Countdown 8/5/13

96 days remain...

Work on the new floor at Firestone Fieldhouse has concluded. Today Pepperdine Athletics released a time lapse video of the construction process.

Continue reading to see more photos new floor, the old floor and an even older floor!

Countdown 8/4/13

97 Days Remain.

Let's get caught up with Matthew Dellavedova!

Countdown: Weekend Waster

98 days remain...

It's a Saturday, you've got time to kill and I'm here to help. Every Saturday during the countdown I will post a link to a full game. BYUtv Sports' Film Room and the NCAA Vault are two incredible, free and fully legal resources for this. Today's game comes from the NCAA Vault, which does not allow videos to be embedded on other sites like BYUtv does.

The game that opens up the era of the Weekend Waster is the game that opened up what I consider to be the modern era of the West Coast Conference (though the two games played by this team immediately prior to this game could also lay claim to that title). It was a one point victory in typical March Madness style. The other team featured a couple players that have won a couple NBA Championships over the past couple of years. Any ideas what this game is?

Stop wasting your time trying to figure out what game this is and start wasting your time watching the game, click here!

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.

Let the Countdown Begin!

There are now only 100 days until WCC teams can take the floor and play basketball games that will be meaningful in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. In other words, we're 100 days away from the start of the season, not counting exhibitions, midnight madness, practices, media days or any other less-than-real-basketball action.

Every day from now until November 9th I will post something WCC hoops related. I will try not to post duplicates from last year's countdown, but with 100 days to fill, I'll probably recycle some of the better photos and videos from last time. Articles that would be written regardless of the countdown will not be included in the countdown, so on some great days you'll get a double-dose of posts.

Also, this 100 day milestone is a big day for me. Today is my last day living in Chicago. A few days from now, after a family reunion in Ohio, I will be back in Spokane. Before this countdown concludes I will be living in Los Angles, just in time to catch some WCC hoops in person.

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.

Welcome Home, Pacific!

Today the University of the Pacific returns to the conference it helped found after a 40+ year absence. Take a look at the WCC Standings section on the left hand side of the site and you'll see ten teams listed. I wrote in detail about the move for Mid-Major Madness; the table shown above is taken from that article, which you can read in full here.