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Big Sky BBall Preview

J

jon

Active member
Hi guys,

I have put together a little preview on the Big Sky (well, a big one!), if anyone is interested. I pretty much wrote about anything I could think about (order, conference tournament, all-conference teams, top newcomers, predictions, etc)... so if you like the Big Sky, I think and hope you'll enjoy! Would love to hear any thoughts -

http://www.bigskybball.com/2013/11/the-most-comprehensive-big-sky-preview.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks!!
 
what? Russel is transferring? :o :o :o :o :o :o where did you get this information? sounds like an awkward time to be transferring. Something pretty bad had to have happened for him to quit at this point in the season. You would think he would at least wait till the end of the the season. He already put in plenty of practice time with the team, and is in the middle of the fall semester at NAU. This is a tough blow if it is true. Hope your sources gave you false information and Russel is fine and happy at NAU :x
 
king said:
what? Russel is transferring? :o :o :o :o :o :o where did you get this information? sounds like an awkward time to be transferring. Something pretty bad had to have happened for him to quit at this point in the season. You would think he would at least wait till the end of the the season. He already put in plenty of practice time with the team, and is in the middle of the fall semester at NAU. This is a tough blow if it is true. Hope your sources gave you false information and Russel is fine and happy at NAU :x
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it appears to be true. He didn't start in the exhibition game for some reason either.

Here's an article about him transferring. From that article:

“I decided [to leave] after Coach Murphy and me weren’t seeing eye to eye, we both just kind of decided it wasn’t for me anymore,” Russell said. “I thank Coach Murphy for everything he did for me while I was here, I just felt like it was time for me to go.”

“I wasn’t planning on transferring, I was planning on graduating from NAU,” Russell said. “But things just weren’t working out. So as of right now, I don’t know what I want to do.”
 
oh Lord, this is going to be a very long, long season. He was the lone bright spot for NAU and now...oh well sometimes these things happen. I rather have a team full of average players who want to be on the team and proud to wear the Lumberjack uniform than talented players who are troublemakers and don't want to be on the team. At the end of the day what matters most is that these kids are happy playing ball and getting a good education while representing the university well. Good luck to Dewayne, hope he finds a place that makes him happy.

Hope the team doesn't use this as an excuse to suck. They need to rely on each other, step up and play for each other and for NAU. This could be an opportunity for them to do something great. Let's see how they handle this.
 
:thumbdown: I was looking forward to seeing his Lumberjacks career progress.

Well...if Russell indeed transfers to GCU then it is what it is. I have no trouble seeing how playing for a former NBA player (Majerle), in a nicer/bigger arena than NAU has and is just down the road from his family and friends would be appealing. Be it Russell was a malcontent, homesick, or just looking for bigger and brighter things...there is nothing to gain by dwelling on this. Not going to wail, rend my clothes and gnash my teeth. But I will admit that I'm kinda interested to see how it all plays out. Situations like this always make me wonder if there was meddling on part of the other school (GCU) convincing a west valley prodigy to return home once they're completely moved up to I-AA and are ready to compete with the big boys. No way to prove this. Not saying it happened. This happened when I was in high school and my school got put on probation because of a coach "convincing" a player from a school nearby to transfer.

Best of luck, Dewayne. I appreciate you playing hard last year for the Jacks. Now, moving on...go Jacks!
 
He transferred to Grand Canyon University? really? the only thing they have going for them is money, and lots of it. I read somewhere they are a controversial school because they are a for profit University. Here is one of many articles on it.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130722/grand-canyon-university-pac-12-protest/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I heard Arizona and Arizona state refuse to schedule them because of this very reason. I know they have moved to the WAC and seem to be doing big things, so maybe that's what drew Russel there? How I would love to know the real reasons for his transfer. I have a feeling money played a big part in his move. I hope he gets at GCU what he was looking for...time to forget about Russel and focus on the guys we have on our team and who will represent NAU this season :clap: :clap: :clap:
 
Looking at the Grand Canyon basketball roster, I notice that 9 of their players are transfers from other schools including Weber State, Colorado, Texas A&M, and New Mexico.... interesting :wink: . I wonder why they have such an unusual number of transfers. Russel will make that number 10. :roll:

http://www.gculopes.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
He hasnt officially transferred to GCU....merely stated an interest. Given his production @ NAU, Im pretty sure he will end up @ GCU. My gripe with GCU isnt so much the for profit thing because, honestly, any bigger college sports saying money isnt the top goal is outright lying. My gripe with GCU is that Russ Pennell built GCU's program from the ground up and gets the heave ho the year they move to D-1 for a high profile former NBA player who never coached collegiately. Thats a money and publicity move...pure and simple. Bad form, GCU.
 
The jacks haven't looked terrible without Russel. I'm surprised how well they've played against USC, Loyola Marymount, and Texas Tech. Those are much bigger schools and yet we played them tough and got a win on the road. Hopefully this will translate into some conference wins. Go Jacks! :thumb:
 
I imagine the large number of transfers is due to them moving to D1 and wanting to compete imeadeatly...

Would not be suprings if Russel transfers there and it would not suprise me if Jerry Collanego had his hands in it... Jerry is a man who gets things done and he put the hard sell on a number of NBA players to get them to go to the Suns when he was GM... Jerry is an advisor to GCU and they are making a sports business school there in his name...

I have seen a couple of GCU games on COX 7 here in Tucson as they signed a contract to broadcast the games... The have Rex Chapman (a former Sun) as one of the game announcers and a very smooth and professional presentation all around... It is obvious that they plan on winning BBall games and plan on going to the tournament... The only bad part about their broadcast is that the announcers are homers which is expected but they hammer over and over again about how great GCU is... It is almost like watching an infomercial which is pretty sad...

Russ Pennel is far from a great BBall coach and getting fired is part of the game... His short run as UAs head choach was more in name only... UA asked Mike Dunlap to be the head coach but he turned it down because it was an interm position but I beleive he was running the show... Dunlap was the head coach of the Charlote Bobcats last year...
 
Sounds like they are serious down there at GCU. Looks like there is no stopping them from becoming a powerhouse in sports in the future. I guess with the money and investments they have the sky is the limit. I can't help to be a little jealous :evil: I wish we had that kind of money to finally build that basketball arena where the NAU field house is at. Did that project go down the tubes? or are they still discussing it? I graduated in 2007 and NAU is a totally different school in terms of construction. It seem like it's time to take care of that basketball arena that's been pending :thumb:
 
king said:
Sounds like they are serious down there at GCU. Looks like there is no stopping them from becoming a powerhouse in sports in the future. I guess with the money and investments they have the sky is the limit. I can't help to be a little jealous :evil: I wish we had that kind of money to finally build that basketball arena where the NAU field house is at. Did that project go down the tubes? or are they still discussing it? I graduated in 2007 and NAU is a totally different school in terms of construction. It seem like it's time to take care of that basketball arena that's been pending :thumb:
Click to expand...

If I win the lottery tomorrow, I'm donating a sizeable chunk of change for NAU's new basketball arena.

Looking to catch a GCU home basketball game this year. Don't know yet whether or not I can find myself rooting for GCU?
 
GCU is using the proceeds from ripping off the Federal Government on the tuition they charge to finance sports - which is just advertising for them.
 
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