significant contributors. The good news is that for the most part these aren't 18 year old kids fresh out of high school. Walsh has two years in at one of the top mid-majors in the country. Gilliam was the leading scorer for two years with his UMBC team. Egner got a little bit of playing time last season and if you believe KD's comments towards the end of the year he was ready to see some more. In the end though, the biggest reason I think the Zips will be just fine is KD. When you have a coach who has proven that he knows how to manage his team and put his guys in a position to succeed you have to have faith that he will continue to do so.

For me...the biggest risk/reward is the PG position. All of the other of the other non-returning positions can be replaced. I think we all agree that Zeke will be better and any improvement from the Serb will make him one of the league’s best players. I think our defense will be greatly improved at all positions...except PG. Abreu needs to dramatically improve his defense and take better care of the ball. If Walsh can play strong defense, he will see plenty of minutes at PG and I think the Zips will have a great year. And I think the learning curve will be much shorter this year.

Like most here…I am not counting on any of the incoming freshman. But Walsh and Gilliam are different and should help immediately. And I am still hopefuh for Egner.

Of the returning starters; Alex Abreu will be the hardest pressed to keep his starter role.

Brian Walsh is six-four, experienced (A-10 caliber), and plays his azz off.

[GoZips]

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pumped for this basketball team. I think they have a chance to not only destroy the MAC, crack the top 25, but also make it to the Sweet 16. The athleticism is through the roof compared to years past from what I know. Also, the team's basketball IQ is supposed to be high. We have the potential to be a team the MAC hasn't seen in a while.

lilroodude has the best understanding of what the next season portents.

Nearly all of you would agree that Quincy Diggs was Akron's best athlete last season. Hold on to

your hats. Q will be the third best athlete in 2011-2012. And considering that he is gettiing better

over the summer, that should give you a clue as to what is coming.

Next season's team has the clear potential to be the very best team in the history of UA.

What a lot of you are missing the point on is that this team is chuck full of athletes. They will

be capable of running most opponents right off the court. Surprise, surprise old GoZips is right.

[Dave in Green]

We Zips fans have all been lusting after more athletic players, probably because we feel we've been so deprived compared with some of the teams that have run us into the ground.

But athleticism alone won't get the job done.

Individually, I hope there's a good balance of athleticism and skill.

Collectively, I hope the pieces all fit together.

It's going to take a healthy combination of athleticism, skill and good team chemistry for the Zips to get to the next level.

[akronzips71]

Between Zeke and Nik we have good size.

Nitro can shoot.

What we NEED is athletes. That is the missing piece of the puzzle.

[Valpo Zip]

Do we know yet where are the zips going for their tournament part of the schedule? Daytona Beach and Vegas were great trips. I am curious and excited to see where we will go this year.

[Doug Snyder]

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pumped for this basketball team. I think they have a chance to not only destroy the MAC, crack the top 25, but also make it to the Sweet 16. The athleticism is through the roof compared to years past from what I know. Also, the team's basketball IQ is supposed to be high. We have the potential to be a team the MAC hasn't seen in a while.

lilroodude has the best understanding of what the next season portents.

Nearly all of you would agree that Quincy Diggs was Akron's best athlete last season. Hold on to

your hats. Q will be the third best athlete in 2011-2012. And considering that he is gettiing better

over the summer, that should give you a clue as to what is coming.

Next season's team has the clear potential to be the very best team in the history of UA.

What a lot of you are missing the point on is that this team is chuck full of athletes. They will

be capable of running most opponents right off the court. Surprise, surprise old GoZips is right.

LOL I like your optimism and agree with a lot you say. But PLEASE... don't pull a CK and start giving yourself credit for prognostication before the deed is done. ;-)

[Zipmeister]

Between Zeke and Nik we have good size.

Nitro can shoot.

What we NEED is athletes. That is the missing piece of the puzzle.

The first part of your last line is OK, but to have street cred you should have followed:

"What we NEED is athletes."

with

That be the missin piece of the puzzle.

[plowerman78]

from what a little birdie told me and i hope this still holds true about the schedule all I can say is "start spreading the news, im leaving today, i want to be apart of it New York New York!" (you can do the math on that)

[RACER]

the people who want a tougher schedule will the same ones complaining if we lose most of those games.big zip will be leading the way for a coaching change just like every year..just go back and look at the post from last year when we were under.500.it happens every year.we lose a few mac games,and most fans were questioning every move k.d. made.we need a new coach blah,blah,.you could count on one hand the k.d. supporters at the time.when we won the mac tourney then all the same people were saying how great of a coach he was,or left the board like big zip.

[Dave in Green]

from what a little birdie told me and i hope this still holds true about the schedule all I can say is "start spreading the news, im leaving today, i want to be apart of it New York New York!" (you can do the math on that)

Preseason NIT? Would be awesome if the men's team was invited, as the women's team already has been to the Preseason WNIT.

[Valpo Zip]

it happens every year.we lose a few mac games,and most fans were questioning every move k.d. made.

Guilty! Right here!

Yes, losing a few mac games is absolutely unacceptable if we want to be what we claim we want to be.

