COLLEGE BASKETBALL 1990-91 : Gone, Not Forgotten : Loyola Mourned Gathers in the NCAA Tournament; Now Lions Are New Team

Eight months ago, when Hank Gathers collapsed on the floor of Gersten Pavilion during a game and died shortly thereafter, it all seemed like a surreal dream.

So did the next three whirlwind weeks as the Loyola Marymount team focused its pain and sorrow and anger into a series of improbable NCAA tournament victories dedicated to their fallen leader.

Now, with a new season beginning, a banner hanging over the Pavilion court proclaiming, “Hank’s House--Here the Lion’s Spirit Dwells,” is the only visible reference to Gathers or the March 4 tragedy.

For that matter, there’s no sight of Paul Westhead . . . or Bo Kimble . . . or Jeff Fryer. The coach and players who were so long the central characters in Loyola’s rise are gone, and last season’s tale of tragedy and redemption seems a closed chapter. There are no “44” patches or black bands on the uniforms, no 44s written on sneakers. There are six new players on the team who never knew Gathers. No further ceremonies or dedications are planned this season. The team and the athletic department have returned to their normal routine.

“We’re still in Hank’s House,” Westhead’s successor, Jay Hillock, says, “but this is our team.”

Athletic Director Brian Quinn said: “It’s a new team, a new year, time to move on. I think if we hadn’t continued on to the playoffs, it might still be hanging over us. The banner’s up, the memories are there but we’ve moved on. The best thing that could have happened was for the team to vote to play in the NCAAs. That was where the healing took place. They were definitely playing for Hank.”

This season, the Lions, strangely enough, may be playing for respect, despite their three consecutive West Coast Conference tournament titles and NCAA appearances. Although they had the best record on the West Coast in the Gathers-Kimble era, the general feeling seems to be that with those star players gone and Westhead having moved on to the pros, Hillock and the Lions are in a what-have-you-done-lately posture.

That doesn’t seem to faze the players, who will continue to run the fast break, full-court press system and say they continue to draw inspiration from Gathers’ memory. They enter the season upbeat and determined to prove they can forge a post-Gathers identity.

“We were just telling the freshmen funny stories about him at dinner,” senior co-captain Tom Peabody said one night recently. “I think about him every day. It’s a personal thing now. I can think back to how he used to fire up not only me but the team. I knew that would stay with me.”

Tony Walker, the returning point guard and co-captain, said: “We talk about him all the time, the good times we had with him. We tell ourselves we’re going to play hard, like he did. We tell the freshmen how it was, how he used to make us laugh, how hard he practiced. I think about him all the time, mostly when we step in the gym. He’s here, he’s always going to be here.”

The Lions will need inspiration to tackle one of the toughest first-month schedules in the nation. Loyola opens its season Friday in the Maui tournament against conference opponent Santa Clara. An opening-round victory would probably send Loyola against Indiana Saturday. Syracuse is also in the eight-team field.

In early December, the Lions are in the four-team Irvine Freedom Bowl tournament, then play their third game in three nights, against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. They make a pre-Christmas trip to Oklahoma, Louisiana State and Georgia Tech, then play at Pacific before they finally have their first official home games against St. Joseph’s and LaSalle just before New Year’s.

“If we don’t splinter and get down, then those tough preseason games will make the cold nights in Spokane (at Gonzaga) a little easier,” Hillock said. “I’ve got big shoes to fill, but it’s easier to replace the coach than to replace Hank and Bo. This system, with less firepower, our margin of error is not that great.”

Through attrition, Loyola--which averaged an NCAA-record 122.4 points last season--lost 99 points a game. But the Lions think they still have the guns to lead the nation in scoring for a fourth consecutive season and profess confidence in Hillock. The most gifted returning scorer is junior guard Terrell Lowery, who said, “Anything is possible in our system. You don’t have to work hard to score points. Hank and Bo were great players, but the system made them great.”

Said Hillock: “I expect Terrell to be one of the leading scorers in the country. He is really accepting that role.”

Lowery, Walker and Peabody, whose kamikaze style allows him to play guard or forward, form one of the best and swiftest backcourts in the West. Junior college transfer Craig Holt, a three-point sharpshooter, is expected to fill some of the void left by Fryer, who set NCAA records for three-point shots.

But Walker, who had off-season wrist surgery, has suffered recurring pain in practice. A cast has been put back on the wrist and Walker is expected to miss at least two weeks of play. And Peabody sprained an ankle last weekend and will miss several weeks as well.

The frontcourt hinges on 6-foot-10 Czechoslovakian newcomer Richard Petruska, who is the focus of Hillock’s interior offense. Petruska, who has three-point range, suffered a groin injury on the first day of practice and is just now returning. He might not contribute much before conference play starts in mid-January.

Hillock: “If we can get him on the floor, he’ll have an impact. I hope it’s this year.”

Minus Petruska, Hillock is playing a smallish group up front, rotating 6-7 John O’Connell and 6-8 Christian Scott at center, 6-9 Chris Knight at forward and 6-7 Brian McCloskey at small forward. McCloskey, a transfer from UC Irvine, is expected to be the big scorer of that group. At last spring’s team banquet, Kimble introduced him as “next year’s Bo Kimble.”

To that core--nearly all tournament-tested--is added the school’s best freshman class. Kareem Washington of Lansing, Mich., a confident shooter, and Rahim Harris, an exciting open-court player from Oakland, immediately worked their way into the rotation, and big guard Ross Richardson and point guard Greg Evans show promise. Man for man, the Lions are actually faster than last season. “We’ve got depth. I feel we’re eight deep without the freshmen,” Hillock said.

Hillock, who sat at Westhead’s side for five years, said the team will continue to run all-out and “press till we can press no more.” His biggest departure from Westhead’s system will be to fall back into a zone once the opponent breaks the press.

“I don’t want to give up as many points (as Westhead’s teams),” Hillock said. “We can’t give up layups to coax (opponents) into our kind of game.”

One other difference from his predecessor: Hillock said he will “be quicker to pull guys out of the game for defensive mistakes.”

Still, to the fan’s eye, the Lions will look similar to Westhead’s teams--except that for the first time in years, No. 44 won’t lead the Lions onto the floor for their opener.

“We do have something to prove,” Lowery said. “Many people thought Hank and Bo were a flash in the pan. Well, we might be capable of more flashes in the pan.”

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