Basketball Hall of Fame

The big news in the basketball world was the induction of Michael Jordan in to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Joining the great one in this year's class were John Stockton, David Robinson, Jerry Sloan & Vivian Stringer.

The crew over at Dime spent much of the weekend talking about the entrants and the ceremony. Most of the articles are 2 or 3 pages deep now.

John Rillie was one of the few that wasn't so focused on MJ, instead talking about his fellow Gonzaga, alumni John Stockton. Click here to read his thoughts about one of the best point guards to ever play the game.

Basketball junkie

If you're a professional basketballer and your season is just finished, what do you do? Well, if you're hoops-junkie John Rillie, you pack up the family and head to the US in time for March Madness! To keep up to date with his travels and college basketball diaries, stay tuned to his blog.

He's landed in Phoenix but there is no word yet if John will be catching up with our boy Steve Nash to take him on in person with some of the basketball shooting challenges he's laid down.

Click on the title below to read the full story of his arrival in the US and also to see a ridiculous dunk from one of his boys at Gonzaga.

JR, On Fire

My family and I have finally made it to Phoenix, AZ (we used all the above mentioned modes of transport) and I just had to strap on one (toothpicks in eyes) as the NCAA Tourney was just getting interesting as I nestled into my new couch of the next couple of weeks.

I am rather delirious right now so I will make it short in fear of saying something stupid.

My toughest decision of the day was deciding which game to watch. A barn burner in the tourney, VCU/UCLA or a ripper in the NBA. The Cleveland Cavs and the young Portland Trailblazers.

I love these types of decisions and I cannot wait to wake up in the morning refreshed ready to do it all again.

The Life Of Rillie

While putting the finishing touches on the Members-Only Workshop of the website, I came across the following historic article on John Rillie and his run with Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament. Click on the title below to read the full story.

Sports | The Life Of Rillie | Seattle Times Newspaper

By Craig Smith

ALTHOUGH TOO SMALL to entertain hopes of making a name for himself in the NBA, Australian John Rillie and his shooting have brought postseason life - and recognition - to Gonzaga. -----------------------------------------------------------------

SPOKANE - The Gonzaga Bulldogs are in the NCAA tournament for the first time because they followed some simple instructions from their coach in the West Coast Conference tournament:

'Get the round thing to the bald thing.'

The round thing was the basketball. The bald thing was senior guard John Rillie, who made 20 of 28 three-pointers and 22 of 24 free throws on his way to averaging 32 points in the three games.

Rillie is a 23-year-old Australian hoopaholic with a shaved head and a textbook jumpshot - beautiful arc and enough backspin to risk skid marks.

Rillie's out-of-body performance in the WCC Tournament in Santa Clara is one of the best performances by a college basketball player in state history.

John Rillie - Gonzaga Days

This is from my boy JR's blog (one of the players on my Top Ten Shooters list). Considering how little information there is about his days at Gonzaga, I might have to get my hands on a copy of this book.


JR, On Fire: "Author Dave Boling put together a book titled Tales from the Gonzaga Hardwood.

I was quite surprised to see that he dedicated a whole chapter to me. I'll take it as the book is a good but lighthearted read about some of the characters and moments in Zag basketball history.

Following is an excerpt from my chapter:

Rillie Raining Threes

John Rillie was so hot, so dialed in, that his teammates were leery about even speaking to him, fearful they might disrupt the delicate calibration of his shooting mechanism. It was in Santa Clara, at the West Coast Conference Tournament in the spring of 1995, and Rillie’s uncanny jump shooting had led the Zags into the title game of the tournament against Portland. A berth in the NCAA tournament went to the winner.

Portland was aligned to defend Rillie, to double him every time he got the ball, to bump him, to jostle him, to beat him to his favored shooting spots. But Rillie just backed up a step or two and continued to shoot over the Pilots.

In the title game, he made eight of twelve shots and all 12 of his free throws for 34 points, setting a tournament record for scoring with 96 points in three games. In that three-game state of unconsciousness, Rillie sank 20 of 28 3-point attempts.

“When you get so involved in so many games and practice so hard, it eventually pays off," Rillie explained. “And for me, that was a great time for it all to come together. You’ve heard people say that when you’re going really well, it seems like the game is being played in slow motion. That really was what it was like. Everything felt like I had so much time.

”At the time, he was appropriately delighted with the tournament MVP honor and the NCAA berth. But he didn’t fully comprehend the historical significance, the way his shooting lifted the Zags to their first ever NCAA tournament appearance.

“In all honesty, I was just so happy to be playing Division I basketball in the U.S., that I was pretty oblivious to a lot of the stuff that was going on,” he said. “I watch the NCAAs now and see all of Gonzaga’s success and I’m far more emotionally attached to it now than I was when I was playing. I was so wet behind the ears I didn’t know what was going on. I was like that puppy in the window just waiting for somebody to pick me up and take me somewhere.”

Well, somebody took him to the NCAA tournament, a destination to which previous Zags had never ventured."