Toreros’ Up, Down Season Bittersweet

This much can be said for the University of San Diego basketball team: Even at its worst moments, the Toreros rarely were out of games. But the finish of their 14-14 season tasted bitter.

The end came in the Toreros’ 61-48 loss to Gonzaga in the opening round of the West Coast Conference tournament.

“You don’t ever want to lose, but the fact we didn’t play well in our last one makes it hard to put it all in perspective,” Coach Hank Egan said.

In a way, that game was typical of the Toreros’ season: They shot three for 23 in the first half (13%), yet they scrapped hard enough to get back to a five-point deficit.

The Toreros seemed to have a capacity for poor halves throughout the season, but through sheer effort managed to stay in most games.

USD finished fifth in the WCC at 6-8, losing seven games in a row late in the season but winning its last three before the tournament. The Toreros were 8-3 on Jan. 2, including a season-opening 60-57 victory over San Diego State in the city championship. They also took Arizona State into overtime in Tempe in early January (the Toreros were 0-3 in overtime). Another highlight was a 67-58 victory over Santa Clara in an early WCC game.

Lowlights included the 12-point half against St. Mary’s and a 25% shooting performance against Stephen F. Austin and two games in which the Toreros totaled 14 field goals.

“I felt all along we weren’t gifted enough athletically to do things solo,” Egan said. “I’m not sure all the players believed this, but I believe it. We were system players, we had to execute our game plan. The times we did we were a very good team.

“We competed, we didn’t stop competing. When all is said and done, that’s the redeeming thing out of all this. When we executed, then we got some things done. And when we had the flu and some injuries and lost seven in a row, I thought we had a chance to go south, and instead the team gathered itself. There were some things like that we can point to. Still, the way we went out . . .”

USD will look different next season, replacing five seniors, four of whom played extensively for several years: forwards Kelvin Woods and Reed Watson and guards Wayman Strickland and Michael Brown, four of the top five scorers this season.

Returning are starters Gylan Dottin at forward, point guard Geoff Probst and center Brooks Barnhard, 6-foot-8 pivot Chris Grant, little-used shooting guard Neal Meyer and redshirt guard Doug Harris, a transfer from Fresno State with sophomore eligibility who is expected to provide a steadier outside shooting touch. Egan also signed four players composing what is thought to be his strongest recruiting class in the fall signing period, and may add one or two more recruits in April.

“We’ll be a very young team. We’re losing some people who have been here for a long period,” Egan said. “We’ve got some people who’ve been sitting in the wings. It’ll be kind of a rebirth.

“We’ll be able to shoot the ball better--Harris is a good shooter who can (provide) some things we didn’t have this year. A couple of the kids we’re bringing in can shoot. Next year I think we’ll be a little bit more balanced inside and outside, we won’t be trying to force feed it inside as much. That became a problem this year when teams started collapsing on Kelvin, especially in conference.”

Along with the continued development of the 6-9 Barnhard, who was coming off back surgery and lost 10 pounds because of the flu in February, Egan is hoping 6-4 forward Joe Temple will improve.

Temple is the multitalented Lincoln Prep graduate who will be a junior. “He has some abilities, athletically and skillwise,” Egan said. “If he learns to use those he could have a very good year next year. Athletic is good, but not good enough. He needs to add ballplayer/competitor to his description.”

Along with recruiting, Egan will be looking at films and reviewing his approach.