Gonzaga Is Keeping a Low Profile

Imagine this: Tiny Gonzaga is ranked fourth in the nation, two spots higher than the ballyhooed 2002 team led by Dan Dickau ever was.

But the Zags are almost an afterthought, nudged aside by the unbeaten runs of Stanford and Saint Joseph’s.

“We’re kind of laying low,” Coach Mark Few said.

In an odd coincidence, Saint Joe’s and Stanford happen to be the only teams that have defeated the 25-2 Zags, meaning they haven’t lost to a team that has lost a game all season.

Yet the Zags are approaching the NCAA tournament without much accompanying buzz, even though they have their best and deepest team yet -- and ample reason to believe they’ll do much better than the 2002 team that was sixth-ranked and sixth-seeded but went bust against Wyoming in the first round.

“One thing I like about this team as opposed to the team two years ago, was that team peaked in January,” Few said.

“Every player had maximized his potential. This team has a lot more parts, and I don’t think we’ve hit our max throttle yet.”

Gonzaga went belly-up against Wyoming in 2002 because of a dismal shooting performance. Dickau was seven for 24 in his final college game. Blake Stepp was one for 13.

“This team has a lot more answers,” Few said.

It’s not only Stepp, the guard who recently picked up his second consecutive West Coast Conference player-of-the-year award. Nor is the team overly reliant on its best NBA prospect, Ronny Turiaf, a marvelously gifted 6-foot-10 forward who speaks four languages and is picking up a fifth. (In fact, Gonzaga lost to Saint Joe’s by only seven points in the first game of the season even though Turiaf, coming off an injury, played only five minutes.)

Cory Violette, another big man with both brawn and finesse, is the other member of the core trio that gives Gonzaga an inside and outside game.

But as Few said, he likes all this team’s “parts” -- players such as freshman forward Adam Morrison and guards Tony Skinner, Kyle Bankhead and Erroll Knight, who started his career at Washington.

“If we’re not scoring, shove Adam in there,” Few said. “If we’re not rebounding, get Tony Skinner in. If it’s getting crazy, put in Kyle Bankhead. He’s just rock-solid, always in the right place on offense and defense.

“It’s kind of the whole, not just the parts. One guy who has stepped up is Erroll Knight. You can put him on anybody [except the center] defensively. He’s an X-factor guy. Tony Skinner had four ‘threes’ and a double-double against Tulsa. And you can count on Cory, Blake and Ronny -- they’re so solid.”

Solid is a good word to describe Gonzaga’s season. The Zags have victories over Georgia, Washington, Maryland and Missouri, and swept their WCC games by an average of 19 points.

They haven’t lost since the Dec. 20 game against Stanford, an 87-80 defeat.

“Stanford has been unbelievable,” Few said. “We were pretty much full strength when we played them. [Stanford didn’t have injured Josh Childress.] They were really, really good.”

Gonzaga is the heavy favorite in the WCC tournament this weekend at Santa Clara, but unlike some years past, there is absolutely no suspense about whether the Zags will make the NCAA tournament if they lose.

The only debate is what seeding they’ll earn if they keep winning -- a No. 2 or a No. 3.

Even with that No. 4 ranking, it appears they’ll be seeded third in their region.

Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule has kept its Ratings Percentage Index ranking relatively high this season despite the drag of the WCC schedule.

But the No. 11 RPI calculated by Jerry Palm probably points to a No. 3 seeding, not a No. 2. (One way to try to predict seeding is to divide the RPI ranking by four, which is the number of regions.)

After all the controversy over Gonzaga’s No. 6 seeding two years ago -- and after going in as a No. 9 last season and nearly upsetting top-seeded Arizona in a fabulous double-overtime game -- Few no longer spends time campaigning for seeding.

“I just think there are so many good teams, you’re going have play a good team in the tournament,” he said. “After doing this five straight years, I know you’re going to play somebody good whether you’re a 10, a 12, a three or a six. I don’t think it’s that big a deal.

“What I tell our guys is, ‘Let’s not lose sight of the feeling on that Sunday of seeing your name pop up on the screen.’

“A lot of teams’ names are not popping up. You’re down there in the center of that [in Southern California, with no likely NCAA teams.]

“I tell them, ‘Don’t ever act like it’s old hat.’ ”

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Pac Two -- or Three?

Washington is the Pacific 10 Conference’s last and best hope for a third team in the NCAA tournament after Stanford and Arizona, barring an upset winner in the Pac-10 tournament.

