Thursday Zags Around the Web: SB Nation gets a Makeover

Zach B — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:31:35 -0000

The new SB Nation: It's all you'll ever need to keep up on sports!

Just a few links for you this morning as we continue to await the release of the Gonzaga basketball schedule. Looking back to last year, it appear that the schedule wasn't released until late September so I guess we shouldn't be getting our hopes up too much but I think we've already got a pretty good grasp on the nonconference which makes it a lot easier.

-- First and foremost, as you all know, The Slipper Still Fits is a part of the SB Nation network and late last night, the network made a huge jump and updated their homepage. There are a number of new features to fiddle around with. The one I like the most is the top row of scores that also gives you a look in at live game threads and how active they are. The site will keep you updated to the very second when news breaks and should hopefully become your one-stop place to keep up on all sporting news. Click here to see a post outlining the new site, otherwise just browse around and enjoy the hard work SB Nation has put in to make the site what it is.

-- A pretty dull summer as far as recruiting goes should be heating up as the fall starts up. Today marks the first day of Darrell Williams' official visit to the Gonzaga campus. Darrell is currently enrolled at Midland Junior College after transferring from Chipola JC in Florida. He is obviously a player that has arisen out of nowhere and on to our radar but after watching a few videos on him from Chipola, it is pretty clear that Gonzaga has been tracking him for quite some time. Williams is a wide-bodied, 6'8'' post player with some above average athleticism. He falls in the 2010 cycle of recruiting which is very competitive at this point for Gonzaga because of their limited scholarship availability. It remains to be seen whether or not Mark Few will decide to bring anyone in with the 2010 class but at this point, Williams is one of the candidates. Hopefully some of our student-readers have their eyes peeled this weekend and can report back to us if they happen to catch a glimpse of big Darrell Williams.

-- Elias Harris' minutes have steadily increased while playing in Poland with the German Senior National team. Elias' most recent game came against Latvia and he showed very well in his 16 minutes of action. Harris attempted two shots in the game, a three-pointer and a two and connected on both of them. He also matched those five points with five rebounds including two of the offensive glass. Germany's next game will take place tomorrow against Greece which has yet to lose a game and features players like Kosta Koufos and Nick Calathes.

-- Another 2010 recruit of interest for Gonzaga fans is off the board. Keala King, who wound up being the top-rated player out of California according to Rivals.com, has committed to Arizona State and Coach Herb Sendek. King's 6'5'' point guard who really blew up this summer and had the entire Pac-10 after him. Gonzaga's interest seemed to be fleeting so this isn't a huge surprise but I thought that Arizona and Stanford had a very good shot at him.

-- Just a scheduling reminder: Gonzaga women's volleyball and soccer are on the road this weekend but the men are hosting the Nike Soccer Classic at Gonzaga. Tomorrow they will be taking on Georgia Southern at 4 PM and Sunday they will face off with Detroit at 1 PM. As always, keep updated on Gonzaga fall sports with our Google Calendar on the right sidebar.

Sloppy BJ may induce premature explosion....

Sam @ WWAHT — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:00:35 -0000

.... of joy from one NBA franchise.

(via Wolverine Liberation Army)

But according to that same Chicago Now blog one week later:

Two different sources have indicated to NBADraft.net on Friday that the Pistons have a promise in place to take BJ Mullens if he's available to the them at 15.

Mullens works well with the rebuilding Pistons as he's a player with significant upside but will take time to become a contributor. With the Pistons in the process of rebuilding their squad, Mullens offers them a potential center for the future. This makes a heck of a lot more sense than him getting a promise from the Bulls. The Bulls don't seem like a team looking for a huge project, and Mullens doesn't fit the type of personality or character the team tries to build around.

The NBA draft is on Thursday, and the only player of interest to Ohio State partisans will be the aforementioned "Sloppy" BJ Mullens, the former number one overall prospect according to Rivals, who had this to say about BJ's game:

Size, athleticism and skill are the big three that separate Mullens from the rest of this class. It just isn't very often that you find a 7-foot plus center who can run, jump and shoot like Mullens. He has the type of athleticism that makes you think of Bill Walton and then he has the shooting touch that makes you wonder if he could develop into a Dirk Nowitzki type player. Mullens does need to become a tougher defender and rebounder, but the pieces are there for him to be a number one pick in the draft and premiere big man in the League.

and the humble Mullens infamously had this to say about his own game:

"I can get compared to Kevin Garnett, his inside game. Outside game, Dirk Nowitzki, explosive like Amar’e (Stoudemire). Those three guys I like to compare myself and mix them all together and do a little bit of triple threat."

Ahem. Right. If anyone's curious, here's BJ's stat line from his lone season in Columbus:

2008-09 Stats
PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	BPG
8.8	4.7	0.3	.634	1.1

Keep in mind that this was on a team that suffered from an utter lack of a competent big man, where BJ probably should have stepped in immediately and been that guy. Unfortunately, he was That Guy. Nevertheless, pro franchises are still going apeshit over his potential. If you're not basketball-savvy and need a football comparison, Mullens is this draft's Josh Freeman. Remember him? The guy who sucked for a few years at Kansas State, declared early, and got picked by the hapless Tampa Bay Buccanneers to be the franchise quarterback? Yeah, him. Mullens did not openly suck, as Freeman often did, but he did not dominate in anything reasonably approximating the manner in which he was expected to do so. Instead, Mullens endured a sub-par year in Columbus, and, like Kosta Koufos before him, took his ball and went pro. Mullens, however, may end up getting a better deal out of it: MyNBADraft has him going 16th to the Bulls, as promised, while NBAdraft.net sees him as a future Detroit Piston (please God don't let this happen - not because I think he'll become a star, but because this guy is already disliked enough by Buckeye fans). HoopsHype has this to say:

Highly intriguing big man with outstanding natural tools—size, strength, athleticism, great hands, and the ability to play inside. Can finish with either hand around the basket. Pretty instinctive as a scorer. Doesn’t always play hard, fails to box out or compete defensively, seems to go through long stretches of unproductiveness. Superbly gifted and appears to have huge potential, but still has a lot to prove as well. Basketball IQ is average. Could be a big steal or a huge bust—all depends on his work ethic and drive.

That.... well, that sounds about right, actually. Personally, I watched Mullens struggle against anyone and everyone who challenged him physically at the college level. At the pro, Dwight Howard and essentially any competent big man (including the ones he compared himself to) should eat him alive. It's pretty clear that Mullens isn't quite levelheaded; he's a little arrogant, and I'm not sure how well he responds to "getting coached up", as it were. In the end, he has the talent, and I simply will never put it past an NBA franchise to take a flier on someone with massive talent and sizable maturity issues.

SB Nation - Kosta Koufos

Thursday Zags Around the Web: SB Nation gets a Makeover

Sloppy BJ may induce premature explosion....