Men's College Basketball
Eastern Washington gets tough draw

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Starting today, the members of the Eastern Washington men's basketball team will begin to think about the reality of their NCAA tournament game Friday against Oklahoma State:

• That No. 15 seeds like EWU are just 4-76 all-time against No. 2 seeds.

• That Oklahoma State is one of the hottest teams in the country, having won both the Big 12 regular-season and conference tournament titles, and is a team many analysts expect to get to the Final Four.

• That the Big Sky Conference has won just two NCAA tournament games since 1982.

But yesterday was for reflecting, for realizing that EWU had actually achieved the quest that started the day the 2003 season ended with a loss in the Big Sky championship game for the third straight year.

The Eagles, who beat Northern Arizona on Wednesday to win the Big Sky title and an automatic berth into the tournament, were placed in the East Rutherford, N.J., bracket and tabbed to play Oklahoma State in a first-round game Friday in Kansas City.

The Eastern players — 11 of whom are from the state of Washington — gathered with family and fans to watch CBS unveil the bracket.

"Since we won the conference tournament, we all felt like we're kind of living a dream, like it's not really real," said Eastern senior guard Alvin Snow, a graduate of Seattle's Franklin High. "But to see it up there on TV made us finally realize that, man, we really did something great. Just to be a part of it is incredible."

The NCAA berth is the school's first, and the celebration on campus has been enormous. Snow received a standing ovation when he walked into a class on Thursday, and the mayor of Cheney has named this Eastern Washington Eagles week.
 
All of that could lead to the assumption that the Eagles will be happy just to be there come Friday.

But Eastern coach Ray Giacoletti doesn't think that will be a problem.

"We have four seniors who have been champing at the bit for this opportunity, and they are going to drop their gloves and fight somebody," Giacoletti said.

Giacoletti has been in a similar situation before. In 1990, he was an assistant for Bob Bender, a future Washington coach, at Illinois State when the school faced defending national champion Michigan in the first round. The Wolverines, a No. 3 seed, barely escaped with a 76-70 victory.

This Oklahoma State team might be even better than that Michigan team, however. The Cowboys (27-3) stormed through the Big 12 tournament, beating No. 11 Texas 65-49 in the title game yesterday. They held the Longhorns scoreless for almost 14 minutes. The Cowboys are an athletic and balanced team, with four players who average 12-16 points per game.

"They look really physical, tough and athletic," said Snow, who watched the game with the knowledge that the Cowboys might be Eastern's opponent.

Eastern, meanwhile, is 17-12 — a somewhat deceiving record considering the Eagles were 3-9 after playing a brutal nonconference schedule that included games at Gonzaga, Iowa, Oklahoma and Washington.

"We've been in a lot of adverse situations and arenas and hostile environments," Giacoletti said. "I don't think we'll be intimidated."

Snow admitted that the shaky start had him wondering, if only briefly, whether the Eagles would be able to rebound. The low point, he said, was a 79-68 loss at home to Montana in the conference opener. But then the Eagles won 11 in a row to set the stage for the conference tournament win and yesterday's NCAA berth.

Shortly after the brackets were announced, Snow called UW guard Will Conroy, a close friend who had also finally achieved his NCAA tournament dream. The two worked out together last summer, planning for just such a moment.

"We worked hard, to the point that it's like we can't take it anymore," Snow said. "But then I'd see him going and I'd be like, 'I can't let him outwork me' and vice versa. ... It just all paid off."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.

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