USD Men's Basketball 2006-2007

Athletic Toreros Look To Continue Winning Ways

HEAD COACH BRAD HOLLAND: Head coach Brad Holland enters his 13th year at the helm of the Torero men's basketball program. Holland, who has tallied ten seasons of .500 or better records in twelve years, is the program's all– time winningest coach with 182 wins. This season he will be looking to continue his winning ways following last year's 18-12 club that advanced to the semi-finals of the WCC Tournament. With the gradu– ation of co-MYP 's Corey Belser, the WCC Defender of the Year, and Nick Lewis (17 .6 ppg/5.0 rpg), a !st Team AII-WCC pick, Holland will look for his returning players to elevate their game at both ends of the floor. TRIO OF SENIORS: The Toreros will have three seniors that they can lean on for

experience and leadership. lt starts with third-year guard Ross DeRo– gatis (Mansfield, TX), a vocal leader who can play both guard spots and has deadly range from beyond the three-point arc. DeRogatis, a two-time WCC All-Academic selection, is the team's top return– ing scorer at 12.0 points per game. He canned 82 treys last season, converting on 41.6% of his attempts. He has the offensive power to change the outcome of a game quickly. He is joined by second-year seniors Nir Cohen (Migdal Haemek, Israel) and Theo White (Oakland, CA). Cohen, a 6-7, 245

lb. forward/center, has a strong inside game at both ends of the floor, and also has decent outside offensive abilities. Last year he shot 50.6% from the floor while averaging 7.1 points and 3.8 boards. The 6-6 White earned 9 starts in 27 games a year ago and gave the Toreros a big lift with his inside presence. He will be counted on to defend and rebound against taller opponents . YOUTHFUL RETURNERS BRING EXPERIENCE:

USO returns four sophomores that all played a key role in last year's success. The quartet includes 6-7 forward Gyno Pomare (Oceanside, CA), 6-0 point guard Brandon Johnson (Houston, TX), 6-3 wing Ray Murdock (Phoe– nix, AZ), and 6-4 shooting guard Danny Brown (Olathe, KS). Pomare is the team 's second top returning scorer after averaging l 0.4 points per game and 5.0 rebounds . He led the entire WCC in field goal percentage (63.3%), and also tallied a team-best 32 blocked shots. Johnson was the team's floor general and was playing his best ball at the end of last season. He averaged 9.3 points per game and 4. 1 assists while joining Pomare on the WCC All-Freshman Team. He was also tabbed a Freshman All -American by Collegelnsider.com. At last year's WCC Tournament, he scored 24 points in the team 's opening win over Pepperdine, and totaled 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the team's semi– final overtime loss to Gonzaga. Murdock started 25 of 30 games as a "true" freshman and will be counted on defensively to fill the void left by graduated :.-:,iiiiiiiiii,1■ senior Corey Belser. The athletic Murdock chipped in with 5.1 points per game while shooting 45.5% from the floor. Brown showed flashes of his three-point ability, canning I9-of-5 8 (32.8%), but should be much improved this season after gaining valuable minutes a year ago. Also returning from last year's squad is walk-on Kyle Price (Valencia, CA), an athletic player who could see increased playing time; and a trio of redshirts - 6-7 wing Chris Lewis (Bedford, TX), 6-0 senior guard Greg Nel– son (Carlsbad, CA), and senior guard Clayton Tolbert (San Jose , CA). Look for the 6-7 Lewis, who can handle the ball and score both inside and out, to figure into the coaching staff's plans this season.