Upstart Gonzaga dead serious about winning

Steve Carp

Thursday, March 18, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

PHOENIX -- Normally, you don't see the West Coast Conference on ESPN on Monday night. Or any night, for that matter.

So when the WCC's title game at Santa Clara's Toso Pavilion was aired March 1, not too many people were paying close attention as Gonzaga defeated the host Broncos 91-66 -- unless they had a bet on the game.

But they're paying attention now. And there aren't any hurt feelings in Spokane, Wash. They're glad to be here in the NCAA Tournament West Regionals at America West Arena, and they're excited about being in the Sweet 16.

There's still plenty of room to jump on the Gonzaga bandwagon. And if you want to call the 10th-seeded Bulldogs "Cinderella," that's OK, too, even though they'd prefer you came up with a different tag, like "Worthy" or "Legitimate" or even "Poolbusters."

"Our kids don't care for 'Cinderella' because it indicates we don't belong here," coach Dan Monson said of the 27-6 Zags, who face No. 6 seed Florida in today's West Regional semifinal. Top seed Connecticut meets No. 5 Iowa in the nightcap.

"Our kids had the sense when we came into this tournament that they belonged, because they believe they can play with anybody when they play well.

"It also seems that for Cinderellas, it always gets to be midnight. We're not looking for midnight. We're looking to keep dancing all night."

Gonzaga knocked out seventh-seeded Minnesota 75-63 and No. 2 seed Stanford 82-74 last week in Seattle to get here. The Bulldogs enjoyed rabid support from the many Washingtonians who made the cross-state trek to Key Arena and they figure to have a lot of backing in the Valley as well. They're still the underdog against a Florida team that is 22-8 and had to survive overtime with Weber State to keep its Sweet 16 date.

"We hope the petition to the NCAA to have the games moved to Seattle will go through," Monson joked. "But we're glad to be here in Phoenix and it's great to be seen.

"I don't think the crowds dictated what happened in Seattle. The players on the floor decided it. If we have people pulling for us here, that's great. We welcome it. But there's so much excitement and emotion at this point, I'm not sure how much of a factor it is."

Slowly but surely, the nation is learning about Matt Santangelo, Quentin Hall, Richie Frahm and the rest of the Bulldogs.

People are finding out that Santangelo, who passed up a chance to go to Stanford, can pass and shoot the ball. That the 5-foot-8 Hall, who grew up in the Bahamas, can handle the ball against pressure, and that Frahm, a 6-5 forward, can fill it up with 1,004 points in his three years at Gonzaga.

"Our respect for them is unquestioned," Florida coach Billy Donovan said of the Zags. "Honestly, I haven't talked to our guys about taking anyone lightly because we're not good enough to take anyone for granted."

Certainly, Gonzaga hasn't taken anything for granted. And one reason Monson's team has excelled is because he's committed to playing a lot of people, so nobody really gets too big a head.

Even Santangelo, the team's star, saw his role evolve as the season progressed.

"Early on, I didn't know what my role was and that was pretty frustrating to me," said the junior combo guard who averages 13 points and 5.3 assists. "But once I became a leader, I just went in and tried to help us win.

"When I did that, I started to find success as a player. As far as positions, I do whatever it takes for the team to win."

>From Monson's perspective, Santangelo, important as he may be, will be just one of 10 guys who will play tonight. And that depth may turn out to be critical against Florida's full-court pressure.

"I'm very concerned because we haven't been challenged in the full-court," Monson said. "They've worn down a lot of SEC teams."

Hall, however, isn't that concerned.

"We can handle any press," he said confidently. "We can stop it and we'll do everything in our power to break it. We have 40 minutes in the game to do that."

Donovan said: "They're an outstanding ball-handling team. But we'll play our style of basketball. We pressed Kentucky. We pressed Arkansas. That's who we are. That's how we play."

And while Gonzaga may be getting the bulk of the attention, Donovan's Gators are Cinderellas of sorts themselves. They've loused up their share of office pools across America.

They're one of three SEC teams still playing (Kentucky and Auburn being the others). Many believed a young team under the guidance of a young coach -- Donovan is 33 -- would have its lack of experience catch up with it.

"Ten minutes into the Penn game, our guys had that dazed, we've-never-been-here look," Donovan said of the Gators' comeback victory in the opening round. "Everything for this team is new. I'm just trying to instill in them to go out and play with confidence."

Still, the majority of the focus will be on the Jesuit school in Eastern Washington with an enrollment of 4,800.

For those who missed the Bulldogs' cutting down the nets in the WCC tourney 17 days ago, here's a second chance to see what a deep, well-coached, overachieving team can do.

"That game with Santa Clara was big, not just because we were on national TV, but because we wanted to start to get on a roll going into this tournament," Santangelo said. "But that was important for us. It had a lot to do with us being here today."