Vinny Zollo- Greenfield McClain

[sparky]

cox best freshman in the shl? have you heard of a kid named justice?

[pinapplrdhwk]

My goodness people the kid is a freshman. Why in the world would people be on here knocking a freshman that got a nice offer from UK.

[bengalfan76]

Wasn't Cox from Leesburg? He just went back when the district hired the Junior High coach.
You can't say VanMatre lost the kid when he never played for him.

[poppaball]

Since I have no emotional attachment to either the area or V. Zollo, maybe I can try to answer a few of your questions MHS82.

1. If strength of competition truly means something, isn't this a good move on the part of the parents? Seems to me he will play against and with better talent somewhere outside of SE Ohio. However, it did not seem to hurt Dante that he played at McClain and against SE schools.

While SOC is a significant factor in a young players development, the move is probably a personal preference. I say this because a lot of year round players like V. Zollo (I've seen him playing AAU ball since the 4th or 5th grade) are going to get to play against the toughest competition during the summer. I never saw D. Jackson play school ball either and honestly only a few AAU games, but he seemed to be a very gifted athlete (didn't he win the State in a track event?). Whether or not he was "hurt" by playing his school's schedule is a moot point, because there is no way to know how he may have developed in another environment.

2. Should a coach cater to the parent of a potential superstar? I know Robyn was upset with the way her son was handled at McClain, but shouldn't the coach be more concerned with all his players, not just one?

No. All the players need to be taken into consideration. Singling out a player (for catering) from his peers will have no positive effect. IMO (for what it's worth) a HS coach should be held to the same standards as a HS teacher, otherwise it's the coach being catered too. As far as the parent, in nearly all cases, they are concerned with just one players, but they also usually have intimate knowledge of things that outsiders don't.

3. Does these players moving around amongst high schools in order to improve their recruitablity hurt or help high school basketball? Or is that even important how it effects HS basketball because it is the kids that are the most important?

I don't think it affects HS basketball as a whole, because such a small percentage of student/athletes relocate. It may affect individual programs when they lose or gain a player, but for no more than a few years. In this particular case, recruitment doesn't appear to have been a factor, as Zollo has effectively ended his recruiting process.

4. If you were the parent of a potential D1 recruit, would you uproot him/her from friends and community that he is familar with in order to improve his recruitment position? College is very expensive these days and scholarships may be the only way to get through school for some people.

That's hard to say, but quite possibly I would. Very few people spend their lives in the same geographic area. If I can remember correctly, a very high percentage (85%?) of college graduates remain closer to their college area than the area they were raised. Since a full-ride scholarship, for basketball, is worth upwards of $200K depending on the school it could be a good investment.

5. From what you have seen of Vinny, is UK rolling the dice on this or does this kid really have the talent to play at one of the most storied D1 programs in the country? IMO he was only the third best freshman in Highland County this year - he must have some serious potential that I don't see in order to get this type of attention.

Highland county must be loaded with talent. Hoop Scoop has Zollo ranked as 7th overall in Ohio for '11, and in the PF category he is 2nd, behind Chane Behanon who is in the top 5 nationally. As I said in a previous post, I've never watched Zollo play HS ball, but I've seen a lot of his AAU teams games over the last few years. His AAU team plays a very high energy, very hard-nosed style of ball, and Zollo helps run the team from the floor. They can beat you in a variety of ways because of their athleticism and discipline. I won't repeat everything I wrote previously, but I think that if Zollo just continues to improve at the pace he has over the last few years he will be a solid player at UK. If he really focuses he could be a special player.

6. In the past year, McClain has lost Chris Cox (best freshman in Highland County this year) to Leesburg Fairfield and now have lost Vinny Zollo to points unknown. Seems reasons given by both had something to do with the Coach. Should this concern Tiger faithful? Has VanMatre finally lost it and is losing his best players or are the parents wanting too much control in the program? Seems Larry Jordan at SE is having his issues these days, is VanMatre next?

Is this the same Chris Cox that played with the D1-Greyhounds last year?
Since I don't know your coaching staff (VanMatre/Jordan) I can't give an opinion. However, instead of looking at just 2 players, look at the overall players. Do you have a large bench? This means that players want to be a part of the team concept, if not the players may feel no loyalty to the coach(s). Do very many players quit or perhaps just decide not to play? This also is indicative of some problems between players and coaches.

[SEfan2007]

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.a ... CID=803673


whats next? 3rd grade.....I really dont care one way or the other, but is this legal?

[rat]

I saw Dante and Zollo as freshmen, and he is no Dante.

[mhs82]

cox best freshman in the shl? have you heard of a kid named justice?

I said he was the best freshman in "Highland County" - never mentioned the SHL.

[mhs82]

Wasn't Cox from Leesburg? He just went back when the district hired the Junior High coach.
You can't say VanMatre lost the kid when he never played for him.

Technically, you are right, Cox never did play for VanMatre, but he did play middle school ball in VanMatre's system.

[Ironman92]

Cox is from Leesburg....one year.

