It's been a big past few days for Gonzaga's big men of the past. First Ronny Turiaf wins his first NBA Championship with the Heat last Thursday, and today the team that drafted Turiaf decided to pull another Zag big man up to the NBA. Robert Sacre, who played with as big a personality as Turiaf, was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the final pick of the 2012 NBA Draft.
So, congratulations, Big Rob!
Sacre's draftability, if that is a thing, has been on a roller coaster ride over the past year. From peaks like Hawaii coach Gib Arnold's remarks after seeing Sacre dominate his Warriors squad back in November, 2011, "He’s a first-round draft pick, you’ll see him on TNT
next year because he plays the game right." to being left off mock draft boards and being ranked well below 60th (there are only 60 draft picks) on prospect lists.
Tonight though, the happy and hard working big man's toils have paid off. I'm in no position to determine how well Sacre will fit into the Lakers rotation, as I pay only fleeting attention the the NBA until mid-way thru the playoffs, but I do see this as a good place for him to land. I mentioned Ronny Turiaf being drafted by the Lakers earlier.
Based on Turiaf's time with L.A., which began as the 37th pick of the 2005 draft and promptly developed into a case of Turiaf's career possibly ending before beginning. A routine physical conducted by Lakers' staff doctors found an enlarged aortic root in Turiaf's heart, which forced the team to void his 2 year, $1 million contract. However, the Lakers also paid all costs relating to his open heart surgery and retained the rights to him, which they would use only half a year later to re-sign the fully recovered big man.
Sacre has no, known, health problems like Ronny Turiaf did upon his being drafted by the Lakers, but similar to Turiaf, Sacre will need some work done before a successful NBA career can be a reality. Sacre has the potential to easily become a solid back-up center, or more but that's a ways away, thanks to his great personality, hard nosed defense, work ethic, and rare trait for a big man in shooting well from the free throw line. However he's not at the physical/athletic level of NBA centers at this point. If the Lakers are serious, which they've proven to be with former Zags, heck they let Adam Morrison ride the pine to two NBA championships, Sacre should be on the path to a long and good NBA career much like his Zag and Laker predecessor (who need I remind you just won a championship) Ronny Turiaf.
Once again, congratulations and best of luck Mr. Sacre! I'm hoping this one draft pick will push me to care about the NBA more than I have before. Go Zags, go Lakers, go Rob!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
The West Coast Goes Midwest
If you've read the banner at the top of the page you'll know that I am a former Spokanite (and Portlander, though it doesn't say that) who currently lives in Chicago. I've been here since last September and that has prevented me from seeing any West Coast Conference action in person. The Zags visited Illinois last December, but I was unemployed at the time. Fortunately for me the upcoming season brings WCC teams my way once again. I'm writing this mostly so that I am constantly reminded of these games, that way I make going to them a reality. Also, just in case there are any midwest WCC fans who read this blog.
The game I want to see most also happens to be the one closest to Chicago. January 19th Gonzaga will play Butler. Indianapolis is just over three hours away by car. However, if Butler is anything like Gonzaga, getting a ticket could be impossible, especially considering this is a match-up of arguably the two biggest mid-majors in the country.
On December 22nd two WCC squads will be playing in my current neck of the woods. Saint Mary's at Northern Iowa and Loyola Marymount at Saint Louis. Ideally I would see both but that is impossible considering they are on the same day. If I had to decide now I would rather go to Cedar Falls to watch the Gaels and Panthers. Saint Mary's will certainly be better than Loyola Marymount next season. Even though I have become quite fond of the Lions over the past year due to their surprise success and great online radio station (a lifeline for a mid-major fan half way across the country from the game).
Santa Clara will play Saint Louis on November 14th. That works out nice since, assuming I am able to go to all of these, I would be missing the other WCC vs. Billikens game to see the Gales and Panthers.
In a game that will surely go to the non-WCC team but will showcase the best talent of any of these games, Portland will play at reigning national champion Kentucky on December 18th. I hope the Pilots at least try to enjoy those 40 minutes. On November 10th the Pilots will face off against the Ohio Bobcats, one of last years darlings of the big dance.
