Countdown 10/19/13

20 days remain...

Waste some time tonight by watching this 2011 Sweet Sixteen game. It doesn't end well for the WCC (though they weren't WCC then) team but it sure is exciting.

Countdown 10/13/13

26 days remain...

Last night Brandon Davies once again played basketball in Utah, but this time he wasn't playing with the home team. In a preseason NBA game between the Jazz and Clippers, Davies netted nine points in 16 minutes of action. Here's a video from just after the official announcement that Davies had signed with the Clippers. Interestingly, three WCC products will be playing in the Staples Center this year as Gonzaga's Elias Harris and Robert Sacre play for the Lakers.

Countdown 10/8/13

32 days remain...

Today was BYU Basketball Media Day. Every player on the roster as was interviewed and coach Rose held a press conference. BYUtv Sports presented a live stream of the whole event. Unfortunately, the whole thing took place during regular business hours. If you missed it, you can watch everything here. Coach Rose's press conference took place about two and a half hours into the event. Scroll around to find interviews with specific players.

Countdown 9/14/13

56 days remain...

Last Saturday I posted the second Gonzaga at BYU game of the Cougars' time in the WCC. Today gets the first. BYU fans should be more satisfied with this one.

Countdown 9/9/13

61 days remain...

Earlier today BYU coach Dave Rose underwent surgery after "cancerous spots" were discovered during a routine screening, per reports from KSL's Greg Wrubell. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2009. According to Rose's surgeon, "the surgery went well. I expect him to make a full recovery."

Let's hope he's right. I'll be keeping Coach Rose in my thoughts and wishing him well.


Here's a segment, aired before BYU played Florida State last season, on Coach Rose's battle with pancreatic cancer.

Countdown 9/8/13

61 days remain...



A few days ago Brandon Davies signed a contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. Davies is now the third WCC player on a NBA roster in the city of Los Angeles; Elias Harris and Robert Sacre are both playing for the Lakers.

Countdown 9/1/13

 69 days remain...

Today we'll get into some rebounding numbers for the first five teams, alphabetically, in the WCC.

BYU: Last season the Cougars were 1st in the WCC with 35.5 RPG but were just 3rd in rebound rate, due in part to their fast pace (72.5 possessions/40 minutes, 1st WCC). The Cougars are losing the players responsible for 52.04% of last season's rebounds.

Tip-Off Marathon Opponents

3 months remain! Wait, this isn't the countdown.

Starting last night at 8:00 PM Pacific Time, ESPN began announcing the schedule for the annual Tip-Off Marathon. I say "began" because it is still being announced, one game at a time, every two hours, exactly three months in advance of each game's scheduled tip-off.

The WCC will be represented by three teams. Once again Gonzaga will help kick off the event. The Zags face Colorado State in game two of an ESPNU doubleheader. BYU will get in on the action as the follow up to the Zags' game, but the Cougars will be on the more prestigious ESPN2. Following those two games will be a two hour WCC void. As if to make the hours between 10:00 pm and 12:00 am even more excruciating for WCC fans, ESPN has decided to place the Wichita State Shockers in that time slot. Once the Shockers are done playing, Saint Mary's will host Akron at midnight. The Gaels have played an early morning game in four of the previous five Tip-Off Marathons.

Here's a quick look Colorado State, Stanford and Akron.

Countdown 8/10/13

91 days remain...

It's Saturday so kick back and relax with a full game of WCC basketball.
Video courtesy of BYUtv Sports.

Countdown 8/8/13

93 days remain...

This is one of my favorite plays from this past season and it is certainly my all-time favorite play involving Brandon Davies.

99 Days Remain

Day two of the countdown comes a bit late in the evening thanks to moving out and driving from Chicago to Ohio for a family reunion. Anyways, here's today's video.

Take a look at Stephen Holt's reaction to Haws' make in the waning seconds. If Holt is going to play up to his potential and be a senior leader for the Gaels, we'll never see him do that again.

2013 Recruiting Continues: Jamal Aytes

BYU went full staff for Jamal Aytes. July statement
— Dave Telep (@DaveTelep) July 27, 2013

Jamal Aytes said he's likely to visit Gonzaga and West Virginia next week. Officials.
— Dave Telep (@DaveTelep) July 27, 2013

Jamal Aytes has blown up on the summer hoops circuit. The 6'7" forward out of J Serra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, California is rated as a three star recruit by ESPN and comes in at 28th in California and 66th in the nation at the power forward position. Largely unheralded before this summer, only three schools were showing interest in Aytes.

