First practice official practice tomorrow

[jjackson123]

It's finally here! Wondering if GoZips or DIG can comment on what time they practice at or what time they practice over the weekend for those of us who wanted to watch?

[GoZips]

It's finally here! Wondering if GoZips or DIG can comment on what time they practice at or what time they practice over the weekend for those of us who wanted to watch?

Friday practice begins at 8:30 AM. Sunday practice begins at 1 PM. There is NO Saturday practice.

[akronzips71]

Friday practice begins at 8:30 AM. Sunday practice begins at 1 PM. There is NO Saturday practice.

What? The entire team is Jewish and takes off the Sabbath?

[GoZips]

First full day of practice was a delight. Coach put them through a hard workout. Was impressed by how well conditioned

most of the players are. Kudos to Melo for getting into great shape.

More visitors than you could shake a stick at. Nyles HS coach and his lovely wife; Russell Holmes; Jeff Rabbit; Dr. Ted Curtis;

Jeremiah Wood looking fit as ever; several regulars and more. Good camaraderie had by all.

Practices begin at 8:30 am for the near future. Special Sunday practice at one pm.

Folks, barring the unforeseen, this is easily the BEST Zips team ever. Please, no stoopid remarks.

Big Dog is the real deal.

[Dave in Green]

@GoZips, I love your enthusiasm. But it will take me awhile to develop confidence that the returning players with an additional year of experience, plus the reinstatement of Q, plus the arrival of Nyles Evans, plus the freshman recruiting class can more than offset the loss of Zeke Marshall, Brian Walsh, Chauncey Gilliam and Alex Abreu. That's a major talent loss from last season's team, which only produced the longest winning streak in the nation. I'll know this season's team is better than last season's team when they produce better results.

[Dave in Green]

Looking at the official roster heights and weights, it appears that some of the returning Zips have had changes (which I've noted below).

An interesting factoid is that the four players in the freshman class average 6-8 and 232 pounds. That's thinking bigger.

Big Dog's official height is 6-10, an inch over his official HS height, and his weight is 285, which is a bit of a surprise to me. I thought his HS coach said last year that Big Dog had lost some weight as he didn't play football his senior season and didn't have to bulk up. He has nice moves for someone that big and heavy. I just hope that he can carry that much weight without hurting his endurance in a running game. There will be no problem in him establishing position and holding it against any center in the MAC.

Avsec 5-10 180

Betancourt 5-11 182 (+7 lb)

Cheatham 6-9 233

Diggs 6-6 209 (-6 lb)

Evans 5-11 170

Forsythe 6-11 235 (-5 lb)

Gladden 6-6 215

Harney 6-8 210 (+1")

Hoisten 6-5 180

Ibitayo 6-4 205 (+1")

Jackson 6-7 193

Johnson 6-10 285

Kretzer 6-7 215 (+5 lb)

McAdams 6-7 210 (+10 lb)

Stalyga 6-8 220

Treadwell 6-7 235 (+10 lb)

[Dave in Green]

Playing with numbers for the 13 scholarship players, last season's average height was 6-5.46 and the average weight was 208.85. This season the averages are 6-6.15 and 215.15. That means that this season's Zips average more than .6 inch taller and more than 6 pounds heavier. So it appears that while we are backing the Zips this season, we should also still be thinking bigger.

[Quickzips]

The talent certainly seems to be there, and I think it is pretty well established at this point that KD knows how to get the most out of his guys. Still, there are questions that remain to be answered. Quite frankly, most of these likely won't be completely answered until well into the season. Off the top of my head:

What is up with the PG situation? This to me will be the biggest thing to keep track of all season. Abreu's stupidity really put a damper on the end of last season and I really feel like that is carrying over into this year as well. There are a number of options to go with, but all of them have question marks. Is Melo's conditioning going to be a problem again this year? Can he become enough of a scoring threat that opposing defenses at least have to account for him? Will Evans' JUCO success translate to the DI level? If we need one or both of them can Diggs or Harney handle heavy minutes at PG?