Like Michael spent two years at Hillsboro.

[brutally honest]

My goodness people the kid is a freshman. Why in the world would people be on here knocking a freshman that got a nice offer from UK.

Dante Jackson- much better player, ended up at Xavier and didn't get this type of recognition that easily.

Anthony Hitchens- much better player, going to Akron and never got the recognition he deserved.

Logan Aronhalt- much better player- going to Albany, if Zollo can go to UK than Aronhalt should have been locked up forever just like the other players I have mentioned.

Ray Chambers- much better player, going to JUCO. No argument for it though due to his grades.

Harris brothers from Zanesville- Better than Zollo, much more athletic and more potential.

Greg Avery-Newark- better player, very good guard, deserved it more than Zollo.

Dobbs form Lakewood St. Edwards- better player with more potential.

The offer from UK was exactly what you said nice. If the Zollo kid is being courted that seriously and really deserves it this early then Billy G. might as well call my six-year-old nephew and offer him a full ride. My point- there are better, more deserving players out there that should have gotten looks like this, but instead, an unproven and not exactly stellar freshman from southern Ohio gets that type of recruiting. I know my list doesn't have any other freshmen but that's exactly the point too. There aren't any star freshmen out there that deserve this, including the young man from McClain.

[GalliaGrad78]

I am wondering, if the kid can just move to Kentucky to play hs ball, are the parents independently wealthy, or is UK gonna take care of the job also? Unbelievable stuff here!

[mikepike]

Keep in mind that when BJ Mullens committed to Ohio State as a Freshman people were laughing at both he and Ohio State. Kids grow and get better.

[boomer633]

Kids also quit growing early and fail to progress. Cincinnati accepted a verbal from Danny Mcelroy when he was a freshman. He didn't progress or grow as expected and he backed out of the verbal. If Zollo doesn't progress like Kentucky expects then chances are he will be told that the offer is still good but that he won't see any time. If that happens he will decide either to back out of the verbal and go to a school where he can play or take the scholly and ride the bench. Early verbals are a roll of the dice.

[gymratt]

Keep in mind that when BJ Mullens committed to Ohio State as a Freshman people were laughing at both he and Ohio State. Kids grow and get better.

I saw both Mullens and Zollo play as Freshman. I admit that I was not sold on anything about Mullens other than his potential untill probably midway through this season AFTER he put on a lot of weight and became a force under the rim more. I saw him play at least twice every year of H.S. but one and while I have never been a fan of him (untill recently) He is MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN ZOLLO. I am Shocked. With that offer I am suprised that UK's Starting Lineup next year will not be Hitchens, Harris, Jackson,Aronhalt, and Chambers. IMO recruiting players should be illegal before they are soph's and they shouldn't be able to verbal untill just before their junior year. I also saw Jackson play many times from 7th grade on up and again, he was much better. I was very excited for this kids potential at McClain and do hope he stays and does good things for them. Nothing against the kid but I did not see this coming.

[mhs82]

Zollo wants to play away from the basketball. At McClain he would have been forced to spend time in the paint because the Tigers don't have any other height. Big reason he is not coming back. Mommy and Ricky could not agree on where he should play.

[CoyDuke]

Its impossible to make some of the comparisons between Zollo and many of the other people that have been listed. Hitchens, Jackson, Aronhalt would all have to be recruited as 1 or 2 guards. Although I too think that UK jumped the gun a little bit on Zollo, he is being recuruited on his size and skill set and the potential that he is going to continue to grow. One comparison that several people on here have made is to Chambers from Chillicothe. If I were a college coach, I would much rather take a chance on Zollo rather than Chambers. Zollo, although 3 years younger, already handles the ball better, and shoots better. Barring injury, Zollo will be a much better player as a senior than what Chambers was as a senior. Chambers benefited greatly from having Hitchens breaking down the defense and gift wrapping uncontested dunks for him. I watched Zollo, at the convo hit 3's and put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. Chambers is not able to do either of these two things. 6'7 guys in the SEC can do a lot more things with the ball than Chambers. That's why he can't play at that level. Zollo can't play at that level right now either, but in 3 years I wouldn't be surprised if he could.

[baller3]

Coy, Why get on here and knock Ray Chambers? Chambers can play at the D1 level but decided to go JUCO and frankly I like his decision better. He will have an associate degree after two years. Ray had Several D1 teams that wanted him. Before you get on here and talk like you know something about Ray you might wanna know something...

[baller3]

I took it as if he was saying Chambers could not play at the D1 level. Maybe he was talking about the SEC. I am happy for the potential of Zollo. Congrats to him and his family. If he is good enough to play at Kentucky I would like to ask them (kentucky) to come up to Chillicothe and watch a kid named Malik London. This 6 foot 8 inch 8th grader has tons of potential.

Since this thread is for Zollo, Good Luck to him.

[warrior0216]

i also saw dante and zollo both play, zollo could not wipe the sweat off of dante's face. let alone be a wildcat. if that is the case idk what college basketball is about. where has the truely remarkable talent of previous years gone?