GU’s Gores relishes work on selection panel

TAMPA, Fla. – Heather Gores is in Tampa for a little R&R.

All the Gonzaga associate athletic director has to do is make sure the Stanford women’s basketball team has a pleasant experience (outcome aside) at the Final Four as she tries to see to the Cardinal’s every need.

Compared to the last four weeks, that’s a well-deserved vacation.

Gores is nearing the end of her first basketball season as a member of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Committee. Though there are year-round obligations, there is madness in March when the NCAA tournament field is selected and the games play out.

“I’ll be gone five straight weeks,” Gores said. “I worry about what this is doing to my children. On the other side, professionally, this is something you dream of doing, being part of. It’s rewarding in that sense.”

Gores, a California native, played at Washington State and was ninth on the WSU career scoring list. She was a restricted-earnings coach when Cougars assistant Kellee Barney became head coach at Gonzaga. Barney brought Gores, whose maiden name was Norman, to GU as an assistant. At Gonzaga she met and married Greg Gores, now head baseball coach at Gonzaga Prep.

After six seasons, Gores moved into athletic administration without thinking she would land in such a high-profile position so quickly.

“This is something I’ve always thought would be tremendous to be part of,” she said. “I never thought it would be at this point in my career. Ten years down the road, maybe.”

Helping select the tournament field is the often-questioned, rarely-understood part of Gores’ duties that leave her and nine other committee members open for criticism.

Fun, stress and exciting would describe Gores’ reaction to her introduction of the selection process.

“Being new, some of the pressure is off a little bit,” she said. “I have one vote. You cast your vote, but it has to be a majority to move forward. It was very interesting.

“It really is a fair process. I can say this, being from Gonzaga, if your team is being talked about you’re asked to leave the room. It protects the integrity of the committee. You can’t lobby for your team.”

That’s why she can only speculate – and won’t discuss – why the Bulldogs, one of the proverbial bubble teams, were left out of the tournament after losing in the West Coast Conference tournament championship game, thus losing the automatic bid.

The case for Gonzaga was a 24-8 record, winning the WCC by five games, a RPI ranking around 40, a league RPI of eight and wins over big-conference members Washington and Marquette.

On the negative side were a couple of losses to lower RPI teams and no wins over Top 50 teams in three attempts.

“At that point there is a pool of teams vying for a few spots,” she said. “I think there were 11 teams for the last three slots because of the way things played out.”

She wouldn’t say, but it’s safe to assume GU was in the mix.

“It’s hard,” she said. “Anyone on the committee would love to have a team in the tournament. One member said he or she was waiting for the day their team gets talked about.

“Sure you have a soft spot, but it boils down to evaluating and putting together the best bracket possible. … All teams are looked at … that’s where we get down to splitting hair. Teams are not forgotten. It’s a fair process.”

Gores returned from the selection process long enough to repack her suitcase before heading to Stanford as the on-site committee member.

“You’re not necessarily a fan in the first and second rounds, you have too many responsibilities,” she said. “You’re very busy; kind of a watch dog. If you can watch a game, that’s a bonus.”

Then committee members converge on the regionals and Gores was one of three assigned to Spokane. For several reasons she ended up working it alone.

“It was fun, but you still have a lot of responsibilities,” she said. “Spokane was great. It went very smooth. Washington State and the Spokane Arena, everyone who was involved, work extremely well together and put on a great event, in my mind.”

It was the second-highest attended of the four regionals.

Now comes the grand finale.

“When you get to the Final Four, that’s kind of a reward,” Gores said. “You act as the host for the team from your region.”

Then there is a break before the routine duties of selecting tournament sites, reviewing legislation, committee work involving such things as officials, media, ticketing or coaches.

“It’s not just all about the selection and tournament,” Gores said. “It’s been a great learning experience for me. You have to multitask a bit but it’s not like we’re doing a lot of this day to day. The NCAA basketball staff is tremendous – they do a ton of legwork. They put a ton of information in front of us.

“With two small children it’s challenging. My family has been very supportive. I couldn’t do this without family help.”