USD Notes

Bill Grier is smiling again.

It's admittedly been rough for San Diego's coach over the past couple of years. His Toreros went through a difficult two-year stretch, one with just a total of five league victories, and also dealt with the bombshell of a sports bribery scandal. But now San Diego is back on solid ground, heading in the right direction with a group that could finish in the top half of the West Coast Conference.

"It's the most talented team we've had since my first year here," Grier said.

That was the year that San Diego didn't just go to the NCAA tournament but pulled off the upset over UConn in the first round. Grier had an opportunity to take the Oregon State job, but passed -- and it's easy to see why after touring the USD campus.

"I can't imagine a better city, a better place for my kids to grow up than here," Grier said.

But the last year or so definitely tested Grier and the administration. It was on April 11, 2011 when a pair of FBI agents were waiting outside Grier's home and informed him about the point shaving scandal that involved two former players and an ex-assistant coach. Grier had no knowledge and has been cleared of any wrongdoing, but it was obviously still difficult.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever been through personally and professionally," he said.

But Grier and his team have moved on, rallied through the adversity and are coming off a 13-18 campaign in which the Toreros went 7-9 in the league. His two best players, Johnny Dee and Chris Anderson, are sophomores. Dee received more accolades after leading the team in scoring (13.7 ppg). But Anderson, the younger brother of former UCLA guard Jerime Anderson, was arguably the team's most important player.

"He makes our team go," Grier said.

All five starters return, and Grier has added four new faces. These guys finished with seven league victories a year ago with an all-freshman backcourt. Ken Rancifer is a senior who has made major strides, Simi Fajemisin is a 6-foot-9, 260-pound redshirt sophomore and Dennis Kramer is a 6-foot-10 big man who started 28 games last season.
"We have size," Grier said. "Plenty of it."

Grier has options now. He can go big or use a three-guard lineup with Texas Tech transfer Mike Davis.
"We have more ammo now," Grier said. "We've turned the corner and can be extremely competitive in this league now."

Remember when everybody (including me) wrote off San Diego before the season? Yeah, let’s not do that again.

The Toreros are back and their aspirations are high.

They bring back their entire starting lineup from last season and it is being led by a pair of sophomores. Johnny Dee and Chris Anderson, while small, pack a lot of punch and each bring something different.

No one will be overlooking San Diego now and if anybody is, they have made a mistake.

Outlook
San Diego was a team that had won only six games in 2010-11. So to say people were surprised when the Toreros won seven conference games would be an understatement.

San Diego is back on everyone’s radar and hung tough with a number of the top WCC contenders last year. They beat LMU. Nearly beat BYU in the WCC Tournament quarterfinals and fought tough-and-nail with Saint Mary’s.

“I think the end of last year was really good for us,” San Diego sophomore guard Johnny Dee said. “That win at LMU and winning a couple of road wins is just good for our confidence. We come in with more expectations than last year and we’re excited to play hard and continue to move up in the WCC.”

This time the Toreros won’t be sneaking up on anybody and the stakes have been raised.

Backcourt
Johnny Dee and Chris Anderson represent one of the best examples of complimentary players in the league.

Anderson is a pure point guard, distributing, and orchestrating the San Diego offense. Dee is the sharpshooter that you have to continually keep an eye on otherwise he could drop 30 in a heartbeat.

“We all really help each other out,” Dee said. “It’s really good having a point guard that can get you the ball in the right places. So much of my success shooting the basketball was because of Chris. I think that goes largely unrecognized.”

They play well off each other and this was in their freshmen year. Where will they go from here? Wherever they are going, they will not be making the trip alone.

Also returning is guard Ken Rancifer, who provided a big spark using his athleticism to give the team a wrinkle not found in some of the other players.

Frontcourt
Dennis Kramer is the type of guy that gives other big guys nightmares. Kramer’s ability to shoot the three makes him a tough matchup.

Power forwards are not used to guarding players on the perimeter and are there to rebound and defend. But with Kramer, he can pull out the big man for defense, allowing the smaller guards to get into the lane with greater ease.
That is especially important with neither Anderson nor Dee clearing 6-foot-1.

Chris Manresa is another good tool off of the bench and can provide some of that offensive spark.

But the Toreros have to be concerned about their rebounding. They had the worst rebounding margin in the conference (-3.9) and were last in offensive rebounds.

Fixing this could be the difference between last year’s sixth place finish to being fourth or even higher.

Notes
Every team has the goal of winning its conference at the beginning of the year but, as Dee said, that is not always a realistic goal. That was the case last year for San Diego but no more. They believe they have a real shot.

“I think one of biggest things is that the expectations we have for each other, it’s real this year,” Dee said. “I think every team when they set out at the beginning of the year, they all want to win the conference and sometimes that’s not really realistic. Like last year it probably wouldn’t be realistic for us to make that goal but yet we had that goal. We think this year, with the group we have and the way we finished last year that we have a good chance to finish in the top half, top tier of the WCC and we’re just excited to start the season and get things going.”

Why not football and basketball at one school? Two colleges did offer him that. Harvard and Yale were the institutions willing to give Dillon both, but he passed on the opportunity out of reservation over completely losing a social life due to heavy studying and relentless athletic responsibility.

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

The University of San Diego issued a statement Thursday stating the school has made the decision to withdraw from postseason consideration despite having a shot at winning the Pioneer Football League championship, which receives an automatic bid in the FCS postseason. The decision comes as a result of a potential violation regarding financial aid provided to a football player.  The identity of the player in question was not released but the school says they are cooperating with the PFL and has taken a proactive approach to ensure it is handled properly.

“Recently, Torero Athletics identified an issue arising out of the award of need-based financial aid to football players that is incompatible with the Pioneer Football League’s (PFL) rules, but is within the financial aid need-based cap applied to the University’s general student body,” a statement from San Diego President Mary E. Lyons said.

DoubleDipper wrote:Disappointed to see that former GU walk-on and former North Idaho College student-athlete Chris Sarbaugh is transferring from USD with one year yet to play.

San Diego G Vasilije Pusica is leaving the program.

University of San Diego head men's basketball coach Lamont Smith was arrested Sunday on domestic violence charges.

Ben Higgins of 10 News in San Diego reported the news, citing public records released by the San Francisco Sheriff's Department.

According to the report, Smith is facing charges for "domestic violence, assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury and false imprisonment." He was arrested at Oakland International Airport before his team flew back to San Diego after a 64-61 win over the University of San Francisco on Saturday.

The victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital.

"Officers were dispatched to the team hotel near Union Square late last night on reports of a domestic violence disturbance," Higgins wrote.

Higgins noted the coach was released on $115,000 bail.

San Diego has an 18-12 record, including a 9-9 mark in West Coast Conference games. This is Smith's third season as the program's head coach after he played for the Toreros from 1995-99.

San Diego's next game is Saturday in the WCC tournament against the BYU Cougars.

Sound Voltex wrote:Lamont Smith has resigned.