Saint Mary's Gaels | |
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Position | Assistant coach |
League | West Coast Conference |
Personal information | |
Born | Mesa, Arizona | April 14, 1989
Nationality | American |
Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
Listed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Dobson (Mesa, Arizona) |
College | Saint Mary's (2007–2011) |
NBA draft | 2011: undrafted |
Playing career | 2011–2019 |
Position | Point guard |
Coaching career | 2019–present |
Career history | |
As player: | |
2011–2012 | Fileni Jesi |
2012–2013 | Tezenis Verona |
2013–2014 | Texas Legends |
2014–2015 | Telekom Baskets Bonn |
2015–2016 | Champagne Châlons-Reims Basket |
2016–2017 | Río Natura Monbús Obradoiro |
2017–2018 | EWE Baskets Oldenburg |
2018–2019 | Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez |
As coach: | |
2019–present | Saint Mary's (assistant) |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Stats at Basketball Reference |
Richard Barton "Mickey" McConnell (born April 14, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the Saint Mary's Gaels of the West Coast Conference. He played college basketball at Saint Mary's College of California. In 2011, he was named West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. McConnell was drafted in 31st round of the 2011 MLB First Year Player Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
McConnell was born on April 14, 1989, in Mesa, Arizona, to Pam and Rick McConnell. Rick McConnell is the head basketball coach at Dobson High School and was a member of the University of Arizona's 1976 College World Series Championship baseball team. Mickey's older brother Matt plays baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league organization. Their grandfather Dick has the most wins in Arizona high school basketball history. [1] The youngest McConnell received the nickname "Mickey" as a homage to Mickey Mantle. [2]
He attended Dobson High School and was coached by his father. In his Dobson career, McConnell scored a school record 1,650 points while dishing out a school record 545 assists. As a junior, he averaged 21.0 points, 6.0 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game as the Mustangs notched a 19–12 record. McConnell shot 48% from the perimeter and led the East Valley 5A conference in scoring, 3-point percentage, and assists. The Mustangs reached the 2006 Arizona high school playoffs before losing to Corona del Sol High School. Following the season he was selected to the East Valley 5A All-Region team. [1]
In McConnell's senior year, he posted averages of 20.6 points, 7.4 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.0 steals per game in leading Dobson to a 23–7 record and state playoff appearance. The Arizona Republic named him to the First Team All State, and he was an East Valley 5A All-Region team selection. [1] He originally signed with New Mexico, but opted out of his letter of intent after coach Ritchie McKay was fired. [3] After considering UC Irvine, University of San Diego, and division 1 baseball options McConnell committed to Saint Mary's on April 28, 2007. [4] [5] He chose the Gaels because, in his own words, "I liked the whole environment and the rise of the program. It was just a good fit for me as far as the family culture atmosphere. I thought it was the best place for me to go to be successful." [4]
In addition to his basketball exploits, McConnell was a star shortstop on the baseball team. He hit .445 with 3 home runs and 25 stolen bases his senior year. He holds the school record for stolen bases with 54 and is second all time in hits (101) and sixth in home runs (4). In his senior year, he was an 5A All-State Selection. [6]
Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
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Mickey McConnell Point guard | Mesa, Arizona | Dobson (AZ) | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Apr 28, 2007 | |
Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A | ||||||
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McConnell seldom played as a freshman, averaging 1.0 points per game in 6.4 minutes per game of playing time. He scored a season-high five points and grabbed three rebounds against Cal State Bakersfield. [1] The Gaels finished the season 25–7, and made the NCAA Tournament as a ten seed. [7]
In his sophomore campaign, McConnell increased his averages to 5.4 points and 21.3 minutes per game. He scored in excess of 10 points on five occasions. [1] He recorded his first collegiate 20 point night on February 14, 2009, in a 75–68 win over Portland. [8] In the February 21 ESPN BracketBusters matchup versus Utah State, McConnell started in place of injured Australian guard Patty Mills and registered a season-high 22 points. He shot 6-for-6 from the field and 9-for-11 from the foul line as the Gaels earned a 75–64 victory. [9] McConnell helped the Gaels go 28–7 and advance to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. [10]
McConnell averaged 13.8 points and 5.1 assists per game as a junior. [1] Over the course of the regular season, McConnell led the nation in three-point shooting with a 51.5% efficiency (minimum 2.0 attempts per game and 75% of games played). [11] He hit a total of 77 threes, tied for fourth most in a single season in Gael history. [1] He shot 51.4% overall in West Coast Conference play, eighth best in the league. [12] McConnell's average of 13.7 points per game in conference ranked tenth in the West Coast Conference, and his 5.3 assists per game was third. [13] [14] He dished out a total of 174 assists on the year, the fourth best single season mark for a Gael. McConnell led the team with 50 steals and his 1.5 steals per game was fifth in the WCC in that statistic. [1] In a blowout of the Howard Bison on December 30, McConnell registered his first double-double as he posted 11 points and 11 assists. [15]
