"Living just a stone's throw away from a college campus is always a natural advantage in recruiting. Kennesaw State took full advantage of great logistics for the next point guard of the program and landed Spencer Dixon, a 6-foot, 170-pound floor general from Kennesaw Mountain High School.

Dixon told Rivals.com Monday that he was ready to suit up for the charismatic Tony Ingle in college.

"It's a great opportunity," Dixon said. "They are really close to home and there is a chance for me to come in and earn playing time. I liked the coaches there, the players there. It's a great situation."

The Owls, Dixon says, were the most consistent in the recruiting process and won out over interest from the likes of Air Force, Charleston Southern, UNC Asheville, Samford and others.

Dixon said he liked the chance to play early at the point.

"They need a point guard and it feels good to know that coach Ingle has trust in me to be a vital part of their program," Dixon said.

Dixon was named tournament MVP in Florida at the Bishop Moore Classic, where he scored 34 points in the championship game against Fort Myers. He also rebounded seven shots and handed out eight assists in the game. "

Kennesaw State adds local PG

Thoughts?

Good idea to start a separate thread. I am excited about seeing Spencer suit up in the Black and Gold next year.

Same here. He played my old high school a few days ago. His team lost but he lead his team in scoring with 14. I wasn't at the game but have talked to a few that were and everyone said he was clearly there best player and could flat out shoot.

I say we just host a PG camp next year and then whoever can get across the midcourt and one successful pass gets the gig.

I personally think that Kelvim is coming along. It is tough to be a freshman PG in division I basketball. It will be nice having a different change of pace at the PG though as well with Dixon. He is quicker than Kelvim, but Kelvim has a nice presence about him on the court...he is just learning on the job, which is never the best of situations. Dixon will have the advantage of having a PG a class above him to help teach him the ropes...I wish that Kelvim could have spent some time with Golden, that would have been a big benefit to him.

Kelvin's the guy. He's who has the job right now cause he's better than anyone else who's shown up. If he beats out an incoming freshman next year, it's still his job. I just say we have a competition.

As far as learning, heck yeah he's learning. I like it each time he's in there over whoever else has tried. At least I feel we have a shot of getting to the other side of the court with him. Once on the ball though, he needs to slow down and not rush or telepath his passes. If I can see it back-side from the stands, I know the other team sees it.

I'm a huge McConnell fan but lets be honest. He's starting because we have no one else. I know he's a freshman and will improve but hopefully he has to in order to keep his job. McConnell seems really slow at times and we have a lot of quick PG's in this conference. We need someone to keep up. It'll be a competition,and hopefully a good one.

Yeah...McConnell will get quicker though. He is kind of a big guy, and he will lose a good bit of that weight if he works in the weight room and in conditioning like he should. It is also good knowing that McConnell and Dixon can both shoot the lights out. Therefore they are never a liability in the game even if they are having a bad night. You can always count on a knock down jump shot from McConnell. He might be the most consistent shooter on our team right now.

It will be good to have some competition at PG next year. That is for sure. I love JD Pollock on the court but he can't play PG. He is more of a combo guard that you can throw out at point for a little while, but not for an extended period of time. JD could teach everyone on our team a little bit about defense though...he is unreal.

We've had a lot of discussion/debate about signing local kids on the ETSU board. It seems like some feel that a local kid should get priority over a more talented, but out-of-town or out-of-state recruit. Others believe that the best possible player should be taken.
It's definitely an interesting discussion and there are obviously many variables involved in terms of whether a kid committs to a particular school. What's everyone else on here think?

Best player... local kids are nice and all for the story but in the end I doubt it has any relevance to playing unless it's a top-tier school. (Like Louisville getting a 5 star instead of him going to UNC just because he lives around the corner from Louisville).

I just don't think it's on the same level unless the player is actually staying home when he could go to a better basketball college elsewhere. Normally I view this argument as if a better player wants to stay home, it's going to be to the school that benefits or else they wouldn't sign him a scholarship and just let em walk on.

Kind of rambling but that's pretty much my argument.

Corn_3024 Wrote:I'm a huge McConnell fan but lets be honest. He's starting because we have no one else. I know he's a freshman and will improve but hopefully he has to in order to keep his job. McConnell seems really slow at times and we have a lot of quick PG's in this conference. We need someone to keep up. It'll be a competition,and hopefully a good one.

