Steven Gray - Marriage?!?

According to Matt Bouldin's twitter feed last week (conversation between Bouldin & Pargo shown below), Steven Gray has either gotten engaged or married!  Congrats Steven, we wish you the best!

Jay Bilas Raves About Zags

In a new post via his blog on ESPN.com, Jay Bilas has finally got all chummy with the Zags. I do not recall a time when he was so excited about GU's prospects for the upcoming year. Here is what he had to say:

"It seems as if Mark Few's Zags are in this position often. Gonzaga has won in the West Coast Conference like UCLA did in the John Wooden era, yet it has not been able to crack the Elite Eight barrier since 1999. Gonzaga has been good enough but has always seemed to come up against the toughest draws and seeds, not to mention a couple of tough game locations.

This year, I like Few's crew and the Zags' chances to be special. Young guards Kevin Pangos, Gary Bell and David Stockton are gamers, and Pangos and Bell each hit more than 50 3-point field goals last season. Elias Harris is the best player, rebounder and scorer, and he had a really nice performance at the LeBron James Skills Academy in Las Vegas. Lefty Sam Dower has improved every year, and bigs Kelly Olynyk and Przemek Karnowski provide size and skill. Remember, this team pounded West Virginia and played Ohio State tough in the NCAA tournament with a young backcourt last season."

I know that analysts opinions have nothing to do with our tournament success,  but its always nice to hear positive write ups regarding the upcoming season and it certainly adds to the late summer fever most of us are feeling as we wait on pins and needles for the upcoming year. It doesnt hurt that Jay is well respected for his impartial analysis of most teams (except maybe the Dookies). When hes not posting insightful college basketball wisdom hes usually entertaining his followers on twitter by reciting lines from songs by rappers like "Young Jeezy", you should definitely follow the man who follows no one on Twitter. As always, GO ZAGS!

Recruit Profile: Dominique Collier

According to NY2LASports.com, the Zags are showing interest in 2014 Guard Dominique Collier out of Denver. He is a 6-2, 150 Point Guard who has played with the KC Run GMC program during the grassroots travel season. He has also received interest from most of the major programs in the country including UNC, Kansas, Arizona, UCLA, Florida St., Georgetown, Virginia, Wake Forest, and Wisconsin. At this point the staff has not offered Dominique, but with cursory interest from most of the big schools in the nation it is good to see the staff at least doing the legwork on this recruit.

Robert Sacre in Purple and Gold

By the way, he is not wearing a number because Dwight Howard took his chosen #12 when he joined the lakeshow. He has selected #6 going forward.

ESPN's 50 of 50 Series (Gonzaga ranked 31)

In a fun off-season series, ESPN has ranked the 50 most successful College Basketball Programs over the Past 50 years.  Gonzaga comes in tied at 31.

When ranked by decade, Gonzaga's dominance over the past 10+ years becomes more apparent:

Rank by the decade
1962-69: 8 (T-78th)
1970-79: -4 (T-257th)
1980-89: 4 (T-139th)
1990-99: 44 (T-44th)
2000-present: 180 (T-7th)(Tied with UConn)

They also took the time to rank the best players and teams from each of the 50 programs. Gonzaga is listed below:

50 in 50 starting five (1962-present)
G – John Stockton (1980-84)
G – Dan Dickau (2000-02)
F – Adam Morrison (2003-06)
F – Ronny Turiaf (2001-05)
C – Casey Calvary (1997-2001)

Top options off the bench
Blake Stepp (2000-04)
Matt Bouldin (2006-10)
Cory Violette (2000-04)

50 in 50 coach: Mark Few (1999-present)

Best teams (1962-present)
1998-99 (28-7, NCAA Elite Eight)
2003-04 (28-3, NCAA second round)
2005-06 (29-4, NCAA Sweet 16)

See the full article here

Go Zags!

Elias Harris Shines at LeBron Skills Camp

Fran Fraschilla of ESPN.com had nothing but good things to say about our own, Elias Harris after his recent visit to the LeBron James Skills Camp, here is his excerpt from the article:

"Elias Harris, 6-7, senior, Gonzaga It's a backhanded compliment, but Harris will be one of the best seniors in college basketball. Although projections of him being a lottery selection after a fast start in his freshman year were premature, he has a chance to lead the Zags deep into the NCAA tournament this season.

