Monson Keeping Zags’ Early Success In Perspective

In the latest Associated Press college basketball Top 25, Gonzaga is 32nd.

Do not confuse this for just another variation on the old coach’s A-material joke, about being picked to finish ninth in an eight-team league. Likewise, we should take care and not assume this year’s Bulldogs are just another variation on an old Gonzaga theme.

Not that they wouldn’t be flattered by the association.

But if Dan Monson felt the need to make a statement, to inaugurate his new administration with some bold stroke, then surely the Zags couldn’t have backed his play any better than they did last weekend not so much with the shot heard ‘round the college basketball world, but the cannonade.

Guess it had to be, for the sound to carry from Fairbanks, Alaska.

It was there the Zags won something called the Top of the World Classic, knocking off Tulsa, Mississippi State and Clemson. Any one would have been GU’s most notable victim other than perhaps Stanford in the 1994 NIT - in more than a decade, but the Zags beat all three on successive days. In a couple cases, beat them badly.

Tulsa, for instance, fell by 38 points - this a team that reached the second round of the NCAAs last spring and lost only two starters. MSU, a Final Four team two years ago, lost by two. And Clemson, ranked fifth in the Top 25, lost by 13 in the title game.

Monson himself has almost lost his voice telling everyone to keep it all in perspective, though it can’t be anything but bright.

“I still think the measuring stick is March, just like in football it’s November,” said GU’s first-year head coach. “But those wins were about respect - for people to understand that our league is good and that Gonzaga isn’t just the school that produced John Stockton a whole bunch of years ago.

“This is something you can’t take away from us. We beat the fifth-ranked team in the country. Even if they end up 3-23, when we played them, they were ranked fifth. If we start their slide, so be it.”

Just as long as the euphoria doesn’t send the Zags into one.

Monson has some concern in that regard because no sooner did the Zags return from the frozen north than they departed again. They play in Michigan State’s tournament this weekend, stop at Chicago State for a Monday night game and eventually wind up in Pullman a week from today for a date with Washington State.

So what’s with the death wish, Munse?

“We’re trying to simulate March,” he explained. “That’s why we scheduled this way.”

It is markedly different from the way his predecessor and mentor, Dan Fitzgerald, scheduled, not that you won’t find Whitman on Monson’s schedule, too.

“Fitz’s philosophy was different,” he said. “He wanted to get the kids’ confidence up in the preseason, and a lot of times it worked. But the year we went to the NCAAs, we were 11-1 and then started the league 0-6. I thought we had enough people back that we could handle some adversity in the preseason, that it could make us stronger.”

He’s still looking for the adversity.

In three days in Alaska, the Zags trailed once - 23-21 against Mississippi State. They shot 56 percent from the floor and 65 percent from beyond the 3-point line. Against Clemson, GU played the entire second quarter with starting big men Axel Dench and Bakari Hendrix on the bench with two fouls apiece. With true freshman Casey Calvary and senior Doug Griffin - who played all of 77 minutes last year - on the floor, the Bulldogs pushed their lead from seven to 14 points.

This might be a good time to ask Monson to help you shop for lottery tickets.

Understand that Tulsa and Clemson probably wouldn’t know if Gonzaga is a saint or a submarine sandwich. On the other hand, preparation has always been the Bulldogs’ gig, and that’s true just as much in November as it is in February.

“Tulsa didn’t have a clue what we were doing,” said sophomore guard Matt Santangelo. “And Clemson - they were pretty scary the last 6 minutes, but the whole time up to that it was, ‘Gonzuggah? Where?”’

But it’s not as if the Zags are a team without issues, either.

One, there is The Mix.

Instead of playing his senior year at Gonzaga, 7-foot Paul Rogers is playing it Madrid, where he signed for several hundred thousand dollars after playing footsy with the NBA. The Zags have had since July to get used to that idea, but it got a little more complicated when the staff decided to bite the bullet and redshirt 6-11 senior Jeremy Eaton, for his own good and the long-term health of the program.

The upshot is that now the first two subs off the bench are both brand new to the program, a real departure at GU. Fortunately, in 5-8 guard Quentin Hall the Bulldogs may have the quickest player ever to wear their uniform, and in Calvary they have “the best athlete inside we’ve had since I’ve been here,” according to Monson.

“Quentin gives us another dimension, and allows Matt some freedom when we play the two of them together,” Monson said. “And normally a freshman like Casey redshirts here, but we felt he needed to get some minutes because he’s physically ready.”

Two, there was The Skid.

Gonzaga lost its last four games a year ago after being in a position to win the West Coast Conference, and Monson is still treating the hangover.

“We’ve talked about it continually,” he said. “I felt our team last year really wanted to win too bad and they went on their own to try and do anything they could to get it done. We’ve talked about the only way to face adversity is together.”

Finally, there is The Boss.

Everyone on the bench has moved down a seat this year, and the hot one belongs to Monson, who is following the man who defined Gonzaga basketball.

“Even though I felt I was ready for the job, I’m still being evaluated by people - and by the kids some, too,” Monson said. “Maybe they’re asking did I get this job because I worked for Fitz for nine years, or can I really coach? So this was a big tournament for me, for credibility’s sake.”

But not just for him.

“Those are the biggest games I ever played in,” said Santangelo, the tournament MVP. “When you’re at a smaller school, with no notoriety, to have the highlights show up on SportsCenter is a fantasy that just runs through your head. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

Who knows? In March, maybe they can do a variation on the theme.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review