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Sports Almanac
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Nothin' but Net
by Timothy McKernan
Gonzaga
University had jumped out to a 15-3 lead over USD in the
2003 West Coast Conference championship game when Torero
coach Brad Holland called a timeout. The cheers of the Gonzaga
faithful were deafening; the players were celebrating as
if the game had already been won.
Holland turned to an assistant coach and nodded. "We
have them right where we want them," he said.
He was right. USD fought back for a decisive 72-63 victory,
claiming its first WCC men's basketball championship in 16
years and earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
But that's only part of the story. In addition to the satisfaction
of winning a championship, the team also got a really heavy
monkey off its back.
Gonzaga, the pride of Spokane, Wash., had at USD become a
synonym for frustration. Torero-Bulldog contests over the
past several years fell into a routine — close, well-played
games that ended in victory for Gonzaga. Winning only three
of 14 games since 1998, and losers of the last nine in a row,
the Toreros had never beaten Gonzaga at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Worse, they were forced to look on as the Bulldogs and their
fans claimed the JCP as their home away from home, winning
the 2001 and 2002 conference tournaments at Alcalá
Park.
As this season got under way, it seemed not much had changed.
Gonzaga was favored to win the conference in five polls, none
of which rated USD higher than fourth. But after early missteps,
the Toreros caught fire halfway through the WCC schedule,
finishing strong enough to claim the No. 2 seed in the conference
tournament — second, of course, to Gonzaga, who beat
USD
twice in conference play.
At the March 9 tournament semifinal, USD overcame turnovers
and uneven shooting to best San Francisco, while Gonzaga crushed
St. Mary's. Before the final game on March 10, most observers
had already fit the Bulldogs for their fifth consecutive conference
crown and were musing about USD's prospects of being invited
to the National Invitational Tournament, the lesser star in
the college basketball galaxy.
Despite
history, the experts' crystal balls and the early 12-point
deficit, the Toreros kept playing. Some deadly shooting —
four Toreros scored in double figures — and tenacious
defense brought USD back from what looked like an insurmountable
Gonzaga lead. With about eight minutes to go in the game,
Mike McGrain took the ball on a fast-break and delivered an
alley-oop pass to Jason Keep. The 6-foot-10 transfer from
Oklahoma State (right), who scored 18 points and was
named tournament MVP, slammed the ball home, giving USD a
lead it never relinquished.
"I remember (Gonzaga coach Mark) Few said before the
tournament that his team won some big games and USD hadn't,
and that would make a difference," said Roy Morris, a
senior guard who endured those nine straight losses to the
Bulldogs. "Well, we've won a big one now."
It was a team victory, but after the final buzzer it became
something larger, something the university could put its arms
around. Women's basketball coach Kathy Marpe and several of
her players, despite being ousted in the semifinal of the
women's tournament, were in the crowd, cheering along with
the blue-haired fan club dubbed the Hooligans. Father J.J.
O'Leary, the team's spiritual adviser, drew cheers as the
players coaxed him to take his turn during the ceremonial
snipping of the net from one of the hoops. Monsignor Daniel
Dillabough, USD's vice president for mission and ministry,
hugged a friend, repeating, "We did it, we did it,"
over and over.
"People are calling this an upset," Holland said,
"but I guarantee you one thing: no one in our locker
room is surprised we won this game. That we came back to beat
such a great team shows what a powerful weapon character is."
At the NCAA Tournament on March 20, USD lost to Stanford,
77-69.
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