It's not totally accurate to call Harris a tweener. I'd describe him more as a jack-of-all-trades because while he is undersized, he's a physical presence around the rim and averaged almost nine rebounds a game last year. Yet his perimeter skills have improved throughout his career. In fact, he is currently a 41 percent career 3-point shooter.

Harris carried himself like a veteran at the camp -- he is 23 years old -- and from that standpoint he was impressive. He played hard, challenged the rim and didn't mind trying to dunk on people with his athleticism. He may have impressed NBA scouts, but he proved to be one of the better players here."

Things like this get me very excited for the new season, cant wait to see Elias come out and have a great senior season!

2014 Recruiting Update: Reid Travis

“To Be or Not to be?  That is the question.” Or in this case, we have an elite athlete’s twist on the age-old Shakespeare dilemma: to play Division 1 Football or Basketball in their collegiate career.  Reid Travis is currently wrestling with this decision.

2014 recruit Reid Travis has garnered much attention on the recruiting circuit, in both basketball and football.  Hailing from DeLaSalle, Minnesota, Travis is used to being a star athlete, whether it be playing power forward on the basketball court, or as quarterback on the gridiron.  He currently holds scholarship offers for both sports (listed below):

2013 Schedule

Jerry Krause has posted on basketballtravelers.com looking for some scheduling partners for 2013. There are several series ending this year and the staff is trying to put together some new guarantee games starting next year. Here is what Jerry posted:

"Gonzaga is looking for multiple guarantee games at home for 2013-2014. Many dates available, including the opening game on November 8 2013. Please contact Brian Michaelson..."

It would seem they are planning on opening the season on November 8th as well. It will be interesting to see who they are able to get set up for the schedule going forward, we will keep you posted as we learn more about the 2013 Schedule. Go Zags!

Goodluck Re-Classifies for 2014

Word has just come across that Goodluck Okonoboh has reclassified to 2014 and will attend Wilbraham & Monson Academy, according to his AAU coach Vinny Pastore. As previously stated by this site, we feel he is a long shot to attend GU, but with Gerard Coleman here there is always a chance. Perhaps the staff can parlay this move into a better chance to get Goodluck on board with the program. There is also a good chance that he could improve a lot and get even more attention by next summer. We will keep you posted as we learn more about Goodlucks recruitment. GO ZAGS!

Recruiting Weakness?

As with any program with the success Gonzaga has had, there are Mark Few supporters, haters, and those who just want to have some fun at his expense (like the twitter account @NotMarkFew). Coach Few has come under fire from those who believe he cannot adjust his coaching plan in game, he needs to calm down his substitutions to allow players to get into a “groove," or that he simply gets “out-coached” in big games. But no coach can please everyone all the time. Although Gonzaga has announced that Tommy Lloyd is the coach-in-waiting, giving Gonzaga fans a glimpse of the future, rest assured it is not the near future. 49-year-old Few has shown no signs of retiring or slowing down. This year he even accepted an assistant coaching job with the under-18 team.

So what can fans expect from Coach Few during the remainder of his time at the helm? More of the same? How can Coach Few improve? All of these questions and more Gonzaga fans ask on a daily basis, but none are as important for the future as “Can Few adjust to the 21st Century?”

Crash Mathews

We are pleased to welcome aboard another former Zag, Daniel Mathews. Daniel will be coming aboard to provide a unique perspective as a former Cheerleader for the Zags and alumnus. His first post will be coming soon, Stay Tuned!

News and Notes for Friday

Lots of news over the last few days on the recruiting front, here are some updates:

• For starters it appears that Darin Johnson has cut his list to 7 schools and the Zags are no longer being considered. He is supposedly still going to visit both UCLA and WSU despite them not making his final 7.
• Like we previously mentioned, JUCO wing Chris Griffin will visit the Zags soon and has officially scheduled to come to Spokane on September 15th. His offer list seems to be growing, looks like the Zags have been lucky to get in early on him.
• Minnesota Class of 2014 Forward, Reid Travis has been hearing from the Zags. He is a two sport star (Basketball and Football) who has drawn some comparisons in other outlets to Elias Harris, i almost wonder though if we should be comparing him to current Denver Broncos QB Brock Osweiler who committed to the Zags early and then spurned us to play football at Arizona St., definitely an intriguing prospect though. We should have a write up on him soon, for now here is an excerpt from an interview he gave to sportsauthoritynetwork.com:

"TSAN: You have a very aggressive and hard working demeanor on the court. What do you attribute that to? What are you working on to improve your game?

