john bryant – Rush The Court

RTC Aftermath: WCC Tournament Finals

rtmsf — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:49:20 +0000

RTC Aftermath will come to you each night where our correspondents are at the conference tournament games as a part of RTC Live. Michael Vernetti is in Las Vegas all weekend covering the WCC Tournament for RTC. RTC Live was onsite Friday through Monday, concluding tonight in the Gonzaga vs. St. Mary’s Championship Game.

It was a Gonzaga party in the WCC championship game as the Zags continued a tournament blitz with an 83-58 victory over Saint Mary’s. Gonzaga featured balanced scoring with five players scoring in double figures, led by Josh Heytvelt’s 17 points. Matt Bouldin [...]

RTC Aftermath: WCC Semifinals

rtmsf — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:52:22 +0000

RTC Aftermath will come to you each night where our correspondents are at the conference tournament games as a part of RTC Live. Michael Vernetti is in Las Vegas all weekend covering the WCC Tournament for RTC. RTC Live will be there on Monday night as Gonzaga-St. Mary’s Part III occurs.

Gonzaga had five players in double figures – led by Austin Daye’s 28 points – to crush Santa Clara 94-59 in tonight’s first semifinal game of the West Coast Conference tournament. The Zags got 18 from Micah Downs, 16 from Jeremy Pargo, 12 from Steven Gray [...]

WCC Tourney Preview

rtmsf — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:49:59 +0000

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference. He will be reporting from the WCC Tournament this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check for his game liveblogs at RTC Live: WCC Tournament throughout the weekend.

A little unexpected news on the injury front has turned what looked to be a rather drab WCC Conference Tournament into a hotbed of excitement. The news concerned the broken right hand of Saint Mary’s star guard Patty Mills, who had been told by his doctor not to count on being ready for the tournament. That was before a [...]

Checking in on the… WCC

nvr1983 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:12:57 +0000

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

Bye-Bye Blues My, my, what an intriguing set of scenarios is emerging in the WCC’s final week to determine the number two seed in the conference tournament. Oh yeah, Gonzaga wrapped up the conference title – its ninth consecutive – with a pair of routine wins over Loyola-Marymount on Thursday (2/19) and Pepperdine on Saturday (2/21).

The two seed is important because the holder gets a bye straight to the conference semifinals. That means no game on Friday, March 6 or the following Saturday – a [...]

Santa Clara’s John Bryant: Q&A With John Stevens

jstevrtc — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:57:20 +0000

John Stevens is a featured writer for Rush The Court.

You’ll have to excuse John Bryant if he doesn’t exactly dwell on the past, these days. Why should he? When you’ve got as much going on as this guy, the past is something from which you’ve become expert at taking whatever lessons you can, and then letting it fall away.

Wait, what’s that name? John Bryant? Right now you are likely wondering why that name sounds familiar. You are wondering exactly where you’ve heard it before. In a moment, I’ll tell you.

The best player you don’t [...]

Checking in on the… WCC

rtmsf — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:40:26 +0000

Michael Chin is the RTC correspondent for the WCC.

WCC Conference Action opens this week. After what can only be characterized as a mediocre non conference season, the eight west coast teams will begin play on Friday. Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are heads and heels above the rest of the competition, the Gaels sporting an impressive 13-1 record and GU coming out 9-4 after playing the most brutal non conference schedule in the country. Other than the two headliners only Portland has exceeded expectations this season, posting a winning record going into action this weekend.

Looking towards March, I would [...]

ATB: Quiet Before the Storm

rtmsf — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:23:02 +0000

News & Notes. We’d like to take a moment at the beginning of tonight’s ATB to honor former Cal head coach and legendary big man guru Pete Newell, who died today at the age of 93. He led Cal to its only national championship in 1959, won a gold medal as the US Olympic team coach in 1960, and was elected to the basketball Hall of Fame in 1979. Although he was before our time, we’ve heard the stories of his legend and he is considered one of the most influential figures in basketball history. May he rest [...]

Preseason NIT Breakdown

rtmsf — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:59:14 +0000

(ed. note: if you’re looking for the 2009 NIT Bracket, click here.)

The Preseason NIT, the Granddaddy of all the Preseason Tourneys, begins tonight, with all sixteen teams in action at four regional pods (Chestnut Hill, MA; W. Lafayette, IN; Norman, OK; Tucson, AZ). Unlike many of the D2 and whatever-else teams thrown into the pods of the CvC last week, the PNIT at least uses all D1 teams for its sacrificial lambs. A new feature is that each of the sixteen teams was seeded, although we’re not sure how BC and Arizona ended up with protected seeds over Davidson (also, why isn’t #1 Purdue [...]

2008-09 Season Primers: #11 – West Coast

rtmsf — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:42:37 +0000

Michael Chin is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference (WCC).

Predicted Order of Finish:

Gonzaga Saint Mary’s San Diego San Francisco Santa Clara Portland Pepperdine Loyola Marymount

Sleeper. San Francisco

WYN2K. For the last ten years the WCC national storyline has read “Gonzaga and the seven dwarfs.” However, as many have learned, Grumpy and Sleepy are finally growing up. Saint Mary’s and San Diego, both of which made the Big Dance last season, return 88% of their scoring and are primed for return trips to March Madness. Saint Mary’s is lead by lightning quick Aussie Patrick Mills and All Conference Defensive Player of the [...]

10.23.08 Fast Breaks

rtmsf — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:57:36 +0000

Only two weeks left (no, not the election… the first games!)…

Remember Nate Miles? He’ll be playing for the College of Southern Idaho next year. Gary Parrish all-americans: Curry, Collison, Hansbrough, Harongody & Griffin. We only disagree on one (wanna guess which?). While we’re at it, here’s his top 40 guards. Big East media picks – UConn, Louisville, Pitt, Notre Dame in that order. POY – Harongody. ROY – S. Samuels, G. Monroe. The Stephen Curry show at Davidson’s Midnight Madness. Georgia Tech’s D’Andre Bell will miss the season after getting diagnosed with spinal stenosis (the same injury TJ Ford had a while back) – [...]

09.29.08 Fast Breaks

rtmsf — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:36:51 +0000

Are the leaves changing colors in your town? We’re less than three weeks until Midnight Madness…

Santa Clara center John Bryant, the WCC’s leading returner in rebounds and blocks (and second in scoring), was literally stabbed in the back this weekend. He is expected to make a full recovery. Andy Katz takes a look at three teams he expects are ready to rise again this season – Ohio St., Nevada, Wake Forest. The NYT reports that Tommy Amaker is continuing to make friends at Harvard. Pitt’s Jamie Dixon proves that unproven commodities who are bright and work hard can be just as (if not more) [...]