Monday, November 14, 2011
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Coach Eric Bridgeland readily admits that his Whitman College men's basketball team will be disappointed if it isn't playing in the NCAA Division III national championship tournament that starts late next February.
With that in mind, and with a nod toward the reality that Northwest Conference schools seldom host early rounds of the national tournament, Whitman is taking a different approach to the non-conference slate that dominates the first six weeks of its 2011-12 schedule.
"The chances of NWC schools hosting a sectional tournament are never good because of the geographic situation and the NCAA's concern with travel costs," Bridgeland says.
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| Bridgeland |
"If we make the national tournament, we're going to be on the road. That's just the way it is. End of story.
"So, without getting ridiculous about it, our non-conference schedule simulates some of the situations we might be facing in the national tournament. That means playing on the road, often in a neutral-court situation, against very good teams."
After opening the season at home this Friday and Saturday, Whitman then hits the road for its last nine non-conference games. Six of those road games take place on a neutral court.
"Our objective this season isn't necessarily focused on getting off to a good start, although we obviously want to win every time we step on the floor," Bridgeland says. "Our main objective is to play a bunch of national caliber teams early in the season and have them teach us where we need to work and improve.
"If we play well against these tough teams, that's great. If we get hurt in any of these games, we'll find out what's hurting us. Then we can evolve and try to fix it.
"Later on, if we're good enough to make it through our conference and into the national tournament, we'll be battle-tested and ready to go. This season as much as any is going to be a marathon, not a sprint."
The national tournament that starts toward the end of February eventually concludes in mid-March in Salem, Va., with the NCAA DIII Final Four.
No team has from the West Coast has made the DIII Final Four since the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors turned the trick in 1982.
Bridgeland & Co. would like nothing better than to celebrate the 30th anniversary of that accomplishment by becoming the next western team to make a deep, deep run into the national tournament.
Challenging Non-Conference Slate Starts Friday
Whitman kicks off its season this Friday when it hosts an 8 p.m. game against Washington University (St. Louis, Mo.), a traditional DIII power that won back-to-back national titles in 2008 and 2009.
Whitman stays at home Saturday for an 8 p.m. battle against UC-Santa Cruz, another solid DIII program that will be coming off a Friday night game against Whitworth in Spokane.
"We've had trouble at times in the past with teams bouncing back against us on a Saturday after not playing so well or losing on Friday night," Bridgeland says. "This weekend gives us a chance to address that."
Week two has Whitman playing neutral-site games against Chapman, which made the national tournament the past two years, and Cal Lutheran, which as Bridgeland notes, "always has a good team."
Local fans get another great look at Whitman when the Missionaries make a momentary detour into Northwest Conference action against Lewis & Clark and George Fox on Dec. 2-3.
A few days later, Whitman heads just down the road to play Walla Walla University in College Place, and then concludes December with four neutral-site games.
Whitman is in Spokane Dec. 17 to face Northwestern (St. Paul.), which lost a close decision in last year's national tournament to eventual champ St. Thomas.
The Missionaries head to San Antonio, Texas, for Dec. 20-21 for games against Buena Vista (Iowa) and Wheaton (Illinois).
"The first night we play Buena Vista, which is well coached and always good," Bridgeland says. "Wheaton, another very good team, plays the first game of its trip the next night against us.
"Again, that's a situation you might face in the national tournament. You end up playing a team that sat and watched one of your games the night before."
Whitman wraps up its non-conference schedule on Dec. 30 with a game against Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Mich.) in Lynden, Wash.
NWC Considerations: 16 Tough Tests
In stampeding its way last winter to its best season in more than two decades, Whitman tied Lewis & Clark for second place in the NWC standings with an 11-5 record (19-8 overall).
After scrambling past Lewis & Clark in the first round of the NWC playoffs, the Missionaries lost to top-ranked Whitworth in Spokane with a national tournament berth on the line. That season-ending setback came less than two weeks after Whitman had handed the Pirates their first loss of the season.
Whitman, picked second in an NWC preseason coaches poll, faces an early conference test with Lewis & Clark comes to Walla Walla, along with George Fox, on the first weekend of December for that month's one weekend of NWC play.
"It's great for our players and students and fans to have the first two conference games at home in December," Bridgeland says.
"On paper, Lewis & Clark is definitely one of the most talented teams in the conference, and George Fox is always good.
"But this season is no different than any other. All of our conference games are Major League tests. We have 16 of those tests. We need to pass as many of them as we can."
Seniors Invested in Winning Culture
Apart from the loss of team leader Justin Artis (now an assistant coach), Whitman returns all the weapons from a team that won 16 of 18 games late last season.