Summer League 2013 Final Statistics

Part two of the 2013 NBA Summer League wrapped up in Las Vegas tonight with the Golden State Warriors winning the offseason league's inaugural championship game. In Summer League games the West Coast Conference was represented by eleven former players. Ten played in Las Vegas and one, Kelly Olynyk, played in the smaller Orlando Summer League. 

The 13th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Kelly Olynyk, had the best showing of not just the WCC products but of possibly every player at this year's Summer League. Elias Harris, Brandon Davies and Matthew Dellavedova also played well enough for a shot at a spot on a roster in the NBA in their first year out of college. Robert Sacre, who was taken by the Lakers with the last pick of the 2012 draft, performed well his second Summer League. Last week the Lakers signed Sacre to a guaranteed, multi-year contract. 

A number of other former WCC players took part in the Summer League. The following is a list, sorted by school, of all WCC players to log minutes in this year's NBA Summer League. Click on the player's statistics for a larger view.

BYU

Gonzaga

Loyola Marymount

Pepperdine

Portland

Saint Mary's

WCC Representation in Las Vegas' Summer League

Starting today, and continuing through the 22nd, Las Vegas will be a basketball oasis in the otherwise barren offseason landscape. UNLV's COX Pavilion and Thomas & Mack Center are set to play host to the NBA's second summer league of the year. The smaller of the two, in Orlando, wraps up today. Las Vegas' version features the 20 NBA teams that did not play in Orlando plus one team that did, the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat, and a select group of players from the NBA D-League known as the NBA D-League Select team.

Once again, many former WCC student-athletes have been invited to play for teams in Las Vegas. This year six of the WCC's ten schools are represented by 11 players. Click "read more" to see a full list of the former WCC student-athletes playing for NBA teams in the 2013 Summer League.

Summer League Roster Updates

Only a few days have passed since I first wrote about the WCC products heading to the NBA Summer League and already a couple things have changed. Here's a brief update, sorted by school, of who's going where as of now. There are also a few guys from the WCC already in the NBA that may return for another stint in the Summer League, they are listed in parentheses.

BYU:

Brandon Davies, undrafted in 2013, will be playing for the L.A. Clippers in Las Vegas from July 12th to the 22nd.

(Jimmer Fredette, selected 10th in 2011 and currently with the Sacramento Kings, could play for the Kings in Las Vegas)

Gonzaga:

Kelly Olynyk, drafted 13th in 2013, will be playing for the Boston Celtics in Orlando from July 7th to the 12th.

Elias Harris, undrafted in 2013, will be playing for the L.A. Lakers in Las Vegas from July 12th to the 22nd.

Steven Gray, undrafted in 2011, will be playing for the Indiana Pacers in Orlando from July 7th to the 12th.

(Robert Sacre, drafted 60th in 2012 by the Lakers, could play for the Lakers in Las Vegas. Austin Daye, drafted 15th in 2009 by the Detroit Pistons, is currently an unrestricted free agent and, if signed, could end up on a Summer League roster.)

Saint Mary's:

Matthew Dellavedova, undrafted in 2013, will be playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers in Las Vegas from July 12th to the 22nd. Dellavedova was rumored to be headed to Orlando to play with the Magic but he was not listed on the Magic's official roster, released today. Now that he is headed to Cleveland, he will face off against familiar foe when the Cavs play their first game of the summer against Elias Harris and the Lakers on July 12th at 5pm PDT. The game will be televised in California on Time Warner Cable SportsNet.

WCC Products Heading to Summer League

The NBA Draft has come and gone but there are still ways for players who went undrafted (along with those who were) to find their way onto an NBA roster. The most likely avenue for these now free agents is the NBA Summer League. There are two separate leagues, one in Orlando and one in Las Vegas. Last year the WCC was well represented in both locales. This year, though most teams have yet to release full rosters, the conference is looking to have a similar showing.

WCC Prospects in the 2013 NBA Draft

Four WCC products have a legitimate shot at hearing their name called by David Stern tonight in the NBA Draft. I've written draft profiles on all four of them for Mid-Major Madness. Since it is now draft night it's time I post them here.

