There Won’t Be Any Surprises When Toreros Take the Floor : USD PREVIEW

What gives Hank Egan, the University of San Diego men’s basketball coach, a charge?

Probably not the approaching season.

This season won’t be like his days at Air Force when he fielded small teams that were short on talent. They were teams that made Egan’s life exciting by ambushing stronger opponents.

Give Egan a newspaper clipping about a surprising Air Force victory and watch him come to life.

First the headline: Flat Aztecs find Air Force no farce.

After reading a few paragraphs recounting a 1984 game in which the Falcons upset the Aztecs, 55-43, Egan broke out of his normally stoic pose and grinned.

“You know, we didn’t even have a guy over 6-6,” he said. “They had guys like Michael Cage and Leonard Allen. Nobody gave us much of a chance.”

The Air Force victory was one of the few highlights in an 8-19 season, Egan’s sixth straight losing season at the Academy. It also was his last season there.

This season, as Egan prepares for his third season at USD, he no longer can relish the position of underdog.

This season, he’ll have to guard against being surprised.

The reason is simple.

USD is being touted as one of the front-runners for the West Coast Athletic Conference championship.

Although there is no official preseason poll, WCAC assistant commissioner Don Ott made it as good as official at a recent preseason banquet at Los Angeles.

“We taped each team’s uniform to the wall and decided that the uniform that stayed on the wall the longest would be the conference favorite,” Ott said. “USD’s was the last to stay up there.”

There are more serious reasons to make USD the favorite. Three starters and two key reserves return from last season’s 19-9 team, the best in school history.

“It only means one thing,” Egan said. “That every team will be gunning for us every night. We’ll have to be ready all of the time.”

The Toreros finished third in the conference last season, but have more quality players returning than either Pepperdine or Loyola Marymount, the teams that finished ahead of them.

“Of course my biggest two concerns are replacing the two starters who are gone, (Pete) Murphy and (Mark) Bostic,” Egan said.

Murphy made the all-WCAC team as Egan’s shooting guard last season and Bostic started at small forward. Murphy was second on the team in scoring (12.6) and Bostic (9.8) was third.

Taking Murphy’s place this season is 6-foot 1-inch sophomore Danny Means, who averaged 12 minutes and 2.6 points a game last season. Mark Manor, who started 15 games last season and averaged 6.5 points, will replace Bostic.

“Both players proved they could play last season,” Egan said. “Now, they have to prove themselves as starters.”

Seniors Scott Thompson, Nils Madden and Paul Leonard have already done that. Thompson, the Toreros’ 7-foot center and captain, led the team in scoring with a 14.4 average.

“I like the pressure,” Thompson said. “I feel like I have to contribute some more scoring this year and, being as I’m the captain, I’ll have to be more of a leader.”

Thompson will again receive frontline help from Madden, a 6-9 forward who averaged 9.3 points and 5.2 rebounds last season.

“I don’t think anybody really ever reaches their full potential but I think Nils is the player this year who can make the most strides toward reaching it,” Egan said. “I just hope he goes after it and has fun going after it this year.”

Leonard, a community college transfer, will be back for his second season at point guard. He averaged almost four assists a game last season. Egan is counting on more scoring from Leonard this season.

Steve Krallman, a 6-8 forward, and Jim Pelton, a 6-9 center, also return. Newcomers Marty Munn (6-6 transfer from Hartnell College in Salinas) and Craig Cottrell (6-5 freshman from Phoenix) also are being counted on to contribute. USD’s bench was weakened by the loss of forward-guard Mike Haupt, who will miss the season because of a herniated disc.

“It’s definitely not like other years,” Thompson said. “People know who we are now. But I think it’s going to help us. We lost some games last year because we were too relaxed. This year, we know everyone will play hard against us. So, we’ll have to play hard, too.”

Egan, meanwhile, doesn’t believe there will be any added pressure.

“If you’re playing Division I basketball in front of crowds and a lot of media attention, there’s going to be pressure,” Egan said. “Whether you’re favored or underdog doesn’t have anything to do with it.”