RT: I attribute it to always playing on older teams growing up and having to work that much harder so it just carries over. And I’m just working lately on trying too make my mid range Jump shot consistent.

TSAN: You had a chance to play against Rashad Vaughn, from Robbinsdale Cooper, at the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic and beat them 64-61. How sweet was the win?

RT: It was a good game. Its always exciting to win a big out of confrence game on a stage like that.

TSAN: Northwestern offered you a scholarship shortly after that game, correct? What other schools are you hearing from right now?

RT: Yes, but I’m hearing from Creighton, Florida State, Detroit, Michigan State, NDSU, UND, DePaul, Stanford, Boston College, Butler, Wisconsin, George Mason, South Dakota, Gonzaga, Iowa, Nebraska, Iowa state and Minnesota.

TSAN: What are you hearing from the Gophers?

RT: I’m hearing some interests from the Gophers

TSAN: Have you been able to see any games at Williams Arena this season?

RT: Yes, I went to the NDSU game

TSAN: You also finished up a great football season as QB for De La Salle do you have a favorite sport or does it depend on the season?

RT: it depends on the season for the most part.

TSAN: Do you have hopes to play both sports at the next level or do you plan to pick one?

RT:  I plan too just pick one when it comes to make a decision but it would be nice to play both so I won’t totally say it’s not an option."

• Rem Bakamus a 5-11 PG from Longview, WA will be walking on with the Zags this season. Here is a great article where he gets a raving review from NBA player and former UW Husky Nate Robinson

"He's a tough kid," Robinson said. "I remember him being small and right there in the mix. Good luck to him. He's going to earn a scholarship, mark my words."

Pretty good stuff. Hope to get a chance to see Rem succeed at GU!

• Rumor has it that Jordan Matthews will be visiting Spokane on September 29th, He is first visiting Wake Forest on the 15th though, hopefully the staff will get the opportunity to woo him.

We will keep you posted as we learn more about the Zags recruiting efforts. As always, GO ZAGS!

Zags To Play In Super Charged 2017 Nike Tourney

In what might be one of the earliest scheduling commitments ever made, the Zags have decided to join in on a four day November 2017 tournament in honor of Nike Founder Phil Knights 80th Birthday. The tournament will be played in Portland, OR and include the following schools:

• Kentucky
• Michigan St.
• Florida
• Ohio St.
• Duke
• North Carolina
• UConn
• Georgetown
• Texas
• Oklahoma
• Stanford
• Oregon
• Xavier
• Butler
• Gonzaga
• Portland

 The tournament will be be broken into two 8-team tourneys due to NCAA rules prohibiting more than one school from the same conference participating in the same early season tournament. Apparently they are trying to tie the event into the Jimmy V coaches vs cancer research as well. Talks with ESPN to televise the event are ongoing. This looks to be probably the premier early season college basketball event, great to have the Zags participating!

Sarbaugh Transfer

Sarbaugh has transferred to North Idaho College for the upcoming season.  He is eligible immediately, and we think he can make an impact!

We wish Sarbaugh well with his new team.  A link to the Spokesman Review article is posted below.

Spokesman Review Article

Recruit Profile: Jamal Jones

According to Brad Winton fromJucoRecruiting.com, Gonzaga has shown interest in former Ole Miss Forward, Jamal Jones. Jamal hails from Searcy, Arkansas and committed to Ole Miss out of the class of 2011. He would go on to see limited action in 5 games averaging 1.8 Points and 1.2 Boards a game. Jones was dismissed from Ole Miss back in January for a violation of team rules, he then enrolled at Lee College for the upcoming season with the hopes of reviving his D1 Prospects. After an impressive Juco Showcase Tourney in July, he has received interest from Gonzaga, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

2012-13 Schedule

So the WCC has released all conference games thus far, with the recently announced Non-Conference games, we can now piece together the upcoming schedule and it looks like this:

Recruit Profile: Chris Griffin

According to SourceHoops.com, Chris Griffin from Wabash CC will be visiting the Zags next month. He will also be visiting Kansas St. and Auburn. He attended FAMU High School in Tallahassee, FL, was in the class of 2010 and committed to Murray State. He played his freshman year there getting limited action in 22 games. Ultimately he decided it was not for him and left the school after his freshman year. Chris would go on to spend all of last season sitting out without a school. This may he committed to Wabash Community College, he will play 2012-13 at Wabash and is interested in transferring out for the class of 2013 to a D1 program. He will have two years of eligibility left wherever he ends up.

