Arop leaving; Daniels not involved at UC Davis

Manny Arop, a valuable reserve as a freshman whose playing time dwindled over the second half of his sophomore season, has been granted his release from Gonzaga and he’s expected to continue his career at another school.

Under NCAA transfer rules, the 6-foot-6 wing (No. 10 pictured above) would have to sit out one season if he transfers to another Division I school.

“Manny is an awesome individual, a great teammate, a great guy who just wants the opportunity to go play more somewhere else,” head coach Mark Few said in a Gonzaga release. “He’s been great around our team, our staff and my kids, but he thinks there might be opportunities to play more at another place. He’s going to explore those opportunities. We wish him the best.”

It’s hardly a surprising development since Arop didn’t play in six of Gonzaga’s last 10 games. His only appearance in the last four games (two WCC Tournament games and two NCAA Tournament games) was for 1 minute late in the season-ending loss to BYU.

More on Arop below (and I’ll update later if I make connections with Arop).

—Also, I spoke with Gonzaga assistant coach Donny Daniels, who said he’s had no contact with anybody at UC Davis (A.D., staff, intermediaries) regarding that school’s head coaching position. Frank Burlison of the Long Beach Press-Telegram tweeted recently that Daniels had interviewed for the job, along with Greg Graham, Jim Les, Jay John and Bob Cantu. Not true, according to Daniels.

Arop, who left his native Sudan at the age of 9 to move to Canada, averaged 3.5 points and 3.8 rebounds as a freshman. He had four points and eight boards in a WCC Tournament semifinal win over Loyola Marymount before suffering a broken foot.

Arop was prominent in the rotation through the midpoint of this season, starting eight games and averaging 15.8 minutes in his 28 appearances, but he lost playing time with the emergence of junior guard Marquise Carter. Arop scored 15 points in a win over Marquette and a career-high 16 in a loss at Notre Dame. Those were only double-figures games this season. He had seven points and 10 rebounds in a victory over Oklahoma State.

Arop was 1 of 4 at the free-throw line in the closing minutes of regulation in GU’s 96-91 overtime loss to San Francisco and he didn’t play in the next game against Saint Mary’s. Freshman Mathis Mönninghoff started against the Gaels and in the next two games before Carter took over the starting role. Gonzaga closed the season with 10 straight wins, capturing a co-WCC regular-season title and the conference tournament, before falling to BYU in the NCAA Tournament round of 32.

Arop averaged 4.6 points and 2.9 rebounds this season.

Gonzaga is pretty well stocked at the guard/wing position with Carter, Mönninghoff, Demetri Goodson, David Stockton, Mathis Keita and Mike Hart expected to return, and incoming recruits Kevin Pangos, Gary Bell Jr., Kyle Dranginis and Chris Sarbaugh.

Midland (Texas) J.C. guard Guy Landry, 6-5 and 210 pounds, is visiting Gonzaga this weekend and former USC shooting guard Bryce Jones, who left the Pac-10 school after separate disputes with a teammate and a resident advisor at his dorm, will visit GU next weekend.