USD Stays With Big Boys

Playing against a 7-foot-1, 285-pound giant on a basketball court can be like trying to feed one. It’s enough to make you lose your appetite.

Consider then the dilemma of Coach Hank Egan and his University of San Diego basketball team as they prepare to meet Santa Clara and 7-1 junior Ron Reis in a West Coast Conference game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the USD Sports Center.

The Toreros’ tallest player is Dondi Bell, whose bald head peaks at 6-9. Next up are reserves Keith Colvin and Reed Watson at 6-8. Mixing forwards Kelvin Woods (6-5) and Anthony Thomas (6-4) with Bell, USD uses a starting front line that averages 6-6.

Reis is the only WCC player averaging in double figures in scoring (14.8) and rebounding (11.2, tops in the conference). Furthermore, his presence has helped 6-7 junior Rhea Taylor average 19.4 points--third best in the WCC--and 7.2 rebounds.

Reason for concern? You bet, Egan said.

“We don’t match up with them at all,” he said. “You thought (former USD seven-footer) Scott Thompson was big. Reis is massive compared to Scott Thompson. He’s just a big, powerful human being.”

Thompson was a driving force behind USD’s last championship team in 1986-87. But seven-footers are a rare breed at Alcala Park. In fact, Bell has been USD’s tallest player since Thompson’s departure.

Despite the lack of size, the Toreros have a legitimate shot at winning another title this year. They are 15-7 and 7-2 in the West Coast Conference. Getting by Santa Clara (15-8, 6-3), which defeated USD, 68-61, Jan. 5 in Santa Clara, would be a major lift.

The Broncos are the only WCC team USD has yet to beat this season. And after a Bay Area swing through San Francisco and St. Mary’s next weekend, USD wraps up conference play playing host to Loyola Marymount and first-place Pepperdine the following weekend.

USD did not reach such lofty status overpowering many foes. That we know.

Instead, the Toreros have run, hoping to create opportunities. They have played a tough man-to-man defense--at times from baseline to baseline. They have passed well, shot superbly, played together and made good decisions.

And you know what? The Toreros have come out on top in the rebounding department, too.

The numbers are not staggering from an individual standpoint--Bell leads the team averaging 5.5 per game--nor from a team standpoint--the Toreros grab an average of 2.6 per game more than their opponents--but rarely is USD overwhelmed inside.

As Bill Walton put it, admittedly borrowing a few lines of wisdom from his former coach, John Wooden, “It’s not how tall you are. It’s how tall you play. It’s not how high you jump. It’s when and where you jump.”

And in the case of USD, it’s the quantity of the people doing the jumping.

Bell, Colvin, Thomas, Woods and Watson all share the duties of defending and offending an opponent’s big man.

Each has his unique way of doing it.

Bell is the banger, a clanger, if you will. He is the dunk threat, often threating the life span of USD’s backboards. And he looks the part. He shaved his head over the offseason to look more intimidating--as if he needed to.

He has led USD in blocked shots and personal fouls per minutes played the past three seasons, including this one.

But this season, Bell has played more under control. Perhaps it’s maturity.

On Wednesday, after one of his best games--a 19-point, 10-rebound effort in an 86-81 victory over Southern Utah--Bell said, “Every game as the season progresses, I get more and more aggressive, yet more and more in tune.”

Said Colvin, “Dondi’s one of the strongest individuals I’ve played against. He’s got a lot of natural strength, and he’s got a real quick jump.”

Colvin, Bell’s replacement, is a blue-collar type.

“He doesn’t have a Division I body,” Egan said. “But I guarantee you, he’s got a Division I heart.”

“I’m not a large guy, especially for a center,” Colvin acknowledged. “I just try my hardest.”

And his approach to the game and playing nose-to-chest against bigger opponents: “You just have to respect everyone and fear no one. I think (Georgetown Coach) John Thompson said that, and Coach Egan tells us that all the time,” said Colvin, whose contributions go far beyond his 3.6 scoring and 3.1 rebounding averages.

“I’m a role player,” Colvin added. “That’s my job. I come in and run the offense and play hard defensively. We’ve got enough guys to score. That’s not my job, and I know that.”

Said Bell, “Keith is a real spark for us. He’s what you call a real warrior. He’s supremely intense. He gives it his all. He’s going to fight for the team until he has no more fight in him.”

In the USD scheme, where switches are common, forwards Thomas, Woods and Watson, often find themselves battling a much bigger opponent, if not the big guy.

Against Southern Utah, each spent a number of minutes staring up at 6-11 Kerry Sherwood and 6-10 Ken Jackson. Sherwood finished with five points and one rebound. Jackson had six and three.

Thomas leads USD in scoring with a 14.8 average and is second in rebounding at 5.4. Woods is second in scoring (12.6) and third in rebounding (5.1).

Woods is the top free-throw shooter, making 81.2%, and Thomas is right behind him at 80.7%.

“You can combat lack of size by being mobile,” Egan said. “That’s the way you compensate. . . . And we’re a fairly mobile basketball team.”

He added, “A big guy helps in a lot of ways. But we don’t have one, so we try to make do without one.”

And few know what making do with an undersized team is like more than Egan.

Before coming to USD seven years ago, Egan spent 13 years at the Air Force Academy, where military height limitations signal mediocrity for the basketball team.

“One time,” said Egan, “. . . the biggest kid we had was 6-5, and we played against a front line at Stanford that went 7-foot and two 6-10 kids. And we ended up winning the game.”

Egan also recalled the first play of that game--one of the 6-10 Cardinal players lobbed a pass into the seven-footer, who turned and scored easily over his 6-5 center.

Egan said his cadet looked over at him and just shrugged his shoulders. Egan looked back and just shrugged his shoulders, too.

“There was nothing he could do,” Egan said. “And there was damn sure nothing I could do.”