All season, Don Van Lierop hoped he would get to coach against his mentor, Wayne Gilman.
Unfortunately, the game is just a little sooner than he hoped.
Van Lierop, first-year coach for Eisenhower, tackles Gilman and the Ferris Saxons tonight at 7:30 in the first round of the Eastern AAA Regional basketball tournament at Eastern Washington University.
"I knew if I got to see Ferris, see Wayne, we would be playing in the regional," Van Lierop said. "But it's too bad one of us has to lose. If I had my way, we wouldn't see them until the championship game when we're both going to go on."
The Davis-Ferris game is one of eight that open the regional tournaments for the three boys and three girls berths the Greater Spokane League and Big Nine Conference share to the State AAA tournament next week in the Kingdome.
Ferris, the top seed out of the GSL, and No. 2 Shadle Park are at EWU. The top girls seeds, Gonzaga Prep and Ferris, are at Gonzaga University. They play the Big Nine's third and fourth seeds.
GSL third and fourth seeds go to Big Nine sites. Traveling are the University and Mead boys and Mead and Central Valley girls.
All the semifinals are at EWU and the loser-out games at GU on Friday.
Van Lierop will look a little different than the guy who sandwiched two stints as a Ferris assistant around the head job at North Central. He had to shave his head after his team, picked as low as seventh in the preseason, knocked off cross-town rival Davis, which finished second, twice.
But beating Davis and Ferris are two different things. The Saxons' offense has been in high gear in recent games and the matchup zone has been tough almost every night.
"There is some familiarity, but knowing it and doing it will be two different things," Van Lierop admitted. "I'm looking forward to (the game). It's a priviledge. My kids don't know Wayne. I'm sure they're pretty fired up. Win or lose, there will be some mixed feelings for me."
Bank shots
This is the 10th year of this regional format. . . . The boys and girls have each sent 33 teams to state. On the boys side, 15 GSL teams have gone, but just one the last two years. GSL teams have earned 11 state trophies, led by Ferris with a title (1994), two seconds and a third. . . . GSL girls have claimed 21 state berths and cashed them in for 17 trophies, including six titles, led by defending champion Mead's three. . . . In preseason games, the GSL was 6-8 against the Big Nine boys and 8-4 against the girls.
