SPOKANE, Wash. – Kelly Olynyk, who helped lead the Gonzaga men's basketball program to its first-ever No. 1 national ranking, will be honored by Gonzaga Athletics Monday during a ceremony prior to the game against Kent State.
Olynyk, who will become the fourth player in men's program history to have his jersey displayed in the McCarthey Athletic Center, will be present for the ceremony. He will join Frank Burgess, John Stockton and Adam Morrison among those with their jersey numbers hung in the arena.
Olynyk broke onto the national basketball scene and became one of the unique stories of the 2013 season. After redshirting as a junior the previous season to re-tool his body, he displayed a new fervor for the game and became an inside force. He was up for every national award offered:
• Associated Press All-America First Team
• U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-America First Team
• U.S. Basketball Writers Association District IX Player of the Year; District IX First Team
• John R. Wooden Award Top Five All-American
• Sporting News All-America First Team
• Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Trophy Finalist
• Naismith Men's College Player of the Year Award Top 30
Olynyk was also named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, All-WCC First Team, Capital One Academic All-America® Division I First Team, Capital One Academic All-America® Division I District 8 First Team, West Coast Conference Men's Basketball All-Academic Team, Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was selected to the Old Spice Classic All-Tournament Team.
Olynyk averaged 17.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists per game and 1.1 blocks per game in helping Gonzaga to a school-record 32 wins in a 32-3 season. The Bulldogs finished the season ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press Top 25 for their inaugural No. 1 ranking, and also earned a No. 1 seed into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
Olynyk, born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Kamloops, British Columbia, also joined an elite group in earning AP All-America and Capital One Academic All-America® accolades, becoming just the fifth player overall since 2000 and the second Zag to earn both distinctions. Gonzaga's Dan Dickau turned the trick in 2002 with D.J. Augustin of the University of Texas in 2008, Emeka Okafor of the University of Connecticut in 2004 and Shane Battier of Duke University in 2001 the others.
Olynyk posted a 3.53 undergraduate GPA in earning his Bachelor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in accounting in December 2012. He started work on his MBA. After declaring himself eligible for the NBA Draft and foregoing his final year of collegiate eligibility, Olynyk was the 13th overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks, who traded him to the Boston Celtics on draft night. He became the highest Bulldog draft pick since Austin Daye was the 15th overall pick of the Detroit Pistons in 2009. He's the fifth Gonzaga draft pick taken in the first round.