Brandon Davies

Matthew Dellavedova

Elias Harris

Kelly Olynyk

Offseason Personnel Movement Around the WCC

The landscape of college basketball is ever-changing. Some of that change, conference realignment or selfish reasons for transferring, can be negative. Some though, like natural roster turnover due to graduation, is a necessary part of the college game. Regardless of whether the change is good or bad, we have to deal with it. Unfortunately, that can be really difficult. How are you supposed to keep track of players when so many are graduating, transferring in/out, coming off redshirts/redshirting or arriving for their first year at college?

Well, this is how. I've amassed all the information on the personnel movement happening at WCC basketball programs this offseason. It's all here, listed school-by-school. Take a look at who won't be back on your least favorite team next season (because you should already know who won't be back on your favorite team). You'll also find all the new recruits, the players who will be returning from a redshirt season or two year mission, the transfers, the dismissals as well as any coaching/staff changes. Plus, there are some charts to help you understand just how much each team is losing in terms of production.

Players listed under the "going" section are shown with the year they were listed as during the 2012-'13 season. Players listed under the "coming" section are shown with the year they will be for the 2013-'14 season.

Senior Series: Brandon Davies

Over the next couple of weeks I will be doing a series of pieces on the WCC's impactful outgoing seniors. There won't be any set style for the series. Some will be more biographical in nature. Some, like the Mike Hart piece I've been slowly building for the past month, will be long and awesome. Some will feature as much looking forward as looking back. To get things started I chose BYU's Brandon Davies, a perfect example of a player with a career worth looking back upon but a future worth looking forward to. Without further ado, here is the first installment in the Will's WCC Blog Senior Series: Brandon Davies.

While a student at Provo High School, Brandon Davies received interest from schools in sunny California (Cal and Santa Clara), a powerhouse school in Gonzaga and in state schools like Utah, Utah State and BYU. Davies chose the easiest trip. He chose to go, literally, across the street.

Brandon Davies, the versatile big man for the Cougars, ended his up, down and back up again career with a spot near the top of many BYU records. Davies was one game and one scandal from playing in every game of his career, a feat which would have set the all time record at BYU. Instead he finishes all the way down in third place on the games played list. Davies saw the floor in 135 of the 144 games BYU played during his career. He became the third and fourth (as a junior then a senior) Cougar to average at least one point, rebound, assist, steal and block per game.

Over the course of his career he helped lead the Cougars to a #3 ranking. He never played for a team that won less than 25 games. He played in two NCAA Tournaments. He played three games at Madison Square Garden. As a senior, he was a team captain.

Portsmouth Invitational Tournament 2013

This year's edition of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament will feature two of  Kevin Foster and Brandon Davies will be in Portsmouth, part of Virginia's Hampton Roads, along with 62 of the best seniors from across the nation.

The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, or PIT as it will be henceforth referred to, is a 60 year old showcase for the best of college hoops' senior class. 64 players are spread among eight teams that battle it out over four days for the tournament championship.

This year's field includes some high profile players, including recently crowned National Champion Peyton Siva of Louisville, along with the two aforementioned WCC stars and Kenny Boynton of Florida, Durand Scott of Miami, Abdul Gaddy of Washington, Anthony Marshall of UNLV, Rotnei Clark of Butler, D.J. Cooper of Ohio and Mark Lyons of Arizona.

The PIT, though not necessarily a big event for fans, is a major part of the transition to the NBA for college players. None of the players I listed above are high on any draft boards but, thanks to the PIT, they could well get there. Last season 15 seed Norfolk State went from unknown to March darling with a round of 64 upset of 2 seed Missouri. Kyle O'Quinn, the star for the Spartans of Norfolk State, went from unknown to PIT MVP to playing in 53 NBA games this season for the Orlando Magic.

In the past players like John Stockton, John Lucas, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Tim Hardaway  have made their way from the NCAA to NBA stardom and the journey has gone through Portsmouth Virginia.

Brandon Davies' team, K & D Round's Landscaping, plays its first game at 4:00 PM PDT on Wednesday. Kevin Foster's team, Portsmouth Sports Club, plays its first game at 4:00 PM PDT on Thursday.

There will be live streaming for all PIT games this year. For more information on the PIT as well as streaming information click here.