There’s No Way To Knock The Play Of Gonzaga’s Snider

Scott Snider had just run what amounted to a series of 94-foot sprints - with 35-second wrestling matches at each end of the court.

He had force-fed a couple of Spalding sandwiches to University of Washington players.

And while his Gonzaga University teammates were double-clutching to find second gear in the title game of UW’s men’s basketball tournament, the high-revving Snider prodded them into contention.

At that point, one writer from a paper in Alabama was so stricken with admiration for the play of Snider he immediately voted for him as tournament MVP.

“Y’all give me Scott Snider,” he said, entertaining press row with one of those moonlight-on-the-magnolia voices. “And ah’ll build one fahn team aroun’ ‘em.”

Which, in essence, is what GU coach Dan Fitzgerald is doing.

“Not taking anything away from the other guys, who are playing real hard and well, but in my mind, without question, he’s our most valuable player,” Fitzgerald said of his 6-foot-9 senior center. “He’s the guy we have to have out there every single night.”

Statistics shortchange Snider, considering that those blocked shots are not as impressive as the dogged battles to get around the screens protecting the shooter. And the dunks are little compared to the dramatic dashes into position to make them.

“The guy, truly, is relentless,” Fitzgerald said, likening Snider to Kurt Rambis, the all-time king of hard-hat hoopers. “He’s a colossal overachiever. It’s inspiring.”

And motivating.

“You see Snider, one of the best players on the team, working harder than anyone else and you really have to look yourself in the eye and know you don’t have any excuse not to,” admitted backup point guard John Nemeth.

Nemeth particularly recalled a videotape of a scrimmage in which Snider beat the other nine players from baseline to baseline and back in consecutive transitions.

“It was incredible,” Nemeth said. “Fitz told us, ‘See, this is what we need; this is what it takes.”’

Against Eastern Washington on Friday, a bloody and knotted forehead was his red badge of hustle - residue from his battle against ultra-physical Eagle Mel Lewis.

Snider has been ranked among the nation’s leaders in field-goal percentage, a product of judicious shot selection and an understanding of his modest range.

That radius of effectiveness did not seem to extend anywhere near the free-throw line. A 13-for-17 combined effort against Boise State and EWU, though, helped coax his season average to over 50 percent. Until that, however, his free throws not only missed, but threatened to damage the facilities.

“It was like, ‘Whoa, hide the women and children,”’ said Fitzgerald, who added that Snider’s other attributes were so compelling that he could overlook his dubious efforts from the line.

Even the most delicate of shooting touches, though, sometimes lose calibration, whereas Snider’s strengths are unwavering.

“Really, there’s a lot of things that go on in a game, and the one thing that you can always control is how hard you play,” Snider said.

That has been the lone constant for Snider in what Fitzgerald calls his “hard road to Division I.”

A student-body president and three-sport star at Tacoma’s Fife High, Snider’s best recruiting pitch came from the Washington State football team. But at 6-foot-7 and 180 pounds, Snider showed more promise as a human down-marker than a Division I quarterback.

No scholarship was tendered.

He landed at Pacific Lutheran, but grew out of the basketball program in two years, leaving for Gonzaga aboard a conviction that he could play Division I basketball.

But he had to pay for his first year at the pricey university before proving his value to Fitzgerald.

“It’s unbelievable how far he’s come,” Fitzgerald said. “In terms of fatigue and mental toughness and the willingness to play every play, his level of pain tolerance is so much better than anybody else.”

It always has been, in fact.

As a 10-year-old soccer player, Snider once was kicked in the ankle shortly after halftime of a game. Yes, there was pain, but there was also a game to finish. Which he did.

The ankle, it turns out, was broken.

“I guess I’m just real competitive,” Snider said, dismissing the incident.

Snider’s story is not one of some helpless “Rudy” character who begs his way into a game.

This guy may be among the nation’s fastest big men, with leaping ability and the capacity to defend, as well.

But what truly takes Snider above the rim - comparatively - is this unflagging competitive ferocity.

It’s a rare and laudable trait at any level.

A quality around which one can build a team.

You can contact Dave Boling by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5504.

, DataTimes