Spu Basketball Has Big-Time Feel

A late Saturday afternoon in Seattle and a college hoop game is coming down to the final seconds.

The game is tied. The home team's point guard is at the line for two. The packed house is hushed and there is no place else a gym rat would rather be.

Seattle Pacific's 71-66 win over Hawaii-Hilo this weekend had the feeling of big time, in a setting that was small time.

Junior guard Warren King, who had missed two free throws with 2:08 left in the game, hit two in the final 23 seconds, with the game tied at 66. And the homecoming crowd of 2,450 rocked the house.

It was the kind of afternoon - swollen gym, well-played game, dramatic finish - that made a college basketball fan wonder, "what if?"

What if this NCAA Division II school stepped up its program? What if it made the gamble and went Division I? Joined the West Coast Conference with the likes of Pepperdine, Portland, San Francisco and Gonzaga? Took this program, as coaches like to say, to the next level?

"If we could get into the WCC, I'd be all for it," said Seattle Pacific Coach Ken Bone, whose team is 14-6 and in first place in the far-flung, exotic Pacific West Conference. "The schools in the WCC would be perfect for us. Like us, they're all small, private schools. Going Division I would give our school greater exposure."

Because it is a small school in a big city, SPU plays catchup in its race for athletic exposure. In the local pecking order, SPU is lost deep behind the Sonics, Seahawks, Mariners, Huskies, Cougars, Thunderbirds and high schools.

The Falcons get little media coverage. They are lucky if their games rate a couple of paragraphs the next day. They have no radio contract. On the back side of Queen Anne Hill, they play in relative anonymity.

"It hurts a little bit," said King, a junior from Kentridge High School. "It would just be fun to get a little more ink. But we don't hold any grudges. It's just the way it is. D-1 gets the ink and they deserve it."

Saturday's homecoming crowd was an aberration. The Falcons' average attendance is about 900.

In a town that is used to watching Phoenix, New York, Houston, Orlando, Arizona, UCLA and Michigan, home games with Chaminade, Western New Mexico and Colorado School of Mines are almost impossible to sell.

"To be honest with you, it does bother me that we don't draw better," Bone said. "Just because we have some players on our team who are good enough to play at another level. But our label is small college and that's hard to sell."

But small, in basketball, can be a state of mind. If SPU were accepted into the WCC, it would compete every year for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Small would automatically become big.

Seattle Pacific could fill a hoop void that was left in the city when Seattle University downsized. It could energize Seattle's slumberous college hoop fans, which could help the University of Washington.

A healthy rivalry among the Falcons, Huskies and Washington State could add some excitement to the winter-sports schedule. A WSU-SPU game would give the Cougars another excuse to come to Seattle.

WCC schools have a rich alumni list of NBA players: Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Phil Smith, Bill Cartwright, Clint Richardson, Elgin Baylor, Doug Christie, Kurt Rambis, Darwin Cook.

Later this month, SPU Athletic Director Alan Graham travels to Portland to explore the possibility of moving into the big time.

"There are times when I look back on my decision to come here and wonder if maybe I should have walked on at a D-1 school," King said. "I think everybody does. You wonder what it would be like in a tougher league. But I also realize this is a perfect fit for me. And this is a really tough league."

In the meantime, with tickets priced from $4 to $7, this team, this conference is the best sports bargain in town.

For that price, you can see a Division I shot-blocker, 6-foot-8 Emile Shephard, who always seems to make the big plays at the right time. You can see glass-smooth forward LaFelle McGilvery, muscular banger Brady Deal and three-point specialist Geoff Ping.

You can see Warren King at the line, with the game hanging in the balance.

You can watch Division II basketball and dream about a move to the big time.

Want to comment or pass on an idea? You can contact Steve Kelley by voice mail at 464-2176.