John Blanchette: Grier puts his program on top

SAN DIEGO – Though not an official part of the format, it turns out there’s a consolation game in the West Coast Conference basketball tournament.

At least there is for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. It’s the same as the reward for winning the thing: a berth in Bracketville, 10 days hence.

And though they might resist the notion, there was even a small consolation in surrendering the WCC tournament title Monday night for just the second time in 10 years: that it was a chip off the old Zags, former assistant coach Bill Grier, steering the ship that carried it away.

But make no mistake: in the wake of San Diego’s 69-62 upset of the Bulldogs, Grier may be of the Zags – but no longer one of them.

“This wasn’t about going to the NCAA tournament,” said Grier, who gets to do that anyway. “This was about taking the next step and beating that program.”

That would be his program, beating that program.

That he did it in his first year as a head coach on the biggest stage possible – and in the city he’s trying to turn on to Toreros basketball almost against its will – Grier demonstrated he is eminently capable of taking the lessons he gleaned in 16 years as a loyal soldier in Spokane and translating them to a wannabe rival.

Surely it’s what USD athletic director Ky Snyder had in mind when he cruelly canned his own loyal soldier, Brad Holland, last year and turned to Grier.

You know – if you can’t beat ‘em, hire ‘em.

Typically, the self-effacing Grier didn’t view it as his defining moment, however, but one belonging to his players, who drew some motivation from the fact that it was Gonzaga that had eliminated them from the last three WCC tournaments.

The players were happy to include the coach.

“I know he’s feeling good – I see that big grin on his face,” said freshman forward Rob Jones. “Him coming from the team we just beat, I know that’s big to him.”

So it was a defining moment – a defining weekend, and perhaps not just for the Toreros, but for the entire WCC.

With the third-place Toreros capturing the automatic berth in the NCAAs and two teams that have spent multiple weeks in the Top 25, the WCC is in position to send three teams into the big bracket for the first time in its 56-year existence.

That doesn’t mean Saint Mary’s – done in by the Toreros’ double-overtime comeback from 17 points down in the semifinals – won’t have to sweat it out this week, but the Gaels are at least riding shotgun on the bubble.

And the Zags, meanwhile, will be piloting a different bubble of their own making.

Riding the momentum from their best back-to-back games of the season, they showed up here and played the Worst Doggone Zags Tournament Ever. They were lucky to avoid an upset in the semifinals against Santa Clara, a team they’d just beaten by 34 points. Then they failed to match the desire of the Toreros – and while Jeremy Pargo was named to the all-tournament team, no Zag really distinguished himself.

The Bulldogs reverted to many of their old bad habits – too many turnovers among them – and as he had to early in the season, coach Mark Few searched in vain to put the right combination on the floor.

One obvious casualty was Austin Daye, whose offense was sorely needed when USD pulled away but managed just three shots all night, less than half his average. In fact, the four position – GU’s most productive offensively all year – managed just seven points, 15 under norm and second-lowest of the season.

But mostly, as Few said, the Bulldogs “succumbed to human nature.”

Meaning that with an NCAA spot a lock, the Zags didn’t match the desperation of their weekend opponents. That’s understandable – but telltale. Other Gonzaga teams in a similar position have risen to the occasion; this one, 32 games into the season, still betrays immaturity and lapses in mental toughness that could be troubling in the next tournament.

Or they could learn from it, though you’d think the lesson would have taken hold by now.

“We just have to look down the road and see what’s coming ahead,” said Pargo. “You can even reflect back to when we were playing some of the best basketball we were playing all year. That should get us back in position. We’re a fighting team. We’re going to come out and fight every single game.”

They might want to crib some notes from the Toreros, whose fight was only sensational and resulted in an uncommon reward.

“I’m really happy for these kids that they get an opportunity to experience something that I’ve had an opportunity to experience a lot of times,” Grier said. “I’ve tried to convince them all along that the greatest experience they can have as a basketball player is to play in the NCAA tournament.

“There’s nothing like it.”

Unless it’s beating that program.