March Madness kicks off in Leavey

By Brian Witter

The West Coast Conference men's basketball regular season has ended and with the possibility of the league receiving three bids for the NCAA Tournament, the tight race for the tournament title will be transfixing partisan crowds at the Leavey Center beginning Friday.

With Gonzaga's probable automatic bid and Saint Mary's quest for an at-large bid still questionable, yet credible, it would take an upset winner in the championship game to snatch the WCC title from under the Bulldogs' nose.

"This league is the best I've ever seen in all the years I've been involved with it," Broncos Head Coach Dick Davey said. "There are so many awfully strong players now and the league has aspired to be a quality conference. I have no doubt that we will continue to see the enhancement of the WCC."

The top two seeds of the WCC are not infallible, however. Having been bested by opponents in close games, these teams know that they need to do more than show up just to win. Accordingly, the tournament seems to be up for grabs for any one team.

No. 3 -- SANTA CLARA

The No. 3 seeded Broncos sent shock waves through college basketball earlier in the season by upsetting some big name opponents, but in conference play, finished the season at 7-7 (14-15 overall). The roller coaster season for Santa Clara will culminate on Saturday night when they will face off against the winner of the first-round game between No. 6 seed San Francisco and No. 7 Portland. As the host for the tournament, Santa Clara will attempt to become only the second team in the event's history to win the conference title at home.

"I feel very fortunate to be in third right now," Davey said. "Our play has been spotty throughout the regular season and sometimes it's hard to figure out why, but my hope is that the tournament will be good for us by keeping us in the winning mindset.

"We haven't had a first-round bye in a while."

As one of the top four seeds, Santa Clara does receive a bye on Friday and will have to win three games in three consecutive nights to capture the championship.

Santa Clara's starting roster conveys its degree of depth often exhibited this season, including Doron Perkins, who was selected Monday as part of the All-WCC team. Teammates Kyle Bailey and Travis Niesen each received honorable mention.

The Broncos will have to pull off another remarkable upset that would mirror the North Carolina and Stanford games played earlier in the season, in order to reach the NCAA field of 64 national tournament teams.

"My personal feeling is that each game has its own identity," Davey said. "As a team, you're able to do certain things that you may not get the opportunity to do in other games. It's true that we've laid an egg a couple of times, but we have played some good opponents. I think that the five seniors that we have coupled with being at home will fire us up enough to play well though."

No. 1 -- GONZAGA

The vicious No. 1 Bulldogs are atypical of other teams in the WCC this season, yet they're still No. 1. While much of the competition Gonzaga has faced this season includes upperclassmen players and fifth-year seniors, much of what Head Coach Mark Few has accomplished this season has been done with three sophomores and two freshmen.

The Bulldogs swept the WCC in awards this year with Player of the Year senior Ronny Turiaf, Defender of the Year junior Erroll Knight, and Newcomer of the Year junior J.P. Batista. With an RPI rank of 10th in the nation, a season record of 23-4, and a WCC record of 12-2, Gonzaga is poised to repeat as champs.

"We're not real detail oriented because many of the younger guys are still inexperienced," Few said. "I expect some exciting basketball this weekend because we can't just expect to roll through everyone. Our team is going to have to go out and play well for the entire game if they expect to keep up."

Gonzaga's loss of seniors last year caused many analysts to decry the potential they had for a stellar season, but the Bulldogs' young talent has proven that experience is not always necessary for a great season and big wins.

"We lost (Blake) Stepp and (Cory) Violette and it made everyone else hungry," Turiaf said. "Then our young guys put their gloves on and started throwing punches. We have our own identity and we're going to show people that we're better than them."

No. 2 -- SAINT MARY'S

The scrappy Gaels' RPI is good enough for 29th in the country as of the end of the season. Fourth-year Head Coach Randy Bennett has transformed his team from an 18-11 defensive hazard one year ago, to a 24-7 viable threat. The Gaels are 11-3 in the WCC.

"Everybody agrees that Randy has done a remarkable job with this program," Davey said. "His recruiting and team management skills are impressive, and I have a lot of respect for him as well the program."

