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C Zed "Finger Guns" Key (transfer to Dayton)

Yeah, if we don't add another big, I tend to think we will see a lot of Liddell/Gaffney/Young playing in the front court (2 at a time). The only center we will have on the team is Diallo and I think he needs a few years to be a viable option.
 
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...

“I loved the campus and I loved the coaching staff,” he told The Dispatch. “I loved being around the players and it felt like home there. I fit in and I got that feeling: OK, this is the place that I want to be. That was my first official (visit). I got that feeling that this is the right place for me so I want to be here."

...

While on his official visit, Key got to spend time with former Buckeyes D’Angelo Russell and Evan Turner as well as current members of the team. To read more about that visit, click here. He primarily hung out with sophomores Luther Muhammad and Duane Washington Jr., he said.

“They’re high-energy guys,” he said. “They’re always dancing, always laughing. They’re hilarious. They had me laughing the whole time. Every time a song would come on they’d get mad hyped and just start dancing and keep dancing.”

...

“They like my post presence, my physical play,” Key said of the Ohio State coaches. “They like that I’m versatile, so I can stay down low in the post and bury my man and score every efficiently around the rim. I can also bring the guy out and I’ve been working on shooting. That’s been my main focus this summer in developing my game.”
 
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New York standout Key latest to join OSU's 2020 hoops class
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“I love the coaching staff at Ohio State,” Key told Bucknuts.com. “They want to see you succeed. They help you work on your game and they get you better. I loved the facilities there. The strength and conditioning area they have is pretty good. You can see the arena and feel what that is like with all the people there cheering for you.”

Key said he feels like he is getting in on the ground floor of something special with coach Chris Holtmann’s program at Ohio State.

“I think we have the chance to get to the Final Four and win a national championship,” Key said. “We’re going to be really good. You look at the guys who are there and the guys they have coming in. We have some elite talent there and they are working hard to add to it.”

...

“They said I would play the four and the five,” Key said. “They said eventually I may even play the three if I can continue to develop my shooting. My freshman year, they want me to come in and work really hard and earn minutes. I just have to keep improving my game. They want me to be a big post presence with my back to the basket.”

...

Asked what he showed during the summer to impress the OSU coaches, Key said, “Definitely my motor. I play extremely hard. I run back on defense. I run the floor on offense. I try to be a force on the court. I feel like I can rebound at a high level. Offensively, I work hard on my footwork around the basket.”

...

“What impressed me and my wife was the family atmosphere,” Zed Sr. said. “We had a good rapport built with the coaches and the players. We liked the academic side of things and the ability for him to be developed.

“I think he went there and fell in love with what he saw.”

continued...
 
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al pinkins was hired by florida in may 2018. at the very beginning of july, florida offered zed key. that's about a year in advance of most of the high-majors offering him.

who is al pinkins? as a frontcourt coach, he was only the lead recruiter at tennessee for admiral schofield (ranked 251st). only the leader recruiter for grant williams (191st). only the lead recruiter at texas tech for kyler edwards (159th). only the reason that the red raiders landed tariq owens, who was at tennessee when pinkins was an assistant. the guy knows his stuff and knows how to spot talent that the recruiting services often pass over.

here's the beat writer for ttu's rivals site (link):

“Above all, [Al Pinkins] was the ace recruiter on staff first and foremost for that group. I think he was a big reason Tech landed some of these kids they landed over the past two years. Everybody they recruited, for the most part, here the last couple of years he’s had a hand in. The thing I’ve always heard is that on top of being a good recruiter, he is a really good talent evaluator. I think everybody they’ve gotten or signed because of him they’ve been really happy with.”


if one of pinkins' first offers while at florida was zed key, then perhaps that's a tell-tale sign that our newest commit might be a diamond in the rough.
 
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WHAT ZED KEY'S COMMITMENT MEANS TO OHIO STATE'S 2020 RECRUITING CLASS

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Finding the right fit for your college basketball program isn't just about what happens on the court, but off it as well. Ohio State added a key piece. How will that commitment impact the Buckeyes?

Ohio State opened the week looking to complete its 2020-21 roster, and it did more than add just one final piece.

Three-star power forward Zed Key announced his commitment to Ohio State on Sunday, joining four-star wing Eugene Brown III in the team's 2020 class. Brown committed to play for the Buckeyes on Monday.

Now committed, Key becomes the latest addition to Ohio State's frontcourt.

ON THE COURT
As a power forward who does most of his offensive damage in the paint, Key's game offers Ohio State a bit of an old-school post player with experience getting buckets close to the basket.

At 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, Key doesn't necessarily have outstanding size, and he's not an overly explosive athlete. But he has a wingspan over more than seven feet, which he has shown an ability to maximize on both ends of the court.

Around the rim, Key has showcased nice touch and an ability to finish with both hands. At this point in his development, he has two general strengths – low-post scoring and rebounding – and has spent the past year working to extend his range, which doesn't yet reach the college 3-point line.

On a loaded Long Island Lutheran (New York) team, Key wasn't the sole star of his team, but he still averaged 15.9 points per game last season. His true breakout came in June at the NBPA Top 100 Camp, when he stood out among a roster loaded with top-flight prospects.

“He was a top-150 kid most of his high school career,” NY Jayhawks executive director and Long Island Lutheran assistant coach Jay David told Eleven Warriors in June. “Took a little bit of a step back last year. He's continued to be uber-talented and will probably stay that way. It's just that he's continued to work really, really hard and show his work ethic, and people are now seeing it. That stage that he was on is not a small stage. That's a big-time stage to be able to come on board and do the things that he was doing. I think it's just the fact that people were able to see him, able to see his new and improved changes.”



With his throwback offensive game and build, Key plays a fairly similar game to Kaleb Wesson, but he doesn't yet have the junior big man's shooting range.

Key also stands two inches shorter than Wesson. However, if Wesson leaves for the NBA after his junior season, Key could have to serve as the de-facto center in some lineups as early as his freshman season.

IN THE CLASS
The commitment of Key means – barring unexpected attrition in the next two months – Ohio State will "oversign" during the Early Signing Period in mid-November.

Teams are allowed 13 scholarship players, and since Andre Wesson is the only player graduating after the 2019-20 season, Ohio State currently has only one scholarship available in the 2020 cycle. However, it now has two commitments in that class: Key and Brown. Therefore, a player will either have to leave college early for the NBA or transfer in order for the team to remain at or under the 13-scholarship limit.

The addition of Key provides insurance if Kaleb Wesson opts to leave for the NBA after his junior season. Wesson put his name in the NBA evaluation pool this spring and opted to return to school, but it's rare that players go through that process a second time and once again choose to play another season in college.

Ohio State could also lose a player after the season to transfer, which has become increasingly common in college basketball. Holtmann's teams haven't been hit hard by transfers, though both Micah Potter and Jaedon LeDee left in the past year, so precedent exists.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...nt-means-to-ohio-states-2020-recruiting-class
 
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