Going 'Zag Nuts!

Going ‘Zag Nuts!

By BILL PLASCHKE

March 19, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PHOENIX —

Go ahead, use that word now.

Say it. Compare college basketball’s latest wonder team to some skinny girl from a dysfunctional family who got lucky one night of her miserable life.

Go ahead.

Nasty, gnarly, strutting, soaring Gonzaga dares you.

“There’s a saying we have,” forward Richie Frahm said after a sweat-stained Thursday night. “If we get a glass slipper handed to us, we’re going to crack it over your head.”

Then stick it in your ear. Then wrap it around your neck.

Then, finally, stab it into your back, which is what Casey Calvary did when he climbed over Florida’s Brent Wright to tip in the winning basket with 4.4 seconds remaining Thursday, giving Gonzaga a 73-72 victory over the the Gators in the NCAA West Regional semifinals.

Believe it, pumpkin brain. Gonzaga (28-6) is only a 40-minute battle with Connecticut from becoming the scrappiest, cockiest bunch of nobodies to appear in the Final Four since, well, nobody.

“If Casey didn’t get it and score, I was going to get it and score, so it really didn’t matter,” said Quentin Hall, the Gonzaga guard whose eight-foot driving jumper bounced out and into the hands of Calvary.

Then there was forward Mike Leasure, who was equally as, uh, wide-eyed and awe-struck.

“Do we belong?” he said. “Ask Florida if we belong.”

Now for the priest, Fr. Tony Lehmann, a fixture on the end of the bench for this Catholic school of about 4,500 students.

“Divine intervention?” he said. “No.”

OK, so Gonzaga held its breath when Eddie Shannon’s 25-foot jumper clanked away at the buzzer. But not for long.

The Bulldogs engaged in the mandatory dogpile at center court, but arose from the scrum with smiles tight and eyes fixed.

Were you watching, UConn?

“We didn’t come in here scared of anybody,” guard Mike Nilson said. “I expected to win every game.”

And so the 10th-seeded and unranked Bulldogs behaved like it against the more athletic, sixth-seeded and 23rd-ranked Gators (22-9).

Two minutes into the game, Calvary and Florida’s Major Parker engaged in a shoving, elbowing match that officials broke up.

As Parker headed back down the floor, Calvary followed him, glaring, snarling, setting a tone that never changed.

“I have an anger management problem,” said Calvary, a sophomore, shrugging. “Sometimes I want to turn these games into a boxing match.”

As Gonzaga was building a 13-point first-half lead, their small group of fans joined the fight with a tournament first.

In unison, they actually jeered Florida’s gaudily clad cheerleaders.

“Go . . . to . . . Vegas,” they chanted, again and again.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Gonzaga even looked tougher than Florida, with a variety of scruffy beards and bad haircuts and jutting chins.

“I remember a commentator saying that we had the most facial hair in Division I,” bearded guard Matt Santangelo said. “I thought, well, I’m happy that we lead Division I in something.”

None of this would matter, of course, if Gonzaga didn’t play textbook team basketball (all 10 players scored and rebounded) with swarming defense.

The teamwork helped in breaking Florida’s noted full-court press, particularly in the final six minutes after the Gators had taken a one-point lead.

Quick passing led to Frahm’s three consecutive three-point attempts from the baseline . . . and he made them all to give Gonzaga a three-point lead with 4:10 remaining.

But Florida, grabbing many of the rebounds and winning the one-on-one matches that resulted in layups, actually took a 72-69 with 45.7 seconds remaining.

“This is a game we should have won,” said Florida’s Wright, shaking his head.

Enter the Bulldog defense.

Jeremy Eaton turned Frahm’s perfect pass into a layup to close the gap to 72-71.

Then Wright, upon taking the in-bounds pass near the Gonzaga baseline, was so harassed by Hall that he stumbled and was called for traveling.

Gonzaga called timeout with the ball and 15.4 seconds remaining. Coach Dan Monson called a play that would give a shot to Santangelo or Frahm.

And, of course, they ignored it.

“I guess I just didn’t listen,” said Hall, who took a pass, drove the lane, and threw up his shot.

When it hit the rim and backboard, Calvary was somehow transported back to the school gym in Spokane, Wash., to a daily drill where the entire team lines up and chases down shots from the coaches.

When you get three rebounds, you get to leave the floor.

“They don’t call many fouls, so it gets pretty rough,” Calvary said. “My favorite drill.”

So he worked it again, charging the lane, soaring over Wright (they are both 6-foot-8) and tipping the ball in the basket.

He was only slightly disappointed.

“I wanted to dunk it,” he said.

Of course he did.

NCAA Tournament

West Regional

AT PHOENIX

Gonzaga 73, Florida 72

Connecticut 78, Iowa 68

REGIONAL FINAL: Gonzaga (28-6) vs. Connecticut (31-2),