He led the team to a 28–6 finish, a ten seed in the NCAA Tournament, and a berth in the Sweet Sixteen. [16] McConnell was named Most Valuable Player of the 2010 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament as he matched his season high with 26 points to help Saint Mary's defeat Gonzaga in the championship game. [17] In the NCAA Tournament, he connected on 5-of-9 attempts from beyond the arc and scored 23 points in an 80–71 first round victory over the Richmond Spiders. [18] McConnell had 15 points in the 75–68 Round of 32 win over Villanova and banked in the go-ahead three-point shot with 1:55 to play. [1] He was named to the All-West Coast Conference Team at the conclusion of the season. [19] He was recognized as an All-Ninth District second-team selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. [20]
Prior to his senior year, McConnell was named to the preseason All-West Coast Conference Team. [21] He was on the preseason watchlist for the Bob Cousy Award honoring the top point guard in college basketball. [22] Jeff Goodman ranked him the #13 shooter in college basketball. [23] McConnell was named to the South Padre Island Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading Saint Mary's to the championship game against BYU. [1] In back-to-back victories against Mississippi State and Hartford, he posted a double-double (28 points and 13 assists) and then 21 points and seven assists, respectively. This earned him West Coast Conference Player of the Week and TheHoopsReport.com National Player of the Week honors for the week of December 28 – January 3. [24] For the second straight week McConnell was recognized as West Coast Conference Player of the Week after leading the team to wins against Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine. [1] On January 27, McConnell contributed 27 points and hit the game-winning shot with 1.2 seconds remaining to defeat the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The victory was the first for head coach Randy Bennett at the Bulldogs' home, the McCarthey Athletic Center, and the first by a Gaels team since 1995. [25] McConnell scored a career-high 32 points in a loss to Portland on January 29. [1] [26] These performances earned him his third West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors. [1] After victories over Santa Clara and San Francisco, McConnell was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week for the fourth time on February 14. [27] McConnell was on midseason watchlist for Naismith College Player of the Year. [28]
Saint Mary's went 25–9 in McConnell's senior season, captured a share of the West Coast Conference regular season title with an 11–3 record, and reached the 2011 National Invitation Tournament. In the first round of the NIT, Saint Mary's was upset by Kent State 71–70. At the end of the season, McConnell garnered West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year honors as well as repeating on the All-West Coast Conference Team. [29] He was among the final ten candidates for the Bob Cousy Award. [30] He was recognized as an All-Ninth District first-team selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. [31] The U.S. Basketball Writers Association named McConnell to the 10-man All-District IX team covering college basketball players in the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona, and Alaska. [32] He was picked to the Fourth Team All-America and Mid-Major All-America Team by Fox Sports. [33] McConnell was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press. [34]
McConnell finished his career with 1,234 points, 12th most in Saint Mary's history. He is also second in assists and third in three-pointers made. [6] Head coach Randy Bennett said that, of all the players he coached, McConnell improved the most. [35]
The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted McConnell on the third day in the 31st round with the 944th overall pick in the 2011 MLB First Year Player Draft. The pick completely surprised McConnell, who had not played baseball since high school. "In the summers I would hit a little bit and do minor baseball stuff with my brother but nothing serious or organized," he said. [6] A Dodgers scout said that the pick was not a publicity stunt, and he believed that McConnell had a career in baseball. McConnell affirmed that he was committed to basketball, in the NBA or overseas, but would not rule out becoming a professional baseball player in the future. [36]
McConnell signed with Fileni Jesi of Italy's Legadue Basket for the 2011–12 season. In Jesi, McConnell averaged 17.6 points and 3.4 assists. [37]
In 2012, he signed with Tezenis Verona for the 2012–13 season.
On September 10, 2013, he signed with the Dallas Mavericks. [38] However, he was waived on October 26. [39] In November 2013, he was acquired by the Texas Legends. [40]
On August 11, 2014, he signed with Telekom Baskets Bonn of Germany for the 2014–15 season. [41] In Bonn, he averaged 7.7 points and 3.6 assists over 19 minutes per game in Eurocup action and 8.6 points per game with 3.8 assists in 22 minutes per game in the regular season. [42]
McConnell would join his home state Phoenix Suns for the July 2015 Las Vegas Summer League squad averaging 4.3 points and 2.3 assists per game in 18.9 min per game. After Summer League, McConnell signed with Châlons-Reims. [42]
On July 18, 2016, McConnell signed with the Spanish team Obradoiro CAB. [43] McConnell finished the season averaging 11.2 PPG and led the ACB in assists with 6.5 APG.
For the 2017–18 campaign, McConnell signed with EWE Baskets Oldenburg of the Bundesliga. [44]
He spent the 2018–19 season in Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez, averaging 13 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds and 35 minutes. [45] On June 20, 2019, the club announced during a press conference that he would join the basketball staff of its university Saint Mary's College of California. [46]
Mickey McConnell played for Team Gael Force in the 2018 edition of The Basketball Tournament. In three games, he had 11.3 points per game, 3.7 rebounds per game and 5.0 assists per game. Team Gael Force made it to the Super 16 before falling to eventual tournament runner-up Eberlein Drive.
