News Flash

Recruiting news: The Zags snagged two Sudanese/Canadians this week; For 2009 Mangisto Arop a 6-5 swingman with a 7 foot wingspan and great rebounding skills as well as long sought 6-7 forward Bol Kong who is transferring from Douglas College, some are saying he may be one of the most talented and athletically gifted players to come to GU... 6-8 Frosh Scott Martin of Purdue is transferring and has talked to Gonzaga as well as many others about a possible scholarship. He averaged 8.5 ppg and 3.8 rpg as a frosh....The Zags are showing interest for 2008/2009 Shane Harris-Tunks a 6-10 forward by way of the AIS in Australia. Also Courting the talented big man are Vanderbilt, Washington St., Saint Mary's, and Texas A&M. Still no word on Luka Basta, however with the recent addition of redshirt Bol Kong we will see if the zags have the space on the roster for another player.

News

News of the hour, GU will be playing in next years Old Spice Classic featuring many excellent teams(Georgetown, Maryland, Michigan St., Wichita St., Oklahoma St., Tennessee, and Siena). The tournament will air on ESPN from Nov. 27-30.

News on the NBA Draft front: Josh Heytvelt has a Fractured Ankle and will not be running full strength until July/August 2008. This means that he wont be able to workout for NBA scouts and Likely means that he will return for his Final Season at Gonzaga. I hope this injury will not affect his ability to run next year, his athleticism and fierceness have been sorely missed in the lineup. In other news, Josh will be Graduating from GU on May 10th Congrats Josh!

In Recruiting News, Brock Osweiler finally confirmed he is indeed going to pursue a football/basketball career at Arizona State...The 2009 Class appears to be Guard heavy with Marshall Henderson, Jeff Reid, and Anthony Marshall the top three being looked at...All is not lost for a 2008 Swingman at GU, They are seriously in the running for Bol Kong of Douglas College in Canada as well as Luka Basta of Serbia with Nevada as the only other school interested in the 6-8 swingman, here is a video of Basta.

Just Stuff

Well it appears Taylor King is headed to Villanova, and Jeff Taylor is headed to Vanderbilt. Oh well, also it has come to my attention that Brock Osweiler, a 2009-10 Commit may be re-thinking his idea of basketball and may play Tight End for a football school. All i can say is Mark Few will find some way to get things back in order.

I think Billy Grier made an excellent choice by staying at San Diego instead of jumping ship and joining the Oregon State Beavers program. I think the man has the potential to make San Diego into another WCC powerhouse and has a nose for the talent like Coach Few. Also on the coaching front, despite previous denials, Travis Ford decided to leave the minutemen for the $'s of OK State, I think it was only a matter of time before he hit a "bigger" Job up, I still think he would have been a better choice for UK than Billy Donovan or Billy Gillespie. And there it goes, lets throw in Bill Self, Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Walsh, and Bill Clinton so i can get a guinness world record for the most bills or billys mentioned in one blog post in history.

Im going to take a hiatus from posting until i got somemore GU news, like whether Jeremy Pargo, Josh Heytvelt, and Austin Daye decide to come back for next season.

*FINGERS CROSSED*

Recruiting Update

Recruiting Update

Taylor King will be transferring from duke and has narrowed choices to Gonzaga or Villanova, depending on Jeff Taylor there may not be a scholarship left for 2008-09...Speaking of Jeff Taylor he has narrowed his choices down to Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, and Texas, i still think texas is the favorite, but who knows...Anthony Marshall, a Junior Guard from Las Vegas is trying to decide between UNLV, Colorado State, Miami, Virginia, Gonzaga, Washington State and Washington, Baylor, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Kansas, and Kansas State but still in the very early stages of recruiting process.

Recap: Gonzaga @ Davidson

Final Score:

(10) Davidson 82 (7) Gonzaga 76

Box score snapshot
Scorer: Steven Gray 21 points
Rebounder: Josh Heytvelt 8 Boards
Passer: Jeremy Pargo 6 Assists
Swatter: Josh Heytvelt 1 Blocks
Theif: Matt Bouldin/Jeremy Pargo 3 Steals

Game MVP: Steven Gray (21 Points, 2 Assists, 3 Boards, 7-12 from Three)
Was an Assassin, definately did what he could to try to win it for the zags.

Team Comparison: Zags/Wildcats
Points: 76/82
assist to turnover ratio:0.78/1.29
Rebounds:33/27
Shooting Percentage: 51%/49%
3pt Percentage: 44%/50%

Analysis:
Stephen Curry Drops 40 on the zags to secure the cinderella run for Davidson. Due to the lateness of this recap, we now know that they made a run all the way to Elite 8 and almost took down the Goliath that is Kansas. All i have to say is the zags were poorly seeded and poorly matched in the first round, but i guess thats the nature of the NCAA tournament. I guess we'll have to settle for another "Wait till next year..."

NCAA Tournament Preview

These are my opinions on the upsets and the final four.