Led by Australian junior forward and All-WCC team member Daniel Kickert, the Gaels will be in action on Saturday in the tournament semifinal. This is the second-consecutive year that Saint Mary's has gone in as the No. 2 seed. Last year, they were defeated in the championship game by Gonzaga.

The Gaels will rely offensively on Kickert, the team's leading scorer, as well as the defensive prowess of senior guard Paul Marigney.

"There are lots of teams who could have done what we did," Bennett said. "There's no such thing as a gimmie, and we're not in the NCAA just yet. However, I think we're in a unique situation and that this team is good enough to make it."

No. 4 -- SAN DIEGO

The Toreros won five of their last seven to secure the No. 4 seed. They are 7-7 and will play the winner of Pepperdine-Loyola Marymount on Saturday night. Under 11th-year Head Coach Brad Holland, San Diego posted an overall record of 15-12 and only lost to the tournament No. 1 and 2 seeds in the last half of the regular season. All-WCC first team members and teammates Brandon Gay and Brice Vounang led the squad in points and rebounds. Gay nearly grabbed a share of the WCC scoring title, which was secured by San Francisco's John Cox and his 20.4 points per game. The Toreros will be looking to go toe-to-toe with Gonzaga in the tournament semifinal.

"This league is the best it's been in 11 years, top to bottom," Holland said. "We have so many older guys with experience because a lot of our players don't go to the NBA so they stick around as long as they can, and it shows."

No. 5 -- PEPPERDINE

Former NBA and current Pepperdine Head Coach Paul Westphal leads the Waves into the WCC tournament as a No. 5 seed. They enter the championship with a final WCC mark of 6-8, which was good enough to put them into a tie for fifth with San Francisco. With two starters on the All-WCC team, Pepperdine will have the opportunity to oust their Southern California rivals on Friday night to advance and play San Diego.

"I think everyone's records indicate how tough this conference is," Westphal said. "It won't be easy for anybody, but we'll be ready. We'll just have to wait and see if the WCC gets three bids to the Big Dance this year."

No. 6 -- SAN FRANCISCO

The Dons, who defeated the Broncos twice this year in extremely close games by two and three points, will face Portland on Friday night with sixth-year senior John Cox in the lineup. Also an All-WCC honoree, Cox won the WCC scoring title at 20.4 points per game and is a potential candidate for the NBA draft later this year.

The Dons finished their year 15-12 overall (6-8 WCC) amidst a turbulent season that saw wins over quality teams like No. 17 University of Pacific but also at times lapsed into WCC mediocrity.

"Our depth is of some concern to me," first-year Head Coach Jessie Evans said. "The team that plays well together is going to be successful down the stretch and that's true for us too. Then there's always the luck factor though. We've won some close games and lost others, so staying competitive is essential."

No. 7 -- PORTLAND

Portland is the No. 7 seed and will be taking on San Francisco for the right to play the Broncos Saturday night. The 15-14 (4-10 WCC) Pilots lost four recent games coming into the WCC tourney.

After garnering the honor last year, notably absent from the All-WCC team this year was junior guard Pooh Jeter. Jeter, who finished the regular season with 15.6 points per game, one of the highest in the league, also completed the year with nearly 100 assists.

Third-year Head Coach Michael Holton will get a chance to show off the team he was entrusted to build earlier this year when he received a five-year contract extension.

No. 8 -- LOYOLA MARYMOUNT

At the bottom of the WCC, the Lions travel to Santa Clara with an 11-16 overall record and a 3-11 in the WCC.

Head Coach Steve Aggers and his young squad will be taking on Pepperdine for the right to play San Diego Saturday night. Sophomore forward Matthew Knight was the only Lion to start every game for Loyola Marymount as well as the only player to earn All-WCC honors behind figures of 15.3 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game.

Aggers feels that preparation for their Friday game will be simple.

"We have a fresh start now though because it's the postseason," he said. "You gain a different mentality when things become equalized like they have."

* Contact Brian Witter at (408) 551-1918 or bwitter@scu.edu.