SB Nation User Blog: BuffZag

July Means AAU Basketball: Previewing the It takes 5IVE Classic

BuffZag — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:46:38 -0000

While the weather tends to heat up during the month of July, so to does collegiate basketball recruiting with the biggest month of the year in AAU basketball. July is packed full with AAU tournaments across the country from Augusta, South Carolina all the way to Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2009 AAU schedule has been running since April but their is no more important time for the potential recruits to impress college coaches. The July evaluation period is also the most important time for coaches across the country to finally sit down and evaluate what could be the future of their program. Odds are that every coach has a list of players they have really zoned in on but, as Gonzaga fans have seen in recent years, their are always surprises that stand out during the month of July and make this evaluation process very interesting.

Today marks the beginning of the July evaluation period with the "adidas It takes 5IVE Classic" in Cincinnati, Ohio. Click here for the official site and here for the pool matchups (PDF). While the AAU schedule is bound for more scenic locations, the adidas event is sure to showcase some of the best talent in the nation, including some names that should stand out for Gonzaga fans. For our purposes, we will focus on three individuals that could be members of the very small 2010 class for Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Those three names are Yannick Atanga, Austin Hollins, and Jamel Outler.

continue reading more about the start of serious AAU ball after the jump...

The guy that really carries the most interest for me personally during this tournament will be Impact Basketball's Yannick Atanga. He's a solid 6'7'', 220 pound power forward with plenty of room to grow and his coach compared his ball-hawking abilities to Dennis Rodman. Atanga has absolutely, 100% burst onto the scene recently and is attracting some of the most prestigous schools in the nation. We had a great interview with Yannick's high school coach a few weeks ago where he told us that Yannick is hearing from a number of schools on the West Coast like UCLA, Gonzaga, and Washington State but is also being tracked in the East by schools like West Virginia. He recently picked up his first solid offer from Santa Clara and expect that offer to snowball into a number of offers for Yannick. Here is how Yannick and Impact Basketball's schedule looks for today:

July 6th @ 8 AM EST- Impact Basketball vs. MBA Elite
July 6th @ 10:40 AM EST- Impact Basketball vs. Stark County

Only the top team from this pool will advance to the Platinum Tournament, the other two will fill in the gold and silver tournament. MBA Elite features LaQuinton Ross, arguably the best player in the 2011 class. They've got a solid supporting cast with Rodney Hood and DeMarco Cox and will present a challenge to Atanga and Impact Basketball.

Their are two other major prospects that have listed Gonzaga who are participating in this tournament. Austin Hollins is a name that few of us and ever heard of and that is because he has largely flown under the radar up to this point in time. Hollins is a 6'5'' wing-guard whose greatest strength is his basketball IQ. He hails from Germantown, Tennessee and is reportedly hearing interest from Memphis, Gonzaga, and a number of other schools in the southern region of the United States. To be honest he intrigues the hell out of me but it is hard to imagine the staff bringing in a wing of his stature when we are pretty loaded at that position already. Rivals wrote a blurb about him in April saying that Hollins was beginning to blow up and that as many as 17 division one schools attended one of his workouts. He's on one of the historically best AAU teams running right now, the Nashville Celtics who typically feature several D1 prospects and this year is no different. Here is how their schedule shakes out in pool play:

July 6th @ 9:20 AM EST- Nashville Celtics vs. Wrecking Crew
July 6th @ 1:20 PM EST- Nashville Celtics vs. Baltimore Assault

The last prospect that deserves to be mentioned is Houston Select's Jamel Outler. Outler was one of the best prospects in Texas during his freshman year of high school. The 6-foot-3 guard had all of the Texas schools and a number of schools like Gonzaga knocking at his door to try and get his services. Jamel had a bit of a dropoff recently but is still projecting as a division one talent. Schools like Utah, Northwestern, and Iowa State have caught Jamel's eye recently but Gonzaga was in on him quite early and, judging by their recent history of recruiting guards from Texas, might still be in his ear. Hopefully Outler has got himself together because just two years ago he was camping at places like Wake Forest, Texas A&M, and even looking at schools like Duke and Carolina. Here is a look at Jamel's pool play schedule:

July 6th @ 10:40 AM EST- Houston Select vs. LA Stars
July 6th @ 1:20 PM EST- Houston Select vs. Mustang Ballers

Continue to check back in as the tournament progresses as we will keep you up to date on how all the Gonzaga prospects perform!

Fourth of July Zags Around the Web

BuffZag — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:53:10 -0000

FIBA.com: 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men Latest news

Game three for team Canada was a thriller against international heavyweight Spain. Canada kept it close the entire game and battled back and forth but eventually fell 82-75. It was another solid performance for Gonzaga's Mangisto Arop. Manny finished the game with 17 points off of 7/15 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. This hasn't been one of the better performances for fellow 2009 Zag commit Kelly Olynyk. KO only converted on four of his 18 shooting attempts against Spain and only scored 10 points. To his credit, he took advantage of Canada's height difference and pulled down 13 boards. Canada, with a 1-2 record advances to the second round and moves into group F with Croatia, Spain, Argentina, and Kazakhstan.