Final 4 Picks
North Carolina
Clemson
Memphis
UCLA

Top 5 Upset Watch

Vs.=Mostly Neutral
@=Mostly Away

Oklahoma Vs. Saint Josephs 3/21 (Birmingham, AL)
Butler @ South Alabama 3/21 (Birmingham, AL)
Michigan St. Vs. Temple 3/20 (Denver, CO)
Miami Vs. Saint Mary's 3/21 (Little Rock, AR)
UConn Vs. San Diego 3/21 (Tampa, FL)

Gripes with the NCAA tournament Selection Committee

When all was said and done, and the dust had settled, i had many a gripe with the NCAA tournament selection committee. For one, Gonzaga a #7 seed gets #10 Davidson in Charlotte, NC. This is a HOME GAME for Davidson! I swear i have not seen a lower seeded team get a home game, that is quite ridiculous(FYI: We beat UCONN, Finish with a better record, and Advance further in our conference tourney, yet they get a #4 seed and we get a #7...hmmm). Also, Villanova gets in and Arizona St. does not. This is definately a West Coast biased descision, The PAC TEN was arguably the best conference in College basketball, but the BIG east gets 8 teams and the PAC gets 6? not a great decision by the Committee. I know they have a tough job, but think about the reprocussions of the decisions made while doing the job. Arizona St. Beat Arizona twice during the year and Xavier. I think AZ st. deserved a berth more than Oregon as well. I agree with Bobby knight that we need to allow 128 teams into the tourney, and have a play in game to decide the top 64 seeds, this would remove a lot of the bad teams from the crowd and make sure that the true top 4 teams get a chance to compete. Just a rant from a concerned college basketball fan.

Scouting Report: Davidson

Scouting Report

W-L:26-6
RPI:45
SOS:140
Best Wins:
#108 Winthrop W60-47

but the real story is the losses:
#1 North Carolina 72-68
#4 UCLA 75-63
#7 Duke 79-73
#69 Charlotte 75-68
#104 NC State 66-65
#119 W. Michigan 83-76

Current Rankings:
AP: 23
ESPN: 25

Team Leaders:
Points: Stephen Curry 25.1
Assists: Jason Richards 8.0
Rebounds: Boris Meno 5.8

Best Players:
Stephen Curry, So., 6-3 185, SG
Shoots 48.6% from the field and 43.8% from three. One of the most dangerous shooters and scorers in the country. Keeps his team in the game, with his gutsy preformances. Had 8 30 point games this year.

Jason Richards,Sr., 6-2 185, PG
One of the top passers in the country, and why not when hes got Curry to pass to. Shoots at a respectable 42.5% clip from the field. 9 games this year with at least 10 assists.

MY Prediction:
WOW, what a horrible first round matchup. All i have to say is we got shafted with an almost true home game for Davidson. Nonetheless, i will stay upbeat and predict a zags win, i think Mark Few can get this squads mind right and push forward. Davidson is sneaky good, and Stephen Curry should be a first team all american as a sophomore, he has NBA superstar scorer written all over him.

Final Score: Gonzaga 74 Davidson 73

NCAA Tourney Projections

Heres my final Mock up for selection sunday, i have projected out all teams that will make the tourney.

Who's in:

ACC:(4) Duke, Clemson, North Carolina, Miami
Big East:(7) UConn, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Marquette, West Virginia
Big Ten:(4) Michigan St., Indiana, Wisconsin, Purdue
Big 12:(6) Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kansas St., Baylor, Texas A&M
PAC TEN:(6) Stanford, UCLA, USC, Wazzu, Oregon, Arizona
SEC:(6) Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Mississippi St., Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia
A10:(3) Xavier, Temple, Saint Josephs
WCC:(3) San Diego, Saint Mary's, Gonzaga
Sun Belt:(2) Western Kentucky, South Alabama
Mountain West:(2) BYU, UNLV
Missouri Valley:(2) Drake, Illinois St.
Colonial:(1) George Mason

The Rest:(18) Oral Roberts(Summitt), Mount St. Mary's(NEC), Cornell(IVY), Davidson(SoCon), Siena(MAAC), Butler(Horizon), Portland St.(Big Sky), Belmont(ASun), Austin Peay(OVC), Winthrop(Big South), American(Patriot), UMBC(America East), Memphis(CUSA), Kent State(MAC), Mississippi Valley St.(SWAC), Coppin St.(MEAC), Boise St.(WAC), Cal St. Fullerton(Big West), UT-Arlington(Southland)

As you can see, im projecting Georgia to win the SEC after reaching the final versus Arkansas. This will effectively remove any chance that Dayton, UMass, Houston, UAB, New Mexico, or Villanova had at reaching the tourney. I am also projecting the PAC 10 to get 6 teams as well as the SEC, and Big 12.

Bubble Watch

Still On The Bubble:

MVC: Illinois St.
Colonial: VCU
SEC: Kentucky
CUSA: UAB, Houston
Mountain West: New Mexico

Improved Resume:
Texas A&M beat K-State and now looks almost a lock.
Saint Marys became a lock with the movement on the bubble.
Kent State become a lock with the movement on the bubble.
Saint Josephs beat Xavier and now looks like a almost lock regardless of the A10 championship tonight.
Temple can secure an auto bid with a win over hometown rivals Saint Josephs.
Arkansas is now a lock with its win.

Hurt Resume:
Villanova pretty much had to beat GTOWN to get into the Tourney, but with the newest losses Nova might still have a chance.
Arizona might have played themselves into a NIT bid regardless of their SOS.
Arizona St. lost to USC, and it might have doomed the Sun Devils to the NIT.
Dayton lost to Xavier, and with Xavier losing to Saint Josephs last night, Dayton is looking like a NIT berth waiting to happen.
Florida St. lost to UNC, and pretty much sealed their fate as a NIT contender.
UMass now looks like they will miss the tourney with that loss to Charlotte.
Ohio St. had to beat MSU for the second time in a week to secure their chance to dance, instead the NIT will host the national title contenders from a year ago.
Kansas St. will be watching selection sunday with their fingers crossed after losing to Texas A&M
Baylor will be sweating sunday out with KState after the A&M win.
Oregon NIT? could be after blowing a chance at Wazzu.

Bracketology now has Gonzaga as a #7 seed again playing Arkansas with a second round draw of Kansas, this draw even seems more favorable than the last one of UCLA, hmmm.