Jan. 20, 2003
Stream of consciousness after tough weekend.
Following a lost weekend in Los Angeles, the Broncos are now faced with must wins at home to stay in the top half of the league. Heading to Malibu, there was talk of winning the league; now it's a matter of survival. There will be no easy wins for this team. The good news: competitive entertaining games. The bad news: ulcers.
Dick Davey's body language after Pepperdine made it clear there are no such things as moral victories. However, cutting a 24-point deficit to a single basket is something this team can build on. The next step is learning to close.
45 minutes to travel 6 miles! Only acceptable because of Pacific Coast Highway
As impressive as Jim Howell's 19 rebounds were to watch, the total was only 20 shy of the league record set by Keith Swaggerty of UOP in1965.
If Gonzaga IS the team to beat, then it will be a fight to the finish among 5 teams for 2nd place. With the 1st and 2nd place teams getting byes into the semifinals, that is no small consolation.
The freshmen bigs are going to be major contributors. Scott Borchart and Travis Niesen bring a fire that belies their class status.
Brian Jones is playing professionally in Germany. At this writing, his team won the first two games with him on the roster.
Marlon Garnett broke a foot playing overseas, but will be hitting jumpers for someone within six weeks.
Rohe and Rohde are the best pair of shooters since Garnett and Nash. Both underclassmen.
As well as this team can shoot from the perimeter, the interior defense will be the key as to how far this team goes this year. A great effort inside paid off in a win in San Diego. A soft middle laid the groundwork for the loss at LMU.
A season-low 10 turnovers at USD is an indication of how important Bakari Altheimer is to the team. His numbers don't have to be huge, but he's a legitimate point who can initiate the offense. Without Kyle Bailey, he'll play close to 30 minutes a night.
Former small forward Craig Johnson will play another season of Slam Ball. If you've never watched, it's 3-3 using trampolines. Very Gen X and fun to watch.
It can't be true. John Wooden pays for his own tickets to UCLA games. After all, what has he ever done?
This is my fourth year of misidentifying Cord and Brad. I'm not alone because their mom left their hospital ID bracelets on for two months to tell them apart. They've confessed to taking tests for each other. Of course, that was BEFORE Santa Clara.
At the Southwest Airlines line on the way out of L.A., there was a line of about 75 military personnel with overstuffed camouflage duffel bags. After watching them get organized, I asked one if the group was headed to the Middle East and he said that's where they'd probably end up. He understood very clearly when I said thank you.
It makes a pair of conference losses seem less significant