"We also have LuQuam Thompson back from injury and another great recruiting class in the fold," Bridgeland says.
"We're in our fourth season now and that's generally when you start to see major advancements with your culture and style of play. The culture within our program is in a great place right now."
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| Shaw |
With seniors Brandon Shaw, David Michaels, J.P. Alvarez and D.J. Wright at the front of the pack, Whitman sports a roster brimming with talent and versatility.
"We feel we can play in a variety of ways this season," Bridgeland says. "This is the deepest roster we've had. One of our tests as a coaching staff is to figure out the way to play with the best rotations.
"Working the rotations to take full advantage of our depth will be important. We've got a lot of guys who can contribute in a lot of ways, and that includes the offense."
Pressure defense, balanced scoring and depth are great, Bridgeland says, but they take a back-seat to the importance of having seniors and other returnees ingrained with the program's culture and style of play.
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| Michaels |
"That's our greatest strength," he says. "Guys who have been here don't have to think too much on the floor. They just react in the right ways and play hard. They know instinctively what to do and where they should be on the floor."
Shaw, a 6-foot-2 guard, made the All-NWC First Team last winter, averaging a team-high 14.4 points per game while topping the NWC in steals for the second time in two seasons.
"Brandon has been one of our pillars from the first day he came to campus," Bridgeland says. "For us to be good the last three years, we had to ask Brandon to do a lot and even force some things at times.
"We're a more talented and balanced now, so Brandon's challenge this season is to take his foot off the gas at times. It's okay if he lets his teammates do more of the work in some situations. That won't lessen his role or impact in any way. He's obviously going to be one of our most important players."
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| J.P. Alvarez |
Shaw starts his final season with 1,157 career points. He needs less than 100 points to start moving up Whitman's Top 10 career scoring list.
Michaels, a 6-foot-7 forward, shot 61.9 percent from the floor (78-126) last season while averaging 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds. That was the second-best shooting percentage in the conference.
His conference highlights last season included double-doubles against both Puget Sound (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Pacific (19 points, 10 rebounds).
"Starting with the second half of last season, David has made a major transformation to becoming a highly motivated person and leader, both on and off the floor," Bridgeland says. "His grade point average in the classroom went up, and he went from being a role player to being one of our best players.
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| D.J. Wright |
"It's so gratifying as a coach to see how much David has grown in his time here. His level of commitment and passion to his life as a student athlete have gone way up. He exudes what our program is about. He's a man now and ready for the world, and that wasn't the case less than a year ago."
Alvarez, a 6-foot-4 wing, hit 52 percent of his shots from the floor last season in limited minutes. He tallied a career-high 16 points, making five of seven shots from the field, in a victory over Multnomah Bible College.
"J.P. looks as comfortable in our system as we've ever seen him," Bridgeland says. "He's one of the guys who have reached the zone where he's just playing now and not having to think too much. He has played well in our preseason."
Wright, a 6-foot-5 wing, is in his second year at Whitman after playing his first two seasons at Walla Walla Community College. He made it into 15 games after joining the Missionary roster at the semester break last year.
"D.J. has really raised his level of play," Bridgeland says. "He's become a wing-version of Drew Raher. He's incredibly smart and he's playing very hard. He knows how to complement whichever teammates are on the floor with him. He's a great gel guy."
Junior Trio: Two Bookends, One Spark Plug
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| Raher |
Drew Raher, a 6-foot-3 forward, is back for his third season as the team's spark plug. He started 25 of 27 games last season while averaging 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds.
"Drew's inspirational value for his teammates is immense," Bridgeland says. "No one plays harder than he does. It's the same old story, but it's also the absolute truth.
It's no coincidence, Bridgeland says, that Raher's team is often the winner in intra-squad games.
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| Clark |
"Drew is the ultimate winner, the ultimate competitor and the ultimate servant to his teammates. He's one of the greatest teammates I've ever been around."
Peter Clark, a 6-foot-4 guard, and Ignas Pavilonis, a 6-foot-5 forward, are deadly threats from the 3-point line.
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| Pavilonis |
"Peter and Ignas are the bookends of our offense," Bridgeland says. "They both extend the defense. They both have length and can strike quickly from the outside.
Clark averaged 9.3 points per game last season while knocking down 73 3-point shots, the third highest number in the conference.
Clark, who hit six 3-pointers in scoring a career-high 21 points in a victory over Pacific last winter, led the NWC in total 3-point baskets.
