Fast track

By JOE TONE

To the basketball-savvy fan, Nathan Fast has changed a lot since he arrived at Santa Clara five years ago. His jumper's improved, his strength has increased and he can now throw down dunks on a regular basis.

To the people who count, though - his friends, his family, his fiancŽe and himself - he hasn't changed a bit.

"He's exactly the same as when he was in high school, only a little more mature," Santa Clara basketball 'groupie' Megan Quick said of the 22 year-old Fast. "Actually, a lot more mature. And he hasn't gotten cocky."

She should know. Quick has been at Fast's side since the two starting dating as sophomores at Clovis West High School in Fresno, Calif. seven years ago, and in April, after Fast completes one of the best careers from a shooting guard this school has ever seen, the two will marry - forming the speediest-sounding couple around.

"I haven't changed, and I think that's partly because I've been with the same person for so long," Fast said. "There's always been a stable influence. It lets you know never to be satisfied with where you are, to keep pushing."

Which is exactly what Fast has done both on and off the court for the past five seasons. After red-shirting his freshman season at Santa Clara, Fast began what he calls a "natural evolution" into a premiere guard in the West Coast Conference. He showed potential in six minutes a game his freshman season, making 13 of 26 shots from the field. He showed he was capable as a sophomore, coming off the bench to pour in 10 points a game and lead the team in field goal percentage. As a junior, he started showing people up. The first team all-WCC player scorched the conference for 16.8 points per game - the best of any Bronco - and racked up 25 points against Syracuse and UCLA, both of which were ranked 12th at the time the Broncos faced them. Meanwhile, with his shots increasing in the absence of star guard Brian Jones, Fast's accuracy stayed on target. His field goal mark of 48.4 percent was the best of any Bronco guard in 12 seasons.

"My confidence grew year to year," he said of his gradual ascent toward all-star status. "My expectations have increased each season."

So when this season rolled around, with the return of one of the conference's best passers in Jones, expectations went through the roof for Fast. Despite his team-leading 14.9 points a game, and despite becoming only the 23rd Santa Clara player to score 1,000 career points Friday against Pepperdine, Fast isn't at all satisfied with the way this final stretch of Santa Clara basketball is shaping up.

"Being 11-8 isn't very fun," he said. "It would be a lot more fun if we were winning more."

Despite this rare team-first attitude, don't expect to find Fast asking questions and breaking down tapes if this season ends on a sour note. He doesn't have time to look back.

The school-a-holic - "I really don't like getting bad grades," he said - graduated in four years despite being given an extra year to finish with his red-shirt, and is now enrolled in Santa Clara's MBA program. His plans after the basketball season include finding a job with an accounting firm, rekindling his love for drawing and spending more time helping kids learn to read, all of which he'll have to do after he's done getting married, of course.

"He's very well-rounded," said Quick, who has lived and worked in the Bay area since Fast's second year at Santa Clara. "That's the best word to describe him. Well-rounded. He always thought he wouldn't have to depend on basketball."

Which he doesn't. If the opportunity arises, however, for him to depend on basketball later on down the line, perhaps playing professionally overseas or in the states, Fast is ready to take that challenge head-on.

"You can't plan for that sort of thing," he said of professional basketball. "If some opportunity comes up, Megan and I would definitely rather do that then have to get a desk job."

Whatever life chooses for Fast, be it at a desk in San Jose or on the court in Sicily, he's an odds-on favorite to do it better than anyone else. The countless hours he's spent in the gym, in the books and in a relationship he obviously values more than both, are what have made him who he is.

"He's a tremendous worker," Head Coach Dick Davey said. "He's very bright. He's got so many qualities outside of basketball. [Off the court] he's the best I've ever seen. We're lucky to have him."

Considering Fast's fiancee has missed only two games the past two seasons, Davey's lucky to have devoted fans like Quick as well - as long as she doesn't pull Fast away from the team.

"I promised Coach Davey I wouldn't have him running around doing errands," Quick said. "You don't want him helping me [with wedding preparations] if it's going to take away from his time in the gym."

For now, his job is simple: Go to the gym and play basketball, do it as well as he can and do everything in his power to help the Broncos win games. If he has time, he can spend a little weekend-time helping decide what kind of flowers go best with an April wedding.