Parity consumes unpredictable WCC

By Aaron Juarez

Starting a season off with a win always prompts optimism. It also prompts questions regarding continued success throughout the season. Of course, no season-opening victory would be complete without variations of this oft-used cliche: "We're going to take it one game at a time."

With the 2003-2004 West Coast Conference men's basketball season underway, one game at a time really could be the case for many schools in the conference.

Standing in the locker room following Santa Clara's conference opening 64-53 victory over the Dons of San Francisco, junior guard Doron Perkins was in the middle of an answer when he paused for a split-second:

"I don't even know who we're playing next, because I was so worried about San Francisco," Perkins said.

One game at a time, indeed.

If the first week of WCC conference play proved anything, it showed that this season should be unpredictable and hard-fought. Each individual game should factor heavily into the fates of the number of evenly matched teams jockeying for position in the standings.

Position is everything in college basketball standings. Conference regular seasons are merely round-robin jamborees in which the final standings determine the seeding for the conference's single-elimination tournament.

Many publications have put forth differing views on how the WCC will shake out in the regular season. Yet, there is one constant sitting atop each of the predictions, that being the Blake Stepp-led Gonzaga Bulldogs, ranked 16th in the nation and setting their sights on a sixth consecutive berth in the NCAA tournament.

With many polls picking Santa Clara to finish anywhere between fourth and sixth place, and the San Jose Mercury News even picking Santa Clara to finish second, it seems the formula for finding absolution is the most logical one, just collect the wins.

"Some people have been picking Gonzaga as a shoo-in for the conference, but you simply have to go into the year trying to win [the conference]," Santa Clara Head Coach Dick Davey said.

Tipping off the conference season with the home victory over USF is a successful first step for the Broncos in establishing position early. With their next two games at home against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara has a valuable opportunity to get off to a fast start in conference play.

"It's always good to get that first win," redshirt junior point guard Kyle Bailey said. "But in our conference, I don't think there's one game on our schedule that we're looking at as a gimme."

"The key ingredient is winning home games," Davey said. "If you win your home games and then sneak in some road wins, you can end with a top-four finish."

In the WCC's tournament structure, which will be used this season for the second consecutive year, the top four teams in the final standings receive a first-round bye. Teams finishing in the top two receive byes into the semifinals. In last season's conference championship game, the second-seeded Toreros of San Diego defeated Gonzaga, earning the conference's automatic NCAA bid.

With this season's WCC tournament being held at the Leavey Center from March 5-8, the Broncos could benefit from the combination of a high seed and the home-court advantage.

"How about I answer that question after the tournament?" joked Davey, when asked how hosting the tournament may benefit the Broncos' chances.

Davey and his team may be justified in not getting too ahead of themselves just yet. After an up-and-down non-conference schedule in which turnovers, poor shooting and poor rebounding plagued the Broncos, a conference-opening victory has helped steer Santa Clara towards a fresh start in the second half of the season.

"The thing is, you're never as good as you think you are, and you're never as bad as you think you are, so we'd like to stay somewhere in the middle and just keep playing hard," Bailey said.

Added Perkins, in regard to the win over USF, "I think it was big, because we came in with high expectations. We knew they were going to play hard, and with league games we know that we have to step it up another level. We know we're capable now."

The addition of Perkins, a junior college transfer from Southwestern Oregon Community College, has provided a valuable combination of speed and scoring into the Bronco offense. Perkins' speed (league-leading 2.25 steals per game) and his ability to create opportunities (a team-leading 12.0 points per game), evidenced especially against Pacific and Oregon in December, has received notice.

"Doron [Perkins] is the most athletic of our players," Davey said. "He can rebound very well for a guard, and he can steal some balls, he's a thief.

"He's a guy who can break down a defender and create shots."

Perkins' abilities, alongside Bailey's, give Santa Clara one of the stronger combinations of guards in the conference. Bailey, who is coming off of an injury-shortened 2002-2003 season due to back and foot injuries, has returned to form this season, averaging 9.9 points per game and scoring a team-high 14 in last Friday's win against the Dons.

"Anytime you have a backcourt that can compete at a high-level, you will have success in this conference," Davey said. "The WCC is not a big man-dominated conference, so good perimeter play is a valuable key to success."

The strong perimeter play of the Broncos in their conference opener is a positive sign, as that aspect of their game was lacking in a non-conference schedule which saw them finish 8-7. If everything continues to click as well as it did against USF, the Broncos should find themselves in a favorable position.

"First, we got a chance to play with each other," Davey said, explaining the change in fortunes. "Second, we showed better shot selection. We felt that our shot selection was not as solid as we thought it would be. And third, our rebounding improved. It was strong at the beginning of the season, but had been poor in our last six or seven games prior to Friday."

Added Perkins, "People are starting to learn their roles now. It takes a while for new players to gel, but now players know their roles and we're taking better shots."

Santa Clara will need to sustain that shooting touch throughout this season, especially this weekend against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.

Led by sophomore center Derick Grubb and junior forward Glen McGowan down low, Pepperdine is coming off of a 97-88 victory over Portland in which they had their best rebounding game of the season, grabbing 49 boards against the Pilots. After a conference-opening loss to Gonzaga, the Waves are riding some momentum.

Though they have lost both of their conference games, the Loyola Marymount Lions still pose a viable threat early on. With forwards Sherman Gay and Keith Kincade capable of running up points when they're hot, the Lions offense could provide a tall test for the Santa Clara defense. Yet with preparations underway for each approaching game, the Broncos know what to expect.

"[Coach Davey] has told us that every team is going to know what we're doing," Perkins said last Friday. "They'll know how each of us plays, but usually we just look one game ahead, so we'll be prepared."

With this weekend's home games and a short trip north to the San Francisco area next week for games against Saint Mary's and San Francisco, the Broncos have a golden opportunity to rack up early wins and secure a favorable position by the midpoint of the conference schedule. In what is shaping up to be an anything-goes type of season in the WCC, the Broncos have been dealt a favorable hand to play right into the WCC tournament.

Contact Aaron Juarez at (408) 554-4852 or at ajuarez@scu.edu.