How do we adjust to life in the post-Zeke era? Right behind the PG issues this is the next biggest question. They are almost 1A and 1B. The PG question is a bigger one to me simply because of the responsibility the PG has in triggering the offense. Still, Zeke added a dynamic to this team the last few years that is rarely seen in the college hoops, let alone in the MAC. The biggest adjustment will have to come on the defensive end where we can't afford to gamble as much on the perimeter anymore. I just don't see us being able to take the attitude that it is alright if we gamble and miss because Zeke will be there to clean it up at the rim. Forsythe and Big Ike aren't the shot-blockers that Zeke was (who is for that matter?).

What will be the impact of the return of Q? The guy was easily our most diverse weapon two years ago, and I still feel he would have made a huge impact for us last year. He can play and defend at least 3, and sometimes 4 positions depending on matchups. The early reports are that he has been looking good in the offseason, but you have to imagine that a year off will have left at least a little bit of rust. On top of that, there are really only 2 other players on this years roster that Q has ever even played with (Tree and Harney). Building that rapport with the other guys may take some time.

Will Harney finally find some consistency? I know Tree is widely looked at as our best player, but I'm telling you. If Nick could ever find some consistency he can give Tree a run for his money for that title. It is scary to think about what the two of them could do on a night in, night out basis if Nick puts it all together. With his size, length and athletic ability he is such a mismatch for other teams in this league, and a lot of the OOC opponents as well, but he has a bad tendency to either get real passive or start falling in love with his jumper. If I were KD the first thing I'd be working on him with practice is that jumper. If he can't find some consistency with it then he needs to drop it from his arsenal all together. I really feel he could be a 15-20 PPG scorer for us without ever taking a shot from longer than about 12 feet. He is just that good moving toward the basket.

What impact will the newcomers have, if any? There are at least 8 players returning who have been in KD's rotation at one point or another in past years. Given that I have a hard time seeing a lot of room for the freshman (and Evans). The big gaps are obviously at PG and C, which lends support to the idea that Evans and Ike are most likely to see minutes of the 5 newcomers. That said, the early reports are that B.J., Aaron and Kwan all have a lot of talent as well. I will tell you one thing. I wouldn't want to be KD having to decide who is going to play and who is going to redshirt out of this group. In a lot of respects it is a good problem to have (can you ever have too much talent?), but it still is going to be a very difficult decision.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised to see a slow start to the season. I am trying to temper my expectations just a bit going into St. Mary's, Hawaii, etc. I just think the adjustment period to no Zeke and no Alex is going to be too great for us to really hit the ground running. That said, I'm at the point with Zips basketball where pretty much nothing surprises me. I'm just ready for some hoops.

[GoZips]

The talent certainly seems to be there, and I think it is pretty well established at this point that KD knows how to get the most out of his guys. Still, there are questions that remain to be answered. Quite frankly, most of these likely won't be completely answered until well into the season. Off the top of my head:

What is up with the PG situation? This to me will be the biggest thing to keep track of all season. Abreu's stupidity really put a damper on the end of last season and I really feel like that is carrying over into this year as well. There are a number of options to go with, but all of them have question marks. Is Melo's conditioning going to be a problem again this year? Can he become enough of a scoring threat that opposing defenses at least have to account for him? Will Evans' JUCO success translate to the DI level? If we need one or both of them can Diggs or Harney handle heavy minutes at PG?

How do we adjust to life in the post-Zeke era? Right behind the PG issues this is the next biggest question. They are almost 1A and 1B. The PG question is a bigger one to me simply because of the responsibility the PG has in triggering the offense. Still, Zeke added a dynamic to this team the last few years that is rarely seen in the college hoops, let alone in the MAC. The biggest adjustment will have to come on the defensive end where we can't afford to gamble as much on the perimeter anymore. I just don't see us being able to take the attitude that it is alright if we gamble and miss because Zeke will be there to clean it up at the rim. Forsythe and Big Ike aren't the shot-blockers that Zeke was (who is for that matter?).

What will be the impact of the return of Q? The guy was easily our most diverse weapon two years ago, and I still feel he would have made a huge impact for us last year. He can play and defend at least 3, and sometimes 4 positions depending on matchups. The early reports are that he has been looking good in the offseason, but you have to imagine that a year off will have left at least a little bit of rust. On top of that, there are really only 2 other players on this years roster that Q has ever even played with (Tree and Harney). Building that rapport with the other guys may take some time.

