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Dateline: 3/14/2007

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

Tracking the Zags-Men: Sacramento Warm, Beautiful

By Peter Tormey
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- The capital of the state of California is in rare form this week hosting the Gonzaga University Bulldogs and seven other teams in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Colorful red-white-and-blue NCAA banners hang from the lampposts of the main thoroughfares and folks are on their porches en masse. Mother Nature blessed this city with record warmth that has busied the bees into early action and caused the flowering trees to unfold their colorful and fragrant splendor.

The cold reality of March Madness lies dormant, however, hovering out of sight for now above the outward warmth and natural beauty. While hope still springs eternal for all teams in this 64-team tournament, six of the eight teams here and their respective entourages will leave Sacramento less happy than the two teams that advance from here to the Sweet 16 in San Jose March 22-23. The other six teams will leave forlorn, cast aside in the grueling and grinding NCAA Tournament that will continue its inexorable march on the Road to Atlanta and the Final Four.

Gonzaga’s Bulldogs, the No. 10 seed in San Jose/West Regional, are in town along with many fans, alumni and friends and aim to be one of four teams still dancin’ here when the final buzzer sounds Thursday night. The 23-10 Bulldogs, who captured the West Coast Conference’s automatic berth into the tournament by beating Santa Clara in the league tournament, take on the 20-10 Indiana Hoosiers of the Big 10 Conference, who received an at-large berth and the No. 7 seed in this regional. The game tips off Thursday at approximately 6:55 p.m. (Pacific Time), 30 minutes after the Weber State vs. UCLA game, which begins at 4:25 p.m.

The winner of the Gonzaga-Indiana game plays Saturday at 5:25 p.m. against the winner of the Weber State vs. UCLA game. Meantime, Gonzaga’s Inland Northwest neighbor, the Washington State Cougars, will battle Oral Roberts at 11:40 a.m. Thursday at Arco Arena with the winner playing at 2:55 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the Vanderbilt vs. George Washington contest, which tips off Thursday here at 2:10 p.m.

Gonzaga friends and fans hope that head Bulldog Mark Few, no stranger to these unruly machinations of March, will lead the way to San Jose. Few and two or three of the Zags will meet the media from 6-6:15 p.m. today (Wednesday) at Arco Arena, site of the Zags’ loser-out contest tomorrow (Thursday) night against the Hoosiers. A shoot-around for the Bulldogs is set for 6:40-7:20 p.m. today (Wednesday) at Arco Arena and is open to the public.

Downs Up

Many view Micah Downs, a 6-foot-8-inch sophomore transfer guard from the University of Kansas last season, as a key to the Zags’ postseason success. He has shown his talent and versatility after being given more playing time late in the season when he was asked to make up for the loss of Josh Heytvelt’s size down low. Downs said he is delighted to be at Gonzaga even though his former school is the No. 1 seed in the West Regional.

“No regrets at all,” Downs said. “I’ll take the 10 (seed) at Gonzaga any day.”

Downs said he has a good feeling about the Bulldogs’ chances.

“I’m excited to play. It’s really nice to stay on the West Coast and we’ll have more fans here than if we went to somewhere like New York or somewhere on the East Coast,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect. I think the intensity will be like the conference tournament but everyone is going to be dialed in a little bit more. I think everybody is just playing so well together and everyone is pretty confident. I think we can go far.”

Bees are Busy

The aptly named Sacramento Bee featured a large color photo of a blossoming plum tree on the cover of its Metro section this morning that included nothing less than a zoom-in shot of a bee flying through its rounds of pollination Tuesday, one week before spring, perhaps tricked into early duty by the unseasonably warm weather.

The mercury rose to a record high of 83 degrees here Tuesday, eclipsing the previous record of 82 set in 2004. Temps at the Sacramento Executive Airport reached 81 Tuesday, shattering the previous record of 78 in 1994. According to Holly Osborne, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, the normal high temperature here this time of year is 64 degrees, the Bee reported.

Forecasters predict temperatures will move closer to seasonable averages today with a high of 76 predicted for both Wednesday and Thursday. I must admit to drawing a few stares from people strolling through Capitol Park admiring the limbs of the orange bowing with their plump and perhaps over-ripe harvest.

