USD Men's Basketball 1994-1995

WEST COAST CONFERENCE

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THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE~~~~~~~~~~ The basketball courts of the West Coast Conference run from the eastern pine forests of the Pacific Northwest to the crowded beaches of San Diego, California. Gonzaga University, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, the University of Portland, Saint Mary's College, the University of San Diego, the University of San Francisco and Santa Clara University make up the NCAA Division I league. All are private institutions with exceptional academic and athletic traditions, and have made up the WCC for the past fourteen years. The current alignment has remained unchanged since 1980. San Francisco has won 16 men's hoops titles followed by Pepperdine (10), Santa Clara (6), Loyola Marymount (4), Saint Mary's (3), San Diego (2) and Gonzaga (1). Basketball is what got the West Coast Conference its start as the California Basketball Association back in 1952. No one suspected at the time the number of legendary players who would battle on the courts of the league in the subsequent 43 years. Former WCC players sport NBA championship rings (Bill Cartwright, San Francisco), Olympic Gold Medals (John Stockton, Gonzaga), and statues in the National Basketball Hall of Fame (Bill Russell , K.C. Jones, and Phil Woolpert, USF), Phil Smith, Dennis Johnson, Rick Adelman, Darwin Cook, Kurt Rambis, Tom Meschery, Bo Kimble, the late Hank Gathers, and most recently, Doug Christie spent their formative years pounding the hardwoods of the Conference. The WCC is no longer merely a basketball league, as it offers a total of 11 championships for men (baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, tennis and soccer) and women (basketball, cross country, tennis, soccer, and volleyball). The league owns NCAA automatic bids in men's basketball, women's basketball, men's soccer, baseball and volleyball. Last year, the WCC advanced a representative from each of its sports to the NCAA championships. PITCHES, DIAMONDS, COURTS AND COURSES~~~~~ While basketball gets most of the attention, it's not the only WCC men 's sport. In fact, the conference has gained national recognition as having one of the top baseball and soccer leagues in the country. Santa Clara tied for the national soccer crown in 1989, Portland has been in five straight NCAA soccer tournaments while San Diego was the 1992 national runner-up and made it to the NCAA's Sweet 16 in 1990 and the second round in 1993. USF has won the soccer national championship four times. In baseball, Pepperdine won the 1992 national baseball title, and has won nine of the last eleven WCC crowns. Countless players have gone on to professional baseball careers after playing collegiately in the WCC. In tennis, the University of San Diego captured the WCC crowns in 1989 and 1990 and Pepperdine has won the past four. USD's Jose Luis Noriega became the school's first ever four-time NCAA All– American, and participated in the NCAA's all four years he competed (1989-92). This is the tenth season of WCC women 's sports, and the eighth with conference membership mirroring the men's league. Gonzaga, Portland and St. Mary's upgraded their programs to the Division I level just seven years ago. Gonzaga won the women's basketball title in their first Division I season. St. Mary's won it in 1989 and 1990, and Santa Clara took the title in 1991. Santa Clara, Portland and San Francisco ended in a three-way tie in 1992. 1993 marked San Diego's first WCC crown and first year in the NCAA Tournament while Santa Clara won last season. Portland has captured the cross-country crown in each of the last seven years. Santa Clara won the volleyball title in 1993, but San Diego finished 24-6 under WCC Coach of the Year Sue Snyder and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time at the NCAA Division I level. The San Diego women's tennis team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament four times in the past six years. 1994 marks the third year for women's soccer as a WCC sport. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS~~~~~~~~~~~~ Current WCC members have won 14 NCAA team championships, most recently the 1992 baseball crown by Pepperdine. USF has seven titles (four in soccer, two in basketball, one in tennis) followed by Pepperdine with four (three in volleyball and one in baseball), and Santa Clara (soccer) and Gonzaga (boxing) with one apiece. Pepperdine has three individual champions and Gonzaga has a trio of boxing winners. San Francisco has won individual championships in tennis and fencing while Loyola Marymount won an individual track title. San Diego picked up a pair of Division II team tennis crowns and Pepperdine won two track awards prior to joining the WCC. Portland captured its first national title in 1986, in NAIA cross country. Saint Mary's also won the NAIA soccer championship that year.

1993-94All-eonference Team

1993-94 Final Basketball Standings School Gonzaga Pepperdine San Francisco San Diego Portland All 22-8 19-11 8-6 17-11 8-6 18-11 7-7 13-17 6-8

Brooks Barnhard

San Diego Gonzaga Portland Gonzaga Pepperdine St. Mary's Pepperdine LMU

F C F G

Jeff Brown

wee

Canaan Chatman Geoff Goss Dana Jones Wyking Jones Chris Johnson Damin Lopez Orlando Smart Gerald Walker

12-2

F F

G G G

San Francisco San Francisco

13-14 13-14

6-8 5-9

Santa Clara Saint Mary's Loyola Marymount

G USD Honorable Mention: Doug Harris, Joe Temple

6-21

4-10