Basketball Golf Outing

[Captain Kangaroo]

Late Friday night I gave Blair Danner a call to see if there was a slot left for the Zips Basketball Golf Outing yesterday. Luckily there was a foursome in need of a hacker like myself. So, like about 130+ other Zips fans, I woke up at the unGodly hour of 5:45am and headed down to Raintree.I played with a good group of guys. Two were pretty rabid Zips hoops fans, the other was a former Zips golfer from my UA era ('84-'89). We finished -10, which wasn't too shabby. I think -16 won it?But the day really wasn't about golf. Even though football season is only a week away, it was fun to get the banter started regarding the upcoming hoops season. I've never really had much luck establishing any repore with the basketball staff. Football staff? Those guys have always been EXTREMELY helpful to the ZipsNation. But the couple emails I'd sent to the Basketball staff always seemed to have met with the same virus that infected the Microsoft Outlook "Reply" button of so many UA Athletics Department computers.And the few times KD had shown up at past Golf Outings, Mike Thomas' golf cart wisked him through the course like Dale Earnhart Jr. driving the Pope Mobile. If you were lucky, you caught a glimpse.This Outing, the basketball staff was COMPLETELY accessible. KD was great. Jeff Boals probably spent 25 minutes after the lunch just talking to my buddy and I about anything from recruits to eligibility to his 39minutes of PT during his Freshman year at OU. All the guys were great. I'll do my best to follow up on that and get the ZipsNation hoops coverage on par with the detail provided in the football section for the upcoming season.The Outing itself was fun. My group didn't drink any beer...ok, I did but the other three guys abstained... so I thought maybe the basketball crowd wasn't as party-oriented as the football outing crew. Buy at days end the kegs located throughout the course were floating, so SOMEONE out there was hitting the kegs-n-eggs? As rabid a fans as the two guys I golfed with were, both season ticket holders in the lower JAR section, neither had heard of ZipsNation. To me that was pretty surprising. Sweet, black mock-turtleneck golf shirt with an embroidered Zips Basketball logo as an entry gift. VERY nice!ZipWatcher spoke to a lot more staff members than I did, so I'll leave it up to him to discuss any player-oriented details gleaned from the day. He's better than me at that stuff.I'll throw out that much more is expected from Jimmy Conyers this year. His defense is apparently really coming along. He had the expected adjustment problems last season, coming off a year away from competitive hoops. But he's ready to go in 2007-8, and he's definitely on track to get his 4th year of eligibility back.KD also mentioned that, of his 12 recruits, 11 of them will get their degrees. If may take a while for some, because they've elected to play professionally instead of finishing. But all eleven will graduate. Matt Futch is playing pro basketball in Mexico, BTW.KD also mentioned that the Zips offer unlimited summer school to incoming Freshman. Having a player with 6 credits under their belt is a huge advantage in keeping them on track to graduate and keeping them eligible. Of course, this costs money. He also mentioned that the Zips need money for road game charter flights. He brought up how great it was that, for the Binghampton game this year, the Zips tipped off at 7pm, and were back on campus by midnight the same night. They missed zero class time. The more they can do that, the better it is for the kids and the program. You know the additional $325,000 OSU isn't paying us to play in two weeks. That could have paid for all of that. And much more.Great event! It will be held again the 4th Saturday in August (23rd) 2008. I highly recommend it.If anyone esle was at the event and has some comments, please post them!

[nbs95]

I would be very interested to know what comments KD and the rest of his staff had to say about the new recruits. If anyone can shed some light I would be greatful.

[wadscarman]

My understanding talking to some of the coaches, Ronnie Seward is really impressive and should get playing time and that Jermiah is in phenomenal shape. Jeremiah has really taken the off season seriously, working out, is running like 3 miles + per day. One of the coaches sees him contending for MAC player of the year. With Jeremiah and the rest of the senior leadership, they are really looking forward to another great year.

[Blue & Gold]

Have Steven Swiech and Bardo shown anything?

[Zip Watcher]

Some extremely brief notes & I'll post a more detailed list later:- I don't detect any worries on the part of the coaches as it relates to the PG position. There's certainly an amount of leadership and game decisions / last shot aspects that they're looking to replace w/ Dru's departure .. but when asked, all felt that they were in pretty good shape at the PG position. I heard nice comments about both Ronnie and especially the progress Steve has made.- I asked about the bigs ... seems the redshirt did Bardo well. They expect him to contribute this season. Sounds to me that Swiech is a pretty hard worker. It's my understanding that Steve spent 2 5 weeks sessions on campus working on his game & especially his conditioning. Everyone had great things to say about his committment level and effort.- I was told that Nate came back much stronger this year than he was at the end of the last.- All reports are that the team is in great shape health wise heading into the fall season.- I love the fact that the coaches know exactly where each player is academically & how they're all progressing towards the degrees. The academic shape of this team is pretty good. Guys are graduating & staying on top of that aspect of things.- Apparently no more Scooter Taylor on the road broadcasts ... .. he's moved into Development.More later .. but I've said it before and I'll say it again: Put 'em on Zips Fans!

[Captain Kangaroo]

- I was told that Nate came back much stronger this year than he was at the end of the last.

The numbers I heard were: He could do 5 reps at 185 lbs (bench) at the end of last season, and he's up to 10 reps at 185 right now. That extra muscle should be a big help on the boards. He's taken a physical beating the past two seasons...but he should now have the body to turn from being the "nail" to the "hammer."

[Buckzip]

This sounds great. I am so looking forward to this season.

[ziptrumpet87]

I'm looking forward to seeing the ticket reorder form in the mail! I'm sure the way last season ended inspired them to work extra hard this summer.

[ZachTheZip]

Any word on Middleton's state of mind? He took that last loss pretty hard. I was worried that he would do something stupid. No news is probably good news. He should be the most motivated player in Zips history this year.

[ZipsWin!'s Roommate]

Any word on Middleton's state of mind? He took that last loss pretty hard. I was worried that he would do something stupid. No news is probably good news. He should be the most motivated player in Zips history this year. He spent his summer in Bristol, Conn. - he was an intern for ESPN. What a great opportunity!

[nbs95]

From what I heard, Swiech has taken 3 classes this summer. He is rooming with Ronnie Steward. Swiech is with the weights 1-1 1/2 hours a day and is at open gym every night for 1-2 hours every night. He really is excited to be here and is looking to play.I also heard that the coaches are pleased with how committed he is.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Any word on Middleton's state of mind? He took that last loss pretty hard. I was worried that he would do something stupid. No news is probably good news. He should be the most motivated player in Zips history this year. He spent his summer in Bristol, Conn. - he was an intern for ESPN. What a great opportunity!

I was told a former Zips basketball coach works at ESPN and helped arrange the internship. I don't know the name.