Gonzaga looks tough this season
|
|
After perhaps his most difficult season as a head coach, Gonzaga’s Mark Few is impatient with predictions that this might be his best team yet. Few doesn’t see players who can immediately stack up with Dan Dickau, Ronny Turiaf, Adam Morrison or other Gonzaga greats. “They are not even close to that yet,” Few said. But, “we do have a lot of good depth and good solid players.” National observers think so. The Zags, who fell out of the Top 25 during a rough December last season, are ranked No. 14 in the AP preseason poll. West Coast Conference coaches picked the Zags to win their eighth consecutive regular-season title, as the team returns three starters from a squad that posted a 23-11 record and went to the NCAA tournament for the ninth straight time. Lost to graduation were leading scorer Derek Raivio and forward Sean Mallon. But a solid core of players is back for the season that begins Sunday against Montana. It includes guards Jeremy Pargo and Matt Bouldin, plus David Pendergraft and Micah Downs, whose late emergence as a scorer gave the team a lift. Gifted forward Josh Heytvelt is back from a suspension for drug possession. But the buzz is about freshmen Austin Daye, Steven Gray and Robert Sacre, one of the nation’s best recruiting classes, and junior college transfer Ira Brown (16 points, 9 rebounds per game). Daye averaged 30 points per game in high school in California, Gray was AP Washington Player of the Year and Sacre averaged 25 ppg in high school. “We have a lot of depth with the freshmen coming in,” said Pendergraft, a senior who averaged more than 7 points and 4 rebounds per game. “There is more talent on this team than any other team, top to bottom.” All eyes, and most taunts by opposing fans, are likely to be on Heytvelt. He was averaging 15 points and a team-leading 7 rebounds per game last season when he was arrested for drug possession, along with teammate Theo Davis, a redshirting freshman. Heytvelt missed the final nine games of the season. After an extensive process, both players were recently reinstated, and vowed to stay clean. “I am blessed with the opportunity to come back,” said Heytvelt, a 6-foot-11 forward. Few said the two players were ostracized by teammates for a time, when it appeared their suspensions would derail a promising season. After falling to an unaccustomed second in the WCC, the Zags rallied to win the league tournament and advance to the NCAAs. They lost to Indiana in the first round, the first such exit since 2002. Bouldin, who averaged 8.9 points and 3 assists in playing all 34 games as a freshman, said the team would accept the returning players. “I’m glad to see those guys on the court again,” he said. Downs is a transfer from Kansas who averaged 16 ppg over the final six WCC contests. As usual, the Zags have a difficult non-conference schedule to compensate for playing in the lightly regarded WCC. Their opponents include No. 10 Washington State, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 3 Memphis, Saint Joseph’s, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Utah and Georgia. They are also in the tough Great Alaska Shootout. “Whatever they want to play,” shrugged Pargo, who averaged 12 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds per game, and is a Wooden preseason top 50 selection. Assistant coach Leon Rice said this schedule is better than last year’s meat-grinder, which was widely viewed as too difficult. “There’s a little more sanity to it,” Rice said. “We have more time to regroup between games. “There are only so many games you can be at your best. You can’t play 30 of your best games. Nobody does.” Source : sports.espn.go.com |