Pavilonis, who joined the team last year as a sophomore drilled 56 3-pointers on the season while averaging 9.0 points and 4.2 rebounds. He was a hit in his first game as Missionary, combining 17 points wityh nine rebounds and three assists.
"Peter has really improved his defensive rebounding, and Ignas keeps raising his overall court awareness," Bridgeland says.
Sophomore Class: Wealth of Talent
With juniors LuQuam Thompson and Ryan Gilkey both playing as sophomores, Whitman has a wealth of talent in a second-year class that includes guard Josh Duckworth, last year's West Region Rookie of the Year, and sharp-shooter Jordan Dickson.
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| Thompson |
Thompson, a 5-foot-11 guard, was sidelined last year by a knee injury after having a fine freshman season two years. He averaged 12.3 points as a rookie while leading the team in assists and finishing second in steals.
"We're so happy for Quam that he's back at 100 percent and playing very well," Bridgeland says. "He's worked hard to rehab his knee injury, and he looks better now than he's ever been. He's our most consistent player on the perimeter."
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| Gilkey |
As a freshman, Thompson played in all 25 games, starting 24. In the game he didn't start that season, he came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points.
Gilkey, a 6-foot-9 forward, rehabbed injuries during his first year at Whitman and then averaged 6.4 points and 5.7 rebounds last season. He posted a pair of double-doubles against Lewis & Clark, notching 15 points and 11 rebounds in one game and adding 11 points and 11 rebounds in the other.
"Ryan's preseason has been a little on the slow side, but we're expecting him to pick it up," Bridgeland says. "He's so gifted. He's like a guard in a forward's body.
"Once he brings his game together, he's going to take our team to a whole different level."
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| Duckworth |
Duckworth, a 6-foot-2 guard, averaged 12.5 points last season while making 59.1 percent of his 3-point attempts (13-22) in 16 conference games. He earned all-conference Honorable Mention recognition and was tabbed by D3Hoops.com as its West Region Freshman of the Year.
One of many late season highlights for Duckworth came in Whitman's victory over top-ranked Whitworth. He scored a career-high 24 points in that game, hitting four of five 3-pointers and grabbing eight rebounds.
"Along with David Michaels, Josh was the reason we made such a strong push to end last season, and he's brought that same high level of play to the start of this season," Bridgeland says.
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| Dickson |
"Day in and day out, he's been one of our best two players this preseason. That's offense and defense.
"Josh has improved his leadership as well as his performance on the floor. He's in a great place right now. There's no question that he's one of the keys to where this team can go."
Dickson, a 6-foot-1 shooting guard, averaged nearly 10 minutes off the bench a year ago while playing in all 25 games.
"Jordan is a great glue guy," Bridgeland says. "We played an intra-squad game the other night and Dickson was on the side that won by 30 points. He makes our team go when he is on the floor."
Dickson hit a number of clutch 3-points shots late this summer as Whitman played a series of exhibition games in Canada.
"Jordan has an impact on every game he plays. Don't be surprised if he hits some big shots late in games this season to help us win."
Freshmen Six: Looking for Playing Time
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| Mounier |
Of the six freshmen on the roster, Matt Mounier is the one poised to make the biggest immediate impact.
Mounier, a 6-foot-3 forward from Encino, Calif., is a "very talented, physical player who comes from a championship program" at Crespi Carmelite High School," Bridgeland says. "Matt is coming off a wrist injury, but he's going to be in the mix somewhere.
"He can shoot the three, but he can also take two or three dribbles, draw contact and finish at the hoop or get to the free throw line. That's something we didn't necessarily have last year."
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| Callahan |
Clay Callahan, a 5-foot-10 guard from Corvallis, Ore., has also made a good first impression.
"Clay has really shown up to start the season," Bridgeland says. "He was the point guard for the Corvallis High school team that won Oregon's Class 5A state title last season.
"He's a very bright player. He's smart and knows what to do on the basketball floor."
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| Drewry |
Kai Drewry, a 6-foot-4 forward from Redwood High School in Larkspur, Calif., is another freshman showing early promise.
"Kai is learning quickly and coming along," Bridgeland says. "He's very athletic and can shoot it.
"Once he gets everything figured out, he can have an impact sooner rather than later. We're hoping Kai's development process speeds up as the season gets going."
Other freshmen battling for playing time are 6-foot-3 guard Brandon Gagliardi (Gig Harbor, Wash.; Gig Harbor HS), 6-foot-3 forward Keenan Durham (Seattle, Wash.; O'Dea HS) and 6-foot guard Haleem Hill (Buckeye, Ariz.; Verrado HS).
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CONTACT: Dave Holden,
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
holden@whitman.edu; (509) 527-5902
