Re: 2013 Recruiting: Wintering + Sharp + Zubizarreta + Gerun

by **PilotNut** Mon May 13, 2013 2:56 pm

Immediate eligibility, and he will come in as a Junior.

I believe you can apply to the NCAA for waivers for situations where a previous program more or less pulls the schollie? WVU would have had to support it, as well...

At this point, I don't plan on looking the gift horse in the mouth.

by DoubleDipper Mon May 13, 2013 3:36 pm

From another thread on April 9:

DoubleDipper wrote:I went through the transfer list looking for a “nugget” that a small D-1 school such as UP might attract from a big-time program….and one name caught my attention…….6-10 240 power forward Volodymyr Gerun from the Ukraine, transferring after playing a total of 33 minutes in his one season at West Virginia.

Hmm, do you suppose if each PilotNation member were to put together a "realistic" wish list, all our wishes would come true?

I'll start researching transferring cheerleaders soon. Razz

by DoubleDipper Mon May 13, 2013 3:38 pm

PilotNut wrote:Immediate eligibility, and he will come in as a Junior.

I believe you can apply to the NCAA for waivers for situations where a previous program more or less pulls the schollie? WVU would have had to support it, as well...

At this point, I don't plan on looking the gift horse in the mouth.

I'm sure we'll be told the reason for his instant eligibility soon, but the fact Volo played only 33 minutes at WVU could be a factor.

by DoubleDipper Mon May 13, 2013 4:12 pm

Video from two years ago showing why Volo was recruited by WVU. The video is not so good, but the music is sick! I know who the basketball player is; does anyone know who's playing the music?

by DoubleDipper Mon May 13, 2013 4:26 pm

From UP Sports:

Volodymyr Gerun, Transfer from West Virginia, Will Join Pilots

Gerun will be immediately eligible for two seasons with Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Ukranian big man Volodymyr Gerun (voh-luh-dim-er geh-ROON), a transfer from West Virginia University, has joined the University of Portland men’s basketball program, Pilot head coach Eric Reveno announced on Monday. Gerun has enrolled in summer courses with Portland and will have two years of immediate eligibility beginning this fall.

Gerun (6-10, 240) will be a junior for the Pilots next season after spending one year with the Mountaineers. Prior to his time at WVU, Gerun was a standout for the Canarias Basketball Academy where current Pilot center Thomas van der Mars also trained. He also led Ukraine in scoring (18.2), rebounding (11.1) and blocked shots (2.1) at the 2011 Under-18 European Championships.

"Volodymyr is a very exciting addition to our team at this point in the off-season,” Reveno said. “As a skilled big, we anticipate him being able to give us some additional depth and versatility. I first saw Voldi at the U18 European Championships in Poland and when the opportunity presented itself to have him transfer here we moved quickly. Coach (Michael) Wolf and our athletic administration did a great job with the process."

Gerun, just 19 years old, has a wealth of international playing experience that included his breakout performance at the European U-18 Championships. He posted 29 points and 14 rebounds against Italy and also had double-doubles against Finland (19 points, 20 rebounds), Greece (16 points, 18 rebounds), Finland (23 points, 14 rebounds) and the Czech Republic (25 points, 10 rebounds). He was also the MVP of the 2010 Under-16 European Championships after averaging 17.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

Gerun was named to the Basketball Without Borders All-Star Team in 2011 as well as the Under-18 FIBA All-Star Team. He played with the Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk club of the Ukraine Superleague. Gerun joined the Canarias Basketball Academy in the Canary Islands in 2011-12.

His high-level recruitment ended when he accepted an offer from West Virginia at the end of August last summer. Gerun saw limited action in his lone season at WVU as he was forced to miss the first six games of the regular season after the NCAA determined that he played three games on a professional team in the Ukraine during the 2011 season. Gerun, playing behind a veteran frontcourt that included All-Big 12 center Deniz Kilicli, appeared in seven games for the Mountaineers.

Gerun joins fellow incoming recruits Bobby Sharp, Aitor Zubizarreta and Alec Wintering to join Portland’s nine returning lettermen for the 2013-14 season.

by DoubleDipper Mon May 13, 2013 5:40 pm

Once again I've updated DTLegend's box:

	2014	2015	2016	2017
pg				Wintering Zubizarreta
sg	Thieleke Riley	Carr Sharp	Pressley
sf		K. Bailey
pf	Nicholas	Gerun J. Bailey
c		van der Mars Barker

One has to think positively about the next couple of years, but man, six or seven graduations in 2015......

I still think when J. Bailey graduates in 2014 he will leave the roster.

by IronLions Mon May 13, 2013 6:23 pm

Can his nickname be Volvo please. Very Happy

by Geezaldinho Mon May 13, 2013 6:36 pm

IronLions wrote:Can his nickname be Volvo please.

Looking up his name, it means "possession of the world, Peace"

Or, more simply, "world peace"

Not quite " World B. Free" but close.

If he is even a hint of that guy, I'll be happy.

by Guest Mon May 13, 2013 6:46 pm

Metta World Gerun

by dholcombe Mon May 13, 2013 7:30 pm

Immediate eligibility. Sounds good to me.

by Guest Mon May 13, 2013 8:43 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nNXPN_IrONA

Coach Reveno on the addition of Gerun.