KD can be the second best coach in the history of the university (after Porter). We have no better option as of now. No one wants him out but last year, this year, and in the future...loosing to RPI 200 and 300 teams is UNACCEPTABLE and will always draw criticism.

[GoZips]

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pumped for this basketball team. I think they have a chance to not only destroy the MAC, crack the top 25, but also make it to the Sweet 16. The athleticism is through the roof compared to years past from what I know. Also, the team's basketball IQ is supposed to be high. We have the potential to be a team the MAC hasn't seen in a while.

lilroodude has the best understanding of what the next season portents.

Nearly all of you would agree that Quincy Diggs was Akron's best athlete last season. Hold on to

your hats. Q will be the third best athlete in 2011-2012. And considering that he is gettiing better

over the summer, that should give you a clue as to what is coming.

Next season's team has the clear potential to be the very best team in the history of UA.

What a lot of you are missing the point on is that this team is chuck full of athletes. They will

be capable of running most opponents right off the court. Surprise, surprise old GoZips is right.

LOL I like your optimism and agree with a lot you say. But PLEASE... don't pull a CK and start giving yourself credit for prognostication before the deed is done. ;-)

It is a little tough to procastinate after the deed is done. I take no credit for the expected

future team performance. I can only report what I learn and observe. And, not even all of that.

[GoZips]

from what a little birdie told me and i hope this still holds true about the schedule all I can say is "start spreading the news, im leaving today, i want to be apart of it New York New York!" (you can do the math on that)

Preseason NIT? Would be awesome if the men's team was invited, as the women's team already has been to the Preseason WNIT.

Sorry, Dave in Green, not once have I heard or seen anything remotely connected to a

pre-season NIT invite. The game at Mississippi State is part of the early season exempt tournament

the Zips are playing in..

[Captain Kangaroo]

from what a little birdie told me and i hope this still holds true about the schedule all I can say is "start spreading the news, im leaving today, i want to be apart of it New York New York!" (you can do the math on that)

Preseason NIT? Would be awesome if the men's team was invited, as the women's team already has been to the Preseason WNIT.

Sorry, Dave in Green, not once have I heard or seen anything remotely connsected to a

pre-season NIT invite. The game at Mississippi State is part of the early season exempt tournament

the Zips are playing in..

And depending upon the brackets, we might not even meet Mississippi State (a la Alaska a couple seasons ago).

[GoZips]

from what a little birdie told me and i hope this still holds true about the schedule all I can say is "start spreading the news, im leaving today, i want to be apart of it New York New York!" (you can do the math on that)

Preseason NIT? Would be awesome if the men's team was invited, as the women's team already has been to the Preseason WNIT.

Sorry, Dave in Green, not once have I heard or seen anything remotely connsected to a

pre-season NIT invite. The game at Mississippi State is part of the early season exempt tournament

the Zips are playing in..

And depending upon the brackets, we might not even meet Mississippi State (a la Alaska a couple seasons ago).

CK, the game with Mississippi State is set. It will be Akron's first game of the season.

caveat: things change.

[Dave in Green]

So maybe headaviatorrowdie will give a little better hint of what his birdie told him about the Zips and New York. Aside from the Preseason NIT and Madison Square Garden, there aren't too many basketball things to get excited about in New York. Or maybe his birdie got confused about the women's basketball team getting invited to the Preseason WNIT.

[plowerman78]

my birdie is very close to the team. it has nothing to do with a preseason nit more like the Madison Square Garden Holiday Tournament. Cant confirm this is true bc it was told to me acouple months back (after the season was over.) The Zips if true would play St. Johns at the Garden in that tourney. IMO this is a move to give Zeke exposure in a big time arena. Again this is not confirmed but this was from someone very close

[ZZZips]

Do we know yet where are the zips going for their tournament part of the schedule? Daytona Beach and Vegas were great trips. I am curious and excited to see where we will go this year.

Save your money during this coming season. Nothing like FL or NV is planned. The following season the trip most likely will be to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

[GoZips]

my birdie is very close to the team. it has nothing to do with a preseason nit more like the Madison Square Garden Holiday Tournament. Cant confirm this is true bc it was told to me acouple months back (after the season was over.) The Zips if true would play St. Johns at the Garden in that tourney. IMO this is a move to give Zeke exposure in a big time arena. Again this is not confirmed but this was from someone very close

There is some smoke here. That tournament seems to fit what I know. And, St. John's is a name

I have heard mentioned. Stay tuned.

[Dave in Green]

A great performance at MSG would definitely help put Zeke and the Zips on the national radar.

[Dr Z]

A great performance at MSG would definitely help put Zeke and the Zips on the national radar.

Anybody making their first trip to MSG, set your expectations lower. I was not impressed with MSG when I went. It's the oldest arena in the NHL, and looks like it to me.

[GP1]

Anybody making their first trip to MSG, set your expectations lower. I was not impressed with MSG when I went.

I agree.

Went to the Big East tournament one year for the early Friday session. After the first few rows, it is extremely dark in the seating area. Makes is like watching a game on television. Very strange sensation.