Monmouth gets commit from Shipley’s Tillman

Duncan Lloyd (@duncanmlloyd)
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Shipley School senior Zac Tillman, a bruising 6-foot-9 forward/center, made his college decision today, giving his verbal commitment to play for Monmouth University next fall, Shipley coach Phil D’Ambrosio confirmed to CoBL Sunday evening.

Tillman anchored Shipley’s frontcourt last season and will look to help improve on the Gators’ 9-14 record from a year ago when the Friends League opens its season in November. After seeing his weight get as high as 330 pounds in April, Tillman has shed nearly 35 pounds in the offseason, according to D’Ambrosio.

“He’s coming into his own lately,” D’Ambrosio said, adding that the center’s goal weight was to get down to 270 by the time the season begins. “The past couple months he’s really turned it up a notch in terms of his work ethic. He’s been able to shed some pounds…he’s started to see the light a little bit. He saw a couple of those Division I schools pursuing him so it made him work even harder and harder.”

Now, with that lost weight enabling Tillman to get up and down the court much more easily, the first-year coach is hoping his big centerpiece will be a dominant force in the Friends League after averaging eight points and six rebounds per game in his junior season. Not just a big body, the center’s court vision allows him to be a double threat out of the post.

“He’s comfortable with his back to the basket,” D’Ambrosio said. “He’s starting to learn to use his body a little bit more, I think a lot of that has to do with the confidence he’s getting now. One of the reasons he’s so strong with his back to basket is he does a great job of seeing across the court to the opposite side to the open man, so that goes back to his unselfishness.”

Monmouth, in the Northeastern Conference, went 12-20 overall in 2011-12 but won 10 of its 18 in-conference games. When he arrives at Monmouth, Tillman will be the Hawks’ biggest post player, and will compliment Marcus Ware, Dion Nesmith, and Andrew Nicholas (all rising juniors) and head coach King Rice, now in his second season at the help of the West Long Branch, N.J. institution.

Tillman is Monmouth’s first commit for the 2013 class. He’ll be able to sign his binding National Letter of Intent when the early signing period opens on November 14.