GU aide Grier already a winner
Come postseason tournament time, sleep is always at a premium for college basketball coaches trying to prepare, on a short turn-around, for their next opponent.
But this year, Gonzaga assistant Bill Grier finds himself operating on even less shuteye than normal after his wife, Nicole, recently gave birth to the couple’s first child.
Giselle Marie Grier was born March 4, the day before GU opened play in the the West Coast Conference men’s tournament at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
And while Grier, 42, admits he has been a bit sleep-deprived since her arrival, he says he wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
“Winning the WCC tournament championship was awesome,” explained Grier, who is currently helping prepare the fifth-ranked and third-seeded Bulldogs for Thursday’s NCAA tournament opener against 14th-seeded Xavier in Salt Lake City. “But this just blew it away.
“Next to getting married, it’s been the greatest day of my life.”
Grier said both his wife and daughter, who checked in at 8 pounds and 19 1/2 inches, are doing fine, and seemed hesitant to complain about his own lack of sleep.
“I didn’t sleep much during the course of that first week,” he admitted, “but (Giselle) is doing OK, now, through the night.”
As for the timing of his daughter’s birth, Grier admitted it could have been better. But it helped, he added, that it came a day before the Zags started WCC play – and in a local hospital, where he was able to witness the arrival.
Grier was on the bench at both of GU’s tournament games and, because of the way the earlier rounds played out, was not responsible for scouting either of the Zags’ two opponents.
“I’ve never been a real baby guy – one to pick up someone else’s baby,” Grier confessed. “But when I’ve got (Giselle) in my arms, it changes everything. Everybody says you can’t explain it or put a value on it until you’ve gone through it, and that is so true.”
Four-win repeat a first
When Xavier won four games in four nights to win its conference tournament, the Musketeers became the first team in NCAA history to accomplish such a feat twice.
In the 2004, the Musketeers did the same thing to earn the Atlantic 10’s automatic NCAA berth and proceeded to advance to the Elite Eight.
“Both were magical times,” said Xavier’s second-year head coach, Sean Miller, who was a Musketeers assistant in 2004.
“It takes so much concentration. You enter the tournament with your backs completely against the wall, and when you leave the tournament a champion – especially this season, considering the parity and great teams in our league – you leave with a great sense of fulfillment.”
Scheduling misses
It seems Xavier has been trying for the past few years, to no avail, to schedule Gonzaga for a regular-season encounter.
But Musketeers coach Sean Miller refused to suggest the Bulldogs might be dodging his team.
“It’s been difficult,” he admitted of the scheduling misconnections. “The fact they’re located on the west coast hasn’t made it easy. We have attempted a couple of times to do it, but it hasn’t worked out.”
When asked about any other hangups, Miller claimed he didn’t know of any.
“But we get a chance to play them on Thursday, so that’s all out the door.”
Three-pointers
Xavier’s Sean Miller is the first Atlantic 10 Conference coach to win the league tournament without a senior starter. … Musketeers junior forward Justin Cage was named this year’s A-10 championship’s most outstanding player after averaging 14.3 points and shooting 72.4 percent from the field in Xavier’s four tournament games. … Cage and junior teammate Justin Doellman were both starters, as freshmen, on the Musketeers’ 2004 team that made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. … Gonzaga senior center J.P. Batista says he is still not completely recovered from the knee strain and thigh bruise he suffered during the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament, but said he expects to be close to 100 percent by Thursday’s opening-round NCAA matchup against Xavier. … Gonzaga enters NCAA play with an 18-game winning streak, the longest in the nation.