Thursday News & Notes: USA, Mark Few capture gold in Brazil

Quiet, quiet times on E. Boone Avenue lately. After the transfer of Drew Braham, news has been slow to trickle in regarding your beloved Bulldogs. We expect things to pick up as we are closing in on July which is typically the most hectic month of AAU hoops. Members of the Bulldogs staff will be scattered across the country checking out a slew of future Zag prospects and we'll keep you updated as we learn more about their whereabouts.

-- Speaking of traveling coaches, Gonzaga head coach Mark Few has been down in Brazil for the past few weeks as an assistant coach to the U-18 USA National Team at the 2012 FIBA Americas. Last night, USA dominated the host country of Brazil in the championship game and won the gold medal. The USA team was by far the class of the tournament as they were never truly challenged once since the competition began. Led by current Tennessee Volunteer Julius Randle and a host of high schoolers including Jarnell Stokes (Tennessee Commit), Shaq Goodwin (Memphis), and Rasheed Sulaimon (Duke), the stars and stripes once again flexed their muscle to the rest of the Americas.

The game most were expecting to see in the championship was USA v. Canada. The Canadian roster, particularly the starting five was extremely talented led by Andrew Wiggins (#1 overall prospect in 2014 class) and Xavier Rathan-Mayes (top-70 2013 prospect). The Canadians struggled to find their groove throughout the tournament and lost to Brazil in the semis.

Hopefully, Coach Few was able to get in the ear of Xavier Rathan-Mayes a little bit while he was down there. Rathan-Mayes is a major target for the Zags but his stock has absolutely skyrocketed lately.

-- A 2013 prospect that seems to be a major priority on the Zags' radar right now is Temple decommit Josh Brown. Brown, who hails from out East in New Jersey, stunningly decommitted from his dream school earlier this month and since then, it has become extremely obvious why. Brown has been getting a ton of interest since waiver on his decision and along with Gonzaga, programs like Virginia, Miami, Memphis, Xavier, and others are all showing interest and expected to offer.

-- As expected 2013 Seattle-area guard Zach LaVine has verbally committed to UCLA. LaVine is thought by many to be the top point guard on the West Coast and is a huge get for Ben Howland and the Bruins. LaVine had been a very strong UCLA lean since he burst on the scene but there was some hope, especially a few months ago, that he might consider other options including Gonzaga but there was simply too much working in the Bruins' favor on this one.