So, if you're reading this and you're a season ticket holder at Butler, Northern Iowa, or Saint Louis, or you just happen to know how a layman like myself could snag a ticket, help me out. I'll be all kinds of civil despite being a fan of your foes.
Also worth noting, these are just the non-conference games that have been announced. Full schedules haven't been finalized and more games will be lined up. So, if you're reading this and part of the staff at a WCC school, why not set up a game in the midwest? I'll be all kinds of thankful.
The game I want to see most also happens to be the one closest to Chicago. January 19th Gonzaga will play Butler. Indianapolis is just over three hours away by car. However, if Butler is anything like Gonzaga, getting a ticket could be impossible, especially considering this is a match-up of arguably the two biggest mid-majors in the country.
On December 22nd two WCC squads will be playing in my current neck of the woods. Saint Mary's at Northern Iowa and Loyola Marymount at Saint Louis. Ideally I would see both but that is impossible considering they are on the same day. If I had to decide now I would rather go to Cedar Falls to watch the Gaels and Panthers. Saint Mary's will certainly be better than Loyola Marymount next season. Even though I have become quite fond of the Lions over the past year due to their surprise success and great online radio station (a lifeline for a mid-major fan half way across the country from the game).
Santa Clara will play Saint Louis on November 14th. That works out nice since, assuming I am able to go to all of these, I would be missing the other WCC vs. Billikens game to see the Gales and Panthers.
In a game that will surely go to the non-WCC team but will showcase the best talent of any of these games, Portland will play at reigning national champion Kentucky on December 18th. I hope the Pilots at least try to enjoy those 40 minutes. On November 10th the Pilots will face off against the Ohio Bobcats, one of last years darlings of the big dance.
So, if you're reading this and you're a season ticket holder at Butler, Northern Iowa, or Saint Louis, or you just happen to know how a layman like myself could snag a ticket, help me out. I'll be all kinds of civil despite being a fan of your foes.
Also worth noting, these are just the non-conference games that have been announced. Full schedules haven't been finalized and more games will be lined up. So, if you're reading this and part of the staff at a WCC school, why not set up a game in the midwest? I'll be all kinds of thankful.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
The WCC and the NBA Finals
When the Miami Heat won the 2012 NBA championship this past Thursday
most of the talk was about LeBron James getting his first ring. For a
fan of West Coast Conference basketball though the focus was on the
supporting cast. Two former WCC stand outs helped the Heat win the
franchise's second NBA title. Forward Ronny Turiaf (Gonzaga, 2001-2005)
and head coach Erik Spoelstra (Portland, 1988-1992) are the latest in a
long line of WCC alumni to win an NBA championship. While Adam Morrison
is the holder of two rings of his own, unfortunately, he wasn't much a
part of why the Lakers won those two titles in 2009 and 2010. So this
marks the first time since Gonzaga's rise to national prominence and the
rise of the rest of the conference behind the Zags that a WCC product
(though Spoelstra was in the WCC nearly a decade before the Zags elite
eight run, when the conference was much weaker than today) of this era
has been a part of winning an NBA title.
The West Coast Conference is coming off what was possibly the best year in it's history, only the years San Francisco won the national championship back in the 1950's could possibly compare, and has been steadily improving for the past decade plus. Despite that, Morrison and now Turiaf are the only products of the conference during that time to win an NBA championship. In the previous paragraph I used the words "long line" to describe the club that Turiaf and Spoelstra have joined as WCC players with NBA rings. But if during the era of the conference's greatest success only two players have gone on to win a title, where did this long line come from? Well most of them came from San Francisco and won with the Boston Celtics. Of the WCC alumni's total of NBA rings, 27 came from San Francisco, of those 21 came while former Dons played for the Celtics. San Francisco was a key part in the development of the mid 20th century Boston Celtics dynasty.
