By John Crumpacker
#WCChoops Columnist
COMPLETE CRUMPACKER ARCHIVES
If the first half of Saturday night's quarterfinal game of the WCC men's tournament is any indication, Pacific is, and will be, in good hands with Damon Stoudamire coaching the Tigers.
With nothing to lose except another game and with the potential to earn respect around the conference, 9 seed Pacific took the game to top seed Gonzaga and left the court at the Orleans Arena trailing by just two at halftime, 27-25.
Think about that for a minute. A team with 21 losses coming into the game playing rubber toe to rubber toe with a team that lost only one game.
"They were one of the more physical teams in the league this year,'' Gonzaga coach Mark Few said after his Zags put together a sterling second half and won going away, 82-50. "They run some really good stuff. He (Stoudamire) approaches things with an NBA mindset with matchups. They only got a couple seniors, so the future is bright.''
In Stoudamire's first season, the Tigers finished 11-22 and had a mark of 4-14 in conference. He loses four seniors, the most significant being Stockton native and team leader T.J. Wallace. Otherwise, 10 players are set to return, along with Stoudamire's first recruiting class.
"Coach Stoudamire only accepts the gold standard,'' said Wallace, who had 21 points in his final game for his hometown team. "He's going to demand perfection. I think he's going to do excellent things. I want him to know I'm behind him 100 percent. I'm excited about the future of Pacific basketball in the coming years.''
So is Stoudamire. After a few years of upheaval and a self-imposed sanction of not playing in the WCC Tournament three years ago, Pacific appears to be a program with everyone pulling in the same direction.
"We lost 22 games this season. I lost 24 games in college (at Arizona),'' said Stoudamire, who played on some great Arizona teams under Lute Olson. "I won't accept losing. I'm not going to let these guys accept losing. Losing can contaminate the mind. I look forward to the future. I'm excited about the things to come at Pacific.''
Stoudamire's coaching mentor is Olson, from whom he learned the basic tenet of being a successful coach:
"If you can coach your best player, you can coach anybody. The last team I was on in the NBA, the (San Antonio) Spurs, Gregg Popovich was the same way. These two guys (Wallace and junior Ray Bowles) allowed me to coach them. I'm always going to coach my best players so everybody else falls in line. I'm a tough dude to play for.''
Now all he must do is recruit dudes who want to play for this tough dude.
Meanwhile, a word about that 30-1 team
As for Gonzaga, it made things all better in the second half by pushing the ball up the court relentlessly and scoring 55 points to turn a close game into a rout. Jordan Mathews had 22 points and Nigel Williams-Goss 20 as both players shot 7-for-11 from the floor.
The Zags will now face Santa Clara in one semifinal on Monday night for the right to play for the championship.
"For us to be the first (this season) to (win) 30 is an accomplishment,'' Few said. "Thirty wins is hard. These guys deserve a lot of credit for the type of year they're having.''
What We Learned (from Saturday's quarterfinals)
Despite losing to Santa Clara in the quarterfinals 76-69, San Francisco is a team to watch in seasons to come. The Dons finished 20-12 in coach Kyle Smith's first season and could be in line to get a non-NCAA post-season tournament invite. USF loses only one senior, but it's a big one. In his last game for the Dons, guard Ronnie Boyce erupted for a career-high 33 points. Good young players abound, including Jordan Ratinho, Charles Minlend, Chase Foster and Matt McCarthy. "Coaching is hard but so is being coached,'' Smith said. "These guys took to it. We'll push them as far as they'll let us. They showed up every day and got better. As a coach, you can't ask for more.''
Even without starting guard L.J. Rose, it looks like BYU is going to be a tough out in the tournament. In the first game of the day, the 3 Cougars subdued a game 6 Loyola Marymount team 89-81 to advance to a semifinal encounter with 2 Saint Mary's on Monday night. All five starters scored in double figures for BYU, led as always by center Eric Mika with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal. The Gaels managed to defeat BYU twice during the season, both times by 13 points. They might find the going a little harder the third time around.
That said, Saint Mary's is the most efficient team in the conference and will present a contrast in styles for BYU. The Gaels like to control the tempo while the Cougars like to get out and run, run, run. Saint Mary's started slowly against Portland but eventually fell into a nice offensive rhythm in the second half and won going away 81-58 for its 27th win of the season against only three defeats. Center Jock Landale had 19 points and 12 rebounds. For Portland, finishing 11-22, Jazz Johnson was high for the game with 26 points as he made all three attempts from 3-point range and was 5 of 5 from the free throw line.
Stat line of the day
One clue as to what makes Saint Mary's so gosh-darn effective was the game point guard Emmett Naar turned in as the Gaels defeated Portland to advance to the semifinal. He had only 4 points on 2-of-8 shooting but he dished out 11 assists against only 1 turnover and also had 2 rebounds and 2 steals. Naar alone had nearly twice as many assists as Portland did as a team (6).
Also under consideration was Santa Clara's Jared Brownridge. In a quarterfinal victory over San Francisco, Brownridge had 28 points on 7 of 17 shooting and was a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line. Brownridge was at his best when his team needed him the most in a tight game.
Quote of the day
"All the hard work we put in, this is when it comes to show. Coach says great things happen in March. It's a great time to be a college basketball player.''
That's Brownridge, who extended his senior season by one more game.
So, that's what it is
Have you ever wondered what that rolled item is that Loyola Marymount players exchange with one another when a player comes off the court? I have. Turns out it's a small rolled towel taped at the ends that resembles a length of rope. This, from LMU coach Mike Dunlap.
"It goes to coach (John) Wooden,'' Dunlap said. "If a towel is handed to another player, it's hard for six guys to be on the court at the same time. It's attention to detail.''
Continuing the LMU theme
In being inducted into the WCC Hall of Honor on Saturday, former LMU coach Paul Westhead related an anecdote about when he first explained the "system,'' the relentless pace of play he wanted his team to play at, to his players.
"They said, 'You want us to run down and shoot within five seconds?' I said yes. And you never have to play defense. Done.''
Follow the three dots...
At Saturday's WCC Hall of Honor ceremony, John Stockton was informed that there is a high school basketball player in Utah named Stockton Malone Shorts. On the subject of Stockton's famously short shorts, he said he simply wore what was issued to him when was a rookie with the Utah Jazz. "I didn't know what an inseam was until I got fitted for my wedding tux,'' he quipped to TheW.tv's Sarah Kezele. ... It's fair to say Saturday was a great day for Dick Davey. The former Santa Clara coach was inducted into the WCC's Hall of Honor in the morning and watched as the Broncos beat their Bay Area rival USF in the afternoon. "Obviously, I'm a Bronco. Always will be,'' he said. "I'm rooting for the Broncos, yelling and letting the officials know what I think.''
John Crumpacker spent more than three decades working at the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle. During his career he has covered the full gamut of sports from prep to professionals. Most recently, Crumpacker served as the beat writer for Cal through the end of the 2013-14 season. In addition to covering 10 Olympic Games, Crumpacker served as the beat writer for the San Francisco 49ers. He is a two-time winner of the Track & Field Writers of America annual writing award and has several APSE Top 10 writing awards.