Nevill & The Utes Done

Will Luke Nevill be the next Aussie in the NBA?

Talk about a tough decision. Since landing in the USA on Thursday, I have had the ability to watch basketball for every waking minute but my blogging time has been effected.

Thanks to the NCAA Tourney and NBA TV I've been getting my fill of both forms of the game.

One minute I'm seeing Jeremy Pargo (Gonzaga) dunk on a skinny red head kid probably from the Mid West (Akron), then with the push of a button I'm checking out silky smooth Ray Allen drop some threes on a porous Memphis Grizzles defense.

But the story of the weekend for me was Luke Nevill's college career is over.

His Utah Utes were defeated in the first round of the NCAA Tourney by the Arizona Wildcats.

I have been following Nevill all season as he is one Aussie that was truly flying under the radar with Pat Mills and AJ Ogilvy dominating the headlines. Nevill responded with being named Defensive and Player of the Year of the Mountain West Conference, while setting a school record in block.

On Friday when the Utes and Wildcats tipped off, you could tell that Arizona's game plan was to shut down Nevill.

Early foul trouble did not help out the Perth native but every time he got a low post touch, Nevill was looking at four Wildcat jerseys the minute he faced the basketball. The Wildcats gave him no breathing room what so ever.

This is one aspect that always sparks the "what's better" to watch debate, NBA or college.

Nevill clearly has an offensive skill set (when he saw single coverage he scored on most occasions) that will allow him to score at will if played straight up, but due to the rules in college he can face a double team way before he has touched the ball.

This is style of defense is not allowed in the NBA.

But give credit to Arizona for their game plan as it was clear the Utes would struggle to score enough points if Nevill was restricted at the offensive end.

Nevill can be proud of what he has achieved in his college career but it is time for him to move onto his next phase in his basketball career.

I mentioned on "The OT" the other day that Nevill could really boost his NBA stock with a couple of solid NCAA tourney games. This was not to happen but Nevill will still get the opportunity to perform at the highest level in the game.

In the upcoming months look for Nevill to workout for many NBA teams and decide where his stock value rates.

In my opinion I believe we will see this Aussie in the NBA for many years to come.

The time has come, I have more live NCAA games to watch, Arizona St and Syracuse is calling me.