WCC and Olympic Basketball

West Coast Conference basketball is represented by three players in the 2012 London Olympics. With the opening ceremonies happening tomorrow it's time to start getting excited. Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova take the Saint Mary's flavored Australian squad into battle against Brazil to start things off on the 29th, later that day Ronny Turiaf and the French squad face what should be a blowout loss to the United States.

All times local (London).

Sunday, July 29th.
Australia vs. Brazil, 11:15 AM.
France vs. USA, 2:30 PM.

Tuesday, July 31st.
Australia vs. Spain, 11:15 AM.
France vs. Argentina 8:00 PM.

Thursday, August 2nd.
France vs. Lithuania, 9:00 AM.
Australia vs. China, 11:15 AM.

Saturday, August 4th.
France vs. Tunisia, 9:00 AM.
Australia vs. Great Britain, 8:00 PM.


Monday, August 6th.
Australia vs. Russia, 9:00 AM.
France vs. Nigeria, 2:30 PM.

The group stage ends on the 6th, if France and/or Australia advance to the quarterfinals I will post an update. The quarterfinals are August 8th, the semis on the 10th and the finals, as well as the bronze medal game, on the 12th.

Summer League Look-Back

The NBA Summer League has now come and gone. For the 13 players from WCC schools who participated in the Summer League, their hopes of landing a job in the association now rest on film, stats, and the memories of NBA coaches and staff. The following is a brief overview of these players 2012 Summer League performances and their statistics, arranged subjectively by me.


1. Austin Daye: Gonzaga 2007-2009, Detroit Pistons 2009-present.

Daye has played for Detroit for the past three years. He's appeared in 182 games for the Pistons, started in 24 of them, and holds a career average of 5.9 points per game. Not bad for a bench player, but not the production the Pistons hoped for from the 15th pick in the 2009 draft. Which is why the Pistons keep sending Daye to the Summer League to work on his game.

Daye's averages, click for larger size.

 

Austin Daye's Summer League highlights.

Early Analysis: BYU's Non-Conference Opponents

Brigham Young University released the out of conference schedule for the Cougars (about a week ago, I got lost in the depths of kenpom.com and similar stat websites so it took a while to get this article finished) and it's a pretty solid one for a mid-major. From extremely elite teams like Baylor and Notre Dame, thru the strong mid-majors of Saint Joe's and Montana and the mid-majors on the rise like Tennessee State to just awful teams like Northern Arizona. Five of the 15 teams are coming off NCAA tournament berths, 10 earned a postseason berth in either the NCAA, NIT, or CIT, and only four finished the season below .500. This schedule looks to provide plenty of exposure for the Cougars, opportunity to knock off top 25 teams, and chances for blowout wins at home. I'm pretty darn excited for it.

I've analyzed every D-1 team on the schedule and now present you with a summary of each team's 2011-12 season, the players they aren't returning, and their key player for next season. This is just a brief overview, I'll revisit each team in the days before the match up for more in depth analysis.

Summer League

The NBA Summer League has been going on for about a week now, but today it starts to pick up with seven games and keeps up at that pace for each of the next seven days. The WCC is well represented in Las Vegas, with over a dozen players participating in the NBA Summer League.

The smaller Orlando Summer League, which ended on the 13th, saw two Zags on the hardwood. Austin Daye, who has been playing for Detroit for the past three seasons, absolutely dominated on the Pistons squad in Orlando. Adam Morrison, who is also playing in Las Vegas, was on the Brooklyn Nets roster. Unfortunately for Morrison his most notable moment was scoring the first points in NBA play for the Nets as the Brooklyn Nets.

Brigham Young, Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary's, and Santa Clara are all represented by former players in Las Vegas. Gonzaga, as expected, leads the way with five former players, followed by Saint Mary's three, and Portland with two, the rest of the schools each have one former player representing them. Brigham Young's representative, Jimmer Fredette, played for the Cougars before they were in the WCC.

The games can be seen on NBA TV as well as streaming online.

The following is a list, organized by school, of the WCC players in the NBA Summer League.

ESPN Tip Off Marathon 2012

Last year's Tip Off Marathon saw Kevin Pangos (right) start his freshman campaign off with a bang, can Przemek Karnowski (left) do so this year?

ESPN has announced the schedule for the 2012 edition of its Tip Off Marathon.  At 9pm local time on November 12th the 24 hours of college hoops will once again begin in Spokane. Last season the Zags, though playing their second game of the season, tipped off the Tip Off Marathon with an 89-81 win over Washington State. That was the game that started Kevin Pangos' fantastic freshman year as he tied a school record (set by Dan Dickau) with nine made three-pointers on his way to 33 total points.

This year the Zags will face a familiar foe in the West Virginia Mountaineers, although it will be only the second meeting between the schools. If this is to be Gonzaga's first game of the season it will be only one game removed from the last Gonzaga vs. West Virginia contest, which took place in the second round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament on March 15th and saw the Zags demolish the Mountaineers 77-54 in Pittsburgh, PA. This is only the second meeting between the two schools, like I said a few lines up, with both of them coming in 2012. Somewhat amazingly, these two squads that had never met before this year could well meet for a THIRD time in 2012 as both are participating in the Old Spice Classic which takes place around Thanksgiving, only 10 days after the Tip Off Marathon.

From Australia to Moraga to London

Matthew Dellavedova (Photo: SD Dirk)

The West Coast Conference's penchant for international recruiting has brought to WCC teams numerous athletes who play for their country's national team. This past season Gonzaga's roster included four players who participated in the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Elias Harris (Germany), Guy Landry-Edi (Ivory Coast), and Kelly Olynyk and Robert Sacre (Canada). Saint Mary's recent graduate, Patty Mills, also represented the WCC in the tourament as he played for Australia. While it's the Zags that travel the world looking for talent it's the Gaels who stick with one foreign land. Just as they did this year in the WCC tournament, they'll beat the Zags when it comes to participation in the 2012 London Olympics.

Gonzaga's Robert Sacre Drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers

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!

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 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.

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.