Creek's Jerome Tillman to OU

OptionQB · Post by **OptionQB** » Wed May 04, 2005 7:39 pm

Beavercreek F Jerome Tillman verballed to Tim O'Shea and Ohio University after a weekend visit per The Dayton Daily News' Wednesday editions.

Undersized at 6-5 or 6-6 . . . He brings Germaine Fitch type athleticism and will probably play the role of the undersized power forward or a bigger small forward.

Tillman is quoted as saying "They really liked my intensity and my ability to post smaller players and take bigger guys off the dribble."

But I question whether he can knock down anything beyond 15 ft. on a consistent-enough basis.

He had looks for MSU, Louisville, USC, UD, Drake and Miami to name a few.

BleedOrange · Post by **BleedOrange** » Wed May 04, 2005 8:44 pm

I expect Tillman to take Harbut's starting forward spot, who graduated.

OU really needed good low post players so that they could move Williams from center to power forward. The only bigman that they signed was 6-9 Ottrix, who is reported to actually play more like a wing. After that, they have Cliff McGowan, they little brother of the basically useless Clay McGowan.

KPAFalcon · Post by **KPAFalcon** » Wed May 04, 2005 9:39 pm

They also add Johnnie Jackson (6'6" forward), transfer from Boston College. This guy sat out last year, he was rated as a four star prospect in 2002. OU will be a hand full this coming year. Their biggest weak spot, is their coach.

BobcatFan · Post by **BobcatFan** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:08 pm

[quote="KPAFalcon"]They also add Johnnie Jackson (6'6" forward), transfer from Boston College. This guy sat out last year, he was rated as a four star prospect in 2002. OU will be a hand full this coming year. Their biggest weak spot, is their coach.[/quote]

I'm not sure that's fair. O'Shea just led us to a 21 win season, and beat Kent, Miami (and the great Charlie Coles), and Buffalo to win the MAC Tournament. Plus we gave Florida all they could handle in the NCAAs. Granted, a lot of that was the result of talent. But to say that O'Shea is the weak spot is pretty unjustified, in my opinion. He took a team predicted to finish last, finished 2nd in the regular season, and 1st when it counted the most.

JoeFalcon · Post by **JoeFalcon** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:13 pm

Judging a coach based on their ability to meet or fall short of pre-season expectations is tricky. Remember, they were picked to finish 6th based on their performance with O'Shea as the coach the previous years. In a way, he defied the extremely low expectations set by his team's own performance.