 The California State Capitol ~ Photo Peter Tormey
 The California State Capitol
The stunning beauty of the flowering pear trees nearly floored me as I left the hotel Wednesday, walking along the Palm-tree-lined 12th Street, which fronts the State Capitol. The scents and sights of spring are everywhere and jacket-less people are quick to smile coming to and from the Legislature’s corridors where they are involved in the state’s important business taking place inside.

Home of the California Legislature since 1869, the State Capitol is emerging from a recent renovation that restored much of its original beauty and vintage look. As I approached the west end of the building Tuesday evening, its doors were locked at it was just after 5 p.m. I sauntered to the east end, where security guards were checking baggage and people before admitting them into the Capitol. A security guard waved me in with his flashlight but I mentioned that I was merely admiring the building and that I was from Gonzaga University. His eyes sparkled with delight as if I had just surprised him with his favorite dessert.

“Gonzaga? Man, they’re my pick in the Tournament!” After some light repartee, he told me the west side of the building is now a museum and suggested I check out Capitol Park, the gorgeous grounds of the stately structure.

There are many interesting historical markers on those grounds. One person told me that every variety of tree that grows in California is represented on the grounds in this incredibly pleasant climate. No wonder Greater Sacramento has been cited as one of the five “most livable” regions in America.

On my walk, I spotted a larger-than-life statue of a famous Franciscan priest and its dedication read, “Dedicated to the memory of Father Junipero Serra (1713-1784), the first Franciscan missionary to whom California owes an everlasting tribute – he brought civilization to our land and in deed and character he deserves a foremost place in the history of our State.”

 Squirrel Friend ~ Photo Peter Tormey
 The brown squirrel seemed to be watching me and delighted in scurrying up the nearest Palm tree.
Gonzaga’s President Father Robert J. Spitzer, a member of the Society of Jesus, would surely pause for reflection at this remarkable statute and the man whose life work it represents. Father Spitzer also would like to make a mark on this city with the Bulldogs capturing its battles here and advancing to San Jose for the Sweet 16.

Among the many other landmarks on the Capitol grounds was a grove of trees that, as saplings, had been transplanted from Southern battlefields in memory of the Union veterans of the Civil War. The grove was “presented to the State of California on May 1, 1897 by the ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic of California and Nevada,” its inscription read. The Grove was surely thriving.

All the while as I admired these landmarks of California’s history, a little brown squirrel seemed to be observing me. Friendlier than most squirrels, it nevertheless would not approach as closely as the generations of its kinfolk living on the grounds of Gonzaga University who seem tame as the family dog.

As I began to move on, the squirrel stood up on its back legs. Then, bidding adieu for now, the fuzzy critter scurried up a 50-foot palm tree in an instant and looked down on me as if to suggest, “Your Gonzaga squirrels can’t do this.”

True enough, my furry friend.

So it is with March Madness.

ZagNotes

  • ALUMNI GET-TOGETHER IN SACRAMENTO: Gonzaga alumni are invited to a social at the Doubletree Hotel, at 3 p.m., Thursday, March 15. The event includes a hosted bar, deli buffet with salad, fruit, and assorted desserts. The cost is $5 per person. The Doubletree is located at 2001 Point West Way, in Sacramento. Phone: (916) 929-8855.
  • FAST FACTS: Located in California’s Central Valley, Sacramento is the seventh most populated city in the state and is a cultural and economic hub of the four-county metropolitan area (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties). The Sacramento metropolitan area’s population is approximately 2 million, and is topped in the state only by the Los Angeles-Orange County area, the San Francisco Bay area, and the San Diego area. The population of Sacramento itself was approximately 457,500 in 2006.
  • Peter Tormey is covering the Bulldogs at the tournament in Sacramento and welcomes contacts from alumni, parents of current students and friends of the University. While he is in Sacramento, please contact him via e-mail at tormey@gonzaga.edu if there are alumni events or other happenings of interest to Zags fans who will be in Sacramento for the Tournament.