What Was and What Could Have Been
Excitement was rippling through the panhandle Monday night, even more than normal. Something big was going on up at War Memorial Gym.
Something big was going on alright, the hometown University of San Francisco Dons men’s basketball team was playing host to the number eight team in the country, the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Unhyped coming into the season, USF has really failed to live up to even moderate expectations thus far this year. Meanwhile, Gonzaga has played a ferocious non-conference schedule that included a triple-overtime win against Michigan State in the semis of the Maui Classic, a game that has been scientifically determined to be a classic. During conference play, however, you can throw all that won-loss mumbo-jumbo out the window, which is exactly what the Dons tried to do on Monday night.
Inside the Hoosiers-style WarMo' Gym, which was packed to the rafters with 5,300 plus, a serious buzz crackled through the tightly stacked wooden bleachers and obstructed views. It's not everyday that a top-ten team comes to town, and equal parts students, alumni, locals, and sports fans turned out to see the show.
The Adam Morrison show that is.
Morrison, the West Coast Conference Player of the Week, lit up the Dons for 41 points in what can only be described as a scoring clinic. Pull-up threes from the top of the key, nothing but net. Pump-fake moves along the baseline for seven-foot left-handed floaters, nothing but net. Free throws, nothing but net. He's not quick, he's not a leaper, he's not very physical, but he is a scorer.
Monday night, Morrison was feeling it. On several improbable shots, he even had the hometown crowd oohing and ahhing his shotmaking ability.
The USF cagers fought gamely, but they were clearly overmatched. For most of the first half, USF seemed unable to stop the Bulldogs on offense, and whenever it seemed that they might, there was Morrison to swish an icepick three from the top of the key. After falling behind by as many as 14 and seeming on the verge of being knocked out several times, USF rallied with some good rotating zone defense and great energy from senior center Jason Wallace-Carter, who kept Gonzaga's Brazilian Bull, J.P. Batista, in check for the first half and had two Magic-like assists for layups. Armondo Surratt, the undeniable spark of this team, finished the first half the same way he started it, with a layup off a steal as the horn sounded.
After USF had pulled to within five points at halftime, Gonzaga again threatened to blow the game open in the opening minutes of the second half, The Dons hung tough though, and actually battled back to take a one-point lead at the 13:19 mark when Surratt dropped in nifty floater. From there, the Donnybrooks kept it close and exciting down the stretch, but just as it had been in the first half, it was clear that USF just didn't have the offensive horses to match up. Surratt rang up a career-high 30, but his play weaved back and forth across the thin line between electric and out-of-control all night.
Ultimately, their late heroics fell short, and the Dons succumbed to the better team, 84-75.
Now, if the crowd could have given them just a little more sustained support . . .
It's not that we're trying to lay this loss on the fans, it's just that we've been to college basketball games where the home team was clearly overmatched but the energy of the crowd literally lifted the underdog to victory. On Monday night, when the Dons clearly needed a huge game from their sixth man, the USF Athletic Department and the War Memorial crowd were a little disappointing.
As we noted, there was a serious buzz in the arena, but the place should have flying. For two and one-half straight hours, there should have been a deafening roar so loud they could have heard it over in the Mission.
There were bursts of loud cheering after Dons buckets or Gonzaga turnovers, but these roars quickly died back down to the baseline buzz. There was no sustained passion.
It wasn't for lack of attendance. Plenty of students were there, decked out in face paint and USF gear, and by halftime, so many people had crammed into the gym that the PA announcer had to ask all non-ticketed persons to please leave.
Yeah, right. It was standing room only. Every aisle and walkway was packed three deep with people, and the bench-style bleachers were stuffed well beyond their capacity. Along the balcony ledge ringing the court, people sat on the ground and let their legs dangle over the edge. It was a scene, man.
But the fans needed leadership, coordination, and institutional support. They needed the USF dancing girls squad to put some enthusiasm into their lethargic and rote gyrations. They needed cheerleaders with big U-S-F signs down on the floor whipping the crowd into a frenzy.
We lay the blame on the USF Athletic Department, which seemed to have no idea what to do with a big-game crowd. Athletic Director Bill Hogan and his staff set out a lofty set of goals this past summer, but missing among them was a bullet point for developing a plan to turn War Memorial Gym, a facility with great potential, into a major asset for its hoops teams. Clearly, USF has failed to foster a true college hoops culture.
Case in point. Soon after the game started, some spectators in the upper sections along the southern sideline stood up to cheer and watch the game, which caused a ripple effect of standing throughout the entire eastern side of the stands. However, many fans, including many students, didn't want to stand and angrily shouted down the standers.
Memo to the USF fans: it's not every day that a top-10 team in the nation comes into your gym. As students, as USF supporters, as residents of The City, you should be PUMPED. You should be standing every second of the game and not even noticing it. This is what big-time college basketball is all about.
The crowd tried to get into it with periodic spontaneous cheers like the obligatory "U-S-F, U-S-F, U-S-F..." and "Let's-go Do-ons!, Let’s-go, Do-ons!". There were even a couple of real beauties like "Shave-your mus-tache, Shave-your mus-tache", which was of course directed at Morrison, AKA Joe Dirt, Jr., and after one questionable call, an upstanding USF student near us called out "get off your knees ref, you're blowing the game!" Ahh, college basketball.
But the efforts of small pockets of diehards isn't enough. One major problem for USF is that the only dedicated student section is a very small area on a riser behind the eastern baseline. Not enough. Students are the life blood of any school. They bring the passion, the spirit, and the emotion. One entire side of WarMo' should be reserved for students, and USF should do everything possible to whip these students into a frenzy for the games.
Another problem is the total lack of institutional leadership and support. USF basketball appears to have no marketing personnel or activities coordinators at all.
For example, during USF runs at the end of the first half and again in the second half, defensive pressure forced Gonzo U to call a couple of emergency timeouts. The crowd roared briefly when the timeouts were called but immediately the cries subsided. During the timeouts, nothing happened except some random spasms by the Don Girls along the eastern baseline and some isolated chants from the crowd. With the momentum surging for the Dons and the Bulldogs slightly rattled, the crowd should have sustained a deafening roar throughout the entire timeouts and beyond. Gonzaga should not have even been able to hear the referee's whistle for the inbounds plays. But it didn't happen.
Similarly, down only five at halftime, with the momentum, the USF athletic department should have sustained the energy through halftime with activities designed to keep the crowd pumped. Instead, they dropped the ball. Nothing happened at half time. Nothing. There was no inspiration for the crowd, nothing to gather and channel its energy. For 15 minutes, the arena sat on its hands. The Dons had a crowd primed and ready to erupt, but somebody forgot to bring the detonators. The only entertainment for the crowd was watching former Bishop O'Dowd Dragon, UCSB Gaucho, and LA Laker star Brian Shaw hang out courtside and cavort with the Nicholson types in the front row.
The potential was there on Monday night for an upset worthy of SportsCenter's Top 10. Everything was set up for the crowd to storm the court in primal celebration, but unfortunately, both the Dons and the crowd came up just a little short.