As mentioned here before, Gonzaga plans on redshirting junior Kelly Olynyk and true freshmen Kyle Dranginis and Chris Sarbaugh. I caught up with Olynyk and Dranginis as well as assistant coach Tommy Lloyd to put together this article that will run in Friday's S-R.

Several GU items of interest. Bulldogs forward Kelly Olynyk scored in double figures twice this week for Canada at the FIBA Americas Championship in Argentina. Here's a link to Olynyk's stats throughout the tournament. He's fifth in scoring and third in rebounding for Canada, which is 2-5 in Group X standings and saw its Olympic hopes dashed by a loss to Panama.

Battle in Seattle pre-sale tickets for Spokane residents and members of the State Farm Battle in Seattle mailing list go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster outlets (three Fred Meyer locations in Spokane, Veradale). More here and at ticketmaster.com. Gonzaga will face Arizona, which advanced to the Elite Eight last year and is 3-0 against the Bulldogs all time, at KeyArena.

UPDATE: CBS will televise the Battle in Seattle, which tips at 1 on Saturday, Dec. 17.

Santa Clara, which appeared to be positioned to challenge Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and BYU at the top of the WCC, lost senior forward Marc Trasolini to a torn ACL in an exhibition contest in his home province of B.C. More here and here.

Gonzaga officially launched the 2010-11 season with Kraziness in the Kennel on Friday. Click here to read my article that will run in Saturday’s S-R.

GU recruit Kelly Olynyk scored 24 points to help Canada to a victory at the U19 world championships. Mangisto Arop, another GU-bound player, added seven points. More here.  

Gonzaga incoming freshmen Kelly Olynyk and Mangisto Arop are just days away from representing Canada on the country’s junior national team at the FIBA world championships in New Zealand.

More here and here.

Gonzaga’s Robert Sacre and incoming recruit Kelly Olynyk are playing summer basketball on Canadian national teams. More on Sacre and the senior national team here and more on Olynyk, MVP of a tournament in France, and the U19 team here. 

Incoming recruit Manny Arop is on the U19 squad, but was unable to play because of an ankle injury.

Waiting for return calls from Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett and Gaels center Omar Samhan, so we’ll post more information on Kelly Olynyk, the 6-10 Canadian who committed to Gonzaga.

Read on.

Back with a notebook from media day this afternoon, but the first half of it centers on Kelly Olynyk’s verbal commitment to Gonzaga.

Read below for an unedited version of the article that will run in Tuesday’s S-R.