As a casual fan of the Pilots...it's hard not to be pretty excited about this addition and the prospects for this team in the immediate future. Gerun being eligible immediately just singlehandedly turned what could have been a major weakness of this team in 2013-14 (4/5 depth) into a strength. How many other teams in the WCC will be able to pull two quality bigs off the bench like the Pilots will be able to with Barker and Gerun? (assuming they don't earn a starting role outright!)

As Coach Rev said in the video...this was a pretty good day for the program.

by Guest Mon May 13, 2013 8:50 pm

Oh, and lost in all this?

Gerun turned 19 less than two months ago. He has got to be the youngest soon-to-be junior in the entire NCAA.

by Guest Mon May 13, 2013 8:55 pm

http://wvmetronews.com/former-wvu-forward-volodymyr-gerun-transfers-to-portland/

This article kind of digs a little deeper into how Gerun was able to be eligible immediately. Coach Wolf is extensively quoted in here and credits WVU with helping with the waiver application that would allow Volodymyr to play right away.

by Guest Tue May 14, 2013 12:37 am

IronLions wrote:Can his nickname be Volvo please.

Did I hear Rev call him "Voldy"?

by Guest Tue May 14, 2013 12:40 am

DoubleDipper wrote:Once again I've updated DTLegend's box:

2014 2015 2016 2017
pg Wintering
Zubizarreta
sg Thieleke
Riley Carr
Sharp Pressley
sf K. Bailey
pf Nicholas Gerun
J. Bailey
c van der Mars
Barker

Rev mentioned the "nine returning players" in his youtube clip. I assume he is not counting David Carr?

by NoPoNeighbor Tue May 14, 2013 1:28 am

Nine would include Carr:

1. Thieleke
2. Riley
3. Nicholas
4. Carr
5. K. Bailey
6. J. Bailey
7. van der Mars
8. Barker
9. Pressley

by Guest Tue May 14, 2013 8:22 am

Oh yeah, I guess Sharp isn't returning. Wonder when he gets on campus.

by DoubleDipper Tue May 14, 2013 8:39 am

up7587 wrote:
IronLions wrote:Can his nickname be Volvo please.
Did I hear Rev call him "Voldy"?

YES!!

We've got to get all other names for him out of our head/vocabulary.....he goes by VOLDY!

And remember, Aitor pronounces his name EYE-Tore, but his nickname Zubi, and it is pronounced SHOO-bee.

.....the players aren't the only ones who'll have to put in some preseason work. Razz

by DoubleDipper Tue May 14, 2013 8:49 am

up7587 wrote:Oh yeah, I guess Sharp isn't returning. Wonder when he gets on campus.

Assuming he graduates from CC (hey, there's always a chance he misses a final or something), I believe he and Alec and Zubi will arrive for the third summer session beginning in July.....making them eligible for the Spain trip in August at the very, very end of the summer school.

(The second summer session begins June 10, so they might just make that, but it will be tight).

by DoubleDipper Wed May 15, 2013 9:28 am

A good reminder for all of us, actually.....from Coach Pfaff:

Nice reminder 4 our guys to hear how great our dining commons, dorms, and campus r from a new player who's lived elsewhere. #begrateful

by DoubleDipper Fri May 17, 2013 12:58 am

I saw where Zubi’s squad was bounced from the Spanish U18 championships held in Galicia this week....stopped in the round of 32.

During the three games of group play, Zubi scored 60 points, which were more points scored than by any other player in the tournament.

I guess now all he has to do is graduate, head to Portland to attend summer school, and head back to Spain for the August tour.....

by DoubleDipper Sun May 19, 2013 9:04 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:
up7587 wrote:Oh yeah, I guess Sharp isn't returning. Wonder when he gets on campus.
Assuming he graduates from CC (hey, there's always a chance he misses a final or something), I believe he and Alec and Zubi will arrive for the third summer session beginning in July.....making them eligible for the Spain trip in August at the very, very end of the summer school.

Hmm, I didn't realize there are overlapping 6 and 8 week summer sessions at UP that seem total about 6 sessions in all.

Alec arrives in Portland on the 18th or 19th and starts class on June 24th....one month to the day after his high school graduation, I believe.

by DoubleDipper Sun May 19, 2013 9:29 pm

Nice little article about Xubi, his play in the U18 Championships and his decison to come to UP while being recruited by Texas A&M, Virginia, and Maine.....

In principle, the current plan is to complete his four year "tour" at UP....

He'll be a Business major with an emphasis on Operations Technology Management.

http://www.solobasket.com/internacional/espanoles-en-usa-aitor-zubizarreta-perla-junior-firma-con-los-portland-pilots-ncaa

by DoubleDipper Mon May 20, 2013 10:39 pm

Good to see David Carr is on his way back and participating in some of the conditioning drills that Coach Scott puts the team through.....

2013 Recruiting: Wintering + Sharp + Zubizarreta + Gerun - Page 12 Exerci10

2013 Recruiting: Wintering + Sharp + Zubizarreta + Gerun - Page 12 Exerci10

by Geezaldinho Mon May 20, 2013 10:59 pm

I love the new path to the bottom of the bluff.