Chris' former High School Coach Rick Davis had this to say about his abilities:

“Chris is a three to four dimension player. He played the guard for me but he can also play from point guard to power forward. Chris is explosive to the basket and his mid range game is probably his best shot. He is a good shot blocker great passer and anticipates the passing lanes really well. He averaged more assists than my point guard last year. He is going to be our floor general this year. Depending on how teams play us, will determine what positions he plays this year.”

We had a chance to catch up with Chris' former AAU coach, Chris Ayers who informed us that Ray Giacoletti has been recruiting him. He echoed Coach Rick Davis sentiments that Griffin is a "Skilled, tough, athletic Wing that can play multiple positions."

 Not much is really out there on Chris Griffin, but with schools like Kansas State going after him and our staff looking at him as well it would appear he has the talent to play at the D1 level. We will refrain from speculating about why the staff is looking at JUCO players to fill scholarships until we know for sure who will and will not be joining our 2013 recruiting class. We will keep you posted as we learn more. GO ZAGS!

Jordan Mathews- more to offer than his scoring ability (Jordan Mathews update)

Jordan Mathews – we have all heard his name mentioned in conjunction with several well known schools: Butler, Cal, Colorado, Kansas State, Nevada, San Diego State, San Francisco, TCU, VCU, Wyoming, Indiana, Kansas, USC, Wake Forest and of course Gonzaga.  He picked up an offer from Marquette today as well. So, why are these schools on board the Jordan Mathews bandwagon?

 

This 6’3 shooting guard from Santa Monica, California has an aggressive style of play.  He is known for attacking the hoop and has the potential to be a leader and dominate the court.  In June, he was chosen as the Ocean League MVP.  More recently, he has had successful games in the Adidas Nations tournament.  In game 2, Jordan scored 15 points, with three rebounds and one assist.  He shot 6 of 13 from the floor, and 1 of 4 from the three-point line.

In addition to his shooting prowess, Jordan appears rather humble and seems to be a good team player.  Having the humility to work well with others is important for team chemistry and Jordan possesses an ideal attitude for a Gonzaga player.  His Vikings head coach James Hecht had this to say about Mathews:

Too Many Question Marks ...What are your thoughts?

It seems Gonzaga coaches have put almost all their eggs into the Jordan Mathews and Darin Johnson baskets.  As little as three weeks ago it appeared that we were rated highly on these two promising recruits’ lists.  Now, within the past few days, it seems that we shouldn’t be as confident as we recently were.  Although both recruits still report that they are planning official visits to campus, the jubilation that we were right in the mix is beginning to fade.

As Darin Johnson expressed, he is visiting SDSU over the Labor Day weekend, although his favorite at this time is Oregon.  What is interesting with Darin is that depending upon which website or tweet you are reading, his top schools vary.  However, we are still in his top 12 and he speaks very highly of his relationship with our coaches, so let’s hope these other visits do not provide him with the same level of comfort he feels with us.  He did take an unofficial to GU at the end of June.  Was that enough to secure his commitment once he takes other official visits?  Darin has moved into Scout 100 at 83.

As for Jordan Mathews, he now lists Cal as his forerunner for his recruitment.  Jordan really blew up during the evaluation period receiving offers from many schools.  At this point, he plans to take an official visit to GU this fall.  Rivals has Jordan ranked at 97.  A top 100 recruit will really help our cause and Jordan would be an excellent addition to learn behind Kevin and Gary.

Class of 2013 Recruiting Update

Who will be donning a Zag jersey out of the class of 2013? So far the staff has received committments from a couple of relative unknowns in Ryan Edwards and Luke Meikle. There is also the commitment of Gerard Coleman who will not be eligible to suit up until 2013. We know these players will need time to develop in the Zags system and most likely will not get loads of playing time up front. So who else is the staff concentrating on for 2013?

Recruit Profile: Elijah Brown

According to ESPN.com, Mark Few and Tommy Lloyd were in attendance at Fab 48 watching Elijah Brown who attends Mater Dei in Santa Ana, CA. Elijah is a 6-3 combo guard in the class of 2013, who happens to be Mike Browns son (Mike is the head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA). He has been offered by Saint Mary's, San Francisco, San Diego, James Madison, Toledo, Kent St., and Akron and has received interest from several Pac-12 schools, Texas, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Iowa, and Wisconsin as well.