Will Harney finally find some consistency? I know Tree is widely looked at as our best player, but I'm telling you. If Nick could ever find some consistency he can give Tree a run for his money for that title. It is scary to think about what the two of them could do on a night in, night out basis if Nick puts it all together. With his size, length and athletic ability he is such a mismatch for other teams in this league, and a lot of the OOC opponents as well, but he has a bad tendency to either get real passive or start falling in love with his jumper. If I were KD the first thing I'd be working on him with practice is that jumper. If he can't find some consistency with it then he needs to drop it from his arsenal all together. I really feel he could be a 15-20 PPG scorer for us without ever taking a shot from longer than about 12 feet. He is just that good moving toward the basket.

What impact will the newcomers have, if any? There are at least 8 players returning who have been in KD's rotation at one point or another in past years. Given that I have a hard time seeing a lot of room for the freshman (and Evans). The big gaps are obviously at PG and C, which lends support to the idea that Evans and Ike are most likely to see minutes of the 5 newcomers. That said, the early reports are that B.J., Aaron and Kwan all have a lot of talent as well. I will tell you one thing. I wouldn't want to be KD having to decide who is going to play and who is going to redshirt out of this group. In a lot of respects it is a good problem to have (can you ever have too much talent?), but it still is going to be a very difficult decision.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised to see a slow start to the season. I am trying to temper my expectations just a bit going into St. Mary's, Hawaii, etc. I just think the adjustment period to no Zeke and no Alex is going to be too great for us to really hit the ground running. That said, I'm at the point with Zips basketball where pretty much nothing surprises me. I'm just ready for some hoops.

WOW...!!!!! Intelligent thought went into writing your post. A good assessment of the overall picture without sugar

coating or gilding anyone's lily.

Facts are facts: In the post are two capable big men. Neither possesses the same skill set as Zeke. But, both are better in

areas Zeke was weak in. Pat and Isaiah, "Big Dog", will both play a lot of minutes. Please, not Ike, the team calls

him Big Dog.

While supposedly undersized, "Tree", plays a great power forward role. In my estimation he is the best player in

the MAC. This I will argue all day long.

Nick Harney continues to grow his game. He will usually play and start as the small forward.

Quincy Diggs takes on the mantle of shooting guard this season. Not only as the starter at the "two", Q can and will fill in

at the point guard occasionally. Do NOT under estimate the talents and capabilities of this young man.

That leaves the point guard position. The likely starter at the point should be Nyles Evans. Nyles is older and more

experienced than Carmelo Betancourt. Nyles is getting the job done. Still, Melo will play a lot of minutes, unlike last season.

Melo is maturing. He is taking instructions better. He has a better attitude than last season.

Support comes from the two crack sophomores Reggie McAdams and Jake Kretzer. In reality a lot of any success will come

from their contributions. They give the depth and punch the team will depend on.

Now that is nine players in the rotation with Deji Ibitayo holding the likely final spot. My guess, most of, or all of the other

three freshmen take a red shirt. Which, bodes well for Akron's future.

Unforeseen injuries, grades, etc. may change the landscape.

The real change most of you readers do not get to see is the changes in coaching style. Coach Dambrot and his staff have

adopted a philosophy similar that of coach Shaka Smart. The training has intensified; become tougher, more demanding;

and for the players more challenging with really positive results. The Zips are better for it.

I predict that this edition of the Zips will most favorably impress you. They have set high goals that are achievable.

[LZIp]

good input in the last few posts. I agree with QuickZips..I see so much potential in Harney. If he ever becomes the player that he can be, alongside Tree...watch out MAC and NCAA Tourney.

[Dave in Green]

... While supposedly undersized, "Tree", plays a great power forward role. ...

I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who's referred to Tree as "undersized." To be clear, I've only said that regarding Tree's NBA potential. He is in fact slightly undersized when compared with the best NBA power forwards. Doesn't mean he can't make it in the NBA, just that it will be more difficult to outperform bigger, taller competitors. As a college power forward, Tree is not undersized at 6-7, 235. He matches up well with any power forward he's likely to go up against this season and will likely outperform most all of them.

[Buckzip]

Practice, we talking about practice.

[taxpayer]

Good reviews and comments. Since I'm out of town and haven't seen the freshman I'm guessing redshirts are in store for at least two of them and three of them if Ibitayo can become consistent and not turn the ball over. If he does, he gives us another athletic defender on the perimeter who can also rebound the ball.

