January 7, 2005
Gonzaga's pre-West Coast Conference accomplishments included three wins over Top 20 teams, among them Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State, both ranked No. 3, 10 days apart to achieve a No. 11 national ranking.
Saint Mary's had wins over Cal, UNLV and BYU. Pepperdine handled then-No. 17 Wisconsin in November. Loyola Marymount and Portland posted their best nonconference records in nine and 26 years, respectively. The University of San Francisco won eight of its last nine preleague assignments and USD took six of seven.
And even Santa Clara, the only team to finish the preconference with a sub-.500 record (7-8), managed to knock off No. 3 North Carolina in November.
If you still think of the WCC as a nice little midmajor men's basketball conglomeration well below the NCAA upper class, or if you think of it as Gonzaga and the seven dwarfs, think again.
"The WCC is the deepest since I've been in the league, and that's 11 years," said USD coach Brad Holland, whose team opens conference play tonight at Pepperdine. "The WCC has an outstanding group of coaches, and a lot of the best players this year are juniors and seniors. We are a veteran league in terms of the number of outstanding upper-class players."
Gonzaga, with its run of six straight NCAA Tournament qualifications, has become one of the top programs in the country in the opinion of ESPN's Dick Vitale. And, to avoid embarrassment if nothing else, other WCC teams have had to raise their recruiting, coaching and playing standards.
"It's like Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour," Holland said. "The bar is set higher and to be competitive you have to strive to get where they (the Zags) are."
The rest of the league's success in that endeavor may be measured by the preconference results. Now comes Phase II ? battling each other for the next eight weeks to secure position for the WCC Tournament at Santa Clara, March 4-7.
The good news for USD is its five-game winning streak and 8-5 record, twice as many victories as all last season. The not-as-encouraging news for the Toreros is the task that starts tonight.
"We're going into conference the way you want to go," Holland said. "I like going into conference with what we've done, winning five straight and six of seven, and with the confidence we've built.
"But I think the team recognizes that the conference is very good this year. And I believe that as a team you don't ever stay the same; you get worse or you get better. We have to stay hungry and improve."
The Toreros went 1-13 in the WCC last season and, as the eighth and last seed, were blasted out of the conference tournament in the opening round by Santa Clara, 82-48. USD was picked sixth in the preseason coaches poll this season, but the recent success has fueled higher aspirations.
"You look at how we've done and we've got to be a respected player going in," Holland said. "But starting on the road for the first three games certainly doesn't play in our favor."
After tonight, the Toreros are at Loyola Marymount on Sunday and San Francisco on Jan. 15 before the Jan. 20 home conference opener against Portland.
Two of USD's five wins in its last six games were achieved on the road, at San Jose State and Wyoming. The former ended a 23-game road losing streak; the latter was particularly satisfying coming at altitude and in a notoriously hostile environment.
The Toreros' five-game winning streak corresponds to the insertion of junior Nick Lewis into the starting lineup ? making for a starting front line of the 6-foot-10 Lewis, 6-8 Brice Vounang and 6-8 Brandon Gay ? and a commitment to defense and rebounding.
Lewis has averaged 16.6 points and 7.2 rebounds during the streak, and teammate Corey Belser earned league and national honors for his defensive play at Wyoming and in a home victory over Creighton a week ago.
Gonzaga's pre-West Coast Conference accomplishments included three wins over Top 20 teams, among them Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State, both ranked No. 3, 10 days apart to achieve a No. 11 national ranking.
Saint Mary's had wins over Cal, UNLV and BYU. Pepperdine handled then-No. 17 Wisconsin in November. Loyola Marymount and Portland posted their best nonconference records in nine and 26 years, respectively. The University of San Francisco won eight of its last nine preleague assignments and USD took six of seven.
And even Santa Clara, the only team to finish the preconference with a sub-.500 record (7-8), managed to knock off No. 3 North Carolina in November.
If you still think of the WCC as a nice little midmajor men's basketball conglomeration well below the NCAA upper class, or if you think of it as Gonzaga and the seven dwarfs, think again.
"The WCC is the deepest since I've been in the league, and that's 11 years," said USD coach Brad Holland, whose team opens conference play tonight at Pepperdine. "The WCC has an outstanding group of coaches, and a lot of the best players this year are juniors and seniors. We are a veteran league in terms of the number of outstanding upper-class players."
Gonzaga, with its run of six straight NCAA Tournament qualifications, has become one of the top programs in the country in the opinion of ESPN's Dick Vitale. And, to avoid embarrassment if nothing else, other WCC teams have had to raise their recruiting, coaching and playing standards.
"It's like Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour," Holland said. "The bar is set higher and to be competitive you have to strive to get where they (the Zags) are."
The rest of the league's success in that endeavor may be measured by the preconference results. Now comes Phase II ? battling each other for the next eight weeks to secure position for the WCC Tournament at Santa Clara, March 4-7.
The good news for USD is its five-game winning streak and 8-5 record, twice as many victories as all last season. The not-as-encouraging news for the Toreros is the task that starts tonight.
"We're going into conference the way you want to go," Holland said. "I like going into conference with what we've done, winning five straight and six of seven, and with the confidence we've built.
"But I think the team recognizes that the conference is very good this year. And I believe that as a team you don't ever stay the same; you get worse or you get better. We have to stay hungry and improve."
The Toreros went 1-13 in the WCC last season and, as the eighth and last seed, were blasted out of the conference tournament in the opening round by Santa Clara, 82-48. USD was picked sixth in the preseason coaches poll this season, but the recent success has fueled higher aspirations.
"You look at how we've done and we've got to be a respected player going in," Holland said. "But starting on the road for the first three games certainly doesn't play in our favor."
After tonight, the Toreros are at Loyola Marymount on Sunday and San Francisco on Jan. 15 before the Jan. 20 home conference opener against Portland.
Two of USD's five wins in its last six games were achieved on the road, at San Jose State and Wyoming. The former ended a 23-game road losing streak; the latter was particularly satisfying coming at altitude and in a notoriously hostile environment.
The Toreros' five-game winning streak corresponds to the insertion of junior Nick Lewis into the starting lineup ? making for a starting front line of the 6-foot-10 Lewis, 6-8 Brice Vounang and 6-8 Brandon Gay ? and a commitment to defense and rebounding.
Lewis has averaged 16.6 points and 7.2 rebounds during the streak, and teammate Corey Belser earned league and national honors for his defensive play at Wyoming and in a home victory over Creighton a week ago.
