Blame Pendo for ‘stache

SALT LAKE CITY – Gonzaga’s David Pendergraft confessed Wednesday afternoon that he was the guy who talked teammate Adam Morrison into trying to grow his now-famous, sort-of mustache.

“I didn’t think he’d do it,” Pendergraft said, just prior to a made-for-media practice session at Huntsman Center, where the Bulldogs will take on Xavier at 4:20 this afternoon in the first round of the NCAA tournament. “But he did, and it kind of started a national fiasco.

“And all the credits on him for keeping it going.”

But in the immense national shadow of Morrison’s sparce ‘stache, Pendergraft and teammates Josh Heytvelt, J.P. Batista and Sean Mallon have begun sprouting a little facial hair of their own.

According to Pendergraft, a red-headed sophomore forward, the front-line players on GU’s roster all decided to start growing various types of mustaches and beards prior to the start of the West Coast Conference tournament, which the Zags recently won.

“We said we weren’t going to cut them off until we lost, so they’re still growing,” explained Pendergraft.

When asked what he called the Van Dyke-like crop of red whiskers covering his upper lip and chin, Pendergraft said, “An effort.”

“I think it beats Adam’s, but I don’t know if that’s saying much. It’s still pretty high-schoolish compared to J.P.’s and Josh’s.”

As for Morrison, he remains the king.

“It’s pretty adolescent,” Morrison said of the mustache that started it all. “I’ve always wanted to have facial hair, and this is the first thing I’ve grown. I’ll go with what I can get for now.

“I am from Spokane, so a mustache is all right.”

Batista improving

J.P. Batista, Gonzaga’s 6-foot-9 senior center who suffered a knee strain and thigh bruise in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament 11 days ago, declared himself “90 percent” healthy following a rigorous Wednesday morning practice.

“It feels a lot better today,” he said of knee. “So far, it feels great.”

Cole one to watch

One of the least-publicized players heading into this afternoon’s Gonzaga-Xavier first-round NCAA showdown could end up being one of the game’s biggest stories.

Brandon Cole, Xavier’s 6-8 junior forward, missed all but two games last season after suffering a serious knee injury and played in only 12 of the Musketeers’ first 24 games this season because of lingering problems with the knee.

But he has become a major contributor of late, and played a key role in Xavier’s four-game march to the Atlantic-10 Conference tournament championship, pulling down 21 rebounds.

“We won the tournament, in a large part, due to his ability to rebound,” Coach Sean Miller said of Cole, who played, as a freshman, in all 37 games of Xavier’s run to the Elite Eight of the 2004 NCAA tournament.

“Having him back right now really helps our team.”

“For Brandon’s career – with a year left next year, I’m glad to see him doing this, because I believe a year from now, he’ll be at his very best.”

J.P., as in Just Peachy

He’s averaging nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds a game, but virtually none of the national spotlight focused on the Gonzaga Bulldogs falls on center J.P. Batista. Instead, the big Brazilian is overshadowed by teammate Adam Morrison – and Batista admitted at Wednesday’s press conference prior to the Zags’ practice at Huntsman Center that it doesn’t bother him.

“I think it’s great,” he said with a broad smile. “All you guys make me nervous. And sometimes when I get nervous, my English mess up.”

Another dinner date

Last year, Gonzaga coach Mark Few and Utah’s Ray Giacoletti – close friends from the days when Giacoletti coached at Eastern Washington and before when both were assistants – wound up with their teams at the same first-round site in Tucson.

They’re together again this year – but only because Giacoletti’s Utes weren’t selected for either the NCAA tournament or NIT.

“We had dinner last night,” Few told Utah reporters. “You guys have aged him.”

Big problems?

Don’t think it doesn’t spook Gonzaga just a little bit that Xavier’s starting “bigs” – 6-foot-9 Justin Doellman and Josh Duncan – have each fired up more than 100 3-pointers this season, making more than 36 percent.

“That presents problems for anybody – not just us,” said Few, “especially when you’re in a traditional lineup with a big ‘5’ man. But we have teams in our league that do that, too. San Diego’s bigs all shoot it from the outside and Saint Mary’s has a good 3-point shooter in Daniel Kickert, so it’s not as if we haven’t seen it before.”

Who are those guys?

Call it spin control if you will, but the highest seeds at the Salt Lake City site – third-seeded Gonzaga and fourth-seeded Boston College – don’t feel much like favorites, at least not overwhelming favorites.

“Talking upstairs after the coaches’ meeting with (BC coach) Al Skinner, we were commenting on how many good teams there are in college basketball,” Few said. “You watch those NIT games last night and there are some good teams battling it out that didn’t even make the (NCAA) field; teams that are scary good. And as coach Skinner said, there are some really good teams that didn’t make the NIT. There were a couple in our league who were playing well at the end of the year.

“There are no easy outs.”