Big Zach Nagtzaam, a near seven-footer from Ayr, is one of only 2 people on this list with the one thing that a lot of players covet ---- an OFSAA gold medal.
In 2007, Nagtzaam led the Sabres to WCSSAA, CWOSSA "AAA" and OFSAA "AAA" titles --- the latter being a thrilling 39-37 victory over Windsor's Catholic Central HS.
Nagtzaam averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds during the 06-07 campaign and was named the Mike Moser award winner as WCSSAA MVP.
In addition, he was a two-year member of the Canadian Junior Team and was named the top Ontario post player during the 2007 All-Canada game.
He accepted a full scholarship to Ohio University, where he was redshirted during the 07-08 campaign. He saw 19 minutes (10 games) during the 08-09 season where he again faced injury issues (he scored his first and only NCAA basket on the road at Eastern Illinois).
By early spring of last year, knee issues had caught up with Zach, and he was basically forced to end his basketball career. However, to my knowledge, he is still involved with the basketball program and is finishing his degree down south.
Zach's situation is as you said - he is classified as a "medical hardship" so that he remains on scholarship but it does not count against Ohio's scholarship limit. He can practice with the team but cannot suit up. A classy move by Ohio -many schools would have simply tried to run him off.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional info!
ReplyDeleteCertainly one of the best WCSSAA basketball moments I've witnessed was Southwood holding off the (heavily) favoured Windsor CC to win the Triple-A OFSAA title at Cathedral.
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