Men's basketball heads to San Diego

By Brian Betz

Three months ago, few would have thought the underdog would be wearing red and white come West Coast Conference Tournament time. But that's what being the eighth seed now besets upon Dick Davey's Santa Clara Broncos.

As the lowest seeded team in the field of eight, Santa Clara needs to win four games in as many days to assume the glass slipper and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. That road starts Friday against the team that accounts for half of Santa Clara's four conference wins, fifth seed Saint Mary's.

The match-up is a familiar scenario considering the Broncos swept the Gaels last year in regular season action before falling to them in the first round of the WCC Tourney. On paper, the only difference then was that the Gaels were the lower seeded team. But Santa Clara Associate Coach Steve Seandel does not see being the underdog this year as any stranger than a year ago.

"It doesn't feel any different than being anywhere else," Seandel said of the pairing against Saint Mary's. "There isn't a comfort level. It's hard to beat a team three times. They don't press much, which is something we've had problems with, but they're still hard to score on."

The biggest change this season is the modified bracket set-up, which rewards teams for finishing closer to the top of the division. In years past, the top seed played the eighth seed, two played seven, three played six and four played five. The four teams that won were then re-seeded one through four based on which teams made it through to the second round.

This season the top two teams, Gonzaga and San Diego, automatically move to the semifinals, while Pepperdine and San Francisco, the three and four seeded teams, receive passes through only the first round of play. This leaves Loyola Marymount and Portland to duke it out in the same fashion that Saint Mary's and Santa Clara will.

"I think there should be rewards for the teams that are more successful in the regular season," said Head Coach Dick Davey. "In years when we finished first or second it would've been nice to have a bye."

Wait coach, make that plural: byes. The Zags' and the Toreros get two byes, which makes them the obvious favorites to win it all. San Diego benefits as the host team, but Head Coach Brad Holland sees no incentives beyond the fact that they don't have to go through the hassles of travelling to the tournament site.

"We don't get to practice on the JCP [Jenny Craig Pavilion] floor for the last three days before our game on Sunday due to the women's and men's tournaments," Holland noted. "In my nine years in the league, the host team has never won the tournament."

Another issue for both frontrunners will be the task of preparing for any of the three opponents that come before them. No. 2 San Diego will face the winner of USF/Portland-LMU. The Zags' get the victor of Pepperdine/Saint Mary's-Santa Clara. Holland said that the interesting and challenging part of it all is preparing for a few teams, not just one team. The Zags', on the other hand, are taking a different approach.

"We have to worry about our team," said Gonzaga's Assistant Coach Bill Grier. "It's no different than last year. You don't go into the tournament preparing for the second night. We've played each other twice so there's no secrets. Whoever we play in the first round will either have played one or possibly two games and from a physical standpoint, it's to our advantage."

Pepperdine takes its 7-7 league mark to the three seed. But despite what has been a yo-yo season for Paul Westphal and the Waves, they are content with where they stand considering the season-ending injuries they have sustained to starters Devin Montgomery, Will Kimble and Glen McGowan.

"Our expectations changed when we lost our starting center, power forward and point guard," said Westphal. "We knew we wouldn't be able to live up to what we had when we had all those players active. We feel proud considering the toughness of our conference and the circumstances we were dealt."

And in regard to who they will play, Westphal showed as little concern as Gonzaga's Grier.

"What happened in the past doesn't mean anything," said Westphal. "Whoever we play, it's all about moving on to the next round. We're capable of winning anytime we play. We just have to be hot and get some stops. Defensively, we haven't shut teams down on a consistent basis. But in one game anything can happen."

One thing's for sure: any and everything might have to happen if the Broncos hope to pull off the unthinkable and win-out as the low seed. Seandel admits that shooting has been a problem in terms of getting good shots, as well as the inability to string together consecutive efforts of a full 40 minutes of basketball, which he feels can be attributed to the inexperience of young team

But nonetheless, there is a ray of confidence exuding from the coaching staff.

"Defensively we can play with everybody," said Davey. "We have to go out and execute offensively and if we do that we'll be successful. A lot of people probably don't think we can win it. I think we can if things go right. It's not out of possibility that the five, six, seven or eight seeds can win it."

But how did the WCC preseason coaches' poll No. 5 team slide all the way to underdog? A 10-4 start to a 3-8 finish, that's how.

Let's just hope underdog can somehow morph into Cinderella.