Zags try to add another title
Good evening. I’ve posted a couple things below, with the main item taking a look at Gonzaga’s run of conference championships (nine, 10 if it defeats Santa Clara on Thursday) and where that ranks in NCAA history.
There’s also a short preview of this week’s games, Matt Bouldin making the list of 30 mid-season finalists for the Naismith Award (strangely announced on Feb. 24) and an item on the Soles4Souls shoe collection at Saturday’s game.
Read on.
Here’s an unedited version of my article that will run on the Four Corners page in Thursday’s S-R:
By Jim Meehan
jimm@spokesman.com; (208) 765-7131
Streak check.
Gonzaga’s run of consecutive NCAA Tournaments: 11, and on pace for 12 next month. Gonzaga’s consecutive appearances in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game: 12, and counting. Gonzaga’s string of 20-win seasons: 13, and counting.
This week affords Gonzaga an opportunity to stretch another streak into double digits. With a win against Santa Clara tonight at the McCarthey Athletic Center , the Bulldogs would clinch at least a share of its 10 th consecutive WCC championship. With two wins this week, nine of the 10 would be solo titles.
“Our goal was to win the league title,” said associate head coach Leon Rice, who ran practice earlier this week when head coach Mark Few was out of town on a recruiting trip. “We are where we want to be coming into the last weekend of the season.”
The Zags are already in select company, sharing a spot in the record book with Kentucky ’s nine straight SEC crowns from 1944-52. Legendary coach Adolph Rupp’s teams went 195-26 during that span, winning three NCAA titles and the 1946 NIT.
Next on the ladder with 10 straight conference titles are Connecticut (1951-60, Yankee Conference) and UNLV (1983-92, Big West). UConn, under coach Hugh Greer, considered the ‘Father of Connecticut Basketball,’ went to seven NCAAs and one NIT. Art Quimby led the nation in rebounding at 22.6 per game in 1954. A year later, he grabbed a staggering 24.4 boards per game, but was second nationally.
UNLV, known as the ‘Runnin’ Rebels’ and known for the ‘Amoeba defense,’ was coached by maverick Jerry Tarkanian. UNLV made three trips to the Final Four and won the 1990 national championship with Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony.
”I was in college, dreaming about being a college basketball coach,” said Rice, when asked what he was doing when UNLV started its streak.
Rice was a youngster when UCLA was stamping its name at the top of the conference superiority list. The Bruins of Wooden — who retired after UCLA won the 1975 national championship — Alcindor, Walton, Wilkes and Wicks captured 13 Pac-8/10 titles from 1967-79. UCLA won seven straight NCAA championships from 1967-73 and was 273-27 in the 1970s.
Gonzaga freshman forward Kelly Olynyk knows enough about history to understand what’s at stake this week.
“Some people talk about it and you hear about it,” he said. “It’s more about getting it done and getting ourselves up there with everybody. It’s a great opportunity if we can seize it.”
Gonzaga’s run hasn’t happened by accident. After advancing to the Elite Eight in 1999, many figured Gonzaga’s stay on the national scene would be brief. Head coach Dan Monson was hired by Minnesota and Mark Few was promoted to head coach. Few’s first team was second in the WCC but won the conference tournament and went to the Sweet Sixteen. The last season nine years have yielded nine WCC titles and three more trips to the Sweet Sixteen.
“In fact a lot of people told Mark and myself, ‘You guys gotta leave because you can’t keep this going at this level,’ ” Rice said. “Whether it’s ignorance or arrogance, we didn’t believe it had to fall off.”
Along the way, GU re-emphasized that the WCC is its first order of business.
“I think as coaches even, at first it was hard to go play Carolina in Madison Square Garden and then, oh, now we get to go to Loyola,” Rice said. “So we had to change our thinking and understand – and it’s the truth – that the mark of a great program is how you do consistently in conference.
“When it’s your priority and what you’re putting your time and energy in to, you’re not going to let it slip. We enjoy those non-conference games and those tournaments, but we take so much pride in this league.”
Additional motivation came in 2003 when the WCC decided to award the regular-season champion and second-place finisher with byes into the tournament semifinals. Previously, winning the tournament required three victories. The most recent change was moving the event to Las Vegas in 2009 after years of being at pre-determined sites or on a regional rotation.
“The No. 1 seed is huge,” Rice said. “As Gonzaga players and coaches, we love the new format. You should reward teams for a season of good work and for winning all those games. It used to be you’d win the league title and you’d get to wear the white uniforms (as a top seed).”
Here’s a quick look at GU’s upcoming week:
GONZAGA BULLDOGS
RECORD: 22-5, 10-2 WCC
COMING UP: Tonight vs. Santa Clara , 8; Saturday vs. San Francisco , 5
OUTLOOK: Gonzaga had its hands full with the Broncos a month ago. Santa Clara led by as many as 15 in the second half before Gonzaga rallied in the last 10 minutes. GU scored the last 12 points and 18 of the final 21. The Bulldogs limited Santa Clara to six points in the final 13 minutes. The Broncos lost in overtime to San Francisco last Saturday, but have still won two of their last four. Sophomore forward Marc Trasolini leads SCU at 14.1 points and 6.3 rebounds. Freshman guard Robert Smith averages 12.7 points and 3.2 assists. The Broncos have three juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen among its nine available scholarship players. San Francisco upset visiting Gonzaga 81-77 in overtime as forward Dior Lowhorn hit a game-tying 3-pointer near the end of regulation and added two more 3s in overtime.
More on Bouldin here .
And here’s an item on the Soles4Souls shoe collection:
Gonzaga University’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and its members will be accepting donations for the second annual Soles4Souls shoe collection at the Bulldogs men’s basketball game Saturday against the University of San Francisco at 5 p.m. at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
All donations will assist with Gonzaga’s contribution to the Zappos.com WCC Shoe Drive, a conference wide initiative.
Donations will directly benefit Soles4Souls, a non-profit organization that was created in response to the 2004 tsunami that hit southeast Asia. Since that time, more than 1 million pairs of shoes have helped those in need, domestically and internationally. Soles4Souls will assist with current relief efforts in Haiti by distributing this year’s shoes to Haitians following last month’s devastating earthquake.
Zappos.com and the West Coast Conference are partnering for the second consecutive year and will use the WCC Basketball Championships as a platform to collect and distribute shoes around the world. All eight WCC institutions are competing to gather the most shoes. Shoes collected on each campus will be tallied and the winning university will be recognized at the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas and awarded a student party at their institution. More than 5,200 pairs of shoes were collected from all WCC institutions during the 2009 shoe drive.
SAAC is comprised of representatives from each Gonzaga athletic team whose main purpose is to serve as a student-athlete voice regarding student-athlete welfare within Gonzaga’s athletic department, the West Coast Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "SportsLink." Read all stories from this blog