I ask: if we have no on else, why is Nick Mattone there? Who is the quickest point guard, Ben Smith? I think he matched him with the exception of Ben's 3 free throws.

Obviously, you didn't see the Western Kentucky game and I know that Belmont and ETSU will be challenges at that spot. I think you are still in for some surprises ...

Bucfaithful Wrote:We've had a lot of discussion/debate about signing local kids on the ETSU board. It seems like some feel that a local kid should get priority over a more talented, but out-of-town or out-of-state recruit. Others believe that the best possible player should be taken.
It's definitely an interesting discussion and there are obviously many variables involved in terms of whether a kid committs to a particular school. What's everyone else on here think?

Buc here is the real advantage that KSU has over a team like ETSU. The local kids are the best available more often than not. I know that a lot of the ETSU fans do not consider Kennesaw to be in "Greater Atlanta" but the recruits do. Basically any kid within 20 miles of the beltline considers themselves to be from Atlanta. Therefore we are local to anyone playing in that district. Even a kid like Keonte Keith, who we recruited from Jefferson, GA considers himself to be attached to Atlanta, because that is where he spent his time as a youth (he is about 25 miles outside the beltline). With Kennesaw just 9 miles outside of the beltline (285) Kennesaw State can sell Atlanta. And that gives us a recruiting base of 5 million plus people. By next year Kennesaw will have a large majority of their recruits from the state of Georgia, and really from the Atlanta area. Kennesaw can go outside that and recruit, but the great part is that there are players right outside our backdoor that are probably as good or better than anything we might find in Missouri, TN, etc...

It's getting them to sign during probation :)

The real games start when we're off the handicap. It'll start showing up in recruiting next year as it already has based on commitments. The games and record won't be far off.

Go, Fly, Win, Owls! Wrote:

Corn_3024 Wrote:I'm a huge McConnell fan but lets be honest. He's starting because we have no one else. I know he's a freshman and will improve but hopefully he has to in order to keep his job. McConnell seems really slow at times and we have a lot of quick PG's in this conference. We need someone to keep up. It'll be a competition,and hopefully a good one.

I ask: if we have no on else, why is Nick Mattone there? Who is the quickest point guard, Ben Smith? I think he matched him with the exception of Ben's 3 free throws.

Obviously, you didn't see the Western Kentucky game and I know that Belmont and ETSU will be challenges at that spot. I think you are still in for some surprises ...

Who knows whats up with Mattone. When you try a 2 guard (Pollock) and your best paint player (Stegal) at point AFTER McConnell had his chance it kind of shows you we were trying find someone else at the point. Maybe they just didn't want McConnell exposed to that much PT early on, theres no way for me to know for sure. I'm simply saying McConnell's starting because he's the best we have, not some outstanding freshman point guard (at this point).

As to you thinking he's quick, I don't know what you've saw that I havent. Theres a reason Wooten guarded Ben Smith on defense. McConnell is no where near Smith or Florence right now. I see being a fan but you should really consider taking those homer glasses off.

McConnell isn't particularly quick. He could be a whole lot quicker, but he would have to drop 10-15 pounds (which he could actually do). He is a ball control, smart player that is an excellent scorer. We will see a huge transformation in his game if he drops the pounds. If he doesn't he will always be a solid player, but I don't think he will take that next step. Hopefully our strength and conditioning coach gets after it with him in the offseason and really puts him on a program to drop a few pounds. He obviously isnt fat, but you would be surprised at how much quicker someone gets when they drop even as much as 5 pounds. It can make a big difference.

I wouldn't hang your hat on offseason strength and conditioning.

Why?

Allison.

Lot easier to shed pounds than to gain them. Especially with Allison's frame. I'm not saying he couldnt work harder (but honestly I dont if hes trying or not..). McConnell is a stocky kid and losing 5-10 pounds could do wonders. He seems top heavy to say the least.

Allison seems to have gotten a lot stronger in one year. When you are 7 feet tall it takes a lot of work to show any progress. Like Corn said, it is very difficult for some people to put on weight. It doesn't mean that Allison isn't getting any stronger. I would say that Allison hasn't been a liability in the paint from a strength standpoint this year. Losing 10 pounds of baby fat in the offseason can be done easily, putting on 10 pounds of muscle for an extremely thin person can be close to impossible. Allison is never going to be bulky, but he will get pretty strong if he works at it.