Weekend Zags Around the Web: AAU, FIBA, and Summer Leagues

AAU News:

-- We're only a week into the July AAU Evaluation period but their have already been a number of major tournaments and skills camps.  The adidas It Takes 5ive event and the King City Classic both wrapped up this week in Ohio.  The two events only had a couple of Gonzaga prospects and in all reality, only one of them still is likely to become a Bulldog.  Cameroon native Yannick Atanga plays for Impact Basketball but it has been so hard to get information from the tournament that all we know is that his team made it to the final four of the 17s gold tournament after placing second in their pool of three. 

-- The other tournament that we had circled on our calendar was the Chicago Summer Classic which is going on in the Windy City as we speak.  The CSC wasn't getting as much as the hype as the adidas event or even the King City Classic but it had plenty of potential for Gonzaga fans.  Net Gain Sports, based out of Minnesota which features prospects like Chanse Creekmur, Doug McDermott Jr., Joe Hanstad, and Cole Stefan were supposed to take part in the tourney but we learned from our good friend The Twin Cities Hoops Czar that Net Gain pulled out of the tourney at the last second.  It is a huge bummer as Net Gain was supposed to have three games yesterday and we were counting on some juicy reports from our friend at TC Hoops.

-- The good news is that the Nike Peach Jam kicks off tomorrow in lovely Augusta, South Carolina.  The tourney will be loaded with college coaches as it features 24 Elite Nike Travel teams including Seattle Rotary Select (Gary Bell Jr.) Hopefully they are a little better at getting results across the wire than the adidas folks.

FIBA:

-- A disappointing FIBA U-19 Tournament continued for the Canadian National team last night as they were defeated at the hands of the Puerto Ricans as they battle for positions 5-8 in the tournament.  The final score only separated the two teams by two points, 67-65.  I only watched one of the games live and obviously only have a small sampling of what Canada basketball is all about but it is pretty clear to see that the coaching of this team may not be up to snuff.  After struggling all tournament long shooting from the perimeter, Canada jacked up 17 three point attempts against Puerto Rico and only made one! 

continue reading after the jump to see more about Canada's loss and the Zag's in the NBA Summer League...

Mangisto Arop really asserted himself in this game, taking 19 shot attempts and connected on eight of them.  He finished with nine rebounds but also an ugly four turnovers.   

Kelly Olynyk played arguably his best game the day before against the Americans but backed it up yesterday with another erratic shooting performance.  Olynyk shot 33% from the field (4/12) including four missed three point shots.  To make an ugly statline even uglier...Olynyk had his worst day on the glass, only collecting six rebounds which, coincidentally is the same number of turnovers he had against Puerto Ric.

So if we are doing the math at home...Manny and Kelly combined for 0/6 from three-point range and 10 turnovers. Yikes.

Canada is now 3-5 overall and will play France tonight at 4 PM PST (I think) to see who gets to seventh and eighth place.

Summer League:

-- Austin Daye had his first game as a Detroit Piston summer leaguer yesterday against the Sacramento Kings.  Daye shot 3-9 from the floor and was impressive early in his 19 minutes which you can see in the first clip of the highlights here. He also had a pair of rebounds and steals.

-- Now that the Orland Magic have concluded their summer league, Jeremy Pargo is joining up with Austin Daye according to the Detroit Press.  Their next game tips today at 1 PM PST.

-- Josh Heytvelt and Micah Downs begin their summer league experience next week with the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns, respectively.  Downs will begin play on Monday at 3 PM PST and Heytvelt will begin Tuesday at 3:30 PM.  Schedules are here.