College Basketball
Zagbites: A weekly look at the Gonzaga Bulldogs

By Bud Withers
Seattle Times college basketball reporter

	Bill Grier
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

If Gonzaga big man Ronny Turiaf leaves a year early for the NBA, the Zags at least have a bit of insurance with the arrival last week of 6-foot-11, 225-pound Calum MacLeod of Wellington, New Zealand.

Australians John Rillie and Axel Dench have prospered at Gonzaga, helping its coaches develop a relationship with Frank Arsego, a longtime coach at Australian Institute of Sport.

Arsego is now an assistant coach for a team in New Zealand and saw MacLeod at a national tryout. He called the Zags with a tip, knowing the competition in MacLeod's native country wouldn't test him.

Zags assistant Bill Grier visited New Zealand in the fall. After MacLeod achieved the necessary SAT score, he flew to Spokane and enrolled. He is redshirting this season but figures to be needed next season.

"He's long, and pretty skilled, but skilled in a typical international fashion," Grier said this week.

"He's more of a face-up player than he is back-to-the-basket, and that's going to be his biggest adjustment — that and learning to play with physical contact."

Busting on the 'Buster'

It appears the possible switch of Gonzaga's opponent for the Feb. 21 "Bracket Buster" game at Tulsa is off. ESPN.com quoted Tulsa athletic director Judy MacLeod this week as saying the game was a key part of ticket packages and couldn't be adjusted.

Tulsa got good WAC wins against Boise State and Rice last week. But it is still 6-8, so Gonzaga will have much more to lose than gain.

Which prompts the question: Does Gonzaga have any real need for the Bracket Buster after this year? It's a vehicle for "mid-majors" to get a quality win and get on television. But this year, Gonzaga could be televised seven times on ESPN or ESPN2, and it had its first regular-season network-television appearance against Missouri.

Zags AD Mike Roth was noncommittal, saying, "To me, it's no different from our regular scheduling."

AP ranking: 15

RPI rating: 16

Sagarin rating: 5

Upcoming schedule:
Tomorrow: At Portland, 7:30 p.m. (FSN)
Jan. 29: At San Diego, 7 p.m.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company