Coming into the 2011-12 NCAA Men’s Basketball season it was evident that Kelly Olynyk and his family were not happy with the amount of minutes their son was receiving.
After not seeing any court action in the Bulldogs 2011-12 season opener, Gonzaga announced that Olynyk will red-shirt his junior season.
“It just came down to what they wanted to do and what he wanted to do,” stated father Ken Olynyk “It ended up being the best situation for both Kelly and Gonzaga.”
The Bulldogs front court is loaded with players fighting for court time.
Potential NBA draftee and Canadian Robert Sacre is the cog in the middle for ‘Zags who also feature Elias Harris, a 6-foot-7 Junior who is also expected to get a bulk of the minutes.
This leaves Olynyk with limited minutes in a crucial season, in which he was hoping to generate some NBA Buzz.
The announced doesn’t necessarily indicate that Olynk will transfer and he could be back with the team next year.
The Bulldogs have a strong history of recruiting Canadian players but their track record of seeing those players through graduation has been less than stellar so far.
Former Canadians Bol Kong and Mangisto Arop also departed from the program prior to completing their four years in Spokane.
Olynyk a member of Canada’s Senior Men’s team will continue to practice with the Bulldogs who are poised for another deep run and are favourites to win West Coast conference.