For the second time in five years GU men sweep all the individual awards

Any lingering questions about Gonzaga’s ability to reload were answered in resounding fashion Monday morning when the regular-season league champion Bulldogs placed three players on the 2004-05 All-West Coast Conference men’s basketball team and swept the league’s four top individual awards

For a record fifth year in a row, the 12th-ranked Zags captured the WCC’s two most prestigious postseason honors, with Mark Few being named Coach of the Year and senior forward Ronny Turiaf being selected Player of the Year, while joining sophomore teammates Adam Morrison and Derek Raivio on the 10-player all-conference team.

In addition, WCC coaches voted the Bulldogs’ J.P. Batista the league’s Newcomer of the Year, chose Erroll Knight as Defender of the Year and placed David Pendergraft on the All-Freshman team.

“It just sums up the whole year and how it’s gone,” said Few, who became the only person in the history of the WCC to be named coach of the year five consecutive times. “This is an incredible reward for how the regular season went in lieu of all the questions we had when it started.”

Faced with having to replace five seniors, including two-time WCC Player of the Year Blake Stepp, from last year’s 28-3 team, the Bulldogs were expected, by some, to take a step back this season. But with the 6-foot-10 Turiaf providing much-needed leadership and youngsters like Morrison, Raivio and Pendergraft growing quickly into impact players, the Zags rolled to a fifth-consecutive regular-season WCC championship and earned the No. 1 seed into the league tournament that kicks off later this week in Santa Clara, Calif.

Few said he was “humbled” at being named coach of the year again and said he considered the award a reflection on how much his assistants, Bill Grier, Leon Rice and Tommy Lloyd, mean to his program.

“I’ve always looked at it as a staff award,” said Few, who had been one of only two WCC coaches – the other being San Francisco’s legendary Phil Woolpert – to win four consecutive coach-of-the-year awards. “My staff has worked harder this year, behind the scenes, than any in America. And I mean at every facet of the game.

“It isn’t that we’ve worked harder this year than any other year, but it’s been different. Last year, with five seniors, it was more of a management issue. This year we’ve had to manage, coach, teach, discipline and provide emotional support for some of our younger guys. It’s been a long haul, and I’m happy for everybody.”

Few said he was particularly pleased the league saw fit to honor Turiaf, despite a series of mid-season ankle injuries that kept his still-impressive numbers of 16.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game from being as high as some might have expected.

“It’s nice to see the coaches appreciate what Ronny has accomplished, even though he might not have scored as much as some other guys in our league,” Few said of Turiaf, who joins Stepp, Dan Dickau and Casey Calvary in the ongoing succession of WCC players of the year from Gonzaga.

“And I’m grateful they recognized Erroll (Knight), too,” Few added. “It’s always great to see a guy rewarded for doing the dirty work and all the little things that don’t always show up on the stat sheet.”

It’s the second time in five years GU has swept all the major individual awards. Morrison, a 6-8 forward, went into Monday night’s non-conference regular-season finale against Northern Colorado as GU’s leading scorer, averaging 18.2 points and 5.6 rebounds. Raivio, a 6-3 guard and Stepp’s replacement at the point, was averaging 13.5 points, a WCC-best 5.1 assists and 1.7 steals, while shooting 90.7 percent from the foul line and 47.9 percent from 3-point range.

Batista, a 6-9 center and first-year junior transfer, is averaging 12 points and 5.9 rebounds, while Pendergraft, a 6-5 rookie forward, is averaging 3.2 points and 2.5 rebounds.