But with an RPI of No. 96, the Huskies need a strong finish against California and Stanford this week and a very good Pac-10 tournament performance -- and then they still have to hope the selection committee leans heavily on record in the last 10 games, one of the selection criteria.

After starting 0-5 in the conference, Washington has won 10 of its last 11 Pac-10 games and lost a close game on the road against a top-25 team, North Carolina State.

“I think they should be in,” said Arizona Coach Lute Olson, whose Wildcats were swept by Washington. “The reason I say that is if you take a look over the last 10 games, they’ve played great. The other thing is they are a young team, sometimes starting four sophomores, and it should be expected they would struggle early.

“I think when they made that 3,000-mile trip back to North Carolina State, and they really could have won that, I think that’s an indication of how much better Washington is now.”

Coach Lorenzo Romar, the former Pepperdine coach and UCLA assistant, traces the Huskies’ resurgence to a game against Oregon State last month when they trailed by 16 points but rallied to win in overtime.

The three-point basket Nate Robinson made at the end of regulation to force overtime “literally changed the season,” Romar said.

“We had been doing things right for periods of time, but not consistently. More consistency came, for whatever reason, after that shot.

“When he did that, it was as if our guys were out on parole or something and decided, ‘We’ve got another chance, we’re not going to blow this one.’ ”

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Avoiding Rush Hour

With the season of upsets and impossible endings upon us, it’s a good time to reconsider the tradition of rushing the court.

The scene at Stanford when Tiger Woods risked a big paycheck or two by going into the fray after a last-second shot beat Arizona was scary, even to Olson.

“I thought something serious was going to happen,” said Olson, whose team’s road losses have inspired other crowds to storm the court.

Something very serious happened last month at Tucson, where high school basketball player Joe Kay suffered a torn carotid artery and a stroke after being trampled after a victory.

People seem to have gotten the message about the danger of toppling goal posts, and television broadcasts routinely avoid showing streakers.

As much a part of basketball season as the sight of a crowd rushing onto the court is, maybe it’s time it ended.

“I don’t know what the solution is other than try not to talk so much about people rushing on the court or to not show it on TV,” Olson said.

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THE TIMES’ RANKINGS

ROBYN NORWOOD’S RANKINGS AND COMMENTS:

*--* Rk. School (Rec.) Comment 1 STANFORD (25-0) Cardinal goes to Washington seeking Pac-10’s first 18-0 season. 2 SAINT JOSEPH’S (27-0) Congratulations on an unbeaten regular season. 3 MISSISSIPPI STATE (24-2) Bulldogs remain undefeated on the road this season. 4 GONZAGA (25-2) Maybe a bit lofty at No. 4, but record deserves it. 5 DUKE (24-4) Georgia Tech ended Duke’s 41-game streak in Cameron Indoor. 6 PITTSBURGH (26-3) First loss in Peterson Center had to come some time. 7 OKLAHOMA STATE (23-2) Lucas is the star, but Allen is leading scorer. 8 CONNECTICUT (24-5) Few would have imagined UConn unlikely to get a No. 1 seeding. 9 KENTUCKY (22-4) Wildcats have one statistic that stands out -- their record. 10 TEXAS (21-5) Longhorns were roped by the Cowboys. 11 WAKE FOREST (19-7) Yes, Wake Forest, there is a Virginia. 12 GEORGIA TECH (21-8) Amid the losses, Tech pulls upset of Duke. 13 CINCINNATI (20-5) Sophomore James White making an impression lately. 14 PROVIDENCE (20-6) Friars ran into Pittsburgh team on the rebound. 15 NORTH CAROLINA (18-8) Latest chapter in Carolina-Duke rivalry is Saturday in Cameron Indoor. 16 N.C. STATE (18-8) Julius Hodge has had an exceptional season. 17 ILLINOIS (21-5) The Illini are in three-team race for Big Ten title. 18 WISCONSIN (20-6) Badgers knocked Michigan State out of our rankings. 19 KANSAS (19-7) Wayne Simien averages 17 points and nine rebounds. 20 ARIZONA (18-8) Low seeding in NCAAs will put Wildcats in position to pull upsets. 21 LOUISVILLE (19-7) That was quite a February cold spell for the Cardinals. 22 MEMPHIS (21-5) Louisville ended 11-game winning streak. 23 SYRACUSE (20-6) Upset of Pittsburgh reminded us Syracuse is defending champ. 24 SO. ILLINOIS (24-3) RPI assures Salukis of bid no matter what. 25 UTAH STATE (24-2) Aggies remain best of the once-great Big West.

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