The club that Spoelstra and Turiaf joined with their finals victory holds 40 (including their own) NBA championship rings. They join Gonzaga's Adam Morrison (2 rings), San Francisco's Bill Russell (11 rings), K.C. Jones (10 rings), Bill Cartwright (3 rings), Joe McNamee (1 ring), Phil Smith (1 ring) and Eric Fernsten (1 ring), Pepperdine's Dennis Johnson (3 rings), Santa Clara's Kurt Rambis (4 rings), and Brigham Young's Danny Ainge (2 rings), though BYU was not a WCC school during Ainge's time in Provo.
It's worth noting that two of the WCC's best players turned superstars NBA level, Steve Nash and John Stockton, are not on that list.
Congratulations to the Miami Heat, Eric Spoelstra, and Ronny Turiaf on winning the 2012 NBA championship. Now, I'm not too fond of their style of play, at the very least. But with those two WCC connections I wouldn't so much mind if LeBron James belief that the number of championships the Heat will win will be not one, not two, not three, and so on comes true. Even better though would be if another WCC alumni can get a ring, and there are a good number of them floating around the NBA.
The West Coast Conference is coming off what was possibly the best year in it's history, only the years San Francisco won the national championship back in the 1950's could possibly compare, and has been steadily improving for the past decade plus. Despite that, Morrison and now Turiaf are the only products of the conference during that time to win an NBA championship. In the previous paragraph I used the words "long line" to describe the club that Turiaf and Spoelstra have joined as WCC players with NBA rings. But if during the era of the conference's greatest success only two players have gone on to win a title, where did this long line come from? Well most of them came from San Francisco and won with the Boston Celtics. Of the WCC alumni's total of NBA rings, 27 came from San Francisco, of those 21 came while former Dons played for the Celtics. San Francisco was a key part in the development of the mid 20th century Boston Celtics dynasty.
The club that Spoelstra and Turiaf joined with their finals victory holds 40 (including their own) NBA championship rings. They join Gonzaga's Adam Morrison (2 rings), San Francisco's Bill Russell (11 rings), K.C. Jones (10 rings), Bill Cartwright (3 rings), Joe McNamee (1 ring), Phil Smith (1 ring) and Eric Fernsten (1 ring), Pepperdine's Dennis Johnson (3 rings), Santa Clara's Kurt Rambis (4 rings), and Brigham Young's Danny Ainge (2 rings), though BYU was not a WCC school during Ainge's time in Provo.
It's worth noting that two of the WCC's best players turned superstars NBA level, Steve Nash and John Stockton, are not on that list.
Congratulations to the Miami Heat, Eric Spoelstra, and Ronny Turiaf on winning the 2012 NBA championship. Now, I'm not too fond of their style of play, at the very least. But with those two WCC connections I wouldn't so much mind if LeBron James belief that the number of championships the Heat will win will be not one, not two, not three, and so on comes true. Even better though would be if another WCC alumni can get a ring, and there are a good number of them floating around the NBA.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Bye Bye Double Bye
With the addition of the University of The Pacific for the 2013/2014 season the West Coast Conference will sit at 10 members. The addition of Brigham Young in 2011 necessitated a change in the conference tournament set up. The change wasn't much, just the addition of what was essentially a play-in game contested between the 8 and 9 seed. Now though, the WCC is making some more serious changes.
In a league, like the WCC of the recent past, where only one team (Gonzaga) played at a nationally competitive level, it was of the utmost importance for the league to make it as easy as possible for that team to win the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. If Gonzaga were to get upset in say, a first round game against the 8 seed (the tournament was held on a WCC campus until the 2009 edition when it moved to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, so an 8 seed, at home, upsetting the Zags isn't too farfetched.) then their chances of an at large bid to the big dance would take a serious hit, regardless of how well they had played up to that point. Remember when Murray State lost it's first game of the season this past year and people began to wonder if another loss, possibly an early exit in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, could or should exclude them from the big dance? Well, if the Zags lose early, miss out on an at large berth, and the WCC sends another team dancing, even the second best that year (remember, I'm talking about the WCC circa 2003 when the double bye was implemented and the second best team was pretty far from deserving of being called "best"), the level of interest in the WCC is seriously diminished from where it would be if Gonzaga was dancing.