Rivals.com Prospect Rankings-2010 Rankings (Updated July 3)

Rivals recently updated their rankings for the 2010 and 2011 class last night and a few Gonzaga prospects made the list. Gonzaga will only be losing Matt Bouldin and Will Foster next season and will have two scholarships available. With one of those scholarships seemingly reserved by North Idaho College's Guy Marc-Michel, Gonzaga will have to be very careful with the second. While it's possible that one of these guys could fit the bill, I'd be that the scholarship will go to someone a bit off the beaten path. Here are the rankings for the guys that Gonzaga has been interested in: PG Aaron Bright is at 114, G Jordin Mayes is at 110, PF Alex Kirk is at 106, CG Keala King is at 35 C Josh Smith is at 6.

Rivals.com Prospect Rankings-2011 Rankings (Updated July 3)

With Steven Gray being the only true junior on this team, the 2011 recruiting class will only consist of one new recruit if things go as planned and the Zags don't suffer any extra attrition. The 2011 class is so good and looks to be so promising as far as players interested in Gonzaga that I wouldn't mind holding a scholarship from 2010 and waiting til 2011 to give it away. Two Gonzaga prospects come in very high in Rivals.com's 2011 Rankings. Arizona guard Nick Johnson is ranked 28th and Portland power forward Kyle Wiltjer (pictured above) is at 33. Both are studs but Wiltjer is more realistic because of location. Johnson will likely be an Arizona Wildcat. A dream 2011 class would be Wiltjer and Gary Bell Jr of Kentridge High in the Seattle Area.

JayhawkSlant.com - Three new offers for PF Wiltjer

More on Kyle Wiltjer from the Kansas Rivals.com page. He recently added three new offers from Oregon, Cal, and Santa Clara. His list now includes:

In all, Wiltjer has scholarship offers from Arizona State, Oregon State, Gonzaga, San Francisco, California, Oregon and Santa Clara. Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Stanford and UCLA are also in-the-mix.

That is a pretty stacked list for a kid that still has quite a bit of high school left. Wiltjer was up at Gonzaga's elite camp last weekend so hopefully he was impressed. He obviously sounds very impressed by Kansas and Bill Self and you can't blame him but it would be great to see Gonzaga go into Portland and keep their top player in the area.

That's all we got for you today as far as Gonzaga news is concerned! Hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Add it to your Morning Coffee Routine: Rise and Fire

BuffZag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:09:48 -0000

Add it to your Morning Coffee Routine: Rise and Fire

The authors over there contacted us letting us know of their new blog and it is worthy of a front page note. They've got some good content over there so make sure to stop over and say hi to the guys at Rise and Fire.

Don't worry...it's not his! Austin was nice enough to hang out at a store in Detroit and meet...

BuffZag — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:22:43 -0000

Don't worry...it's not his! Austin was nice enough to hang out at a store in Detroit and meet excited Pistons fans.

Here is the full article thanks to Pistons.com

Austin Daye greeting the Detroit media proudly holding the Pistons jersey.

BuffZag — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:54:59 -0000

Austin Daye greeting the Detroit media proudly holding the Pistons jersey.

Williams, a 6-foot-7-inch, 210-pound forward from La Mirada, Calif., visited UA over the weekend...

BuffZag — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:46:14 -0000

Williams, a 6-foot-7-inch, 210-pound forward from La Mirada, Calif., visited UA over the weekend and confirmed his decision via text message Sunday night.

--Arizona Daily Star

I was hoping we could get Derrick on campus but Sean Miller continues to dominate late 2009 recruiting.

NBA Draft Doesn't Live Up to the Hype for Gonzaga

BuffZag — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:22:35 -0000

More photos » by Seth Wenig - AP

10 days ago: NBA commissioner David Stern, left, poses with Austin Daye, who was picked by the Detroit Pistons, during the first round of the NBA basketball draft in New York, Thursday, June 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Browse more photos »

The 2009 NBA Draft was supposed to be a groundbreaking event in Gonzaga hoops history. With four Zags in draft contention and two players that were stone-cold locks, the sky was the limit. As it turns out, nothing is ever guaranteed in professional drafts and Josh Heytvelt, Micah Downs, and Jeremy Pargo found that out tonight. The trio of Gonzaga seniors that competed for a spot in the draft all came up short on Thursday night and never heard their name called. Next up for the three is NBA free agency which will probably lead to the Las Vegas summer league or they could opt for the more lucrative European route. Needless to say, their path to the NBA got a bit steeper.

It wasn't all bad news for Gonzaga. Upside-ridden sophomore Austin Daye was selected early in the draft at #15 by the Detroit Pistons. Daye avoided the freefall that plagued many other prospects Thursday night and went to the team that probably had the most longstanding interest in him. The Pistons should be a tremendous fit for Austin because they have holes in their frontcourt and Detroit is synonymous with toughness and they should be able to really help Austin mature and play with more tenacity in the NBA.

