GU surpasses reasonable goals

The problem with being a city’s surrogate pro sports franchise – and be honest, that’s what the Gonzaga Bulldogs are in Spokane – is the public’s not-so-subconscious assumption that you really are professional.

Meaning that they think you should be wiping the floor – Pistons-style – with any team crossing your path.

Losses, no matter how close or to whom, broker demands for wholesale change. Narrow victories over lightly regarded rivals are fretted over and projected into March doom. And don’t you dare do anything fun like, say, sneak a new color into the wardrobe.

So figure that this morning’s civic hangover to be part Francois Hemart Brut Reserve, and part the Zags’ futility in defending the 3-pointer Saturday.

Yes, Gonzaga eventually subdued the delightful Hawks of Saint Joseph’s University on New Year’s Eve, but they needed 102 points to do it, more or less, thanks to a McCarthey Athletic Center record 15 3s by the visitors.

This now concludes the Marquis de Sade portion of the 2005-06 Gonzaga schedule, and as relieved as coach Mark Few is to be done with it he is even more elated – and justifiably so – with the way his team has come through it.

“It’s the greatest non-league run we’ve ever had,” he insisted. “That’s where we’ve been, who we’ve played and how we’ve played – and finishing it off with beating an NCAA Tournament team. That goes on our resume as well as the other ones.”

True, it goes down as harrowing and fitful. The Zags let a 14-point first-half lead get away completely, and they needed the benefit of 43 cracks at the foul line – two of those on a gratuitous delay of game technical foul with 30 seconds to go. Not officiating’s finest moment.

But harrowing and fitful is good – certainly it’s entertaining – and anyway part of the reason it was that way is Saint Joseph’s substantial pedigree under coach Phil Martelli (24 wins a year the past five seasons). Also, these Hawks, like the rest of GU’s pre-New Year’s opponents, are pretty damned good.

To date, the Zags have beaten seven teams in the RPI’s top 125. Just as impressive, their losses have come to Nos. 2, 4 and 7 in the two current polls.

We’ll also recall that two of those setbacks went down to the last shot, that point guard Derek Raivio was lost for the last 30 minutes at Washington, and that Gonzaga led for about 35 minutes at Memphis. Of course, maybe that shouldn’t be mentioned, because if wins are supposed to be all about the bottom line, then so are losses.

But for a moment, it’s OK to appreciate Gonzaga’s nerve in taking on this assignment, and getting through it 10-3.

“When it all shakes out and these teams play on, it’s going to be the toughest non-conference schedule in the country,” Few said, “regardless of what a computer says, because a computer doesn’t measure the efforts that were put forth.”

Forget computers. Come Selection Sunday, it’s likely the Zags will have played at least seven NCAA Tournament teams, with the possibility of another (Portland State) coming out of the jumble that is the Big Sky. We’d include Washington State on the possible list, too, but the Cougars have not yet earned the right of supposition.

A year ago, five of GU’s non-conference opponents made it to Bracketville. The most was seven, back in 2003.

But the price of playing at altitude is that the expectation rises along with you. So it’s fair to ask – has what GU’s accomplished to this point somehow been lost?

“Sometimes I sense it in our guys,” Few conceded, “that they’re down and disappointed and they feel like they let people down.

“They might not get an A-plus, but they sure as heck get a solid A.”

He might have given extra credit if he could have projected the result in the darker hour after the Maui Invitational, in which he got the news that forward Josh Heytvelt had broken an ankle – to go with the lingering knee pain that continues to limit Erroll Knight.

“I remember gong out to dinner with (Maryland coach) Gary Williams and Dave Gavitt when I got that call,” Few said. “Gary told me, ‘Don’t look at it as playing the whole season without them – look at it as playing the next game.’ And that was the best advice. It sounds silly and stupid, but it’s true. I mean, look what we’re doing – we’ve got David Pendergraft flying around playing the ‘4’ 25 minutes a game, and freshmen like Jeremy Pargo and Larry Gurganious playing for long stretches. These guys have done an amazing job.”

Not that anyone believes it’s finished.

“You know, if we had guys who were satisfied with three losses,” said forward Sean Mallon, “there’d be something wrong with us. We’re aiming a lot higher than that.”