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From CBS SportsLine: http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebas.../story/8662413
Manhattan's Gonzalez keeps nabbing Big East talent
July 20, 2005
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Latest in a summer series: What's up at ... Manhattan?
Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez isn't playing fair. He continues to stock his MAAC roster with Big East players.
Five years ago Gonzalez accepted a Rutgers transfer named Luis Flores, who scored 2,046 points and led the Jaspers to 68 wins in three seasons, including a 2004 NCAA Tournament upset of Florida.
Last year Gonzalez lost Flores but added C.J. Anderson, who turned down late interest from Pittsburgh and Georgetown to sign with Manhattan. Anderson, a 6-foot-6 wing, averaged 16.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists and earned the most MAAC rookie of the week honors since Lionel Simmons in 1986.
This year Gonzalez has done it again, locking up another 6-6 wing -- Devon Austin -- during the early signing period in November and then watching gleefully as Austin flourished into a bona fide, Big East-caliber recruit. West Virginia and Georgetown had wanted Austin in the fall, but at less than 200 pounds, they wanted him to redshirt his first season.
"But then he had an unreal senior year," Gonzalez says. "People realized by the time spring came that he's a Big East player."
Austin led all scorers in April at the Old Spice Red Zone All-Star Shootout, pitting players from New York against those from Chicago. He had 19 points while playing alongside recruits headed to Pittsburgh (Tyrell Biggs) and Notre Dame (Kyle McAlarney), and against players who had signed with Louisville (Clarence Holloway), Marquette (Jerel McNeal), Gonzaga (Jeremy Pargo) and Missouri (DeAndre Thomas).
"You know how it is with all-star games. Points don't always tell you the whole story, but I spoke to the coaches in that game and they said Devon Austin was in the top three or four guys there," Gonzalez says. "They told me he was a steal for us, but I knew that. He's 6-6 and long, like a Reggie Miller or Francisco Garcia body type, and he's a great shooter. He's going to be terrific. He's got a shot to be the best incoming freshman in the league."
If Austin is as good as Gonzalez says -- and he was right last summer when he told CBS SportsLine.com that Anderson would be the MAAC's best freshman in 2004-05 -- Manhattan could be exceptional once again.
After winning 20, 23 and 25 games the past three seasons, the Jaspers dropped to 15-14 without Flores and two other senior starters from 2003-04, Dave Holmes and Jason Benton. This season all but one regular returns, and while that regular was leading scorer Peter Mulligan (19.3 ppg), he happens to play the same spot as Austin.
Austin's older brother, Markus Austin, just finished a four-year career at Eastern Michigan in which he scored 1,425 career points. And Devon, according to recruiting analysts, is the better brother. He'll fit nicely into Mulligan's old position, teaming with Anderson to give Manhattan a pair of Big East-caliber wings. No fair.
"We're about to get really good," says Gonzalez, who will serve as a USA Basketball assistant to Villanova's Jay Wright at the World University Games next month in Turkey. "We won 15 games last year and started three freshmen, but with 10 guys returning, we're not that far away. I think we're going to get really good again."
Manhattan's Gonzalez keeps nabbing Big East talent
July 20, 2005
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Latest in a summer series: What's up at ... Manhattan?
Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez isn't playing fair. He continues to stock his MAAC roster with Big East players.
Five years ago Gonzalez accepted a Rutgers transfer named Luis Flores, who scored 2,046 points and led the Jaspers to 68 wins in three seasons, including a 2004 NCAA Tournament upset of Florida.
Last year Gonzalez lost Flores but added C.J. Anderson, who turned down late interest from Pittsburgh and Georgetown to sign with Manhattan. Anderson, a 6-foot-6 wing, averaged 16.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists and earned the most MAAC rookie of the week honors since Lionel Simmons in 1986.
This year Gonzalez has done it again, locking up another 6-6 wing -- Devon Austin -- during the early signing period in November and then watching gleefully as Austin flourished into a bona fide, Big East-caliber recruit. West Virginia and Georgetown had wanted Austin in the fall, but at less than 200 pounds, they wanted him to redshirt his first season.
"But then he had an unreal senior year," Gonzalez says. "People realized by the time spring came that he's a Big East player."
Austin led all scorers in April at the Old Spice Red Zone All-Star Shootout, pitting players from New York against those from Chicago. He had 19 points while playing alongside recruits headed to Pittsburgh (Tyrell Biggs) and Notre Dame (Kyle McAlarney), and against players who had signed with Louisville (Clarence Holloway), Marquette (Jerel McNeal), Gonzaga (Jeremy Pargo) and Missouri (DeAndre Thomas).
"You know how it is with all-star games. Points don't always tell you the whole story, but I spoke to the coaches in that game and they said Devon Austin was in the top three or four guys there," Gonzalez says. "They told me he was a steal for us, but I knew that. He's 6-6 and long, like a Reggie Miller or Francisco Garcia body type, and he's a great shooter. He's going to be terrific. He's got a shot to be the best incoming freshman in the league."
If Austin is as good as Gonzalez says -- and he was right last summer when he told CBS SportsLine.com that Anderson would be the MAAC's best freshman in 2004-05 -- Manhattan could be exceptional once again.
After winning 20, 23 and 25 games the past three seasons, the Jaspers dropped to 15-14 without Flores and two other senior starters from 2003-04, Dave Holmes and Jason Benton. This season all but one regular returns, and while that regular was leading scorer Peter Mulligan (19.3 ppg), he happens to play the same spot as Austin.
Austin's older brother, Markus Austin, just finished a four-year career at Eastern Michigan in which he scored 1,425 career points. And Devon, according to recruiting analysts, is the better brother. He'll fit nicely into Mulligan's old position, teaming with Anderson to give Manhattan a pair of Big East-caliber wings. No fair.
"We're about to get really good," says Gonzalez, who will serve as a USA Basketball assistant to Villanova's Jay Wright at the World University Games next month in Turkey. "We won 15 games last year and started three freshmen, but with 10 guys returning, we're not that far away. I think we're going to get really good again."