USD Seniors Want a Second Shot at NCAAs

Even now, three years later, Eric Musselman gets a tingling sensation when he recalls walking into the University of San Diego Sports Center before a late-season game his freshman year.

The Toreros were to play St. Mary’s, and a victory would give them the West Coast Athletic Conference title and put them in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

When the players entered the gym at 5:45 p.m., nearly two hours before tipoff, the stands were already packed. In a moment charged with emotion, the 2,500 fans rose and gave the players a standing ovation. The team won that night and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where it lost to Princeton in a first-round game.

“It was an incredible feeling that will be with me the rest of my life,” said Musselman, who expects the fans to help drive the Toreros to a victory over Gonzaga tonight and then toward their second NCAA Tournament berth in four seasons.

USD is the leader in the WCAC with a 10-1 record and boasts a 20-4 overall mark. The Toreros will play their first-round game in the first WCAC tournament at home Feb. 28. The tournament semifinals and final will be played the next weekend in San Francisco, and the tournament winner will receive an automatic NCAA berth.

Coach Hank Egan indicated that he would not be overly confident about his team’s chances of reaching the NCAA field as an at-large entry because of the WCAC’s relative lack of stature among collegiate conferences.

Egan also cautioned against looking beyond tonight’s game against Gonzaga.

“This is our most important game because it’s the next one,” he said. “We have to forget about the postseason until it gets here.”

Musselman, a guard, is one of four seniors recruited by former coach Jim Brovelli, who left after their memorable freshman year and accepted the head coaching job at the University of San Francisco. Musselman, center Scott Thompson and forwards Nils Madden and Steve Krallman have spent three seasons under Egan, whose coaching philosophy is similar to Brovelli’s.

“About midway through our freshman year, Coach Brovelli told us before a game at Portland that it was going to be the most important game of our lives,” Musselman said. “We won that game, and he kept saying that to us before each game.

“That has been the approach of the four of us who are seniors all through our careers. And now that we are coming to the end, each game truly is the biggest. We want to win our last couple of regular-season games to keep our momentum going into the conference tournament. We’re not looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament, but we did have a taste of it three years ago, and to go back would be the best thing that could happen to us. The worst thing would be not to make it.”

Said Egan: “The four seniors are the cornerstone of what we have here. Each has made a big contribution. Scott is at the center of things, Nils is our power forward and Steve can take either of their places. Eric is our backup point guard. All of them have contributed maturity, stability and leadership.”

In their push to make the NCAA field, the senior-dominated Toreros reflect the shared Brovelli-Egan philosophy that places heavy emphasis on defense, controlled offense and team chemistry.

“The transition from one coach to the next was easy because they are so much alike,” Thompson said. “Their style of play is so close. They want disciplined defense. On offense, if you have a fast break, you have it; if not, don’t force it.

“Being on a winning track all four years, everything has been pretty peachy (under both coaches). The confidence has taken care of itself. When you are going well, you can get along with the coach.”

If there is a difference in the way Brovelli and Egan molded the four seniors, it could be in the approach to practice, according to Musselman.

“Coach Egan believes so strongly in the importance of practice,” he said. “Not that Coach Brovelli didn’t, but under Coach Egan, everything is made in practice. There are always guys banging each other, and that is reflected on the floor. You can’t turn things off like a light switch.”

Madden cited another difference.

“They want the same results on the floor, but they go about it a little differently in the way they handle individuals,” he said. “I have found that Coach Egan expresses himself right away. He is very honest and direct and tells you what you have to do. Coach Brovelli, to me, seemed more reserved.

“I can’t say how my career would have gone under Coach Brovelli, but I know that Coach Egan has given me a fair shot to prove myself and has brought out the best in me. Not that I have reached my full potential--none of us has--but he believes in being straightforward and working on weaknesses. I would really have to say this is Coach Egan’s team more than Brovelli’s.”

Krallman was reluctant to compare the two coaches because he didn’t play much as a freshman. However, in the intervening years, he has developed a sense of what Egan’s values are, and he has tested the coach at times.

“I have a big temper and I sometimes get too caught up in things. . . . He (Egan) will send me to the showers if I get out of line,” Krallman said.

“I don’t think this team would be much different if Coach Brovelli were still here. I know that the four seniors he recruited bear his stamp in the sense that we all came from winning high school programs and we have continued to win here. Neither Coach Brovelli nor Egan would put up with any individuals having star status, but that hasn’t been any problem for us.”

A Brovelli touch that has stuck--and has helped make the senior players stick together--can be traced to a moment of homesickness three years ago.

“We were all sitting around one day in the dorm and were all eager to go home and see our old friends,” Thompson said. “Coach came by and picked up on it and reminded us we were going to be here four years and we shouldn’t be in such a hurry to get back home. At the time we thought he was crazy, but it turned out he was right. I guess all college freshmen are naive in that way. We still have our old friends, but we have so many new ones here, and we’re not so eager to get home anymore.”

What they are eager to do is return to the NCAA Tournament. They will be vastly disappointed if they don’t make it.

“The main difference in our freshman year and now is that we were the surprise team back then,” Thompson said. “This year we were expected to do some things . . .”

Musselman finished the thought.

“Our game in the NCAA Tournament in 1984 was against Princeton, and it was carried by ESPN,” he said. “That was the first time anybody back in my hometown of Cleveland had ever had a chance to see us play. We were even mentioned in Sports Illustrated.

“There can’t be many schools as small as USD that have ever been in the tournament two times in four years. Teams like Michigan and Indiana have been going since the inception of the tournament. But the four of us who are seniors, the opportunity we have is sort of unique.” It’s also their final opportunity.

“There is no next time for us,” Krallman said. “We are going all-out. I think we can still grow some more together before this year is over.”

Madden, speaking for the others, put it simply.

“It’s nice to have another shot at the jackpot,” he said.