In July 2019, McConnell joined the coaching staff at his alma mater as an assistant coach. [47]
He is married to the former Meagan Densberger, who he met at Saint Mary's.
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Suzie McConnell-Serio is a former American women's basketball coach and player. She was the head coach for the women's basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh from 2013 to 2018. In 2004, she was named WNBA Coach of the Year as coach of the Minnesota Lynx. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Kelly Lee Graves is the current head women's basketball coach at the University of Oregon. Previously, Graves was the head women's basketball coach at St. Mary's from 1997 to 2000, as well as Gonzaga University from 2000 to 2014. He was formerly an assistant coach for the Portland Pilots (1994–1997) and St. Mary Gaels, where he later got his first head coaching stint with the Gaels from 1997 to 2000. From the 2004–2005 season to the 2013–2014 season, he guided Gonzaga to ten consecutive West Coast Conference regular season titles. The 2007 team went 13–1 in conference play, and later won the WCC conference tournament. The school also received its first ever NCAA tournament appearance. He was named WCC co-coach of the year for his accomplishments. In 2005, 2010, and 2011, Gonzaga went undefeated in WCC regular season play.
The Saint Mary's Gaels are the athletic teams that compete at Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California. The nickname applies to the college's intercollegiate NCAA Division I teams and to the school's club sports teams. Most varsity teams compete in the West Coast Conference.
The Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team represents Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California, competing in the West Coast Conference of the NCAA. The team plays home games in the University Credit Union Pavilion, capacity 3,500; it is one of the smaller gyms in the WCC. The current head coach is Randy Bennett, who is the school's all-time wins leader. The Gaels have appeared in thirteen NCAA Tournaments—1959, 1989, 1997, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Courtney Vandersloot is an American basketball point guard for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for Fenerbahçe in the EuroLeague Women. Drafted by the Chicago Sky with the third pick in the 2011 WNBA draft, she was selected as an All-Star and named to the All-Rookie Team in her rookie year. She was named an All-Star again in 2019, 2021 and 2023, and led the Sky to their first WNBA Championship in 2021. She led the WNBA in assists in 2014 and for five consecutive seasons during 2017–2021, and holds the all-time WNBA records for highest assists-per-game in a season (9.1) and highest career assists-per-game (6.7).
Steve Gray is a retired American basketball player. He was a two-time West Coast Athletic Conference player of the year at Saint Mary's College.
LaRoy Samuel Doss was an American college basketball player and businessman. He was the first African-American player in Saint Mary's College history and their first to be named West Coast Conference player of the year.
Diamon Simpson is an American former professional basketball player working as an assistant coach for the Capital City Go-Go of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels.
Eric Schraeder is an American former basketball player. He played professionally in Sweden and Germany and was the 1999 West Coast Conference player of the year as a senior at Saint Mary's College.
Kevin Joseph Pangos is a Canadian-Slovenian professional basketball player for GeVi Napoli of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He spent his college basketball career playing for the Gonzaga Bulldogs of the West Coast Conference. He was named the 2015 WCC Player of the Year, as well as a third-team All-American by Sporting News. Pangos has also represented Canada on the international stage.
The 2012–13 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gonzaga University in the 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played their home games at the McCarthey Athletic Center, which has a capacity of 6,000. The Bulldogs, were in their 33rd season as a member of the West Coast Conference, and were led by head coach Mark Few, who was in his 14th season as head coach. In the previous season, the Zags gained a record of 26–7 and reached the third round of the 2012 NCAA tournament.
Timothy John McConnell Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duquesne Dukes and the Arizona Wildcats.
Louella Brooke Tomlinson is an Australian former professional basketball player. She retired in June 2021.
Garrett Jackson is an American former professional basketball player and current coach. He currently serves as an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for USC and Saint Mary's before playing professionally in Australia and Germany.
Jock Landale is an Australian professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels. Landale also represents the Australian national team. He was part of the Australian team that won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Emmett Naar is an Australian professional basketball player for the Brisbane Bullets of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels between 2014 and 2018 before debuting in the NBL, where he played four seasons for the Illawarra Hawks.
Jordan Matthew Ford is an American professional basketball player for Dolomiti Energia Trento of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He played college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels.
The Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball statistical leaders are individual statistical leaders of the Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball program in various categories, including points, three-pointers, assists, blocks, rebounds, and steals. Within those areas, the lists identify single-game, single-season, and career leaders. The Gaels represent Saint Mary's College in the NCAA's West Coast Conference.
The 2007–08 Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team represented Saint Mary's College of California in the 2007–08 college basketball season, coached by Randy Bennett for the 7th consecutive year. The Gaels competed in the West Coast Conference and played their home games at the McKeon Pavilion. They finished conference play with a record of 12–2 to place second. They reached the semifinal round of the 2008 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament, but received an at-large bid to the 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament where they entered as the No. 10 seed South Region. The Gaels were beaten by No. 7 seed Miami (FL) in the opening round to end their season 25–7.
Alexander Ducas is an Australian professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA G League. He began his career in the Australian state leagues before moving to the United States in 2019 to play college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels. He played five seasons for the Gaels and earned second-team All-WCC in 2022 and 2024.