To help prevent this from happening, the WCC adopted a double-bye for the top two seeds in 2003. This meant that for Gonzaga to win the WCC and get an automatic bid to the big dance, they needed only to win two tournament games. Even a loss, which happened twice, both times to San Diego in San Diego (see my point on upsets above), wouldn't look so bad as it could come no sooner than the tournament semis (Those two losses were in the finals, and the Zags received an at large bid both years so, kudos WCC administrators.)
Then, starting in 2005, Saint Mary's became nationally relevant, and the double bye became not just something that helped Gonzaga, but also helped the Gaels build their program. These two teams have met in six of the past nine WCC Tournament Championship games and including the past four straight. Now, while this helps them build programs, it also helps the league build it's brand. Because of the double-bye, the Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary's rivalry has become very big very fast.
But now, with 10 teams, the addition of another nationally relevant program in Brigham Young last season, and a steady improvement in the rest of the league, the WCC feels it no longer needs to protect the two best teams to ensure multiple bids to the big dance. So it's bye bye to the double bye and hello to a standard 10 team tournament format. That means it will take three wins to cut down the nets. The changes won't be implemented until the 2014 Tournament, so enjoy the double bye, or play in game, whichever you prefer, for one more season.
It's also worth noting that the last year of the double bye format is also the last year on the current contract with Orleans Arena. The WCC is currently exploring the option of moving to another venue and will announce if they're staying or going sometime later this summer.
In a league, like the WCC of the recent past, where only one team (Gonzaga) played at a nationally competitive level, it was of the utmost importance for the league to make it as easy as possible for that team to win the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. If Gonzaga were to get upset in say, a first round game against the 8 seed (the tournament was held on a WCC campus until the 2009 edition when it moved to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, so an 8 seed, at home, upsetting the Zags isn't too farfetched.) then their chances of an at large bid to the big dance would take a serious hit, regardless of how well they had played up to that point. Remember when Murray State lost it's first game of the season this past year and people began to wonder if another loss, possibly an early exit in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, could or should exclude them from the big dance? Well, if the Zags lose early, miss out on an at large berth, and the WCC sends another team dancing, even the second best that year (remember, I'm talking about the WCC circa 2003 when the double bye was implemented and the second best team was pretty far from deserving of being called "best"), the level of interest in the WCC is seriously diminished from where it would be if Gonzaga was dancing.
To help prevent this from happening, the WCC adopted a double-bye for the top two seeds in 2003. This meant that for Gonzaga to win the WCC and get an automatic bid to the big dance, they needed only to win two tournament games. Even a loss, which happened twice, both times to San Diego in San Diego (see my point on upsets above), wouldn't look so bad as it could come no sooner than the tournament semis (Those two losses were in the finals, and the Zags received an at large bid both years so, kudos WCC administrators.)
Then, starting in 2005, Saint Mary's became nationally relevant, and the double bye became not just something that helped Gonzaga, but also helped the Gaels build their program. These two teams have met in six of the past nine WCC Tournament Championship games and including the past four straight. Now, while this helps them build programs, it also helps the league build it's brand. Because of the double-bye, the Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary's rivalry has become very big very fast.
But now, with 10 teams, the addition of another nationally relevant program in Brigham Young last season, and a steady improvement in the rest of the league, the WCC feels it no longer needs to protect the two best teams to ensure multiple bids to the big dance. So it's bye bye to the double bye and hello to a standard 10 team tournament format. That means it will take three wins to cut down the nets. The changes won't be implemented until the 2014 Tournament, so enjoy the double bye, or play in game, whichever you prefer, for one more season.
It's also worth noting that the last year of the double bye format is also the last year on the current contract with Orleans Arena. The WCC is currently exploring the option of moving to another venue and will announce if they're staying or going sometime later this summer.
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