Gaels, Toreros Seem Hard To Overlook
WCC basketball preview
A glance back to last season, when Gonzaga and Santa Clara shared the West Coast Conference regular-season championship, would suggest that tonight’s Martin Centre matchup between the schools should again have title connotations.
But GU coach Dan Fitzgerald is quick to warn that “in this case, the year before is so much the year before that it’s unbelievable.”
Translation: Neither his Bulldogs nor Dick Davey’s Broncos will have much in common with last year’s teams when they open their WCC schedules at 7.
Santa Clara (6-6) comes in without two-time all-WCC point guard Steve Nash, who has taken his act to the NBA. GU (7-5), after losing senior center Paul Rogers to a season-ending foot injury, has only one starter - senior guard Lorenzo Rollins - back from last year.
And neither team is considered a favorite in this year’s WCC race.
Instead, league coaches seem most enamored with San Diego and Saint Mary’s, teams that finished sixth and seventh last season - although Fitzgerald isn’t ready to dismiss Santa Clara, especially with the Broncos in town where they can read his comments.
“I still think you have to go with San Diego and Saint Mary’s in some order,” Fitzgerald said, explaining that his team and Portland, which won last year’s WCC Tournament and automatic NCAA berth, have been weakened by injuries to key players.
“But Santa Clara could still get in there. Their worst game is, what, a close win over Eastern Washington? They’ve lost to Kansas, Fresno State and at Indiana. And they probably have the league’s best win (over Alabama).
“Throw that schedule at the Zags and I’ll take 6-6 in a heartbeat.”
Still, San Diego’s Toreros (8-4), who have won five straight after early season losses to top-ranked Kansas, San Diego State and No. 21 Stanford, are playing as well as any team in the league.
And Saint Mary’s (10-3), which boasts the massive front line of A.J. Rollins (6-foot-8, 235 pounds), Eric Schraeder (6-9, 220) and Brian “Bigger Country” Millard (7-3, 345), isn’t far behind.
In addition, the Gaels expect to regain the services of injured shooting guard David Sivulich, a 15.7 points-per-game scorer last season, in the near future.
“We’re really pleased with our basketball team to date,” admitted sixth-year SMC coach Ernie Kent, who brings his Gaels into Martin Centre to meet GU at 5 p.m. Saturday. “We feel like we’ve been competitive in all our games and that’s probably the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve had a team that has shown up and been mentally tuned in and ready to play every night.”
, DataTimes