Basketball: Josh Wright leaves Gee-Gees

Saying Josh Wright went wrong for the Ottawa Gee-Gees was a bit much. At the end of the day, Ottawa coach Dave DeAveiro took a high-reward move on a legit NCAA D-1 point guard. The just-the-facts-ma'am is that the Gee-Gees were ranked high as No. 2 in the country and ended up bowing out of the Final 8 hunt with a 20-some-point loss to Western in the first round (although granted, Western was probably good enough to win the national championship).
"Guard Josh Wright will not return to the Gee-Gees men's basketball team next season.

"The six-foot-one transfer from Utica, New York who played half a season in the CIS is hoping to secure a professional contract in Europe.

" 'It's something we thought would happen,' said Gee-Gees men's head basketball coach Dave DeAveiro. 'It was his goal to play pro somewhere.'

"Wright, 22, scored just under 17 points per game over 12 regular season games with uOttawa after joining the Gee-Gees in December, 2008 following three seasons at Syracuse.

"It is not known where Wright intends to play. A call to his home in New York State was not returned." — school release
Wright was a treat to watch, but there were a few along press row at the Final 8 who felt he did not make Gee-Gees combo guard Josh Gibson-Bascombe a better player.

The Gee-Gees will be a bit of a X-factor in the OUA in 2009-10. Carleton has the automatic entry into the Final 8, so once again an OUA East team will have two shots to qualify for nationals, either be winning the division or a third-place game. Ottawa will have new starters at the 4 and 5 spots, since David Labentowicz and Dax Dessureault have graduated. Forward Nemanja Baletic and centre Louis Gauthier each started to come on at the end of last season.

Sophomore swingman Warren "Worldwide" Ward is going to have nights where he takes your breath away, while third-year man Jacob Gibson-Bascombe and fifth-year senior Donnie Gibson are still in the backcourt picture.

Cross-posted to Out of Left Field.
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5 comments:

  1. Any news on the Ottawa recruiting situation?

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  2. I just had a gut feeling Wright wasn't going to stick around.
    While he had some great games, he never really excelled against the better teams Ottawa U faced, specifically Carleton and Western.
    Warren Ward may indeed take your breath away some nights but he can also leave you scratching your head in puzzlement.
    The biggest question mark for Ottawa U next season is how well can they patch up the big hole left by Dax Dessureault's graduation.

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  3. Second Anonymous might have something there. My rankings had Wright at 3rd on the Gee-Gees, 8th in the OUA, and 33rd overall in Canada last year, but that doesn't tell the whole story.

    Wright's worst game in the regular season (only 5 for 18, one board, four personals in 35 minutes) came against Carleton, which isn't a shocker, but he also had six turnovers against Toronto and four of his five best games came against the four bottom teams in the East. His quality of opposition was also the lowest on the team and third-lowest among non-Carleton OUA players.

    And...that's all I got.

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  4. It seems the Gee-Gees have quietly assembled an intriguing class of talented recruits. No one can get confirmation on names, but there is some heat coming from the 'other Ottawa school'. Coach DeAveiro and new assistant coach O'Neil were spotted at many events in the last few months courting players. Apparently NEDA player Roger Dugas had his mind set on Ottawa before committing to Elon. GTA players Ryan Malcom-Campbell and Kemeish Edwards are possibly on the list of Gee-Gee recruits next year. You can never count out Coach D.

    I'm expecting Warren Ward to have a major impact next year. Look for Josh Gibson-Bascombe to have a big year, especially with the absence of Josh Wright.

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  5. Just remember, it's Warren "World Wide" Ward. That's trademarked, not to be used without permission of Neate Sager, Inc. OK, you can use it.

    ReplyDelete