PG - From what I'm hearing we've got two dissimilar players - that's a good thing IMO; especially if they can defensively hound the opponent. Nyles will score and Melo will dish; both have to be strong with the ball and tough defensively.

2 - Again, diversity. Q and Reggie and Ibitayo? Need Q to stay out of foul trouble.

3- Harney, Kretzer, Ibitayo - Complete opposites again. We will need better defense from what both displayed last year;

especially Harney. Reggie & Jake make for interesting options depending on the opponent.

4 - Tree, Jake & Gladden? - Tree has to avoid fouls period.

5. - PF, Big Dog, Tree? KD has 10 fouls to give w/option of sliding Tree in here if opponent is smaller, slower

Summary: We've got big numbers; especially at the 2, 3 & 4. If all stay healthy, the Zips will hopefully wear teams down with their depth. That's the good news. The bad is chemistry.....it will be difficult to keep 10 guys happy. A couple guys are going to have to sacrifice shots and point per game stats to turn up the defensive pressure and wear down opponents. That's going to fall on the internal leadership of this years team. Last years team was mentally very tough.

Keys to the season: Unselfish team oriented play and the willingness to play D and rebound at both ends. If we have too many guys more interested in personal stats we could struggle. Tree and Q look to be where the team will get its leadership and direction from inside the locker room. Let's hope we get some new offensive sets as well. This team needs to be a defensive nightmare to their opponents....the offense will be average but the D could be exceptional if all buy in.

See you at the JAR.

[Dr Z]

While supposedly undersized,"Tree", plays a great power forward role. In my estimation he is the best player in

the MAC. This I will argue all day long.

Winning the Lou Henson Award would surely help your argument. Tree is on the list, along with your buddy Javon.

The Lou Henson Award is presented annually to the top Mid-Major player in Division I college basketball. The award is named in honor of Lou Henson who retired after a spectacular coaching career that lasted 41 years.

[Dr Z]

Tree Looking Forward to Start of Season By George M. Thomas

[Captain Kangaroo]

Last week, collegeinsider.com named him to the 2013 Lou Henson Preseason All-America Team, following in the footsteps of former center Zeke Marshall who is now playing in Europe.

Does playing Grand Theft Auto 5 in Poland count as "playing in Europe"?

[GP1]

How do we adjust to life in the post-Zeke era? Right behind the PG issues this is the next biggest question. They are almost 1A and 1B. The PG question is a bigger one to me simply because of the responsibility the PG has in triggering the offense. Still, Zeke added a dynamic to this team the last few years that is rarely seen in the college hoops, let alone in the MAC. The biggest adjustment will have to come on the defensive end where we can't afford to gamble as much on the perimeter anymore. I just don't see us being able to take the attitude that it is alright if we gamble and miss because Zeke will be there to clean it up at the rim. Forsythe and Big Ike aren't the shot-blockers that Zeke was (who is for that matter?).

Fantastic post all in all.

I'm with you 100% on this issue. PG is the most important; however, I'm most interested in the adjustment of the team from having Zeke to not having him. He just wasn't good at shot blocking, he was great at it in a natural way that only someone who was born to do it did. It was rare to see someone with such a natural gift.

[Dr Z]

I'm most interested in the adjustment of the team from having Zeke to not having him.

From GT's article linked on the first page of this thread:

Dambrot sounds confident the Zips will be able to make up for the loss of Marshall’s productivity. ‘‘We went four years where we had a guy in the middle who could shot block,” he said. “Before that we’ve always been good defensively and we didn’t have that kind of size. We have good size still.” It sounds as if freshman Isaiah Johnson, a 6-foot-10 center from Cincinnati, is making an impression. “I think Pat Forsythe can do a lot of things Zeke did,” Dambrot said. “I think Big Dog [Johnson] can do a lot of things offensively and maybe even better in some ways. He can score the ball around the rim and he can pass it.”

[MaxZIP]

Just picked up my season tickets this afternoon. I am ready for basketball season.

[Dave in Green]

@GP1, no question that Zeke is a special talent in blocking shots, and no one is likely to touch his MAC blocked shots records for a long, long time. At the same time I wouldn't sell Pat Forsythe short on his shot-blocking ability. Comparing the high school senior seasons of Zeke, Pat and Big Dog, they averaged 8.0, 6.1 and 2.7 blocks per game respectively. So Pat was closer to Zeke than Big Dog was to Pat.

