Waves Face a Big Wake
Despite a temporary glitch, it was a picture-perfect Sunday in Malibu for the Pepperdine men’s basketball team.
With clear, blue skies outside, players and coaches beamed sunny smiles inside the university’s Heritage Hall when it was announced on television that the Waves will play Wake Forest in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday at Arco Arena in Sacramento. Tipoff is at 11:30 a.m.
The large screen went blank for a few minutes after junior guard Mike Westphal, son of Coach Paul Westphal, accidentally unplugged the projector. But the picture was restored in time for Pepperdine (22-8) to learn it was seeded No. 10 in the Midwest Regional.
Wake Forest (20-12), the only team in the nation that has played all four of the tournament’s top-seeded teams, is seeded No. 7.
“It doesn’t get any better than that,” said Pepperdine center Cedric Suitt, a fifth-year senior who will be playing in his second NCAA tournament. “When you get a chance to play a high-caliber team like [Wake Forest], you really get a chance to prove yourself, like we’ve been doing all year.
“It’s going to be a great matchup.”
Coach Westphal, who guided the Waves to a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season championship in his first season in Malibu, was pleased with his team’s placement.
“I’m real happy about being seeded 10th,” Westphal said. “I think that’s a credit to what our guys accomplished this year. I think it’s really nice that we get to play in Sacramento. A lot of our fans will be able to appear at the game.”
Pepperdine impressed the selection committee with a demanding nonconference schedule that included victories over UCLA and No. 22 USC, a conference win over No. 6 Gonzaga and a strong finish to the regular season. The Waves have won 17 of their last 19 games, losing only to Gonzaga in conference play and in last Monday’s WCC tournament final.
Like Pepperdine, Wake Forest has played eight teams in the NCAA tournament, with victories over North Carolina Wilmington, Marquette and North Carolina State. The Demon Deacons suffered their third loss to Duke, 79-64, in a semifinal of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Saturday. They lost twice to Maryland and once each to Kansas and Cincinnati, the other top-seeded teams in the NCAA tournament.
Wake Forest was ranked as high as No. 14 this season, but fell out of the Associated Press poll last week.
“Certainly we won’t be favored,” Westphal said. “We’re playing a highly rated ACC team. But when you get in the NCAA tournament, you’re always going to play a high-caliber team. That’s part of the deal. That’s good.
“We’re excited to be there and hope we can play one of our good games. If we do that, we like our chances.”
Pepperdine is making its fourth consecutive postseason appearance. The Waves last played in the NCAA tournament in 2000, when they ran Indiana and Bob Knight out of the gym, 77-57, in the East Regional in Buffalo, N.Y., before losing to Oklahoma State, 75-67, in the second round.
The Waves don’t have much of a track record against ACC teams. They are 0-11 against the ACC, including NCAA tournament losses to North Carolina State in 1983, Duke in 1985 and Maryland in 1986. Pepperdine and Wake Forest have never played. The Waves last played an ACC team in the 1989-90 season, losing at North Carolina, 95-69.
Undaunted by history, Pepperdine’s players say they are looking forward to showing that a WCC team can compete against an opponent from arguably the nation’s toughest conference.
“We know the ACC gets all the hoopla,” said forward Jimmy Miggins, the Waves’ leading scorer with a 15-point average. “But we’re a good team and we’re going to prove that.
“The West Coast Conference doesn’t get that much [publicity], but we’re going to come in and show them that we’re as good a team as they are.”
Said Boomer Brazzle, Pepperdine’s other starting forward: “We feel good, confident. We’re just going to go and give our best.”
While Pepperdine enters the NCAA tournament after a long spell of prosperity, Wake Forest is reeling a bit.
The Demon Deacons have lost six of their last nine games, and Steve Lepore, a key reserve guard and one of the team’s best three-point shooters, is out for the season after suffering a knee injury in the ACC tournament.
Of course, four of Wake Forest’s recent losses have come against Cincinnati, Duke (twice) and Maryland, so the team’s late-season downturn isn’t as severe as it might appear.
The Demon Deacons, under first-year Coach Skip Prosser, formerly the coach at Xavier, tied for third in the ACC. They lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year to Butler, 79-63.
Pepperdine will have to contend with Wake Forest’s strong front line, featuring 6-foot-9, 245-pound Darius Songaila, a four-year starter and a member of the Lithuanian national team that won the bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.