Tournament Teams 2008 - NCAA First Round
Take a veteran club, mix in a couple of promising young newcomers and you have the recipe for another trip to the NCAA Tournament. That’s exactly what Gonzaga University head coach Mark Few did in 2008 as Gonzaga made a 10th straight trip into March, the Bulldogs compiling a 25-8 record. It was the 11th straight 20-win season for the Bulldogs – Few has never won less than 20 games as a head coach – and the 14th time in 15 seasons the Bulldogs achieved the milestone. WCC Player of the Year Jeremy Pargo, guard Matt Bouldin and senior blue collar worker David Pendergraft were named to the All-WCC team. It marked the eighth straight season a Bulldog had been named Player of the Year. Freshman Austin Daye was named WCC honorable mention, and he was joined on the WCC All-Freshman team by teammate Steven Gray. And as the mastermind behind it all, Few was accorded his seventh WCC Coach of the Year accolade in his nine years as head coach, the most decorated coach in the history of the WCC. Few is tied for 13th on the NCAA Most Consecutive Division I 20-Win Seasons list with nine. He’s knotted with Rick Barnes, University of Texas, and Stew Morrill, Utah State University, who extended their streaks this season. Lute Olson of the University of Arizona heads the list with 20. Few is tied for sixth on the Current Most Consecutive Division I 20Win Seasons list with Barnes and Morrill at nine. Pargo averaged 11.8 ppg overall, but it was the other facets of his game that often times made life rough for the opposition. He paced the conference in assists at 6.23 overall and 6.50 in WCC action, he was eighth overall in steals with 1.47 and fourth in WCC games at 2.07 and posted a 1.91 assist/turnover ration in all games and 2.28 in WCC contests. Bouldin was ninth in the WCC in scoring at 13.1 ppg and in 3-point field goal percentage at 38.3 percent (46-for-120). Pendergraft was seventh overall in field goal percentage (50.3 percent) and a hot 55.4 percent in WCC games. He also hit 52.4 percent of his treys in WCC play, going 22for-42. Daye paced the WCC in free throw percentage at 89.6 percent (86-for-96) and was 15th in scoring (11.0 ppg). Gray was fourth in WCC play in 3-point field goal percentage, connecting on 21-of-38 for 43.8 percent. The road to the NCAA wasn’t an easy one, however. The Bulldogs played another grueling non-conference schedule that saw the Bulldogs go 2-1 in the Great Alaska Shootout, defeat the University of Connecticut at the Basketball Hall of Fame Chal-
lenge in Boston, lose a tough home contest to Washington State University and play the University of Memphis on the road and the University of Tennessee in The Battle in Seattle, two teams that held the No. 1 spot in the country throughout the season. Memphis lost in the NCAA championship game. The combined record of the teams who handed Gonzaga its seven losses in the regular season was 172-58 for a winning percentage of 74.8, and six of the seven teams won 20 or more games. Once the Bulldogs got into WCC action the intensity was even greater. One of the closest WCC regular-season races in history saw the Bulldogs, Saint Mary’s College and the University of San Diego in the hunt to the final weekend of the season. The Bulldogs persevered, going 13-1 in league to edge the 12-2 Gaels. USD, under former Gonzaga assistant and first-year head coach Bill Grier, finished third at 113. The WCC Tournament title game came down to the Bulldogs and Gaels – Few against Grier – and the Toreros captured the title and automatic NCAA berth with their home court victory. But the Bulldogs, with their tough nonconference slate, were all but assured an atlarge berth and received a No. 7 seed when selection Sunday rolled around. The Zags are tied for sixth for consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with the University of Texas and University of Wisconsin at 10. Gonzaga was also hit by injuries early. Josh Heytvelt was hampered early in fall camp and had surgery in early November to insert screws into an injured ankle. Gray, the sharpshooting freshman, landed on his wrist during a fall in Gonzaga’s exhibition game and underwent surgery to insert a pin. Both players were sidelined until just prior to Christmas. With a 13-1 home record, the McCarthey Athletic Center built on its reputation as one of the toughest places to play in the country. In their four seasons in the new facility Gonzaga is 52-2. Few also hit a couple of milestones during the season. He picked up his 225th career victory Jan. 19 against San Diego. With 236 victories, Few is third on the alltime Gonzaga victories chart behind Hank Anderson (290-275 in 21 seasons) and Dan Fitzgerald (252-171 in 15 seasons). Few is the active winningest coach in West Coast Conference games at 113-13, moving ahead of Fitzgerald (112-88) on the all-time wins list. He ended the season as the secondranked active winningest coach in NCAA Division I behind the University of North Carolina’s Roy Williams.
GONZAGA MEN’S ’ BASKETBALL 2009-10
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