Thursday, March 6, 2008

Toreros have something to build on


Coach Bill Grier was hired before this men’s basketball season to get the University of San Diego into the upper-quartile of the West Coast Conference.

Getting to be among the top two of eight teams in the conference is probably going to happen quicker than expected for the Toreros.

Already, USD has earned the No. 3 seed in Grier’s first season for the WCC Tournament this weekend at Jenny Craig Pavilion on the USD campus.

It would be a stunner if USD overcomes Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s to reach the NCAA Tournament, but don’t be surprised if it happens next year when the Toreros again host the WCC finals.

USD had two holdover players from the regime under former coach Brad Holland make the all-conference team this season: junior center Gyno Pomare and junior guard Brandon Johnson.

But the freshman class is something to really get excited about. Shooting guard Rob Jones was named to the all-freshman WCC first team and fellow freshman Trumaine Johnson is also going to be a solid player.

This year’s Toreros finished 11-3 in the WCC, their best conference record in 20 years.

And it’s only going to get better in years to come with the current freshman class led by Jones and Trumaine Johnson.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gotta admit, I think USD is better than my alma mater SDSU.