Mo Goes Pro

Adam Morrison is forgoing his senior year at Gonzaga and turning pro, much to my displeasure. I remember watching him debut against St. Joe's as a freshman and I thought he could be something special. I never thought he would lead the nation in PPG at 28.1, though. That's absurd. I loved watching every minute of every game when Mo was on the court. He's been my favorite player to watch since Jameer Nelson a few years ago.

Check out the press conference from earlier today, courtesy of youtube.com:

It's definitely in his best interest to enter the NBA Draft since he'll most likely be a top 5 pick. Despite this, it would have been fun to watch him and Gonzaga receive the "Duke treatment" from ESPN next season. They would have had countless games nationally televised and could have made another run at the Final Four. Oh well.

It's been rumored for a while, and with espn.com and Gonzaga's official Atletic site reporting that Mo will sign with an agent it is most definite. Mark Bartelstein will represent Mo, which is nice since he also represents Dan Dickau and Blake Stepp, both Gonzaga graduates. At least he's keeping it in the family.

The loss of both Mo and J.P. Batista next year will be huge. Gonzaga will need Derek Raivio to be more of a scorer and they'll need Josh Heytvelt to really step up his game if they want to be a top 20 team.

I've said before that Gonzaga's NCAA tournament losses have historically been more important than their wins. Losing to Wyoming in '01 (The Zags were upset!), Arizona in '02 (Double overtime thriller), and recently UCLA in '06 (Worked 'em for 35 minutes) have shown that Gonzaga is a legitimate national player. Likewise, by losing Morrison, the Gonzaga program could reap huge benefits. If he's a top 3 pick, makes an immediate impact or if he picks up Rookie of the Year, it would prove that a player can attend Gonzaga (or any mid-major for that matter) and become a NBA star.

Best of luck to Mo.