It’s been 18 days since the Gonzaga baseball team last faced a West Coast Conference opponent, the Bulldogs clinching the WCC regular-season championship on May 5 with a three-game sweep of last-place Santa Clara. Now, three more wins over WCC teams will be required for … Read more
Gonzaga was hoping to land UNLV transfer Mike Moser, but he ended picking Oregon. Now comes the news that Tulane transfer Josh Davis has chosen San Diego State. The Zags have been trying to beef up their front court, which returns Sam Dower and Przemek Karnowski, but they weren't able to land Moser or Davis. More on Davis' decision here. … Read more
Men’s Basketball: Gonzaga coach Mark Few has stepped down as an assistant coach with USA Basketball’s U-19 team. Few, who assisted Billy Donovan on the team last summer, decided he needed to dedicate all his time on Gonzaga’s program. The Zags lost assistant coach Ray Giacoletti to Drake and All-American forward Kelly Olynyk decided to skip his senior season to enter the NBA Draft. Read more
Former UNLV forward Mike Moser, who was considering Gonzaga, Washington and Oregon, has decided to transfer to Oregon. My short article for Wednesday's S-R is below. Read more
Back with my unedited article on Kelly Olynyk declaring for the NBA Draft that will run in Saturday's S-R. Here's a link. Read more
Gonzaga’s Kelly Olynyk has decided to bypass his senior season and declare for the NBA Draft, The Spokesman-Review has learned. Olynyk, who turned 22 on Friday, averaged 17.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 blocks as a junior. He made 63 percent of his field-goal attempts and 77.6 percent of his free throws. The 7-foot forward from Kamloops, B.C., was a consensus All-American and an academic All-American. UPDATE: GU release on Olynyk. Read more
Gonzaga junior forward Kelly Olynyk has been named the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men’s basketball as well as being named to the Scholar-Athlete Team. More here. Read more
Kelly Olynyk joined select company when he was named Associated Press first-team All-American on Monday. Dan Dickau and Adam Morrison are the only other Zags to be AP first-teamers. Olynyk also made the Wooden Award All-American team (10 players) later Monday. He's the fifth Bulldog to receive that honor, along with Dickau, Morrison, Casey Calvary and Blake Stepp. More here. Read more
The awards continue to stack up for Gonzaga junior forward Kelly Olynyk. The 7-footer from Kamloops, B.C., became the third Gonzaga player to be honored as a first-team Associated Press men’s basketball All-American, joining Dan Dickau in 2002 and Adam Morrison in 2006. Frank Burgess (1961) and Blake Stepp (2004) were AP second-team selections. Read more
The awards continue to stack up for Gonzaga junior forward Kelly Olynyk. The 7-footer from Kamloops, B.C., became the third Gonzaga player to be honored as a first-team Associated Press men’s basketball All-American, joining Dan Dickau in 2002 and Adam Morrison in 2006. Frank Burgess (1961) and Blake Stepp (2004) were AP second-team selections. Olynyk was joined on the first team by Creighton’s Doug McDermott, Michigan’s Trey Burke, Georgetown’s Otto Porter Jr. and Indiana’s Victor Oladipo. Burke and Porter led the way with 62 first-place votes and 319 points. Olynyk received 278 points, fifth behind McDermott’s 279. Read more
Gonzaga assistant coach Ray Giacoletti has had several chances to return to the head-coaching ranks the last few years but he was admittedly picky about finding the right fit. After meeting twice with Drake University officials, first on Sunday and again on Wednesday, Giacoletti was convinced that a return to his Missouri Valley Conference roots was the correct career move. Read more
Every few years, Gonzaga head coach Mark Few loses one of his assistant coaches and one of his best friends in the process. Six years ago it was Billy Grier to San Diego (replaced at GU by Ray Giacoletti) and three years ago it was Leon Rice to Boise State (replaced by Donny Daniels). Today it was Giacoletti, who was announced as the new head coach at Drake. He agreed to a five-year contract. … Read more
Drake Universit introduced Ray Giacoletti as its new men’s basketball coach at a Thursday afternoon press conference in Des Moines, Iowa. He agreed to a five-year contract. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Read more
Gonzaga assistant coach Ray Giacoletti will be introduced as the new head coach at Drake University at a press conference at 2:30 CDT, The Spokesman-Review has confirmed. Giacoletti interviewed for the job Sunday and was in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday to meet with Drake administrators, including president David Maxwell. Giacoletti, who just completed his sixth season at Gonzaga, has been a head coach at North Dakota State (1998-2000), Eastern Washington (2001-04) and Utah (2005-07). … Read more
Gonzaga assistant coach Ray Giacoletti interviewed Sunday for Drake University’s head coaching job, sources said. Read more
This is the time of year when Mark Few's name is mentioned in connection with high-profile job openings in college basketball. Another member of GU's staff, assistant coach Ray Giacoletti, also receives a number of calls from schools searching for a head coach. Drake University, a Missouri Valley Conference school in Des Moines, Iowa, interviewed Giacoletti on Sunday. It's a job that would seem to suit Giacoletti, who is a native of Peoria, Ill, location of MVC member Bradley University. … Read more
En route back home – the Zags chartered last night and probably arrived in the early morning hours Pacific time – so we’ll put together the last day-after post of the season. Gonzaga’s season ended in stunning fashion Saturday. The Bulldogs had climbed out of a 13-point deficit and had an 8-point lead in thesecond half and all of the momentum. … Read more
