Daye’s solid first year
There are dozens of stories about nearly every recruit, but the one involving Billy Grier, Gonzaga assistant coach Leon Rice and Bulldogs freshman forward Austin Daye is pretty good stuff. And it’s timely with San Diego, led by ex-GU assistant Grier, visiting the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Rice picks up the play-by-play call.
“Billy was doing the Pepperdine scout and he wanted me to go look at this kid,” Rice recalled of the fateful conversation a couple of years ago. “The word on the street was he’s probably a little soft. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll go check him out,’ basically thinking that we would eliminate him. We landed, hustled to get our rental car, headed down the (Interstate) 405 and sat in the parking lot that is the 405.
“We come sprinting in and it’s near the end of halftime. They told me later he didn’t play a very good first half. Austin just goes off in the second half. He has an Adam Morrison experience. I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ I went back to (Gonzaga head coach) Mark (Few) and said, ‘We’re not going to replace Adam, but mentality wise this is as close as you can get.’ “
Fast forward to GU’s season opener against Montana in November when Daye, in his first collegiate game, had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Rice just had to pick up the phone and call his good friend.
“I called Billy and thanked him,’ ” Rice said. “Billy really did a terrific job recruiting him after we identified him as a Zag.”
Daye is making an immediate impact at Gonzaga. He averages 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds while playing 19.6 minutes per game. He’s blocked 31 shots, a pace that would challenge Ronny Turiaf’s school record of 59.
“He’s doing a great job for how young he is,” Few said, “and he still has tons of room for growth.”
The 6-foot-10, 190-pound Daye has a smooth shooting stroke (47 percent from the field, 43 percent on 3-pointers and 91 percent at the foul line), the latter approaching Derek Raivio-type accuracy. Daye credits the guidance of his dad, Darren, an ex-UCLA and NBA player.
“He’s been there for me since I was 2 years old, playing on the Little Tykes basket,” Austin said.
Darren worked with his son as an assistant coach on AAU teams and during 1-on-1 sessions.
“We always worked on his ball-handling,” said Darren, a financial advisor in Orange County. “I told him, ‘You can’t play if you can’t handle the ball.’ “
That came in handy when Austin experienced a couple of growth spurts at Woodbridge High in Irvine. He stood 6-2 as a freshman. By his senior season, he was 6-10.
“The thing I’ve always told Austin is, ‘I can teach you how to shoot and how to dribble and many of the intangibles that go with the game, but you can’t make a great player,’ ” Darren said. “You can’t give a kid great shooting touch. He has much more touch than I had and much more range.”
Daye, 19, has a voracious appetite, but adding weight hasn’t been easy.
“I’m not too worried about it,” he said. “I know it will come.”
“Right now he can just get physically taken off his game at times,” Few said. “I just keep reminding him that he can’t be soft and he can’t be casual.”
Few said Daye has benefited from the tutelage of senior David Pendergraft, who starts at the power forward, or ‘4’ spot.
“I just try to teach him all the little things about what college basketball is about – how to represent yourself and all the little details of the game,” Pendergraft said. “He’s so gifted and talented. If I can help him with some of the details, he’ll be unstoppable.”
Roughly a month after the season opener, Daye was listed No. 1 in a 2009 mock draft by nbadraft.net. He’s currently projected No. 2. He’s also been on 2008 mock drafts, but he said there’s no chance he’ll leave Gonzaga after one season.
“I swear on the Gonzaga creed,” Daye said. “I try not to pay attention (to Internet draft projections), but it’s hard not to because people tell you and call you. I just want to stay focused on this year and executing game by game. I’ll worry about that stuff when it’s time to worry about it.”