Early last season Pat seemed to go after blocked shots with an intensity rivaling Zeke, though his game trailed off over the season as Zeke played more minutes and Pat fewer. If Pat starts and plays long minutes this season, I expect him to be a stronger defensive presence than some might expect. Big Dog, on the other hand, is much less effective at blocking shots but is strong on rebounding, passing and scoring. I think with Pat starting and Big Dog subbing, they could give the Zips the strongest overall center performance in the MAC.

[GP1]

All good discussions on the change at center and the interest in seeing how that develops. If Pat brings more offense to the table and a little less defense, how do the Zips put him in a position to succeed and by connection, the entire team to succeed? So....

.....Here is something we have not touched upon as it relates to center and it is peeling the onion down to another layer. The mac really packs in defenses and forces teams to make shots from the outside. In order to open up the middle for better passes to the post and an inside/outside game, who is going to be the person on the Zips to force the defense away from the basket? I love watching basketball when teams have good movement with the ball in and out of the post and not just around the perimeter. Need to open up the middle to make that happen though.

Here is something else to think about. The assumption is the graduation of Zeke is going to make the team less effective on defense and more effective on offense. It could be the case that the Zips just get better on defense in other areas making up for Zeke. Let's assume they don't and they give up on average 7 more points a game. Is the offensive improvement worth another 7 points a game, or are the Zips just going to have to close out tighter games?

Lots to be revealed when the ball tips off.

[zippy5]

@GP1, no question that Zeke is a special talent in blocking shots, and no one is likely to touch his MAC blocked shots records for a long, long time. At the same time I wouldn't sell Pat Forsythe short on his shot-blocking ability. Comparing the high school senior seasons of Zeke, Pat and Big Dog, they averaged 8.0, 6.1 and 2.7 blocks per game respectively. So Pat was closer to Zeke than Big Dog was to Pat.

Early last season Pat seemed to go after blocked shots with an intensity rivaling Zeke, though his game trailed off over the season as Zeke played more minutes and Pat fewer. If Pat starts and plays long minutes this season, I expect him to be a stronger defensive presence than some might expect. Big Dog, on the other hand, is much less effective at blocking shots but is strong on rebounding, passing and scoring. I think with Pat starting and Big Dog subbing, they could give the Zips the strongest overall center performance in the MAC.

High School stats are tough to compare. Pat played at Brunswick, Zeke played in the WPIAL

[Dave in Green]

@zippy5, you never know for sure when comparing players from different conferences. But from what I've researched in the past, the level of competition that Zeke and Pat faced in HS was not terribly different. Zeke was recruited by Pitt and Pat by West Virginia.

By the way, one interesting item I ran across in my research is that Pat was the 2010-11 Associated Press Northeast Inland All-District Player of the Year in D-I. He was joined on the first team by none other than Nyles Evans. Pat averaged 22.5 points per game and Nyles 21.9.

[Quickzips]

The thing that worries me about the C situation isn't so much having the talent to replace Zeke. By all measures we have two guys on the team who should be able to play C at the DI level. Can they be as good individually or in the aggregate as Zeke? That remains to be seen, but both guys seem like they belong on the court at this level.

The thing that worries me is the adjustments the rest of the team is going to have to make to playing with a C who isn't Zeke. Not to point out the obvious again, but Pat and Big Dog (I hate that nickname btw) are not the shot blockers that Zeke was. Not even close. Most guys at this level aren't. The rest of the team is going to have to make adjustments for that. Sound defensive principles are going to be even more important this year. Guys can't go out there gambling for steals the way they did the last 4 years because Zeke isn't going to be back there to clean up the mistakes.

It isn't just a matter of replacing the player. It is a matter of adjusting the system to fit the guys that you do have on the roster. I trust that KD can get the job done, but it is going to be interesting to watch.

[Dr Z]

Big Dog (I hate that nickname btw)

Thank you! I didn't want to be the first to point that out.

I think of that clown at browns games barking like Arsenio Hall when I hear that name.

I'm not as worried as some of you guys about the loss of Zeke. Numerous times over the years when Zeke was in foul trouble and wasn't on the floor, the team did fine defensively. My concerns with KD, has always been, and continues to be, offense.