The bad news began with the freefall of DeJuan Blair. The one Gonzaga player besides Austin Daye that I felt was a complete and total lock was Josh Heytvelt. He was predicted by ESPN, DraftExpress, and every other draft outlet to go in the mid-second round AT THE LATEST. However, once DeJuan Blair and fellow Pitt Panther Sam Young started falling, their was a cause for concern. The mid-to-late second round is typically reserved for the "best available" type player and as long as those two were around, Josh's odds of getting picked were low. The one spot that I prayed Josh would go was #46 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Right before the Cavs selected, Jay Bilas and Jeff Van Gundy (who knows nothing about college hoops) were saying how the Cavs needed a versatile big man who can shoot on the outside. Perfect. That describes Josh Heytvelt to a T. North Carolina 'tweener Danny Green was the Cavs choice and that kind of spelled the end for Josh. Maybe the Jazz at 50 but I thought Jeremy Pargo had a better chance of going there as the Jazz front office really liked Jeremy.

continue reading more post draft thoughts after the jump...

What we saw tonight was a combination of scared GM's and a weak economy. Foreign players really ruled the second round; I can't count how many times I heard the dorky associate commissioner say "and this foreign player is actually in attendance". GM's in this draft were content to take their 2nd round picks and put them with foreign players who would need three years rather than take an American player who may not have as much upside but is ready right now. The weak economy was just what some of the foreign-born players needed to get drafted tonight.

As I mentioned, Jeremy Pargo and Micah Downs were also not drafted this evening. While their omissions from the proceedings were not quie as surprising, their was still plenty of hope for them. Both, by all accounts, worked out very well in their pre-draft workouts and put themselves in good positions to be drafted. We thought that Micah had a nice niche as an athletic player who could specialize as a defensive stopper and Jeremy Pargo is the ideal leader at the point guard position and a guy that commands respect and knows how to run a team.

We will anxiously be following these three as they take the next step in their respective basketball futures. I believe that all three have the ability to sign on and make an NBA roster but, at this point, would not be surprised to see any of them take off to Europe. Plenty of congratulations are due to Austin Daye who proved that his decision to remain in the NBA Draft was very well thought out. We look forward to seeing how he progresses in summer leagues with the Pistons!

Poll

What are your thoughts now that the draft has come and gone?

Gonzaga's Austin Daye Selected by the Detroit Pistons

BuffZag — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:14:03 -0000

More photos » by Rajah Bose - AP

Gonzaga's Austin Daye selected 15th by the Detroit Pistons. (AP Photo/Rajah Bose, File)

Browse more photos »

Austin Daye made a very wise choice. The former Gonzaga Bulldog decided to forego his final two years of collegiate eligibility for a chance at the NBA and it paid off big time. Daye is now a member of the Detroit Pistons, one of the most storied franchises in NBA history.

Daye leaves the cushy comforts of Spokane, Washington for Detroit where he will probably get immediate minutes as Detroit's frontline might be decimated by the offseason. Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess are two guys that may not be members of the Pistons next year. Regardless, the Pistons definitley needed frontline help and Austin could be a star in this league provided he gets some time to grow and mature into his body.

Obviously this is a huge day for Austin and for Gonzaga as a program. Hopefully tonight yields more draft picks. We will keep you updated as it happens!

Tracking the Zags: NBA Live Draft Thread

BuffZag — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:38:57 -0000

When North Carolina ended Gonzaga's season in March, it meant the end of six collegiate careers. Five seniors graduated and super sophomore Austin Daye chose to forego his remaining two years of collegiate eligibility for a shot at the NBA. Tonight we will find out whether Austin made the correct choice and we will also learn the fates of Josh Heytvelt, Jeremy Pargo, and Micah Downs. All four former Bulldogs have been traveling across the country trying to impress NBA brass. After weeks upon weeks of workouts and mock drafts, we still really have no clue what is going to happen at 4:30 PST (well except for the 1st overall pick).

Austin Daye is likely to be selected in the first twenty picks, probably going as high as 15 to the pistons. Josh Heytvelt is also a pretty solid lock to hear his name called in the draft. He finished his workouts impressively and should go in the early-to-mid second round. Micah Downs and Jeremy Pargo are both the wild cards of the draft. From all indications, Micah Downs really exceeded expectations in the workouts but their are plenty of players at his position that could go ahead of him. Jeremy Pargo showed a lot in workouts as well. Their is no doubt he can lead a team and that could land him a spot late in the second round. Smart money is that both will not be drafted but don't be surprised if they sneak in as both their skills translate well to the next level.

We'll be discussing the draft here all night so treat this as a live draft thread and share your thoughts in the comments below!

Coverage begins at 4:00 PM PST on ESPN.

Gonzaga to Play Davidson in Battle in Seattle on 12/12

BuffZag — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:19:22 -0000

Gonzaga to Play Davidson in Battle in Seattle on 12/12

UConn to a Curry-less Davidson. Looks like we're desperate for a win.