Tough Night
June 29, 2006 12:29 AM | General
June 28, 2006
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| Mike Gansey | Kevin Pittsnogle |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s NBA draft drought continues. Despite being projected as solid second-round picks, neither Mike Gansey nor Kevin Pittsnogle were taken in the 2006 NBA draft conducted Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas rated Gansey the 20th-best player in the draft and Pittsnogle the 38th-best player, but a run on foreign players in the second round that began with Golden State picking Croatia’s Kosta Perovic at 38 proved to be a bad sign for the two WVU standouts. Ten foreign players were taken among the remaining 22 picks and 16 were selected in the two-round, 60-player draft that lasted five hours.
The Big East Conference had seven players picked in the first round. Connecticut led the way with a record-tying four first-round picks, the first being Rudy Gay at No. 8 to Houston. Villanova guard Randy Foye was the seventh overall player selected by Boston.
Other first-round picks from the Big East were Connecticut center Hilton Armstrong (12th to New Orleans), Rutgers guard Quincy Douby (Sacramento), Connecticut guard Marcus Williams (New Jersey), Connecticut center Josh Boone (New Jersey) and Villanova guard Kyle Lowry (Memphis).
Four other Big East players were drafted in the second round: Cincinnati forward James White (31st to Portland), Marquette forward Steve Novak (32nd to Houston), South Florida center Solomon Jones (33rd to Atlanta) and Connecticut guard Denham Brown (40th to Seattle).
Pittsnogle, a John Wooden All-American – the school’s first since 1972, averaged 19.3 points per game and shot 40.1 percent from 3-point range as a 6-11 center, but there were questions about his ability to rebound and guard NBA centers.
Gansey, a 6-4 guard/forward, averaged 16.8 points per game and shot 55 percent from the field. Gansey posted a 34-inch vertical jump in one NBA workout and bench-pressed 185 pounds 17 times in another. He did suffer a slight ankle sprain during a workout last week and canceled his remaining workouts. Gansey’s size and foot speed were considered his two biggest detriments.
A positive of not being drafted is that both players can now analyze all 30 teams and determine which ones best suit them to sign free-agent contracts.
The last West Virginia player picked in the NBA draft was forward Gordon Malone, who went 44th to Minnesota in 1997. The last WVU player to make an NBA roster was guard Lowes Moore with the San Diego Clippers in 1983.
