USD Men's Basketball 2005-2006

2005-06 Toreros Mix Exp~rience With Youth HEAD COACH BRAD HOLLAND: Head coach Brad Holland enters his 12th year at the helm of the Torero men's basketball program. Holland, who has tallied nine seasons of .500 or better records in eleven years, will be looking to continue his winning ways after last year's 16-13 club that finished tied for 3rd in the highly competitive West Coast Conference. For his efforts, Holland was tabbed the WCC Coach of the Year by Collegelnsider.com. With the graduation of co-MVP's Brandon Gay (17.4 ppg/6.6 rpg) and Brice Vounang (15.1 ppg/7.5 rpg), both 2nd Team District 15 picks, Holland will look for players to step up their production at both ends of the floor. 5th-YEAR SENIOR LEADERSHIP: Coach Holland and his staff will have the luxury of having two ex–

perienced players that are entering their fifth year with the program - senior forwards Corey Belser (Spanaway, Washington) and Nick Lewis (Paradise Valley, Arizona). Belser, who last year was named the Mid-Major Defensive Player of the Year by Collegelnsider.com, will once again have the chore of ----••------i.:::..~-~k stopping the opponent's top scorer. Look for Belser to also pick up in the scor- ing department, something he wasn't asked to do last year with Gay and Vounang in the line-up. Belser proved he is worthy with a 15 point/IO rebound effort in last year's impressive 95-88 road win at Wyoming; with a 17 point/8 rebound total in the team's 3-point home loss to 2nd place Saint Mary's; and with his 10 point/11 rebound game in the team's 86-80 win over Pepperdine in their quarterfinal contest of the WCC Tournament. Nick Lewis will be one of the league's premier players at both ends of the floor. He is the team's top returning scorer (12.6

ppg) and rebounder (5.2 rpg), and should see increased production in both of those categories. He showed his offensive talents last year by scoring in double figures in 20 of 29 games played. He posted three double-doubles that was highlighted by his 28 point/10 rebound performance in the team's 92-88 home win over Pep– perdine. He also posted back-to-back double-doubles in solid wins over Northern Arizona (13/10) and UC Santa Barbara (20/11). THE REST OF THE RETURNERS: Joining Belser and Lewis as returners from last year's 16-13 club are senior forward Michael Shepherd (Orem, UT), junior guards Ross DeRogatis (Mansfield, TX) and Michael Hubbard (Los Angeles, CA), and redshirt fresh– man Gyno Pomare (Oceanside, CA). DeRogatis, who joins Belser and Lewis as a returning starter, played a key role last year as the team's floor general. He averaged 7.9 ppg to go with a team-best 99 assists, but was deadly with his long-range shooting. He led the team in three-point accuracy overall (46.2%) and in WCC play (50%). Although he scored in double figures in ten games, his breakout performance came against Santa Clara at home when he poured in 28 points. In that 87-73 JCP victory he canned all six of his three-point attempts in the first half to keep the Toreros close, and finished 8-for-10 overall from beyond the painted arc. Shepherd and Hubbard played key roles coming off the bench a year ago, but should see their playing roles increase significantly. Shepherd, who saw action in 26 games and all 14 WCC contests, played some quality minutes in giving USD's big men a rest. Hubbard continued to battle through injuries and appeared in 17 games overall and 9 league tilts. He scored 5 points in four different WCC games and totaled a season-best 9 points in the team's win usdtoreros.com